Before Bev had time to remove the halberd from the sun tiger Kennon was standing beside her with arcane water.

  It looked horrible. The tiger must have bit into the helmet while she was wearing it. Several long deep scratches covered the entire right side of her face.

  “Sit down, let me clean you up”

  She sat without a word.

  Aside from wincing in pain at the touch of the medicines Bev didn’t speak. She just stared at the dead tiger.

  In just a few minutes her face was bandaged. Kennon could tell that the pain had mostly subsided. But it still hurt.

  “Any other wounds.” He said.

  “No.”

  Kennon took a moment to breath. So much had just happened. It would take a while to process. Maybe that was why Bev was just staring. Barely blinking. Come to think of it, did she have a concussion?

  He started to ask when she said, “Look at the tiger.”

  Kennon stopped and looked. He didn’t see much. A tiger with a spear sticking from its brain.

  “Wha-”

  “Look deeper.”

  Kennon did. He took a moment to really look at it. It was interesting, in a morbid way. It was still warm. Then he noticed the mana. All creatures contained mana. He knew it vented from the body on death. But he never had a good chance to see it. The creatures were too low in mana. Or he didn’t have time to focus, like with the first tiger.

  It was like steam radiating from a boiling pot. Was that what she was interested in? Did she want to contain the mana somehow? He supposed it was possible. In theory. He did it to plants all the time. It was one of the foundations of alchemy.

  “Is it the mana?”

  “No, the soul” she said. Her voice a whisper.

  Confused, he looked again.

  She was right. Mingled with the mana was something else. If mana was boiling water than this was a fire, flickering into nothing.

  No, not nothing. More mana. Kennon didn’t even know that it was possible to see another creature's soul fire. But he was watching it fizzle out right now.

  It was odd. If he had expected anything he would have expected it to simply cease to be. Or to vanish whole. But it looked like it was decaying. The same way a body decayed. Curious, he made a halfhearted attempt to place the body in his pack.

  Despite there being enough room it refused. The same way as it would if he tried to put something alive in it. Apparently despite the body clearly being dead there was enough life to resist storage.

  He watched the soul decay. As it did the mana in the body didn’t decrease as he would have expected, given how much was venting off. It increased. Massively. Every speck of soul decayed into mounds of mana.

  It was odd. He had been taught that the system guarded dead souls. At least that was what the church said. And it had never differentiated between animals and people in that regard.

  But it wasn’t taken away, or protected. It simply, decayed. Maybe it was different with people. He didn’t really want a chance to find out. Or was the church of the system lying about that as well.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Minutes passed in silence. It felt right somehow to respect the dead tigers. They may have wanted to eat them. But honestly the reverse was true too. A moment of respect for the valiant fight it gave.

  And what a fight it was. He felt exhilarated. Every gram of tension had turned into a kilo of thrill. Even in the respectful silence he couldn’t help but want to check the notifications that he knew were waiting for him.

  If this was what adventurers felt, then why did he ever want to spend a second on alchemy?

  One look at Bev’s bandaged face answered that.

  Alchemy on the weekends then. They needed to rest every once in a while.

  He nearly let out a chuckle.

  It didn’t take long. Just a couple minutes for everything to reach equilibrium. Kennon was surprised how much of the mana stayed. Remained nestled in the dead flesh.

  At some unspoken signal Bev deposited the tiger in her bag and Kennon stood to retrieve the smaller tigers.

  Two complete tigers were approaching the limit of what one of their bags could hold. But it could hold it.

  As he stood he checked the notifications he felt buzzing in his brain since the death of the first tiger. The system was kind enough not to interrupt important things like fighting for your life with a level up notification.

  Level 7 reached + 20 soul points. + 200 max mana.

  That was it? No new suggested skills? That was… it wasn’t right.

  Come to think of it, he had practically mastered both heat and wind blade. And he still didn’t get level ups for them either. There had to be an explanation. Maybe Tutor could answer? It was cagey about the details of the system. But he supposed those were more history questions than the basics of skills.

  Tutor, why did I not get any new suggested skills? And why has my fire magic level not risen?

  Skills are suggested based on their commonality, and your predicted ability to weave them. More will be suggested with higher mental enhancements. As well as magic proficiencies. Fire magic and wind magic have not risen since they require a certain skill in water magic. If you wish I can tutor you in spell casting fundamentals. That should increase all proficiencies by at least one level in just a few days. Even proficiencies you haven’t unlocked!

  That explained a lot actually. It was taking time to get used to the fact that level ups only meant more soul points. It really had nothing to do with levels.

  Some skills are never suggested below certain levels. But you are mostly correct.

  Huh. He supposed that was the entire reason Tutor existed.

  Bev interrupted his chain of thought with a question.

  “Did you notice the effect our bond had on the fight?”

  He looked at her. She was still sitting in the dirt. Her wound had only just now stopped its constant throbbing. The fact that he even knew that was an answer to her question in itself.

  “You mean why you felt no need to back me up?” he said.

  “And why you knew not to expect backup? Yes.”

  It was odd. The instant the battle started they fought as one. Even now he remembered how her muscles burned when moving under the effects of the movement aura spell as if it had happened to him. Until her injury it was hard to tell how much of his very thoughts were his own.

  He knew she felt the same way. Had the same experience. They just stared at each other. Questions, answers, confirmation. It all flowed freely and unconsciously.

  Vonn protocol condition met. New skill suggested.

  What? Why now? He checked the new skill.

  Enhance twin bond

  An experimental skill designed to strengthen the twin soul bond between Kennon and Bev Vonn. research paid for via Vonn protocol. Effects unknown. This untested skill is simple, yet may have unintended consequences.

  Size: variable

  Well, he knew what his next skill would be. Although, a skill designed purely to strengthen their bond. One that named them specifically. Was their bond really that unique?

  At that moment the voice of Tutor appeared in his mind.

  Your bond is something that has never been seen by the growth system before. You really are very special. It may be your biggest advantage. Sadly I don’t know how to help with it.

  That was an answer he supposed. He also realized he hadn’t turned off Tutor and did so immediately.

  Well. he was now eager to get back to camp and try out this new skill. And maybe get some magic tutoring too. They took out a major threat today. He doubted the tigers would try to hunt them after seeing a sun tiger taken down

  They still had work to do to be truly safe. But they took down a T2 beast. That was all the proof he needed that they were on the right track.

  Thank you for sharing my journey. To help me walk it I have a set up. It is 20 chapters ahead and releases at the same time as the Royal Road chapters.

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