“I am a light user,” Rave explained and created a small flash of blue light in demonstration. “I also punch stuff. Guess ya could call me a battlemage.”
The princess hummed in understanding before asking: “Are your powers innate or acquired?”
“Innate,” Rave answered.
“You possess a light type soul?” Lydia probed further.
“Yup, already made a contract as well.” The techno-lover raised her left arm, showing the wristband that was Copernicus’ item form in the process.
“Ehem,” John audibly cleared his throat, “can I ask what this ‘light type soul’ thing is about? This is the first I have heard about it.”
Lydia massaged her forehead. “Whoever was responsible for educating you on the matters of the Abyss did an exceptionally shoddy job.”
“Well, there was nobody in particular, things just kind of pop-up from time to time,” John explained.
“Ey, I did tell ya some stuff!” Rave interjected.
“Some stuff, yes, that would be the exact formulation I would use.” He gave his girlfriend a sideway stare. “Jane, I love you, but you are not a born teacher.”
“Wha-? Now that’s just mean!”
Lydia sipped on her third cup of tea, while she watched the minor lover’s feud take place. “Thank you again, Aclysia,” she said to the maid, who bowed. All the while, John and Rave continued to throw insults and accusations at each other.
“And remember when I had to listen to that boring podcast with ya? See what sacrifices I make for you!”
“First off: If the Emperor had a Podcast is not boring, but a modern masterpiece. Second off: That was the agreement, once a week I can bother you with, and I quote, ‘boring 40k stuff’. Third off: I think that is pretty fair, after all I give up the blanket pretty much every night.”
“That’s such an overstatement!”
“Is it? I woke up in a full-nelson today!”
“What does that have to do with the blanket?!”
“It has everything to do with your sleeping habits being pretty weird.”
Lydia checked her watch and knocked on the table to get their attention back. “You will have to resolve this matter another time.”
“”Resolve what?”” the couple asked in unison.
Lydia’s forehead was put into wrinkles. “Your quarrel just now.”
The two of them exchanged a glance, “That is, sorta, just how we hang out?” Rave said.
Lydia’s eyebrows stayed raised, “I suppose I have no room to give you relationship advice,” she finally admitted, then added in her usual, iron tone, “I, however, am in the position to demand that you do not waste my time needlessly. I have several provinces to govern.”
John nodded in apology. “Sorry, we just get sidetracked easily. Back to that soul type thing then. If you have the time to explain it to me, princess.”
The auburn-haired royal leaned back in her chair, then began her explanation. “It is the current understanding of the Apothecaries that soul types are how people get their Innate Abilities. Everyone has a soul of some variety, represented in the aura sight virtually all Abyssals possess. More acute aura sight can visualize the differences in soul types. Those who have meaningfully different souls possess Innate Abilities. There are as many different soul types as there are differing Innate Abilities, but they are broadly categorizable in 8 categories. Fire, water, earth, wind, these are the basic and most common types, granting abilities related to the elements. I myself am an earth type, subsection metal. Then there are the four rare ones. First, we have life souls, who have extremely potent biological abilities, such as blood or plant magic.”
“Those seem pretty far apart to be honest,” John chimed in.
Lydia signalled her agreement with a bob of her head. “As stated, these are exceptionally broad categories. You will find that people with Innate Power over blood will actually have an easier time learning about bug control than water magic.”
“A quick question regarding that: my elemental could actually change to a nature elemental. The choice at the time told me it was a mixture of earth and water, but you are now telling me that plants are in another category entirely, how does that work?” he asked.
“The four advanced categories, and even many of the subsections of the basic ones, often represent mixtures of the basic ones. Plant is a mixture of earth and water, as you pointed out, bacteria would be water and fire, representing the spark of life. Should one have control over lava, specifically, their Innate Ability logically would be a mixture of earth and fire. Their soul type could be one or the other, or an equal mixture of both.”
John slowly nodded and considered what he heard. It wasn’t that different from fairly stereotypical power systems he had encountered in fantasy stories, be it games or books. Application in real life, however, was messy. Before he asked any big questions, he would let Lydia continue though.
“The next category we have are light types. These are mostly based on mixing air with fire, like electricity, light or other such powers. You say your ability is light but can you explain what kind exactly?”
“The heat type, the strongest bursts I can create are sunlight,” Rave answered the princess' request.
“Rare and powerful,” Lydia nodded, “if trained correctly, we will have to see about that at a later point.” She took a sip of tea to oil her voice before continuing.
“Opposite to light types we have dark or shadow types that are mostly earth and water based. The name sounds sinister, and dark types tend to have more ‘selfish’ abilities, but it is a simple categorization and the Innate Abilities inside it are just as little evil as the ones in the light type category are good. Dark types can be blessed with shadow magic or gravity control for example. The latter being what king Maximillian has control over,” Lydia saw John raise his hand. “Is the question about dark types?”
“No, it is about the fact that you are the ‘Princess of Steel’ and he is the ‘Gravity King’. I would like to know how these titles come about.”
“I see there is still a lot I need to tell you,” she mumbled and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “We will get to that soon enough. First, however, let’s talk about the last type of soul.” For some unknown reason Lydia smiled a bit. “The rarest of all soul types is the empty soul. That is not to say they don’t have a soul at all, they do, it is just like an empty frame. People with this kind of soul usually die in their young years, most of them during childbirth actually. Worldwide there are maybe four dozen people who have this type of soul and are stable enough to use the power it gives them.”
“Ya sure that even exists?” Rave asked. “I never heard of that.”
“Absolutely certain,” Lydia stated and shifted in her seat as she folded her legs, sitting in a staunch way. “Fire, water, air, and earth are the four basic ones. Light, shadow, life, and null, those are the four advanced ones. It bears repeating that this is a broad categorization of esoteric, illogical, and supernatural processes we do not entirely comprehend. The six elements mix in all manners of ways and many of them can be learned. Something as unique as your game interface is limited to you exclusively, but such broad concepts as earth or fire magic, those with the proper dedication can acquire themselves. They will likely never reach the power of Innate Ability users, such is the cruelty of inequality of being born in the Abyss, but one should not underestimate the fruits and revelations of hard labour.” Lydia took another sip and looked at Rave’s wristband. “I take it you are engaged in a traditional contract, then?”
The princess’ question was aimed at Rave. However, the one who answered her was Copernicus, who suddenly took his cat form and jumped on the table. The solar cat's fur stood on end, His ears were flat on his head, as he hissed, “The right one, not the perversion you forced upon your partner.”
Lydia was unfazed by the cat’s aggression. “Traditional, as expected,” she turned to John who was already about to ask what that was about. “You know how elemental contracts work from the earth elemental you have, correct?” she asked him instead.
“Her and the other three,” John said, before all four of the elemental girls started appearing around him.
Lydia’s eyes went wide for a moment but she kept her composure. Not that she managed to speak up anyhow, Sylph took the room by storm (of words). “Hey, it is, like, such an honour. I always wanted to meet a princess. Your hair is pretty! Also, nice figure! Also, nice face! But your eyes stare at me disapprovingly, I am not sure if I like that. I am Sylph, Johnnie's concubine, also tempest elemental, I guess.” Sylph was buzzing around in front of Lydia’s face right up until the moment Salamander dropkicked her.
“Sorry, she talks…always,” the blaze elemental apologized, “I am Salamander.”
“Undine,” came the musical voice from the slime girl.
“I-I am Gnome,” the stone elemental bowed, deeply, “sorry if I am not dressed for the occasion, but I only have this one.”
“Noooooot trueeee,” Sylph giggled and a sudden gust of wind rattled the plates on the table. The main target was Gnome, however, or more specifically her skirt which flipped upwards.
Everyone in the room got a good view of Gnome’s hips, her long legs and the lack of underwear in between them. With an embarrassed cry Gnome grabbed the edge of her skirt and quickly pushed it downwards. The damage was already done, everybody had seen her smooth crotch. Including the princess.
“Wha-wha-wha,” Gnome stuttered.
Sylph grinned wildly and made a peace sign, “You also have your birthday suit!”
“You know, that one was actually good,” Salamander cackled and presented her fist to her sister.
Sylph took it with both hands and engaged in a wild shaking of hands. “Thank you, thank you!”
“…You were supposed to bump it…” the blaze elemental grumbled.
“Do what now?”
“Just forget it,”
“Wha-wha-whaaaaat are you doing!” Gnome finally finished her sentence and ran over to Mono, who readily embraced her. Embarrassed, little “Uwuwuwu” sounds came from the brunette.
“Perverts, all of you!” she condemned the actions of the group while calming the oldest of the elementals down with motivational whispers.
“You are a lively bunch,” Lydia stated in a neutral tone. It was like she was informing somebody that the sky was blue.
“Yes …also yes I am familiar with the traditional contract process,” John said. “Traditional being what Rave did, using her Innate Ability, or soul type I guess, to attract elementals that would fit her. I engaged in a modern contract, which does not require this inborn quality, and instead utilized a ritual to establish a short-lived connection to one of the six elemental planes.”
“On the benefit of being much more reliable, with the drawback of only allowing contracts with much weaker elementals… at the base,” Lydia looked at the elementals in turn. Before she could ask what was on her mind, however, Copernicus made himself known again.
“And then there is that disgusting thing your people came up with,” the solar feline growled.
Lydia sighed, “You not liking it doesn’t mean that it is disgusting by nature. Most elementals willingly sign the contract.”
“Most, exactly,” the sun cat kept at it, “your method forces elementals into a state that is unnatural.”
“As does corruption at the hands of inexperienced summoners in the other two methods,” Lydia calmly said.
“What is this about?” Rave asked, she was just as confused as John, “I never heard of a third type of elementalism.”
“That surprises me,” Lydia said, “German elementalism isn’t widely practiced outside of the noble houses of Europe, but it still is practiced and not in secret.” Neither John nor Rave had anything to say, instead they waited for Lydia to explain. “Where traditional and modern contracts both bind two beings, summoner and elemental, together, German elementalism is a practice that fuses the two beings together into one instead.”
Lydia’s eyes turned from their greyish blue into a true grey shade as all the metal on the table suddenly flew into her hand and compressed into a sphere.
“The resulting entity is considerably more powerful, combining the strengths of both in a body that is mostly human, but is changed in many, typically subtle ways.”
“And it also kills the elemental.”
“Just as it kills the human,” Lydia waved it off, “the resulting person is reborn from both of them. Memories, dreams, aspirations, ideas, all of them and more, mesh together. Two complete people become one set of experiences. No one leaves as they enter.”
Rave picked Copernicus up and pressed him against her chest. “I don’t like the sound of that at all,” she openly said.
Lydia shrugged dismissively. “What you like is none of my concern, it is a customary and effective practice and I never regretted having gone through with it, neither halves of me. We typically keep our elementals under contract for several years, to give them time to make the decision. “
“But ya can force them?” Rave asked.
“Doing so is tantamount to suicide. In a beneficial twist of supernatural law, whoever forces the ritual finds their own personality greatly if not entirely subdued at the end of the fusing process. In other words, forcing it typically just creates an unhappy extension of the entity it was forced upon.” Lydia unfurled the ball of metal pieces, straightening up the utensils she had abducted. “To answer the question of titles, John, it is how the Abyssal nobility inside Germany designates itself. Unlike our real counterparts, who kept their blood ‘pure’ to claim their ancestral lands, the noble bloodlines in the Abyss are out to breed Innate Ability users. The titles we hold are our rank of nobility in addition to the type of our magic.”
“That works?” John wanted to know, “You can just breed innate abilities?”
“To have a bloodline primarily consisting of Innate Ability users maximises the chances,” Lydia answered. “Where normally there is a single Innate Ability user within a thousand Abyssals there is one in ten inside the nobility. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but it helps. Romulus himself approved of this system of aristocracy, which is why all of his lands can field noble armies of powerful abilities. Sadly, many of the nobles in all of the empire’s member countries rest on their Innate Abilities and past glories, refusing to hone themselves. The system is in a fickle balance,” she let out an annoyed breath, “Just like the whole of Europe…. How much do you know about that?”
“I am a light user,” Rave explained and created a small flash of blue light in demonstration. “I also punch stuff. Guess ya could call me a battlemage.”
The princess hummed in understanding before asking: “Are your powers innate or acquired?”
“Innate,” Rave answered.
“You possess a light type soul?” Lydia probed further.
“Yup, already made a contract as well.” The techno-lover raised her left arm, showing the wristband that was Copernicus’ item form in the process.
“Ehem,” John audibly cleared his throat, “can I ask what this ‘light type soul’ thing is about? This is the first I have heard about it.”
Lydia massaged her forehead. “Whoever was responsible for educating you on the matters of the Abyss did an exceptionally shoddy job.”
“Well, there was nobody in particular, things just kind of pop-up from time to time,” John explained.
“Ey, I did tell ya some stuff!” Rave interjected.
“Some stuff, yes, that would be the exact formulation I would use.” He gave his girlfriend a sideway stare. “Jane, I love you, but you are not a born teacher.”
“Wha-? Now that’s just mean!”
Lydia sipped on her third cup of tea, while she watched the minor lover’s feud take place. “Thank you again, Aclysia,” she said to the maid, who bowed. All the while, John and Rave continued to throw insults and accusations at each other.
“And remember when I had to listen to that boring podcast with ya? See what sacrifices I make for you!”
“First off: If the Emperor had a Podcast is not boring, but a modern masterpiece. Second off: That was the agreement, once a week I can bother you with, and I quote, ‘boring 40k stuff’. Third off: I think that is pretty fair, after all I give up the blanket pretty much every night.”
“That’s such an overstatement!”
“Is it? I woke up in a full-nelson today!”
“What does that have to do with the blanket?!”
“It has everything to do with your sleeping habits being pretty weird.”
Lydia checked her watch and knocked on the table to get their attention back. “You will have to resolve this matter another time.”
“”Resolve what?”” the couple asked in unison.
Lydia’s forehead was put into wrinkles. “Your quarrel just now.”
The two of them exchanged a glance, “That is, sorta, just how we hang out?” Rave said.
Lydia’s eyebrows stayed raised, “I suppose I have no room to give you relationship advice,” she finally admitted, then added in her usual, iron tone, “I, however, am in the position to demand that you do not waste my time needlessly. I have several provinces to govern.”
John nodded in apology. “Sorry, we just get sidetracked easily. Back to that soul type thing then. If you have the time to explain it to me, princess.”
The auburn-haired royal leaned back in her chair, then began her explanation. “It is the current understanding of the Apothecaries that soul types are how people get their Innate Abilities. Everyone has a soul of some variety, represented in the aura sight virtually all Abyssals possess. More acute aura sight can visualize the differences in soul types. Those who have meaningfully different souls possess Innate Abilities. There are as many different soul types as there are differing Innate Abilities, but they are broadly categorizable in 8 categories. Fire, water, earth, wind, these are the basic and most common types, granting abilities related to the elements. I myself am an earth type, subsection metal. Then there are the four rare ones. First, we have life souls, who have extremely potent biological abilities, such as blood or plant magic.”
“Those seem pretty far apart to be honest,” John chimed in.
Lydia signalled her agreement with a bob of her head. “As stated, these are exceptionally broad categories. You will find that people with Innate Power over blood will actually have an easier time learning about bug control than water magic.”
“A quick question regarding that: my elemental could actually change to a nature elemental. The choice at the time told me it was a mixture of earth and water, but you are now telling me that plants are in another category entirely, how does that work?” he asked.
“The four advanced categories, and even many of the subsections of the basic ones, often represent mixtures of the basic ones. Plant is a mixture of earth and water, as you pointed out, bacteria would be water and fire, representing the spark of life. Should one have control over lava, specifically, their Innate Ability logically would be a mixture of earth and fire. Their soul type could be one or the other, or an equal mixture of both.”
John slowly nodded and considered what he heard. It wasn’t that different from fairly stereotypical power systems he had encountered in fantasy stories, be it games or books. Application in real life, however, was messy. Before he asked any big questions, he would let Lydia continue though.
“The next category we have are light types. These are mostly based on mixing air with fire, like electricity, light or other such powers. You say your ability is light but can you explain what kind exactly?”
“The heat type, the strongest bursts I can create are sunlight,” Rave answered the princess' request.
“Rare and powerful,” Lydia nodded, “if trained correctly, we will have to see about that at a later point.” She took a sip of tea to oil her voice before continuing.
“Opposite to light types we have dark or shadow types that are mostly earth and water based. The name sounds sinister, and dark types tend to have more ‘selfish’ abilities, but it is a simple categorization and the Innate Abilities inside it are just as little evil as the ones in the light type category are good. Dark types can be blessed with shadow magic or gravity control for example. The latter being what king Maximillian has control over,” Lydia saw John raise his hand. “Is the question about dark types?”
“No, it is about the fact that you are the ‘Princess of Steel’ and he is the ‘Gravity King’. I would like to know how these titles come about.”
“I see there is still a lot I need to tell you,” she mumbled and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “We will get to that soon enough. First, however, let’s talk about the last type of soul.” For some unknown reason Lydia smiled a bit. “The rarest of all soul types is the empty soul. That is not to say they don’t have a soul at all, they do, it is just like an empty frame. People with this kind of soul usually die in their young years, most of them during childbirth actually. Worldwide there are maybe four dozen people who have this type of soul and are stable enough to use the power it gives them.”
“Ya sure that even exists?” Rave asked. “I never heard of that.”
“Absolutely certain,” Lydia stated and shifted in her seat as she folded her legs, sitting in a staunch way. “Fire, water, air, and earth are the four basic ones. Light, shadow, life, and null, those are the four advanced ones. It bears repeating that this is a broad categorization of esoteric, illogical, and supernatural processes we do not entirely comprehend. The six elements mix in all manners of ways and many of them can be learned. Something as unique as your game interface is limited to you exclusively, but such broad concepts as earth or fire magic, those with the proper dedication can acquire themselves. They will likely never reach the power of Innate Ability users, such is the cruelty of inequality of being born in the Abyss, but one should not underestimate the fruits and revelations of hard labour.” Lydia took another sip and looked at Rave’s wristband. “I take it you are engaged in a traditional contract, then?”
The princess’ question was aimed at Rave. However, the one who answered her was Copernicus, who suddenly took his cat form and jumped on the table. The solar cat's fur stood on end, His ears were flat on his head, as he hissed, “The right one, not the perversion you forced upon your partner.”
Lydia was unfazed by the cat’s aggression. “Traditional, as expected,” she turned to John who was already about to ask what that was about. “You know how elemental contracts work from the earth elemental you have, correct?” she asked him instead.
“Her and the other three,” John said, before all four of the elemental girls started appearing around him.
Lydia’s eyes went wide for a moment but she kept her composure. Not that she managed to speak up anyhow, Sylph took the room by storm (of words). “Hey, it is, like, such an honour. I always wanted to meet a princess. Your hair is pretty! Also, nice figure! Also, nice face! But your eyes stare at me disapprovingly, I am not sure if I like that. I am Sylph, Johnnie's concubine, also tempest elemental, I guess.” Sylph was buzzing around in front of Lydia’s face right up until the moment Salamander dropkicked her.
“Sorry, she talks…always,” the blaze elemental apologized, “I am Salamander.”
“Undine,” came the musical voice from the slime girl.
“I-I am Gnome,” the stone elemental bowed, deeply, “sorry if I am not dressed for the occasion, but I only have this one.”
“Noooooot trueeee,” Sylph giggled and a sudden gust of wind rattled the plates on the table. The main target was Gnome, however, or more specifically her skirt which flipped upwards.
Everyone in the room got a good view of Gnome’s hips, her long legs and the lack of underwear in between them. With an embarrassed cry Gnome grabbed the edge of her skirt and quickly pushed it downwards. The damage was already done, everybody had seen her smooth crotch. Including the princess.
“Wha-wha-wha,” Gnome stuttered.
Sylph grinned wildly and made a peace sign, “You also have your birthday suit!”
“You know, that one was actually good,” Salamander cackled and presented her fist to her sister.
Sylph took it with both hands and engaged in a wild shaking of hands. “Thank you, thank you!”
“…You were supposed to bump it…” the blaze elemental grumbled.
“Do what now?”
“Just forget it,”
“Wha-wha-whaaaaat are you doing!” Gnome finally finished her sentence and ran over to Mono, who readily embraced her. Embarrassed, little “Uwuwuwu” sounds came from the brunette.
“Perverts, all of you!” she condemned the actions of the group while calming the oldest of the elementals down with motivational whispers.
“You are a lively bunch,” Lydia stated in a neutral tone. It was like she was informing somebody that the sky was blue.
“Yes …also yes I am familiar with the traditional contract process,” John said. “Traditional being what Rave did, using her Innate Ability, or soul type I guess, to attract elementals that would fit her. I engaged in a modern contract, which does not require this inborn quality, and instead utilized a ritual to establish a short-lived connection to one of the six elemental planes.”
“On the benefit of being much more reliable, with the drawback of only allowing contracts with much weaker elementals… at the base,” Lydia looked at the elementals in turn. Before she could ask what was on her mind, however, Copernicus made himself known again.
“And then there is that disgusting thing your people came up with,” the solar feline growled.
Lydia sighed, “You not liking it doesn’t mean that it is disgusting by nature. Most elementals willingly sign the contract.”
“Most, exactly,” the sun cat kept at it, “your method forces elementals into a state that is unnatural.”
“As does corruption at the hands of inexperienced summoners in the other two methods,” Lydia calmly said.
“What is this about?” Rave asked, she was just as confused as John, “I never heard of a third type of elementalism.”
“That surprises me,” Lydia said, “German elementalism isn’t widely practiced outside of the noble houses of Europe, but it still is practiced and not in secret.” Neither John nor Rave had anything to say, instead they waited for Lydia to explain. “Where traditional and modern contracts both bind two beings, summoner and elemental, together, German elementalism is a practice that fuses the two beings together into one instead.”
Lydia’s eyes turned from their greyish blue into a true grey shade as all the metal on the table suddenly flew into her hand and compressed into a sphere.
“The resulting entity is considerably more powerful, combining the strengths of both in a body that is mostly human, but is changed in many, typically subtle ways.”
“And it also kills the elemental.”
“Just as it kills the human,” Lydia waved it off, “the resulting person is reborn from both of them. Memories, dreams, aspirations, ideas, all of them and more, mesh together. Two complete people become one set of experiences. No one leaves as they enter.”
Rave picked Copernicus up and pressed him against her chest. “I don’t like the sound of that at all,” she openly said.
Lydia shrugged dismissively. “What you like is none of my concern, it is a customary and effective practice and I never regretted having gone through with it, neither halves of me. We typically keep our elementals under contract for several years, to give them time to make the decision. “
“But ya can force them?” Rave asked.
“Doing so is tantamount to suicide. In a beneficial twist of supernatural law, whoever forces the ritual finds their own personality greatly if not entirely subdued at the end of the fusing process. In other words, forcing it typically just creates an unhappy extension of the entity it was forced upon.” Lydia unfurled the ball of metal pieces, straightening up the utensils she had abducted. “To answer the question of titles, John, it is how the Abyssal nobility inside Germany designates itself. Unlike our real counterparts, who kept their blood ‘pure’ to claim their ancestral lands, the noble bloodlines in the Abyss are out to breed Innate Ability users. The titles we hold are our rank of nobility in addition to the type of our magic.”
“That works?” John wanted to know, “You can just breed innate abilities?”
“To have a bloodline primarily consisting of Innate Ability users maximises the chances,” Lydia answered. “Where normally there is a single Innate Ability user within a thousand Abyssals there is one in ten inside the nobility. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but it helps. Romulus himself approved of this system of aristocracy, which is why all of his lands can field noble armies of powerful abilities. Sadly, many of the nobles in all of the empire’s member countries rest on their Innate Abilities and past glories, refusing to hone themselves. The system is in a fickle balance,” she let out an annoyed breath, “Just like the whole of Europe…. How much do you know about that?”
