Jason holds up the mind pearl, “This little pearl solves that problem and why your kingdom is so keen on keeping the ecosystem balanced. From what I can see, someone skilled in alchemy should be able to create a potion from them and some other stuff to fix the problem. These mind pearls can control the swarm cat’s body. A tail or two wouldn’t phase it.”

Peter takes a deep drink from his mug. “Well, you found me out. How did you figure it out? You said you examined it, but I didn’t detect any skill use.”

Jason places the mind pearl back on the table. “A skill to assay the pearl wouldn’t bring up what I just talked about. Instead, I used my Energy to examine it. I’ve trained to control it at a very fine level of detail. While I can’t project it too far from my body, I can infiltrate such a small bauble with ease. Now I couldn’t tell you too much about the mind pearls. If it wasn’t for one specific quirk, I might not have even known.”

Courtney rolls her eyes, “Don’t leave us hanging. It is obvious you are going to tell us what it is so out with it.”

Jason laughs, “Simple enough, I need them myself. In fact, I could use whatever potion the kitsune uses to adjust to their tails. See, I control my Energy as threads and I’m reaching the limits of controlling them.”

Peter nods, “Yeah, it would help with stuff like that. While not well known, the potion of limb compatibility is always in demand. There aren’t many who grow extra prehensile limbs, but skills that create fake limbs are a dime a dozen. Though that is likely because of this problem. If they set the skill up to get around the limb limit, they would be so much harder to figure out. Any fool can copy their arms, but with mana. It takes a genius to figure out how to use them and their real arms at the same time.”

“Since the potion is a shortcut to that, of course people want it. And it is a shortcut, mind you. It isn’t like you can’t train to get the control you need. This isn’t the physical brain being used to control the limbs, but the soul. Though I wonder if it will work on you. Travellers don’t have the connections needed to get a potion. That and the ones that do, don’t believe it will work on them.”

Jason smiles, “So does knowing you count as having connections?”

Courtney shakes her head, “Does it matter? You should know better. Mind modification does not work on travellers.”

Jason gestures at the mind pearl on the table. “The thing is, these don’t affect the mind despite mind being in the name. They should instead be soul pearls or some such.”

Peter laughs and shakes his head, “Can’t hide anything from you. The swarm cats aren’t too different from other cats. They keep all their thoughts in their head. These pearls,” And he grabs the pearl off the table to put away. “The way they connect to the other cats is allowing the influence of the swarm’s soul to take control.”

Rosha frowns at the mention of souls and interrupts them. “I thought a soul meant being sapient. The swarms we are fighting aren’t sapient. Plus, doing things like culling sapients will not make you popular.”

Peter shrugs, “Swarms don’t have souls, at least not to start. The mind pearl provides the connection, and a pseudo-soul of sorts forms within the swarm. That decides in which direction the swarm will develop after going past being a swarm. If one specific member of the swarm monopolizes the pseudo-soul, then it becomes the queen of the swarm. When the pseudo-soul has spread out over the swarm, it becomes a hivemind.”

Rosha fixes everyone else with a glare, “And what might be the difference between a pseudo-soul and a genuine soul?”

Peter looks away and Jason coughs. Only Courtney answers, “That, that’s a little tough to answer.”

Rosha crosses her arms, “Is this one of those we want there to be a difference circumstance?”

Peter shakes his head, “I can promise you that is not the case. They are not sapient, they do not have a soul. The gods can vouch for me, even the System can vouch for it. My kingdom has even had some of the most powerful travellers come by and check for us.”

“The swarms do not have souls. The pseudo-soul that they have is to regular souls like dirt to stone. It has all the components of a soul but isn’t one. When a person dies, their soul goes to whatever afterlife they earned. When a swarm dies, all those little particles of not-soul drop to the ground.”

“The way the System stops a swarm from becoming too powerful is by putting pressure on those particles. Should the swarm fail in becoming sapient? That pressure will blow apart the particles. Should they succeed, those particles will collapse inward, forming a soul. You could almost see that moment as when they are born.”

Rosha keeps her glare up for a moment more before nodding. “I can accept that. It wouldn’t have felt right if we had been killing a sapient.”

Jason raises an eyebrow, “What about if we fight bandits?”

Rosha shrugs, “They are asking for it. With how Peter was lining up the swarms, that would be more like being part of a firing squad. Shooting fish in a barrel except the fish are people.”

Jason nods at this, “I can respect that.”