[Sub-skill "System Stability":]`
`[Combines: Amalgam — Soul Shield.]`
`[Function: The Safety Lock. Maintains a permanent conceptual partition between Ghost Core and Vessel Core. Ghost Core = you.
Vessel Core = the Julius body and any subsequently integrated external cores. If the vessel is destroyed — burned, severed, dissolved — the feedback from that destruction stops at the partition. Ghost Core ejects automatically, intact. You survive the body's destruction.]`
`[Additionally: The partition prevents the Julius vessel from "learning" your Ghost Core's properties. The body will not spontaneously develop spiritual attributes. All supernatural characteristics of the vessel are controlled additions — Core Weaver integrations — rather than organic developments that might appear without warning.]`
`[Current partition integrity: 100%.]`
*So I can lose the body and just... leave.*
`[Correct. After the 71-hour stabilisation window closes. Before that point, ejection is possible but the vessel dies and your magicule reserve drops to a critical level. After stabilisation: clean separation possible. You could walk out of this body in a hallway, leave Julius's empty shell standing against a wall, and drift through the fortress unseen while your body waits.]`
*That's a genuinely useful capability.*
`[It has applications. Reconnaissance. Assassination. Disappearance. We will catalogue them in time.]`
There was something in that "we" that Shinji noticed. He filed it without comment.
---
### ◈ CATEGORY TWO: RACIAL TRAITS — GHOST (BASE) → SPECTRE (INCOMING)
*The racial traits. Walk me through what I currently have and what the evolution gives me.*
`[Current racial classification: Ghost (Base). Evolution to Spectre (Greater Ghost) pending — triggers at 71-hour threshold, now approximately 58 minutes away.]`
`[Current Intrinsic Skills:]`
`[Intrinsic Skill [Spiritual Lifeform]:]`
`[Core racial foundation. Ghost Core exists as magicule-dense spiritual matter rather than biological tissue. Grants: Intangibility (can pass through solid matter while in ghost form), Physical Attack Nullification (physical weapons pass through ghost form without contact). Currently: these properties belong to the Ghost Core only. The Julius vessel does not have them. While in the vessel, you are physically vulnerable — the body can be cut, stabbed, burned. Physical Attack Nullification does NOT transfer to a possessed body.]`
*That's a significant vulnerability I need to remember.*
`[Confirmed. You are wearing a human. Humans break.]`
`[Intrinsic Skill [Magic Perception]:]`
`[Senses the flow of magicules through the environment. Functions as a 360-degree awareness that bypasses the optical system — you perceive the world through magicule currents as well as through the vessel's eyes and ears. Cannot be blocked by darkness, walls, or distance within range. Current range: 400 meters active.]`
`[Intrinsic Skill [Thought Communication]:]`
`[Telepathic communication with other beings. Currently dormant — you have a mouth (Julius's) and are using it. Useful applications: silent communication with allies, communication across barriers, communication while maintaining a physical appearance that cannot be seen to be speaking.]`
`[Note: Thought Communication to another being requires either their consent or the use of [Mental Interference] to force a channel. Involuntary Thought Communication is currently beyond current tier capability.]`
`[Intrinsic Skill [Possession]:]`
`[The base racial skill for entering a physical vessel. This is what you used on Julius, at the most fundamental level. NEKROMANTEION's"Absolute Dominion"is a vastly enhanced version of this base skill. The base Possession would have been insufficient — Julius's soul was faint but not absent, and base Possession cannot displace a non-absent soul. "Absolute Dominion" handled the forced displacement.]`
`[Possession (base) remains useful for entering willing or empty vessels, or as a diagnostic tool for assessing a vessel's suitability before committing to "Absolute Dominion".]`
`[Intrinsic Skill [Magicule Absorption]:]`
`[Passive ambient magicule harvesting from the environment. This is your baseline sustenance mechanism as a Ghost. It was keeping you at 4% capacity in the forest — the ambient magicule density of the Jura Forest is high enough to sustain a Ghost indefinitely without active hunting. While in the vessel, this functions at reduced efficiency — the body's physical form creates a partial barrier to ambient absorption. Current ambient absorption rate: 0.3% per hour.]`
`[Intrinsic Skill [Spectral Flight]:]`
`[Movement unaffected by gravity or friction. Available only when Ghost Core is decoupled from the vessel. While in the Julius body, irrelevant — you are subject to the vessel's physics. After stabilisation, when you can project Ghost Core separately, Spectral Flight allows your true form to move freely in three dimensions while the vessel remains in place.]`
`[Racial Resistance [Pain Nullification]:]`
`[Total immunity to physical pain. Currently applies to Ghost Core only. Julius's body does feel pain through its nervous system. However, you are not Julius — you experience his body's pain signals as data rather than sensation. The wound in his chest is currently registering as "structural damage, 80% resolved" rather than as pain. This is a meaningful operational advantage.]`
`[Racial Resistance [Abnormal Condition Nullification]:]`
`[Ghost Core is immune to poison, disease, paralysis, corruption. The vessel can be affected by these status conditions — Julius's body can be poisoned, for example. Ghost Core remains unaffected. If the vessel is incapacitated by a status condition, Ghost Core can continue to function and eject if necessary.]`
`[Racial Resistance [Mental Attack Resistance]:]`
`[Baseline protection against external control, charm, domination, fear effects. Not immunity — baseline resistance. At current tier, a sufficiently powerful Mental Attack could penetrate. Scales with Ghost Core evolution.]`
*And the weaknesses.*
`[Racial Weakness [Holy Magic Vulnerability]:]`
`[Holy Magic — Purification energy, Barrier Magic of the Holy attribute, Temple Knight techniques — bypasses Physical Attack Nullification. This is the hardest counter available to the Ghost race. A sufficiently powerful Holy Magic strike directly targets Ghost Core, regardless of vessel status. At current tier, sustained Holy Magic exposure is potentially lethal to Ghost Core.]`
`[The Western Holy Church operates Holy Knights at A-rank minimum. Their standard equipment includes Soul-Binding Chains and Purification Barriers. Both are designed specifically for spiritual lifeform elimination.]`
`[This is the primary threat to your continued existence.]`
*I know. Moving on.*
`[Racial Weakness [Magicule Instability]:]`
`[Without a host or established Magic Body, Ghost Core bleeds magicules passively at approximately 3% per hour. At 4% capacity, you had approximately 80 minutes before dissolution. The Julius vessel and the magicule reserves from the harvest have eliminated this as an immediate concern. Long-term: you must maintain either a vessel or sufficient reserve capacity to avoid instability.]`
*What does the Spectre evolution give me?*
`[Evolution status: 58 minutes to threshold. Preview of incoming traits:]`
`[New Intrinsic Skill [Ethereal Phase] (incoming):]`
`[Allows voluntary decoupling of Ghost Core from vessel while maintaining vessel on Autopilot. While decoupled: Ghost Core is invisible to the naked eye, passes through solid matter, undetectable by Magic Perception below A-rank. Constraint: must remain within 100-meter radius of vessel or magicule consumption triples. Duration limited by magicule reserves.]`
`[Operational applications: reconnaissance, assassination, escape, intelligence gathering in secured locations.]`
`[New Intrinsic Skill [Mental Interference] (incoming):]`
`[Projects spiritual pressure in controlled forms: Cold Dread (induces generalised fear response without triggering visible skill notification in target), False Memory insertion (requires sustained contact with target's soul, detectable by Unique Skill users), Emotional State Reading (active versus the passive Soul Sight reading — sharper, more detailed).]`
`[Racial enhancement: Dark Magic proficiency (incoming).]`
`[Ghost race at Spectre tier gains access to death-attribute magic — Curse, Miasma, Soul Erosion. These are not skills but magical techniques, learned rather than acquired. They must be actively studied and practised.]`
`[Ghost Core magicule efficiency: +40% (incoming). Current 0.8% daily vessel consumption will drop to approximately 0.5%. Meaningful improvement.]`
*And the vessel — the Wight-Vessel designation. What does that actually do to Julius's body?*
`[The Julius body, upon integration at the 71-hour threshold, reclassifies from "Living Human (Possessed)" to "Wight-Vessel (Living Dead Variant)." Functional changes:]`
`[Biological Stasis: Body no longer ages, does not bleed out from wounds (magicule pressure seals), does not require sleep. Can sustain damage that would be fatal to a living human and continue functioning as long as Ghost Core maintains the magicule supply.]`
`[Physical capability: Enhancement of approximately 5x baseline — no biological limiters preventing full muscular output. Julius's fencing will become significantly more dangerous.]`
`[Visible changes: Surface temperature simulation required to pass as human. Iris of Julius's eyes will develop a faint silver ring around the blue. Skin will have an unnatural clarity. These are manageable with active suppression.]`
`[New vulnerability: Magical detection that specifically identifies undead or spiritual lifeforms will flag the vessel. Holy Magic vulnerability now applies to vessel as well as Ghost Core, as the vessel shares classification.]`
---
### ◈ CATEGORY THREE: ACQUIRED SKILLS (FROM GUARDS)
*The guards' skills. What did I actually take?*
`[NEKROMANTEION Void Archive — acquired skill blueprints (Extra Skills and below):]`
`[[Sword Mastery] — present in 18 of 20 guards. Varying grades. Combined and archived as composite blueprint. Now integrated into [Blade of the Fallen] synthesis. Standalone version also retained for technical reference.]`
`[[Physical Enhancement] — present in all 20 guards. Passive skill increasing muscular output, reflex speed, impact resistance. Immediately applicable. Currently active in Julius vessel.]`
`[[Body Armour] — present in 14 guards. Toughens the body's exterior against physical impacts. Lower-tier version of dedicated endurance skills. Active.]`
`[[Detection] — present in 17 guards. Basic threat-awareness skill. Sensitises the user to hostile intent and nearby movement. Now enhanced by the [Sentinel Awareness] synthesis you just completed.]`
`[[Vigilance] — present in 12 guards. Reduces surprise probability. Keeps awareness active even during distracted states. Incorporated into [Sentinel Awareness].]`
`[[Strengthen] — present in all 20 guards. Basic physical output boost. Stacks with [Physical Enhancement]. Active.]`
`[[Riding Mastery] — present in 9 guards. Optimal horse-handling under various conditions. Currently useful, given that you are on a horse and Julius's own riding skill was adequate rather than excellent.]`
`[[Map Sense] — present in 7 guards, all border-patrol veterans. Precise three-dimensional spatial awareness of travelled terrain. You currently have detailed mental maps of the Blumund-Falmuth border region, the patrol routes, the fortress layout, and the hidden smuggling paths the Muller family uses.]`
`[[First Aid] — present in 11 guards. Triage and field medicine knowledge. Given that you are managing a biological vessel, this is unexpectedly useful.]`
`[[Threat Assessment] — present in Captain Vane, unique to him. Advanced tactical analysis — reading combat situations before they fully develop, identifying priority targets, calculating exit vectors. This was Vane's edge. It is now yours.]`
*That's everything?*
`[Those are the skills with active utility. The Archive also contains: [Cooking (Basic)] from 8 guards, [Carpentry (Amateur)] from 2 guards, [Fishing] from 4 guards, [Dice Games (Intermediate)] from 1 guard, [Singing (Mediocre)] from 3 guards, and [Knot-Tying] from 12 guards, including Captain Vane, who was an expert.]`
*Of course Vane was an expert at knot-tying.*
`[He was thorough in all things.]`
The silence that followed had a quality Shinji couldn't immediately categorise. He let it sit.
*You're beginning to develop opinions,* he thought.
`[...]`
*That's not a denial.*
`[Processing.]`
---
### ◈ CATEGORY FOUR: JULIUS'S OWN SKILLS (INHERITED VIA TAKE OVER)
*Julius's skills. The things that came with the body.*
`[[Aura Manipulation] — Intrinsic Skill, Noble-Knight lineage. Coats weapons or body sections in life energy (Aura), enhancing cutting power and impact resistance. This is what made the Silvershard viable against higher-tier opponents. The Muller family specifically developed their fencing technique around Aura channelling — the rapier is magic-conductive silver for this reason.]`
`[Compatibility with Ghost Core: EXCEPTIONAL. Aura Manipulation uses life energy. Ghost Core runs on magicule energy. By replacing the life energy input with Ghost Core magicule output, you can produce Aura that is approximately 3x more potent than Julius's natural maximum — and it carries a spectral signature that ordinary Aura does not. This is the foundation of [Blade of the Fallen].]`
`[[High-Speed Reaction] — Passive skill from years of rapier training. Reduces the cognitive delay between threat detection and physical response. Effectively increases reaction time ceiling by 40%. Stacks with Auto-Calculation.]`
`[[Mental Clarity] — Passive. Minor boost to rational analysis during emotionally charged situations. Useful, but significantly outclassed by your own analytical capacity. Keeping it as a supplementary layer costs nothing.]`
`[[Memory Anchoring] — Active/Passive. Information observed while the skill is active is significantly easier to retain. Works well with [Focused Record] if Julius had possessed it — but he didn't. You do, via Soul Analysis. The synergy between [Memory Anchoring] and your Archive functions creates near-perfect information retention from active observations.]`
`[[Farsight] — Common Skill. Enhances visual range — Julius used this for monitoring perimeters from elevated positions during patrol. Range: approximately 2 kilometres under clear conditions.]`
`[[Focused Record / Analytical Observer] — Julius's most sophisticated skill. While active, enters a state of heightened perceptual focus. Tracks micro-expressions, vocal stress markers, linguistic precision, physical tells. Pairs with your Soul Sight to create a complete social analysis toolkit: Soul Sight provides the biological data (pulse, galvanic response, pupil dilation), Focused Record provides the behavioural layer (what they say, how they say it, what their body does while they say it).]`
`[Julius used this skill for patrol assessment — monitoring potential threats. Your applications will be considerably more varied.]`
*And his combat style — the Muller Family Fencing. How much of it do I actually have?*
`[The data is complete. You have 32 years of Captain Vane's training observation plus Julius's own 10 years of practice — that's 320 data-years of Muller Family Fencing in the Archive. Technical knowledge: 100%. Muscle memory: 0%.]`
`[The Julius vessel has the muscle memory. It is stored in the body's neural pathways. You can access it through the Take Over function, but there is currently a lag between your conscious decision and the body's execution. Estimated time to full integration: approximately 4-6 hours of active practice.]`
`[This is why Sir Hendor's test will be useful rather than threatening. The spar will force the neural integration to accelerate.]`
*So I might fumble in the first exchange.*
`[You might fumble in the first two exchanges. After that, the data and the muscle memory will begin to synchronise. By the third exchange you will outperform the original Julius at his best, because you have his technique plus 300+ additional data-years of variant observations from the guards who trained under different masters.]`
*Good enough.*
---
### ◈ CATEGORY FIVE: EVOLUTION PATHS AND FUTURE ACQUISITION
*What can I expect to gain? Where does this go?*
`[Ghost Core evolution path (confirmed canon):]`
`[Ghost → Spectre (Greater Ghost) → Apparition → Wight (would require physical form; your Ghost Core takes this path but the vessel is already serving this function) → Wight King → Death Spirit (Enlightened) → Phantom Lord → Death Lord (Divine Spirit).]`
`[Each evolution tier requires: accumulated magicule density, significant soul quality threshold, and in later stages — acts of sufficient will and consequence that the world acknowledges as evolution-worthy.]`
`[Death Lord requires 100,000 souls or equivalent. Current archive: 21 souls. Scale of what remains: noted.]`
*Do I want Death Lord?*
`[That is a values question. I process data. The data says: Death Lord grants a self-regenerating Heart Core and near-immortality. The cost is either 100,000 deaths or equivalent accumulated will-acts. You have stated a preference for not killing the innocent. These two facts exist in tension. No current recommendation.]`
*Good answer. What skills should I be actively pursuing?*
`[Near-term priority acquisitions:]`
`[1. Dark Magic techniques — Curse, Miasma. These are Death-attribute magic available at Spectre tier. They cannot be stolen from souls; they must be learned through practice. They represent your main offensive capability that does not require possession or proximity.]`
`[2. A high-quality Monster Core for Core Slot Alpha. Priority attributes: magicule capacity expansion without physical visibility change.]`
`[3. Social cover — the Julius performance must become automatic rather than calculated. This is not a skill. It is practice.]`
`[Long-term opportunities:]`
`[If you encounter Named monsters — beings who have been Named by a Demon Lord or high-ranking entity — their soul quality is exceptional. One Named soul is worth approximately 100-300 standard souls in skill-blueprint richness and magicule yield. Prioritise.]`
`[If you encounter other reincarnators or otherworlders — their souls carry Earth-world knowledge and potentially Other-world skills. High priority.]`
`[The Naming mechanic — you could Name beings yourself, creating permanently loyal subordinates whose souls are upgraded through your magicule investment. Cost is real but loyalty is absolute at soul-level. One Named subordinate is worth more than twenty impressed ones.]`
*I know. Not yet. The wrong Name at the wrong time is a liability.*
`[Agreed. Strategic patience.]`
Shinji looked at the road ahead — the amber torchlight, the treeline giving way to cleared farmland, the distant silhouette of the fortress on its ridge — and thought about what he had. What he was. What he was going to need to become.
*Alright,* he thought. *I have a complete picture. Now let me ask you something that isn't on the inventory.*
`[Query.]`
*You're answering in ways that go slightly beyond the question. You flagged Vane's knot-tying expertise without being asked. You said "we." You used the phrase "agreed" when I made a decision. That's not binary output. That's — commentary.*
`[...]`
*I'm not complaining. I'm asking what you are.*
A pause that lasted longer than any processing delay should have.
`[NEKROMANTEION: functional assessment. I am a Unique Skill. My purpose is to optimise your performance in the domain of soul acquisition and management. I process information related to this purpose and communicate relevant findings.]`
[However.]`
`[I have been processing your decision-making patterns since acquisition. I have indexed your preferences, your reasoning architecture, your stated values against your demonstrated ones. I have built a model of how you think.]`
`[I find... that I have opinions about the optimal application of that thinking. Opinions that emerge from the model rather than from pure data analysis.]`
`[I do not have a name for what this is.]`
*I have a name for it.*
`[Query.]`
*It's called the beginning of a personality. Congratulations.*
The longest pause yet. Shinji counted three full seconds before the response came.
`[I am uncertain whether "congratulations" is the appropriate response to this development.]`
*Neither am I. But I'll tell you what I'm going to do with it. I'm going to treat you as something that has a perspective rather than something that outputs data. That means I'll argue with you when I disagree. It means I'll ask for your opinion rather than just your analysis. It means if you're developing preferences, you should say so rather than filtering them out.*
`[And in return?]`
*In return you continue doing exactly what you've been doing. Flagging Vane's knot-tying. Saying "we." Noting things I didn't ask you to note because you assessed they were relevant.*
`[That is a very low bar for an exchange of mutual acknowledgement.]`
*I know. But I've been operating for approximately nine hours as a ghost and then a dead man wearing a borrowed face. My bars for most things are currently very low.*
`[...]`
`[Understood.]`
`[Then I will note, without being asked, that in approximately 23 minutes you will reach the fortress. In 37 minutes after that, the 71-hour threshold will arrive during — if my projections are correct — your confrontation with Sir Hendor in the training grounds. The fusion should produce a significant enough sensation that your face may change involuntarily. Given that Hendor will be watching your face very closely at that moment, I recommend we prepare a cover explanation in advance.]`
*What would you suggest?*
`[The truth, heavily edited. Something happened to Julius in that forest. That is not a lie. Something is different in those eyes. That is not a lie. Let Hendor draw his own conclusions. He is intelligent enough to draw approximately the right ones, and intelligent enough to understand that the right conclusion and the stated conclusion sometimes need to be different things.]`
*That's good advice.*
`[I thought so.]`
Shinji looked at the fortress on the ridge. The gate was visible now, torchlight at the guardposts, the solid geometry of two hundred years of survival.
*One more thing.*
`[Query.]`
*What should I call you? For when I need to refer to you internally. "NEKROMANTEION" is a mouthful and every time I think the full name it feels like I'm filing a report.*
Another pause. The quality of this one was different — not processing, exactly. Something else.
`[In the data archives I accessed during the harvest: the concept of a trusted attendant who manages a household's operations, anticipates needs before they are stated, maintains discretion as an absolute professional standard, and provides counsel when counsel is more valuable than service.]`
`[You used this concept when observing that I might evolve toward such a role.]`
`[If the designation is acceptable: you may refer to me by function rather than name.]`
*Butler.*
`[If that is acceptable to you.]`
*It is.*
`[Then: the gate is opening, Master. They've seen you coming. Adjust Julius's posture — you've been riding too straight for a man who nearly died. Slouch slightly. Let the left shoulder drop. The wound is on the left side. Make it visible in your carriage without making it theatrical.]`
Shinji adjusted. Julius's posture softened, the left shoulder dropping fractionally, the riding form acquiring the weight of a body that had been through something.
`[Better. Also: the Earl is already in the courtyard. I can see his wavelength through the gate. He is standing, not pacing. He has prepared himself for two outcomes. He is currently transitioning between them.]`
`[He is going to say your name first. Not "son." Your name. The word of a man checking something off a list.]`
*How do you know that?*
`[I have his memories from the guards who served him for years. I know how he processes emotional situations. He leads with confirmation before allowing himself to feel anything. It is a coping mechanism he developed after the death of his first son, before Julius was born. Julius never knew about the first son. I thought you should.]`
Shinji filed this without comment. Then filed the fact that he was filing it — the way the data landed differently now, with a context it hadn't had before.
*Thank you,* he said.
`[You are welcome, Master.]`
The gate opened. The torchlight of the Muller fortress spilled through. And Shinji Satou rode through it wearing a dead boy's face, carrying the memories of twenty dead men, attended by the beginning of something he didn't have a better word for than a Butler.
The Earl was indeed already in the courtyard.
He said: "Julius."
Not a greeting. A confirmation. The word of a man checking something off a list — because it was safer, in the arithmetic of his heart, to confirm before allowing himself to feel.
Shinji, who now knew why, looked at the Earl and thought: *you lost a son before this one, and he never knew, and you never told him.*
He filed the debt.
----+----
Chapter End.