"You can't," answered the slime simply, shifting away from her usual frivolousness as if I'd flipped a switch. "Don't mess with soul magic. Nothing you can do with it is worth the cost."

"But I don't want to use soul magic. I want to protect them from soul magic."

"The Law is already a fundamental part of this world. Being bound by it is the natural state of all sapient beings. To protect someone from it is to use soul magic."

"But they're already immune, just like we are. Erryn set something up to strip them of their immunity as they level up, so all we need to do is to stop that."

"I'm a monster, and mother herself made your protection. We don't count. But what do you mean they're already immune? How?"

"You still have a soul, monster or not, and they're immune because their souls are different to natives. Then again, I suppose yours is too, so maybe that's..."

ding

Skill [Danger Sense] advanced to level 7

I failed to finish my sentence on account of the loop of slime that had tightly wrapped itself around my neck, far faster than I could react, lifting me from the floor.

"And how would you know what my soul looks like?" asked the suddenly frigid slime.

"Urk..." I managed, once again rendered unable to speak. Thankfully, the slime spread over my torso, still holding me in the air, but no longer crushing my neck. "The [Soul Perception] skill," I managed, after a few deep breaths.

"And how the hell does a human have a skill like that? What did you do?"

Why was she so angry?! Given her usual demeanour, it was hard to remember that this was a level seventy monster. There was no way I could beat her with force. "I used a mana control skill to produce soul affinity," I managed, still uncomfortably suspended in mid-air. "That let me buy [Soul Sense] from the store. Why does it matter?"

"Soul magic destroyed the civilization that built the System. Soul magic destroyed the civilization that the ark project built. Soul magic took my mother. And now I find you using it. Why do you bloody think!"

The slime squeezed, having enveloped my whole upper body, causing disturbing creaking noises. My health started ticking down as I watched. That was enough... I needed out of here, but [Redistribute] was too slow. I activated all my buffs, for whatever good they would do; the only weapon I had that would actually be likely to harm the slime would be a soul affinity attack. "That was before you warned me about it," I croaked. "I haven't used it since then."

"Liar!" she exclaimed, squeezing harder. "If you hadn't used it since then, you wouldn't know what the new souls looked like."

"Only... perception," I managed. "Not... control!"

"There's no difference!" shouted the slime, finally releasing me, but doing so by launching me into a wall. Hard. "Mother denied the use of soul affinity to the surface on purpose. And the first person free of the Law immediately starts experimenting with it?! Those new children should be bound by the Law, for their own protection! Apparently, so should you. But it was mother herself who rendered you immune... Argg. At the least, stay the hell away from mother's dungeons!"

ding

Skill [Danger Sense] advanced to level 8

I saw the slime shift an arm into a lance, pointing it straight at my head. I'd activated [Redistribute], sending myself back home, but there wasn't time. The world seemed to grind almost to a halt as the slime launched an attack that would no doubt pierce straight through my skull, excluding me from all dungeons forever. Assuming the resurrection magic even worked on me at all. I'd made my future plans assuming that it did, but now that it came down to it, I couldn't help but wonder that since Erryn had deliberately made me immune to the Law, maybe she'd accidentally left me immune to this too... Watching my death approaching, feeling the fear that came with it, there was no way I was going to entrust my life to the resurrection enchantment.

I did the only thing I could, and struck back with [Expert Mana Control], blasting the slime with pure soul affinity. In a brief but terrible burst of pain, the world went white. I didn't feel myself losing consciousness. In fact, once the pain faded, I didn't feel anything at all. I was simply left floating in an infinite white void, without sounds, scent, or sensation. I couldn't close my eyes to hide from the light. In fact, I couldn't move at all. I had nothing to move. Wherever I was, my body hadn't followed.

The System didn't respond to my thoughts, neither could I access my skills. Had I killed myself? Another victim to soul magic? That wasn't fair; the slime had attacked me without listening to any of my explanations! Yes, I could see how she might think of soul magic in the same way that Camus thought of dungeons, given her knowledge and experience, but that was no excuse! Had she simply told me that [Soul Perception] was dangerous, I would have stopped using it. How can she blame me for something I didn't know?!

I wasn't even convinced it was dangerous. I'd certainly never noticed any feedback from it in the same way as when I created soul affinity directly. And what about my soul affinity spells that boosted my mental stats? Were they dangerous too? Well, it was too late to worry about it now. All my spells had gone.

No, that was wrong. Not everything had gone. The System, yes, but there was a time I'd been learning to sense mana without it. Once Darren had been born and proven that the System restricted the usage of mana, I'd given up on that line of experimentation, but the sense was still there. Wherever I was, I could feel mana all around me. Flowing through me, even. Where was it coming from?

I felt around, my senses so far removed from the [Mana Sight] I was used to that I felt completely blind, but there was something. A pathway, bringing me mana. I felt along it, and for the first time in this pure white world, the silence was broken by voices, distorted and on the very cusp of hearing.

"There doesn't seem to be any physical wounds remaining, but given the results of [Analysis], he might already be..."

"No! Don't even say it! He's... just sleeping. I mean, he's still breathing, how could he be..."

The first voice I didn't recognise, but the second was my mum. I was worrying her... I needed to get back. To tell her I was okay, even if I wasn't. There was a path. I only needed to follow it. If only I could move!

The world shifted, subtle colours appearing at the edges of my vision, if vision was at all involved in my perception of this light. The colours spread and faded, taking the light with them until the world had dimmed to black.

"He's moving!"

My eyes opened. I had eyes! I... also had a headache even bigger than that time I'd bought out the entire skill shop. My eyes closed again, tightly, as I felt the boost from my activating [Endurance] take a small amount of the pain away. I had [Endurance]!

"Peter! Can you hear me?!"

"Headache..." I muttered.

R**m***, H****, t**g***d **u *i** [********]

Urk... System is glitching. But I was suddenly so tired, and in so much pain, that I couldn't even bring myself to care.

"You need to turn off [Privacy] so that we can treat you," came a voice that I didn't recognise. Treatment sounded good, though. How did I turn that off again? I didn't even have that skill anymore, did I? He must have meant [Secrecy]. I fumbled around with the skill in my head, taking a few attempts to jab the mental button, and the effort pushed me over the edge into unconsciousness.

The next time I woke up, things were once again dark and silent. For a moment, I was worried I'd lost my body again, but this time I could feel it just fine. The straw mattress beneath me, the cloth blanket above me. The pounding headache was very slightly better than before, but still debilitating. I cast [Endurance] again, sighing with relief as the pain faded from debilitating to merely agonising.

That had not gone well. The slime was a lot closer to me than the previous times I'd used soul affinity mana, and the lack of time meant that I had no chance to attempt to shield myself. I'd probably been hit almost as hard as she had. Had I killed her? I didn't want to; I just wanted to escape. But if she was still alive, and thought badly enough of me before, I dreaded to think what she'd do now... I may well have a level seventy monster after my head.

It was obviously night time. Trying to activate [Mana Sight] resulted in a nauseating feeling that strongly suggested I shouldn't make use of it for now. I didn't even try [Soul Perception]. Without my esoteric senses, I had no idea where I was or who was here with me, so I just lay still and concentrated on recovery. Could I at least view my message log?

Skill [Enlarged Health Pool] advanced to level 5

Skill [Redistribute] advanced to level 7

Skill [Expert Mana Control] advanced to level 12

Skill [Expert Mana Finesse] advanced to level 10

Connection lost... Retrying...

Connection restored

Skill [Enlarged Health Pool] advanced to level 6

Skill [Enlarged Health Pool] advanced to level 7

Skill [Accelerated Healing] advanced to level 8

Skill [Secrecy] advanced to level 8

Skill [Secrecy] advanced to level 9

Class [Eldritch Mage] advanced to level 13

No new titles. A [Victorious Underdog 4] would have answered the question of if I'd killed her, but lacking it didn't definitively prove that I hadn't. It might require defeating something of a higher level than seventy, or the title might not exist at all.

And those errors weren't ominous at all. Nope.

My status looked completely normal, with no skills, traits, or titles that I didn't expect. There was nothing new in the skill shop, either.

That damn slime. First she almost killed me accidentally, and then she tried again on purpose! All I wanted to do was help the twins. I hoped I had killed her. She deserved it. She...

Wait... No, I didn't hope that I'd killed her. Why would I even think that? She was mourning the loss of her mother. She...

Aargh!

My headache redoubled. Something was wrong, and it wasn't with my body. I shouldn't... but I had to know. With the range turned down to minimum, looking at nothing but myself, I activated [Soul Perception].

I managed to raise my arm enough to bring it into my field of vision. It looked normal to my regular eyesight, and I could move it as well as any other part of my body, which at the moment was admittedly not very much. To [Soul Perception], it wasn't there at all. That part of my soul, along with my shoulder and a chunk of my torso, was completely missing. The torn section was patterned with jagged yellow lines, completely different from the usual patterns that adorned my soul.

So close to my head... Was one part of my soul more important than another? Would losing my head have been fatal?

I let my arm fall limply back to the bed and shut off the skill. I'd crippled myself, not in body, but in soul. Perhaps that was responsible for my pain. Was it responsible for the violent impulse I'd just had? It would be normal to feel violent towards someone who'd just tried to kill me, wouldn't it? Or was I going to start suffering violent blackouts like Erryn? Suddenly, I was afraid to go back to sleep. What if I hurt someone? If I started making soul attacks, how many people would die? Would the Law prevent anyone from stopping me? Could I be the one responsible for bringing an end to this third civilization?

I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, unable to move but unwilling to sleep.