Chapter 81

I don’t spend much time in my shadow form for one reason, it is weak. It does have some utility, being able to move through walls is definitely useful, but it is slow and easily injured. Yeah weapons that are not enchanted can’t hurt me in that form, but good luck finding one. Hell I would die just from being in direct sunlight in that form.

But that is all about to change. Luckily this shade died recently, meaning I can absorb it and use it to enhance my own shadow form, the idea that this is cannibalism did cross my mind, quickly followed by a brief chuckle. I sit down in the center of the room and try different methods to absorb it into my body. It doesn’t take long until I figure it out. What I end up doing is entering my shadow form and sucking it into myself. It is remarkably similar to absorbing a soul stone, meaning it is pretty easy for me. I predict roughly half a day too fully absorb the shade.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened in that half a day. After I was done I decided to see the new extent of my abilities as a shade. I wasn’t surprised that my blink ability was more powerful, but I was surprised that it was triple to previous strength, meaning the split second it takes was cut in thirds and the possible distance tripled. In addition my normal movement speed in this form is now around my normal walking speed, and light doesn’t affect me as much.

I was surprised that I was able to remove toxins much faster; I think it has to do with the fluidity of the body, allowing me to move the insides around easier. What would have taken a month before will now take days, unfortunately I don’t have days to spend like that yet.

‘I had better get going’

It doesn’t take long to get back to the village. By the time I get there it is about noon and everything is business as usual. I decide to go see aunty, uncle, and my godson, Nathan.

Entering the big house I find uncle sitting in the living room with Nathan on his lap. Both of them light up when they see me. Uncle picks Nathan up and walks over to me, handing the little boy to me.

“here, take care of your godson for a little while.” Uncle

Before I can say anything I am holding him and uncle is nowhere to be seen. Nathan touches my soul portraying a sense of excitement, and a hint of thirst for knowledge. At this point I am completely convinced Nathan is an ancient.

After examining his soul a little I see that he has great potential in soul magic, likely my fault. Nathan notices as asks me to teach him about soul magic. I make him swear not to use soul magic without my direct supervision. When he agrees I drill into him just how dangerous it is, as an ancient I believe him capable of understanding the value of his own soul.

Before I do anything I put a minor easily revisable enchantment on him as a failsafe in case something goes terribly wrong nothing too bad will happen. Yes it will slow his growth slightly, but better safe than sorry. And if he is anything like his parents then that will be a very real risk.

After teaching him some basic exercises, which he figures out pretty quickly, I pick him up and go down to the basement to talk to talk to Alfred, I want to examine the goblin he found with a soul based ability.

I find Alfred doing, something, to the mind of a nearby goblin, it looks like a more advanced form of my own soul enchanting. He quickly finishes up what he was doing, which I believe is making the goblin’s strength higher. Once he is done Alfred turn to me and smiles.

“What do I owe the pleasure of your visit today, your majesty” Alfred

He finishes the sentence with a slight bow that feels almost mocking, which I ignore.

“I want to examine the goblin you were telling me about, the one with a soul based ability.

“ah yes, I was actually experimenting with what I have learned from that specimen. Observe.” Alfred

We watch as the goblin stands up and punches the wall, leaving a goblin fist sized dent in it, before doing it again, only for his bones to snap. Alfred puts him down before he can scream.

“Dumb brute wasn’t able to control his strength and couldn’t withstand it. Need to improve endurance or intelligence as well next time.” Alfred

He writes his notes into a third notebook before turning to me.

“one moment please” Alfred

It takes almost exactly a minute for him to return, with a red skinned goblin.

“The red skin has nothing to do with his gift; it’s the tribe I took him from. They all had red skin.” Alfred

I look into his soul for a little bit, stimulating different areas until I find what I’m looking for, close to the emotional centers is the little bit that allows him to create fire, looks like emotion is the main trigger for his gift.

After think for a moment I decide to see if I can improve it, make it more powerful and easier to control. For power it is pretty easy, all I need to do is refine it and expand it, something I have some experience with. Control is much more difficult, there are a number of things I can try. The first thing that comes to mind is separating it completely from the emotional centers, which backfires; the goblin isn’t able to create fire at all after that. I instead decide to tie it to a part of the mind, which works. It takes the goblin several minutes to figure it out, but once he does he has much more control over it than he did before. After that I spend around an hour growing and refining his ability till eventually the process become so slow that it isn’t worth the time.

Almost as soon as I am done the goblin lies down, and takes a nap. During the nap the goblin rapidly changes, an evolution. His red skin starts to darken, becoming a much deeper red, he grows horns, becomes much taller, as well as several other things.

“a variant hobgoblin, impressive. I guess I’ve found my body guard, now I just need to train him.” Alfred

“body guard?” Jack

“I’m weak, and I have very little potential to grow stronger, yes my mind is strong, by my soul is missing, which cripples me in many ways. I don’t regret it, but I need something to protect myself. You don’t have to worry about him attacking me, for the more, interesting ones, the ones I want to keep around for a while I have developed a way to brainwash them.” Alfred

“I’ll let you handle it then” Jack

“you know, I found my soul.” Alfred

“oh, really? Tell me more.” Jack

“it was weak and miserable, I want it, I want to possess my soul. I want to control it, to consume it. But, my mind is not strong enough yet. Can you help me with that?” Alfred

“I can arrange for some soul stones to be sent to you in a couple days, absorbing them should give you a pretty big boost, probably not enough for what you want to achieve, but definitely something.” Jack

“Thank you.” Alfred

“I want to see you succeed, my curiosity has been piqued and I won’t be satisfied till I know what happens. Besides, your strength is part of my own strength. Grow so I can profit from your success.” Jack

We discuss many things about the soul, trading knowledge and running some experiments until aunty comes down for Nathan, who had fallen to sleep in my arms.

End chapter 81