Mana film is leaking. Approximately thirty seconds until all mana is lost.

  My cat's body above was barely alive, but I didn’t give it much attention. Instead, I made [Soul Mind] focus on this soul. I had revenge to carry on.

  The magus was still afloat, looking down on the seemingly unending column of chained humans. As the plate armour-wearing men passed beneath him, they dismounted before lowering their heads.

  He doesn’t see me.

  I shot at him, hitting his body… It felt like hitting a solid wall; It even dented my film and soul for a moment before they reformed.

  The magus seemed to notice, moving his head around frantically.

  I held my non-existent breath. Thankfully, the magus didn’t spot me. He now had a confused look on his face.

  Yeah, that’s confusion.

  Although I had Kamos’s memories and somewhat knew how facial expressions worked, I was still inexperienced, so I decided to tread carefully.

  Why can’t I enter his body?

  Warning! If the user doesn’t find a host in 25 seconds, his soul will desipate.

  Is it because of his class? Maybe Mana? Maybe his soul is just strong?

  Either way, I had to find a new host. I didn’t give up on my revenge, I just put it off for now.

  I scanned the group, deciding on a random armour-wearing human. I shot at him, and… hit an almost solid wall. It deformed before bouncing back into shape and slinging me away in the process.

  …what?

  The human I chose didn’t notice, continuing with his march.

  15

  14

  13

  I decided to retry, but slowly this time. As I passed between his skin cells, a white wall appeared before me… a soul?

  I pushed against the guard’s soul, but it barely budged.

  Is their soul refusing me because it’s high-level?

  I used [Identify].

  Guardsman, Lv. ??

  Two question marks. His level is probably in the two digits.

  I also noticed that entering his body was less difficult than the magus. While the guardsman’s soul was like hard mud, the magus was solid stone.

  12

  11

  10

  I used [Identify] on another guard.

  Militiaman, Lv. ??

  I tried entering the militiaman’s body, and his soul stopped me, too, although this time I felt like there was less resistance.

  If I brute force it, I could probably enter his soul, but…

  9

  8

  7

  …It’d take me too much time.

  I lowered my host expectations, choosing a random chained man.

  Farmer, ??

  I tried to enter his body, but… some resistance.

  Should I brute force my way through his soul, or choose another human?

  I made a quick choice: to find a weaker host—my time was running out.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  6

  5

  4

  I flew over the bodies, using [Identify] on all of them. There were different classes, from farmer to hunter, butcher, blacksmith, and many more. Unfortunately, all of them had ‘??’ For levels.

  3

  2

  1

  I spotted a human child. He looked weak, with a thin body, a hunched back, and very pale skin.

  Human, Lv. 1

  I entered his body, going for a brain cell.

  0

  ***

  After securing the human cell, I refocused on my cat body.

  It took me six days to fully recover through spamming [Forced Mana Regeneration] and [Rudis Subtilis Biomancy], gaining me a few levels in the process.

  Forced Mana Regeneration has reached Lv. 7 (Cat)

  Rudis Subtilis Biomancy has reached Lv. 5

  After the cat host recovered, I went out to hunt. I wanted to stockpile on some food so I could focus on my human host.

  It took me a few days, but I secured enough food. Getting inside my cave, I shifted my focus to the boy, but still kept a small part with the cat to feed, drink, and notice danger.

  …He’s asleep.

  The boy was tightly surrounded by his fellow humans. A woman with similar blue eyes and dark hair was letting him sleep on her lap.

  Why is she caring for him? He’s not part of her.

  I expanded my vision further, but was unable to break the chained human encirclement.

  I refocused inside the boy’s body.

  The human boy had way more brain cells than the cat, and if I hoped to succeed in a peaceful host integration, then I had lots of work ahead of me.

  Can I even use the same technique as the cat?

  In the cat, I had made as many connections as I could before taking control swiftly, but the boy had way more cells than the cat.

  ***

  After a week of marching, where the boy had only eaten a weird-looking stew—delivered to his bare hands—and survived thanks to the woman’s help, we finally left the ravine.

  I hadn’t gained any memories yet, but through observation, I gathered a lot. The chained humans only had two options: either walk or get whipped by the armoured humans. Those who stopped walking, and the lash wasn’t enough to convince them to continue, were killed. The woman taking care of the boy was the one who originated him, probably; she cared for him too much, and he called her mom.

  I didn’t understand why human mothers cared for their offspring; they weren’t one. From Kamos’s memories, I knew they used to be one, but were separated at birth.

  Maybe she still considers him part of her whole?

  I put thinking about this dilemma for later; Survival and growing came first.

  I hadn’t seen the magus again, although I saw some other men wearing similar robes to his, but they weren’t flying like him and were only called Magus when I used identify on them.

  Throughout the week, I had connected to a meagre 10% of the cells. On the brighter side, through all the Mana refills and cell connections I made, my skills had advanced.

  Rudis Subtilis Biomancy has reached Lv. 6

  Forced Mana Regeneration has reached Lv. 3 (human)

  As the boy walked, I saw green plains that slowly morphed into farmlands.

  I managed to catch a farmer on the periphery of my sphere of vision. He was…

  Celebrating? No, he’s… angry. No. Ahhh, human complexions and body emotes are complex.

  The man had a fist raised, shaking it as he smiled at a guard, but his behaviour quickly changed when we passed. He spat… at me, or the boy.

  The boy flinched for a second before his mother quickly cleaned his face with her clothes. She knelt on her knees, whispered some comforting words into the kid’s ear, and kissed him, but had to continue walking as the chains grew taut. The boy didn’t show any emotion.

  Now that I think of it, he hasn’t even had any emotional liquids… Is he deficient?

  I got worried at that and decided to observe the boy’s condition more closely.

  The journey stretched on, with endless farmlands on both sides of the dirt road.

  In the day, we mostly marched, taking a few breaks. The kid’s boot soles had long been scraped off, replaced with his blistering bare legs. It was mild during the day, but when night came—the only respite—the biting cold came with it, making the chained humans huddle together for warmth.

  If one wanted to dispose of his body waste, he could only do so during the short breaks in the day. They’d remove your chains, and a guard would stand next to you as you did it.

  They shifted our chain positions a few times, but this time…

  “Nooo, please, he’d die on his own,” the boy’s mother shouted.

  The guard snorted before slapping the woman with the back of his hand, making her fall on her bum. He held the human boy uncomfortably by his armpit, then dragged him, but the woman didn’t give up.

  She held the guard with both hands on his ankles.

  “Pleeease… be mer~sniff~ciful. He’s just ten.” The woman whimpered, water flowing down her eyes—tears.

  “Not killing your republic’s filthy offspring is merciful enough. Now, scram!”

  The guard kicked the woman in her stomach, making her heath for breath.

  It was then that I felt it inside the boy, as he looked at his fallen mother. The liquids that created emotions were gushed into his blood. His eyes widened, and his body shook; he was… fearful.

  The boy was taken all the way to the back of the human chain. Here, only elderly men, women, and a few children were present.

  This is bad. He might not survive without his mother.

  The night came. Sitting all alone in the cold darkness, the kid huddled around himself as he shed tears.

  “Come here, boy.”

  A white-bearded human with no hair beckoned for the kid. The boy lifted his head. Looking at the old man, he found a small smile on his face, which opened the gates and tears became streams.

  The boy crawled toward the old man, who hugged him. They shared warmth.

  This old human is smart. He made the boy share his warmth, without much convincing.

  But as the boy slept, the old man did something unexpected. He took off a shoulder cloth covering and… gave it to the boy?

  What is he doing? Is he trying to befriend the young human so he will help him in the journey? But the boy is asleep; he won’t notice the gesture.

  I didn’t know what the old man’s intentions were, nor did I understand his actions, but for now, he was helpful.

  He might be an anomaly.

  The road stretched long in the morning, and as we walked, it started to turn from packed dirt into a cobbled road that was wider.

  Humans from outside our group began to pass us. Some of them pulled wooden carts with crops on them, others rode horses, and…

  What is that?

  I saw a creature I had no recollection of in either Knamos or the cat’s memories. I used [Identify].

  Camel, Lv. 3

  Identify has reached Lv. 4

  Finally.

  I had used [Identify] on every human and creature throughout this journey, and it had finally levelled up.

  During the journey, the boy walked beside the old man, who offered his hand, and the boy held it.

  The boy’s emotional state was better today, but it was still far from the calmness he had with his mother.

  ***

  Three days passed.

  There were no level-ups, but now I had connected to 15% percent of the kid’s brain.

  The old man continued his support, making me more suspicious of his intentions.

  Humans, up until now, had been acting like I had seen them from Kamos’s memories—transactional.

  Offer them something, and they would give you something in return. Of course, there were exceptions, like mothers, fathers, and criminals, but the last ones were usually disposed of by society, as they took without giving.

  I didn’t know what to think of humans, but they were clearly smarter than animals. In the end, all they wanted was to survive, grow, and continue.

  That was why I didn’t know why the old man gave the kid cloth for warmth when he could’ve used it; why he offered to hold him up a few times when the kid couldn’t walk anymore. He even helped other kids.

  What does he want in return?

  I also noticed that the weather was becoming colder; winter was on the doorstep.

  “What is that, Grandpa?” The boy asked the old man.

  I couldn’t see what the boy was pointing at, as it was outside my peripheral vision, so I had to rely on the old man’s answer.

  “Cervita, the Empire’s second biggest city, and its frontier fort that had stood for decades in front of our Republic, never to be taken,” the old man answered, his expression unreadable.

  A human settlement, huh?

  As we got closer to the city, the cobbled road got wider, but it still wasn’t enough to hold all the people seeking Cervita, which led to the chained humans being made to walk on the farmland next to the road.

  Caravans passed us, with myriad mounted and burdened animals, uncountable carts, and some fancy carriages.

  A carriage, in particular, had loads of gold-armed men surrounding it as six well-groomed horses pulled it.

  When it passed, all other humans, chained or not, had to leave the road and fall to their knees.

  Somehow, the magus had ended up bowing next to the boy and his grandpa, who had their foreheads on the ground.

  As the final golden guard was about to pass us, I used [Identify] on him.

  Zephirus Sole Blade, Lv. ????

  Four question marks?!

  I immediately regretted my decision to use [Identify] when the guard looked my way with fury that could be seen from the visor of his helmet.

  He pointed his finger at the magus, who tensed, but didn’t raise his head. A white ball shot with unimaginable speed. It impacted against a blue spherical energy shield that sprang around the magus. Piercing it without losing any power, it continued, drilling a clean hole through the magus’s shoulder before going through the energy shield from the back, then digging a perfect circle in the ground.

  “Magus! Count yourself lucky, as we’re in a hurry, or I would’ve had your head.”

  Identify, you stupid ability!