The Soul

Kolgorn's clipboard smacked against Milo's head with a resounding thump that was accompanied by his grunt of pain.

"That's not a bad idea, but the church bans methods of controlling souls, and those who use such methods are hunted down relentlessly." the professor said as he rubbed his chin.

"I'm pretty sure vampires and creating homunculi are against the churches' wishes as well, though, isn't it?" refuted Milo with a grin.

"Very true, but that wasn't what I was trying to imply. Spells that affect and control the soul are tough to come by and even if you did have the chance to come into contact with them it would cost a fortune," replied Professor Kelgorn "Not just that, in order to control souls you need a powerful soul yourself, so you're still shit out of luck."

The more Milo talked to the professor though the more lifelike he thought the NPC was. It was hard even to tell that Kelgorn was an NPC. The way he upheld himself and conversated was fluid, and none of it felt like it was rigid or linear. Everything that came out his mouth made Milo think deeply about his dire situation. At first, Milo had expected some simple quest that he would have to complete by fetching and delivering, but nothing like that happened. Instead, he's been put into a thought-provoking situation that made him feel like he was stuck in the tutorial.

"You know, I can't help but to feel like you're rubbing this in my face rather than helping," Milo said with frustration.

"It's a complicated matter, don't think I'm not trying to figure a way to circumvent your problems as well." Kelgorn rebuked.

"What about demons? Aren't they known for stealing souls? Why can't we use a similar method?" said Milo as he continued to grasp at straws.

"You are a soulless being, aren't you? You do realize that we're talking about souls and not just apples you pick up at the supermarket?" Kelgorn said with an eerie chuckle.

Truthfully, Milo was thinking from a gamer's perspective. The only thing that mattered was being the strongest in-game, and so far, he's heard nothing but how weak he currently was. It was irritating to know that he couldn't do anything, but what Kelgorn said did bother him. If Kelgorn felt like such a real person, then wouldn't all the NPCs be similar? Milo put the question in the back of his mind after telling himself no matter how genuine they felt; the NPCs were still just NPCs.

"Demons do have the ability to harvest souls, but interacting with a demon always tends to go wrong. You can't even bind your soul in a contract with a demon to get them to do what you'd like, so I don't think this is the right method." the professor explained, but from his expression, he seemed slightly annoyed.

"For someone who barely has any memory of anything, your obsession with magic is rather strong." Kelgorn skeptically said with a slight sigh. "You're also staring into the distance rather than looking at the problems right in front of you."

"How so?" Milo asked.

"Even if you had the ability to activate transmutation circles, you still lack the fundamental knowledge even to create the circles. Did you expect that you could just cast some of the most powerful and complex spells immediately? Ha! It takes many decades of dedication even to comprehend the complex nature of magic." said Kolgorn with an angry tone.

Milo could tell that he had offended the professor who had probably dedicated his entire life to learning the esoteric science. He was so used to the standard of video games that practically gave everything to them at the beginning. It was somewhat frustrating because there was no way he wanted to dedicate an entire decade to learning magic. Aye, time was three times faster than the real world, but that still meant he had to spend almost three and a half years to reach that standard.

After the scolding by the professor, it left an awkward atmosphere between the two. Milo, who had realized his mistake, spoke up. "My apologies, Professor Kolgorn. I did not mean to offend you, I jus-."

"Enough, I don't want to hear your excuses. Quite frankly, I'm surprised by the level of intelligence you've demonstrated. You've displayed that you have the ability to analyze your situation, logically try to solve your problems, and now you've even express remorse. If not for the lack of a soul, I would say you are one of the finest specimens that I've ever created." Professor Kolgorn interrupted with a prideful grin.

The Professor, who was currently seated in a wooden chair, patted off the bottom of his robe and stood up. He wrote a few more things on what Milo assumed to be his evaluation and nodded.

"Alright, I think you've done enough. I'll devise a curriculum and talk to Lord Archus about allowing you to be my assistant to test your innate talent with alchemy." the professor told Milo as two knocks suddenly sounded from the entrance of the gymnasium.

"Ah...right on time," Kolgorn stated matter factly.

Soon the door creaked open eerily as Emelia emerged from the other side. With a slight bow and smile, she politely said "Pardon me, Professor Kolgorn and Mr. Solus. Dinner has been prepared and Lord Archus has arrived home from his meeting. He has requested that both of you should report to the dining hall to discuss the evaluation."