Adam sighed and put a hand on his face in a combination of fatigue and frustration.

"You didn't find anything, sir?" asked Hammond.

The man had been patient. He sat in the chair for three days. From his end there was nothing to do. All the effort was Adam's as he connected to Hammond and inspected everything.

There were several differences that he noticed in Hammond. With Cruxannith and Adam's own soul, he had followed the roots that came off the [System Conduit]. Those roots had touched everything in their respective souls. However, now that the [System Conduit] for Hammond was corrupted, and disconnected from the [System], there were no roots.

Adam wasn't sure if they had degraded, or if they were something that passed through the conduit due to the [System]'s connection, but they were missing now. It was almost as if the corrupted conduit had just become an energy vacuum tube. Adam could draw energy from Hammond or hit the reverse switch and blow energy out of it.

Practical uses for it were escaping Adam for now. The connection Adam had through the corrupted conduit didn't just let him send energy, but emotions as well. Overall, it was an easier way to psyche up a group than what Adam did with his friends, but that was still something Adam was already able to do through his regular connections.

While it scared Adam a little to do this to an ally, Adam had tried altering the man's soul. It had been useless through a normal connection, and without the roots from the conduit he just wasn't able to make changes, or to connect in a tangible way.

That meant that to really work on someone's soul, he would need to form a soul bond, like with Cruxannith. But that seemed like a terrible idea. Weakening his own soul, and his ally's, just to experiment on a soul, was not something Adam wanted to do.

If he bonded and then made a mistake that hurt the other person's soul, that destruction would come back to Adam. Not the ideal way to test his abilities. Adam would be quick to acknowledge that crippling his own soul should be avoided, even given his recklessness.

So far, the conduit had been a disappointment. Adam wasn't even sure if just feeding energy into the soul strengthened it. Hammond's stats were so far below Adam's that he couldn't tell due to how slight the variations were compared to his own stats.

Really, the best use of the conduit that Adam could think of was to use people as energy batteries, but that was wrong on two levels that Adam could think of. One, it made him no different than the Juungii. And two, pulling in the energy would only benefit Adam if he needed to fix up his own soul. Since he couldn't level himself up, that energy wouldn't help him progress.

Really, Adam hoped to never need to fix his soul again. He'd be happy not to have further damage to it.

Adam sighed again. The Leputi midwife chose that moment to come in with two lunches. Hammond thanked her while taking his lunch, and Adam gave a curt nod while taking his. Still, she smiled proudly at Adam before walking away.

"I'll take that as a no," said Hammond, in between bites of his sandwich.

Adam grumbled to himself, which Hammond ignored. Leaning back, Adam snatched his sandwich and began chewing on it.

"The problem," said Adam with his mouth full as he stared at the ceiling, "is still finding a way to interact with your soul."

"You were able to mess with my memories," recalled Hammond.

"Yeah, but that's due to a different skill called [Memory Manipulation]," explained Adam. "I still have to get into your soul with [Soul Vision]. That lets me look around. Then I need to use [Emotional Manipulation] to create my connection to you. I've tried pushing it through the conduit, but the energy I use to activate that pseudo-skill just disperses once it goes through the conduit and into your soul. It loses cohesion."

"And you have to use all of those?" asked Hammond.

"[Emotional Manipulation] lets me form the connection and [Soul Vision] lets me 'see' what's in there. It also acts like a magnet and anchor, pulling me to your soul and letting me navigate around it."

"Do you think the [System] used those abilities?"

"Of course not. First, the [System] has a much longer list of skills at its disposal. It's like it has all the blueprints, while I'm just trying to use equipment I found on the side of the road. Reverse engineering copper wire won't tell me how to build a power plant."

"Seems like you've already figure out a lot you can do with that proverbial wire," encouraged Hammond. Adam looked at him and raised his eye. Hammond looked uncomfortable from Adam's gaze. "Then what is the second reason?"

"That one is more obvious," said Adam and he slumped back in the chair and resumed watching the ceiling. "The [System] isn't a person. It can't have a class."

Silence hung between them. Adam's mind wandered, trying to find something. He imagined being a giant tentacle monster, sticking his hand into someone's brain. Then he shuddered at the imagery before Hammond spoke again.

"Are you sure?" the man asked.

"Am I sure of what?" asked Adam.

"That the [System] can't have a class. Or isn't a person."

Adam sat up straight and turned towards Hammond.

"I am positive that the [System] is not a person and has never been," said Adam.

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"Why?" asked Hammond.

Adam wasn't sure if Hammond was asking because he didn't know, or if he was trying to push Adam to think in different directions. Either way, Adam took up the challenge of explaining what he thought.

"The [System] is connected to every person on potentially millions of planets. It is even connected to young kids who don't have access to a status menu yet. I don't think any biological creature could maintain that much awareness, even if they exceeded high tiers of power. I'm not claiming to be the smartest guy, but I've been messing with these connections for a while and can't connect to more than a couple dozen people at once. If more than 8 send emotions back at the same time, I get overwhelmed and lose part of my mind. It's like a supercomputer running millions of millions of calculations in the time I finish my high school math homework.

"Besides that, the [System] has spoken to me about its purpose."

Hammond got interested in that.

"What is its purpose?" he asked curiously.

"It won't tell me," said Adam with another sigh. "It said I don't have permission, or adequate rank, or something. But apparently sending memories back in time and letting them replay what happened contributes to it. So does keeping Leputi breeders alive. Ugh! I don't see the connections."

Hammond shrugged, and said, "me either."

"What I need to figure out, is how to use its damn conduits. Those things allow the [System] to make changes to our souls."

A shiver visibly rushed through Hammond.

"It can change our souls? All of them?"

Adam chuckled. "That's what I'm trying to figure out. I know it can build skills, classes, and watch our memories."

"Like you?"

"Well, I know how to do some of that, but the rest I can't do without being able to fully touch the soul. I was hoping the conduit would allow me to do that," grumbled Adam at the end.

The next several minutes also were spent in silence. Adam slouched again in his chair, the shape of it changing to fit his position. A few times he looked over at Hammond, who had his hand on his chin as the man thought. He was trying to figure things out. Finally, Hammond explained his train of thought.

"Back before the [System] came, people were doing a lot of things over the internet."

Adam swiveled his chair to face the man but didn't bother sitting up.

"My nephew wanted to begin podcasting," continued Hammond. "His parents were busy, so he asked me to help him set up a good microphone for recording. When I saw the mic, it didn't have a cable that fit into the computer. After doing some research, I found out that the type of mic his dad bought him required what is called a pre-amp. Then he needed a different cable to make it fit a computer's usb slot."

Looking at Hammond, Adam's face began to twist in confusion as he couldn't see the man's point or how it related to what he was doing. Hammond seemed to realize and began to speak faster to avoid any disapproval Adam might have.

"Ok, right. So, there are mics that fit directly into a computer. But other ones require all sorts of adapters, converters, and cables. You said the [System] is like a supercomputer. Well, computers don't count on their fingers, or toes, or an abacus. They use programs that interpret other information. Something about ones and zeros and light switches."

This got Adam to sit up again. He started thinking before he responded.

"You're saying that I can't use the conduit like the [System] does because it is more advanced than me," surmised Adam.

"Not how I would frame it, sir," said Hammond in a hurry. "I wasn't trying to demean you, or anything."

Flapping his hand, Adam just brushed off the comment, not offended at all.

"That means if I want to use the conduit, I need to change it from a [System Conduit] to an [Adam Conduit]," nodded Adam. "I see. Can I reshape it to keep my power from dispersing?"

Then, too quietly for Hammond to hear, he added, "and make sure I don't hurt you in the process."

Pulling out a notepad and a pen, Adam began brainstorming. As he thought about it, there were a few things the conduit needed to change. It needed to prevent the dispersal of energy. His [Soul Vision] needed to allow him to travel inside through it. Adam only needed one tendril at a time, instead of the thousands that made up the roots the [System] had used.

That got Adam thinking. Maybe he didn't need to use his own energy when he passed through the conduit into Hammond. Instead, he needed to use some of the energy from Hammond, with the conduit acting as a single slot converter from his own energy.

"Hmm…" muttered Adam. Hammond looked pleased that Adam had gotten his motivation back and had a plan to focus on.

It took Adam another half an hour to loosely sketch out what he wanted. Then, with a deep breath and what could be interpreted as an apologetic look towards Hammond, Adam activated [Soul Vision].

Currently there were two connections that Adam had with Hammond. He had been experimenting with the usual type, like he would set up with his friends to inspire them and look around inside. Then Adam also had the connection he had set up with Hammond through the corrupted conduit. This connection was permanent unless Adam used [Soul Shatter] to sever it.

Adam dove into the conduit connection. His mind interpreted what he saw thanks to his pseudo-skill. A lot of time had already been spent exploring this connection and the surrounding energy.

The energy within each soul belonged to themselves. Once it left the body it became neutral and could technically be absorbed by those nearby, similar to what happens with XP upon killing.

Part of the reason Adam couldn't affect Hammond was that Adam's energy stopped belonging to him after passing through the conduit and into Hammond. At the same time, when Adam pulled energy from Hammond using the conduit, the energy became neutral or changed to Adam's if it traveled all the way to him.

During this attempt, Adam stopped within the conduit. For several minutes he observed the energy going in and out of the conduit, almost like an airlock or a filter chamber in an air conditioning unit. He mentally marked the borders where the energy changed when it passed.

This was where the [System] had set up the roots. Numerous tendrils that could reach out and exist within another person.

Adam activated [Soul Shaping]. He imagined himself with a trowel and smoothed out the insides of the conduit. He ensured that it was hollow, though also made sure to trap neutral energy inside.

Instead of making a mesh like opening, he tried to craft the equivalent of an iris aperture. If Adam pushed on it, then it would flex open. If he didn't push on it, then it would remain sealed, and energy wouldn't come out of Hammond.

Next, Adam created a new connection from within the conduit. This was the first time he used neutral energy instead of his own.

The connection was much more difficult to shape. Every time it began forming, the energy construct would break apart the moment Adam stopped paying attention. It took numerous tries before Adam, in frustration, used [Soul Shaping] a second time to force it into the tendril he was used to using.

Even though it had been a knee jerk reaction to duplicate that pseudo-skill, it seemed to make a more solid vessel. Then Adam pushed the connection through the aperture in the conduit.

Instantly he could feel the tendril construct begin to weaken, taking a little longer to break apart due to being shaped instead of just imagined. Adam almost panicked, but then he used one final pseudo-skill.

[Soul Combine] was cast to anchor the neutral construct to the aperture. He used it a second time to combine the energy from within Hammond to the construct. Adam wasn't sure if Hammond's energy coated the tendril like a protective layer, or if the energy types had mixed to make them survive as both neutral and personal, but suddenly the connection felt solid and able to exist within Hammond's soul.

Allowing his body to release a breath he hadn't known he was holding, Adam spoke to Hammond.

"Anything change?"

"No sir, I haven't noticed anything different," responded Hammond.

"Looks like things went well that time. Let me try navigating to see how far this connection can go and if it has more power in this form," said Adam, relieved that he was finally making progress.

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