Chương 130: The Law of the World

Once, Lloyd had already heard this word, and more than once. It didn't come up often during the Exam, but he'd never gotten around to asking what it meant — too many other worries had occupied his mind back then, too many new, frightening things had crashed down on him all at once during those first, most chaotic days.

"Looks like this is my chance." No one could explain this to him better than his own peculiar "friend," sitting across from him now in a cloud of slowly settling golden dust, its green eyes glowing steadily, unblinking, in the dim light. — Phantasm? What is that? Mippo stared at Lloyd with wide, stunned eyes, and the yellow dust around them seemed to freeze in the air for a moment, caught in that same mild shock at such a question.

Even the feathers atop its head stopped swaying for a second, as though they too were listening in on this unexpected confession. It seemed to be as basic a fact as Oblivion itself, yet Lloyd had somehow managed to miss it entirely over a whole year spent in this new world. It kept staring at him with those stunned green eyes for a few more seconds, then, clearing its throat with that same characteristic, childlike little cough, finally spoke. — You know, Lloyd, you really do surprise me.

Phantasm is the foundation of this world, if not of all worlds. The fact that you, a Player, don't know what it is — well, that's impressive, to put it mildly. A blush rose to Lloyd's cheeks, and he scratched the back of his neck, smiling nervously, his gaze drifting off on its own toward the familiar crack in the ceiling, as though it might hide his embarrassment somewhat. Mippo cleared its throat once more, as though adjusting an invisible microphone, and launched into another one of its lectures.

— Phantasm is, quite literally, everything. The most fundamental law of this world — or, as you humans like to call it... The dust stirred, winding around the two of them in slow, gentle coils, settling in a warm, weightless veil over their shoulders and hair. — Magic. The yellow, magical dust immediately flared with bright golden light, as though confirming Mippo's own words, the lantern between them swaying faintly, casting a new wave of trembling glimmers across the walls, sliding over the worn floorboards.

— It's what lets you use your skills. What flows through your veins. What makes the islands float in the sky. The golden dust tried its best to give shape to these words, to render them into something physical — briefly forming the outline of a human figure threaded with thin, glowing lines, then suddenly shifting into a miniature floating island — but it never quite managed it fully, as though the true nature of such things lay far beyond its reach.

It was something that couldn't even really be imagined by an ordinary human mind. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. — Everything you see around you, every wonder, even the monsters themselves. All of it was created through phantasm. Lloyd scratched his chin, turning over each of Mippo's words in his mind, while the dust slowly settled onto the floor in a thin, shimmering layer, glinting in the lantern's light like scattered flecks of gold.

"Sounds like some kind of mana, like from comics and video games. Funny — feels like I really did end up in a game after all." He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to fit all this new information into his head, while outside, that same loose shutter creaked again in the wind. Mippo waved a hand, and the dust began gathering into something new, drawing together into a dense, compact mass right in front of its outstretched palm. — At higher levels, you'll learn to control phantasm.

Suddenly a simple-looking sword emerged from the dust, made entirely of shimmering golden particles, floating freely in the air, trembling faintly, as though existing right on the edge between the physical and the spectral. — You'll be able to do even this. And then the sword became wreathed in some kind of energy, the dust doing its best to reflect this as faithfully as it could, sending thin, winding lines of light rippling along the blade, flaring and fading in a steady, almost breathing rhythm.

— You'll be able to strengthen yourself, your skills, and even your relics. Although... The sword immediately dissolved back into dust, which swirled around them once more, as though sighing along with this unfinished promise, its particles flaring slightly brighter for a moment before settling back into their usual, calm cloud. — You shouldn't dream about that just yet. At level one, only light manipulation of it is available to you. Though even reaching that takes a great deal of training.

Lloyd let out a sad sigh and murmured quietly, closing his eyes, feeling exhaustion creeping back into his stiff shoulders and legs, aching from sitting so long. — And when will I be able to achieve something more? Mippo scratched its wooden mask with one knotted finger, producing a faint, scraping sound. — Well, I think by level two or three you'll be able to sense it, and only then will you manage some light manipulations. For example, seeing and feeling phantasm in full.

Lloyd watched Mippo with fascinated eyes, the lecture showing no sign of ending, the lantern between them still burning steadily, wrapping them both in its soft, warm glow, the shadows in the corners of the room looking especially deep against that golden light. — This will help you recognize monster ranks: by the type of phantasm and soul, you'll immediately understand what a monster really is.

Gasping and tilting his head back, Lloyd felt his cheeks flush — for some reason, he found all of this incredibly interesting to listen to. Though he wasn't fond of long lectures, when it came to this world, every detail mattered to him and held his interest. Whatever it happened to be.

Somewhere outside, that loose shutter creaked in the wind once more, and the candle on the nightstand had long since gone out, leaving the yellow lantern as the room's only source of light, scattering a whole array of small, trembling glimmers across the walls and ceiling. At that moment, Mippo crossed its arms and closed its eyes, as though gathering its strength before the next part of the explanation, the bell somewhere in the folds of its garment giving a short, quiet chime. — As for ranks.

I think we should go back to the previous topic and move on to the next one.