Bonus Chapter: Dee's Spell and Lore on the Soul

It is said among the gods that there are 2 Gods above them all – Mora, the God of Identity, and Lessa, the Goddess of Existence. Most mages with some rank know this because the most accomplished archpriests of the temples sometimes learn sacred knowledge from the gods. Some of this divine teaching is shared with the masses, while others are locked safely away.

(P.S., Mora is the God who Names everything. He and the first goddess didn't get along in the beginning, so he called himself "Mora", and her "Lessa" as a cruel insult. Lessa is the goddess who's very breath is the source of all mana, so she's technically stronger than him in a fight. He would always walk away with serious injuries whenever they met.)

(After learning about Lessa and Mora, the mortals of Brancotte wanted to set up temples for them too, but they were warned by their gods that mere mortals aren't fit to worship the 2 original Gods. Even muttering their names or thinking about them too casually is an insult to them.)

Another thing that's common knowledge among mages is that your soul realm has a circular boundary. Outside the boundary is shrouded in thick fog. Whenever you open another gate, the fog recedes, and more land in your soul realm is revealed.

One thing the gods have taught the mortals and instructed them to publish, is that when you reach your 7th Gate, your soul has gotten as large as it can possibly get. At that point, there is no more white fog obscuring more land just out of reach; instead, there's only the empty Void.

It has been said by the gods that all souls exist in a separate dimension – a special space similar to the one the World Tree lives in.

Unlike the endless plains the World tree sprouts from, this special dimension is a completely empty, black Void – only decorated with countless souls twinkling like stars in an endless glowing river snaking its way through black space. The gods have described it as an array of jewels more brilliant than all the stars in the sky.

(It is said that the souls loop together in a circle to form a jeweled crown – a reconciliation gift Mora made for Lessa, once they chose to stop fighting.)

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The man who came up with Dee's spell was a disgraced archpriest – and having once communed with gods, he was privy to some more secret knowledge on the soul; particularly, he knew of a rather strange property of the Realm of Arka (Arka means "All Souls" in the soul's tongue).

You see, the more similar two souls are to each other, the closer together they are in the River of Souls. A pair of identical twins might be floating right next to each other in the Arka Realm, but an ant and a man might be clear on opposite ends of the Realm since they're not even the same species.

It is common knowledge among mages that the soul is shaped by your Names, and hidden in your Names is every characteristic that describes you. Nationality, age, personality, memories, your future, who you care about, who cares about you, what others think of you, and what you think of yourself… The list goes on, but you get the point (right?).

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Between all these characteristics written in your Names, they can all be categorized into 2 types. There are Objective traits (the Wyn / White part of your soul) and Subjective traits (the Var / black part of your soul).

An "objective trait" (Wyn) is something that's true, no matter how you look at it. You were born at a certain time, and you are only so tall.

A "subjective trait" (Var) is how you view yourself, and how others view you. You might see yourself as a calm, rational person (even if you aren't in reality.)

The Wyn traits in the soul can't be messed with or changed, but the Var ones can... and the way to do that is by using magic to alter your own memory.

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With all the knowledge mentioned above, the ex-priest on Floor B33 learned how to move a soul from its place in the great River of Souls. If he can pull 2 souls in the Arka Realm close enough to touch, then they can communicate soul to soul.

(He can even make 2 souls compatible for a Contract which weren't compatible before, but that was considered heretical knowledge by the church, and he was put in the Pit for trying to teach others this "unnatural" technique. The fallen priest himself figured the gods didn't like the idea of any mortal suddenly touching their souls without warning, for even gods aren't immune to this technique.)

Basically, how the spell works is that you sift through your own soul and the target's soul, and you think of common traits between you two.

In Dee's and Gabella's case, she knows they're:

a) Both alive,

b) human,

c) Female,

d) of Brancotte ancestry,

e) brown-haired,

f) are mages,

g) born within the last 1,200 years (Dee's age),

h) and have spent most of their lives on the same island.

By using a spell to restrict all thoughts about herself to these common traits, her soul will temporarily change its location in the Arka Realm. When your self-identity is so strongly changed, you will naturally drift a lot closer to other souls with these traits.

The only problem with this advanced technique is that there are multiple people with the same traits, so you'll probably have to bumble around blindly until you bump into the right soul.

Obviously, the more specific you get with the common traits, the fewer souls you'll have to sift through before you find what you're looking for.

Knowing this, Dee makes sure to ask Gabella's father for more information about his daughter. Which is her dominant hand? How old was she when she had her first period? Is she a virgin? Etc.

Because of this somewhat awkward line of questioning, Dee adds a few more things onto her mental list before she takes a deep dive into the Arka Realm. Those things include them being:

i) both left-handed,

j) virgins,

k) been in love once,

l) only broken 1 bone in their lives,

m) HATING to dance

n) loving sweet food

o) and being insomniacs

Feeling this list of common traits is good enough, Dee silently invokes her own Name, enters her soul realm, and starts preparing the ritual. Using a memory spell to mess with her own self-identity is dangerous, so she'll need to be extra meticulous during this ritual…