Chapter 231: 296. Scars

It had been a while since Yoshika had worked with Eunae on progressing her soul magic. Their first and last group session had been rather disastrous, and since then they’d been too busy traveling through Qin. Now, they once more found themselves sitting in a loose circle preparing to explore the hidden depths of Eunae’s power.

“Why are they here?”

Pan Jiaying scowled at Yoshika, prompting a tired sigh from both her bodies.

“Did Li Meili not tell you? We’ve been trying to help Eunae with her power since as far back as our time in the academy. Also, if you’re going to be our disciple, you might as well get accustomed to us being involved in your training.”

Pan Jiaying huffed.

“You’re right. I’m sorry for being disrespectful.”

Yoshika smiled with Jia’s body and shook her head.

“It’s fine. I’m sure you’re stressed after everything that’s happened.”

Pan Jiaying pouted, but didn’t respond. Eunae cleared her throat gently.

“Are we ready to begin, then?”

The girls nodded their assent. For this session, it was just Eunae, Yoshika, and Pan Jiaying. After the disaster last time, Yoshika thought it would be better to separate her work with Ja Yun and Muddy for now.

That’s actually what Li Meili was doing, in fact. It had been her idea—offering to try to share her own recent experience with self-identification with Muddy in the hopes that she could be of some help.

Yoshika returned her attention to the scene in front of her, as Eunae started to explain the plan.

“We’re going to start very small. Yoshika has a technique that will allow her to see your soul. While she focuses on that, I will turn my gaze on you without saying or doing anything. Then, Yoshika will relay what she sees to us. Are we agreed?”

Pan Jiaying nodded.

“Yes. I agree to this.”

The formal question and confirmation had been Eunae’s idea. She wanted to be as certain as possible that she had Pan Jiaying’s express consent before there was any possibility of her will being subverted.

Yoshika had her gloves on, and she was standing in the soul-sight formation that she’d invented with Hyeong Daesung—well, Dae invented it. Yoshika had only helped. She focused on that sense, suppressing all others and even trying to integrate it into her domain until she had reduced everything around her into a sort of pseudo-spirit realm.

Eunae’s soul was a roiling storm of pale green flames constantly being produced and reabsorbed by a central core of bright, shining blue. Yoshika could see the way her cultivation had carefully shaped her soul, hindered by the constant chaos of the green flames.

Pan Jiaying’s was a placid lake, endlessly deep and full of potential. She had not yet formed any kind of core, but the foundations were in place, ready for the right push to begin shaping that potential into something greater.

Yoshika tried not to let herself get distracted by the beauty of it.

“We’re ready.”

Eunae nodded, and lifted her veil. Pan Jiaying swallowed nervously, steeling her resolve not to look away as Eunae opened her eyes.

Yoshika had to use Absolute Awareness to see everything that happened. The domain of Eunae’s inner spirit reached out from deep within her soul, using the eyes as a conduit to take hold of Pan Jiaying.

To Yoshika’s soul sight, Eunae’s power was like a pair of pale green claws made of soulfire. They stretched between the two girls, linking their souls together and holding Pan Jiaying’s soul in the palms of their hands. It was a gentle, delicate grip—barely even touching as the claws lightly caressed the edges of Pan Jiaying’s essence.

Wherever the soulfire touched, it left behind faint distortions in Pan Jiaying’s soul—minor superficial wounds that quickly regenerated on their own.

In the physical realm, Pan Jiaying’s face lit up into a look of pure adoration. Her pupils dilated and her mouth stretched into a wide, blissful smile. When Eunae closed her eyes, the claws receded carefully, leaving no trace once Jiaying’s soul recovered.

Pan Jiaying gasped, blinked, then shook her head, staring down into her lap and blushing.

“That—that was...um...”

Yoshika smiled sympathetically.

“It’s intense, isn’t it?”

“You—you’ve done that before?”

Eunae crossed her arms and pouted.

“I dare say that Lee Jia in particular has experienced my gaze more than anyone else alive. Though very rarely as anything more than what you just felt.”

“I—I see...”

While Pan Jiaying tried to gather her composure, Yoshika relayed what she’d witnessed.

“The good news, Eunae, is that we think you’ve been overly cautious. Your technique does minor damage, but doesn’t leave anything behind if all you do is look at them—aside from the memory of being affected, that is. We could see weaker minds getting addicted to just that, but your gaze alone doesn’t fundamentally change someone.”

“Are you sure? I always thought that...”

Eunae trailed off uncertainly, and Pan Jiaying answered.

“Well, for what it’s worth, that feels really nice. Not physically or anything, it’s just kind of...relaxing? It was like nothing in the world mattered anymore except...”

She blushed and looked away.

“A-anyway, I think I see what Yoshika means. Even if you didn’t do anything permanent to my soul, I could see people getting addicted to that feeling.”

Eunae stared into her own lap pensively.

“I see. Are you ready for the next exercise, then, or do you need more time to prepare? Actually, if my gaze is addictive, perhaps that’s already reason enough to—”

Pan Jiaying held up a hand to interrupt her.

“Eunae, I’m fine. I can take responsibility for my own self-control. I’m ready when you are.”

Eunae took a deep breath, then nodded.

“Alright. The next exercise will be to issue an innocuous command before using my gaze to see if you comply without further prompting. Once under my influence, I’d like you to raise your right hand, please. Do you consent to this?”

“I do.”

Before they began, Yoshika cut in.

“Try to resist it, this time. I know that’s way easier said than done, but now that you know what to expect, try to fight against that feeling.”

Pan Jiaying nodded.

“I’ll do my best.”

The test went exactly the same as the last, except that this time Pan Jiaying lifted her hand. Yoshika watched carefully, but didn’t see any sign that Eunae’s power did anything extra to compel Pan Jiaying into acting. When it withdrew, her soul was soon unmarred.

“Nothing. Why did you lift your hand?”

Pan Jiaying frowned at Yoshika’s question.

“I don’t know. I didn’t really think about it. I really did plan to try resisting, but I never even got the chance. Once Eunae opened her eyes, I completely forgot about everything else.”

Yoshika scratched her chins.

“That could be an interesting work around. Eunae, do you think you could get people to do things without actually changing them that way?”

Eunae shook her head.

“No. I experimented with it as a child, but the results are unpredictable, and it only works while continuing to maintain direct eye contact. I only wanted to confirm that doing so wouldn’t cause any permanent damage.”

“Are you sure? You could at least use it for questioning.”

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“You would think, but they only tell me what they think I want to hear. I would have to compel them to truth, which would absolutely cause damage...um, I’m very sorry about that, by the way.”

Pan Jiaying furrowed her brows.

“Am I missing something?”

Yoshika shrugged.

“Eunae once saved us from another mind-controller by forcing Jia to answer questions. If it really did cause damage, we don’t think it was permanent, and the alternative would have been much worse.”

“I see...do you know a lot of mind-controllers?”

“Just the two—and a half, if you count Ishihara. Don’t worry, you’ll get a chance to meet Yan Yue later.”

Pan Jiaying’s eyes widened.

“Wait, the same Yan Yue that Li Meili mentioned?”

“Probably, yes. We have a bit of a history, but we’re friends now.”

“Wow, that’s almost exactly what Li Meili said.”

Eunae sighed.

“Can we please move on? This is uncomfortable enough without being reminded of all my past mistakes.”

Yoshika winced.

“Of course, sorry.”

They did a few more similar tests, cautiously testing the waters to search for any potential corner cases. They were almost ready to conclude that Eunae’s power couldn’t cause real damage unless she gave direct orders while a victim was under the influence, before they found an exception.

“Once under my influence, I would like you to immediately close or cover your eyes, or otherwise break eye contact by any means necessary. Do you consent to this?”

“I do.”

Eunae turned to Yoshika, frowning.

“This has never once worked. Please be prepared to step in.”

Yoshika nodded solemnly and watched as they began the exercise.

As before, Eunae’s power reached out from deep within her core and wrapped itself around Pan Jiaying’s soul in a gentle caress. Yoshika saw a twitch from Pan Jiaying, and Eunae’s power reacted immediately—tightening its grip and digging its claws into Pan Jiaying’s soul.

Pan Jiaying’s soul struggled against its bonds, but the more she tried to look away, the further the claws dug into her soul, only prompting her to struggle further and dig the claws deeper still. Yoshika leapt forward to break the link before it could go any further. She trusted Eunae to close her own eyes, but Eunae couldn’t see what was happening.

Pan Jiaying gasped, and beads of sweat began to form on her brow. Eunae immediately flipped the veil back down over her face, looking up at Yoshika with alarm.

“What happened? What did you see?”

“In a moment. Pan Jiaying, while it’s still fresh in your mind, what was that like?”

Pan Jiaying blinked and furrowed her brows. In Yoshika’s soul sight, she could still see the light claw marks around the edges of her soul.

“It...was confusing. I was trying to look away, but I couldn’t. But then the more I tried to look away the harder it was, and the harder it got to look away, the more I needed to. It was only a second, but I felt like I was going to go crazy.”

She frowned deeply.

“Also, I think the effect is taking longer to wear off. It’s...weaker, but I still feel drawn to Eunae. Do you think repeated applications get more addictive?”

Yoshika shook her heads.

“No, it’s taking longer to wear off because your soul is still damaged. It’s healing...surprisingly fast, actually, but that one definitely left a mark.”

Pan Jiaying’s face went slightly pale.

“O-oh. Will I be okay?”

“I think so, yes. But if I hadn’t stepped in, the damage would have been a lot worse. Eunae, you said you’d done that before?”

Eunae stared down into her lap and nodded.

“I didn’t realize it would cause a conflict like that—I just assumed it didn’t work at all.”

“Conflict?”

“Yes. It’s what I used to call it when I gave someone impossible or conflicting orders. The results were always dangerous and unpredictable, and it rarely ended well for the victims.”

Pan Jiaying looked a little ill.

“Did—did you do that often?”

Eunae shook her head vigorously.

“Ancestors no! I tried very hard to avoid it. Even at my worst, I was never...intentionally cruel.”

“Huh. Um, sorry about what I said before...”

Eunae tilted her head curiously.

“Which?”

“About how not using your power was stupid. I think I understand now why you would want to seal something like this away.”

“I see. Apology accepted. You weren’t wrong, though. Even just these exercises have shown me that there’s so much I don’t understand about my own power. I’ve been irresponsible, trying to hide from it. I’d like to do more, if you’re still willing.”

Before Pan Jiaying could answer, Yoshika interrupted.

“Don’t answer that. You’ve still got a few superficial scars that might influence your answer. They should be healed by tomorrow, so we can try again then.”

Pan Jiaying crossed her arms and frowned.

“Don’t be ridiculous! We don’t have that much time, and the whole point of this is to try to find a way to safely alter my soul anyway. If we do a full stop after every little scrape, we’ll never get anywhere!”

Yoshika frowned. Pan Jiaying was right, and the truth was that Yoshika wanted nothing more than to keep going now that they’d finally made progress. But how much of that was her own geas urging her forward?

“The problem right now is that any alteration Eunae does comes with the baggage of slowly enthralling you to her. Too much damage and those scars become permanent. Eunae, do you mind if we tell her?”

Eunae sighed and nodded.

“The fact that you even have to ask me is more than enough of a reason to do so.”

Yoshika blinked—she hadn't even considered that. She turned her attention back to Pan Jiaying with solemn expressions.

“Eunae would never do this to someone on purpose, but the entire reason she came along on this trip is because we can’t leave her side. It’s a long story, and our own fault for messing with things we didn’t understand, but that’s the kind of thing you’re risking here. We’re helping Eunae research her powers in the hopes that she can learn how to heal us, but there’s no guarantee. Are you sure that you want to do this?”

Pan Jiaying didn’t miss a beat, staring defiantly into Yoshika’s eyes and nodding.

“I’m sure. Let’s do this.”