Chapter : 1637

  He stared out the window at the passing city. The world seemed grey and flat.

  "I need her," Lloyd whispered. "I need Jasmin. Not just for her mother. For me. I need... I need to fix this."

  The carriage rolled through the gates of the estate. Before the wheels even stopped turning, Lloyd kicked the door open. He jumped out, stumbling slightly, but catching his balance.

  "Lloyd!" Mina called out.

  "Go to the lab!" Lloyd shouted back over his shoulder. "Check the Aegis diagnostics! I have... I have to go to my study. I have to check the inventory."

  He didn't wait for her reply. He ran. He ran through the corridors of his home, ignoring the startled servants. He ran past the portraits of his ancestors, who looked down on him with judgmental oil-painted eyes.

  He burst into his private study and slammed the door. He locked it. He engaged the magical privacy seals.

  He stood in the center of the room, panting. He was alone. Just him and the System.

  "System," Lloyd said. "Open interface."

  The sleek, star-filled void of the System 2.0 appeared in his mind. The Administrator’s cool, synthetic voice echoed in his head.

  [Welcome, User. Your heart rate is elevated. Do you require medical assistance?]

  "No," Lloyd said. "I require a miracle. Open the Shopping Tree."

  The holographic branches of the Shopping Tree unfurled before him. He swiped past the weapons. He swiped past the potions. He swiped past the materials.

  "Spirits," he muttered. "I can summon spirits. I summoned Iffrit. I summoned Bingyu. They are constructs of energy and concept. If I can summon a concept of fire... why can't I summon a concept of a person?"

  He navigated to the [Spirits] tab. He scrolled down, past the elemental spirits, past the beast spirits. He reached the bottom, where the options were greyed out or incredibly expensive.

  He found a tab he had never looked at before. [Heroic Spirits].

  Usually, this tab contained legendary figures from history—ancient kings, mythic warriors. Strangers.

  "Search," Lloyd commanded. "Search for... specific resonance. Search for Jasmin."

  [Querying database...]

  The System paused. It felt like it was thinking.

  [No standard Heroic Spirit matches 'Jasmin'. However, User possesses a recorded data log of a bonded individual who achieved a 'Sacrificial Pinnacle'.]

  Lloyd’s heart stopped. "Sacrificial Pinnacle. She died for me. The System recorded it?"

  [Affirmative. The System records all combat data within the User's vicinity. The entity 'Jasmin' achieved a moment of conceptual transcendence before termination. Her data profile is saved in the cache.]

  "Can I..." Lloyd swallowed hard. "Can I bring her back?"

  [Resurrection is outside the parameters of the System. The soul has departed.]

  Lloyd punched the desk. "I don't care about the soul! I need the person! I need the... the shape! The voice! The memory!"

  [Alternative Option Available: Spirit Reconstruction. Sub-category: Bonded Vassal.]

  A new window popped up. It was ominous. The text was red.

  [Spirit Reconstruction: Bonded Vassal]

  Description: Reconstructs a spiritual facsimile of a deceased individual based on recorded data and residual karma. Creates a Spirit Class entity.

  Requirements:

  1. Significant personal item of the deceased (The Catalyst).

  2. 10,000 System Coins (or equivalent energy conversion).

  3. User Spiritual Essence Contribution.

  Lloyd stared at the cost. 10,000 System Coins It was insane. It was bankrupting. He had been saving for the Aegis upgrades. He had been saving for the war.

  But then he thought about Mrs. Weaver. He thought about the doll. He thought about the empty space behind his shoulder where Jasmin used to stand.

  "I can farm more coins," Lloyd whispered. "I can grind. I can kill a million slimes. But I can't get her back any other way."

  He reached into his pocket. He pulled out the hairpin. It was simple silver, bent slightly from the impact of the spear. It was the only thing he had left.

  "Is this enough?" Lloyd asked the air. "Is this a catalyst?"

  [Scanning object... Item verified. High emotional resonance detected. Catalyst accepted.]

  Lloyd took a deep breath. This was madness. This was heresy. He was trying to print a human being out of magic and memories.

  But he was desperate. And desperation made its own morality.

  "Do it," Lloyd commanded. "Purchase."

  [Warning: This process is irreversible. The resulting entity will be classified as a Spirit, not a Human. Proceed?]

  "I said do it!" Lloyd screamed.

  Chapter : 1638

  He slammed his hand on the virtual 'Accept' button. The room began to hum. The shadows lengthened. Lloyd felt a massive drain on his energy, as if a vampire had bitten his neck. The coins vanished from his account. The hairpin in his hand began to glow with a blinding, prismatic light.

  "Come back," Lloyd whispered, watching the light consume the room. "Please, just come back."

  The light in the study wasn't just bright; it was heavy. It pressed against the walls, rattling the bookshelves and making the windows vibrate. It was a prismatic swirling vortex of colors—diamond white, soft pink, and the deep, grounding brown of earth. It centered on the silver hairpin floating in the middle of the room.

  Lloyd stood back, shielding his eyes with his arm. The wind whipped his hair and clothes, tearing at him. The air smelled of ozone and something sweeter—like fresh laundry and jasmine flowers.

  "System," Lloyd shouted over the roaring wind. "Status!"

  [reconstructing matrix... 40%... 60%...]

  The Administrator’s voice was calm, a stark contrast to the chaos in the room.

  [Injecting User Spiritual Essence... Warning: Vitality levels dropping. Please remain conscious.]

  Lloyd felt his knees buckle. It wasn't just taking his mana; it was taking his life. He felt cold. His vision blurred at the edges. He felt like he was bleeding out, but there was no wound. He gritted his teeth and locked his knees.

  "Take it," he snarled. "Take whatever you need. Just finish it."

  He poured his will into the vortex. He visualized her. Not just her face, but the way she stood. The way she held a tea tray like a shield. The way she smiled when she thought no one was looking. He pushed those memories into the light, trying to fill the hollow shape forming there.

  [Reconstruction at 90%... Shaping physical shell... Crystallizing concept: 'Diamond Queen'.]

  The light began to condense. It swirled inward, taking on a humanoid shape. First the skeleton, glowing like molten glass. Then the muscles, woven from threads of light. Then the skin.

  The wind died down. The roaring stopped. The blinding light faded into a soft, steady glow.

  Standing in the center of the room, where the hairpin had been, was a girl.

  Lloyd forgot how to breathe.

  It was her.

  She was wearing her maid uniform, crisp and clean, not bloodstained and torn like the last time he saw her. Her hair was brown and tied back in a practical bun, secured by the silver hairpin. Her hands were folded politely in front of her.

  She looked... perfect. Too perfect. There was no smudge of soot on her cheek. No stray hair out of place. She looked like a high-definition photograph.

  Lloyd took a step forward. His legs felt like jelly. He reached out a trembling hand.

  "Jasmin?" he whispered.

  She didn't move. She stood as still as a statue. Her chest didn't rise and fall. Did spirits breathe? He didn't know. He didn't care.

  "Jasmin, it's me," Lloyd said, his voice cracking. "It's Lloyd. I... I brought you back."

  Slowly, the figure raised her head. Her eyes opened.

  They were brown. The same warm, chocolate brown he remembered. But as Lloyd looked into them, the relief in his chest turned into a cold, heavy stone.

  There was no light in them.

  When people look at you, there is a spark. Recognition. Emotion. History. Even when they hate you, there is something there.

  Jasmin’s eyes were flat. They were like painted glass. They saw him, but they didn't know him.

  She unclasped her hands and performed a perfect, mechanical curtsy. It was graceful, fluid, and utterly devoid of personality.

  "Summoning complete," she said.

  Her voice. It was her voice. The same pitch, the same timbre. But the cadence was wrong. It was smooth, melodic, and monotone. It sounded like a recording.

  "Awaiting orders, Master," she said.

  Lloyd froze. Master. She never called him Master. She called him 'My Lord', or 'Young Lord', or sometimes, when she was brave, just 'Lloyd'. 'Master' was a command prompt.

  "Jasmin?" Lloyd asked again, desperation creeping into his voice. "Do you... do you know who I am?"

  She looked at him. Blinked once.

  "You are the User," she stated. "You are the primary command authority. Designation: Master."

  Lloyd felt like he had been punched in the gut. He stumbled back, hitting his desk.

  "No," he whispered. "No, no, no. Stop that. Stop talking like a machine. It's me. We... we made stew. You saved my father. You died."

  Chapter : 1639

  The spirit tilted her head. It was a mimicry of curiosity, but it felt hollow.

  "Data not found," she said pleasanty. "My memory banks are initialized at zero. I am the Diamond Queen. I am your shield."

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  A chime sounded in Lloyd’s head. A System notification window popped up, hovering next to her blank face.

  [Summon Successful]

  [Class: Spirit - Diamond Queen]

  [Rank: Variable (Scalable)]

  [Memory Engram: NULL]

  [Personality Matrix: DEFAULT / SUBSERVIENT]

  Lloyd read the words. Memory Engram: NULL.

  He fell into his chair. The room spun. He had spent a fortune. He had nearly killed himself. He had broken the laws of nature.

  And he had bought a doll.

  ________________________________________

  Lloyd stared at the thing wearing Jasmin’s face.

  She stood patiently, waiting for input. She didn't fidget. Jasmin always fidgeted. She used to play with her apron when she was nervous. This creature stood with absolute, terrifying stillness.

  "Administrator," Lloyd hissed in his mind. "What is this? Where is she?"

  [Clarification: The user requested a Spirit Reconstruction. The physical and magical parameters of the target were perfectly recreated using the combat data logs. However, the System cannot capture the 'Soul' or 'Consciousness'. Those data points are metaphysical and dissipate upon biological cessation.]

  "You gave me a shell," Lloyd accused. "You gave me a zombie."

  [Correction: I gave you a Spirit. It is a high-grade combat asset. It possesses all the reflexive capabilities of the original subject, amplified by Spirit physiology. It is a perfect weapon.]

  "I didn't want a weapon!" Lloyd shouted. He grabbed a paperweight and threw it at the wall. It shattered.

  The Spirit Jasmin reacted instantly. Her arm blurred, turning into diamond. She didn't intercept the paperweight because it wasn't aimed at Lloyd, but she shifted into a defensive stance, ready to protect him from... himself?

  "Threat assessment: Negative," she droned. She returned to her neutral standing pose.

  Lloyd put his head in his hands. This was a nightmare. It was worse than her being dead. This was a mockery.

  He thought about Mrs. Weaver. He had promised to bring her daughter. Could he bring... this?

  If he brought this robot to Mrs. Weaver, the woman would know instantly. A mother would look into those dead eyes and see the truth. It would be cruel. It would be monstrous.

  "I should dismiss you," Lloyd whispered. "I should unsummon you. Send you back to the void."

  He looked at her again. It was so hard to look at her and not see his friend.

  "Jasmin," he said testingly.

  "Yes, Master?"

  "Smile."

  She smiled. It was a perfect anatomical contraction of the zygomaticus major muscles. It showed teeth. But it didn't reach her eyes. It was a mask smiling.

  Lloyd shuddered. "Stop. Don't... don't smile."

  She stopped instantly. Her face went back to neutral.

  Lloyd felt a wave of nausea. He had created a slave. A slave made out of his dead friend's memory.

  "I can't undo it," he realized. "If I dismiss her... she's gone forever. The data is used. The coin is spent. This is all that's left of her."

  He couldn't throw her away. It felt like killing her a second time.

  He stood up and walked over to her. He reached out and touched her arm. It felt warm, but not like human skin. It felt like sun-warmed glass. Solid. Unyielding.

  "I'm sorry," he whispered to the spirit. "I'm so sorry I did this to you."

  "Apology unrequired," she replied smoothly. "My function is to serve."

  "Your function," Lloyd muttered bitterly.

  He paced the room. He had to think. He was a strategist. He had a new asset. A flawed, horrifying asset, but an asset.

  "Okay," Lloyd said, his voice shaking. "We need to... we need to calibrate. I need to see what you can do. Maybe... maybe the memories are buried. Maybe if I trigger them..."

  It was a desperate, foolish hope. But it was all he had.

  "Follow me," Lloyd commanded.

  "Following," she said.

  Lloyd walked to the door. He paused. He couldn't let anyone see her yet. Not Mina. Not his father. If they saw this... this hollow thing... they would think he was a necromancer. They would think he had gone mad.

  Maybe he had.

  He activated his [Spatial Power]. He opened a portal directly to the Soul Farm.

  "Step through," Lloyd said.

  Spirit Jasmin stepped into the swirling vortex without hesitation. Lloyd followed her.

  They emerged in the sanctuary of the Soul Farm. It was night in the pocket dimension. The stars were cold and distant.

  Chapter : 1640

  Lloyd looked at his creation standing in the grass.

  "I'm going to call you Jasmin," Lloyd said. "Because I can't call you anything else. But you aren't her. I know that."

  "Designation accepted: Jasmin," the spirit said.

  "We're going to test you," Lloyd said. He felt cold inside. "We're going to see if you're worth the price of my soul."

  He summoned Iffrit. The fire demon materialized, looking massive and terrifying.

  "Iffrit," Lloyd said. "Training mode. Level 5."

  Iffrit looked at the new spirit. He looked at Lloyd. The demon seemed confused by the familiar face with the empty scent.

  "Master?" Iffrit rumbled. "That is the cleaning girl. Why does she smell like static?"

  "She's not the cleaning girl," Lloyd said. "She's the Diamond Queen. Attack her."

  Iffrit hesitated. "But..."

  "Attack her!" Lloyd roared.

  Iffrit shrugged. He raised a massive, flaming fist and swung at the small girl.

  Lloyd watched, holding his breath. Please, he thought. Please show me something real. Scream. Run. Do something human.

  Spirit Jasmin didn't flinch. She didn't scream.

  She moved.

  ________________________________________

  The fight in the Soul Farm wasn't a spar; it was a physics demonstration.

  Iffrit’s fist, a boulder wreathed in magma, descended with enough force to crush a tank. Spirit Jasmin didn't dodge. She didn't block in the traditional sense.

  In the split second before impact, her skin shifted. It didn't just harden; it transmuted. Her flesh turned into translucent, faceted crystal. She angled her body perfectly, catching the blow on her shoulder.

  CRACK.

  The sound was sharp, like a hammer hitting an anvil. But she didn't buckle. The force of the blow slid off her angled armor, redirected into the ground. The earth shattered beneath her feet, but she remained standing.

  "Counter-measure initiated," she stated calmly.

  Her arm shifted. The diamond flowed like water and then snapped rigid, forming a long, jagged blade extending from her forearm. She spun, using the momentum of Iffrit’s attack to fuel her own. She slashed at the demon’s chest.

  SHING.

  The diamond blade cut through Iffrit’s magma armor like it was butter. The demon roared in surprise and stumbled back, a line of cooling lava marking the wound.

  Lloyd watched, his mouth slightly open. The human Jasmin had been brave, but she had been clumsy. She scrambled. She panicked. She used her power instinctively, defensively.

  This spirit was a machine. Her movements were mathematically perfect. She wasted no energy. Every step was calculated for maximum efficiency. She was faster than the original. Stronger.

  "Iffrit, fire breath!" Lloyd commanded.

  Iffrit inhaled and unleashed a torrent of crimson flame. The heat turned the sand to glass.

  Jasmin didn't run. She raised both hands. The air in front of her shimmered. She grew a wall of diamond from her palms, a faceted shield that curved to deflect the flames.

  But she didn't just block. The diamond wall acted as a prism. It caught the light of the fire, concentrated it, and fired it back as a blinding laser beam of heated light.

  The beam hit Iffrit in the face, blinding him.

  "Combat efficiency: 94%," Jasmin announced from behind her shield.

  Lloyd felt sick. It was incredible. It was magnificent. And it was horrifying.

  He remembered teaching the real Jasmin how to hold a knife. She had been shaking. She had been afraid of cutting herself. This thing... this thing felt no fear. It felt no pain. It felt nothing.

  "Stop," Lloyd whispered.

  The combatants didn't hear him. Iffrit was angry now. He roared and summoned his greatsword.

  "STOP!" Lloyd shouted, amplifying his voice with Void power.

  Iffrit froze mid-swing. Jasmin instantly returned to her neutral standing pose, the diamond armor dissolving back into skin.

  Lloyd walked over to her. He examined her shoulder where Iffrit had hit her. There was no bruise. No scratch. Just perfect, unblemished skin.

  "Are you hurt?" Lloyd asked.

  "Damage assessment: Negligible," she replied. "Structural integrity at 100%."

  Lloyd looked into her eyes. He was desperate for a flicker of fear. Adrenaline. Anything.

  "Did that scare you?" he asked. "A giant demon tried to burn you. Did you feel anything?"

  "Fear is a biological response to perceived threat," she recited. "I am a conceptual entity. I cannot be terminated by conventional means. Therefore, fear is illogical."

  Lloyd closed his eyes. Illogical.

  The real Jasmin was terrified of spiders. She cried when she cut onions. She loved bad romance novels. Those weren't logical things. Those were human things. And they were gone.

  He had built a perfect soldier. He had upgraded her. And in doing so, he had erased her.