Noah wasn’t sure where to start. What could you say in a situation like this? As much as he wanted to ask her any question that came to his mind, he decided he’d take Mizune’s advice from training.

Take it one step at a time…

His body ached as he stood, and he supported himself on the tree he’d been leaned on by Grace. Despite his miserable position, Noah did his best to appear composed as he spoke.

“Hey… um… Grace? Can you tell me what this is all about?”

“Oh… right!” the golden woman replied, wiping away a few straggling tears as she stood to meet Noah.

“I’d love to get into everything about me and what our current mission isis, but for now… can you tell me what was up with those… assholes?”

Noah couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. He wasn’t sure why, but he assumed that someone like Grace would speak in a more dignified way. Perhaps it was all the time he spent with Mizune in the castle.

“They’re just a group of hundreds that hate me. If that stat sheet was anything to go by, you already know why… I can’t use aura. Lots of richer families feel like I stole their kid’s spot in the Haven School for the Strong, so they give me dirty looks. As for the students, they seem to think I’m not worthy to study with them. They’ve pulled stunts like this before, but they’ve never gone this far. I’m guessing Cynric was right about the Upper Echelon wanting me dead, but I’m still surprised they’d go this far over a nobody. I can only assume that since the Wolves’ Den Exam is coming up, they want to make sure I don’t embarrass Haven by showing up.”

Even though I probably wouldn’t be eligible. There’s no way my reputation is positive enough to warrant passage.

Noah waited for Grace to say something, and when, to his surprise, she didn’t, he found himself continuing without her prompting.

“I guess this was the easiest way for them to handle me. It makes sense. No one would care if some peasant boy went missing. I’m sure they already filled whatever tiny gap my presence caused.”

He went on like that for a while, talking down about himself and his situation. He rarely vented his genuine feelings, but as Noah continued to inspect Grace’s contemplative expression, he decided to confide in her. When he finally ran out of things to say, the two simply looked at each other in quiet for a long while. The silence was broken by Grace, much to Noah’s surprise.

“Is this what happens when you run out of jokes?”

Noah had no idea how to respond to that, and Grace must’ve surmised as much through reading his quizzical expression.

“It’s only been a day, but I’ve noticed that whenever something sad comes up in your head, you tell jokes. Even when you thought you were going to die, you just… laughed. My uncle Angel is like that. So I’m guessing this is what happens when you don’t have any more jokes. You’re just… depressed.”

As much as Noah wanted to laugh, he felt like he’d be playing into her assessment. Who did she think she was? She was a stranger that appeared to him on a random—

“Our souls are linked now, Noah. I know what you’re thinking, and I know how you feel.”

“...Then why ask? Why let me talk if you know what I’m going to say?”

“Getting your feelings out makes them easier to understand.”

“I understand my feelings… I do. I’m simply being realistic. I’m a nobody with no family and no future. I’m no King of Kissen. I’m no Aura Manipulator. I’m just a peas—”

Grace interrupted Noah with a hand before responding, her tone a bit sharp.

“You’re Noah Hearts. You’re close friends with Mizune Genesis. You’re one of the strongest swordsmen in your age group, and you’re the Incarnation of So–”

“What does that even–”

Both of their thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of multiple roars and growls. Unlike earlier, it wasn’t in the far-off distance. The distorted cries were close… dangerously close.

Noah looked up at Grace, whose expression seemed… excited?!

“What the hell are you–”

Before he could finish, she shrunk down to the size of his palm and flew down to his shoulder. With a loud grunt, she shot her palm toward the sky and expanded the size of the guiding flame she’d kept above the two.

“You wanted to know what I meant by Incarnation of Souls, right? You’re about to find out!”

As Grace’s light expanded, Noah’s heart sank as he saw his surroundings.

Five demons lurked in the trees, their yellow eyes trained on the two of them.

He’d seen artists’ interpretations of various demons, but this was the first time he’d ever seen one in the flesh. The purple centipede-like creatures were about 10 feet long and 3 feet wide. Their bulbous, vaguely human heads were surrounded by cone-shaped carapace.

I’d hate to thank him but at least Cynric gave me a…

Noah felt at his side where he assumed his sword would be, but as he remembered being carried off by Grace, he recalled that neither had picked up the sword Cynric had thrown at him.

…sword.

“Any… suggestions?” Noah said, his voice shaky.

Grace, laughing, responded while pointing deeper into the forest.

“Yeah, run!”

*****

The demons’ high-pitched screeches were loud enough to disorient Noah, but he did his best to ignore them as he ran deeper into the dark forest, dodging branches and cutting through trees at odd angles to cut them off. The few times he decided to turn around, he’d see the demons right there. Even though they were bug-like, he was glad they didn’t have pincers, otherwise, he would’ve been dead a while ago.

They didn’t hit me with any projectiles, so I can assume they’re Class As. I just need to find a way to circle back and pick up my sword…

As he ran, Grace laughed like a madman.

…and she’s no help. I don’t know how long this adrenaline boost is going to last. I’m sure I’ve healed a bit, but not enough that–”

“I’m sorry, Noah! I was working on a few things under the hood. Your system’s still new, so I had to make sure there were no errors with the initialization. You ready to kick some ass?!”

“Grace, all you’ve been doing is laughing! You can’t just say kick some ass and just expect me to be strong enough to kill these guys! I don’t know what ‘Incarnation of Souls’ means, but unless it means I can pull rabbits out of hats, I doubt that it matters that much!”

Upon hearing this, Grace laughed harder. Before Noah could say something she stood on his shoulder and pointed at the branch above him.

“Jump up to that branch then launch off of it in the direction of your sword! We need to isolate one of them so you can kill it and level up! Once you do, we can get your sword and fight the rest.”

Level up?

Rather than go back and forth with Grace, he followed her instructions. The moment he jumped, one of the bug-like demons launched for the position he’d once been and attempted to crawl up the tree to reach him.

Crap!

Noah leaped from the tree, using the momentum to push himself forward. As he did so, the demon that’d been so close to him screeched and began following him more closely.

“Jump when I say so!” Grace called out, all traces of humor gone from her voice.

“Right!”

Each time Grace would call out, the demon would lunge for Noah’s feet and Noah would just barely dodge. They had a nice rhythm going…

…for a while.

After about six jumps, a sharp pain crawled up from Noah’s right knee and he fell on his back. Immediately he remembered being struck in the knee back in his house.

Damn, this isn’t good.

Seeing its opportunity, the demon crawled on top of Noah’s body. Its many legs pinned Noah’s limbs while he struggled against its weight.

“Noah, you need to listen to me… close your eyes.”

“What?!”

“Close them now!”

You’d better know what you’re doing.

As Noah closed his eyes, Noah was surprised to find a small blue dot in the distance.

The demon is gonna eat me. It just screeched and I’m pretty sure my hearing is gone.

“Grab that blue dot, Noah! It’s yours. It belongs to you!” Grace spoke. To Noah’s surprise, he could hear her clearly.

“H…how?”

“Will it closer to you! Reclaim what is yours!”

Did the demon just lick me? I’m really about to be eaten.

Ignoring his growing fear, Noah listened to Grace and did his best to will the blue dot toward him. As it got closer, he felt the demon’s movements slow. Noah took a deep breath to calm his nerves before whispering aloud.

“It belongs to me. This is my property. I own it.”

The moment he finished talking, his body filled with a massive wave of energy as though he’d just had a good night’s sleep. When he opened his eyes, he was stunned to find the demon was now weightless and motionless. Fighting his disbelief, he pushed it off of him and hesitantly reached for its bulbous head. When it didn’t react, Noah decided the best course of action would be to rip its head off.

It came off easily.

“Grace… what was that?”

Her prior intensity was once again replaced by her excitement.

“Congratulations, you just absorbed your first soul! And now…”

YOU HAVE GAINED 1363 SOUL POINTS.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEND THEM?

Noah had no idea how to react to the blue screen. For one, the demons seemed to ignore him as they observed their fallen brethren. As he dropped the head of the demon Grace spoke up.

“Yes!”

ACKNOWLEDGED.

When the next screen popped up, Noah couldn’t help but feel the same excitement as Grace. Hell, he probably felt even more than she did as the reality of his situation seemed to set in.

I can’t believe I’m excited to fight demons… I’ve been spending too much time with Mizune!

WHICH STAT(S) WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEVEL UP?

HEALTH: HOW RESILIENT ONE'S BODY IS

CURRENT: 10

AURA: HOW LARGE ONE’S AURA RESERVES ARE

CURRENT: 0

STAMINA: HOW LONG ONE CAN FIGHT

CURRENT: 10

STRENGTH: HOW PHYSICALLY STRONG ONE IS

CURRENT: 10

MANIPULATION: HOW STRONG ONE’S AURA IS

CURRENT: 10

INTELLIGENCE: ONE'S ABILITY TO USE COMPLEX AURA TECHNIQUES

CURRENT: 10

SOUL: HOW STRONG ONE’S SOUL MANIPULATION IS

CURRENT: -BOUNDLESS-

CONTROL: HOW STRONG ONE’S WORLD MANIPULATION IS

CURRENT: 0

Noah looked away from the blue screen and down at Grace, whose wide smile was almost as wide as his. There was no need to discuss what the plan was. The two spoke to the blue screen in unison:

“Put it all into AURA!”

ACKNOWLEDGED.

TEN LEVELS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO [AURA].

CONGRATULATIONS. YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 2. GENOVA SMILES UPON YOU.

CURRENT STATS:

HEALTH: 10

AURA: 0 > 10

STAMINA: 10

STRENGTH: 10

MANIPULATION: 10

INTELLIGENCE: 10

SOUL: -BOUNDLESS-

CONTROL: 0

Upon confirming Noah’s new level, the blue screen disappeared. He looked down at Grace once again, the girl’s excited smile turning to one of understanding as she looked upon him.

“Just…like that?”

“Just like that.”

Sure, they were in the middle of a battle. He was sure that the moment he moved, the four demons surrounding him would rush at him, but now… now he could fight them. Now he could use aura. Eighteen years of weakness were removed.

Just like that.

He couldn’t stop himself from shedding a few tears, and Grace, thankfully, didn’t judge him for it. Noah knew he couldn’t stay like that forever, though. Now came the fun part.

“I think… I know why you were so excited.”

Grace looked up at him with a mischievous grin and a rather intimidating air about her.

“How about we go get that sword?”