Chương 27: Too Many Questions

Sighing, I start walking in the direction Claire indicated. I make sure to note the actual direction with the help of the sun. A useful trick I picked up a while back from a wise old wizard. It really helps one not get lost as easily. Claire said it would take about seven hours to get there. I sure hope that is in a human metric, and not whatever metric she would use. Either way, I ought to speed it up a bit, right?

"Hey Luma, hang on tight. It is time for a bit of experimenting!" I reach up and pat her on the head.

"Yip." She replies unenthusiastically before snuggling up in my hood. Her nose is cold and tickles against my neck. I do wonder what the spirits even are, like, to me Luma is basically just a normal fox. Sure, she has the aura and magicyness about her, but that doesn't seem that different. Especially when those without spirit sight are completely unable to see her. I sigh, so many questions, and not nearly enough answers. Somehow, I feel that is only going to become more and more of a problem.

For now though, I activate Plane Step. My body goes into that weird intangible state, and I take a small step forward. The world bends around me, and I get really dizzy. After stopping myself from almost falling, I realize that I moved about five meters. The feeling is also not nearly as bad as the first time. Guess my body just needs to do it a few times to adjust. Checking on Luma, she just stares back at me like I am an idiot. She might be unaffected, or maybe spirits can't get sick or disoriented.

Either way, the only way to get through it is to just try again. So, I do it again. And Again. And Again. It takes about ten times before the nausea is all gone. There is still some disorientation from being in a different place than where I was an instant ago. But I think that is more of a fundamental issue, rather than a practice one. After all, how the hell am I supposed to know exactly where I will end up? From what I can tell, a half-step takes me about five meters, while a normal one is closer to ten.

But it varies a lot, one of my steps was longer than normal but only took me two meters. Two meters is also still quite far if I ever want to use it in close quarters combat. The next few hours I spend alternating between experimenting and walking towards the grove. I have to take breaks, as it does drain my spirit reserves, and it doesn't replenish all that fast. Still, even in my experiments, the skill helps me move a lot faster. But, then I figure it out.

Taking a step forward, I focus all of the energy into my heel. As much as I possibly can. My manipulation of the spiritual stuff is far worse than mana, but I find that I can influence it somewhat. With all of the energy focused, I set my foot down while focusing on appearing about twenty meters ahead. To my great shock, it fucking works. Well, technically it's nineteen meters, but fuck that, close enough. It would seem that the trigger is how the energy gets distributed in my foot the moment before it goes down.

The more of it in the heel, the farther forward I go. And so on for the other directions. Naturally, more energy controls the magnitude as well. I have found that my maximum distance is about thirty meters right now. But that takes about fifteen percent of my spirit reserves. There is quite an inefficiency as I try to go farther. If I only go a meter or two, it is almost free. But I imagine even fifty meters would be more than I currently have. I do note that it isn't a percent value though.

So as my spirit reserves grow more and more, I will be able to go farther. Plus I imagine I will just grow better and more efficient at using the skill. Today is not the day where I can use it in combat, but I don't think that day is too far off, realistically. As for the rest of the traveling stuff, it has been quite uneventful. Scarily so, even. But I theorize that all of the nearby monsters have long since vacated due to Claire's residence.

Even with her domain sealing away most of the leakage, I can tell that a bit is still influencing this area. I am not sure how I know this, it is something instinctual I guess. The world just feels more vibrant I guess, and somehow reminds me a bit of Claire. All of this magic shit is so weird, and while some of it is intuitive, a lot of it is not. Which does make sense, it is magic after all. I am sure there are many mysteries that not even the oldest beings know about. Heck, I doubt even the goddess knows all.

While musing over existential concepts, I continue walking. After about eight hours since I set out, I start to get worried that Claire's estimate was in fact in Claire-scale. But then, I see a single tree gleaming in the distance. The bark is golden, and glowing subtly in the evening sunlight. A message appears once I get close enough. You have now entered the Everbright Grove | Danger Level: Low This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

I am no expert in naming things, but Everbright Grove does seem like a pretty apt name. These trees are quite beautiful, after all. Reaching out to touch one, I feel a warmth suffuse me when I touch its bark. It feels nice, and I can tell it has healing properties. This reminds me, I never did actually learn light magic. Calder dragged me away before I could get to the experimentation phase. I walk a bit into the trees, and the air feels so calm and relaxing.

Now is probably a good time for a break, it isn't like Claire told me to hurry back, after all. Plus if Calder happens to come by while I am recovering, oh well. Something tells me Claire would enjoy the time teasing him anyways. Settling down in a small clearing, I lean against a tree. Luma hops down from my shoulders to go sun herself in the middle of the clearing. Even though the sun is about to set, it still feels like midday. While I didn't actually cast the light magic before, I did memorize the incantation.

Not that I can understand what it means, but the strange syllables seem really easy to learn. There is definitely a language to them, and I wouldn't doubt that I am supposed to figure it out as I get stronger. But, that is yet another task for later.

"<Light Ray>" I incant, and feel the mana move through me. Guess Calder was right, and I can use light magic. Quite a strange combo, light and water. But I bet I can make something cool with them. As for the spell, well it works exactly as the book described. Mana gathers in front of my palm, and when I release it, a ray of light shoots out, scorching some of the grass. The attack is quite weak, but I think it more of a utility spell anyways, for starting fires or blinding enemies.

The expected notifications appear, informing me that I am now an initiate light mage, and learned the spell. {Initiate Light Mage} You have been recognized as having talent in light magic. Light magic is an odd discipline to specialize in. For while it certainly has offensive power, it is most often used as utility. Both by healing, but also in empowering yourself and those around you. Whether you use this power to call down the wrath of the heavens on your foes, or to heal your stubbed toe, is up to you.

Effects: You can easily learn initiate-tier light spells. You may call yourself a light mage. I giggle at the thought of using magic to heal a stubbed toe. It does seem quite handy, though, and I shall have to keep that possibility in mind. They hurt like hell, after all. It has been a while since I last checked my full stat sheet, so I take a quick glance at that. My list of skills has grown quite extensive, and the numbers are definitely going up.

Name: Orn Spiritus, Hero of Spirit Corestone: Hero of Spirit Grade: 0 Stars Race: Human Class 1: Spirit Mage - Level 11 Skills: [Lesser Spirit Sight (Rare)], [Form Spirit Contract (Common)], [Spirit Actualization (Rare)], [Spiritual Resonance (Uncommon)], [Plane Step (Common)] Class 2: Magic Smith - Level 19 Skills: [Basic Inspect (Common)], [Lesser Forging (Common)], [Lesser Mana Imbuement (Common)], [Lesser Metallurgy (Common)], [Lesser Hammer Wielding (Inferior)] General Skills: [Lesser Identify (Inferior)], [Lesser Mana Sense (Common)], [Storage (Unique)], [5 Domain Skills] Frequently Used Spells: <Water Ball - Initiate>, <Dispel>, <Light Ray - Initiate> Traits: {Restricted Spirit Nexus}, {Competent Adventurer}, {Spirit Summoner}, {Spirit Contract: Luma}, {Initiate Water Mage}, {Initiate Metalsmith}, {Initiate Light Mage} Titles: {Hero of Spirit}, {Spirit Contractor}, {Great Spirit Contractor} Contracted Spirits (25/28): Luma - Level 17 Stats Vitality: 100 Endurance: 46 Strength: 53 Agility: 41 Intelligence: 38 Wisdom: 37 Spirit: 101 Unallocated Points: 8 Resources Health: 1000/1000 Stamina: 460/460 Mana: 370/370 Spirit: 1010/1010 It is neat to see that both spirit and vitality have surpassed a hundred points.

Though my agility and wisdom are starting to lack behind, so i put half of my unallocated points into each. I highly doubt I am doing all this stat allocation optimally, but I am sure I can fix it later. It isn't like I am going to suddenly stop getting stat points, plus I expect I will start to get more of them at higher stars. Since I have no intention of stopping leveling, I figure there isn't much point being overly cautious right now. Groaning, I stand up and survey the terrain.

Picking a suitable tree, I figure it is time to actually do the whole resource collecting thing. So, I climb up the trunk –which I can do with ease now– and pull out my new knife. Knife of Lesser Harvest (Inferior) Forged by the magic Smith Orn, this knife is well suited to harvesting materials of many types. Imbued with the power of the forest, the quality of all materials will not be decreased upon harvest. Furthermore, this blade is sharp enough to cut even the hardest materials.

Though, it does struggle with rocks, it is a knife after all. Imbuements: Lesser Harvest (Inferior), Self-repair (Common), Merciless Edge (Common). Requirements: Level 15 in any class. Huh, two of the imbuements are common. I shall have to ask Claire about those later. For now, I take my knife and start to cut at a particularly thick branch. To my great pleasure, it is almost like there is no resistance! Man, I love magic. What I don't love, however, is the fact that the entire world starts to shake.

I should've figured there was a catch.