Interconnected: Spliced Souls

“Hmm… What are you girls in the mood for?” Momo asked, touching a finger to her chin.  

“You’re the captain, captain,” I replied, humoring Momo.   

“Captain?” Srassa quizzically asked.  

“If Momo’s going to be in charge of teaching us, and thanks for that, I figured she's going to be the leader. And you refer to the one in charge as captain, right?”  

“Captain Momo has a good ring to it, doesn't it? Also, what kind of captain would I be if I made all the choices?” Momo replied.  

Right off the bat, some of the quests required Novice Rank 2, so that eliminated a good 80% of them. Of the ones left, it seemed they mandated you to travel to the villages and farms surrounding Canary to quell some wild animals or help with farming. But one caught my eye…  

“There’s this one,” I said, picking a paper off the board. “Where’s the sewer located? It says we gotta kill rats and turn in 5 tails.”  

“You’ve seen the stone slabs built into the street, yeah? Those are access ways into the sewers. Honestly, I’m not surprised you’ve overlooked them. They’re designed to be hard to see and fit perfectly to prevent horses or wagon wheels from getting caught in them. But they’re super heavy. I doubt we could lift them, and those are mainly meant for workers to easily get around to repair any damage. We would have to leave Canary to the north and enter through the drainage tunnel. It’s like right outside of the city,” Momo replied, smiling. It was like she was thinking: Yes, informing my juniors is the proper way for a captain to act! You’re kicking ass, Momo! Keep it up!! 

“I see. Well, what do you use rat tails for?”  

“I dunno. In the village I grew up in, rats were an infestation. The pests would raid the crops and destroy the harvest. My grandpa taught me how to fight using them, but these rats are big. You might even consider them giant,” Momo added. Srassa remained quiet and nodded when we asked her if she was okay with this quest.   

With that taken care of, the three of us walked to the shortest line and waited to be seen by a receptionist. Momo looked puzzled, though. She gave me a look over and asked how I fought.   

The dagger I found in that guard tower when I climbed the wall came to mind. Before I could retrieve it, Momo reached into her bag and pulled out a dagger enclosed within its sheath. “Here you go! You can borrow it until you get your own weapon. Though it's kinda odd to join without anything to defend yourself. Must be confident in your abilities, huh?”  

“Ah, thanks for that,” I replied, hooking the sheath to my overalls for an easier draw. I thought about pulling the crimson dagger from my ring, but I didn't know how important or impressive that was. By no means was I trying to remain hidden or unnoticeable. This was only my second day here. Well, the second day of what I could remember, and I was taking it slow and easy.   

Besides, I would perform my first patrol tonight. There were many things I had to understand first. And speaking of that, I asked if any libraries or bookstores were nearby. Srassa said the Canary Noble Library, or CNL, was located in the aptly named noble district--where Canary’s nobles lived. The other two districts making up this city were the slums or the casual district– the general name for everything that wasn't in the noble district or slums.  

“Hi! What can I do for– oh, it's you. Servi, yes? And Momo and…Srassa? I see you've found a party for your first quest.” Claire smiled. It turned out we were in her line. “What did you decide on?”  

“This rat quest,” I replied. “Uh, how do we actually accept it?”  

“It's easy. First, hand over your Skill Tablets if you can summon them. If you cannot, then I require your dog tags.” We handed them over, but Srassa seemed embarrassed. Claire caught on, pushing her vibrant crimson hair behind her ears, and said a Skill Tablet did not measure a man or woman of their worth. The important thing was a positive mindset of knowing your work with the guild made the world a better place. That seemed to cheer her up. Claire placed the quest paper in a machine-like a printer. She held a hand to it, tapped an option that appeared, which reminded me of a touchscreen phone, and waited four seconds while three vials of ink appeared on top. She poured those over our Skill Tablets and Srassa’s dog tags.   

Handing them back, Momo instructed me to look at the newly added quest tab. It displayed a list of currently active quests, their rewards, the location of the guild you accepted your missions from, and the due date, if it had any, which was something I didn't check beforehand.   

Really, it was more advanced than I thought. My first thought was that it reminded me of a scheduling app– one that listed all of your activities and meetings for the day, but why was that?  

Everything I'd seen almost told me this world–   

Why am I using that term? This world? There's only one world, right? Why…would I think I came from a different one? The planet has to be big, so maybe there's a country with things I remember.  

“I've seen this for two years, but I'll never stop thinking how cool it is!” Momo exclaimed. She whisked her tablet away. Before Claire let us go, she told us about the rats. Those beasts were the weakest enemy within a few dozen miles of Canary. 

“They're territorial and selfish. It's not rare to come across two or more fighting. They're awful when fighting more than one person. The guild recommends one person to get the rat’s attention, and the others attack from behind. However, without the use of aggro-increasing items or skills, this can be difficult.”  

“Yep. That's what my grandpa told me when I fought them for the first time. Although it was just me. Still, they don't hit that hard because they are just rats. The ones near my home village had weak claws that couldn't break skin. Their teeth can carry disease, though. So we gotta be sure to avoid getting bitten.”  

“It's the same here,” Claire added. Someone stepped in line behind us, and we couldn't keep them waiting. As we left, she called our name and reminded us we could change our Skill Path with her. While useless for me, Momo and I thanked her. We left through the grand double doors. Srassa lifted a gentle hand, but I saw it fall back to her side.   

You know, she didn't really inspire much confidence. That armor and equipment seemed durable and top quality, but if the girl couldn't use it... Even if I thought that, I wasn't exactly normal. The fears clouding my mind and halting my heart couldn't be compared to a mortal.   

Why did I care about dying if I couldn't perish? If my opponent wasn't immortal, I could claw back from death and inflict more damage. Sure, it might take a year or two, but if it was a battle of attrition... 

I'd win.

For Momo and Srassa? I suppose death and fear of dying was a concern. I'd be a bitch if I thought less of them for that.   

And really, since this was a clean slate for me, did I have to taint it by being dickish? Momo was pleasant enough to talk to me, and Srassa– bless her heart– fought through her introvert-like nature and made the first move.   

Momo led us through the winding streets and primary city square, pointing and speaking about the covered holes leading to the sewers below. She could only talk so much about that, and the topic switched to strategy. Momo said her only spell was a non-elemental projectile called [Magic Missile], which was tier 1. As much as she wanted to show it off, she said letting off attacking magic in the middle of a busy street without a good reason was the quickest way to spend a night in jail. Momo also added a little tidbit.   

She wasn't blessed like me. It sounded like being blessed was in the majority, but she spent her hard-earned SP to acquire her only spell and leveled it up a handful of times.  

Srassa said she learned a traditional sword-and-shield combat style from her tutor. She was a novice, and Srassa almost let loose another apology for her lack of experience before catching herself. And she didn't know if she was blessed because you had to summon your Skill Tablet to see that information. “Yep. That lines up with what Jony told me when we met. I just wanted to confirm a few things. And what about you, Servi?”  

“Me? The goddess that blessed me gave me [Stone Pillar], [Lock-On], [Shadow Shot], and [Minor Heal].”  

“Woah, that's an awesome mix of abilities! Hmm, [Lock-On] works with any thrown weapon, right?”  

Upon looking at the skill more, Momo is correct. You can use it with rocks, weapons, and probably more.   

“Thanks for that, and yeah, I think you can.”  

“Thanks… What did I do?” Momo’s tail slithered like a snake, her fluffy ears twitching.   

“Hmm? Oh, there's the gate. Where's the drainage tunnel?” I asked, spotting a pair of guards in silver armor standing at the city’s northern exit. They wore shiny helmets and held spears, but they were men. And too short to be that koena or elf I encountered last night.   

“It's like 10 minutes away. We gotta cut across the field to the west until we come to a big hill. Haha, wanna race?” Momo grinned.   

“Umm… Race? Are you sure?” Srassa squeaked.   

“Yep. Are ya up to it?”  

“Sure, why not?” I replied.   

“Umm…okay.” Srassa nodded. We lined up beside each other.  

“3…2…1… GO!” Momo counted us down…and Srassa tripped over her feet almost immediately and face-planted the ground.   

Momo and I doubled back after skidding to a halt to help her up.   

She tried her hardest to hold back the tears. Luckily, she was uninjured, and we walked the rest of the way.   

“Let's…not talk about that, please,” she whispered after we arrived at the top of the hill. The drainage gate was about halfway down, and nasty, putrid liquid leaked into a constructed stream that met a larger river at the base. I suppose waste had to go somewhere, but I hoped that wasn't anyone's drinking water.   

---

After entering the tunnel, we walked for about fifteen minutes in darkness. There were torches around us, but they were very dim. Momo had one stuffed in her bag, so she used a bit of oil and a match to light it, allowing us to see where we were going. We came to a small ledge to get us into the sewers at the tunnel's end. 

Platforms were on both sides, sandwiching a steady stream of vile waste. You could cross to the other side via wooden bridges spaced not-so-evenly, but these were rickety and on the verge of rotting away.   

It seemed like this place was moderately sizable. Vast, even, since my voice echoed a ton where I spoke. But there were better torches here, and light filtered in from the grates above us, so Momo extinguished and stored her torch.   

Pulling my dagger from its sheath, Momo talked about the plan. Srassa was confident to attack first to hopefully monopolize the enemy’s attention, and I would sleuth around to get to its back. Momo would remain at an angle and use her magic, but if the monster ever turned my way, she would rush in with her longsword. Srassa would do the same, and the idea was to cleave the rat’s hind legs off.   

That was after convincing them I could hold my own. [Stone Pillar] wasn't meant for only attacking. If I played my cards right, I could force an animal to knock itself out.   

Srassa’s trembling feet took point while we advanced, taking the first right. “Hey, just listen and relax. The tenser you are, the slower you react. I know it's hard because it's the first monster you'll fight, but learning to breathe in stressful moments is a key technique. You gotta learn it,” Momo said when we saw the first rat just a handful of feet ahead. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”  

True to its name, the rat was giant. Its fur was black and matted, and its eyes were a dull red. Scratches and scars covered its head. Its nose twitched, turning towards us.   

The battle was on.   

As practiced, Srassa was the first line of defense. Her sword and shield seemed heavy, but she wielded them with no problem. Momo drew her longsword and lifted a palm towards the monster while I doubled back a few feet to cross to the other side. The bastard was only focused on the immediate threat, and it didn't care about my running to the bridge ahead to cross back over.   

Momo was behind Srassa, who just stood there. I didn't think she was paralyzed from fear, but her feet were probably slightly scared. It was her first time fighting a monster.   

Why does it seem like she's a newborn? That's the oddest feeling, and I can't understand it.  

Momo whispered something to her, and Srassa advanced with her shield raised.   

Tiny steps, but progress was progress. I was now suitably behind the rat. It jumped at Srassa. Her shield was raised, blocking the claw swipe and shattering its nails. But she also pushed the beast back, and it couldn't land on its feet.   

“[Magic Missile]!” Momo’s voice echoed as a colorless bolt of magic left her outstretched palm, striking it in the shoulder. When it recoiled, I ran in and slid my dagger along its back, using a mental cast of [Stone Pillar] to help me dodge.   

“Woah! That was cool!” Momo commented. She and Srassa ran forward and coordinated an attack on the rat’s hind legs, effortlessly severing and cutting through those weak bones.   

Its blood spilled. A dying growl escaped its throat, using a solid chunk of its remaining life to pathetically scare us away. Immobilized, Momo carefully danced around the still-twitching tail and impaled the animal through the brain, killing it.   

A crimson soul flew from the corpse and to my ring.   

How strange… Killing the rat gave us 1 SP. It seems we are not limited to humanoids if we want to acquire more Skill Points. I do not know if absorbing the soul of a monster with skills will allow us to use them, Itarr informed me. But it did not add to our counter for stacking skills. These souls do not count towards that.  

Pulling her weapon, she retrieved a cloth and wiped it. Srassa reflexively touched her stomach, covered her mouth, and ran for the river. The contents of her stomach evacuated through her throat. She coughed heavily, retching more bile and stomach acid before finally wiping her mouth.   

“I had that same reaction the first time I killed a beast,” Momo said. “It ain't nothing to be ashamed of. My grandpa once told me we shouldn't gloat about killing monsters because we're all just trying to live our lives. It isn't their fault they spawned down here. You gotta blame the ones that first moved. This rat wouldn't be here if the others before it hadn't tainted the place with their skill energy, causing it to spawn." 

Skill energy? Spawn? What… I need to visit that library as soon as I can.  

Because it was almost second nature to me, I stashed the rat’s corpse in my ring.   

“Woah? What the heck?!” Momo exclaimed, her ears twitching. She looked up, down, left, right, and all around for the carcass.   

Servi, should I extract the tail? What about its fur? 

“If you don't mind it, then yeah. Go ahead. And thanks for that,” I said to Itarr. Momo and Srassa were more confused, so I explained that my ring could store things.   

“Woah, so it's enchanted with [Dimensional Storage]?! My bag's the same way!” Momo gallantly held the bag up, almost as if she was proud to have it. That got her attention away from me talking to myself, but after we helped Srassa to her feet and received a meek apology with promises to do better, we continued to search for more rats.   

Momo said she didn't hear me speak the spell’s name when I used [Stone Pillar] and asked about it.   

Was that a big deal?  

Srassa wiped her mouth once more and said [Silent Casting] was a powerful ability. You had to be at least a late-ranked Monster– the nickname for the Expert rank– to unlock the Arch-Wizard Skill Path. Not to mention that there were prerequisites to learning the Skill Paths that led to Arch-Wizard. Even then, she said it required a few thousand SP. Or you could get lucky, my words, not hers, and was blessed by it from your god or goddess.   

Openly displaying these abilities would attract attention. But was that a bad thing?   

Before I could think further, we encountered four rats attacking each other. There were no loyalties when it came to territorial aggression. The plan this time was to sit back and wait for them to kill each other.   

Eleven minutes later, two remained alive with heavy bite marks around their necks. Blood profusely poured from their egregious wounds. Momo aimed her palm and took out the left one with magic while I skewered the right one with a rocky pillar through its head, cleaving it in half.   

With four more bodies, Itarr set to work on getting the tails while learning and attempting to grallouch the rats.   

Right around the corner, we encountered two more, but upon seeing us, they dashed, jumped over the flowing river of filth separating us, and attacked as a team.   

Srassa raised her shield to stop one, and I ran in my dagger to swat away the other rat’s claw. I missed, and it swiped me across the cheek.   

Luckily, its claws broke and only left me with a fleeting wound. Momo rammed her sword into my attacker’s side while shouting my name.   

Srassa found her guts and bashed her rat in the head, then altered stance and nearly bisected the enemy Momo injured.   

 

She really does have a profound amount of strength in that petite frame. 

I recovered in a flash and held my knife in a backwards grip. Running and jumping, I tackled the remaining rat and slit its neck. The three arrows of darkness dancing around me stabbed into its back. With its spinal cord severed, it lacked all capacity to move even a single inch. Srassa made the final motion to end the rat’s life, and the corpse was stored within my ring.   

“How are ya holding up? Are you okay?” Momo asked, putting a hand on Srassa’s back after checking to see if I was okay.   

“I'm…fine, Ms. Momo. I just don't know if I'm getting used to this… I need to. If I want to be…like them…I need to grow stronger.”  

“Ms. Momo…? Wait, be like who? But you're breathing kinda heavy. We're technically finished with the quest, so maybe it's a good time to take a break. Another rule of mine is that you never want to overdo it. Take breaks when you can, especially if you're not in a rush. This quest doesn't have a time limit. My grandpa said it is better to leave and live than rush and die. Besides, taking it easy for today is what I expected.”  

“Ms. Momo… I'm fine… I'm sorry for slowing us down–” 

“I suppose I'm kinda tired, captain,” I interjected, rubbing the superficial wound that was already healed. Momo’s sharp eyes noticed something funky was amiss, but she remained quiet. Instead, we retraced our steps to the hill where the drainage tunnel was located and rested our behinds on the warm, soft bed of fluffy grass.   

The pleasant breeze was enjoyable, and Srassa’s sweaty face seemed to shimmer in the sunlight. Momo's tail swam through the grass as if it was a snake. She pulled out three sandwiches wrapped in hand towels from her bag. 

“Here ya go!” she said with a smile, handing them out. “The inn I'm staying at is owned by a dwarf and his wife. When I left this morning, she stopped and gave me some leftover sandwiches from the night before. She was like, ‘Yer need ta put some meat on 'dem skinny bones, girlie! Yer all stick with no wood.’ They’re totally delish.” 

Chomp! 

Momo happily swayed from side to side. Srassa took off her gauntlets and carefully, and lady-like, sat on her knees. She kept a perfect form, thanking Momo for the food while unwrapping it. I did the same, and it was a simple lettuce, tomato, and onion sandwich. All veggies, no condiments, but it was pretty tasty. The first bite filled my mouth with the liquid of a juicy tomato.  

“You’re welcome! Anyway,” Momo said with a mouth half full. “We're gonna be party members from now on, yeah? I think we're vibing pretty well. Gotta say, you're incredible with that sword and shield. When you enter combat mode, you're definitely a different person. But in a good way, ya know?” Momo laid the compliments thick, causing the noble girl to blush again. She took small, defined bites and hid her mouth when chewing.   

“Father said he spent good money to give me the best tutor. He presides over Lando’s Nail in Adenaford.”  

“Lando’s Nail?” I inquired, and Srassa explained. The nail was a tremendously tall 100-floor tower in Lando’s capital city. Each floor was like a separate building. Momo said you could find anything there. It almost reminded me of a mall, though. And from how Srassa described it, there were rudimentary elevators controlled by pulleys, levers, and ropes, with teleportation pads to take you to specific floors.   

But below the nail?  

There sat a labyrinth. There were more labyrinths, but Srassa said the one in Lando was the deepest of the ones that had been discovered. You could rent a return orb that activated when your life was in danger to return to the labyrinth lobby, but it wasn't required. And monsters inside these deep, dank dungeons had cores buried within their hearts, which could be refined into powerful potions.   

Depending on the grade, that was. The most valuable cores were located the deeper you went. No one had been deeper than floor 89, though, since each floor was guarded by a powerful monster. Once slain, the door they guarded would open.   

It was rumored there were 100 floors, but Srassa said the running theory was that there were 200 floors. But there were other dangerous places called dungeons that differed from these labyrinths. A couple of them were located within a week’s travel of Canary, but I doubt we would be tackling one any time soon.   

In the ten minutes we spent eating and chatting, the topic turned to our pasts. Momo grew up in a village in western Westera. It was near Lando's western border. It was a small, quaint little townlet where it was just her and her grandfather.   

Srassa said she spent time in Keywater, the empire north of Lando, and she spent much of her childhood and adolescence there, only recently coming to Canary about three months ago. She said it was hard being separated from her mother and father for multiple months to a year at a time, and I thought that was strange. When pressed further, Srassa described her father as a workaholic. His job took priority above all else. Even King Lando looked to his guidance since he had the necessary managerial skills to successfully manage a 100-floor structure.   

“Me?” I pointed to myself when two sets of eyes looked my way.   

“I…kinda don't have one,” I confessed.  

“Don't…have one? I'm not following.”  

“Well, I don't have any memories going back farther than yesterday,” I told Srassa. She looked slightly gasped– or maybe frightened, but I explained an abridged version of my past without mentioning my deaths, Itarr, or my immortality. Maybe it was best for me to be kinda upfront with it? If we kept fighting like this, they'd eventually find out. 

“That's crazy, Servi! Where are you staying? You don't remember your family, right?” Momo queried.   

“A Drow Elf found and took me in after I used [Minor Heal] to help her friend. I haven't told them my predicament, but I'm gonna let them know tonight.”  

“Is that why you asked about the library earlier?” Srassa asked.   

I nodded. 

The small questions continued to come my way, and I answered what I could. When we finished our food, Itarr informed me she had finished butchering the rat carcasses the best she could. The five tails we needed appeared shortly, free of any gross gore.   

Apparently, manipulating items within [Dimensional Storage] was almost unheard of because Momo and Srassa exclaimed in extreme surprise.  

It wasn't something not just anyone could accomplish, especially since the skill was on an external item. Momo said her grandfather once told tales of a more powerful version of the ability.   

I honestly had no idea of what she was talking about. I was sure [True Absorption] was its own category, separate from that storage spell, but I didn't say anything.   

Momo took the tails and dumped them in her bag. When she wanted to pull something out, she just had to think of it, but she could also see a list similar to a book's table of contents. Her bag had a capacity limit, but I didn't. Theoretically, I should be able to store all of creation within it, right? There was a separate world within our soul or ring, so did…  

My mind swirled in confusion, so I stopped thinking about that and asked about the plan.   

The quest was done. We would each get 11 dupla each, which wasn't enough to pay for a room at a cheap inn. Momo said she had a nice nest egg from her prior work and her initial payment for teaching and adventuring with Srassa. Srassa was rich, and I was staying with Nimyra. Suppose I wasn't hurting for cash, but it wouldn't hurt to start saving.   

Momo said before that it wasn't good to over-stress, especially if it was our first day adventuring, so we headed back towards the guild office. The silver, towering city walls were still visible, considering we were ten minutes away. About nine were spent in silence.