[Would you like to have a conversation with Thomas Vondel? You may ignore this if you do not wish to be bothered by trapped souls]
“Right,” Ludwig said to Hoyo, “I’ll need to rest soon.”
“Yeah, I understand, sorry about the lore drop, but still…”
“Fine, it’s not like I have any friends to talk to about this, regardless your secret is safe with me,” Ludwig replied.
“Thanks,” Hoyo said as he proceeded into leaving the room.
Once alone, Ludwig pressed the accept option, and his mind immediately seemed to be warped into the lantern. Inside it he looked massive, incredibly so that Vondel barely reached Ludwig’s knee.
Vondel had an ethereal almost transparent look to his body, and fear seemed to grip at his heart.
“L-Ludwig…” he muttered.
“I have little patience to those who call me without much to say.”
“Wait, I have something to tell you,” Thomas said.
“What is it?” Ludwig asked.
“About your exam, you said you don’t know how to use magic, right?” Thomas said.
“What does that have to do with you calling me here?” Ludwig asked.
“Being dead means that you get to know a few things… like what Bastos Van Dijk told you…”
“I guess you’ve been eavesdropping on me a bit,” Ludwig asked.
“Not like I had any other choice…” Thomas said.
“Not to mention,” Ludwig said as he got his face closer to Thomas, “You’re awfully calm for someone I killed, I thought you’d be a bit rowdier…”
“To what end?” Thomas spoke rhetorically, “I’m already dead. Life has no meaning, but true death is a bit out of reach…”
“You’re now turning to a philosopher,” Ludwig snickered, “Still state the purpose of you calling me, I have little patience.”
“Right, right.” Thomas thought for a second and said, “You’re pretty apathetic.”
Ludwig frowned, inwardly thinking, that Thomas though speaks true, and since his death he had little to almost no emotional interest in anything going around him, or to him even was slightly worrying.
After all, he literally lost his humanity, he’s but an undead now. A smart undead, but undead nevertheless.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Ludwig asked.
“For someone smart enough to learn all sort of things, you’re a bit slow here.”
Ludwig slammed his fist down right next to Thomas, in anger… or so it appeared.
“Right there!” Thomas pointed, “That, what you just did, you weren’t angry, nor did you truly feel mad, you just ‘mimicked’ it because you can’t truly feel anger…”
“You’re calling me sociopathic…” Ludwig said.
“Not the exact term I’d use, but pretty close, you really have no empathy and you basically mimic emotions to fit your situation and condition, but deep down you know you don’t feel a thing.”
Ludwig’s upper lip curled in disdain.
“I guess you can show a bit of annoyance, but that isn’t helping your case, your emotional imbalance will hinder you from advancing your magic, or the learning of,” Thomas explained shrugging.
“And what do you suppose I should do?” Ludwig asked tilting his head.
“I have a solution for you… well basically it’s something that you were probably going to figure out sooner or later, but if I tell you now I need you to do me a favor.” Thomas asked.
Ludwig thought for a moment and said, “I can’t promise you anything, but I’ll hear you out.” Ludwig had no intention of trusting someone he killed. Even if he was a soul. But he still was interested enough, just enough to try and comprehend what was going on.
“Okay, it’s fine. This lantern, is very special, and I’ve seen what you got the moment you obtained it.”
“You can see the status screen?” Ludwig asked.
“I can see all you see, all the souls can. But I saw a bit more. One of the hidden functions of the lantern,” he added.
“Speak,” Ludwig said in a commanding tone.
“Right, right,” Thomas said fidgeting a bit, “Deus Necros is incredibly smart…he’s a deity after all, and he already realized you’d be stunted by your lack of emotion, especially after turning to Undeath, so he hid a function in the lantern… though there are other functions I’m forbidden from speaking about them or my entire existence will be destroyed. I’d rather go back to Necros as a dead soul than simply vanish.”
“You talk a lot of shit, get to the fucking point,” Ludwig said.
“Yes, I will, anyway. The thing is, though you can’t use your own emotions, you can use the emotions of those in the lantern… but it depends on the method they died with,” Thomas said.
Ludwig thought momentarily and said, “You mean I can inherit emotions from those I kill?” he asked.
“Yes, basically the last emotion or slew of, you can inherit, and that can be used to supplement your lack of emotion to empower your spells. You can also learn from the souls you captured any sort of things but there is a price for that…”
“That sounds interesting,” Ludwig said.
“Yes, for me… well, as awkward it is to say it, I died feeling three emotions,” Thomas said.
Ludwig immediately interjected, “Rage, Despair, and Fear…”
“Damn…” Thomas looked taken aback, “You really just said that… anyway, yes, you’re right, it was exactly that.”
“And how is that any helpful?” Ludwig asked genuinely interested.
“Well, rage is part passion, and it is one of the few elements that empower fire magic and destructive magic. Despair is like a quagmire, a swamp of no hope, it empowers magic that caused physical debilitations, like your [Exhaust] or any lethargy or weakness inducing magic. And lastly Fear. Fear is cold, and lonely and an extreme mental destroying disposition. It empowers hallucination magic and all sorts of mental damaging magic…”
“I see your point, but how can I use that?” Ludwig asked.
“Well, I can tell you, but would you hear my favor first?” Thomas asked.