"I do," said Anton, and smiled. "Professor Grouse does not. He's a healer by magical inclination, but a scientist by choice, constantly developing. The necromancers, of course, are also greatly interested in elements of the soul, and ... the foundation of the world beyond the physical, I suppose one might say."

Of course, the necromancers were also a cult, so one had to take that with a grain of salt. Still, it was the necromancers who developed the soul-catcher, and that worked precisely as it was meant ... and sounds.

"One of my old unit," Anton continued, "was what's known as an energy-thrower. Ordinarily all they can do is generate energy in their hands, and use it as a weapon. Dexter figured out how to manipulate that energy into solid objects. It was a means of conjuration no one had seen before; he was something of a physicist."

Of course, Dexter hadn't conjured in over a century. He always said it required a mental stability he didn't always have ... and he hadn't had for a very long time. Anton didn't think he had even pursued incidental research on the matter in that time.