Every living thing has a will to live. No matter what, as long as they can be alive and well, it was good. One doesn't really need a noble reason, a great cause or an insatiable obsession to do that. Just staying alive was enough. No need for a comfortable life.
She understood this after her death. Her first death to be more accurate.
Where there is life, there is hope, in death there is nothingness.
"What do you mean by what do I want to do? I want to live, tell me what I need to do to achieve this goal." I said with my newfound courage.
The director replied after thinking for a while, "The first step... you have already completed"
The statement said waves of confusion and expectation in my heart.
The director continued, "You have already found your anchor, albeit a temporary one. But an anchor is an anchor, alright! HAHAHA!" He let out a hearty laugh. He was like a funny neighbourhood grandpa instead of a mighty Grand Magister!
Seeing my dismay, Marina clarified further, "This makes you a more solid existence. Now you have enough capability to exist and become stronger if you want. And you'll have no trouble possessing a body so you can be more at ease."
Already achieved? I was amazed. I didn't think that things would be so simple. I thought I needed to do something more. Go through a mountain, cultivate like in those popular web novels or something along that line!
"Well, that aside, do you feel anything different from before?" Marina enquired further.
"Different?" I thought hard about it. Even though I did feel different from before, I had little idea how I could put this feeling into words. As I thought about it, my eyes landed on the bubbles surrounding Marina. This was a good place to start.
"I can see more clearly, and also experience.... more of my surroundings. I can also see things like bubbles around Marina and a glow on the director and his..... cake." Even though I felt embarrassed talking about the cake, I still strengthened my resolution and went along with it.
"Bubbles?" Marina seemed to be a little lost for a moment. Then clarity returned to her eyes and she seemed to be bewildered and glanced at the director who also seemed to be surprised.
"Interesting.... a Level 1 Ghost able to see our auras, incredible!" The director exclaimed in elation. He seemed to be really happy to hear this.
"I knew you were a gem, HAHA!" The director jumped from his seat and went towards the huge desk in the middle of the room. He reached out to the old vintage telephone with a wide grin on his face and started dialling. Soon the call was connected and then he said,
"Send over the special equipment from vault 7. I permit you to open the vault. The keys will be on your desk in a moment!" Then the director put down the holder.
He proceeded to open the drawer and took out an ancient-looking huge golden key. The key was about 1 meter long. Honestly, I had no idea how such a huge key was kept inside the small drawer. Then he threw the key!
Yes! Threw the key as if it was a javelin! Towards the door! And before it hit the door, it disappeared. If someone could see my expression, they would have seen my jaws hitting the floor. Fortunately, I was just a blob of energy and I neither have a mouth, of course nor a jaw.
But I had my doubt if the director could see my face. because he gave an understanding smile as he looked at me as I kept staring at the door to see any signs of damage.
"Its space-time manipulation. The door is fine!" The director said in an understanding tone as he walked back towards his seat.
"I ordered some equipment to be brought, It will be here shortly. I presume you saw a golden glow on me and a few bubbles surrounding marina." He looked towards me as if asking for confirmation. I nodded.
"It's called a magical aura. Even I a Grand Magister level mage cannot see them. It's an innate gift, probably the same reason you didn't die right away." He patiently explained.
"I thought I was dead already." I let him know my queries.
"Oh! most mortals think that's the case, but it's not. The body is just a vessel for the soul. the soul is the thing that makes you alive, have you ever wondered why a mortal can not be revived once his body dies, even for a few minutes. If the vessel is damaged, it cannot sustain the soul any longer, so the soul is ejected to prevent it from perishing with the body."
"The soul itself is just a collection of energy, so it cannot maintain itself, so wither you must have an anchor which roots your will to live or you hand on until someone comes for you.
"of course that's where death reapers come in. The death reapers can track down the souls of the dead then guide them to the netherworld, of course, this system still has loopholes. Like in your case, if you have stronger or weaker soul frequency the reaper in the area cannot detect you. fortunately, that intern was there.
the information was too much for me. my 25 years of beliefs were shattered again and again in a few minutes. the things that the director said seeped into my mind.
then finally I arranged my thoughts and asked again, " What is this... Level 1 Ghost thing?"
"It just means... how do I explain this??" The director seemed to be in a dilemma. "You see, souls have many kinds, but the common point among them is the amount of stability and power and strength keep increasing as the progress. Since there is a way to get stronger, people categorised it for ease of classification while taking quests and stuff. It's useful in many places generally, but that the gist of it."
The director kept poring new information on me. does he not know that my mental capacity is not that much.
"So I am a level 1 ghost now? So what was I before?"
"You see, the ghost itself is a status. when you died you were a Remnant spirit. That is a spirit without much power or energy to exist, the kind that will dissipate is 1st level, the kind that can exist for say a few hours is level 2, you were probably around level 5 the highest level of a remnant spirit.
I'll let you see this introduction booklet's page to let you understand better.
He then passed on the thin booklet which magically appeared out of thin air.
[The Progression of Spirit Type Undead]
By- Tom Wraith[professor of AoU(Academy of the Undead)]
I opened the first page and looked at the introduction:
Spirit type undead is the most vulnerable kind of undead un the early stages, but the most powerful and versatile as they become stronger.
following are a list of lever]l of progression of a spirit type undead.
The order is from the lowest level of powers to the highest.
1.Reminant Spirit (5 Levels)
2. Lingering spirit (9 levels)
3. Spirit(9 levels)
4. Ghost(9 levels)
5. Ghost Soldier(9 levels)
6. Ghost Commander(9 levels)
7. Ghost General(9 levels)
The later ranks the practitioner attains a corporal body, so the ranking differs as they can cultivate the body along with the soul itself:
1. Spirit Knight/Dame (9 levels)
2. Spirit Baronets(9 levels)
3. SpiritBaron/Baroness(9 levels)
4. Spirit Viscount/Viscountess(9 levels)
5. Spirit Earl/Countess(9 levels)
6.Spirit Marquees/Marchioness(9 levels)
7. Spirit Duke/Duchess(9 levels)
After this level, the existence of the soul itself changes
then comes the Ghost King/ Queen and that is the highest level possible.
Please turn over for further information about each level and types.
The director interrupted me as I was reading through the booklet. You can keep the booklet, its for public use. Let's talk about something else.