chapter 57

i get up and look around. a second latter i see Johanna getting up.

"so, mind telling me why you keep doing this a lot. sure, it's fun. but why?" jack

"it's the best training method currently available to us. just straight physical training doesn't give as many stat points.

just with that i went over 150 points in flexibility, i can now eat myself out." Johanna

"that's actually really impressive." jack

"you should join us more often, i get boosts to more than just flexibility. strength, vitality, and a couple other too."

Johanna

"maybe i will, but right now i have to go kidnap a goblin from the woods, I'll join you all latter." jack

"why a goblin?" Johanna

"it would be start to get suspicious if i start to kidnap something else." jack

"OK, but why do you need a goblin?" Johanna

"while you've been training stats, I've been training skills." jack

"oh, what skills?" Johanna

"magic mostly, i got laura to teach me how to use soul magic and I've been experimenting with that. anyway see you

later." jack

"by" Johanna

after going over to the goblin cave i knock out 5 goblins and stuff them in my inventory. it turns out that i can keep a

creature of their level in my inventory for as long a half an hour before they die.

20 minutes later i am dumping their still unconscious bodies in a cell in the dungeon/old man's play room. after the first

one wakes up i get to work trying to untangle it's mind from it's soul, it dies within 5 minutes. the second one i try to

untangle individual strands, it works a little better but after a while the strands just join together again. i manage to

untangle them faster than they are joining together again, but their are so many strands to do that i get tired of the

monotonous task and slip up, killing the goblin. the third one i tether the soul to another dead goblin and kill it. the goblin

it was tethered to dies again almost instantly. the fourth one i try tethering both the mind and the body to another

goblin, this time it works, with no noticeable mental damage. it dies while i try to separate it's mind from the soul. the

last one i tether the mind to one body and the soul to another body.

"YES! IT FUCKING WORKED!" jack

the two goblin bodies that i tethered the first goblin to got up

"what worked might i ask?" goblin mind

"grrr" goblin soul

i just stare at the goblin talk, i have never heard a goblin sound intelligent in any way. at best they could speak very basic

language.

"are you going to answer my question or just stand there?" goblin mind

"so that's what it is." jack

"that's what what is? how come no one ever tells me anything?" goblin mind

"grrr" goblin soul

"the relationship between the soul and the mind, i was sure i would be able to figure it out if i separated the two but i had

no idea it would be this." jack

"i don't follow, and this one is looking at me funny." goblin mind

"the soul houses the emotions, the primal instincts. the mind houses logic, the intelligent thought. i wonder, does the

mind or the soul have an effect on stats?" jack

"while i agree that this is all very fascinating but can you please get me out of here. i think i know what i believe to be the

thing housing my soul is planning on doing to me. oh Yula help me!" goblin mind

Yula, the god of goblins.

the goblin that houses the soul prepare to pounce on the goblin mind. speaking of which the soul is in a female body and

the mind in a male body.

"here take this, if you kill it I'll let you live." jack

i toss the crude iron dagger i have been using to kill the goblins before into the cell, which was clumsily dropped by the

goblin mind, while the goblin soul just ignored it.

"you want me to kill my own soul?" goblin mind

"is now really the time for it? and yes." jack

after all, i really want to know what happens to the mind when the soul departs, and vice versa.

in the span of one second the goblin mind picked up the dagger, the goblin soul pounced on the goblin mind, and the

goblin mind put a dagger through the goblin soul's temple killing it.

after a couple seconds the goblin mind squirmed out from under the goblin soul.

"feel anything strange?" jack

"no, other than the fact that i just killed half of myself I'm doing just fine" goblin mind

"good, then you'll need a name" jack

"i was refereed to with two low grunts and a high grunt before but i don't think that will work right now." goblin mind

"how about Alfred" jack

"what ever works with you, i owe my intelligence to you right? let me repay that." Alfred

"thats not how logic would react, i should know. what do you really want?" jack

"fine, I'm really interested in what your doing in here. i want to learn about all this, I'm already fascinated with what little

you have told me" Alfred

"I'm fine with that, on one condition, if you tell anyone about what I'm doing here i will kill you." jack

"that is fine with me." Alfred

i take out a piece of paper from my inventory, a blood seal. i did a little research on blood seals over the last week, it

turns out that they affect the body, not the mind or the soul.

i set the 'settings' on the blood seal, it comes up in a window similar to when i use observe on an object. after handing

the completed seal to the goblin i hand it tom him.

"put your blood on the seal, whip the blade off first." jack

"why? what will this do?" Alfred

"two things, it says that i will allow you to help me with my experiments, in exchange if you so much as try to tell anyone

about what you learn with me during these experiments without my express permission you will die." jack

Alfred did not hesitate in whipping the knife off and slicing his palm, dripping his blood onto the seal. it burned up

causing a a glowing tattoo to appear around both Alfred's and my necks before disappearing.

"now, i need to go eat, I'm hungry." jack

"speaking of which, i need food as well." Alfred

"follow me then." jack

i let him out of the cell and guide him upstairs. in the kitchen i find Mary preparing to cook lunch, or is it dinner? i don't

really know what time it is.

"who's the goblin?" Mary

"i am called Alfred." Alfred

"he will be our new butler, i was hoping you could teach him some things so he could help you out around here." jack

"who is this?" Alfred

"my mother, Mary" jack

"sure, i could teach him a thing or two. i know i could use the help." Mary

"great, let me help with dinner, i haven't cooked in a while." jack

3 days latter a certain goblin in a tux is carrying breakfast on a literal silver platter. after passing it out we start to eat.

over the last several days we have done several experiments involving the soul and the mind. and Alfred hasn't said

anything about it, although some questions were raised when laura saw that Alfred did not have a soul, apparently her

sight is limited to the soul so she can not see the mind.

halfway through dinner a dwarf burst through the door, the same one we had to carry home after he passed out drunk.

my friend Joseph, but we just call him Jojo

"jack, i need to talk to you, privately." Jojo

"about what." jack

"that thing you asked me to look into." Jojo

"a job?" jack

"a big one, jack i found him." Jojo

"where is he." jack

"half way across the world, in the alfalm Continent in a city called new gate. he's a big time lord or

something like that, here are the details." Jojo

this man, I don't even know his name, will pay for what he did to my mother. now that i know where he is, i will never let

him get away.

end chapter 57