There have to be consequences from both options, otherwise it would be a terrible lore deficiency.
It’s seemed a pretty fundamental system of the game from the start of early access, with a lot of work put into bringing it to life through dreams and so on. The writers surely have had a very clear idea of what they want to do with tadpole usage from very early in development.
However, I’m neutral on whether using the tadpole combat abilities should count towards becoming a true soul. As long as it were clear one way or another, and there was some sort of in game explanation, I’d be fine.
