“Here, I don’t care what you do with this.”

In the spacious kitchen, Jayce furrowed his brow as Marin handed him a fist-sized clump of hair. This snow-colored, needle-like hair had been freshly carved from the glacial worm’s scalp. There was also some blood and bits of tissue still stuck on it.

“Um, why this? And why did you take it from the scalp?”

Jayce thought these were fairly safe questions, but Marin’s odd look made him cringe.

“If you don’t even know what talismans are, then you should rethink whatever you’re trying to do. Creating artifacts isn’t as easy as I made it look.”

“I know what I’m doing…Sort of.”

Jayce had a lot of questions about his Soul-Guided Forging ability. Questions such as how did this guidance actually work? Would the soul in question be harmed in any way? The text mentioned that being guided by a soul would bring a ‘valuable experience’, but what was that? At the same time, there were also things he understood instinctively, just like with any other ability.

To activate Soul-Guided Forging, Jayce only needed materials and a soul.

Closing his eyes, Jayce turned his attention within himself. He could feel something in the center of his chest. Rather than an object, it was like a tiny pinhole that led to a mysterious space. Within this space were two white flames and a tiny black coal surrounded by violet fire. One of the white flames was slowly fading away while the other burned vigorously and its edges were tinted with a faint purple glow. The former was the soul of the glacial worm while the latter was Jayce’s own soul.

As Kulve had predicted, Jayce’s soul underwent a change after he survived the soulfire’s tempering. Because of this mutation, Jayce was able to ‘see’ his soul and the soulfire in his core. On top of that, he could also sense other souls that were near him. Dead souls that were disconnected from their corpses were easy to find. Living souls, on the other hand, were much more difficult to sense. While he focused, Jayce found that he could sense every soul in a 15-meter radius of himself. However, finding living souls required several minutes and his full concentration.

This sixth sense wasn’t a class ability recognized by the system. It could be considered an innate ability of Jayce’s.

As for why the glacial worm’s soul was resting in his body, that was because Jayce was in close proximity when it died. Like a traveler seeking shelter in a storm, the soul naturally went inside Jayce when its body passed away. Even though it had found shelter, it was still fading rapidly and would dissipate in another hour or so. Jayce probed the soul with his mental energy, but he didn’t sense any consciousness within it.

‘If a soul doesn’t contain our consciousness, then what is it?’ Jayce was puzzled, but he decided to leave this philosophical discussion for later.

Gripping the bloodied hair, Jayce hoped that this ‘forging material’ would be enough. Jayce wasn’t too concerned with whether or not he could broaden Marin’s horizons, but he wanted to investigate this strange ability as soon as possible. Both Bloodrage and Bloody Vitality were absurdly powerful abilities in the right hands, and Jayce had high hopes for his second special class as well.

Taking a deep breath, Jayce activated Soul-Guided Forging. The moment he did, his mental energy rushed out to coil around the glacial worm’s soul. There was some resistance. This monster was a higher level than Jayce, but the difference in life order wasn’t staggering. It ultimately submitted and was wrapped in his mental energy. Suddenly, Jayce felt a strange sense of inspiration overcome him. His eyes grew dim as he surrendered himself completely to it.

Dim blue mana accumulated on Jayce’s fingertips and he watched himself draw on his own arms. Though he only drew crude lines, Jayce recognized that these were similar to the runes Marin had drawn earlier. Soon, Jayce’s hands and forearms were protected by a barrier that overlapped with his protective bands.

After that, Jayce found that his memory became faulty. He watched himself coax the soulfire out of the black coal and was amazed as purple flames danced artfully in his hands. The stiff white hairs became hot and pliable, but they didn’t burn. Jayce was also spared from burning his hands off because of his careful control and the barrier he’d set up earlier.

Mobilizing his mana and his bare hands, Jayce began to shape the material. He remembered scenes where his mana flowed through the runes to act as faux tools, helping him cut and shape the hairs as though he had telekinesis. As his hands molded it, Jayce also vaguely remembered doing something to the aspects within the hairs. He had even drawn runes onto the finished vessel. Different to the runes that Marin had drawn, which were like concepts wrapped in convenient symbols, Jayce’s runes were simple lines that merely guided the flow of power.

Frustratingly, all of these memories were fuzzy and unreliable. He had completed his work in a trance and forgot almost everything once he woke up.

In his hands, that messy clump of hair had been replaced with…

‘A finger puppet?’

Jayce stared down dubiously at the tiny open-ended cylinder. The larger end was wide enough for a finger while the smaller end resembled a jagged maw. The hair fibers didn’t overlap like a knitted product. Instead, they had merged together like a piece of fibrous parchment. Overall, the product bore an uncanny resemblance to the deceased glacial worm.

The design was also surprisingly cute, but Jayce had trouble accepting that after being swallowed by the real thing.

“You…Was that purple fire from a flame bonding ceremony?”

Looking up Jayce saw Marin staring at the palm-sized object in his hands with wide eyes. It looked like she hadn’t blinked once during the entire forging process.

“Flame bonding ceremony?”

“I heard rumors that some artifact refiners keep flames inside their bodies.” Still out of it, Marin’s reply was stiff and mechanical. “These flames are carefully passed from master to pupil in a flame bonding ceremony.”

Jayce shook his head but didn’t explain any further. The instant he heard the word ‘carefully’, Jayce knew that he hadn’t undergone a flame bonding ceremony. What Marin described was likely a safe method to place a flame beside one’s soul. Kulve had simply forced a flame into Jayce’s body and left him to gain control of it on his own. Even if the result was similar, the Soul Forger ritual was likely several times more difficult than a standard ceremony.

“Let me see it.”

Marin didn’t care about Jayce’s unsatisfying answer. Her hands didn’t move, but the puppet flew out of Jayce’s palm and was swiftly caught by her. Marin examined the artifact with her mental energy and her wide eyes soon became narrow. The burgeoning enthusiasm that she was exuding suddenly vanished like a flame smothered by cold water. Glancing at Jayce, Marin reigned in her disappointed expression, but her eyes had reverted to that dismissive look that had irked him before. The artifact was tossed back to him, and he hesitated for a moment before examining it.

Ice Gathering Charm (Shoddy)

Energy Requirement: Below First Gate

A charm whose creation was inspired by a glacial worm’s love of being burrowed in ice. When this charm is activated, ice will slowly accumulate on the charm owner’s body. This process is very gradual and requires mana to be paid upfront.

Note: As a shoddy product, the ice gathering function will take three times longer than usual and this charm will break after a single activation.

“Huh.” Jayce’s tone and expression were flat as he stared at the useless object in his hands. Theoretically, he could create a layer of ice armor or freeze himself in a pinch. In reality, this charm worked too slowly to be practical in a fight or during an emergency. Also, freezing oneself wasn’t a great ability even at the best of times.

Curious, Jayce closed his eyes and activated his other Soul Forger ability—Sense Aspects. After spending some time to focus, the world within Jayce’s mental view gained a bit of color but it was mostly still dark. That meant the mana in the air surrounding him was devoid of aspects.

This wasn’t surprising because aspects were normally only found inside special materials like glow stone. Aspects freely floating through the air was one of the main features of a dungeon. As lifeforms created from this mana, monster bodies were also filled with aspects and could be used to create artifacts. The only catch was that these aspects were tangled and chaotic when compared those inside metals and other natural materials.

Jayce sensed several aspects inside this charm and the most notable ones were aspects of ice, calling and concealment.

“To be blunt, you have good fundamentals, and you can shape materials well because of your flame, but your craftsmanship is terrible. It’s very clear that you don’t have much talent as a refiner. Were you sent here because your teacher gave up on you?”

“Haha…” When Jayce saw Marin’s pitying gaze, he could only laugh dryly.

While the final product was disappointing, Jayce was happy with this result. He had learned that the ‘valuable experience’ provided by Soul-Guided Forging was the traces of memories he kept from the refining process. It was like having the system itself teach him how to refine artifacts. The problem was that Jayce didn’t remember very much, and he figured he’d need to use this skill a lot to truly benefit from it.

Unfortunately, there were several issues that limited his use of this skill. Firstly, he needed to find materials to work with. For someone who didn’t even know what money looked like in this world, that was already a daunting task. Finding souls was another issue, especially because they didn’t keep for too long. The foreign soul resting in Jayce’s chest hadn’t been injured by his ability, but it would soon pass on to some unknown place. Finally, there was the issue of mana. Most of the steps in his forging process required mana, and Jayce had currently lost more than half of his reserves just to shape a clump of hair. He wondered if having proper tools would help make his work more efficient.

Marin had lost interest in Jayce’s refining abilities, so they quietly returned to the dining room. Lyra looked back and smiled at them the moment they returned.

“Have you two finished your chat?”

Marin gave her mother a strange glance when the saw that the older woman was practically glowing with happiness. Jayce had also noticed her good mood, but he couldn’t fathom the reason behind it. No matter what world they were in, a mother wouldn’t normally be so happy when her daughter went off to talk with a male stranger.

“Better to leave technical talk for those who have the stomach for it.” Stout grumbled, but Jayce noticed he was also strangely pleased. “Managing mana flow, aspects and the monsters that spawn from them is all fine, but few people in this village can have conversations about runes or forging.”

‘Conversely, that means there are people here who know how to forge.’ Jayce thought, making a mental note. ‘Then again, an isolated place like this needs to be self-sufficient. It would be strange if no one here could handle artifacts.’

Time passed and the six people continued to enjoy their dinner. Jayce’s presence waned as the conversation shifted to gossip and anecdotes from their work. Hearing about their daily lives was informative, but most of what Jayce heard wasn’t very important.

“Well Jayce…” Stout exchanged a glance with Lyra and then turned towards his guest. “If we know anything about you, it’s that you don’t have a place to stay. There’s a spare room you can use tonight.”

Having expected this, Jayce nodded gratefully. “Thank you. I don’t have any money at the moment, but I’ll find a way to repay your kindness.”

“It isn’t much.” Lyra waved her hand, but she was smiling warmly.

Just as Jayce felt that things were going his way, Marin rapped the table and got everyone’s attention.

“Feeding him is one thing, but having an outsider spend the night in your house is too dangerous.”

Jayce was too shocked to respond. Meanwhile, Stout and Lyra looked at Marin reproachfully. Folding his arms, Stout frowned and shook his head.

“Even if he’s an outsider, it’s late and he doesn’t have anywhere else to go. Besides, he hasn’t opened the first gate yet. Even though we aren’t fighters, your mother and I have lived long enough to open our second gates. Are you really worried for our safety?”

Jayce was a little surprised to hear that. He hadn’t expected that even random farmers would be over level 40. Judging from Stout’s tone, their levels were fairly normal. This also made him even more wary of Marin because she was apparently even stronger than them.

“Not everyone in this house has come of age.”

Jayce grit his teeth when he realized her implication. “I would never—”

“We don’t know anything about you.” Marin snapped. “How can we trust you? Also, even if we did have a reason to trust you, that doesn’t mean we owe you anything. You should be grateful that we even fed you.”

“I am very grateful but…” Trailing off, Jayce realized he couldn’t make much of an argument. As Marin said, he wasn’t entitled to their kindness.

Lyra looked at Marin, clearly disappointed in her daughter. Marin returned her gaze with steady eyes. From Jayce’s angle, it didn’t seem like Marin was trying to intimidate her family into making a decision. Instead, she seemed to be saying, ‘I know I’m right, hurry up and realize it.’ To his surprise, this tactic was very effective.

“I’m sorry Jayce. You’ll have to find somewhere else to stay.”

Jayce looked at Lyra who had just spoken and then at Stout. Neither of them met his eyes. Frustration welled up within him, but he didn’t try to argue. It would be pointless, and he didn’t want to cause trouble for people who had helped him. Stout and Lyra saw him to the door. Meanwhile, Marin and their other kids stayed at the table. Plume and Lucas looked confused, clearly wondering why things had taken a sudden unpleasant turn. Still, they knew it wasn’t their place to speak up.

“Once again, thank you for the meal.” Jayce said, nodding lightly before closing the door.

Cold air and freezing snowflakes embraced him the moment he left the house. The sun had already set, but the gorgeous star-filled night sky wasn’t enough to lift Jayce’s mood. He started walking towards the center of the village without any real destination.

As the cold sunk into his body, Jayce realized that he might be in serious trouble. When it came to survival, securing shelter was even more important than food or water. Being exposed to uninhabitable temperatures would kill faster than dehydration or starvation, after all. Jayce didn’t need a thermometer or an app to see that night in this alien northern land would be well below freezing.

Refusing to panic, Jayce reached back and pinched the tag on his jacket. After some concentration, the ruffles on his shirt smoothed out, and a thick layer of hair-like fibers grew over the dress shirt. His black jacket also became bulkier and lengthened into a long coat that reached his knees. Within a few minutes, Jayce’s clothing no longer looked so formal. Now, he was bundled up with a thick white shirt and a vest wrapped inside a heavy dark coat. His pants were thicker as well while his shoes had grown to become more like boots.

As he looked himself over, Jayce once again marveled at the wealth of the Goldscale clan. Even their servant’s clothes were like something out of a fairy tale. He hadn’t included his clothes when he was taking inventory of his valuables, but that had been a mistake.

Idly, he wondered how Mize was doing right now. He didn’t know what kind of valuables she kept in her storage device, but if she’d been tossed into the wilderness like he had, then her possessions wouldn’t matter. She didn’t have Erilin to guard her either. Even so, Jayce couldn’t imagine her dying to random monsters.

A complex look appeared on Jayce’s face when he remembered how she had saved his life, but he quickly shook his head. This wasn’t the time to worry about repaying a favor.

Jayce kept walking, wondering if he was going to have to start knocking on doors. Aside from that worthless charm, he didn’t have anything he was willing to sell. There likely wouldn’t be shops open this late anyways. Currently, his best idea was to lower his head and beg someone to let him stay the night.

“What are you thinking about?”

Jumping like a startled cat, Jayce whirled around to see Marin standing behind him. She looked at him with a flat expression, neither smiling nor glaring at him. Though, when he jumped, Jayce thought he saw the corners of her lips twitch a little.

“Fuck. What do you want?”

Ignoring his hostile attitude, Marin walked right past him before speaking.

“I don’t live with my family. Tonight, you can stay at my place.”

A lightbulb lit up in Jayce’s mind.

“You were worried about leaving me with your parents, so you planned on letting me stay at your place. Why didn’t you just tell me that earlier?”

“You could call it a test of character. If you had reacted violently, I wouldn’t have found you and made this offer.”

‘…This bitch. I was seriously worried about freezing to death.’

“And you aren’t worried about being attacked or stolen from?” Jayce asked in a disgruntled tone.

Marin chuckled. “Nope.”

“Then…” Jayce sighed. “I’ll gratefully accept your offer.”