I Reject Quests

A few minutes ago.

Tervon thoughtfully said. "I'm against telling her the truth." 

Yeri shook her head helplessly. "I'm also against it but… she'll find out anyway." 

They were naturally talking about Svety. After she had an argument with Rewen, they didn't leave but quietly observed the latter. They decided that if he made any moves, they would immediately come out and restrain him. But the young man collapsed.

Sometime later, they came to know that he had a Stage 5 Interference which managed to baffle the Rank 4 Mages. It had to be known that interference in itself is uncommon to happen. Every one out-of-thousand is likely to have interference. 

Most people have Stage 1 or Stage 2 interference. They can appear perfectly fine and live their life with some painful headaches once in a while.

People with Stage 3 interference are advised to stay at home. Ruby was a case of Stage 3 Interference. She is usually normal but once triggered by something, goes crazy.

There is likely to be only a handful of people with Stage 4 Interference in the entire province. They are given special care as they can hardly speak or even think complex stuff. 

Even in an entire kingdom, there may not be a single person with Stage 5 Interference. That's how rare it is. Their identities are usually hidden unless they or their families want to make it public. 

Tervon's face showed hesitation. "Okay, say it. But advise her to not keep making his life difficult. He is already very pitiful."

Yeri silently nodded.

***

The door creaked open.

"What is it?" Svety asked with half-opened dead eyes.

"He has a Stage 5 interference." Yeri sighed and directly came to the point.

Svety's face changed. 

Within an instant, she understood what this meant.

*Baam*

She closed her door with a bang. She didn't need to listen to anything else. Furthermore, she knows that her bodyguards were strong and capable, gauging her every single movement in silence. 

'His behavior was due to the influence of interference?' Of course, she still had some doubts. 'If that's the case, why did nothing like this happen in the past two years? Why only now? Could it be that he is merely putting up a facade?'

Soon, she eliminated the thought.

If he was putting up a facade, how could he have Stage 5 interference? At present, she doesn't know of any methods or incidents where a person faked his/her test result.

'But then, how was he so clear-headed earlier? Didn't he have a Stage 2 interference?'

After a while, she reached the conclusion and a complicated look appeared on her face. 'He must have been on a Break. Tonight, his mental state was stretched to the limits. He talked about his condition when we were returning from the hospital. Back then, he said… that even aside from our current predicament, he had several other issues to deal with.'

All of a sudden, everything made sense to her. 

His behavior with her was influenced by the fact that he was on Break. Adding on to the fact that he had grudges against her, it is believable that he acted that way.

His taking certain "advantages" from her could also be attributed to interference.

'This all was simple to understand. Aside from what happened tonight, his attitude and temperament are possibly related to the interference.' As she sank deeper into thoughts, she quickly realized several things she hadn't in the past. 'He was just too clear-headed of a person that I subconsciously forgot that he even had interference. Starting from conversations to goals, he has complete control over everything. Momentarily, when he did something out-of-the-blue, I failed to notice that it was due to interference.'

***

Klofar Residence.

'Interference is a magical word.' Watching a drama on television with Denny, Rewen randomly thought. 'Because common people don't have enough knowledge about it, to them, interference could turn out to be anything. To them, interference is very mystical. Even after knowing the cause and effects of interference, it doesn't help, but the so-called effects aren't always predictable.'

'For instance, there was a person with Stage 3 interference who used to go out at night and burn random things. Every night, people gathered and dragged him to his place, but he didn't stop. He repeatedly tried doing everything he could do to burn things. Naturally, he was forcefully taken into a psychiatric hospital and was forced to live there. Two days later, he committed suicide.'

'There were lots of incidents like this. While this particular case might sound something of an extreme case of OCD, but the cases aren't necessarily related to OCD. To put it more accurately, it's random things happening randomly. In my case, I obviously ain't a victim of interference. Sure, there was a soul remnant of my predecessor that took up a single unit of my soul space, but that isn't interference.'

There are two different soul spaces — Registered and Unregistered. Registered soul space is an untouched part of the soul. There is no quantity unit in which it could be expressed but generally, a Registered soul space consists of 100 units. There are heavy barriers that restrict other entities to enter. Let alone invaders (wills), not even a soul remnant can enter under normal conditions.

Then, there is Unregistered. It is an open soul space with no barriers making 'invaders' easier to take up a portion of this soul space. The reason invaders do so is because of primal instinct. Like in horror stories, after death, many die with regrets and don't want to completely disappear. In the same way, people who die with extreme regrets turn into invaders and hunt for possession in other bodies.

Till now, there have been no records of successful possessions, and it is considered virtually impossible. Unregistered soul space doesn't have any barriers and protections while entering, but it doesn't mean there are no barriers inside it. Depending on the regret of the invader, the soul space would be conquered. 

The fact that Rewen's predecessor had a Stage 5 interference just goes to show how much regret the invader had. More than 95% of the Unregistered soul space was under the invader's control. If it wasn't for the fact that Registered soul space existed, the invader would have successfully possessed the body.

'Soul is an interesting subject to study about. In my daily life, I hear people constantly chattering about the fascination of souls. Like them, I am not devoid of fascination but my fascination and curiosity start with something very basic and easy to understand — where is the soul? Is it in the mind? Scientifically speaking, that doesn't make sense. Among mana? That's dubious because even though, unlike mana, soul space has a fixed quantity. So if mana increases, then the soul capacity also should increase which isn't the case.'

'There are a couple of hypotheses' regarding soul which is popular, but there's no conclusive argument and none of them are proven. However, that's what ignites the passion for learning. If there's nothing to learn and discover, it wouldn't be interesting at all.'

"Denny." He nudged the figure who was absorbed in the drama. "How long is this going to continue?"

Denny looked at him with the corner of her eyes. "Why? You don't usually watch television but now that you saw me watching, you want to watch it?"

"I wasn't talking about that. I have yet to learn [Petal Dance]. Hold the white paper for me."

Denny waved her wands. "Not today. You are in a bad condition. Do you remember what you did to Svety?"

"That… never mind, I'll stick a white paper on my eye level." Rewen didn't want to waste any time. Just as he was about to leave the living room, he tilted his head. "Also, see if Cal is going to the garden."

***

Winter Sun Apartment Complex.

One of the Halls.

"Looks like the target isn't going to come anytime soon tonight." A boy laying on a large desk said in a lazy voice.

There was an old man sitting cross-legged on the floor. "We must not let our guard down. For all we know, the target could be planning to infiltrate the complex thinking we are asleep." 

"I heard you, old guy." The boy knew that it's useless to argue against oldies.

The old man nodded, then initiated a conversation. "Would it be rude to ask why a child like you is here?"

"I think it's even more rude to call myself a child. I have… regressed. Kind of?"

"Regressed? Is that possible?"

"What isn't possible in this world?" The boy asked back.

The old man didn't ask anything further. He knows how to respect someone's limits. 

"What about you, old guy? Why did an oldie like you come here? Shouldn't you be playing with your grandkids?"

The old man's expression got dark. 

"Oh, sorry. You don't need to say if it's personal but like, you asked… so… I thought it's only natural…"

Just at that moment, the door creaked open.