[Race Altered: Gem Dweller Human has been altered into Gem Dweller Union]

  Ignoring all other notifications for just a moment, he quickly opened his Interface and checked his new Racial bonuses.

  [Soul Echo (Major)

  Darkvision

  Fluid Shape (Major)

  Phantom Claws (Major)

  Weakness to Echo]

  [Soul Echo (Major)

  Gain a sensitivity to all soul signatures, as well as the ability to release a pulse from the soul. The pulse will interact with the structures of whichever layer of reality the user resides in, partially rebounding as an echo and providing sensory information]

  [Darkvision - Passive

  Taking advantage of the conceptual idea of sight, allows the user to see in perfect clarity unless under the effects of magical perception denial]

  [Fluid Shape (Major)

  Gain the ability to manipulate the users shape to a significant degree]

  [Phantom Claws (Major) - Passive

  Innate hyper-specialized Soul affinity gives +600% efficiency of digging into soul defenses]

  [Weakness to Echo - Passive - Debuff

  Becoming hyper-specialized into detecting Echoes your body has gained a sensitivity to all sources of extreme echoes, both physical and magical. Extreme vibrations disorient you and large detectable magical signatures blind you]

  He couldn’t help but smile widely, this was everything he wanted, even if there were a few hiccups to his bonuses.

  Soul Echo of course replaced his Tremor Sense, and though it had more limitations, it was also not as large of a weakness. It was now an active ability, one where he had to manually release a signal to get that information back rather than the passive one Tremor Sense had been. Still though, the Weakness had been degraded in response. Rather than a Greater Weakness, it was now just a regular Weakness. The Weakness had broadened to both physical and magical means, but still, he would fare a lot better with a lesser weakness.

  Darkvision was again the only one with its name unchanged, even if its function was wildly different. He lost the ability to fire infrared light, meaning he no longer had a way to dispel magical darkness, but he also no longer needed light at all. His weakness to light had been removed entirely, which was another weight off his shoulders. Even if he was worried about dispelling darkness though, Dei suspected that his pulse would serve a similar purpose- a cheap wide-ranged ability that would disrupt anything trying to blind him.

  Fluid Shape was the most interesting of them all though, and one with the most potential. It used to be his Camouflage, but with his body supposedly being a bit more intangible in nature, that’d been improved to what he believed was closer to a true shapeshifting ability. In his Projection form, it was also the ability which allowed him to traverse the various layers of the Spirit Realm, meaning it would be responsible for doing so now, though he couldn’t see how.

  Was he going to need to transform down into the Spirit Realm? How would he do so?

  Now that he thought of it, wasn’t that exactly what Gargeth did to reach the physical world? Gargeth punched a hole between the layers using only a portion of his body, then pushed the rest of himself through the hole he’d created, making an altogether disgusting sight, but an effective one.

  He’d have to test it, but there was a good chance Dei would have to punch a hole in the wall between levels of the world, then push his entire body through using his new shape changing ability.

  ‘Definitely not going to be a pleasant process if I’m right…’

  His Digging ability had once more turned into a combat-ready one too, but now he was better at digging into souls. He hoped it would synergise with his Identify in order to make puncturing souls easier, but he didn’t think that would be the case. With both Digging and Natural Claws (the Projection form of Digging), he needed to use his physical hands to take advantage of the effect. Now, Dei was pretty sure he had a much better unarmed combat ability, making his physical hands dig into souls easier.

  His transformation had its ups and downs, but he had to consider this a flat improvement if only for one reason.

  Standing up, Dei closed his eyes for a moment and focused, drawing deeply upon his stamina and flexing a muscle he normally only had when in his Projection form.

  Moments later Dei felt a lightness overtake his body, and opened his eyes to see he was floating above the ground.

  ‘I can fly!’

  Dei was a hybrid between spirits and humans, and he’d gained a mixture of their abilities. Naturally, that included how spirits were able to fly and- potentially- phase through walls.

  After testing his new ability to fly, Dei decided he could take a moment to quickly check all the other notifications he’d been ignoring so far.

  [Skill Leveled Up: Call for Help (62) -> (71)]

  [Skill Leveled Up: Good Samaritan (48) -> (52)]

  [Skill Leveled Up: Growing Rage (168) -> (169)]

  [Skill Leveled Up: Astral Projection (12) -> (13)]

  [Skill Changed: Astral Projection (13) -> Empower Self (4)]

  [Skill Leveled Up: Solidity (95) -> (100)]

  [Skill: Solidity (100) has reached an evolution threshold]

  [Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (97) -> (99)]

  None were as incredible as altering his Race, but the micro improvements to his Skills were important nonetheless, and he noted that Astral Projection had also transformed into something new, and pulled that up quickly.

  [Empower Self - Level 4 - Soul Affinity

  How a person presents themselves is more than just a reflection of their current moment, it is a representation of culture and instinct. A person does not fully dictate themselves, they do not venture into the world blindly, but are guided through the ancestral knowledge of their entire lineage, slowly perfected over time into a singular identity. Building upon that, the culture one is born into provides further framework to flush out one's own Identity. A sense of self is more than just what you believe yourself to be, it is everything perfectly meshed together into who you are.

  Allows one to empower their Identity, emphasizing the sense of self.

  Variable mana cost]

  For a moment, he thought it would be something akin to a straight-up physical enhancement, letting him become stronger temporarily, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

  Pouring just a few MP into it, he found that his mind became clearer, his psyche just a bit sturdier. It wasn’t so much a physical enhancement, but a mental one.

  He’d have to test it, but it might be a way to ward off mental attacks, such as the one the Smiler launched on Dei by attempting to trap him in a memory. He wouldn’t argue against something like that at all, even if he still had Fortress of Denial that would help deflect those kinds of effects.

  They were different Skills, so there had to be a nuance between the two, he’d just have to find what it was.

  Finally at the end of his notifications, he did a full lookover of his Interface, seeing all the differences and noticing just one more.

  [Name: Dei Grrata

  Race: Union (Gem Dweller Variant)

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Class: Watchful Slaughterer (Level 100)

  Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 11)

  Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Giants IV, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II), Dammit, Slaughterer

  Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII)

  Soul Strength: 0/192

  HP: 192/192

  MP: 64/64

  SP: 125/128

  Stats:

  Physical: 64

  Mental: 61

  Spiritual: 69

  Magical: 62

  Affinities:

  Kindness: High-Rare: 65%

  Wrath: Low-Rare: 36%

  Soul: Low-Uncommon: 78%

  Fortitude: High-Uncommon 70%

  Inner Skills:

  Kindness: Pandora’s Box (Sealed) (273) (10520/10920), Call for Help (71), Good Samaritan (52), Meaningful (44)

  Wrath: Pandora’s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Rage (169)

  Soul: Empower Self (4), Connection (1)

  Fortitude: Solidity (100), Fortress of Denial (36)

  Health: Homeostasis (100)

  Mana: Meditation (99)

  Stamina: Disconnect (59)

  Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (64)

  Outer Skills:

  How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (53), Vigilance (100), In Tune (36), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (100)]

  Right above his HP, in the section of consumable stats, Dei now had a new stat called [Soul Strength], one he was quite familiar with.

  Gargeth said that he kept a layer of unbound spiritual mana around his core soul, that way any minor damage wouldn’t immediately translate over into soul damage. Dei didn’t have such a buffer right now, but he had the same kind of body type as Gargeth, so he would obviously face some major damage if he was hurt right now.

  As soon as he could, he’d need to find a way to get some Soul Strength in his system.

  ‘Also, didn’t Gargeth say that he didn’t have blood, but ectoplasm? I’ll have to check if I have that later. How would that even work? Did all my blood just immediately turn into ectoplasm? Is it like… slowly transforming right now? Scratch that, I’m testing if I have half-blood half-ectoplasm immediately.’

  Using his nails he quickly put a scratch in his arm. It took a lot more force than he’d first thought, but eventually he drew blood.

  And yes, it looked like blood. It was quite red, rather than the white he assumed ectoplasm would be.

  ‘But that might not be correct, is ectoplasm red? Is it just ghost blood?’

  Poking at the small amount of blood coming from his arm he found it to be the exact consistency he expected, and shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘Maybe it’s not physically changed, but magically different? I need Clever.’

  Finally done with his quick experiments, he checked his clock and found that the entire process of going through his soul, correcting everything as quickly as he could, tying his Identity to his body and everything else had taken around forty five minutes. Not long at all, actually rather short for how big of a change had taken place.

  Still, he should be getting back to Aloran. The longer he spent outside Aloran’s garden, the less time he would have to rebuild his body using [Growing Rage].

  Walking towards Clever and Fendrascora, he prepared to allow Fendrascora back into his bloodstream again when a thought struck him.

  ‘Is she going to have trouble doing that? I might’ve just changed my every biological aspect. Well shit, if I can't move her then we’re gonna have a few problems.’

  He didn’t keep these thoughts to himself either, immediately telling them what’d happened to the general tune of “Hey I’m a half spirit now, let’s see if Fendrascora will have any trouble real quick.”

  He needn’t have worried though. He felt a slight poke on his skin as Fendrascora sent a thin needle in, just as a test, and said.

  “Huh, it’s actually a lot more… comfortable! You’re imbued with tons of spiritual energies now, it’s like the perfect place to live!”

  Pushing down his discomfort at becoming an optimal walking aquarium, Dei asked “So is my blood different? Like, a different liquid now? Or is it just the magical aspect?”

  “Hmm… I’m looking through its nutrient count and I’m not seeing a big difference. If there is one, it’s pretty small. No, the biggest change is how your blood- no, your entire body is very rich in Soul mana now. It’s the most concentrated Soul mana I’ve ever seen too, to the point that this might be a problem- you look like a high-grade treasure.”

  He was surprised, but it seemed that using Connection to tie his entire body together ended up having more than just a surface level effect, it actually changed how the transformation went down completely.

  “Would you say it’s, I don’t know, around fifty times Concentration of Soul mana? And is this good or bad for me? If I’m just going to be a huge lure, I think this is pretty bad. Do I at least gain something from this?”

  “Yea! I think fifty times Concentration would be accurate, and this can only be good. As for benefits… I’m pretty sure you’ll have more weight to your actions when using your spirit abilities. I don’t really know how to quantify it other than that, but maybe you’re harder for spirits to damage? Or you can deal more damage to spirits? Really, you'll just have to see. Or ask Aloran.”

  “Not a bad idea really. Alright, let's get back to the cave. I need all the time I can get to adjust to all my changes, and there’s no better place than the perfect safety of Alorans refuge.”

  * * *

  POV: Fang, shortly after Dei left

  The Flesh Trap heard this Aloran person speak, but didn’t understand the words. Sending out a few tendrils of mental communication and trying to find where they were, she quickly felt him respond in kind, forming the mental link between the two and speaking in a way she could understand.

  “I see you wish to speak with me alone?” Aloran said in a questioning voice.

  “Yes… yes, I need help with something. The vessel told me of you. He said you were a God?”

  “That is correct.”

  “Is The Mother a God?”

  “A very loaded question, but in a singular word: yes.”

  “Can she grant names because she is a God?”

  “Grant… names? Like, literally? As in, when The Mother will connect to certain monsters who have gained intelligence and give them their names?”

  “Yes.”

  “Again, a very complex issue. The Mother can grant names because every monster instinctively knows her, and allows her the right to give them names. She is called The Mother, because she taps into a matronly part of every monster's mind and has some control over them, albeit very small. At most, she can request something from monsters, and in the same vein of if a human's mother asked them to do something, that monster would feel compelled to listen, but not required to.”

  “Flesh Traps have no mothers. Is she still The Mother to me?”

  “Err… you are asking very complicated questions in a very simple way” Aloran said, chuckling. “She isn’t your mother, she isn’t anyone's mother, I believe she simply emulates the feeling of one when she connects with a monster. I feel like you are dancing around a question I don’t understand, little one. Please, feel free to ask something of me and I will help to the best of my ability.”

  The Flesh Trap felt trepidation to ask directly, and a very foreign emotion of embarrassment towards her request, but there was no other way to do so. “Could you grant me a name?”

  “Ah, uh, this is not what I thought you’d ask. What, ah, what happened that The Mother cannot grant you a name?”

  Anger bubbled inside her at the memory of her conversation with The Mother, but there wasn’t much to do now. Going into detail of what happened, she told Aloran exactly what she and The Mother had spoken about.

  * * *

  The Flesh Trap saw that the creature chasing them, the Accipere, was killed by that flying serpent, and felt only relief. She was completely helpless through the entire situation as the monster had strong enough defenses that she could not touch its mind, and could only rely on those around her.

  After calming down in the serene cave their little group now found themselves in, she saw that Clever and Fendrascora stressed over Dei, but he was altogether stable. She could see that his soul had entered some kind of healing slumber, and wasn’t worried for his health. No, she had other things to focus on, such as the presence she now felt working its way towards her.

  She felt no fear at the prospect. She knew this presence would not harm her, though she was unsure of why. She felt a great mind crawl up from the deepest recesses of the earth, and a voice rang out to the Flesh Trap in a way that it knew nobody else could hear.

  “Hello, little one. I am The Mother, the mind of the world and the guide to all monsters who gain sapience but choose to stay as monsters. With your most recent experience, you have begun to awaken your mind and self to the point that a name is now required. To that end, I shall glance over all your history and choose a fitting one.”

  The Flesh Trap didn’t particularly like the idea of a being like this knowing her history, but she wasn’t opposed to the idea of a name. She knew they were important, especially when interacting with others in the world as she now did frequently. Yes, she needed a name.

  With her mental agreement, the Flesh Trap heard The Mother thinking aloud as it decided her name

  “Hmmm… quite old to only just be awakening your mind, but your race is one of slothfulness. The majority of your existence has been uneventful waiting without a purpose, only for survival- a common trope with plants. Only recently has your existence gained a purpose, though temporary, in the form of a mutual agreement with another. You’ve become a tool for an indefinite time in return for strength, a beneficial relationship to both parties.

  “In the short time you’ve entered this deal, it has begun to define who you are far longer than the hundreds of years previously. Your purpose grows, your mind defines itself with each passing day at a pace you previously could not have.

  “Despite the short timeframe, your function as a tool has become a cornerstone to your identity, as your experiences hold a nearly equal amount of weight in who you are as the hundreds of years of functioning as a true Flesh Trap.

  “To this end, your name will be composed of two parts- the smooth tone of a slothful entity, followed by the sharp sound of a tool. You will be named Aeshruk, to-”

  The Flesh Trap did not listen even a single moment more. It refused to accept that it would be named, that it would be defined by its existence as a mere tool.

  “No.”