"There's another?" Loreana and Crystal's reactions were calm, but the little maid was a bit stunned.
"You'll know soon." Anom smiled before standing up.
"You can put me down now!" Loreana said. Anom had once again picked her up in a princess carry, but this time it was especially embarrassing.
"Oh." Anom made a disappointed face before putting her down on the ground.
"So, where are we going?" Loreana asked as she straightened her clothes.
"There." Anom walked to the door before pointing in a direction.
The ladies came forward before Loreana asked in doubt, "My bedroom?"
"Come." Anom didn't explain. He just walked towards the room, as the three puzzled ladies could only follow behind.
"Can you tell us now?" Crystal asked when she saw Anom walk towards her mother's bed. She was really getting curious then.
"Hm." Anom nodded as he seated himself on the bed. "It's quite simple, actually." He looked at them before explaining, "For you to meet her, you all will have to sleep with me."
"Err…" Seeing their stupefied expressions, Anom hurriedly explained, "By sleeping, I mean just that, sleeping." Finding his statement lacking, he hurriedly turned towards Loreana. "Loreana, do you remember the sensation of having our spirits connected when we kissed?"
Loreana paused a little to prevent herself from blushing before slightly nodding.
"That's exactly what we need," he said before explaining, "a spirit is a manifestation of our will and internal energy. It is basically a conscious expression of the more enigmatic and unfathomable soul." He paused to let them digest his words before continuing.
"To reach a stage where we can actively control our soul, we first have to work on our spirit."
"That aside, there are differences between the spirits of each individual. Sometimes, too drastic, even." He then looked at Loreana and Luna. "Like you two."
Contemplating for a few seconds, Loreana asked, "You are saying that for us to meet this "eldest sister" you mentioned, we have to connect our spirits?" Her expression was unnatural as she arrived at a possible conclusion. Not for the connecting thing, of course, but because she was guessing if the lady they were about to meet was really older than her.
"Smart." Anom didn't know about the other thoughts running through her mind, but he praised her nimble mind. He continued, "I don't know if it'll work, but I think we could give it a try."
"But we don't know how to do that." Loreana expressed her doubts. "We are all still at the base stages of internal energy manipulation; how are we supposed to detect a spirit other than our own when we can't even do that for the external energies yet?" She shook her head before saying, "To do that, we need to cross the first major threshold and reach the next stage."
"The Spirit Stage, right?" Anom nodded. What she said was right. Only after reaching the spirit realm would one be able to access energies and frequencies external to the physical self.
Anom's being able to detect those things at his current strength was made possible because of his distinctive and anomalous soul. But it was not a soul's main function.
Well, he had no idea what the real function of a soul was yet. He could feel that it could do more than just give meaning and identity to your existence, but he could not comprehend it yet.
As for the matter of using it to detect external energies, it felt similar to using a rocket engine to power a bicycle. It was as impractical as it sounded; it was simply overkill.
Too bad Anom still didn't have enough data to further his understanding regarding the matter.
Let alone him; even in Nulis City, only a few people had any clear knowledge about it. As for those who had actually achieved the Spirit Stage, well, he only knew one such person. It was the old head of the Safaira family, Gamus.
That being the case, for some reason, Anom couldn't bring himself to see him as a threat. He was strong, for sure. But a threat? Anom didn't feel so, as he might not win a fight, but he wouldn't die either.
And it had nothing to do with Gamus suppressing his aura. Though he was at his limit, Anom was capable of seeing through someone as strong as him.
"Anom…" Anom suddenly backed out of his contemplation when he heard Loreana's voice.
"Yeah…" he thought for a moment before replying, "About sensing the spirit, well, I'm not too sure either." He shrugged before continuing, "But I still have some level of confidence, as I will be the one who will try to sense your spirits and not the other way around."
The ladies finally had a rough idea of what they were going to attempt. So, following Anom, they all quickly climbed up the bed, sitting side by side.
"Let's sleep." Anom said as he quickly lied down with his head resting on the pillow.
"Do we really have to sleep?" Seeing him make himself comfortable, Loreana couldn't help but ask.
"That's how it works," he said. "At least I'm still not proficient enough in my control to do so while being awake; it just takes so much concentration that I fall asleep each time." Anom was telling the truth. It may seem like an easy thing. As he was only required to access the imprint left by Della to reach the soul world. In reality, the effort to feel the existence of his soul drains him each time. Just that he almost always falls asleep right after, making it less obvious.
The ladies had no idea what was going to happen, but trusting Anom, they quickly positioned themselves beside him.
"No, Crystal, you should come here." Anom gestured to Crystal, who was lying on his right with Luna between them. "Your spirit is still not like these two, so I'll need you to stay close for me to focus on you."
Crystal happily obliged and went to lay over him. She seemed to have come to like this position after last night, as she looked comfortable like a cat having acquired a warm seat.
Luna and Loreana were also lying beside him, on his right and left, respectively.
"Alright." Seeing everyone in position, he instructed, "Now, close your eyes and just keep your focus on your spirits. Do not attempt to control your energy; just keep feeling your spirit. I'll, uh, see what I can do." Anom himself was not too sure, as this was the first time he was trying to drag someone else into his soul world.
Closing his eyes, Anom focused. A few distracting thoughts came to him—pretty normal considering the situation he was in—but he quickly worked through them and soon found the feeling he was looking for.
A golden spot of light, as his brain comprehended it, was floating in emptiness. As he kept focusing, the distance between his consciousness and the spot of light kept getting shorter until he collided with it.
A feeling of merger came to him, but he didn't act to trigger his entrance instantly. Instead, he once again scattered his focus, trying to feel the other existences around him.
After trying for a short while, he finally detected a faint presence. And as it was also something that normal human brains had no way of understanding in its actuality, just like the golden spot from earlier, it got converted into a silvery-white ray of light by his brain.
Anom could feel and "see" it wiggling in its position, as if searching for something. Unfortunately, it was incapable of moving.
As he got near, the sense of familiarity improved, while the other side seemed to have detected him too.
"Big brother?" A doubtful and nervous voice came from the silvery-white blob of light.
"I'm here." Anom replied as he caressed the blob. "Come with me."
Anom's touch seemed to have broken some kind of shackle, as the silvery-white blob was granted entry into Anom's buffer zone.
As Luna followed, Anom began to search for the mother-daughter pair.
After what seemed like a long as well as a brief moment, Anom finally detected another presence.
Getting near it, he could "see" it as an unclear gathering of illusory light, looking like a mirage. It gave off a mysterious vibe, but there was also an attractive aspect, as both combined to form a unique charm.
As she was almost asleep, Loreana detected something through her spirit. It was nothing new to a practitioner of energy arts, but she was still limited to detecting her own internal energy. She could only wait as the presence she felt kept getting stronger and closer.
"Come," said Anom as he caressed the illusory spirit, granting it access to his soul space.
Upgrading their spirit duo to a spirit trio, they once again began to search for the last member.