"Degraded? What do you—"
Her attention was quickly drawn to the runic formation in front of Ervian. There, she saw for herself what he meant by Vis level degradation.
—
Bearer: Ruvian Lucentin.
System Type: Venevisium.
System Level: 6,4 <<< 6,7.
Vis Pool: 108k/324k <<< 108k/400k.
Vis Aspects: Impetus, Inanis, Praecantatio, Sensus.
Trait: [Elementalist], [Runic], [Vis Pool EX].
Inanis Reserve: [Artema], [Primordial Crystal of Terra], [Ultima].
[Elementalist] Trait Description: "The world six Primordial Crystals gifted the bearer ability to control all Aspects. WARNING: An [Unknown] source was tempering with [Elementalist] traits."
—
"Triple angle brackets sign? I had never seen it before."
'Lucentin, huh? Not sure that I'm familiar with that name. Where did he even get the name Errigan though?'
The reduction of 0.3 Vis level may seem insignificant, but it was unprecedented. It was commonly believed that one's Vis level would either increase or remain stagnant for the rest of their life, even as they aged and their physical stamina declined.
Ervian sighed, not knowing how to start with all this darkness again. "Adelle? Could you help me?"
"Heh, well, you could've directly just asked what you wanted. That'll be more efficient. Hehe."
"Not funny. Really, but can you get me to a tree?"
He raised his hand, gesturing for her to guide him and lead the way, given his blindness.
She grinned. "Can I get a 'please'?"
Ervian clicked his tongue and sighed in defeat. "Please, pretty please?"
"Accepted!"
Adelle immediately took Ruvian's hand and began to lead him, humming to herself with a skip in her step and a sparkle in her eye.
With a few rays of sunlight hitting him, Ervian leaned against a tree and took a deep breath of fresh air.
"Is the burden now proving to be helpful?"
Ervian had a silly smile on him. "You're really taking advantage of this, huh?"
"Hmph, not even a thanks?"
He hissed through his teeth, "thank you, Adelle. I'm glad you're here, really. But you're still a burden to me."
"What?" Her eyes were in disbelief.
Ervian just laughed. "Anyway, I will need to meditate to help with recovery. We will rest here for a while."
"... alright."
Adelle then put her bag down and quickly left him in silence without saying another word.
Yet, she still couldn't shake off the thought that Ervian seemed to have no clear conscience about his own words towards her.
Ervian pulled another deep breath. This time, it brought him to his Venevisium realm.
'What the hell is going on ....'
Everything he saw here was perfectly normal. Nothing was too strange aside from the warping and distorted space in this realm that he had come to accept as a part of its normality.
Ervian shot out a blob of purplish Praecantatio Vis, which fell and made contact with the seemingly endless sea he was standing on.
He raised his arm, and the purplish blob rose into the air, bringing along the water that the Vis had touched.
'Hmm, nothing bad has changed to Praecantatio.'
He shifted the focus of his Vis, transitioning from Praecantatio to Impetus. The purplish blob on the water dissipated, allowing the water to fall freely under the influence of gravity.
Meanwhile, Ervian channeled the bright-gray Vis on his hands. With a swift motion, he projected the newly channeled Vis, causing it to collide with the water's surface.
The impact resulted in a powerful explosion of force energy.
'Impetus too had no change.'
Lastly, he raised one hand and accumulated the left Aspect he needed to check, Inanis.
Just a few breaths, he then snapped his finger, a dark-gray Vis dispersed from his finger, forming three clumps and floating in the air, which later morphed into a sword, a scepter, and a Crystal before finally materialized into the real item.
Ervian had a pause and sighed. Not even Inanis had undergone something strange. It was clear now that only his Sensus had a burndown.
Even if he was forced to use it, the perceived range was just an inch away from his feet.
Since he was in his Vis realm, he had no worries about his visual impairment. He could see perfectly well with his own eyes in this place.
Then he looked above and saw the lightless sky with water spheres floating beneath it.
A large sphere made of water, orbited by smaller ones, confirmed that Ervian's Vis system was up and running.
However, upon closer inspection, he noticed a portion of the sphere that was still, when it should have been flowing steadily.
He quickly flew to have a closer look. 'This is weird. I've never come across this before.'
Ervian's hand was compelled to touch the still portion of the water sphere, as if guided by an invisible force. Suddenly, the water began to boil without any discernible source of heat.
Despite the strange occurrence, Ervian remained calm and continued to push his hand deeper, until he felt something emerging from the water.
Pitch-black tentacles suddenly rose from the water, as if he was touching their base arm.
Ervian was quite surprised, but he stood undeterred.
"You ... damned creature!!!" An unknown voice whispered out of the blue.
Without giving any regards to that voice, Ervian unleashed a powerful force blast, causing the water in the sphere to explode outward.
The scattered droplets flew through the air, quickly regrouping and repairing themselves, restoring the water to its original form.
However, the dark tentacles that had emerged from the sphere were no longer there, disappearing as if they had never existed.
Ervian stared at the now calm water, a mix of curiosity and concern filling his mind. He knew exactly what the creature was. But had no complete idea of where it went and how it got here.
He couldn't shake off the feeling that there was more to this encounter than met the eye.
'How, nothing can enter this soul-bound place. Except ....'
Suddenly, a deafening cracking sound echoed from above. Ervian's gaze shot upward, his eyes widening in alarm.
The once-unbroken expanse of the dark sky was now marred with numerous cracks, spreading like shattered glass across its surface. And from those cracks, an army of dark tentacles emerged, slithering and writhing through the fissures.
'Agh! This is bad!'