Chapter 21: Core Room
As Abium reappeared in the guest room, he looked around and soon saw Azolla was standing next to the Glastonbury chair.
"Are you okay?" Azolla asked as she noticed the pale expression on his face.
"I need a few minutes to ease away the dizziness." Abium almost stumbled as he said those words, moved towards the nearby bed and sat on it.
He then lay on the cotton bed, closed his eyes, and started breathing heavily.
After ten minutes of rest, he noticed that the dizziness started to disappear from his head and breathed out a sigh of relief.
Following that, he sat up and touched his space ring before taking out the water pouch.
He then drank a few sips of water and even ate the remaining duck meat to fill his stomach.
After that, he stood up from the bed and nodded.
"I'm ready now."
"Let's go to the Core Room then." Azolla also stood up from the nearby Glastonbury chair and moved towards the Guest room's exit.
As Abium followed her, he suddenly thought of something and asked a question.
"What will happen after the transplantation process? Can you explain more about the 'Soul Core' transplantation process?"
Azolla paused for a moment and nodded before continuing her walking.
"I won't be able to keep my spirit form and will be implanted within your Sea of Consciousness as a part of your secondary mind. Once this process is over, I will use your optic nerve to observe the outside world and help you with my Soul Core's abilities like spiritual scanning, Remote Mapping, and Eidetic Memory."
"Eidetic Memory?" Abium got curious about the new term and asked.
"This ability allows you to memorize any book in minutes. It's like a photographic memory. As long as you glance at a page, it will deeply etch in your Sea of Consciousness." Azolla answered as she locked the guest room, moved towards the circular staircase, and started walking upstairs.
'Oh? That's indeed a powerful ability.' While thinking, Abium also followed her closely and asked.
"What about the Spiritual Scanning? I can also do that without your help, right?" In truth, he had long noticed that he could scan the surroundings using his spirit power and got confused by this ability.
"Unlike your spiritual scan, mine would be much more accurate. Although I can do that only by borrowing your spirit power, this ability has advantages on its own. Moreover, I can even scan a Legendary Mage without alerting his spiritual barrier and show you most of his body status, but you won't be able to do that." She deliberated for a moment and then added with a chuckle.
"As for the Remote Mapping ability, you'll be able to check it on your own later."
On the other hand, Abium nodded his head in understanding and asked another doubt.
"What is the success rate of this implantation process?"
He heard about mages doing experiments on ordinary people and warriors. But he knew most of those experiments met with failures and thought of asking beforehand.
Moreover, he doesn't want to be one of those experimental subjects.
"Success rate? Possibly it varies from 60% to 70%. However, if the implantation becomes successful, it will be beneficial to you in the future." Azolla replied solemnly.
At that moment, she showed hesitant emotion, even though she was an artificial spirit.
'60% to 70%, huh. The success rate is indeed high.' On the other hand, Abium inquired more about failures.
"Can you please tell me what will happen if there is a failure?"
"Of course, you will be dead. And if your willpower is low, you will have some brain injury. But don't be afraid just because of these possibilities, kid. There will be a time you have to choose without even knowing you will succeed or not." Azolla's reply made him furrow his brows.
'Well, there is no way my Will power is low anyway. Moreover, I need such reliable guidance in the future.'
He must choose whether to give up or accept reality. There were numerous dangers out there in this world, and he wouldn't survive without anyone's guidance.
Azolla would be his second brain and could help him achieve his future goals.
'But the problem is the possibility of any betrayal.' He narrowed his eyes but soon shook his head.
'I don't think she has any ill intention against me. If she had wanted to harm me, she could've killed or even controlled me during the last few days. But she didn't.' Abium thought for a moment and sighed deeply.
He knew nothing much about mages or artificial spirits. But if there's a way to become a powerful mage, he would even deal with a devil to achieve it.
In the past, he lived a miserable life and worked to please those nobles and mages like a servant.
On the other hand, they didn't consider him an important character and used him and his friends as a human shield for their missions.
'I don't want that life. I want to live like a free bird.'
After a short deliberation, he took a deep breath and finally spoke.
"I hope you won't betray me in the future, Miss Azolla."
His voice contained a trace of respect for the artificial spirit.
Meanwhile, Azolla suddenly halted her footsteps, looked into his eyes, and bowed her illusionary head.
"Thanks for finally placing your trust in me, kid. I always felt that you showed wariness towards me, and I even thought that you would decline my offer at the last moment." She went silent for a moment and then continued with a smile.
"But it seems you've finally decided to put some trust in me. Don't worry; I will fulfill my duties as your ally during your life. Although I'm not a powerful artifact, I'll try my best to achieve your goal."
As she spoke, an awkward silence appeared on the staircase.
Then, she cleared her throat like a human and spoke.
"Before we start the implantation, I will give you a short explanation about the implantation process."
While saying this, she also turned towards the front and continued to walk upstairs.
"First, I won't be able to communicate with you until your spirit power reaches 12. That's the power required to become an Official Mage. Second, some memories will disappear because I stored important files in the magic tower core. But it won't be much of a problem for your growth. Finally, while I am in a dormant state, only my basics function will be active. So, you will be on your own for a while."
"Got it." Abium nodded and waited for her to continue.
Meanwhile, Azolla thought of something and told him what he had to do after implantation.
"You must explain to me if implantation is successful or not. Also, you have to let my Soul Core enter your Sea of Consciousness. Otherwise, the whole transplantation might end up as a failure."
"Will you read my memories?!" He got startled by her words and asked.
'My memories are the most precious treasures. I don't want anyone to find out about it.' He frowned.
"Don't worry; I will only be able to view what you wanted to show me. Without your permission, I won't be able to see your memories due to the spiritual barrier." She waved her illusionary and then responded without turning around.
On the other hand, Abium breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded solemnly.
Both soon reached the end of the staircase and arrived in front of a two-meter tall metallic gate.
Azolla moved closer towards the door, touched it with her illusionary hands, and pushed it.
The metallic door made a screeching noise the next instant and opened slowly, revealing a mysterious room to Abium's eyes.
It was a five sq meter room with multiple letters and array circles inscribed everywhere.
At the center of the room, he saw a head-sized circular blue crystal hovering without any support and emitted blue sparks from time to time.
He also noticed seven ring-shaped circles revolved around the crystal and appeared spooky.
There were countless minute rune letters in those seven rings, and it seemed attractive.
"This is Tower Core, Abium. It's the heart of this Star Tower." Azolla added calmly and gestured him to go near to that crystal.
Nodding, Abium silently stepped forward, went near the blue crystal, and soon noticed a series of symbols and letters were inscribed inside the core.
As he took a closer look at those characters, he was sure that it was not the ancient Elven language or Rune Language!
But those mystical letters gave him a feeling of the unknown.
When Azolla watched Abium was gawking at those letters, she chuckled and explained patiently.
"It's a Divine Language of the Elder Plane. Even the Royal Elves of the Ancient Era don't know much about this language. But an Elven King once told me that only the Creators of Star Tower and my Soul Core knew more about that mysterious language."