Stone Free

By the future, it was no secret that soul rings retained a little of a soul's power. At the very least, everyone knew to suppress that residual power as much as possible and deal with most of it during absorption.

But knowing that and doing it were two different things. Jodio couldn't be bothered. Few people had stronger mental power than he did, and a Stand was itself a manifestation of mental power. If he couldn't suppress a measly four-hundred-year-old Great Rock Python, that would be a joke.

"Wait. Four hundred? Why four?"

Jodio frowned. Absorbing the ring was proving faintly difficult, with a trace of pain beneath it. But things improved once he summoned Silver Chariot into his sea of consciousness. He stabbed the Great Rock Python's lingering fragment of consciousness in its vital points, shredding its last instinctive resistance again and again until it submitted. Condensing the soul ring was a little difficult, but only a little. Victory still belonged to Jodio!

"Interesting. So it really is a Rhinoceros Beetle." Once he had absorbed the soul ring, Jodio rose and rested a hand against his jaw, deep in thought.

"What soul ring did you get?" Flender and Zhao Wuji asked eagerly.

"Give me a second." Jodio summoned his Stand Arrow again and drove it into his finger. Well, not too hard. A puncture all the way through would be troublesome to heal. Just getting the tip in was enough.

All four stared at Jodio's act of self-harm, speechless. Was this what made a special martial soul special? Did he have to stab himself before summoning his soul ring?

Blood sprayed. Jodio immediately felt power drawn from within his body. Blue light surged out of him, and with a sharp whistle, a blue humanoid wearing strange striped goggles appeared behind him.

Its muscles looked powerful. Unlike Jodio's Silver Chariot, this one looked like a strength-type Stand. Did that mean it was a strength-based soul skill?

"This is my Stone Free." Jodio unconsciously struck Jolyne's pose: one leg straight, the other slightly bent, one arm crossed over his waist and the other raised toward his chin. A touch of emerald green appeared at the ends of his golden hair as he moved. For an instant, Oscar and Hongjun thought Boss Jodio looked rather attractive.

"Holy crap! I'm possessed!" Jodio stared in horror at the green tips of his hair and hurriedly slapped at them. Damn it, ghost girl, don't haunt me! Using your Stand doesn't mean I have to look like you. Though if it were Giorno, that might not be so bad.

"Whoa, boss, you smell great!" Hongjun shouted.

"Obviously. I actually care about personal hygiene, unlike you two." Jodio gazed at his Stone Free with satisfaction. It came from a level-ten soul ring, so it certainly couldn't match Jolyne's Stone Free right from the start, but it should still be more useful than Silver Chariot.

"Boss, why are you acting so girly?" Oscar couldn't help asking.

"Silly boy, that's admiration. You've just been swept up in it. La-li-la!" Jodio spread his arms and hummed happily.

"What does the soul skill do?" Flender asked, ignoring the three boys' antics.

"Stone Free!" Jodio called Stone Free back into his body, then shot threads toward a tree. The threads carried his hand out to catch a branch, giving him something to pull against. He launched himself forward and landed easily in the tree.

"That's Stone Free's ability. It lets me turn my body into flexible threads and move freely." Jodio hopped down and explained it casually.

"That's it?" Zhao Wuji asked, baffled. What good was that? It was even more useless than Blue Silver Grass!

"Come on, Teacher Zhao, you're jumping to conclusions. Watch."

Jodio gripped his chest with both hands and gently pulled it apart, opening a hole straight through his torso. No blood flowed from its edges. Instead, they rippled with threads. Flender understood at once what kind of soul skill this was. A top-tier skill—without a doubt!

"Jodio, listen to me." Flender gripped Jodio's shoulders, his expression grave.

"Don't show anyone that you can change your torso unless your life is in danger. At most, show them what you can do with your limbs. This is your lifesaving trump card. As long as no one knows about it, you can avoid one fatal blow simply because your opponent won't expect it," Flender said sternly.

Turning into thread sounded silly and boring until lives were at stake. For a first soul skill, this was more than good enough—exceptional, even. Most people's first soul skills amounted to slashing, punching, kicking, shooting, hammering, grabbing, or binding. Jodio's could attack people on command and offered an ability of this caliber. It was excellent!

"I can't turn my entire body into thread, actually. Seventy percent at most. The other thirty percent has to remain as organs. But I can tie them to the threads and pull them through, so I can still pass through narrow spaces." Jodio rubbed his hands together as he explained.

"You're too honest. I don't care, Flender—I'm teaching this kid. Don't fight me for him!" Zhao Wuji planted a protective hand on Jodio's head and thumped his own chest. Damn it, he just told us his soul skill's weakness outright. Could anyone be more straightforward? Study under Flender, and he'll end up a scheming little merchant sooner or later. He needs to learn from someone straightforward, honest, and trustworthy like me!

"Why are you so selfish? Back off!" Flender snapped, a vein bulging on his forehead.

Heh. Just as planned. Jodio smiled inwardly. That weakness wasn't much of a weakness. Anyone who fought him a few times would work it out; at most, it gave him an advantage the first time they met. More importantly, these people had some basic principles. They wouldn't immediately tell others about it. For all their quirks, having them on his side was definitely good for him.

"Boss Jodio, what did you mean by Rhinoceros Beetle?" Oscar asked curiously.

"Just an exclamation." Jodio looked at Stone Free's hand.

"Rhinoceros Beetles symbolize transformation. This is my first soul skill, so it's a transformation for me too," Jodio explained simply.

A blessing in disguise. I lost the powerful King Crimson, but I gained a real ticket to godhood. Heh-heh. Is this fate answering me? Of course it is. Victory belongs to Jodio!

"There's still time. Let's find Hongjun a soul ring." Zhao Wuji and Flender reached the decision together. Hongjun's would take more effort: they needed a soul beast with fire abilities. If they found one within the next two days, that would be good enough.

(This section was revised.)

"By the way, what's Oscar's first soul skill?" Jodio asked casually.

"His ring came from a two-hundred-and-seventy-year-old Armored Scale Insect," Flender replied after a moment's thought.

"And what does it do?"

"Restores Soul Power and heals wounds. Nothing fancy." Flender saw nothing unusual about it. Most food-type soul masters had much the same first soul skill; anything special was rare.

"Oscar, you're already at a higher level, so you'll probably reach level twenty sooner. I'll teach you a trick for sensing the skill in a soul ring. You'll need it eventually," Jodio said.

"Focus, and ask your heart for what you want. It'll answer you." Jodio was already preparing Oscar, telling him how to choose the soul ring he wanted. To a certain extent, a soul ring didn't depend entirely on the type of soul beast. The soul master's subconscious mattered a great deal too. Mental power and the form of a martial soul combined with the beast's soul ring, and the result reflected all three. That was the soul master's own soul ring.

Within every human lay an extraordinary latent ability. Train it again and again, and its potential was limitless. Jodio called that ability mental power. Its training could never be neglected. How far a person could go depended in large part on how strong it was.

"How am I supposed to ask my heart?" Oscar was dumbfounded. He understood every word Jodio had said, but put together, they made no sense at all. What did it mean to ask his heart for something? How was his heart supposed to answer him? Did anyone actually talk like that?

"In plain language, think about the soul skill you want. When you absorb a soul ring, try to sense it as deeply as you can," Flender said, grasping Jodio's meaning. He didn't know whether it would work, but it was better than doing nothing. Maybe it would.

"Boss, I don't think Oscar gets it," Hongjun tattled.

"You're only level nine, and you're questioning someone born with level-ten Soul Power? How does that make sense?" Jodio asked in surprise.

"Being level nine means I've actually trained, okay? Don't worry, boss. I'll get the best defensive soul skill there is and take hits for you," Hongjun boasted.

"Oscar, let me see your soul skill," Jodio said casually. He really was curious about Oscar's martial soul. Yes, just curious. Nothing else.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously!"

"Besides, since when do I need you protecting me? If I needed someone else to keep me safe, I'd be a pretty lousy boss." Jodio finished rebutting Hongjun and turned to Oscar, who was preparing to release his martial soul.

At Jodio's request, Oscar gave him a look that said, You asked for this. Then his expression turned into one of utter reluctance. Jodio suspected the brat was putting it on deliberately, but he had no proof.

"I've got a big s—!"

Oh, come on!

The moment Jodio heard Oscar's soul-skill chant, he wanted to say something. It was crude. So crude he couldn't even put it into words—and in more ways than one.

← To Be Continued

Currently available information:

Level 10 Stand: Stone Free

User: Jodio Joestar

Soul ring: Yellow — four-hundred-year-old Great Rock Python

Destructive power: B; speed: C; range: C+; stamina: B; precision: C; development potential: A

Stand ability: Turns the user's body into threads that he can control freely.

Because the threads are made from his own body, their maximum length is limited by his mass. If a thread breaks, he is injured. Later, his body recovers faster after a thread breaks, giving him some regenerative ability.

By drawing out threads to reduce the amount of tissue in his body, then turning his body into flexible threads arranged like a Möbius Strip, he can evade certain direct attacks.

The threads have many uses: detecting things, transmitting sound, binding targets, stitching wounds, weaving bulletproof clothing to block attacks, forming nets he can walk on, and even gathering into hard objects such as steel drills or handcuffs. In humanoid form, the Stand's range is only about one meter, and its range rating drops sharply to E.