“Who did this?!” The magus shouted when the carriage got away. He was holding his shoulder; the robes covering it were now turning black from blood.

Not given the order to raise their heads, the kid and the old man kept them lowered.

Silence stretched, with no one daring to answer the inquiry of the magus.

“Sir, let me look at that,” A man wearing green robes approached the magus.

The magus eyed everyone, snorted, then let the white-robbed man look at his injury.

The white-robbed man cut the cloth surrounding the injury, then he spilt a blue shining liquid on the injury from a capsule strapped to his belt. A green glow started to shine from the white-robbed man’s palms, and the injury could be seen mending with the naked eye.

What is this blue liquid?

It took the man a while to heal the wound. After he was done, the magus walked along the column of chained elderly and children. He paced, going out of my spherical vision a few times.

He then came back to where the boy was.

“Soldiers! Kill all the elderly!”

The soldiers didn’t hesitate, drawing their weapons, they slashed, and heads fell. One of the heads belonged to the elderly man who had taken care of the boy. His hot blood colored the boy’s face red. Eyes went wide, heartbeat raced, emotions intangled, but…

Anger. Rage dominated. It urged the child to take action.

Something broke. I knew what it was: survival instincts.

Clenching his fists, the boy shouted before rushing the soldier who had killed his new friend.

He’ll kill himself!

The guard smiled—sinisterly. A step, the sword impaled the boy through the gut. He retched, coughing blood.

Nooo!

***

The boy was left to bleed on the side of the road, not even given the mercy of a quick death.

As he stared at the sky, I felt it; the boy’s brain activity quickened—memories. I saw some—peaceful times.

More and more memories passed, and at the end, a wish, a will, and a…

Call?

The boy’s soul appeared in my soul space, taking me by surprise. He extended a hand, and…

Would you like to heed Somani’s call and achieve a perfect unity with his body?

Perfect unity?

I hesitated. Accepting the system’s or the boy’s offer might lead to an undesirable path, but could I replicate this again?

It might be a rare opportunity. He seems to be offering me his body instead of me killing his soul to take it, but what will happen to his soul?

In the end, I decided to accept. The system would usually give me a warning if there was any danger.

Yes.

This time, I didn’t black out. I felt it—the integration process.

My soul, elongated and twisted. It took the same outline as the boy’s soul, but inside, my spherical soul resided where the human brain was. 

Mana flew at me from all over the boy’s body. After reaching me, it coalesced inside my soul, then shot out, hitting every cell’s Metacondria.

Finally, the boy… hugged me.

His memories, instincts, and soul merged with mine. We swam together inside my Mana film, bending and twisting. Where my soul formed a hollow, his filled it, and mine did the same, until…

We were one.

I was Somani, and Somani was the Manima Monoform.

I awoke, but this time it was different from the cat; it didn’t feel like I took a foreign body, more like I returned to my body.

Status.

Species: Manima Monoform.

Species-specific skills:

-Mana manipulation Lv. 7

-Soul manipulation Lv. 5

-Rudis Subtilis Biomancy Lv. 6 {Tier 1} (Unique)

-Soul mind Lv. 9

-Manima senses Lv. 6 (Unique)

Class unavailable

Hmm… so perfect unity lets me have a host’s species skill and a second class?

But then, pain came.

I tried to raise my head, but couldn’t—my body felt cold.

Help…

What was that?!

A thought that wasn’t mine entered my brain.

I must be hallucinating.

I activated my biomancy skill and felt it… another Mana source?

It was a small green spherical crystal under my heart. I hadn’t noticed it before because I never got a close look at this area.

Mana flew from my film and the green core and reached for the injury. Through [Rudis Subtilis Biomancy], I slowly closed the wound and created more blood to replace the one I’d lost.

Colour slowly returned to the kid’s face as the wound got stitched.

Thank you, Grandpa.

What?!

I said, ‘Thank you,’ Grandpa. I felt your… You wanted to help even after your death, right? I answered your call. But where are you now? Are you inside of me?

For the first time since my existence, I was left speechless. 

The boy had somehow survived, but… who controls the host?

As if answering my question, the boy tried to sit, but failed. I stopped him—the wound would’ve opened.

Control the host? What does that mean, Grandpa?

This… It’s bad.

What’s bad?

Shut up, kid! I’m trying to think.

As you like, Grandpa.

And the boy really did stop talking, thinking?

I tried to think of the consequences as I healed the wound.

So, if the host soul agrees, we can unite, letting me gain species-specific skills, a Mana core, another class, and probably other perks. But, I have to share the body with the soul?

I focused on my soul. It looked… the same.

No, there’s…

I tried to zoom inside my soul, and found a small human-shaped soul. It was floating in my soul with its knees on its chest, as its arms hugged itself; it was asleep.

Hmm… that’s the boy’s soul. I could probably kill him by removing his soul, but that would cost me a lot of my soul, and maybe end the perfect unity.

Kill? Are we going to kill somebody?

The boy thought. His thoughts felt… fearful?

Yes, we’re going to kill the magus who hit your mother and killed me, letting us join bodies.

I had decided to observe the situation more before ending the child. I also played into the kid’s illusion of me being his Grandpa.

Ya!

***

It took me until night to close the wound. I had expected more time, but with the boy’s core being almost double my Mana film, I managed to speed up the process. I also managed to use [Forced Mana Regeneration] on the boy’s Mana core, too.

The boy had tried to stand up a few times, his patience running thin, but I found out that my body control could override his, so I stopped him each time.

Thankfully, the boy was somewhat obedient, so we didn’t have to clash with each other much.

I also discovered that I could hide my thoughts from him by making them deeper, not superficial, but that was a bit hard and needed some training to get used to.

The boy was now in control of the body. He stood up, after I permitted him, and looked at Cervita.

The city was… intimidating. It was surrounded by a moat and huge black walls that had towers intermittently.

Humans… they are dangerous.

Grandpa, what do we do now?

The stone road next to us was abandoned, and the Cervita was still far away.

Head for the—

Grrrr.

I was cut off by the sound of Somani’s stomach rumble.

We’ll hunt, then head for the city.

Around us were bundles of harvested wheat and other plants, so the plains were clear, and… no food could be seen.

His vision is weaker than the cat's, so there might be small animals we aren’t able to see. Hmm…

Hunt? Somani asked.

Yes, you see that farmhouse to your left? Head there.

Somani heeded my words, and soon we reached the farmhouse. It had a barn next to it, and what looked to be a storage place.

What now? Somani whispered his thought as he hid behind the fence.

No one can hear us, so you can speak normally.

Yeah, Somani answered with a low voice.

For some reason, I wanted to palm my face. Probably instincts from Kamos.

I want you to sneak inside the barn, steal a chicken, then run. Am I clear?

Yeah!

The boy flipped over the fence, landing with a loud thud. Thankfully, no one noticed.

As the boy made his way towards the barn’s double doors, I created a bone arrow.

Woah! What is that, Grandpa?

Focus on your mission, then we’ll talk.

Of course, Captain!

Captain? Are human kids this stupid?

The boy slitted the door and entered.

Moonlight entered from a high window, illuminating the space with a silver colour.

We found a few chickens and roosters asleep inside a cage. The boy opened the simple lock mechanism, then held a rooster, and…

CooCoo.

“Shh.”

For some reason, the boy put a finger against his lips, as if trying to communicate with the rooster.

The rooster cocked its head to the side, looking at us with one eye before…

COOCOO!

What did you tell it?! I asked angrily.

N-nothing. I just thought it would shut up.

But then…

Woof! Woof!

A dog barked at us from outside the door; it seemed unable to enter from the small slit.

Grandpa, what now?

Keep hold of the rooster; I’ll deal with the dog.

The boy nodded before walking hesitantly towards the door.

“Who's there?” A sound came from afar.

I didn’t wait for the boy to continue his timid walk. I took over the body, running towards the door and pushing it open with a shoulder.

The dog immediately leapt at me, and I fell on my arse with it atop of me. I tried to take a bit of me, but a bone arrow through the head silenced it.

You have killed Shepardus Dog, Lv. 5

Since the user does not own a class, the experience will be stored until one is acquired.

Boy! Shove the dog, and run!

I shouted, seeing a torch and hoe-bearing man opening the fence gate from my spherical vision.

As the boy struggled to get the heavy creature off him, I started forming another bone spear as I used [Identify].

Farmer, Lv. ??

The boy finally kicked the dog off, but the man…

“Goblin!”

Me?

Run!

The boy started running towards the fence, but the farmer was faster, and… got a bone arrow to his face.

You have killed Farmer, Lv. 35

Since the user…

The boy sneaked a peek behind, stopping when he saw the farmer sprawled on the ground—face disfigured.

Wha—

Grab the torch, and get the rooster back.

But the boy didn’t move, looking at the dead body. I first thought he was stunned, but then a thin smile formed on his lips.

You’re cool, Grandpa!

I’m neither cool nor hot, I’m… Argh, now, move!

The kid picked up the torch, then followed the rooster, which had escaped inside the barn. Inside, we drank some water from a bucket, then took the bucket, a few carrots, and a random rooster before running away.

As we ran, I saw lights turning on inside the farmer’s home.

Let’s hope nothing comes of this…

***

I knew humans ate cooked food, so I made the kid light a small pile of wheat and set the metal bucket on it.

I gave the kid a sharp bone knife, and he knew how to skin the chicken and pluck its feathers. Asking him how, he told me his father was a butcher, which I knew, but hadn’t consolidated his memories yet.

Wait… does he also have my memories?

Looking at the kid’s face, he was… happy?

A smile was on his face as he cut the carrots and added them to the boiling water.

Hm… I have to be careful. This kid… he’s not normal.

The kid washed the chicken, then held it upside down so its blood would leave.

Kid, we don’t have much time. Put the rooster in the pot.

Somani shook his head.

I’m sorry, Grandpa, but I haven’t had a good meal for a month.

Sigh, just hurry, I tried to sound as human as I could.

This will also help me when we reach the human settlement.

The cooked meat… tasted amazing.

I had been eating meat for a while now, but this… it was on another level.

But I’m already full, Grandpa, the kid whined, massaging his bloated stomach.

Healing you took a lot of building materials, so you need to eat more, I lied, as healing didn’t need any building materials, although when I created more muscles for the cat, I noticed it needed more food.

This is delicious. I should make the cat cook food too.

***

Waking up the next morning, the caravans had returned to the distant road.

I made Soamni join them; I wanted him to enter the settlement.

As we got on the cobbled roads, a lot of people started pinching their noses, glaring at us, or simply averting their gazes.

But…

A man wearing a simple green linen shirt beneath a fur-lined coat, tucked into worn leather pants, approached us. He had a sword strapped to his black leather belt, and scars covered his face. His eyes were hidden behind strands of dirt blond hair, but through my special vision, I saw them… they were deadly.

Mana Blade, Lv. ???

“Where are your parents, kid?”

This is bad…