Zeke awoke with a massive headache. He groggily rubbed his eyes as he sat up in his bed. Why did he feel so worn out? How long had he stayed up yester… With a start, he remembered how he had ended up in this situation: The ritual!
"Are you there, Spirit?"
"Answer: I am here."
"How long was I out?"
"Answer: It has been 15 cycles since the day of the implementation."
Zeke nodded. This was about what he had expected. Losing two weeks wasn't ideal, but it wasn't terrible either.
"Suggestion: I would not consider the time to be lost, contractor. Your experiences over the past few days have led to a Soul growth of approximately 22.3%. It is highly likely that this was the fastest rush of growth the host has ever experienced."
Zeke was shocked. "How can you tell?"
"Answer: I do not understand the question."
"How can you tell how much my Soul has grown?" Zeke clarified.
"Answer: According to the host's plans, I have begun to measure any changes to the Soul. This course of action was found to be the ideal path for determining the fastest way to grow the Soul."
Zeke was flabbergasted. During his experiment, he had briefly considered defining a system to determine Soul growth. Now, he woke up to find that fleeting idea to be already created and integrated.
"Query: Is this goal no longer a research target? Should I remove it from the list of active tasks?"
"No!" Zeke exclaimed. "You did well, very well. What else is on the list of active tasks?"
"Answer: There are currently four active observation tasks.
1) Monitoring changes to the Soul.
2) Monitoring changes to the Body and Core.
3) Monitoring the surroundings for danger.
4) Monitoring the surroundings for noteworthy discoveries.
Zeke's eyes widened. "How do you monitor the surroundings?"
"Answer: I use the data provided by [Perfect Spatial Awareness]."
His jaw dropped. "You can use my spells?"
"Answer: Positive. I can use your spells and even take control of your body if necessary."
This was a huge amount of influence and Zeke wasn't quite sure if he was happy with entrusting Spirit with it. On the other hand, a substantial part of him was already thinking about all the possibilities this was opening up. This could have far-reaching applications for every part of his life.
"Suggestion: If the Contractor is unhappy with this arrangement, I can limit myself accordingly."
Zeke thought about it for a moment. However, he shook his head soon after. "Any limiter you put on yourself would be meaningless. The question of you sticking to those rules would still come down to trust."
"Query: I do not understand the problem. What am I supposed to do?"
Zeke sighed. His trust issues aside, this was a good question. Was there even a point in being suspicious of his own Summon? He had never heard of a spirit turning on its contractor. Of course, there were stories of Summons making mistakes, but Zeke had never heard of them betraying their contractor outright. Was this just him being paranoid?
"You don't have to do anything, Spirit. Just do your thing and I'll tell you if you are overstepping."
"Answer: Positive."
Zeke got up from his bed and focused on his condition. He was feeling surprisingly well, considering the ordeal he had endured. The single upside of spiritual pain was that it did not impair the body at all. After completely waking up and doing some stretches, he felt as good as new.
The only difference he could feel was a slight drain on his core. It did not bother him overly much and wasn't anything to worry about either. He would be able to effortlessly endure this for the entire day. Honestly, Zeke had expected the burden on his core to be much larger.
"Spirit, is this the baseline amount of Mana you need to exist?"
"Answer: Negative. I need no Mana to exist as long as I am integrated into your Soul. The Mana I am using is proportional to the tasks I am running."
"How many tasks are you running at the moment?"
"Answer: 9."
Zeke froze mid-stretch. "How many?"
"Answer: 9."
Zeke blinked. "Are you telling me you can do 9 things at the same time with only this trickle of mana?"
"Answer: Positive."
"What's the limit of things you can do at once?"
"Answer: I do not have a personal limit. The only limiting factor is the amount of Mind-attributed Mana the host's core can produce."
No limit to the number of tasks he could do at once? Zeke didn't know if he should be afraid or excited to ask his next question. "How long would it take you to read a book in my Mind's library?"
"Answer: This would be wholly dependent on the length of the book. My reading speed should be roughly equivalent to that of the hosts with the current mana supply."
Zeke nodded. He had hoped for more, but at least he would be able to increase the progress he made on that project.
"Suggestion: Depending on the provided Mana I would be able to either increase my speed or read several books at once."
This sounded more promising. With a thought, Zeke appeared in his Mind's library. To his surprise, somebody was already there. A figure sat in his chair and was currently thumbing through the Akashic Records.
"Spirit?" Zeke asked hesitantly. The red-haired figure looked up. To Zeke's surprise, he found his own face looking back at him. "Why do you look like that?"
"Query: Is this not an acceptable form?"
Zeke hesitated. He didn't want to discourage Spirit from exhibiting human-like behavior. However, looking at his own face made him distinctly uncomfortable. "Could you change it?"
"Answer: Positive. What form would you want me to take?"
Zeke shrugged. "That's up to you. I want you to be happy with the way you look. Just don't pick the appearance of somebody I know."
His doppelganger considered the task for a moment before looking at Zeke once more. "Query: Are you going to accept my selection?"
Zeke felt like he was walking into a trap. But even after thinking about it once more, he couldn't figure out what it was. "As long as it's not somebody I know, you can take any appearance you like, I promise."
Zeke could have sworn he saw a glint in Spirit's eyes before its figure dissolved into motes of blue light that quickly rearranged themselves. A moment later Zeke gazed upon his Summon's new appearance.
In front of Zeke stood the most beautiful person he had ever seen. The girl was clearly not somebody he knew. Yet, she was eerily familiar at the same time. He was so taken aback by this strange phenomenon that it took him a while to realize that she was not wearing any clothes.
Zeke whirled around, his face reddening rapidly. "WHY AREN'T YOU WEARING ANY CLOTHES, SPIRIT?"
"Answer: That was not a requirement."
"IT IS NOW!" Zeke yelled.
"Answer: Cheater..."
"SPIRIT!"
"Acknowledged."
After giving his Summon a moment to comply, Zeke turned back. It was still the same girl. However, she was now wearing a light dress that looked suspiciously like something he had seen on Sophia before. He remembered being mesmerized by the dress back then. That was probably the reason Spirit had chosen it… wait a moment!
Zeke closely inspected her face. This was it! It had taken him a moment to realize where this feeling was coming from, but the dress had given him the final clue he needed. He should have immediately recognized those deep blue eyes, that cute button nose, and that flowing white hair.
"Are those Sophia's eyes, Viola's nose, and Aurelia's hair?"
"Answer: Positive."
"Is that… Lara's figure?"
"Answer: Positive. It is impressive how fast you were able to recognize it, Contractor."
A light blush covered his cheeks once more. Was that a compliment, or had Spirit just called him a pervert for being able to recognize women by the shape of their bodies alone?
"Why did you pick this combination?" Zeke asked to dispel the awkwardness.
"Answer: I have assimilated the features my host finds most attractive."
Zeke looked the woman up and down, reddening like a tomato all the while. So much for dispelling the awkwardness! Was this really what his ideal woman looked like? No, that didn't matter right now. This form was unacceptable. He was just about to open his mouth when Spirit cut him off.
"Objection: …You promised!"
Zeke's mouth snapped shut. Spirit was right, he did promise that it could take any form it wanted as long as it wasn't somebody he knew. Technically, he had never seen the woman in front of him. However, this was incredibly distracting.
Zeke risked a glance once more. He couldn't deny it, the girl, or should he say, the young woman was incredibly appealing to him. Spirit had managed to merge all those features perfectly without making them look out of place. Zeke once again let his eyes roam over her full figure. Did he like older women? Why hadn't he known about that? Wait… were those Celine's lips? There was no way he had found anything about that rude girl attractive, did he!?
With a sigh, Zeke shook off those thoughts. "Fine, if this is the form you have chosen, then I don't see a reason to object."
The girl did a little fist pump, an action Zeke found incredibly endearing for some reason. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, what were you doing when I arrived?"
"Answer: I was inspecting the book you had created," Spirit said as she returned to the desk and picked it up. "Out of all your inventions and ideas, I believe this to be the most promising."
"Why do you believe so?" Zeke asked curiously.
"Hypothesis: With the host's growth in power, his sphere of awareness will grow proportionally. This will allow for the collection of more and more information as time goes on. With a proper system to store and categorize all that data, Akasha could truly become a book containing all the world's secrets."
Zeke considered that — it was truly an enticing picture. However, there was a massive flaw in that hypothesis. He shook his head. "There is no way I would be able to keep up with such an amount of information. Even now, I can only pay attention to a fraction of what my spell picks up. This is only gonna get worse as the sphere grows. And that's without even considering all the books I still have to read."
"Suggestion: …I could do it for you."
Zeke's thoughts ground to a halt. "What do you mean?"
"Clarification: My psyche is well suited for the analysis of large amounts of data. For example, I can easily divide my attention across a wide range of observation activities. Also, compared to the human mind I do not forget any memories once I have stored them. I believe this makes me best suited to hold on to a wide array of information and make them accessible to the host."
Zeke remained silent. His mind was spinning with the implications of what Spirit had just said. It never forgot any of the information it consumed… Much better at analyzing data… Did this mean what he thought it meant?
"What are you suggesting?"
"Answer: I… I want to take the place of the library."
Zeke eyed the girl. She was fidgeting as she awaited his reaction. This behavior was definitely strange and he had never seen Spirit this nervous before. It was either an elaborate ploy or his Summon really, really wanted that role for some reason.
"Why do you want to do that?" Zeke asked eventually.
"Answer: I believe this would make me the most valuable to host."
"Why do you want to be valuable to me?"
"Answer: I believe that to be my purpose."
This gave Zeke pause. Its purpose was to be useful to him? What an odd concept. How could the purpose of someone's existence be something so simple, so selfless? Still, he couldn't deny the conviction he had heard in that statement.
He considered the suggestion once more. If Spirit could actually do what it had promised, this would be a massive boon to him. And yet he hesitated…
Zeke knew why. He would have to put a ludicrous amount of trust in Spirit. This would be a massive leap of faith for him. So far, he had not even let his closest circle in on his secrets. Yet, he would entrust a stranger with the collection and administration of all his knowledge? How could he justify taking such a risk?
Just as he was about to turn the offer down, a memory came to him. He remember the day Maximilian had adopted him. Against his better judgment, he had asked the old man why he would trust him so much. After all, Maximilian didn't even know him. To this day, Zeke remembered clearly what the old man had said.
"It will be a sad day when I don't dare trust out of fear of betrayal. Listen, my boy — Trust is a sign of strength and courage, not weakness, never weakness."
Zeke's eyes moistened as he remembered the look on the old man's face. His mentor had never doubted him — not for a second. And even though his boundless trust had eventually led to his downfall, Zeke doubted the man had ever regretted it. This was the quality he had always admired most about Maximilian. Despite everything, the old man always saw the best in people.
Zeke's heart clenched as he looked at the expectant girl once more. Here was somebody who wanted to help him; wanted to share his burdens; wanted to be useful to him… and Zeke would reject her? Reject her out of fear of betrayal? After he himself had been shown nothing but boundless trust?
No! Maximilian would have never wanted this. Frankly, his mentor would most likely be incredibly disappointed — disappointed to see that the only lesson Zeke had learned from his capture was not to trust anyone anymore. It was time to cast off the shackles holding him back.
Zeke walked up and took the book from the girl. 'Akasha — the book of all', the title read. Without any hesitation, he tossed it over his shoulder. The heavy leather tome dissolved before even hitting the floor. Without as much as a backward glance, Zeke put his hands on the woman's shoulders.
"From now on, your name shall be Akasha. I task you with helping me collect every single secret the world has to offer. You will be the record of history, the arbiter of truth, and the planet's memory. Do you accept this responsibility?"