Chapter 26: Growing Alongside
Chapter 29: Soul Resonance
Malrik stood and adjusted his coat sleeve.
"So," he said, glancing at Eliza. "How are we getting there?"
"The carriage is waiting outside, Young Master."
He blinked. "...Already?"
"Yes." A small smile. "I made the arrangements before preparing lunch."
He let out a quiet laugh. "I really should stop being surprised by you at this point."
"Young Master?"
"Nothing. Just—" He shook his head. "No matter what I ask, you’re already three steps ahead."
She bowed. "It’s simply my duty."
Right. Her duty. Casually two Ranks above an Awakened, and apparently also runs the household logistics like a military operation.
"You’re frighteningly competent," he muttered, heading for the door.
The moment he stepped outside, he stopped walking entirely.
Parked beyond the estate gates was a carriage that looked less like transportation and more like a statement. Black exterior, polished to a mirror finish. Silver engravings tracing patterns down the sides. The House Vesperion crest carved into each door — a serpent devouring the sky, which felt like an unnecessarily aggressive choice for a family crest, but he supposed that was on theme.
Every time I think I’ve adjusted to this family, he thought, they find a new way to remind me I haven’t.
Four enormous black horses stood at the front, completely motionless. No fidgeting. No snorting. They just stood there like they had better things to think about.
He didn’t need the status screen to know.
Above Mortal Rank. Definitely.
The coachman climbed down and bowed the moment he noticed Malrik approaching.
"Young Master."
Malrik nodded. "Let’s go."
Eliza entered first. He followed. The carriage started moving.
The ride was smoother than he expected — barely any vibration despite the rough stone roads. He pulled the curtain aside and looked out.
This was the first time he’d actually seen the Duchy properly.
Wide streets. Merchants calling out with genuine enthusiasm, not the kind of forced cheer that came from desperation. Children running through plazas, laughing without checking over their shoulders. Black-armored knights patrolled the roads and the citizens greeted them like neighbors instead of flinching.
No beggars. No collapsing buildings. No one looking like they were one bad week away from disaster.
He sat with that for a while.
People don’t smile like this under someone cruel.
His thoughts drifted, unprompted, toward his father.
Maybe I judged you too quickly.
The city eventually thinned out behind them. Stone roads turned to dirt. Fields gave way to forest, and the deeper they went, the quieter everything got.
An hour later, the carriage stopped.
The coachman climbed down. Eliza opened the door.
"We’ve arrived, Young Master."
Malrik stepped out into a forest that stretched in every direction without any visible end. The trees were ancient, branches woven together so tightly that only thin scattered shafts of light made it to the ground.
The air felt thicker here. Cooler. Damp.
Pale strands of silk hung between the trunks like someone had forgotten to take down decorations from a party that ended badly. Too thick to be ordinary webbing. Too many of them.
Beneath the silence, something rustled. Small. Repeated.
Watching.
Eliza stepped beside him.
"The carriage can’t go further. We continue on foot."
"Lead the way."
They walked. Minutes stretched into more minutes. The trees thickened, the light dimmed, and the webs got harder to ignore — though none of them blocked the path yet.
Then Eliza’s hand shot up.
"Young Master." Her voice dropped low. "Movement."
Malrik froze.
Skrrrr.
Something scraped against bark above them. A shadow dropped from the canopy and landed several meters ahead with a thud heavy enough to vibrate through the ground.
It was close to two meters tall. Dark chitin with a faint green sheen catching what little light made it through the trees. Eight crimson eyes. Fangs dripping something that was almost certainly not water.
[Venom Spider Level 22 ]
It let out a screech that made every nearby bird decide this was a good time to leave the forest entirely.
Eliza stepped in front of him immediately. "Young Master, stay behind me." He felt her mana start circulating.
"There’s no need."
"...Young Master?"
"I can handle this."
He raised his hand before she could argue.
"Come."
The ground rippled. Emerald-black particles surged upward, and one after another the Spirit Wolves emerged.
One. Three. Six. Nine. Twelve.
Then the Wolf King stepped through, emerald eyes locking onto the spider without hesitation.
Eliza’s expression froze entirely.
She looked at the wolves. At Malrik. Back at the wolves.
She didn’t say anything, which was somehow more telling than if she had.
Malrik pointed at the spider. "Attack."
The Wolf King howled and the twelve wolves surged forward together.
The spider reacted fast — forelegs slashing one wolf aside, venom spraying from its fangs in the same motion. A second wolf dissolved into scattered emerald particles before it landed.
The rest didn’t slow down.
They hit it from every angle. One clamped onto a rear leg. Another sank into its abdomen. A third kept its attention split, darting in and out of range. The spider was strong enough to fight off any one of them.
Not all thirteen at once.
The Wolf King chose its moment and crossed the distance in a blur.
BOOM.
The spider hit a tree hard enough to crack the bark. Before it could push itself back up, the wolves had it pinned, and the King finished it cleanly through the throat.
The corpse hit the ground.
[Venom Spider Lv.22 Killed.]
[Experience Increased.]
Malrik waited.
Nothing happened.
He checked his status.
-------
Name: Malrik Vesperion
Rank: Mortal
Level: 9
Class: Soul Binder
Class Rank: Epic ★
Talent: SSS-Rank — Infinite Evolution
Strength: 17 (6↑)
Agility: 18 (6↑)
Constitution: 22 (6↑)
Intelligence: 109 (6↑)
Free Attribute Points: 30
Soul Contracts: 13 / 50
-------
No change.
"...That’s strange."
A Level 22 Morveth. Even if it wasn’t enough to push him up a level, there should’ve been some visible gain.
Unless it hadn’t gone to him at all.
He looked at the wolves. Twelve Spirit Wolves. One King.
He pulled up the Class description he hadn’t actually reread since the day he awakened it.
-------
[Soul Binder]
A class that governs, refines, and binds souls through eternal Soul Contracts.
Unlike ordinary Necromancers who temporarily puppet the dead, a Soul Binder establishes permanent bonds. Bound souls grow alongside their master through Soul Resonance. Their loyalty can never be broken.
The Soul Binder holds the authority to summon wandering souls from the Realm of Souls and offer them a contract. Once accepted, the soul is eternally bound, recognizing only one master.
-------
One line stood out.
Bound souls grow alongside their master.
He let that settle for a second.
The experience hadn’t vanished. It had been split — not just with him, but across every soul tied through the Contract. A normal Awakened only had to carry their own growth.
A Soul Binder carried an army’s worth.
Which meant leveling would be slower than anyone else’s by design.
But every level he gained from here on, twelve wolves and a king gained alongside him. And whatever came after them.
A slow smile spread across his face.
"...That’s a genuinely terrifying Class."
He looked at the spider’s corpse and raised his hand.
"...Rise."
Mana flowed out, wrapping around the body.
Behind him, Eliza stood completely still, eyes locked on the corpse, clearly recalculating several assumptions about her afternoon.
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