“You’re just a freshman apprentice with an above-average spirit. Your body cannot endure the state of soul tranquility for too long. Any ordinary soul will simply be kicked out of the state in no time, but you—you’re a little better! ‘Tis a destiny sought by all wizards! Why does it have to be you??”
Ness pointed a finger at Angor and did not know how to complain further.
“Soul tranquility?” Angor did not hear the message transmission between Sunders and Ness. He had no idea that the state he went through that day was the highest meditation level one could hope for.
Sunders gave Angor a brief explanation of it. “Somehow, you achieved the conditions for soul tranquility without realizing it, and the world’s consciousness triggered it in you. That was how you fell into the state. As mentioned by Ness, your body is too weak to experience the full potential of such a state.
“Although this explained how you learned the sequence of gravity. Your learning process was interrupted when you couldn’t hold on any longer, so you failed to realize what you just learned because it was incomplete. The partial sequence stayed in the depth of your soul since you earned them in the state of soul tranquility,” said Sunders as he looked a bit disappointed.
“The knowledge of such a power would exist in your mind space instead of your soul once you’ve fully comprehended it, in which case you do not need to use soul energy to trigger it. Now, however… It’s such a pity.”
Ness added, “That’s to say, the sequence of gravity in your body works as a spell which uses your soul energy. You know, even soul masters mostly avoid doing that. They’d use their mana to cast spells. Usually, soul energy isn’t something you should use at all.”
Angor began to understand. The sequence of gravity he learned sounded powerful, but he had to consume his own soul energy to wield it. Soul energy did not recover as fast as one’s mana. Combined with the fact that Angor’s soul was still weak, he would not be able to use the power at all in the near future.
“It’s still something. A free Quickened Spell for you.” Despite all the disadvantages he mentioned to Angor, Ness still envied the boy. Soul energy was difficult to recover, but it still could grow with enough time. An extra Quickened Spell for a wizard meant something to save his or her life in dire situations. Angor had gained a failsafe for possible life-threatening cases he might encounter.
“We have the test result now. We can finish the last step.”
The last step was “rejoining Angor’s soul with his body”.
As they moved back to the lab room, Ness was still muttering in frustration. “Damn you, Sunders. I gained nothing today, and I lost five years of my strength! Why is my life so miserable? I’m staying at my own place just fine, and troubles came to my doorstep! Which means you!”
Angor would admit that he felt bad at Ness’ misfortune. He had gained a lot from the experiment. Aside from the sequence of gravity, which was not available for him now, Angor drained some soul energy from Ness which improved his soul by a whole level.
Such merit would work wonders in the coming days. With enough soul energy, Angor’s soul would be able to affect the physical world without learning specific soul-related spells. He could even live without his body, just like other Soul Manipulators.
Although the guiltiness in Angor’s mind was quickly snuffed out by what Ness said next.
“I’m going to train Saka as best as I can from today… I’m depending on him to get back what I paid today,” said the old man as he glanced at Angor with a wicked look.
As always, Sunders did not comment.
Angor grimaced and made up his mind. He would remember those who wanted to harm him and get rid of them one by one, for himself, and for his mentor, Jon.
The last step was simple. Ness cast a spell to re-open the Soul Space in Angor’s body, and Angor only needed to float back inside.
It went well. Several minutes later, Angor opened his eyes in the liquid-filled glass chamber.
He did not feel anything wrong with his body when climbing out of the chamber. After drying himself with a towel nearby, he could still smell the residue of the magical plants used in the liquid. Angor quickly dressed up and joined Sunders.
The gentleman was now talking with Ness about something. Ness had calmed down from his jealousy and did not bad-mouth Angor again.
“… Those people won’t leave you alone?” Ness said.
Sunders nodded in his indifferent manner. “Guess they’ll stick to the end. Understandable. They’re going for the offspring of ‘him’…”
Ness sneered. “Yeah… they need you to break the illusions.”
Sunders shook head. “That’s not what matters. They want my gravity garden. You know, smuggling live specimens? Huge profit for them.”
“Live specimens? Did Karabits ask for them?”
“Probably. The Karabits is never stingy with money when it comes to bioresearch,” said Sunders as he frowned. He never liked this particular human race.
“So they’re not pushing you to the front line?” Ness asked. “You won’t really get any trouble if you don’t get involved with that offspring.”
“No one knows for sure. Nevertheless, I don’t want to join the nuisance.”
“Easy for you to say. They went so far as to aim for ‘his’ children, I guess Lord Monkey decided to play his last gambit. You know, become legendary or die,” Ness sighed.
“You shouldn’t worry too much. They only considered you as a filler in the team. Now that your soul energy decreased, they probably lost their interest in you,” said Sunders. He chuckled and added, “Maybe today’s test is a blessing in disguise to you?”
Instead of insisting that he suffered loss, Ness only sighed again. “Moonfrost Union is straying from the way of wizardry. Wizards explore the unknown to seek the truth, but those people only care about explorations now. The day they abandoned the will to search for truth will be when Moonfrost Union invites doom for themselves.”
“We can’t decide the path of truth for them. Maybe they have their own standard. Who knows, someone might just be mocking you for having an incorrect idea about truth at this moment.”
Sunders was far more experienced than Ness. He knew that there were many ways to approach truth in this world.
They stopped their conversation here. Angor had completely no idea what was that all about, and he decided to leave it. It did not sound anything related to him, so why worrying about it?
“It’s late. We’re leaving. I still need to do something about… another old crank.”
“Old crank?”
“A certain scoundrel among us who thinks he’s smart.”
Sunders did not reveal a name, and Ness was really confused.
“Oh wait, almost forgot,” said Sunders. He took out a small vial with pinkish content inside—the vial of succubus blood.
Sunders tossed the vial to Ness. “If you really need to test it on another gentleman, use it on your student when he’s asleep. I guarantee that he won’t feel a thing in my illusion.”
Ness shook his hands. “Nah. Considering his character, the kid will probably use a forbidden spell to abandon his body right away.”
Angor’s ears twitched. So… Saka could use another body if the current one was destroyed? Just as expected.
It meant he needed some other plans to take care of Saka. Also, could Hookdick do something similar?
“Didn’t you find another student last year?” Sunders asked.
“You mean Hookdick?” Ness held his chin and considered. “That’s… actually, one way to do it. For some reason, Hookdick’s anxious about getting stronger. He doesn’t know much about the wizarding world yet. A small bait will do the trick…”
While concerned that Hookdick might receive powerful traits by using the succubus blood, Angor also gave Sunders a thumbs-up in his mind.
He really wanted to see what would happen to Hookdick if the muscular dude actually injected the stuff. Hookdick added with feminine features? That would look fun!
Before leaving the Valley of Souls, Ness gave Angor one last warning.
“The sequence of gravity is now closely connected to your soul. I only saw such a case for the first time. We can consider it as a new soul spell for now, but I don’t know if it has negative effects on your soul in the future. Someone’s soul should always stay pure, and the sequence is something foreign.”
Angor remembered those words, although he was not sure if Ness was only putting pressure on him. The sequence of gravity was probably a gift. However, Jon once told him that fortune and misfortune were always two sides of the same coin. Was this really a gift, or… something else disguised as a gift?
On their way back, Sunders noticed Angor’s uneasy expression and spoke, “Every decision will bring a wizard possible risk. What you’ve to do is learning the risk beforehand and know how to prevent it. And if you can’t, try to mitigate its damage.
“Every question has an answer. It’s a wizard’s task to find the answer.”