... With a leap, Soren jumped down from his bed.
"Tommy, can I borrow that magazine you were reading yesterday, on Shades and Eldritchs?"
Tommy opened his eyes, still drunk with sleep. "What... right now?"
"Yeah." Soren replied. "I'll exchange it for this chocolate cake."
Tommy's eyes snapped open, grabbing the cake from Soren's hands in exchange for not one, but several books on Shades and Eldritchs.
Tommy might not be a glutton like Pencil, but he was still a boy from a poor town. The mention of food still had its hold on him.
Soren dropped the books on his bed.
Apparently, the train also had a library, and after what they faced in their town with the Eldritch, Tommy had been reading up on as much information as he could get his hands on.
He was such a person, ever careful of his environment. It was such a shame he died the way he did in the previous loop.
Soren looked through—a book caught his attention.
'The physiology of Eldritch Souls. By Evalen Greenwich, of the Old Wood Empire. '
Old Wood? Aren't those elves?
He thought to himself. He had jmheard rumors, but shook his head. That did not matter now.
He opened the pages and began reading.
Eldritch Souls cannot exist on earth, or rather, should not exist on earth.
This is because at their core, they are formless, just like souls that become shades.
Regardless, they have the special ability to take up attributes from earth and mold them into shells that form their outer appearance that we see and can relate with.
Generally, the strength of the Eldritch determines the complexity of the creature on the evolutionary pyramid it can emulate.
This is why Eldritch souls usually take the form of various animals.
At the same time, the strength of an eldritch may be easily estimated (in theory) by the kind of species it chooses to emulate that allows it the capability to explore our world.
Soren paused his reading here, allowing his mind to think.
Didn't that also mean that human beings, as a species of earth, could also be emulated by Eldritch souls?
This was a frightening thought, but if what this book said was true, then it might be possible?
Human beings were the most intelligent beings in the world, but still creatures regardless.
It was a possibility.
His mind flashed to that pair of green eyes he had seen after Boyed killed the eldritch that attacked his town.
He had thought he was only seeing things. But was he?
He shook his head. He should not be thinking about such thoughts now. There was a pressing matter before him.
Soren read some more:
While the concept of how eldritch souls all fluctuate in size is mostly still a mystery to us, we have come to understand certain flaws of their race.
See fig. 1.3 & 1.4 for reference.
Soren looked at the diagrams of an eldritch. It looked like a fish the size of a house.
Image 1.3 showed the eldritch active in water, and then the next image, 1.4, showed it on land.
While it was not dead, it was incapable of both locomotion and activity.
Soren thought back to how he had used dung to cover up the Trash Mecha.
It had helped in covering his smell from the nose of the dog, like Eldritch.
His experience with that eldritch confirmed his suspicions.
However, he was not dealing with a dog. Even more, he needed to account for the behavior of the eldritch.
After all, that one in the last loop did not just move like an insect.
It was also capable of taking over a person's consciousness, much like a hijacking parasite.
Immediately, Soren went to the index. His eyes moved, scrolling through. There was information on a lot of creatures.
And then it fell on one. Parasites.
Soren continued his reading for another couple of hours, flipping through the other books and taking notes when necessary.
Not that these notes would be present if he started the day again, but writing them down helped the knowledge stick in his head.
Later on, he proceeded to make his way to the Garden.
Just as expected, Polystar was there, sunbathing.
Soren carefully threw a pebble at him, dodging away from the trajectory of the 'predictable' blades.
"What are you doing here?" Polystar questioned, fuming at Soren as he adjusted his glasses. "You could have died..."
However, Soren could not be bothered with his nagging, cleaning inside his left ear with a pinky.
Polystar snapped, "Can't you hear me? You useless Commoner—"
"I came here to die." Soren's words stopped him in his tracks.
"What did you say?" Polystar asked again for confirmation.
"Yeah, you heard me. I came here to die. However, I do have conditions." Soren stated, presenting a paper to Polystar.
"This is a document I have already signed, and of course, the cameras can see." He waved the paper to the security cameras above their heads. The entire train had them. "I am handing it over to you."
Subconsciously, Polystar took the paper, still shocked at the sudden request.
He adjusted his glasses, reading its content.
"What!? You want to learn my family's SECRET hand-to-hand combat technique?"
Soren nodded. "Yes. Yes, I do. And while you are at it, some information on noble society would help."
"And you are very much willing to DIE for this?"
Soren nodded again.
Polystar shook his head. "You must be crazy." He chuckled mockingly, "I can see the Claps from the last spar destroyed your brain cells."
Soren rolled his eyes. "If you are not doing it, then I better go and find someone who will kill me in peace. I'm sure Goldsworth is not too busy admiring himself in a mirror. " He pulled the contract from Polystar's fingers, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Polystar called.
Soren had only taken two steps, but he paused, a side smile forming. "Yes." Soren turned slowly.
"Deal!" Polystar's eyes brightened maliciously behind his glasses.
Soren nodded. And so it began.
Soren was right about Polystar. There was no way the boy would resist such an offer.
How did Soren know this? It was because of what Polystar considered to be his personal values.
While values differed from society to society, they also differed slightly amongst individuals depending on upbringing.
Polystar came from a family that believed in the freedom of Shades.
They held this belief so strongly that they went to battles, bled, and died for it.
This was an idealization of a belief that they wished inherently to extend to others.
This was the reason Polystar was willing to stand up to Marcus.
As far as he was concerned, he was right.
Then again, if one grew up believing green was red, after a while, such belief would become indistinguishable from the individual's perception of the observable world.
Soren was not interested in changing this belief. No. He was going to use it to his advantage.
It was a win-win situation in his opinion.
Polystar wanted to free all shades, regardless of rank; this included Soren's own.
Unfortunately, Shades could not be freed unless the bond with their master was severed through the death of either party.
And Polystar could not go around killing people.
What a conflict of interest.
However, cadets did die.
It happened a lot.
One could say surviving was a part of their training.
In Polystar's mind, he had already sealed Soren's fate.
After all, the Clap hand-to-hand combat technique was not something one could learn in a day. He would teach as much as Soren could absorb and then kill him.
What he did not know was that Soren had many 'todays' to learn.
But why was Soren so interested in learning a fighting technique?