While Luke's tattered body was being lugged around by Anastasia and Ellios, his consciousness had drifted away to a faraway place.
"Ughh, my head…"
Luke staggered up to his feet while holding his head between his arms.
He barely managed to open his eyes, as he was feeling extremely lightheaded.
"What is… this place...?"
But even though he had opened his eyes, Luke was surrounded by a pitch-black void, as if he hadn't opened his eyes in the first place.
'No matter where I look, it's all the same… How did I end up here?'
Luke racked his brain, trying to remember the events leading up to this.
'…I was climbing up a hill with Ellios and Anastasia when we ran into that ghoulish-looking guy. Then… Ellios basically commanded me to fight against that person.'
That part of his memory was crystal clear, but as soon as he tried to remember what happened afterwards…
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!"
Luke screamed out as his face contorted in pain. He fell on his ass and grasped his head with both of his arms.
'It's… It's as if someone is… drilling into my goddamn skull.'
The moment Luke stopped trying to recall his fight against Nikolai, the pain slowly receded, eventually going away completely.
"What the hell is going on with me?"
"What indeed…"
Luke heard an elderly voice coming from behind him.
His face was full of expectation as he turned his head around.
A streak of translucent blue light followed in the wake of a man who was walking towards Luke, giving color to the parts of the void he came in contact with.
It was a familiar man whose face was full of wrinkles and who was wearing a silver robe.
He pierced through Luke with his blue eyes, which were as sharp as an eagle's.
Even under such a gaze, Luke couldn't be happier to see this man in such a place.
"Wilfred!"
Standing up, Luke rushed to meet the old man who was slowly making his way towards him.
A corner of Wilfred's lips curled upward at Luke's reaction.
"Should you be running around with your head in such a state?"
Ignoring Wilfred's question completely, Luke asked a question of his own instead.
"Where are we?"
Wilfred's lips shifted into a full smile at Luke's question.
"After so many visits, are you telling me that you still can't tell where you are at a glance?"
'…?'
With confusion apparent on his face, Luke took another look around the pitch-black space.
'…I can't see anything. It's almost like the darkness is spreading out into infinity… Wait a second, a mysterious infinite space?'
"!!!"
Luke's eyes suddenly widened in realization.
"Old man, don't tell me… Are we where I think we are?"
Even though Wilfred was a part of Luke's soul, he couldn't just read his mind to find out what he was thinking about.
But in this case, it wouldn't take a mind reader to guess which place Luke was most probably thinking about.
"Of course. Where else would you be able to meet me?"
Confirming his doubts, Luke's confusion was replaced with a worried feeling.
"…It's the inside of my soul. But why is this place so devoid of the familiar blue light?"
Wilfred shrugged his shoulders in a manner that showed that the answer was simple.
"It's because of your mana."
'…I don't get it. Was this situation caused by something that happened during my fight against that strange man?'
Luke had only heard Nikolai's name once and couldn't really remember it.
Prompted by Luke's lack of an answer, Wilfred sighed.
"Do I really need to spell it out for you?"
An awkward smile formed on Luke's face as he scratched the back of his neck.
Shaking his head slowly, Wilfred continued with his explanation.
"Your soul and body went into a state of mana exhaustion."
"…!"
'I remember now! Back in the forest, Lala collapsed after using up all of her mana, so I had to protect her until she recovered. I don't remember dying, so does that mean I'm currently unconscious, like Lala was back at that time?'
Ellios' face surfaced in Luke's mind when he got worried about his own safety.
'I should be fine with Ellios and Anastasia protecting me.'
"Kid, don't be so glum. You've been served a path to the second phase of soul cleansing on a silver platter, so cheer up."
"What do you mean by that?"
Wilfred sat down in a lotus position and scratched his chin as he answered Luke.
"Guess it's about time I explained some things… Sit down."
Luke sat down without a fuss, looking forward to whatever Wilfred was about to tell him.
"To better understand what I'm about to tell you, I will first explain the connection between the energy known as mana, and humans. Every human, elementalist or not, is born with a certain amount of mana assimilated into their being, into their very souls. This amount of mana varies from person to person, depending on many factors. These factors can be split into two main groups."
Wilfred raised a finger.
"First is the congenital factor. This depends on your ancestors, but mainly your parents. It depends on the environment they've lived in, the amount of mana that they've acquired, their potential, and so on."
Raising another finger, Wilfred continued.
"Second is your own potential. This trait is unique from soul to soul, and not much is known about what affects it. Some people suggest that it is the will of nature itself that determines one's potential."
Luke raised his hand slightly and spoke up.
"But shouldn't someone's potential be determined mainly by congenital factors?"
Slowly shaking his head, Wilfred answered in a calm fashion.
"That was what the initial theories suggested as well, as it made the most sense. But, after certain events took place, this notion was able to be disproved and was thrown out the window. Upon further research, it was proven that a person's ancestors' potentials would be able to influence the amount of mana that person would be born with, but not their potential."
'…Neither mana nor "potential" in that sense of the word exist back on Earth. And considering that I wasn't even born on this planet, it should mean that I've started with a big fat zero in both potential and total mana.'
With no more questions from Luke, Wilfred continued onto the main topic.
"Now, when soul cleansing is concerned… No one yet knows how many phases of it exist, as there shouldn't be a clear limit, at least theoretically. The highest phase that is publicly known to be reached by someone is the ninth phase…"
'How would you even check someone else's soul cleansing phase?'
Thinking of such unimportant questions, Luke kept quiet while Wilfred continued talking.
"Now, as you're already aware, the first phase of soul cleansing is achieved by assimilating a certain amount of mana into a person's soul. Assimilating mana into someone's soul is achieved by expanding the total mana pool and filling it up. The less mana required, the bigger your potential as an elementalist is. It is believed that the total amount of mana needed to be assimilated varies from person to person, so even if someone were to have a big pool of mana due to congenital factors, but very little potential, it could very well take a lot of effort for such a person to reach the first phase of soul cleansing."
'Summarize it in 20 words or less, you damn talkative geezer…'
"The effect of reaching the first phase is the most important, as it sets the foundation for a person's soul. This foundation is what allows a regular person to become an elementalist. The usual way of doing this is to be trained by a senior elementalist. It is also why most commoners will never become elementalists without exceptional luck. Of course, you took a shortcut by absorbing a unique elemental directly, which is what allowed you to reach the first phase almost instantly. It was still a big risk though, as your soul could have easily collapsed the moment it tried absorbing the time elemental, but luckily, you turned out just fine, didn't you?"
Luke stared at Wilfred in disbelief with a crooked smile on his face.
"…You're only telling me about that now?"
Pretending to have heard nothing, Wilfred cleared his throat.
"Khm, the thing is, the second phase is reached by doing the opposite: instead of expanding your mana pool, you instead need to drain it until the last drop."
"…!"
A lightbulb went on in Luke's mind.
'I now understand why Ellios sent me to fight against that man! I was set up to lose from the very start…'
Ellios predicted that Luke would expend all of his mana by giving his all to the fight. Once Luke was unconscious because of mana exhaustion, getting rid of Nikolai would present no problem at all to a man such as Ellios.
And while Ellios' plan succeeded, it also failed.
Luke had managed to kill Nikolai completely on his own, something that Ellios couldn't've predicted happening at all.
Wilfred couldn't know what Luke was thinking about, so he worked on wrapping up his lengthy explanation.
"The effects of the phases past the first one are similar. The foundation that was built after the first phase is strengthened and expanded further and further using various methods that vary in difficulty and execution. This, in turn, allows you to have a larger mana pool and better effectiveness in using that mana, among other things. I do not have much information about the phases past the third one, so there may be other benefits that are foreign to me."
Luke nodded and sighed inwardly, slight exhaustion apparent on his face.
'Hah, I'll need to write all of this down somewhere once I wake up…'
Even though they've been talking for quite a while now, there was no sign of Luke waking up anytime soon.
The blue light surrounding Wilfred was gradually spreading as time went on, but at this point, it had only spread wide enough to be able to envelop him and Luke.
"…Luke. While we still have the time, there is something else we must talk about."
'He called me Luke. It must be something serious.'
Luke stared at the old man sitting in front of him with full attention.
"…At the end of that fight."
"Yes?"
Wilfred narrowed his eyes.
"What in the world was that sinister aura that you exuded?"
'…? An aura? What is he talking about?'
The word 'confusion' was written all over Luke's face.
Looking downward, Wilfred mumbled with a sour expression.
"You don't know either, huh…"
He looked back up at Luke and slowly stood up, walking past him.
The blue light still followed in Wilfred's wake as he walked.
Following him, Luke stood up as well.
"Seeing that you haven't regressed, it's safe to assume that Ellios and Anastasia have managed to find a place that can fix you up. There's almost enough mana for you to regain consciousness, so we do not have much time left."
Prompted by Wilfred's words, Luke remembered bits and pieces of the fight against Nikolai. Because of that, air caught in Luke's throat, and a shiver ran down his spine.
'…That's right. That guy broke so many bones in my body that I could barely even breathe, let alone move… I think that I fell unconscious because of both mana exhaustion and my wounds…'
"I sure hope they did…"
While he was inside his soul, Luke didn't even have a scratch on him.
Back in reality, though…
Using the time they had left, Wilfred wanted to make sure of one more thing.
"Luke, about the aura I asked you about… Do you even remember such a thing?"
Luke shook his head.
"Umm, no, not really."
"Is that so…"
Wilfred heaved a sigh and stopped walking, the blue light stopping with him. He turned around to look at Luke.
"Well, it may not be my place to ask this of you, but I'd like you to just promise one thing to me."
As he continued talking, Wilfred's brows furrowed further and further.
"When you wake up, do not give up on your current life. Bear through the wounds. What seems like an easy way out in the beginning may turn out to be the worst hell you could've picked when all's said and done."
Luke responded with a blank face.
'…Wasn't expecting him to get all sentimental on me.'
A corner of Luke's lips raised upward in a slight smile.
"Sure, old man. I'll give it my best shot."
Hearing that, Wilfred turned back around and looked up into the black void.
Whatever was going through the head of this remnant of a person that was stuck inside his soul, Luke couldn't've known.