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Chapter 1160
“The things I want to show you, well, I can make the same point here.” Elaya sighed as she used magic to fix her wet clothing.
Selena was sitting next to me still rubbing against me affectionately, but I at least was able to get her into clothing at least. I realized that I should have been giving her more attention. I stroked her head as I sat there on the grassy shore of the pond, the estate that Fifi was working at a distance behind us.
“What is it that you needed to show me?” I asked.
Elaya pointed at Selena. “Her evolution? What did it tell you?”
“Ah… well, there was talk before about naming monsters. A named monster is more powerful than an unnamed monster. I once predicted that when it came to dungeons, the first boss in the dungeon was named, reflecting a character from the lore. If someone defeated that boss, they would receive additional first-time awards. However, once the boss was defeated, it’d be replaced by an unnamed boss, which would ultimately be a pale reflection of the original boss.
“However, as I progressed, I found that this didn’t seem to be quite right. I’ve seen unnamed bosses that have never been defeated before, and named bosses return that should have been dead. That’s when I started to hypothesize that whether a boss was named or not had to do with how long the boss existed. When a boss dies, its power disperses into the dungeon, and then the dungeon reforges that boss. Over time, it slowly absorbs mana, growing in strength, and also intelligence.
“As a boss gains intelligence, it begins to fill in pieces of the person it was supposed to represent. Although, I’ve had a feeling that this isn’t quite right either.”
“Do you know what the difference between a real person and a doppelganger is?” Elaya suddenly asked, rather than confirming any of my own thoughts.
“Um… one of them has the original mana soul, while the other only has a fake karmic soul. In essence, a doppelganger is only a strong will that has infected a body and then became compelled to act.”
“And, what is a soul?”
“A soul…” I frowned, getting a little annoyed at the continued questions without answers. “It’s a conduit for mana. A person is made up of a body, a soul, and mana. The body is our physical presence. The soul is our metaphysical presence. Mana is the energy that drives and merges the physical and metaphysical.”
I’d like to say that all of this was based on my own observations, but the truth was that I read a lot of this. Whenever we reached a new city, I’d check out books on dungeons, jobs, skills, and mana. Particularly, when I was looking for other forms of solid mana like fairy dust and spirit fire, I found such a description.
“What if I were to tell you that a soul is lore.”
“Lore…”
“Mm…” She nodded. “In a way, a soul isn’t much different than a dungeon. Those blessings bound to you are fragments of souls, which have merged with your soul, and become an extension of your existence!”
Chapter 1161
Elaya’s revelation wasn’t too shocking to me. It made sense. All that I needed to be resurrected from death was a soul. If the mind was purely a physical thing, then every time someone was resurrected, they would come back with a head empty of knowledge. Furthermore, even though my body was destroyed, my blessings were not, and only one of my halves was able to keep such blessings. It was only when I entered a dungeon that had control over the soul that they were able to interfere with my blessings.
Elaya nodded. “It seems you have already had some inklings to this fact. Well, it is true. Our souls are the lore that we carry with us. As we experience life, that soul gets marked by all of the things we’ve done. Whether that soul is karmic or mana-based, that doesn’t matter. What matters is the soul.”
“So, it isn’t that those creatures in dungeons have fake karmic souls, it’s that the souls are… primordial? Being made?” I asked.
“You misunderstand. Those souls will never become souls at all unless they are part of that soul’s lore. Dungeons are a collection of incomplete lore. They become malignant, absorbing the mana of the world and swallowing anything nearby, all in a hope to complete their own lore, to become whole. However, you were right the first time. They are fake existences, which can never become whole.”
“Elaya…” I looked over at her, biting my lip.
She smiled slightly. “You’re worried that I’m saying I am a fake. You’re not wrong for having such a worry. I was a fake Elaya. Only an imitation, a shadow of what she once was.”
“You’re not the only-“
“Astria had her complete soul. Although she was corrupted with mana from the inside and out, she was still herself. Even Xin combined with her doppelganger, combining the piece of the soul found in Twilight dungeon, and more recently the piece of the soul you recovered from the Ost Republic.”
“You know about that?” I asked wryly.
I had only just united their souls outside of this dungeon not too long ago. Then again, Elaya had been waiting at the entrance, so she must have had some way of knowing.
She gave a soft chuckle. “Either way, Xin is a nearly complete soul. It may be damaged, her lore confused, but she is Xin. I’m the only one who can’t return. The Elaya who called herself the Maid Hero burned her soul away to save the Hero king. Only a wisp of her lore remained to create me, and even that wisp was captured by Aberis and used to create the Widow’s Dungeon… at least, that’s what I thought.”
I jerked at her words. “What you thought?”
“There is a power in a name,” she said wistfully. “When you gave Selena her name, you didn’t just bestow upon her an identity, you acknowledged and solidified her lore. She was once a shadow, an agglomeration of unfulfilled lore and will, and you made her real. You did the same thing to me. You came into that dungeon, and gave me life.”
“Elaya, speak clearly. What is going on?”
“The Maid Hero… that is a lore too. It’s a name passed down from generation to generation. That’s what the heroes are. They are lore that has become too powerful, combined with too many lives. In short, they are a soul much like yours, one that accumulated the blessings of dungeons and became too interconnected with the fabric of this world. As a result, the lore of heroes passes on when a person dies, creating a line of heroes with that name. Whether it is the Harem Hero or the Maid Hero… it’s a mantle… a lore… a soul that stands the test of time and becomes reborn time and time again.”
“Y-you’re not the Maid Hero, are you…”
She shook her head. “It turns out, I was reborn.”
Chapter 1162
I squeezed my hands in a fist. “So, there is another Elaya…”
“Of sorts… you could say that. It’s not like she’d look like me, or even have my memories. As I said, my own soul has burned away. However, she is the piece of me that survived, and the legacy and lore of the name I represent.”
In a world of resurrection, I suppose reincarnation makes sense too. Certain souls were too strong to be consumed by the dungeon and have no choice but to be incorporated into it. I supposed such a thing could exist on a grander scale. Mana souls that are too defined to be reincorporated back into the earth, refusing to be destroyed, but too righteous to become corrupted.
“Reincarnating souls… they’re basically the opposite of dungeons,” I concluded.
“They are truly the anti-dungeons… but they are also a pitiful existence. Like dungeons, they are a lore incomplete. Unwilling to accept their ends, they end up in a never-ending loop, playing out the same story a different way. The Princess Hero will always lose her family and her nation. The Bandit Hero will always be betrayed by those he trusts. The Maid Hero… she will always give her life for the man she dedicated herself to.”
“Are you going to be absorbed by this maid hero? Is that what you want to tell me?”
“What I wanted to show you is a hero’s birth.”
“Birth? She’s not alive yet?”
“Heroes aren’t born, Master, they are made. You spoke of reincarnation, but that isn’t quite right. The mantle of the hero floats across the life force of the world. When it finds a kindred soul, it is only then that the soul’s unite and the heroes are reborn. The strength of the hero’s past will flow into them, and their destinies will intertwine. This is the thing that I wanted you to see. The time is coming in this story where the next maid hero will gain her power.”
“I don’t care about any of that,” I responded frustratedly. “Answer the question. Once this hero maid is created, will you end up merging with them?”
“I’m happy that Master is so worried about me. However, I am not the one you should have your eyes on. This isn’t my story. This is her story.” She smiled sadly and then pointed behind me.
A door slamming behind me caused me to turn and see the woman named Fifi running out of her home. A man was walking up to her. It probably was another one of these scenes. Except, I was tired of these scenes. I just wanted Elaya back, but she was still playing coy with me.
“I’ll only have time to see you once more before the end.” Her voice whispered in my ear.
I turned back to see she was gone. Not just her, but Selena had disappeared as well. I made another vexed noise in my throat. The next time she pulled that on me, I definitely wouldn’t fall for it. I’d tie her up and make her explain everything.
Unfortunately, she was already gone. I stood up, brushing the grass off my pants. It was time to see how heroes were made.