Deal was smirking at the ending to his once captors life.
"Dude can go eat manure for all I care, teach you to mess with me." Deal having vented on the guy left as he didn't even bother thinking any more about Theodore.
"Now, this grand world awaits. He, let's go hunting for treasure and a proper body." Deal declared as he rolled on forward towards the forest.
Those who would think the young man managed to stay sane and proper after a month of captive torture while being a blob must surely have great willpower, but you are all wrong. He lost his mind ages ago. He went through all the five stages starting with denial.
His attitude was vastly different. The intense experience broke through several obstacles for his willpower.
Deal triumphed but came out a little, savage.
Having gone a few hundred miles, Deal stumbled across some ruins. His eyes immediately turned starry.
"These are so beautiful..." He thought, as the ruins facing him were made of unknown stone and seemed to go in a circle as though a portal to the earth.
His love for the ancient was always a passion.
He couldn't wait to see what kind of ruins a world like this one had and started rushing.
For anyone seeing this, it looked as though someone shot a water ball a few miles back and never canceled it. They would fear the water ball and even more the caster who could cast from such a range.
After having closed in on the ruins, Deal couldn't help but admire the amazing inscriptions on the pillars, walls, and floors. The craftsmanship was delicate yet refined. It impressed him to wonders.
As he was a flexible ball, he crept around the place looking to explore the mysterious ruins. After a few hours, he finally chanced upon an odd hole, it was at the bottom of a vase-like stone ornament and as he fit, he slid in.
He went really far as he was moving in the hole for longer than the sum of his time exploring the ruins.
He had thought numerous times to return but having come so far, he just couldn't give up.
After what felt to him was a good five hours (40 minutes), Deal pretended to take a deep breath which was reflected as a small crease expanding and retracting in his skin to signify the difficulty of this travel.
At the other end of that hole was a small room, probably the size of a bathroom with markings of strange and glowing symbols.
Each with its unique charm that attracted the energy in the air. They looked as if they were maintaining the space here.
Deal rolled forward and suddenly the floor lit up in a flash of misty blue. He was in the center of this formation and started sweating, realizing traps may be a thing.
He felt like his spirit just got smacked into a door. It was the oddest sensation he had felt to date.
Looking around he noticed he had hands and feet again, after a mild surprise, he realized that he was in some sort of spirit realm. The transfer was probably that as it doesn't feel like an illusion.
He started looking around to see if there was anything here when suddenly he felt weird ripples appearing behind him. Turning around, he saw a small white-haired elder looking type with a pointy nose and a jaw that slightly came forward. The oddest thing was the small tail in the back.
"Hello, human. My, it's a surprise to see you." The elder said.
"Huh, what race are you from and why is it a surprise to see me?" Deal asked while his eyebrow raised a little.
"Well, it's because humans were never supposed to be able to reach this place considering your size and I, young one, am from the great Minutrian race!" The elder Minutrian stated with some pride in his tone.
"On the subject of how I got here, let's just say my body is comparable to yours, moving on what is this place?" Deal mentioned trying to change the subject as he has been through a lot.
"Oh in a rush are we?" The elder said in passing as he started walking away.
"Wait!" Deal rushed after realizing the old man was getting quite further ahead.
"These are one of the last remaining ruins of the Minutrians, sigh. We were really hoping for one of our own to come here and receive its guidance." The Minutrian said in a gloomy voice which didn't help the situation.
"Here lay the last vestige and maybe even an inheritance to the eyes of others. The Minutrian race was a formidable race, masters of time and space and the soul. Considering a human reached here, I'm sad but I'll fulfill my role. I am Minu, the elder soul of this space." Minu introduced himself.
"What is this inheritance you speak of?" Deal was visibly curious as Minu described their specialties which were basically all the hardest ones.
"No rush young one, you will be given the opportunity to accept the Minutrian legacy teaching if you pass the test," Minu replied.
After some more questioning to Minu who was walking over to a certain mountain in the distance, Deal discovered he was an elder of the race who had willingly become the last generation's spirit realm overseer. He was tasked with teaching the students the use of spirit, the forming of their legacy mark and imparting knowledge.
The spirit realm for this specific race was basically a large internet like library and school.
This was a shocking discovery considering, Deal had some knowledge that the world he was in was one with purer energy and powers leading to magic and such but this sort of thing was a surprise to him since he was expecting the cliche of magic worlds being a little dumber though then again he never knew of much of this world and Theodore was just a sadist researcher focused on testing.
"Here we are." Minu pointed in front of him where a door was located within a small mountain.
"The test grounds are through here. All you have to do is endure without moving once inside and if your compatible you will learn the teachings associated with the test.
"Usually we only allow our race to do this but considering how long since I've last heard of anything pertaining to our race, I only hope our legacy lives on. If you do by chance find any other of my race, please help them as I worry from the eons of silence from them. Sigh." Minu said with nothing but grievance in his tone.
Realizing the depth of the situation, Deal was no longer so visibly moved by the opportunity and felt sympathy.
"I will honor your request and if I can, will pass on whatever I learn to your current generations if they and I truly meet." Deal agreed as there wasn't really a loss to take in this situation.