Chapter 194 - 184

Exploring the temple ruins—doing what they had come here to do in the first place—took them only half an hour. There wasn't much left of the previous occupants. This temple, unlike the House of Healing and the Messenger's temple, did not seem to have a spirit guardian, nor did it have hidden tunnels. If it once housed secrets, it did not now. Elia continued searching through the rubble for idols, scrolls, or even signs of spiritual activity, but Nick knew there weren't any from the start. No domain had greeted him upon entering, nor could he sense any hint of spiritual weight. It was exactly what it seemed to be: a ruin. Given how hard their foes had fought to keep hold of it, he'd have expected something more, but he could only conclude that they chose it for its easily defensible location, rather than any other reason. It was a good thing. There was no demon for them to exorcise, nor a maddened spirit to put to rest. Not that Nick had done that last time, but the result was the same, so he wasn't particularly bothered. "If you guys don't mind, I think I need to lie down a bit," Rhea murmured, already pulling out her sleeping bag. It was late afternoon, still too early for them to set up camp, but Nick and Elia didn't protest. Rhea had been running on a stamina potion and had just cast a full transmutation for the first time. She was allowed to rest. "Go ahead, I'll poke around for a while. There might be something we missed, or the rest might come back," he replied as Elia silently returned to the ruins. Nick sighed. They had triumphed over a prepared and dangerous enemy, achieving significant results in their personal growth. And yet, he felt frustrated. He was missing something big. The strange behavior of the grassland's monsters could have been explained in numerous ways, and while the sudden fighting between the dark dwarves and the Royal Army in the mountains was a bit too closely linked to the dungeon's destruction to be considered a coincidence, he could have overlooked it. But the strange behavior of the last dwarf… No, there was something else at play. The thing is, should I care? I already know I don't want to join the kingdom's forces, whether as a soldier or a noble. So it's really none of my business if an eldritch cult is spreading. And yet, he kept thinking about it. Partly, it was just curiosity. He had several puzzle pieces, but no idea what image they should create, and that was enough for him to want to solve it. But beyond that, his instincts told him this wouldn't be resolved quietly; it wasn't just a moment of unrest. A name like the Sleeping One doesn't bode well. I couldn't feel any fluctuations when the dwarf said it, but that might just be because it's not the actual name, but rather a title they gave it. And given his desire to travel around and discover all the wonderful things this new world had to offer… Well, he would have liked to know what he should prepare for. The ragtag group didn't have anything incriminating among their belongings, which, if anything, only made them more suspicious. Whoever had heard of bandits without loot? Especially those strong enough to easily overpower any militia the nearby villages could muster. Their belongings were neatly arranged. Each person had a bed and a small private space for themselves. He could only find weapons oil, spare daggers, and a few industrial-grade potions. No personal belongings. That is the final detail that makes it clear these were not ordinary bandits. Even beyond the unusual mix of races and classes, Nick would have assumed they came from a military background just based on that. All without even considering that the dwarf exploded after he mentioned this Sleeping One. It must have been a mental trigger, right? Ugh, mind magic really isn't my strong suit. With a sigh, Nick sat down amid the items he'd collected. None of the potions could compare to what Ogden had given them, but they could still be resold for some coin. Looking down at his hand, he summoned a wisp of spiritual mana, observing how a thread of confused blue hazily swirled around it. Unlike elemental mana, which could be relied upon to mimic its natural counterpart and, without specific commands, always appeared consistently, spiritual mana was much harder to define. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Throughout the battle, Nick channeled his emotions to counter the dwarves' mental spells. Yet, even though he executed nearly every aspect identically, he experienced vastly different outcomes with each of his [Spirit Blast]. It was a new spell, that was true, and in a school of magic he only knew peripherally, but that still didn't account for the gap in power and effects. [Spiritual Hurricane] had killed the rock worm instantly. There had been no hesitation, no gradual shift. It had taken his sheer determination to kill the monster, and what had come out reflected it. [Spirit Blast] seemed to rely more on his underlying emotions. He opened the System window, hoping to gain some clarity. NAME PROFICIENCY COST [Spirit Blast] Beginner Irregular Description: The caster's emotions are invoked to harm the enemy, resulting in an unpredictable explosion of spiritual energy. [Spiritual Hurricane] Beginner High Description: A powerful manifestation of the caster's spiritual weight that overwhelms all lesser entities in the Aether. And there it was. Despite their very similar names, the two spells couldn't have been more different. Nick had fallen into the trap of believing that all magic was predictable. He had managed to grow and develop spells by following patterns up to this point, so why would this new school be any different? Wind magic had been a simple progression. The more control he had over the air, the more power he could channel into it and invoke stronger spells. He was still a novice at lightning magic, but from what he'd seen from Arthur, it was much the same. Kinetic magic was, once again, similar. It required a deeper understanding, that was true, but he could account for this by his lack of the corresponding affinity. Which is something else that's been bothering me. I was waiting to find a monster I could steal it from, but it seems I won't need it. I just need to personally advance enough for it to click. The only types of magic he used that didn't follow the same pattern were those he'd brought over from his old world; however, those were often unique forms of magic, things he could only use in specific circumstances. So why was spiritual magic so different? Simple: despite having an affinity like elemental magic, it was a completely separate branch of the mystic arts. "It was my mistake. To be fair, I didn't exactly have the time to test things out, but I shouldn't have assumed it would work the same way." The instinctive understanding provided by the affinity had been sufficient for him to piece together a functional spellform, but that had been more luck than any genuine talent on his part. The similar nomenclature was also to blame, although it likely still originated from him. The System seemed to create unique names only when he didn't already know the correct one. The pattern he'd fallen into had given rise to two spells that, while they might appear similar on the surface, like [Wind Blast] and [Vacuum Sphere], were actually quite different. [Spiritual Hurricane] should have served as a warning. He had developed it out of sheer necessity, combining all the insights he had gathered throughout his career, but it ultimately turned out to be a rather brutish spell. It simply pitted Nick's spiritual weight against his enemy's. With the rock worm, there had been no contest. The creature, though intelligent enough to hunt and patrol its territory, was purely physical. It couldn't have resisted even if it had understood what was about to happen. But what about the dwarves? He hadn't used it against them due to his desire to experiment and, more practically, because he lacked confidence in his ability to control the subsequent explosion well enough to avoid hitting Elia. He had assumed [Spiritual Hurricane] was a directly damaging spell, one that, if it had hit, would have crushed the dwarves' spirits. Now I'm not so sure. It probably would have damaged them, but dark dwarves have a natural affinity for mind magic. Is that enough to completely negate [Spiritual Hurricane] like [Blasphemy] blocked their magic? He had assumed otherwise, given the great result he had achieved with the barely developed [Spirit Blast]. Regardless of the underlying emotions, they had been sufficient to disrupt the dwarves' mind spells. However, the two spiritual magics operated differently, so he couldn't know for certain. Dismissing his [Spirit Blast], he summoned another, noticing that this one was a purple shade approaching orange. Confusion had shifted to a blend of curiosity and annoyance. Attempting to evoke various emotions seemed to have no impact, indicating that the underlying structure was established during the casting process. He could still feed the spell more power to make it glow brighter, but he instinctively knew that the effect was locked in. Crooking a finger with his free hand, Nick telekinetically seized a field mouse and pulled it closer. A flick sent the [Spirit Blast] crashing into it, and he leaned forward, interested in the outcome. The mouse exploded upon contact, unable to contain the sheer amount of mana it had infused into the spell. "Ah, right. Yes, I should tone it down if I want to see results." The next two hours provided him with very interesting data. Blasts formed with annoyance, aggressiveness, and anger all appeared to have directly damaging results, with the unfortunate test subjects either dying on the spot or experiencing painful physical consequences. Disgust, sadness, and contemplation overwhelmed the targets' minds but didn't affect their bodies. Nick couldn't get the mice to start moving again afterward, but he attributed that more to their poor mana tolerance than to the spell's effects. That one seems to be holding their spirit captive in their minds, preventing it from influencing the material world, and more specifically, their bodies. Surprise, apprehension, and acceptance sent the mice into frenzied fits, alternating between frothing at the mouth and twitching uncontrollably. Acceptance, happiness, and serenity killed them instantly, regardless of what he did to weaken the spell. This is the most curious side effect. I could see it causing a shock to the system, but is the death due to the low level of the test subjects, or because of the nature of the magic? "Is that supposed to be our dinner?" Elia asked, padding softly toward him. She wrinkled her nose, surveying the field strewn with critters in various states of death, some more gruesome than others. "I was just practicing." He shrugged. Once, he would have hidden even this from her, but given what they'd seen him do, there was no need. I shouldn't get too used to this. It's fine with Elia and Rhea, but anyone can report back to a temple once I'm out in the world. Not that what he was doing was anything taboo. Mages were known for their experiments, and as long as he wasn't conducting overt rituals, he should be fine. Elia sighed and sat down, biting her lip. "I found nothing." "Isn't that a good thing?" he asked, before realizing it might have been insensitive. All that practice summoning various emotional states had left him feeling out of sorts. Fortunately, she didn't take offense and shook her head with a rueful chuckle, "Better than a demon-infested temple, for sure. But I hoped to find at least hints of the temple having belonged to my people." Nick took a moment to answer. Once he was sure he wouldn't blurt out anything too blunt, he patted her hand. "We knew that Berea's forces did their best to erase your culture. The further east we travel, the more we'll find stuff like this. But that just means you should treasure what you have even more." Closing her eyes for a moment, Elia took a deep breath before standing up, fanning her tails around her. "You're right. I shouldn't let the kingdom's depredations get me down!" Predictably, that was when they heard the sound of hooves.