Chapter 410 The Choice Is Yours

Capitol City, Earth Realm

Lee Seng had gone through a lot in the past couple of months and the last couple of weeks didn't make it any better. He always seemed to be fighting the next thing and his recovery was making it harder. He woke up later that day in his bed. He was alone but his door was left open. The bathroom door opened and Ritsuka stepped out, shutting the light. He turned right and noticed Lee Seng was getting up.

"Oh, Lee! You're awake!" Ritsuka jogged over. He helped Lee Seng up and moved the pillow to allow Lee Seng some easier rest. "How are you doing? You passed out earlier."

"Oh. That." Lee Seng nodded. "I feel fine. I must've overexerted myself or something."

"It doesn't have anything to do with your new friend?" Ritsuka asked taking a seat next to him.

"I dunno. Could something like that even happ—"

'Wait.' A realization crept into Lee Seng's thoughts. 'He did say he already got into my head so what are the chances these migraines are because of him…?'

"Lee? You okay?" Ritsuka waved his hand in front of Lee Seng's face. Lee Seng snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at Ritsuka. He looked at him with worry.

"I'm fine. Just stuck in thought." Lee Seng pushed the blankets off of him and moved to stand. Ritsuka stood up, hovering around Lee Seng like a helicopter parent.

"Are y-you sure you should—"

"I'll be fine. I need to do something productive." Lee Seng waved him off. He headed to the closet and noticed it was cleaned. "Did you do this?"

"Oh, yeah. I, uh, got bored and noticed the mess. Did that happen when you were, uh…"

"When I passed out the night before." Lee Seng finished. "And yes, I did pass out yesterday. I need to burn this energy off. Maybe I should run."

"You sure you should be doing anything that hard?" Ritsuka asked blocking the way out of the closet.

"I won't go too hard. Trust me." Lee Seng stuck his pinky finger out. Ritsuka sighed and moved out of the way.

"Fine. I'll workout, again, while you run. If I see that you're starting to have any signs of pain, I'm going to stop you." Ritsuka pointed at him.

"Sure. Let's go."

The two made their way to the workout room. Ritsuka watched Lee Seng got on one of the treadmills and started it up.

"I'll start slow and crank my way up to what I normally do. You don't need to hover around me, dude." Lee Seng told Ritsuka. He motioned Ritsuka away and started to walk a bit faster. Ritsuka hesitated, letting out a sigh as he moved over to one of the nearby machines. He would do his workout near Lee Seng in case he actually did fall or something.

Lee Seng started slow. He needed to not be ignorant when it came to his body. He had learned the hard way with many injuries and sicknesses that his body always told him what was wrong.

'These migraines started shortly after I woke up in the private hospital owned by the Creator…' Lee Seng's mind wandered. 'It's been a thing for months and I've taken medicine for it, but it doesn't help at all… I wonder if that medicine is even doing its job… Or is it because of—'

[Notice: The Augmentation Two Souls, One Body has finished. Please look over the new passive skills for more information.]

'New skills? Is this that thing I did yesterday night?' Lee Seng slowed himself to a stop. Ritsuka looked up and watched Lee Seng started to turn around.

"All done?" Ritsuka asked.

"Bathroom." Lee Seng pointed. "You don't need to come with me. I'll be fine. You'll know if something's wrong." He quickly made his way to the bathroom, flicking the light on and locking the door behind him as he sat on the toilet. "C'mon, let's see what's up with this…" He clawed his chest and watched as a smaller Soul orb came out.

'It's smaller. Why?' Lee Seng lifted it upwards and was instantly met with tons of information.

[Two Bodies, One Soul]: Grants sub-augmentations that alters the Spirit and the Vessel's individual bodies. The Soul orb splits into two giving both an easier way of hunting for Souls. Because of this, the two must join together every year before Sunset to reap the benefits of Evolution.

"W-what?!?" Lee Seng shouted a little too loud. He realized he made a loud noise and lowered his volume to not catch Ritsuka's attention. "We can both get souls like we did before, alright… But we have to rejoin every year before Sunset to reap the benefits of Evolution…?" Lee Seng continued to read.

[Two Bodies, One Soul] also gives the following augmentations: [Double Harvest], [Linked Fate], [Soul Connection], and [Magical Rewrite.]

Taking this augmentation will allow for more beneficial effects for each member but limit the use of [Home]. [Home] originally allowed the Spirit to house himself within the Vessel's body. [Home] has been augmented to allow both parties to house themselves in the Spirit or Vessel up to 24-hours before it goes on a cooldown of 1 week.

"So we can't be together forever. I guess that's the downfall to splitting us apart. I thought it would stay in the parameters of our soul… I guess not?" Lee Seng shrugged and continued on.

[Double Harvest]: Boosts [Soul Eater] capabilities for each person. Gives different effects based on who is using it.

Spirit: Doubles Skill progression and limits soul harvest to one per creature/monster. Empowers all Skill effects.

Vessel: Doubles Soul harvest while limiting Skill progression experience per kill. Vessel gains more physical boost attributes.

When used as one, the body determines the first-half of the skill used. Joined as one, the Fox Spirit can gain the benefits of empowered Skill usage and physical boost attributes.

"This is the kicker. Keng can boost our skills while I can get double the souls… I guess this is worth it… Does that mean the second-half of the passive can be used by both of us if we were to be together? I'll need to try this with Keng when I find him… Hopefully he hasn't gone too far."

[Soul Connection]: Allows for Keng and Lee Seng to know each other's whereabouts regardless of Realm or Plane of existence.

[Magical Rewrite]: The Vessel and the Spirit gain the ability to merge classes together. Merging classes limits your ability to progress in other classes, so choose carefully! Choosing a merge class cancels the [Jack of All Trades] possibility feature and changes to the specified merged class.

"Huh? [Jack of All Trades]! I wasn't crazy! The thing did say—"

"Hey, you okay?" Ritsuka knocked on the door.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just looking stuff up on my phone! Don't worry about me too much!"

"O-okay… Don't spook me like that then." Ritsuka said.

'Magical Rewrite allows for merging of classes… What could I do then?' Lee Seng clicked on it and the screen opened. There was a spider web of the four main classes. Fighter, Glass, Observer and Tank created a square and webbed across the box in different directions. 'Should I go something else? [Jack of All Trades] boosted my capabilities in every class, but it doesn't help me with my strengths, per se… But having the options made it great to do that…'

[Notice: Would you like a recommendation?]

'A recommendation?' Lee Seng thought.

[Correct. Based on your fighting style, I would say you do best with crowd control and close combat the best.]

'Alright. I'm listening.'

[My recommendation is for you to merge Fighter and Observer together.]

'Observer? I would've guessed Glass.' Lee Seng was a bit disappointed with recommendation. 'Why Observer and Fighter?'

[Well, according to the statistics logged in the Soul orb, I've concluded you tend to use your gravity-based Biohuman powers and your Fox Spirit magic as a support. It blends in between damage but you usually always use it as an AOE. That's why I chose Fighter and Observer for you.]

'A good point but this brings up a whole 'nother question: who are you?' Lee seng asked.

[I'm the result of Keng killing the early Protocol within you, Lee Seng. I'm… an AI of sorts that can guide you if you want it.]

'Can Keng hear you?'

[No. He cannot. Rather, he just can't. I'm the manifestation of the Fox Spirit devouring part of the Protocol. And before you ask, only you can hear me. That annoying deimon won't be able to hear me until you completely lose control of yourself.]

'W-w-wait.' Lee Seng repeated many times. 'Until I lose control? Why did you say that?'

[That I cannot say.]

'Great. You're sentient enough to know when to shut up.'

[My recommendation is Fighter and Observer. Will you take it?]

Lee Seng thought about this for quite awhile. Just as he was about to say something, another set of knocks came to the door.

"Hey, you've been in there for like fifteen minutes. Are you okay?" Ritsuka asked.

'Did he time how long I've been in here?'

"I'm fine! J-just finishing up!"

'Fine. I'll choose it. If you say it'll help me best then it'll be worth it. If I can get something that can boost my melee combat and also keep some sort of support for the group, I won't be mad.'

[Notice: You have chosen Fighter and Observer as your merged classes. Do you want to continue with this?]

'Yes.'