Chapter 56: Mourning Hope (3)
Misha flopped onto the bed with a tired sigh. The mattress gave a small creak under her weight.
She lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling again, too exhausted to move and somehow still too awake to actually sleep.
Her body felt warm under the new cloak, but her mind refused to settle. Too much had happened and too much had changed. And the worst part? The system had a nasty habit of changing things without bothering to explain them first.
Misha raised one hand and let it drop dramatically onto the blanket. "Soul Status."
She wasn’t prepared to check on Nyxie’s and Gerbaut’s soul statuses back then but now, she felt like she was ready.
Ding!
「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕
Would you like to view the available Constellation Souls Status? 」
"Yes..."
The first window appeared immediately.
「 〔SOUL STATUS〕
"Nameless"
<Access to the Constellation Soul Status temporarily revoked> 」
Misha stared at it for a second, then she let out a breath through her nose.
"Seriously... I already saw it though..."
Still, she supposed that made sense. At least she had already seen it once.
Nameless, a 7-star awakener with a Paragon class.
She still had not fully processed any of that.
How did she manage to end up with a 7-star Constellation Soul in her inventory?
It was her very first soul. Her first.
That felt less like luck and more like the Tower tripping over itself by accident.
That was not normal. That was the kind of thing that happened in comics right before the main character either became absurdly overpowered or died in a very dramatic way.
Then again, she had seen how the Administrator forced Nyxie’s and Gerbaut’s souls into her inventory without even asking her to offer the Soul Contract first.
Maybe the system simply took one look at her tragic beginner build and went, ’this girl is too doomed to survive on her own.’
Misha imagined the Administrator saying in the driest voice possible. "Your skill is too useless if it’s empty. Here, I dumped a 7-star soul into your inventory in case of emergency. Don’t waste it."
She let out a breath through her nose.
Right, that sounded stupid enough to be exactly how this Tower worked.
Now that she thought of it. Nameless had been able to convince the Administrator...
She raised her gaze, her eyes narrowed slightly at the ceiling. "Administrator, are you watching?"
There was no response. Instead, the next window opened.
Misha heaved out a sigh. Of course it wouldn’t respond to her.
She decided to let it be as her gaze landed at the next window.
「 〔 SOUL STATUS 〕
"Senior Intern"
Name: Olivia Bloodthorne
Rank: ☆☆☆
Race: Human
Class: Executioner
Constellation Chamber: Capricorn
Potential Growth: ☆☆☆☆☆
—
<APTITUDE>
Combat ...... 78 (A+)
Support ...... 52 (B-)
Leadership ........ 40 (C)
Adaptability ....... 69 (A-)
Mental Strength .... 63 (B+)
—
<UNIQUE SKILL>
Death Dance
Effect: Each successful dodge grants 1 stack of Death Dance.
Per Stack:
Swordmanship +3%
Movement Speed +2%
Maximum Stacks: 10
All stacks expire when combat ends.
—
Possession Duration: 25 Minutes
Cooldown: 4 Hours 」
Misha slowly sat up. "Huh?"
That made her blink a few times and lean in closer, as if the words might somehow rearrange themselves if she glared hard enough.
Olivia’s possession duration had increased... and the cooldown had dropped by one whole hour. Even her name was there and the skill had slightly improved.
"Swordmanship plus 3 percent..." she muttered under her breath. "Wasn’t it 2 before?"
That meant the souls could grow too... or maybe it meant her authority had improved them somehow, or perhaps, the system had decided to reward her for almost dying in the most inconvenient way possible.
Honestly, with the Tower, any of those sounded believable.
Misha stared at Olivia’s window for one second longer, then she sighed. "Good for you, Olivia."
Then the next window appeared.
Misha swallowed hard, knowing who the next ones were.
「 〔 SOUL STATUS 〕
"Maiden of Endless Rampage"
Name: Nyxie Bluerim
Rank: ☆☆☆
Race: Human
Class: Berserker
Constellation Chamber: Aries
Potential Growth: ☆☆☆☆☆☆
—
<APTITUDE>
Combat ...... 85 (S)
Support ...... 34 (D)
Leadership ........ 50 (B-)
Adaptability ....... 71 (A)
Mental Strength .... 62 (B+)
—
<UNIQUE SKILL>
War Maiden
Effect: The user enters a state of heightened combat fervor. For every enemy defeated, gain 1 stack of Rampage.
Per Stack:
Strength +3%
Agility +2%
Maximum Stacks: 5
Upon reaching maximum stacks:
Movement Speed +20%
Pain Resistance greatly increased.
All stacks expire when combat ends.
—
Possession Duration: 25 Minutes
Cooldown: 10 Hours 」
Misha’s fingers tightened around the blanket.
Nyxie... This was really Nyxie.
Even seeing her name laid out so plainly in front of her chest hurt in a way she had not prepared for.
Nyxie Bluerim... she was not some cruel maybe. A soul, she was an actual soul stored in her Soul Inventory.
Misha swallowed once more. Her eyes moved down the status window more carefully this time.
She almost laughed a little. "Of course..."
Of course Nyxie’s combat aptitude was absurd and her support was terrible. Her Constellation Soul title even sounded dramatic enough to kick down a door on its own.
Maiden of Endless Rampage.
Yes, that definitely sounded like her.
Misha could almost hear Nyxie saying something smug about it too, probably with a grin.
Then she looked at the skill.
War Maiden.
She stared at the last line and huffed softly. "That also sounds like you."
It was strange. The system window hurt to read, and somehow, it comforted her too.
That strange mix sat heavily in her chest as the next one opened.
「 〔 SOUL STATUS 〕
"The Unfaltering One"
Name: Gerbaut Ruisn
Rank: ☆☆☆
Race: Human
Class: Lancer
Constellation Chamber: Taurus
Potential Growth: ☆☆☆☆☆
—
<APTITUDE>
Combat ...... 80 (S-)
Support ...... 75 (A+)
Leadership ........ 65 (B-)
Adaptability ....... 70 (A)
Mental Strength .... 87 (S+)
—
<UNIQUE SKILL>
Guardian’s Oath
Effect: The greater the danger faced by nearby allies, the greater the increase in the user’s combat capabilities.
For every ally in Critical State:
Strength +5%
Vitality +5%
Mental Resistance +10%
Fear, hesitation, and mental interference are nullified while protecting an ally.
—
Possession Duration: 15 Minutes
Cooldown: 5 Hours 」
Gerbaut...The Unfaltering One.
Misha bit her lower lip as she stared at that line for a moment.
Her eyes dropped to the aptitude list and stopped at Mental Strength.
Eigthy-seven... S+.
That felt painfully correct.
Of course Gerbaut’s mental strength was monstrous... What’s more, his skill activated when allies were in danger.
Even after death, the system looked at him and went yes, this man’s entire personality is protecting people until his body gives out.
Guardian’s Oath.
That name alone made her chest ache because that was exactly what he had done over and over... even at the end.
For a few seconds, she just sat there staring at the window with a look on her face she could not have explained even if someone asked. It was something between grief, guilt, and the terrible relief of knowing he had not disappeared completely.
Then a new notice interrupted before she could spiral too far.
Ding!
「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕
Current Contractor Authority: Rank 2
Daily Possession Limit: 3 times per day 」
Misha blinked a few times. "Rank 2?"
She sat up straighter at once.
When did that happen?
Was it because of the fight? Because of Nameless? Because of the emergency override?
Nameless killed the Goblin King too...
Multiple windows had appeared the moment she returned to her body, but she ignored all of them. She had lost too much to stare at the system updates in that state.
A fresh window opened.
「 〔CONTRACTOR AUTHORITY〕
<Authority Rank 2>
Granted Function:
• Soul Possession
• Soul Communication
Permissions:
• Form Soul Contract
• Detect Nearby Souls
• View Constellation Soul Status
• View Contracted Soul Names
• View Constellation Soul Histories 」
Misha’s eyes widened, her exhaustion fell back for one bright, electric moment.
She could communicate with them now?
Not just summon and allow possession of her body, not just talk to the air like someone slowly losing her mind, but she could actually communicate now?
And she could also view their histories too...
That would make things so much easier to understand someone like Olivia, or future souls she had no personal connection with.
At the same time, it would likely be emotionally devastating, very likely. Still, it was useful.
Misha pressed one hand over her mouth and stared at the screen as her thoughts crashed into each other at once.
Misha pressed both hands over her face and flopped backward onto the bed again. The mattress groaned beneath her.
"Okay..." she mumbled into the dark. "No... no more life-changing revelations tonight."
Because if she asked for more from the system, the Tower might probably announce that she was secretly a princess, or cursed, legally responsible for 3 dead souls and one sleeping lion.
She lowered her hands and stared at the ceiling again. Then her eyes drifted toward the glowing status windows still floating in the room.
Nameless, Olivia Bloodthorne, Nyxie Bluerim, Gerbaur Ruisn... They were there. Not alive, not really. But they were there.
That mattered more than she wanted to think about right now, because if she thought about it too hard, she might cry again, and she had already done enough of that.
Misha pulled the cloak tighter around herself and turned onto the side.
"Sleep," she told herself. "You need sleep before your brain starts trying to fistfight the system."
That sounded wise.
So, naturally, she spent the next ten seconds wondering if Soul Communication worked by voice, thought, or some deeply cursed spiritual group chat.
Then she forced her eyes shut. "Sleep Misha, sleep!"