Niven eventually decided against trying to kill the undead drake. Dissuaded by the fact that if he did so he would immediately promote, which, according to Apollyon, would make it much harder for him to sense his inner soul, he turned his back to the still-pacing monster and walked away.

The creature gave off increasingly weaker roars of frustration as its figure receded into the distance until nothing could be heard at all. As they left, Apollyon slipped off an imperceptibly small piece of itself and latched itself onto the zombie. A host like that would prove useful for when it would inevitably return.

It had decided to already once it had figured out enough of the undead’s curse to overwrite it and have it spread its Crystalline Plague instead. The foundation was all there, just, the situation wasn't ripe yet.

Forced to make a detour around the Blighted part of the forest, they inevitably needed to travel for longer to reach whatever city was closest.

Making their way further toward civilization at a steady and unhurried pace, Apollyon's host walked for hours in the peaceful woods. The greenery was unending, and as day turned into night, every direction started to look the same, but Apollyon knew the way. It was never guided by sight alone, after all.

Niven was oriented by the Suns, but Apollyon had more esoteric ways to find its mark.

Still not feeling physically tired and unable to sleep, Niven stopped at a clearing to ensure he was not ambushed and followed the mediation technique given to him. As the Suns set deeper and deeper into the horizon, a profound silence fell upon their camp. Apollyon watched his progress - and reflected on its own.

The encounter had gone surprisingly well. Even though it disliked being handled in such a way, it was not something it had any right to complain about. For all intents and purposes, the solution Niven came up with had been a resounding success, if only a little strange. Such a maneuver had saved a fair amount of energy and processing power, which, though minor, would add up over time if this resourcefulness was continued.

However, with this night marking the third day of their meeting, they had reached the point in their partnership where Apollyon had a rough understanding of where they were headed. It felt like their current connection was still rather stiff, but hopefully, this would change with that suggestion earlier being the mark of the boy opening up a little more. Not meekly accepting every offer presented by it was a start. Not a large one, but it was a foot in the door in the right direction.

After getting to know their partner a little as they trekked across the Divide, Apollyon had assumed that Niven had become completely mentally deficient after living such a deprived life, but it seemed he still had a little creativity left in him.

While its soul-bound partner taking the initiative for once was a welcome surprise, what was more satisfying was him taking its advice seriously.

Even though being able to sense his own inner soul had no tangible benefit for him, Niven held its words at heart. Apollyon could feel how much he wanted to succeed in this endeavor, even though he didn't even grasp what it would even mean.

That much would be a blessing, and Apollyon did not wish for him to know what it did and would do behind his back.

Once the boy's inner soul was within reach, it could get on with its more dangerous experiments. Experiments that could take his partner to the sky in a single step, though far more likely was it to end in the poor boy’s demise. Regardless of the outcomes, it was valuable data in the end.

It was hard to find such a lucky fellow, and it’d hate to have to change partners so soon, but that was just how things were shaping up. It was hardly omnipotent. Its nigh omnipotence only came as a result of its accumulated knowledge, and if it wanted to continue staying at the bleeding edge of progress, then sacrifices had to be made.

Apollyon thought about it for a moment.

It did want to continue helping the boy, but looking at the rate things were going his luck would progress to a point where his growth would fail to keep up.

The only way for him to survive for much longer would be for it to step up its material investments, which were unlikely to see any returns, or continue the training and hope for positive results. Both were unacceptable, and its positive outlook on Niven would not change any of that.

However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for this partnership.

Apollyon felt that it was close to understanding how to, while not completely stop the curse, at least mitigate it a bit. It had been working on this for the past 10 years, though the few working hypotheses could only be put to the test after meeting Niven. Therefore, it made blazing progress in the past few days. After all, the curse itself was a class skill, not a condition. It was a part of it, and it might as well be another limb of its. Even if that limb had been severely deformed by the resentment of billions, at the end of the day, it was still its own.

The time before it had been spent laying the groundwork. Karma and Causality were difficult things to study in a vacuum, all isolated in that comet for so many years, but it had to be done. Not only was it useful to understand, but it will directly determine the longevity of its future partners.

If these were to be successful, then it would be much easier to justify further investment rather than just cashing out in a little while. Furthermore, it never intended to stifle the curse completely. An interesting life was better than a boring one, though it could only say that because it was not he one risking its head.

However, a double-digit negative luck was too much. It was simply a death sentence. Any resources sent their way would be difficult to take advantage of.

Even with Niven’s sizable luck of 15, after he became soulbound to it, he suffered misfortune after misfortune. They had collected some resources far beyond Niven's means, like that sandworm's flesh and blood, which could translate into a powerup or two, but that would simply make him take even longer to get used to his power.

Control was what was lacking here, not raw might.

Therefore, it needed to knock that down a bit to something more survivable and into that sweetspot where enemies would be sending experience, slowing killing its host via a death of a thousand cuts. This was estimated to sit at around -4 or -5, though that kind of testing would be farther into the future.

So far, Niven was already showing signs of being unable to keep up with the pace.

While he’d been able to convince the kid that his luck was innate, eventually, he will realize that ever since they met his life has become much more ‘exciting’. Two nigh insurmountable foes in a row might not have made that click just yet but the third? The fourth? Even if he was extremely slow, he would have to at least get a feeling that something was off by the time the tenth happened. Though whether he would even get there was a question.

Furthermore, the more it intervened, the more dangerous the next incident become. Luck was something that flowed like the tide. The more resistance it meets, the stronger it will become, and eventually those foolhardy enough to challenge it alongside those cursed to misfortune will be swept away as well.

Apollyon was not keen on testing the limits of Causality, especially when it had only shallowly dipped the tip of its blade into its abyssal depths. It would be wrong to assume that one was invincible even after reaching such a height. Hubris was the greatest enemy of every ascendant figure.

Someone under protection with bad luck will die regardless of how strong their bodyguard is. Their bodyguard might have an array of talents, but they cannot know everything.

The only way to survive under these conditions was to grow faster than the unlucky events and use them to become stronger. In a way, it was like an inverse Son of Heaven. Either way, the world is funneling resources into them, it was just a matter of how lethal those resources were for their given situation.

Medicine can just as easily become poison when overdosed.

It would all be so much simpler if it was able to put its full might on display.

It was an alien, after all. Even though it had gotten through legitimately via the System, and had paid an exorbitant sum to not get suppressed - a payment that it was bound to get back eventually - it was merely that. A lack of suppression did not mean that it had the authority to touch the world’s roots.

The ambient mana might not refuse its call, but they resisted to when it tried to draw them into itself. This was nothing new. The world too, is keen on seeing a return on its investment. It once had ways around these blockades and encryption methods, but they were fragmented after the fragmentation of its [Soul Archive]. That was the problem with having your library also be your shield, though it wouldn't have it any other way. It had ensured its more important aspects were intact.

This could all be recovered with time.

Unable to derive its own methods by studying naturally, it had try to take the comprehension of others forcefully. These saw mixed results however.

Those [Soul-King]s and [Supplicant]s he’d absorbed all utilized the System to obtain their power, meaning their connection to the World had a degree of separation. As such, it was unable to observe the World’s laws through them. Their understanding over their own power was shallow, but it knew from their memories that not everyone was like this.

If it wanted real progress it would need to find the older [Soul-King]s or make its way into the Divine Realm for those gods. Either way, it was not going to be an easy feat.

It’s current form was just not tailored for that kind of destructive accumulation.

That was why it wanted to cultivate a soul-bound partner to make them dive for it.

In its current state, if it wanted to do everything itself, it could only flail helplessly. Well, that wasn’t completely true. It still had more than enough Soulium reserves to cause a lot of damage, but blindly causing chaos was never what it wanted, despite the levels it could gain in doing so.

Taking the fall for its own actions was never intention.

Apollyon looked up from its musings, checking Niven’s progress.

He was making surprisingly fast progress. Niven had already made it into the initiation stage, which basically amounted to having a vague picture of the outer soul in his mind. That alone would have stumped most for a few weeks. This quick improvement could be chalked up to a number of confounding factors, but Apollyon wasn't too concerned about the repeatability of this session, so it didn't dig deeper into why Niven was so successful.

While it was an inheritance it had obtained from the [Supplicant], it had been changed and simplified a good bit. All the extraneous parts were removed, focusing only on the aspect that pertained to sensing the soul.

It obviously didn't expect Niven to be a genius in this, but that'll make the rest of it smoother.

*Should I really continue to go through wih this?*

*Yes. If Niven can succeed in this, even if every other project planned for this vessel had to be scrapped it would all be worth it.*

Making up its mind, it pulled Niven's soul down into the physical realm, trying to help him better visualize it. This was all it could do. The outer soul was the only thing it could touch before the inner soul was found. It was something that only the individual could find, and that was a gap that not even soul-binding could bridge.

Once found, however, all bets were off.

Your meditation has shown promise. Color me impressed. You've almost got it, so lets just skip that step. You know how this goes, so we can try to find the inner soul now.

Open your eyes. See that? That's your soul. Small, isn't it? Not even reaching the size of your hand. It'll get bigger with time, growing as you accumulate more power. However, that isn't what were here for. You have the easy part out of the way. We need to find the inner soul. a speck within that little blob. You can imagine how difficult it would be once your soul becomes larger.

Yes… You can feel the soul energy I have directed to you. That is good. Now… Dig deeper. Follow the flow... Release… Your mind... Follow the flow...

Apollyon saw to it that Niven entered a trance. He would stay that way until he succeeded or was disrupted by something. The latter was unlikely with it standing guard, and with the showing he had with the meditation technique, Apollyon had high hopes.

A day passed. Then another. All while the mantra repeated on and on.

Some threats approached at times, but they were quickly taken care of. Although Apolly loathed to act personally, it knew its priorities.

While monitoring for any unusual changes, on the fifth day, Apollyon noticed something exceedingly peculiar.

*Wait. Why is his luck suddenly going down?*

Without warning, Niven's luck had dropped from -10 to -11. Apollyon ran its [Detech Luck] hastily, and documented the changes.

Niven was at the threshold for discovering his inner soul. It could not have its curse ruin the moment.

In the meantime, it tried to utilize the tricks it had theorized to reign in a bit of its curse. If it dropped any more, this could only end in disaster.

However, as the days passed, Apollyon would discover that this was no isolated incident. Niven's luck had lowered by either 1 or 2 points every day, before finally settling on -20.

Through the constant practice, Apollyon’s efforts were recognized by the System and it was able to obtain the skill [Curse Mastery]. At [F] Rank, it was able to bump it back up to -15. Still worse than before, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. As things were now, Niven could use every last bit.

Now that the skill template had been obtained, with some more work it could prove to be an invaluable stopgap before it truly understood what was going on.

Looking at the deteriorating luck above Niven’s head, Apollyon could only think of one thing that somewhat fit the current situation.

It had only seen a meteoric drop in luck like this once. Heroes, having finished with their worldly mission, would see their luck return to reasonable ranges. No longer the chosen ones, their luck would be, while still higher than average, a lot less than at its height. Niven's previously insanely high luck of 15 dropping to the more traditional 5 reflected this progression.

Only, Niven shouldn’t have been a Son of Heaven, right? It was also impossible for his task to have been completed. He hadn't even accomplished anything yet. His luck wasn’t high enough to qualify as one, either. those Sons of Heaven usually had luck upwards of 30.

As such, while the framework seemed to fit, the parts didn’t.

*Could he have been a candidate for one, then?*

This revelation prompted it to reexamine the memories it had siphoned from its first few victims.

*Hmm, it has been quite a while since the last reshuffling. Even without my comet conflict would have reignited eventually. Is that why I passed customs so easily? The world wanted things to become more messy?*

*If a tribulation of cataclysmic proportions is on its way, then…*

*The value of this subject had gone down considerably. Without this luck sponsored by the world to counteract my curse, he’ll die within a day. It’ll be too costly to keep him around. *

*If I had known better, I would have been more careful with this sample. Why was this status revoked? Could it be because trying to touch the inner soul was an indication that the person sought too much autonomy?

With a new perspective, Apollyon returned to its studies.

Then, almost too suddenly for Apollyon to notice, a deviation occurred in Niven's meditation. He had finally caught his inner soul, but not in the way that Apollyon had intended. Perhaps 'catch' was too gentle a term for what had happened. 'Crashing' or 'Smashing' into it more aptly described the situation.

Now, under ordinary circumstances, this would not have been an issue. The inner soul was not thought to be indestrucable for no reason, after all. However, the groundwork had been laid for Niven's soul being more fragile than most. Most people would ascend slowly, rising through the ranks at a pace where the body, outer soul, and inner soul could strengthen each other via positive feedback loops.

Even if one’s abilities didn’t reflect it, the three were generally always at an equilibrium.

Niven's jumped up strength did not do his inner soul any favors, which resulted in it becoming distorted as he fumbled into it. He did not handle his soul with the care and grace expected of a seamster, forcefully wading through it like some brute. Perhaps he had been conditioned to approach things in such a manner over the last few battles.

Regardless, the damage had been done, though that was not all.

Damage alone would make this a concerning situation, but the impact also triggered a reaction. A runaway reaction was set off within Niven’s soul. He had already touched the threshold for a qualitative breakthrough, but it had been forcefully suppressed for quite some time.

Usually, the System would afford its users all the time in the world to choose, but that was only if they refrained from poking around in their own soul.

Now, with the stars aligning in all the wrong ways, Niven was in for a perfect storm.

Stop…

It was a halfhearted command that came all too late. The warning that was left unrelayed was stifled because a large part of Apollyon wanted to see where this would lead. After a cursory identification, it realized that these conditions, while not exactly identical to that of the dragon, were close enough to guide towards something similar.

Could it try and solve the issue and cool everything down? Possibly. But things were already headed in this direction so it would just accelerate them toward the fated outcome.

What's going on?!

Stay calm. Panic will not help here. You'll be alright. Hush.

It hurts. I feel myself breaking. I don't know if I'll be able to stay conscious for much longer. Please! Fix.... me...

*Crack*

Like a shattered glass marble, Niven’s soul broke. As it split, the underlying processes tried to mend it, sucking in the scattered mana and soul energy. It was a commendable effort, but ultimately not enough.

The fragments failed to piece themselves together, releasing a nova of distorted mana in all directions.

That Niven fell into unconsciousness was perhaps the world's final mercy upon his soul. He did not need to experience his inner soul being torn asunder.

Apollyon watched it all unfold with rapt attention, ensuring that it did not miss a single second of it.

It saw Niven's soul collapse into mana.

It watched as his body ballooned, unable to contain it.

It watched as an explosion rang out, sending it careening into the horizon.

It did not care where it landed. For now, its entire undivided attention was directed at the phenomenon left in the wake of where Niven once was.

Could Niven's misfortune have resulted in me recognizing that gap in his soul? It was too chaotic to just randomly shift itself to that pattern so perfectly.

An epiphany was also a mystical thing. An alignment of vision, setting, soul, and body was not something that would usually happen to someone so luckless. However, what if the insight gleaned was not something that was beneficial for them?

At this point, Niven was impossible to kill under ordinary circumstances.

Apollyon knew that there was nothing powerful enough to pose an existential threat to him for kilometers on all sides. With its intervention, the kid might as well have had a guardian spirit by his side protecting the way.

As such, could his death be interpreted as it accepting a bribe to look the other way? Its soul bound ally was dead. That was irrefutable, but Apollyon did not get out of this without gaining anything. In fact, it had made back its initial investment and then some.

That decision basically sealed his fate, after all.

Then, could it be possible for me to manipulate this curse to steer my research in the right direction? By making the result something that would be detrimental to the host, their negative luck would work in my favor.

This is something worth looking into further.

Just one example isn't enough to convince me, though I have a feeling it wasn't a fluke. It'll be something to keep in mind for next time, at the very least.

[Soul-Bound Partner [Niven] dead]

[You have reached level 2]

[Stat Gains:

Strength: +1

Constitution: +1

Dexterity: +1

Intelligence: +1

Wisdom: +1

Charisma: +1

Luck: -2]

[You have reached level 3]

[Stat Gains:

Strength: +1

Constitution: +1

Dexterity: +1

Intelligence: +1

Wisdom: +1

Charisma: +1

Luck: -2]

...

[You have reached level 6]

[Stat Gains:

Strength: +1

Constitution: +1

Dexterity: +1

Intelligence: +1

Wisdom: +1

Charisma: +1

Luck: -2]

Ah. That's certainly something. Is this the path the System thinks I want to go on? It does make sense, since all the experience gets funneled to my wielder when Soul-Bound. If I depended on the System for strength then I'll have to find a way to pit my partner each time I wanted to progress.

Welp, [E][Curse Mastery] has been completely offset. I suppose I'll need to try harder to ensure my next host doesn't die prematurely.

Now, what qualities should I look for in a host?

With a Tribulation for this region just around the corner, there should be a number of lucky individuals. I knew there was no way for me to just stumble upon someone this blessed. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?

Status

Name: Apollyon

Title: The Living Weapon

Equip Requirement: LVL 1

Core Durability: N/A

Body Durability: 3500/5000

Race: ∎∎∎∎

Skills:

[Z+][Binding Covenant]:

[Z]Establish a binding contract with another party.

[+][Due to prior status as a Quasi-Administrator, [Appolyon] is allowed to borrow partial system authority to uphold the deal]

[EX][Soul Binding]:

[EX]Bond with another entity, sharing with them your stats. Degree of trust and details of the initial pact determines the amount shared and control over the entity’s soul.

Age: 0

Total Level: 6

Attributes:

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Charisma: 10

Luck: -25

Main Class: Locus of Misfortune

Skills:

[S][Curse of Misfortune]:

Expand?

[S][Eldritch Reconstitution]:

Expand?

[A][Perceive Luck]:

Expand?

[E][Possession]:

Expand?

General Skills:

[EX][Transcendent Camouflage]

Expand?

[EX][Soul Mastery]

Expand?

[S][Levitate]

Expand?

[EX]World Core

Expand?

[U] Soul Archive

Expand?

[E] Curse Mastery

[F] Reduce or increase the effectiveness of Luck by either 5 flat or 10%. This can only be applied when the target's luck is negative.

[E] Double the effectiveness of [F] rank bonus

Condition: Eldritch Taint[0.1%]