Chapter 18: Soul Essence
Meanwhile, Azolla let out a chuckle and answered.
"I know you would agree, kid."
She stopped as both walked out of the Palace through the entrance gate and looked up at the Magic Tower's top area.
Then, she raised her illusionary hand and snapped her fingers.
The next instant, Abium's surroundings started to twist as a strange suction force appeared out of nowhere and pulled him somewhere. He felt his head become woozy and groaned in discomfort.
'Teleportation!'
Abium heard of this spell many times in his past life and got surprised inside.
'The discomfort must be the side effects of teleportation due to my frail physique.' Abium muttered to himself as he landed on the floor and stumbled. Simultaneously, he tried to open his eyes and soon saw a bluish wall on his left sidewall.
Then, he stayed in the same place for the next ten seconds to ease away the dizzy feeling.
Once he recovered his senses, he noticed that both were in a large room filled with a table, bed, racks, cabinets, and books. He slowly looked at the opposite glassy wall and guessed they were on the ancient Tower's top floor.
He saw the eastern mountain, the giant waterfall, the dense forest, and even the faraway Borderland from inside.
The Borderland appeared more like desert land, and strange black pillars were placed at many places.
"We are in Star Tower's guest room. Take some rest in the bed." Azolla spoke as she moved her illusionary hand towards the nearby cabin, opened it, and took out a blue-covered book.
"This is called 'Basic Rune Language Book.' If you plan to walk on the path of mages, you have to learn it at all costs." While saying so, she moved closer towards him and gave it to him.
Then, she went to the wooden table, sat on the nearby chair, and waved her hand.
A moment later, a brown-covered book, a reddish bottle, and a strange black quill appeared out of thin air and landed on the table.
"What are you doing?" Abium managed to return to his usual self and asked in confusion.
Meanwhile, Azolla turned her illusionary head around, blinked her emerald eyes, and spoke calmly.
"As per the deal, I'll create spell models for you. In the meantime, you should focus on the spirit cultivation technique and increase your soul power."
She shifted her gaze towards the book, picked up the strange quill, and dipped the brush into the reddish bottle.
After that, she opened the book, flipped towards the first page, and started writing strange characters on it.
In the meantime, Abium sat on the bed and fell into deep thoughts.
First, he tried to see if he could see another vision but failed miserably.
'I don't know where the 'Time Divinity' is, but it surely residing somewhere in my body... Wait, Azolla said something about 'Sea of Consciousness,' right? I also overheard of such a thing in the past from one of the roaming mages. What is that? Soul? Maybe the Divinity is hiding in my soul?' He felt more curious about it.
What surprised him more was that even Azolla hadn't noticed anything about the Divinity yet.
'But she will notice it sooner.' He pondered for a moment but decided to focus on improving his spirit power first.
Nodding inwardly, he stored the Basic Rune Language book in his space ring and shifted his attention towards the information about the spirit cultivation technique.
He read the information carefully and soon widened his eyes.
'So, it's not a technique but a ritual method to push one's consciousness from the body and let the user perceive the soul essences in the surrounding environment. Moreover, what language is that? It's not an Easica Language, but I can clearly understand its meaning.'
Furrowing, he sat in a cross-legged position, closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and started muttering an incantation in a foreign language.
As his voice echoed in the room rhythmically, Abium suddenly felt that he had lost his senses!
He couldn't hear his voice, nor could he perceive the sensation of the air. He tried to open his eyes and soon found himself in an empty void surrounded by complete darkness.
At that moment, Abium's hands, legs, and body appeared more like a foggy form than a human.
He also noticed some white clouds scattered in all directions like stars in the empty void and got stunned. Some clouds appeared very far away while a few were hovering around only a few meters away from him.
'Are they soul essences?' He pondered.
He then shifted his attention towards one of those clouds which appeared closer to him and tried to move his foggy form towards that particular white cloud.
But soon, he noticed that something was odd about his current form.
Even though he tried to move his foggy legs towards the cloud, they remained in the same position!
He once again tried to move but couldn't.
He felt both legs, and even his foggy hands appeared heavy.
'What the hell is happening?' He got startled inside and then thought of moving slowly.
Instead of taking a big step, he tried his best to lift his foggy right leg and took a small step. Then, he raised his left leg and took another small step.
'It sure is a big challenge.' He muttered inwardly and continued to walk.
Still, the gap between him and the cloud remained the same even after moving for more than an hour.
But Abium didn't want to give up so easily.
He knew that it was just the beginning of his Mage path and continued to advance slowly.
Seconds... Minutes... Hours...
He didn't know how long he had been walking in the empty void, but he slowly noticed that the gap between himself and the cloud had started to get closer.
After a long time, he finally reached the cloud and moved both of his foggy hands towards the white cloud.
That tiny white cloud was floating in that void like a star. When Abium reached out to grab that cloud, it directly absorbed into his hand.
Pa!
He felt that an electric current struck his mind and sensed a refreshing feeling the next instant.
Simultaneously, he gently opened his eyes and observed everything around him. The surrounding areas inside the room appeared more evident. He also noticed that his thinking ability got enchanted and became stunned inside.
At that moment, brilliant sunlight fell on Abium's face through the glassy window and brought him back to his senses.
"I succeeded!" He muttered out loud, got up from the bed, and turned his gaze towards Azolla.
"How long has it been since I started meditating?" He asked in curiosity.
Meanwhile, Azolla stopped her writing, closed her eyes for a second, and then spoke.
"26 hours 34 minutes has been passed."
"That much time?" Abium showed a dubious look and soon asked.
"How many soul essences do I have to absorb from that strange place before going to the Throne Hall?"
"You can check your body status for yourself," Azolla responded calmly and waved her hand.
A notebook-sized bluish screen appeared before his face the next instant, causing him to widen his eyes.
...
[Name: Abium
Age: 16
Race: Human (???)
Class: None
Health: Normal
Attributes
Strength: 0.9
Agility: 1.0
Vitality: 1.0
Mana: 3.0
Spirit: 1.7
Skills:
Master Swordsmanship, Intermediate Sword Aura.
Affinity:
Fire- High
Darkness- Average
Space- Average.]
...
"Those are your body status. Usually, a normal human would have a Spirit Power of 1 point. But when you entered the Tower, I noticed that you had 1.5 spirit points. As for other attributes, most of them are based on the average human body." Azolla paused for a moment and then added.
"It's better to improve your spirit power up to 2 or above before taking the trial."
She then turned around, picked up the quill, and shifted her attention towards the book.
In the meantime, Abium touched the illusionary bluish panel and blinked his eyes in surprise.
'What a magical way to measure one's strength.' He muttered inwardly and shifted his gaze towards his race.
'Why there are question marks appear next to my race?' As he looked at the panel in confusion, his stomach let out a growling sound and reminded him to eat.
Shaking his head, Abium took out a few pieces of bread from his space ring and ate them quietly.
After that, he drank a few sips of water and then continued to do the meditation.