The next morning, Ciel woke up with a yawn.
Today, he was going to meet Rein, someone who was transported to this world just like him.
'I should make some preparations in case anything happens in the near future.' He thought
Ciel looked around the room and saw the stale bread and dried fruits
'I should store some food by using Soul Transfer. Something that can last a long time, as the Soul World doesn't stop time.'
Ciel ate the stale bread, and stored the dried fruits in his Soul World.
He was quite used to eating stuff like that, so he didn't complain.
Marking objects like these to use Soul Transfer also didn't cost much Spirit Essence, so he could store plenty more.
All he had to do to mark an object was think about the marking aspect of his ability, and give it some Spirit Essence.
If he didn't think about the marking, the object would blindly gain Spirit Essence and start deteriorating.
'I can add Spirit Essence to objects, but they need to be able to withstand the new power. Like good conductors of heat except with a foreign magic energy.'
'With the same logic, Spirit Essence can be used on the body for a temporary strength boost, but there will be severe side effects if overdone.'
'I won't try something like that until I master my Spirit Essence control.'
Ciel left his room and entered the corridor outside. The number on the slate had changed to 2. He could stay here another 2 nights before needing to pay again.
'My goal currently should be to earn some money.'
'Only then can I start searching for clues about the mysteries.' He thought while heading out of the inn
He currently only had 10 Copper, which wouldn't last very long.
{100 Copper = 1 Silver
100 Silver = 1 Gold}
He walked around the village, as if he was searching for something.
After a few minutes, he found what he was looking for. It was an old breakfast restaurant called Delightful Bakery.
This was the place he and Rein decided to meet last night.
He found an empty table for two and waited a few minutes.
She soon arrived, wearing the same attire she had in the Soul World.
She sat down opposite him. After greeting each other and placing an order, she asked:
"Do you know any way to quickly gain money here?" She whispered
"Yes. Forsakened can give up to 50 Copper for even the weak ones. Their hide, meat and Forsakened Core are worth quite a bit."
"But we shouldn't hunt them. There are no official Soul Sorcerers — who are the only ones that can defeat one in this village."
"We will gather attention if we do that, causing future problems for us."
"Remember, it's always better to be an unknown nobody rather than a celebrity." Ciel replied in a quiet tone
"I know, I'm not stupid. Is there anything else? She asked with a slight frown
"We'll have to look around. There might be something around here that has a decent pay." Ciel said
Soon, the breakfast they ordered had arrived.
It was bread, sausage and egg with a cup of coffee.
They ate their food in peace. Rein looked a lot better than she did in the night, but was still suffering inside.
'She'll be fine in a few weeks at this rate. As long as nothing major happens.'
'Still, I should try to cheer her up.'
"What was life like on your previous planet?" Ciel asked
"Honestly, I didn't like it very much. Even though it was always peaceful, I always had a rough time."
"I went to school and had a few friends there, but our friendship didn't go far."
"I had a caring family, but they were rarely at home."
"The one thing I do miss are the books that were available there. They were always there for me when I was feeling down."
"I always wanted to be an author when growing up. I guess that won't be able to happen in this world."
"Magic always seemed like fun in the stories, but when I'm in the magical world myself, it makes me feel paranoid, afraid of the unknown." She said with a distant expression
"Then why do you want to find out about the destruction of Earth? You could just settle down as an author in this world. I wouldn't stop you."
"You are also technically a Soul Sorcerer, you would easily be able to get rich if you choose to reveal it." Ciel asked with a friendly tone
"I can't just stay here and live a happy life like that. Even though I rarely saw my family, even though my friends weren't the closest, they were still my friends and family."
"If I don't do anything, it would be a disgrace to everything that happened on Earth. As the last survivor of Earth, I will make sure that whatever caused all that destruction, chaos and despair will perish in utter agony." She replied with a cold smile
'Maybe I'm not the crazy one… it seems I've underestimated her determination.' Ciel thought to himself
"That makes the two of us." He replied with a smile
He extended his hand for a handshake, and she accepted it.
The moment their skin made contact though, something unexpected happened. They both had an epiphany at the same time.
'So that's how it is. But how did this happen?' They both thought
They both looked at each other with baffled expressions.
[ So… I guess we don't just share our Soul World and Soul Core… but our entire being except the physical body. ] Ciel gave Rein a mental message.
[ I guess… ] Rein was too stunned to say anything.
The revelation they just received was that they were a two in one person, besides the physical body.
They shared literally everything. Soul World, Soul Layer, Soul Core, Soul Tier, Spirit and Spirit Essence.
That was not all.
Even their minds were connected, allowing them to share their thoughts with mental messages or mental images over a wide range.
Lastly, they could enter each other's shadow, completely hiding in plain sight. One of them still had to be their physical body though.
The only things that weren't shared was anything related with their physical bodies and abilities.
They wouldn't feel each other's physical pain or psychological trauma.
[ I wonder what would happen if one of us dies… ] Rein said
[ …Let's not find out ] Ciel replied
As if being transported to another world wasn't weird enough, being merged with someone else was the cherry on top
'Things just had to get more complicated… another question that needs answers just arrived. The situation is not the worst though, in fact, it's quite advantageous since we were a team anyways.' Ciel tried to feel good about the situation
There weren't any downsides to this… except for the fact that they would be paranoid from worrying about each other dying… and that their Spirit Essence was linked, which made it so they couldn't waste it for no reason…
On top of that, Ciel was cursed by collateral damage by the being behind the Door of Void.
He tried to keep a straight face, but couldnt.
He could only sigh inwardly
'At least it's someone that I can stand… which is quite fortunate, knowing that if it was anyone from Prisma, I would have probably…' He thought as he glanced at Rein
She didn't seem to mind as much as Ciel, which meant she either didn't understand the drawbacks, or was a lunatic.
Ciel didn't know which one it was.
"I just want to say that at least this happened with someone I can stand being around." Rein said with a faint smile
'I guess it's the latter… wait, wasn't I thinking about that just now? Doesn't that mean I'm an even bigger lunatic?' Ciel thought in disbelief
"Well, I guess." He replied sullenly
[ Anyways, since we can chat mentally, no one can hear our plans now. ]
[ We're going to be hunting some Forsakened to gain some Spirit. Let's prepare everything we can. ] Ciel said
[ Wait, what about not standing out? I thought we were getting a job? ] Rein replied, confused
[ We just have to do it secretly. Don't worry, no one in this village knows your identity. Also, my ability makes stuff like this way easier. ] He explained
Rein nodded, understanding the uses of Soul Transfer in a situation like this.
All Ciel had to do was gather materials and store them in the Soul World.
Then, they could divide and sell the materials between them in small batches, not gaining any suspicion.
If they had too much stuff to sell, they could always cut their losses and hide some of the materials in the area around so that other people could also sell some of it if they found it.
This way, no one would know where the materials came from, and there would be too many people to inspect.
There was always a way to manipulate a marketplace.
It was better than revealing themselves in a completely unknown world.
Who knew what the people in power would do to unknown Soul Sorcerers with unknown origins.
On top of that, there were secrets that couldn't be shared.
'I guess we are basically forced to be a team now at this point.' Ciel thought to himself