Chapter 48: Secrets of the Soul
Charles opened the black covered book and started to read,
"Good Day, My dear fellow readers,
I wrote this book to create some awareness about human souls and their secrets. What are these souls? Well, that's a very complicated question, and even I knew nothing about it. Who created our souls? For what purpose did they create us?... These questions would go on endlessly if you started to ask yourself. But there is something I can help you with. I will now share my knowledge about souls and their secrets in the following chapters…"
"To feel the soul, you will need answers to various questions like who you are. Are you a being of Chaos? Are you a being of Law? Did you pass through the Eternal River of Life when you reborn? Were you a human being in the past life? And so on..."
Charles raised his eyebrows for a moment as he read the contents and soon fell into deep thoughts.
'Being of Chaos? Being of Law? No, I'm neither of those. I'm a neutral one. As for the Eternal River of Life, I think I didn't pass through by normal means. Some maniac abducted me in the name of transmigration and even put some game-system inside my body… So, I'm a soul from the outside.' He organized his thoughts for a moment and then continued to read.
"If you know the answer, then search for things like what our body is made up of? How this Universe created? All these answers will lead you to know what a real soul is…"
'Hmm? What is our body made of? That itself is a complicated question. If it is a biologist, he would say something like water, cells, within the cells are many molecular machines, bacteria, and so on. A chemist would say Oxygen, Carbon, and Hydrogen, and so on. Physicists would say 'Nothing.' But each answer is correct in its own way.' Charles rubbed his template for a moment and soon began to think like a person from the Edhen World.
'The World itself is a magical existence. Unlike Earth, this world has a unique thing called magic or a kind of mystic power. I haven't checked how the human organs are working. Do the Edhen People's anatomy is similar to humans from the Earth? Are they different? Moreover, there is another thing called soul-related questions like Inner-World, magical spell models, and so on…
What really is a human from this Edhen World made of? I would say that they are created by the supernatural thing called 'Mana.' This mana might be something similar particle like 'Atom' and must have some connection with the souls. So, when a 'soul' gets mutated by gaining experiences, it might form some link with this so-called 'Mana' and might gain extraordinary abilities.
I also noticed that the game-system acts like an intermediate machine. If I'm not wrong, this game-system somehow steals the other party's life power in the name of experience and strengthens my soul and body. Although these are just a hypothesis of mine, I can tell that the truth is not far from behind.' Charles subconsciously came to a bold conclusion and soon turned his attention to the book.
"Once you get the answer, you will start feeling the soul inside you. That's the first step to become a true mage. After that, you have to study your soul for years and find a way to enter your Inner-World. Once you enter your Inner-World, you will connect yourself with your Inner-World and feel like you are the Creator of that world. You are the Creator; no, you are the only Creator of that World! Once you realized that, you would be able to control your own emotions and thoughts...
If you manage to understand all the secrets of your Inner World, then you will become an omnipotent being in that world. I also heard that everyone has different types of Inner-World and each world is unique to one's imagination...
If you control your Inner-World fully, not even Gods will dare to enter into it recklessly.
But for a normal mage to achieve that stage, it requires thousands of years..."
As Charles read the content, the corner of his lips curled upward subconsciously.
'Sea of Consciousness... Damn, this 'Inner-world' looks more like one's Sea of consciousness. Hmm? Creation of this Universe? Is he talking about the Big-Bang?' He furrowed his brows as he sat on the wooden chair and then closed his eyes. After that, he thought of trying out something interesting and soon muttered while imagining the scene of the singularity begins.
'Universe
Omnipotent
God
Singularity.'
He tried different methods, but still, he failed to sense his soul at all. As he was about to give up, he suddenly thought of his 'Main-Class.'
'Does this have something to do with my main class? Wait... This is not Earth. I should think differently. This world has skills, magic, and there is also a power of Imagination that resides everywhere.' He thought for a moment and started imagining a different scene. He thought of a single spark creating the Universe instead of a Big Bang singularity in his mind.
"Spark." He muttered loudly and then opened his jade eyes.
A moment later, something exploded in the depths of his mind!
Before he could understand the situation, all those seven fire-spell models brightened for a second and then calmed down.
Puzzled by the sudden change, Charles closed his eyes again and perceived the changes. He saw an empty dark world appeared in his mind. No, it was not a dark world, but a small dark space!
He saw seven types of spell models at the center hovered in the dark space and looked more like seven suns hovering in the void.
'Is this the soul? Or, an Inner-World?' Charles raised his eyebrows in suspicion and soon guessed it must be the first step to enter into the strange 'Inner-World.'
After thinking for a moment, Charles let out a sigh and opened his eyes in the Wisdom Library.
He also saw the mission completed notification in the quest icon and breathed out a sigh of relief.
[500 Exp points Rewarded!]
But what made his lips twitch uncontrollably was another notification.
[Host has met the requirement to Rank up!]
[There are two available methods for the Host to Rank Up
1. Host can consume a 'Fire Weaver' Class-Gem and Rank up by normal method.
Success rate: 80%
2. Host can use Experience Points to Rank-up Main Class now.
Exp needed for Rank-up: 3900 Exp. (3394 Exp for Class-Gem and 506 Exp for Rank-up.)
Success rate: 90%]
'Fire-Weaver Class-Gem? That's troublesome. Can I ask the Withering Shadow organization to get that? Nah, I haven't done enough merit to earn a Rank-2 Class gem. If I ask them now, they wouldn't give it to me easily and might try to sign another contract with me. 3900 Exp... With additional 500 Exp points, I now have 4250 exp points. With this amount of experience points, I can Rank-up the Main Class at any time using the second method.' Muttering inwardly, he closed the black-covered book, stood up from his seat, went near the nearby shelf, and placed it in the corner.
After that, he turned around, moved towards the staircase, and went downstairs. He then walked out of the Wisdom Library and returned to 45 El Street.
When Charles reached his house, it was already 4 P.M.
Once he stepped in, he noticed that Eve and Saron White were seriously doing some baking work in the dining hall, so; Charles didn't disturb them and directly moved towards the second floor.
After that, he took out the Watcher's coin from his space ring and activated it. As usual, his vision still didn't change, which made him smile wryly.
'There is still no change in the vision at all. I heard that the consequence of changing one's fate will always end up into a very complicated problem.'
Shaking his head, he lay on his bed and entered the Dreamworld using the 'Nightmare Stone.'
...
After some time, Charles opened his eyes in the Dreamworld and noticed that he returned to the gloomy house.
He skillfully took out the 'Pupil-less' eye artifact and scouted his house using the 'Shadow Eye' skill. Once he confirmed that there were no dangers nearby, he breathed out a sigh of relief and went out of the bedroom. After that, he directly went downstairs and then looked outside through the opened window.
Thankfully, he didn't saw any monstrous being in the sky, nor do near any dangerous creatures' roaring voices from the outside. But the whole City looked dusty. Almost all the surrounding areas were covered in sand and looked like the City just escaped the wrath of an angry tornado!
Breathing out a sigh of relief, Charles took out the 'Starfall Codex' magic book from his space ring, cast 'Crimson Robe' spell on himself, and walked out of his house. He looked around cautiously and soon zeroed his eyes on the northern corner as he reached the main street from time to time. This time, he saw an abnormality in that area.
Two purplish flames hovered up to the sky and illuminated the whole street in a fierce purplish light. Those two flames looked more like eyes.
As he focused his gaze on those two flames, he suddenly noticed that the space around those two flames began to distort slightly, and soon two bony hands appeared from the dark void. A second later, a grey-robed skeleton walked out from the black void and soon turned his gaze towards his direction.
In that instant, Charles also recalled the strange bony hands from the earlier battle against Addie Baker and soon widened his eyes.
'Did he follow after me to the Dreamworld?' He froze for a second and soon widened his eyes.
'Did my mind subconsciously create this being through the power of imagination?'
A chill crept up to his spines as he thought of another possibility.
'Dream is a scary thing. Thankfully, my mind didn't create an army of Darth Vader or an army of futuristic psychic people.' Cold sweats dripped down from his forehead as he took a step back in vigilance and opened the Starfall Codex.
Without even waiting for the grey-robed skeleton to act, he took the initiative and started to chant in the Runal tongue.
In the meantime, the grey-robed skeleton turned its human-like skull and took out a large staff made of bone from the black void.
The skeleton then let out a wicked chuckle as it landed on the dirt road and slammed its staff. A second later, skeletons started to crawl out from the ground!
Tens, no, hundreds of skeletons popped out from the dirt ground and soon turned their skeletal heads towards Charles's direction.
'What the hell? Do I have to fight against an army now?' Charles cursed under his breath as he continued to chant and soon opened his illusionary third-eye.
In a blink, a bolt of purplish lightning flew out from his third eye and soon landed on the grey-robed skeleton's forehead. To his surprise, the lightning attack didn't inflict any damage on the skeleton at all!