“Come on, Dessy! Why’re you dragging your feet?” Eva asked, tilting her head as she looked back at Desire. Eva was curious as to what Mori could want from her specifically. Eva was, at her core, a large muscular woman who loved people and did not let only one person have that love. On Earth, she was a psychologist and counselor for troubled people. She did plenty of work, helping people get through tough times and the like, but she had no clue as to what a powerful, weeks-old lich could want with her. Not to mention the fact that said lich also had the help of a great mechanic and a goddess’ daughter.

Desire sighed, finally following Eva, “Well, I just want to spend more time with you before the mistress monopolizes you or something,” she admitted, “I know that the mistress won’t do anything bad, I just want you more.”

Eva smiled, wrapping Desire’s body into a hug, “Dessy, the sooner I help Mori out, the sooner we can walk around. So come on! Or are you going to disobey an order from your mistress?” she teased. Desire gasped in realization and began dragging Eva through the hallways at a higher speed than before.

They eventually reached the dynamo room, finding it almost entirely empty, save for Mori, her desk, ATHENA, and a Talonec suit laying on a table. Mori did not even look up from her papers-- she seemed so engrossed in them that she did not even notice either of them arriving-- while ATHENA took immediate notice of them “Hello,” she said, “Mori is a bit… distracted at the moment, and Fara and mother are both down in the dwarven tower, finding materials for more mana dynamos.”

“Cool…” Eva said, “So what do we do now?” She, while liking Mori well enough, wanted to be alone with Desire rather than wait for Mori to finish her sigils.

Mori, as if hearing her thoughts, looked up, “Oh, there you are,” she said, “So, long story short, I need to take a look at your soul for a few minutes. I want to make the Talonecs stronger as time goes on, so they can be more effective the more they are used without me having to strengthen their souls myself. For that, Fara had the idea of copying the Sa’rk system’s method of soul empowerment. So, can I look at your soul?”

Eva blinked, confused, “Umm… will it hurt?”

“No. Maybe not. I’ve seen souls before, but I haven’t looked too closely at a living person’s soul,” Mori replied, “It won’t take long, five minutes at most. Please?”

“Fine, fine. You can… But can you show Dessy? Somehow?”

Mori stood still for a moment, then paced around the room, “Okay, that might be possible. If there is a mana type that is just the concept of ‘Sight,’ then it could be possible to transmit my sight to her… The only problem is that I don’t have a mana type like that. ATHENA.”

“Yes?”

“Did your mom ever leave any books with you to read or something like that?” Mori asked.

The orb bobbed up and down, “Mother did indeed. She brought a storage item with her to this world. It has a large storage capacity, but it can only store books, scrolls, and other reading implements She left it my care in case you or Fara would want to look at any of the books she had collected,” she explained, “Though, the ring was filled with a large amount of literature-- works of art, not doubt, but still fiction. There might be a book you could use, however.”

Mori ‘smiled’ with her helmet, “And what book is that?”

The closest wall suddenly opened, revealing a thick tome with a leather cover and a golden eye on the cover. Mori walked over to it and took it from the wall, “‘The Senses’? I’m guessing this book is about, well, the senses?”

“It is, more accurately, about the creation of new senses. The species who wrote this book had three main ways of observing the world: infrared sight, sound, and touch, which they used to feel vibrations in the ground and air,” ATHENA explained, “They created more senses, like taste and smell, through mana. With such basic things being created, they began aiming to be able to sense everything there is. That led to them creating an entirely unique spatial coordinate system, which needed special senses to navigate. Unfortunately, the coordinate system has been lost, but the method of sensing it has not, along with the interesting ways sight mana can be developed.”

“But does it have normal sight-sharing?” Mori asked.

“They did indeed. Go to page 589 and the section on sense sharing is halfway down the page.” Mori flipped to the page while Eva and Desire both stood there awkwardly. Mori eventually began nodding to herself, then put the book back into the wall, letting the metal take it, “Did you learn what you wanted to know?”

“I did. It’s not that hard. Ish. Alright, Desire, come over here and we can look at Eva’s soul together,” Desire followed Mori’s directions, standing beside her in front of Eva. Her hands suddenly glowed and a simple I letter was written in the air. The spell was cast and Desire blinked, “Can you see it?”

Desire nodded slowly, “I can, mistress… this is really weird…”

“Oh, then this’ll be even worse,” Mori replied, her eyes going from green, purple, red, and black flames to purely red and blue disks in her eye sockets.

Desire threw herself backwards in surprise, falling on the hard glass below their feet, “Oh, what in the hell is this!?” she cried, clumsily scrambling to her feet, “Why are there so many colors? And… wait, is that… Eva, step to the left a bit,” Desire said. Eva shrugged and did so, taking a step to the left, “Okay, now go to the right.” Eva did exactly that, “Woah… so that’s your soul…” Desire tentatively approached Eva, acting as if her chest were some nervous animal.

“Okay, so do you see what I’m looking at here, Desire?” Mori asked, pointing at Eva’s heart, “That’s her soul.”

Desire nodded, “Okay, that’s her soul. Why does it look like a ball of yarn?” she asked.

“Because every soul looks like that. See this red stuff,” Mori said, gesturing to the rest of Eva’s body, “That’s her body. It has a higher concentration of the sentient energy-- I just call it S. energy-- and the weaker red around it is the sort of radiation of her soul. If she were psychic, she could control that to attack either of us. Or Connect with us. Or whatever else there is to do. You get all of that?”

“I did, mistress,” Desire replied, “But why is your own body just… normal? My body isn’t like that…”

Mori waved it off, her eyes reverting back to their normal flaming collage of colors, “That’s because of my ascension. Becoming an archlich, I added my own S. energy to my body, taking my soul from whatever fifth plane it resides in and putting it into normal reality. It’s a whole thing. Anyway, do you mind if I keep looking, Eva? If it’s not on the outside of your soul, then I’ll just have to give upon this idea…”

“Sure, no problem,” Eva replied, suddenly feeling a bit bashful as her cheeks reddened.

Mori chuckled, “You’re used to Desire being the only one seeing your soul, huh?” Eva simply blushed more, “I guess that’s a yes,” Mori laughed, “Your soul is squirming like a ball of tangled snakes.”

“That’s just weird!” Eva whined, “Can’t you describe it in a less weird way?”

“Would you rather me call it a bunch of worms?” Mori asked with a teasing tone.

Eva pouted, “...No…”

“Good. So, how have you two been? Have you been keeping your girlfriend company at night, Desire?” Mori asked.

“I have,” Desire replied proudly, “I have been keeping her company and we’ve been having a lot of fun sleeping together. In both ways.” Eva’s face became an even deeper shade of red, much to Desire’s amusement, “Hey, this is what you get for teasing me all the time.”

Eva pouted at Desire as Mori circled the woman, “Hey, I only did that when we were alone or with the other death knights. It’s weird when your mom is here…”

“Don’t worry, sweetie, a mother knows everything their child is up to,” Mori chuckled, stopping right where she started, “So… I found the runes that make up the system in your soul. Hurrah, good job me. Now…”

“Is it something bad, Mori?” Desire asked.

Mori shook her head, “Well, not bad, but more interesting. Eva, turns out that the gods heard you when you wanted to stay with Desire. Your system is inactive. Not just idling, but entirely removed. The only things left are the spots on your soul where the runes were in kind of an imprint.”

Eva shifted on her feet, “Mori, wouldn’t that hurt?” she asked.

“It would and should, but you obviously don’t know about it, so…” Mori trailed off, “Well, I didn’t find it… Oh well, just one more thing to improve on later. Okay, you two can go. Or you can have your date in here if you want ATHENA to be the third wheel.”

“You are all technically inside of me right now, Mori. I believe that you are all third wheels of everyone else,” ATHENA replied, “But do not be discouraged. I am currently creating accommodations for our future crew. Mother’s, Mori’s, Fara’s, the three sisters’, and most of yours are completed. Please do not expect much-- all I can spare is a bed and a few tables for you all-- but I hope they are to your liking.”

Eva and Desire smiled at ATHENA, “Thanks, Athy. We’ll go check it out now,” Eva said as they began to leave.

“Don’t do anything intimate in there, by the way,” Mori called, “Not unless ATHENA agrees!” Eva and Desire both went red-faced and escaped as soon as Mori finished her words.