{Edited} A Merchant's Odyssey - Chapter 22 (Patreon)

AN: Edited chapters do not count toward monthly quotas

Chapter 22: Class Is In Session

“Class is in session.”

Sebastian coughed into his fist and pointed his unnecessarily long ruler at the whiteboard. "Any questions before we begin?"

Neo raised her hand from the middle-school desk chair she was sitting in and pointed at her broken juice box straw.

"Ah, a terrible accident.” Sebastian nodded faux seriously. “You can have mine." He tossed her his juice box, and she happily stole his straw. “Any other questions?”

Neo sipped her drink and casually pointed to the world-rending ravine leaking corrosive mist and demonic screeches.

“We’ll get to that.” Sebastian waved it away like it was an average Tuesday. “We have material to cover first.”

Neo nodded and offered him a finger sandwich from the picnic basket.

“Ooh, egg salad.” 

Was it wrong to have an idyllic picnic in front of a natural environment God wouldn’t claim to have cursed?

Perhaps, but Sebastian's very existence spat in the face of God anyway.

"Thanks, Love." Sebastian's Britishness came out as he took the food and got a blown kiss back from Neo. "Alright, let's begin."

He smacked the board with his ruler. “This world makes very simple sense, and a whole lot of no sense at all, so I’ll simplify things.”

Neo clapped her hands happily.

"These people cultivate Soul Power, which you would recognize as Aura, inside themselves to get ridiculously strong. They label their power in levels, similar to a video game, from level 1 to level 100." Sebastian enchanted a marker to draw a line with ten tabs, labeling the first tab as [10] and climbing to [100]. "Each 10th level is a benchmark for strength. Following?”

Neo shot him a thumbs-up.

“Good, so to give you a comparison of power.” He drew a chibi stick figure at the start. “A level 10 here is probably an academy Huntsman student for your world." He gradually buffed the chibi stick figure as it climbed the ranks until it became a mini-Hulk. "A level 90, from what I've read, could solo a Sea Feilong from your world without Dust or a weapon. Although do keep in mind that each person at this level has very different power sets, and every level up from 90 is supposedly a massive leap in raw power."

Neo’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, the power scaling here is weird.” Sebastian scratched his head as he tried to think it through. “It really depends on a few factors, but the kind of abilities they offer are crazy. It's very diverse, going from as simple as making a blade of grass extend, up to stopping time in a certain area, summoning giant avatars to fight, and even creating domains.”

Neo sat up and looked around uncomfortably.

“Oh, don’t worry. Level 90+ cultivators are the rarest.” Sebastian thought back to what he read in Spirit Hall’s library. “On this entire continent, which is probably the size of the known land in Remnant, there are fewer than twenty of these Titled Douluo recorded as currently alive. The odds of running into one, especially out here, or even in a bar or restaurant would be…"

Sebastian tried to do the mental math and shrugged. "Well, they'd be really fucking small. Can you imagine having luck that bad?"

Neo narrowed her eyes and threw a muffin at his head.

“Right, I’ll shut up now.” Sebastian summoned the salt and threw it over his shoulder. “To describe how their power system works, I’ll break it down for you.” Sebastian wrote three terms on the board.

Martial Soul, Soul Power, and Spirit Rings.

He pointed at the first. “Everyone in this world has a Martial Soul that can be awakened without exception. From what I personally experienced, a Martial Soul is a Semblance given form.”

Neo tilted her head and held up a hand, creating an illusion of a bird flying around.

"Yes, your Semblance will likely be your Martial Soul.” Sebastian nodded. “But the benefit of the Martial Soul is that you can directly grow its power with the other two factors."

Sebastian had Neo’s interest once more.

“In Remnant, a Semblance can get stronger through training, but the how and why of it are a bit iffy. It just seems to happen, and no one questions it.” Sebastian wrote on the board.

Neo thought about it and silently agreed.

“Martial Souls, on the other hand, actually grow in power here. Everything you do here is meant to grow the Martial Soul as the base.” Sebastian pointed at the board. “Which brings us to our second point, Soul Power.”

He gestured to the game-like level lines he had drawn.

“Spirit Essence is the energy this very planet gives off. It exists in every world, but it exists in abundance here.” Sebastian waved around them. “You can absorb it by literally breathing in this world. Were you surprised by how clean the air is here?”

Neo raised a brow and pointed back at the ravine leaking corrosive mist.

“Not there.” Sebastian pretended it didn’t exist. “We’re high up enough to avoid that stuff. Take a deep breath and really feel it open up your lungs.”

Neo still looked skeptical but gave him the benefit of the doubt, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

Sebastian could visibly see her confusion as her shoulders relaxed. “Never had air this fresh, right?”

Neo’s eyes opened and looked around with a sense of wonder, slowly nodding in agreement.

"It's just a hypothesis, but I think this planet is young. From my tests, there is a faint trace of Mana in the atmosphere, while Spirit Essence is very abundant.” Sebastian rubbed his chin as he shared the thoughts he had been accumulating. “In comparison, my home world has Mana and faint Spirit Essence. Oddly, Remnant has a lower, but equal trace of both. Still, if the mass crystallization of Mana is anything to go by, it's a dying planet."

Neo sat up in shock, but Sebastian gestured for her to calm her tits.

"Not anytime soon. I'm talking about the lifespan of planets, which can be millions to billions of years." He shrugged and tossed the marker away. “All of this is just a hypothesis built from things I've read; it's not a real answer, so take it with a grain of salt."

Neo shot him a dirty look for the scare.

“Back on topic!” Sebastian changed the subject before she got stabby. “Spirit Essence is absorbed by living creatures here, and it can grant life to literally anything.” Sebastian deadpanned as he thought back to his first encounter. “I was attacked by literal garlic bulbs the size of a dog my first time."

Neo blinked, imagined it, and then laughed and pointed.

“I was not beaten up by garlic!” Sebastian snapped at her mocking tone. “I spilled their innards and fed their blood to the blood gods.”

Neo shot him a knowing glance, making an illusion of a big, scary garlic monster as she imagined it.

"Alright, I got bitch slapped." Sebastian admitted with a grimace. "But I slapped them all back!"

Neo applauded in approval.

“Anyway, yes, garlic, rocks, clouds, literally anything could become a Spirit Beast with enough Spirit Essence.” Sebastian waved a hand lazily. “Yet, most humans can't naturally absorb it for some reason."

Neo looked confused.

"I'm still studying it. It's the opposite of Remnant, where anyone can awaken Aura but have a very low chance of getting a Semblance. In contrast, here everyone can awaken a Martial Soul, but very few have a chance of absorbing Spirit Essence.” He scratched his head. “I'll let you know when I have an answer to why."

She shot him a thumbs-up.

“The ones who can absorb it can become cultivators.” Sebastian went on. “Cultivators absorb Spirit Essence from nature and turn it into Soul Power inside themselves. You can think of it like sparks of Aura from nature, and you absorb it to make your own Aura bigger."

Sebastian took a new marker and drew a stick figure in a meditative pose, absorbing dots of light from around it.

“While you could absorb it by just breathing, it would accumulate very slowly.” He pointed at the picture. “To get around this, Cultivators meditate and try to focus on the process to speed it up.”

Neo made a face of disgust.

"Yes, I know you have issues sitting still." Sebastian dodged a thrown fork that somehow stuck in the whiteboard. "I'm technically cheating, so I'll try to figure out a way for you to cheat too.”

She blew him a kiss.

“Cute.” Sebastian pulled the fork out and tossed it aside. “Finally, we have Soul Rings. Remember how I said almost anything could be a Spirit Beast?”

Neo nodded.

"Well, each Spirit Beast gives off a Spirit Ring when killed. For Cultivators, every 10th Soul Power level allows them to absorb a Spirit Ring, which provides a new power-up to enhance the Martial Soul." He gave her a meaningful look.

Neo looked excited at the prospect.

"Yes, it's quite exciting. Spirit Rings can vary wildly, from attacking abilities, control, defense, support, passive, and even physical or mental boosting ones. The only real positive point in all the mess is that the same species of Spirit Beast will always give the same Spirit Ring." Sebastian pulled a tome out of his pouch. "I've been collecting information on them for a while; here, you can look through it."

He tossed it over, and Neo excitedly started flipping through the pages, oohing and aahing at various ones.

"The rings are thankfully color-coded based on power, so you'll always know. From White, the weakest, to Yellow, Purple, Black, and Red. However!" Sebastian pointed back at the board and drew stick figures with colored rings.

“Only the person who killed it can absorb it, but if the ring is too strong for your Soul, it can kill you.” He drew a skull and crossbones. “These two reasons are why no one typically absorbs a Black Spirit Ring before reaching a minimum of level 50, even if they could kill such a beast.”

Sebastian drew a stick figure with a Purple ring and X's for eyes. "You also have to watch out for an incompatible Spirit Ring. The purpose of absorbing them is not to get random powers, but to enhance your Martial Soul. If the Spirit Ring is incompatible, you will be stuck for life and likely not grow further. Understand?”

Sebastian turned around after his speech to find Neo with her feet up on the desk, flipping through his Spirit Beast compendium and seemingly tuning him out.

“Neo.”

She looked up.

“Did you hear what I said?”

She shot him an errant thumbs-up that filled him with confidence.

“Is my lesson boring you?”

She made an iffy motion with her hand.

Sebastian sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Maybe I went about this wrong.”

Focusing his mind, as Transfiguration wasn’t his strong suit no matter how much Mana he accumulated, Sebastian stamped his foot on the ground and formed a miniature arena on a raised platform.

Focusing further, doll-like figurines began to emerge from the rocks around, forming into humans and Acromantula.

With a quick animation and color-changing charm, Sebastian finally had what he wanted, with Neo focused on them.

“Lesson one.” He pointed. “If you are beneath level 50, don’t fight a ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring beast. It will kill you.”

The human with a painted [30] on it stepped forward to meet a black Acromantula. It raised a spear and charged mightily into the flames of combat, only to get promptly pierced by the spider's legs and torn apart.

Neo gasped in horror.

“Exceptions exist.” Sebastian went on. “Some beasts are stronger than others, and you might get lucky.”

The arena terrain shifted into high cliffs.

Another level [30] human stepped forward to bravely meet the spider. This time, the human threw its spear, and the Acromantula reared back, stepping on loose gravel and slipping off the stones, falling to its untimely death.

Neo threw her hands up in a cheer accompanied by many sparkles.

“Lesson number two.” He ignored her. “You killed the beast, which makes its ring yours to absorb. But should you absorb it?”

An illusory black ring appeared above it, and the human figurine ran forward and into it.

"Each of us has souls. By taking in a Spirit Ring, you are literally taking in another soul's strength. However, if the foreign Soul Power is too strong for your own soul to handle…"

The figure grasped at its throat and let out a soundless scream, cracks forming in its shell as it began to thrash, only to finally shatter after long moments of agony.

"Then you die from Soul Collapse. Quite a terrible way to go out at that." Sebastian felt pride at the serious look on Neo's face. "In my own world, we have soul-eating monsters who may have very well suffered from this fate, living on as hungry shades that have no soul of their own."

Dementors were a very real problem that wizards could only repel, with no known way of defeating them.

‘I wonder what Soul Power would do to them?’ Sebastian mused at the sudden thought.

Neo raised a hand, catching his attention.

“Yes, my student?” Sebastian smiled at her enthusiasm.

She raised her umbrella and made a stabbing motion.

Sebastian’s face fell. “Yes, you can still kill a Spirit Beast and not absorb its Spirit Ring.”

Neo rested her case and went back to reading.

“Moving. On.” Sebastian gritted out and summoned the tome back to him, getting a pout from Neo in return. “I told you I would look into giving you magic and fixing your voice.”

Neo's playfulness dropped as she sat up properly.

"I believe I can do it." Sebastian hadn't stopped his God’s Tear experiment, and the concrete data he'd accumulated gave him more confidence in his theory. "However, I think it's a bad idea."

Neo frowned, but she didn't rush to judgment, letting him explain.

“The reason is kinda complicated, but to make it simple, I fucked up.” Sebastian admitted honestly.

Neo raised a brow as Sebastian drew a black circle on the board.

“You see, before I asked you to awaken my Aura, I was focused on my Mana.” He colored in a third of the circle blue. “I was expanding my Mana Pool rapidly through external methods until I reached a hard limit I couldn't get around."

He wrote [Level 20] next to the blue portion.

“It’s my belief that outside of mutating my genetics with Rituals, there is a limit to how much Mana my Mana Core can handle. I'm unsure if this is due to a conceptual limit of my birth world, or my species of magic users, but it was a hard stop that was irritating me.”

Sebastian wasn’t accounting for Magical Artifacts, Bloodline Abilities, Magical Disciplines, Mana Channel capability, or any other way of claiming strength, but the pure ability to hold raw Mana within oneself.

"To get around this, I thought awakening Aura would be the solution, and I was partially correct." Sebastian drew a second third of the circle green. “The stronger my Aura got, the more my limit was pushed.”

Sebastian wrote [Level 25] next to his Aura and increased his Mana from [20] to [25].

“However, I messed up because I forgot the final piece of the puzzle.” Sebastian pointed to the last third of the circle and made it red with [Level 5] on it. “My body. I forgot the most basic rule of thumb: the container must be strong enough to handle the energy within. Although if I didn't unlock my Aura, I might have actually died for… reasons we are not focusing on right now."

Neo narrowed her eyes at him in displeasure.

“Ignore that last part.” Sebastian coughed. “The point is, my new hypothesis is that the conceptual total of a being needs to be in balance to surpass your limits. I need to do something about my body, but you don't have that issue right now."

Sebastian drew another circle and colored one side green and the other red. "Your body and Aura are in sync; in fact, I'm pretty sure your body had been catching up to your Aura for a long time."

Neo looked on thoughtfully.

"You told me the story of your childhood. How you awoke your Semblance at a very young age. And how it formed its own personality that you named 'Neo' that would act out and do things you didn’t want it to.”

Sebastian knew Neo didn't like talking about her past before she became Neopolitan, but he was trying to be direct.

“I believe you were born with too much Aura, and you only synced up with your Semblance when your body grew strong enough to handle it.”

Neo tapped her desk with a finger but didn’t argue with his point.

“As long as you keep pushing your body and Aura in sync, you technically shouldn’t have a limit of growth.” Sebastian pointed to her circle. “Now, let’s imagine you added Mana to the mix.”

A blue wedge was added to her circle.

“I believe doing this would immediately restrict the growth of your physical and Aura capabilities until your Mana grows strong enough to be in sync, which can take a long time.” A grimace crossed his face. “And I fear the possibilities of what the imbalance would do to you.” 

In almost every case where Sebastian used God’s Tear on existing magical species, they became immediately aggressive and violent toward him.

Conversely, when he added it to weak, mundane animals, they were passive and responsive to his words, almost excited for more.

He was still trying to understand why God’s Tear worked so well on himself, and until he did, he wasn’t going to test it on someone he cared about.

"So, in conclusion, I don't think I should give you magic; I don't want to risk..." Sebastian went to explain further, but Neo got up, walked over to him, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him down into a kiss that shut him up.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and spoke through her body language, as she always did.

She told Sebastian that he was being an idiot for thinking she would be upset with him for trying to help her.

Only when she finally released his lips did he find his voice again. “However, I think we can solve your voice issue with Spirit Rings.”

Neo pulled back and looked at him to make sure he wasn't messing with her.

“I’m serious.” Sebastian pecked her enticing red lips. “There’s a Spirit Beast in the ravine behind us that should be perfect for you.”

Sebastian reached into a pouch and pulled out the scroll Elder Lu wrote for him. “The Nightmare Parrot. It mimics sound with Soul Power. Here, look at the entry.”

Neo hurriedly rolled the scroll open, only to deadpan at the content and give him a judgmental look.

“What?” Sebastian blinked.

She flipped it around and pointed at the foreign text.

“Oh, right, skill issue.” Sebastian awkwardly took it back and cast another minor alteration of the Geminio Charm, creating a copy of the scroll in Remnant’s language. “Here you go.”

Neo dryly took it and read along, her eyes widening at the bird's entry.

{Species: Nightmare Parrot

Spirit Beast type: Avian

Description: Physically weak and harmless, this Spirit Beast sustains itself by using its environment. It mimics the vocal ranges of anything it hears to lure prey into the den of other Spirit Beasts, feeding on the scraps left over to sustain itself.

Average Ring Age: 10-950 years.

Spirit Ring Ability: Tonal Mimicry (White), Throw Voice (Yellow).

Location(s): Demora Falls.}

“Yeah, this should be a perfect first Spirit Ring for you." Sebastian said.

Neo stared at the picture of the bird, memorizing every detail of its appearance, before she looked up at him with a question.

"There's no reason it shouldn't work." Sebastian confirmed, reaching into his pouch to pull out another tome. "I've been studying the biology of these Spirit Beasts from the corpses I've collected, and I can confirm that most of them don't even have the same organs as we do.” He pointed to one line in his notes. “Spirit Rings are cast through Soul Power, not biological processes.”

Neo nodded and tossed the scroll over her shoulder.

Then she jumped him and wrapped her legs around his waist, smashing her lips onto his in another kiss, this one soul-searing as she literally forced his back to bend, her eyes speaking a stoic promise.

This one lasted until they were forced to come back for air, and Sebastian sucked in a lungful as he spoke. “You don’t need to say it for me to believe it.”

Neo’s eyes grew fiercer, threatening to suffocate him again.

“Alright." Sebastian chuckled and straightened up with her still attached, pushing a loose strand of pink hair out of her eyes. “Do what you want.”

Neo’s lips curved up into a smile as she gave him a quick peck and hopped off. She grabbed his hand and put it over her heart with a meaningful look.

"You don't need physical contact to unlock a Martial Soul." Sebastian gave her breast a good squeeze. “But you won’t hear me complaining.”

She shot him a smirk and licked her lips.

“Do you want your Martial Soul awakened or not?”

She pouted and let go of his hand.

Sebastian chuckled and shook his head fondly. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of how high your sex drive is, babe.”

Neo gave his bulging crotch a pointed look.

He put his hands on his hips proudly. "If there's a healthy young straight man alive who you can't give a boner to, I'll turn to religion."

Neo laughed and motioned for him to hurry up.

“Alright, just stand there.” Sebastian gestured. “You’re my first.”

Neo dramatically swooned.

“Don’t make me bite you.” Sebastian closed his eyes and summoned his panda form, not even looking at her as he held up a paw to stop her. "You can play with it later; focus now."

Neo froze mid-lunging motion and sagged in acceptance.

‘Now, how did Lee do this again?’ Sebastian pulled on his Soul Power and channeled it into his Martial Soul.

Not to his eyes or claws, as he was used to, but outward and toward Neo.

At first, there was resistance, but as soon as he focused his mind on unlocking Neo's Martial Soul, an instinct cropped up.

Giving in to the feeling, Sebastian felt his Soul Power reach out and wrap around Neo, a glowing circle of foreign symbols appearing around her to facilitate the process that he failed to notice when Lee helped him. 'Is it some kind of conceptual instinct? It makes sense that Lee could do this if it's more instinct than logic.'

Sebastian's panda eyes focused on the appearing symbols, and his brain immediately revolted in pain. 'W-what the fuck?'

Just a glance with his unique sight to read the runes within felt like a nail piercing his skull.

Meanwhile, Neo's Aura immediately flared to protect herself, and Sebastian felt the drain on his Soul Power double. ‘She really does have an immense amount of Aura.’

“I need you to restrain your Aura, babe." Sweat beaded on his brow as he stared at Neo's frown. "Trust me."

Like a spell of its own, those two words were enough to make Neo's displeasure vanish along with her Aura.

She handed him the key to her soul.

The flood of Soul Power leaving him slowed, but there was still more to come as his Soul Power seeped into her, searching and grabbing hold of something inside.

Neo immediately arched her back with a gasp.

“Don’t fight that feeling.” Even without her Aura fighting him, Sebastian still felt his Soul Power draining rapidly as it pushed aside the sheer weight of her Aura to pull out the Martial Soul buried within. “Let it out.”

Neo was a natural-born prodigy when it came to Aura.

What took others months or years to learn, she simply understood.

According to her story, no one ever awakened her Aura; it was just always there.

She closed her eyes and focused, and almost immediately, Sebastian felt the thing his Soul Power latched onto shoot up and out of her.

White light blossomed and covered her form; the Soul Power connection snapping as Sebastian pulled back, an odd sensation accompanying it in his soul.

A frown crossed his face as he scanned himself, but seeing nothing new, he ignored it and let his panda form fade as the white light began to dim.

Neo’s pink and brown eyes snapped open beneath a cracked porcelain opera mask.

Pieces of Aura flaked off her body in white fragments, flowing up into her forming mask until it covered her face in a blank, cracked canvas.

'How fitting.' Sebastian watched Neo's hands go to her face, feeling the mask with wonder. 'Her Semblance was Overactive Imagination. She can be anything and form anything out of illusions with just her will.’ His lips curled up in a sharp grin. ‘I can only imagine how much it would grow with Soul Power.’

Neo seemed to think along the same lines because the second she willed it, the area around her began to bend and shift.

One moment, snow fell from above; the next, a sand cloud passed through, and then the ground turned to a water’s mirrored surface.

It was a fascinating show of ability, but that wasn't all, as Sebastian felt the Soul Power leaking from her. ‘Having her Aura first accumulated a lot of energy in her soul. She should be able to jump to around [Level 25] or even surpass [Level 30] without having to accumulate Soul Power like I did, even if I cheated the process.’

Soul Power and Aura weren't distinguished by whether they were energy generated by the soul, but by how they were used.

Soul Power let one grow with the Martial Soul as a base, and Aura provided automatic defenses and energy use, with the potential to awaken a Semblance as an extra feature.

Neo looked up and locked onto Sebastian, her eyes curving upward as her mask rippled to show an exact image of her face.

One moment she was fifteen feet away; the next, she was peeking over his shoulder and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Sadly, it had no sensation, but that didn't deter her, as illusions of her began appearing around him in provocative clothing.

The show was quite enjoyable, and Sebastian took them in. “Having fun?”

All her copies smiled brightly and winked.

He chuckled as his eyes flashed with his second Spirit Ring, his gaze latching onto Neo's true form as she smiled up at him from a foot in front of him.

His hand reached out and gently gripped the edge of her mask, shifting it aside to show her watery smile beneath. “You have a beautiful soul, Neo.”

Her illusions all giggled in unison as she leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his chest and nuzzling in.

‘She’s had her Semblance her whole life. I can’t imagine what giving it a physical form must have felt like.’ Sebastian embraced her and gave her as much time as she needed.

But eventually, she pulled back and reached up for her mask, taking it off to look it over.

“It’s a tool spirit.” Sebastian gently explained.

Neo looked at him curiously.

"Martial Souls come in many forms; mine is a Beast spirit. It focuses more on enhancing the user." Sebastian tapped her mask. "Tool Spirits enhance the tool itself, granting greater power from its abilities than a Beast spirit could. If your mask breaks or gets damaged, it won't affect you. You can just reform it at the cost of Soul Power."

Neo smiled at that and flicked her hand, causing her mask to vanish in a flutter of white petals.

Another flick, and it reformed.

Sebastian was amused by how she played with it and finished his explanation. “Tool Spirit users typically have a harder time climbing the levels, yet when they reach the top, they often surpass Beast users."

Seeing Neo flow through her illusions with and without the mask as naturally as breathing made even Sebastian feel a trace of envy at her ease. "However, I have a feeling you won't be facing the same issues as normal Tool users."

Neo shot him a smug look and twirled her mask over a finger.

"Show off." Sebastian tried to flick her forehead, only for her head to burst into petals. “Let’s get cleaned up and head out. I doubt there’s a reason to stall your first Spirit Ring.”

Neo’s form flashed back into appearance beside him and blew him a kiss.

Sebastian shook his head and summoned the picnic basket and food items back into his pouch, then shot a counter spell at the furniture and mini-arena, turning them back into stones.

Only once he was done did he ask. “You good?”

Neo’s clothes shifted to an empress style as she grandly gestured forward toward the unknown.

“Adorable.” Sebastian rolled his eyes and pulled out his flying carpet, grimacing at the memory of the hellhole that awaited him, his mouth unconsciously moving without a filter. “Time to go get your Spirit Rings and hunt down my flower so I can avoid being mind-raped again."

Sebastian sat down, only to freeze as an illusion snapped into place: Neo's masked face inches from his own on every side of his head.

It took Sebastian a second to process. “Ah, did I say that out loud?”

All the Neo clones narrowed their gazes and lifted pointy objects.

“…I can explain?” 

Chapter End.

AN: Hope you enjoyed!