I wandered around Another World, collecting the souls of various kinds of humans.
Hmm, now that I say it like this, it probably makes me sound like some dark sorcerer using souls as sacrifices for something evil.
Still, I collected them in a pretty peaceful way, going out and about! The easiest method would be killing humans to gather their souls, but I don’t want to do that!
I wandered all over the world, searching for and gradually collecting the souls of those who had met death in various places.
Collecting the soul from the corpse of a young person who died in an accident without even knowing how they passed away, gathering the soul of a criminal executed for their crimes, also taking the soul of an old man who lived a long life and died of old age… And even though I didn’t really want to, I also collected the souls of stillborn fetuses who never got the chance to be born.
After traveling around the world and collecting the souls of the dead, I investigated and studied them. As a result, I was able to understand the structure of the soul to a certain extent.
It might be a bit of a boring story, but I should probably explain the nature of the soul first.
First off, although the soul looks like a single lump of spirit, when you take a closer look at its internal structure, it is actually formed by the fusion of two opposing parts.
It’s like Yin and Yang☯ – the two parts constantly counteract and harmonize with each other, creating a unified form.
One side is bright, light, and warm, while the other is dark, heavy, and cold. These two completely opposite natures intertwine to form a soul.
Let’s start with the bright part. I arbitrarily named this part “Hon” (魂).
This part relates to the innate disposition one is born with.
It consists of the inherent personality traits and tendencies determined at birth, along with the genetic elements inherited from one’s parents. It is fundamentally warm and light, so it has a tendency to rise towards the sky.
Next, the dark part. I named this part “Pak” (魄).
This part relates to the personality formed after birth.
It is shaped through memories and experiences accumulated during growth, forming one’s personality. Because it is fundamentally cold and heavy, it has a tendency to sink into the ground and disperse.
Thus, the innate disposition one is born with and the personality formed after birth combine to complete a human soul.
How did I figure this out? Well, I observed several different souls.
Let’s start with Sample A: The soul of an old man who lived a long, satisfying life.
Compared to the average lifespan of humans in this era, this man lived an extraordinarily long time. His soul was significantly larger than others. Roughly estimating, it was about the size of two of my human-sized fists. At over 80 years old, his soul exhibited an abnormal ratio.
If we consider the entire soul to be 10, then the ratio of Hon to Pak in the old man’s soul was around 2:8. A completely unbalanced form of the soul.
Despite this imbalance, the old man’s soul showed no significant abnormalities.
Next, Sample B: The soul of a baby who was stillborn before being born. Its size was incredibly small, not even reaching half the size of my fist.
The ratio here was approximately 9.9:0.1.
Meaning it was almost entirely Hon.
This poor soul had no memories other than what it heard while inside its mother’s womb.
Therefore, the Pak part didn’t form properly. So pitiful…
As for the remaining samples… In the case of the death row inmate, the ratio was 4:6, and for the young person who died in an accident, it was 5:5. Most souls tend to stabilize at a 5:5 ratio around the age of 20.
As one grows older, the size of the soul increases, and the proportion of Pak becomes larger. On the other hand, younger ones have smaller souls with a higher proportion of Hon.
It seems that around the age of 20, the balance between Hon and Pak stabilizes, and as one ages and accumulates more memories and experiences, the proportion of Pak in the soul increases, disrupting the balance.
Is this why dementia occurs in old age? Hmm… That’s quite intriguing.
Then, what about elves whose lifespans are over ten times longer than humans? Do they maintain a solid balance between Hon and Pak due to their plant-like mentalities? This part is unclear.
There definitely seem to be differences based on race, but further research is needed.
After completing my rough study, I released the souls I had collected, and they began to separate and depart in various forms.
The souls that were previously clumped together slowly split apart – Hon rose to the sky, and Pak sank into the ground.
In four characters, this can be expressed as Honbi-Paksan (魂飛魄散), which is also why I named the two parts of the soul Hon and Pak.
Most of the souls I released disappeared quickly. Hmm… Do ordinary souls usually vanish this fast? Then what about the souls that remain on the land?
That question was quickly resolved.
After releasing all the souls I had gathered, most disappeared, but one remained – the soul of the death row inmate who was executed after being convicted of a crime.
Even after leaving the body, the death row inmate’s soul continued to deny its own death and refused to dissipate. Upon investigation, I understood why some souls remain on the earth.
Typically, after the body dies, the soul exits and lingers briefly before splitting into two and disappearing. However, sometimes, souls filled with strong negative emotions at the moment of death develop black soot-like marks that prevent Hon and Pak from separating.
Because Hon and Pak fail to separate, the soul remains near the corpse, continuing to deny its death. Over time, the black soot grows, gradually consuming the soul.
Eventually, the soot dyes the entire soul black, causing it to mutate into something no longer recognizable as a soul. This mutated entity could appropriately be called an evil spirit.
I used magical power to restrain the death row inmate’s soul, which had transformed into an evil spirit, and began examining it closely.
What is this black soot that mutates the soul? Is it caused by negative emotions? But if it’s just emotions, it seems a bit strange for it to cause such mutation…
It feels like… something external is acting upon it… No, it must be an illusion.
Anyway, I carefully began cutting away the black soot covering the evil spirit using magic.
The damp and heavy fragments covered in black soot… These are Pak. It seems the parts affected by emotions are fragments of Pak.
Meanwhile, Hon maintains its form even after transforming into an evil spirit. This black soot seems to only affect Pak.
I infused a tiny amount of magical power into the cut-off black soot, and it instantly dried up and crumbled, scattering and vanishing on the ground.
Hmm… Is this black soot weak against magical power? Physical contact barely affects it, but it seems vulnerable to magic.
Alright, I now roughly know how to deal with lingering souls. If I remove the black soot preventing Hon and Pak from separating, they should naturally split apart.
After separating Hon and Pak from the deceased’s soul, I let Pak disperse, and sent Hon… flying to the sky?
But where does Hon go when it flies to the sky? While Pak disperses and vanishes, where does the countless number of Hon go after countless intelligent beings have died since the existence of souls?
Well, if I don’t know where they go, I can always track them.
I attached a faint thread of magical power to the death row inmate’s Hon and slowly sent it upwards. The Hon gradually ascended into the sky.
Its presence was extremely faint – even I had difficulty detecting it unless I paid close attention. Fortunately, since I attached the magical thread, I could clearly sense its location.
So, I flew up into the sky, following the ascending Hon, and only after reaching a considerable height did I see where the Hon was heading.
High above, countless Hon were densely gathered. Although individually faint, their collective presence resembled clouds.
The sizes of these gathered Hon varied, but some noticeably large ones split into two, maintaining a similar size to the others. Hmm… Does Hon have a tendency to maintain a certain size?
However, observing these gathered Hon closely gave me a somewhat creepy feeling. Seeing so many faint and roundish things clustered together made me feel that something significant was bound to happen.
At that moment, some of the Hon floating in the sky fell toward the ground. Almost imperceptible Hon rained down like droplets, and I followed them back down to the earth.
As if drawn by something, the Hon that fell from the sky landed on a small cottage and seeped inside. It seemed like something was pulling the soul.
Inside the cottage… there was a pair of human lovers asleep.
Let’s respect their privacy. Let’s overlook the fact that they’re both naked.
I returned to the sky, heading back to where the Hon were gathered.
Hmm… It seems there is some kind of cycle happening with Hon, even though a significant amount has already accumulated. Still, it’s better than having no cycle at all.
Wait, if Hon gathers like this, what about Pak? The Pak scattered on the ground – does it simply vanish? Or…
Does it seep into the ground and descend lower…?
A very ominous premonition came over me. How long has it been since souls began appearing? If Hon has gathered this much, then what about Pak? The Pak scattered and absorbed into the ground…?
Pak, which turns black when exposed to negative emotions, and transforms souls into evil spirits – if a great amount of it seeps into the ground…?
If something triggers the formation of soot within the accumulated Pak underground… then…?
And most importantly, the ground below is likely where that child fled to…
Not good. Yeah, not good. Something big might happen if I don’t hurry.
Clearly, souls need thorough management. Leaving them unchecked could lead to unforeseen problems!
By the way… if Hon gathers like this and Pak scatters like that… what happens to those who died before the existence of souls?
Do their souls not exist? Or did they vanish? What happened to them?
And… me? Is my soul still within me?
Many questions arose, but… let’s set them aside for now…
I have a feeling that thinking too deeply about this might not be a good idea…
