While I did take notice of the fact that I had not only leveled up, but also gained a new soul ability, I also took notice of the fact that the ‘system’ that seemed to exist in my mind was now both more clear and organized in the way it presented it’s information.

I couldn’t tell if it was because I leveled up or some other reason, but it was a welcome change to see this and also gave me hope that I would be able to discern even more things in the future as I continued to level up and get stronger. I might even be able to see some boxes with info, would be cool~

Another thing I noticed was that I still had the option of choosing a new skill or ability as a reward for leveling up. This was arguably more important because it not only told me that I could postpone getting a new ability for a while at the very least, but it also told me that I could gain new skills and abilities by myself, as [Lord Subordination I] was able to attest to this.

Looking at the acquisition of a new soul ability, I could not help but pose the question of what exactly a ‘soul’ ability was. I could tell that there existed regular skills and abilities as well as more ‘advanced’ soul abilities and skills. Using [Veritas] to look into this, I was able to discern that soul abilities and skills were tied to the very essence of a person, and worked in a different manner than regular abilities and skills. It was also the tier of your highest soul ability or skill that dictated what tier your own soul was. The higher the soul tier of a person, the higher the potential they had. This was fairly pleasing to see as I finally took a look at my own soul and saw that it was just as resplendent as Ailya’s soul. However, I still could not understand why the girl in front of me suddenly acquired a new tier 10 soul skill, or in fact, how I was able to gain a new soul ability after my first level up to push my soul tier to 10 as well.

I was beginning to learn that my own [Veritas] ability was not as omnipotent as I would have liked it to be, as the ability only allowed me to ‘glean’ into the truth of things, not fully know what they were unconditionally. In fact, not only was this the only limitations, but my own understanding of the ability also limited me. As in, if I didn’t know what I was searching for, my own ability wouldn’t be able to reveal me the secrets of it, even If It was happening right in front of me… 

It was for this reason that I could see the flow of mana in the environment the second I aquired the ability, because I expected there to be mana inside of things and around me. The same worked for learning languages, since I was able to see the ‘intention’ of things around me, I was able to use that and the knowledge of the person who spoke the language to comprehend it.

Though the most interesting case by far would be souls. Despite the fact that I’ve been constantly referencing and absorbing them, souls were something I could see every time I killed something from the moment I arrived, as a result of my [Soul Devourer] ability. Because of this, I was never actively looking for them with [Veritas], It was only now that the connection between me and Ailya strengthened that I actively used it as I was observing the connection between us.

Though it was disheartening to see the limitations of my own abilities, I wasn’t really too worried as the main caveat of it was the ability to be able to understand anything that I was able to properly observe. With most phenomenon interacting with the world in a way that left behind tangible evidence, I was confident I would be able to figure out that they exist and observe them. Thus, so long as I knew something was happening, or that specific phenomenon was occurring visibly in front of me, I would be able to ‘glean’ into its working and properly understand it.

Having finished this train of thought, I looked into my new soul ability in order to learn its use, seeing:

[Lord Subordination I] - Overpower and bend the will of others to your favor and become the absolute truth for those who submit to you.

Active Subordinates(Max 2): Ailya Rondestar

Gathered Abilities/Skills(Max 1 per Subordinate): N/A

Shared Abilities/Skills(Max 1 per Subordinate): N/A

After reading the description and using [Veritas] to glean into its nature, II was able to instinctively know how the ability worked and the effects that it had. At the same time, I took notice that the strange feeling that had been guiding me earlier was no longer tampering with my mind, leaving me with a clearer head to look back at the actions I had just taken in my quest to subordinate a traumatized and vulnerable little half-elf.

Due to this, I tried to use [Veritas] to try to find any leftover effects or something about what that feeling was or what those whispers were, and see if I could figure out had just happened to me. However, I was completely unable to find anything about the phenomenon that had just occurred, much to my disappointment.

It was clear to me that something had been guiding me all along, after all, I don’t remember doing anything in my sedentary and carefree life to allow me to develop such great instincts to guide me. There was clearly something that was trying to guide me in a certain direction, something that had led me to choose my [Veritas] ability, and something to subordinate the half-elf in front of me, and I was unable to tell what it was and why it was doing so. All I could do was to continue keeping my guard up and make sure to at least attempt to fight back its influence the next time I think any signs of it show up. After all, I had no intention of allowing someone else to dictate my course of action or what I wanted. I was firmly convicted in attaining my own happiness is this world and living how I desired, not to follow anyone else or any rules that I displeased, even if it would bring me a great deal of enemies.

Deciding to drop this matter for the moment, I decided to take a look at the other even more complicated matter.

Turning my head to look at my new subordinate Ailya, I could not help but shake my head at disgustingly opportunistic actions I had just taken. Even though I knew the path I wanted to walk on was essentially ‘evil’, I could not help but be left with a bad taste in my mouth after what I had just done, consciously or not.This wasn’t a case as simple as me taking advantage of a vulnerable half-elf in order to slowly brainwash her to get her to follow me.

No, not at all. It’s far worse you see.

That’s right, because of the way [Lord Subordination] works, I now had complete control over Ailya. Really, for her as an independent person with her own ego, it’s already gameover. Even selling your soul to the devil wouldn’t be such a bad exchange as this one was. After all, at least the devil grants you something in exchange for your soul after death. As for me, however, anything that I say will become the new truth for Ailya. In other words, my words are the supreme truth for the poor half-elf, and no matter what happens, anything I say she will 100% believe. And anything I command, she will faithfully do.

Really, this is a pretty horrible thing that I just did to this girl. I essentially compelled her to sell her soul and freedom to me, in exchange for… well… I don’t know really. After all, so long as I will it she will do it, even if I want her to be miserable for the rest of her life, she won’t really find a way to go against my orders, even if I had just promised her that I’d make her happy…