Chapter 37: Chapter 37: The Way Things Are

Mila

“Okay, as your teacher, I feel I should explain a few things.” Nana Xara let her cry for a few minutes, but then the woman spoke again, causing Mila’s rage to grow.

“First, I’m speaking to you now through our bond as master and apprentice. I can do the same with Diana and the bond allows me to sense everything you do. From now on, when you’re not crying, I will listen to you whenever you ask me not to watch. And, once you reach F rank and gain the capability, I’ll teach you how to block me from watching yourself.

“Second, I’m sorry for not telling you about what Aalam had planned.” Nana Xara’s voice sounded serious and Mila only now registered how incongruous that was with how cheerful she generally seemed. “I knew you wouldn’t accept it, but, given your goals, both stated and otherwise, this seemed like the best option.”

“And how is me being forced to gather lust charged souls for the rest of my life a good option?” Mila growled.

“First, stop being hyperbolic.” Mila could almost imagine the old woman giving her a stern look, one without a smile trying to come out from underneath. “Lust charged souls are not hard to make, especially once you get a charm skill at F rank and can affect dead souls directly. They also don’t have to be sentient, except for during advancements. Find a pair of the local equivalent of rabbits mating, kill them before they understand what is going on, and you’ll have enough food for both you and Aalam for over a week.

“The requirement for Aalam not getting his own souls will also only be until D rank, at which point you both probably won’t need souls for food anyway.

“Second, the term soul is too loaded in your world. It’s the magic equivalent of a body and it’s not required for reincarnation. In fact, eating souls makes reincarnation happen faster, so you’re actually doing the person a favor.

“Third, and most important, I never said this was a good option, Mila, just that it was better than the alternatives.”

Nana Xara projected an image of herself over the link and it looked like she was standing before Mila in the forest, a stern expression on her face.

“I keep stressing how your boyfriend isn’t sane, and I think you get the magical aspects of that, but I don’t think you’ve grasped just how incongruous some of his actions have been.

“Why, when his legs were crushed by that Rollie-Pollie in the second challenge, was his instinctive action not to panic but to act like the lead from an action movie? He’s not like you. He didn’t receive training since he was four. And I’ve seen his sister’s reactions. The first time she got hurt she nearly fell apart.

“Why, in the first challenge, did he have so much disregard for the lives of his fellow humans? He was the topic of much discussion in the other tutorial, so I think I have a pretty good idea what he was like before he died. He dedicated his life to helping people. He was the type of person to immediately stop and help if someone dropped their bag of groceries. He couldn’t understand why someone would try to profit off the life saving medicines he created because, in his worldview, that just didn’t make sense.

“Finally, why did he partner up with you? Despite some of his actions on paper, he quite obviously doesn’t have romantic feelings for you anymore and, at the beginning, I do very much think he wanted you dead.”

Nana Xara’s projection sat on the forest floor and looked up at Mila on her rock. “I think he still believes he’s dreaming. And he doesn’t want to wake up.

“He already killed himself once when his uniqueness hadn’t fully activated. When he does realize he’s not dreaming, I’m afraid he might do so again.”

Nana Xara paused for a second. “His backup options if you don’t help, I’m almost positive, involve crossing a line he won’t be able to come back from. His powerset doesn’t allow for anything else. And, in that case, when he finally does realize he’s not dreaming, he will most likely end his own life.”

Mila’s emotions changed multiple times over the next several seconds. From sadness, to anger toward Nana Xara, to anger toward Aalam, then to anger toward herself. Instead of handling those emotions maturely, however, she lashed out. “So you’re holding his life and death over my head?”

The expression of Nana Xara’s projection changed from a sad concerned look to one of anger as she stood up again. “You do not get to play that card with me, little girl. I took you and Diana as apprentices, and you both care about that boy more than your own wellbeing, so I’m doing my best to keep him alive. But I’m dead, and what I can do is limited.

“You can get angry with me about not telling you things. I deserve that. But you do not get to turn your sadness and anger about the boy you love not loving you back toward me.

“An apprentice of mine does not get to act like such a hypocrite.”

“A hypocrite.” Mila almost started laughing. “Like a disembodied soul telling me eating souls is no big deal?”

“No.” Nana Xara’s projection continued to glare at her. “Like a girl getting upset the boy she likes doesn’t like her back and has been nice to her only to fulfill a business contract, when she did the exact same thing to him first, only with actual malicious intent, creating his lack of desire in the first place.

“Those same emotions you’re feeling right now. He felt them after you ran away. And his emotions were justified. Yours are not.”

Nana Xara’s projection took a few steps back and they both paused for a few seconds.

“I’m sorry.” Nana Xara was the first one to speak. “That last bit was too far. You’re emotions are completely justified.” Her projection took a deep breath. “Also, you have a good point about souls. I haven’t been explaining well.

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“I was A rank when my body died and specialized in the Soul stat, yet even I wouldn’t have been able to keep the fires of my Mental Forge from going out without the System’s help. I always say I died, but I’m technically not dead. I’m a living soul, like the soul in a lich’s phylactery or an alchemist trapped in a suit of armor, but I’m housed in a small mental world created by the System instead of a physical object. The souls you would be eating would have their Mental Forges extinguished. They are completely different”

Mila stayed quiet for a few minutes, getting her emotions under control, and Nana Xara let her. Then Mila said, “I’m sorry as well. You’re right in that most of my anger was redirected. Though I’m still mad at you about lying.”

“As you should be.” Nana Xara’s projection smiled at her. “I manipulated you into something for your own good, but I manipulated you nonetheless.”

“And how is becoming a Succubus for my own good?” There was less venom in Mila’s tone, but she was still quite angry.

“What race would you have chosen yourself?”

Mila thought about it for a bit, going over the list of monsters Aalam had looked at. There had only been a half dozen monsters which could pass for human, and all of them had disturbing feeding habits, from having to drink blood to needing to eat the livers of the living. After actually thinking about it for a bit, Succubus was the least disturbing of them, and it fit her build the best as well. “Is there some advantage to human form?”

“In general, yes.” Nana Xara smiled proudly at her. “You can walk around cities, trade, form business alliances, et cetera. Your skills also stay the same as if you were a humanoid race rather than a monster, allowing you to more easily control human servants. Altogether, there are quite a few benefits. For you, though, there are quite a few more.

“The System tends to treat sentient races as those to be nurtured and monsters as those to be hunted for parts, giving far more benefits to the former. You, with your first uniqueness combined with the class line you’re going for, would normally be able to trick the System into thinking you were a human once you reach D rank, but with your second uniqueness and your Law Eggs of Bonds and Severing, you should be able to do so at F rank instead.

“Given how talented you are, and that you’ll also be able to trick the System into treating Aalam as your familiar, the benefits you’ll be able to receive are immense.”

Mila took a deep breath and activated her Law Egg of Calm to help ameliorate the effects of her emotions. Had she received that explanation beforehand, there is no way she would have chosen another race unless she’d also known about what Aalam was planning. Nana Xara had seen through her correctly.

“Alright.” Mila closed her eyes. “Two questions before I start looking for a settlement and some mating rodents. One, what is Aalam going for that requires him to not get his own food.”

“My final sage class, the Fabled grade Virtuous Sage, only I got it when I reached A rank and he’s going for it as a D rank. It requires one to have never once given in to the sin they’re most inclined toward, and, having a new life as an Incubus, his body is most inclined to the sin of lust.

“It’s a quite powerful class, improving the soul of the cultivator to the point they can safely gain another class and, unlike me, he knows how to advance it properly without getting stuck.”

Mila opened her eyes and looked at Nana Xara incredulously. “As an A rank, you’d managed to never commit one of the seven sins? I’m changing what I said. I have so many more questions.

“What sin are humans inclined toward?”

The projection of Nana Xara’s smile grew wider. “On average, greed, but that wasn’t what I was personally inclined to. As a genius and eventual A rank talent, my inclination was toward pride. Yet, at the young age of 1,037, I’d always been humble, so I was able to get one of the best sage line classes and eventually become a powerhouse.”

“How could you stay humble for over a millennium? You’re such an arrogant ass.”

The projection of Nana Xara started laughing. “Do you think you’re talented, Mila?”

“No.” Mila shook her head, still trying to wrap her mind around Nana Xara being humble, despite over a hundred decades of life.

“And you’re wrong about that.” Nana Xara smiled at her. “But you’re comparing yourself against someone who’s even more of a genius. I had three such people during my rise to power and I didn’t become an arrogant ass until all of them died.”

There were so many more questions Mila wanted to ask, but Nana Xara raised her hand, her expression losing its joviality. “Some other time, Mila. Those stories involve deaths of people I was close to, and I don’t want to talk about them right now.”

Mila had read Nana Xara’s biography while in the tutorial, and, despite it not being a detailed one and not written by anyone who actually knew her, she had a few guesses on who Nana Xara was talking about, so she decided not to pry.

“My original second question then. What is the origin of the System and what is its purpose?”

Nana Xara laughed again. “Sorry, I’m not allowed to tell you. But, if you analyze how it operates, it’s not that hard to figure out.”

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