chapter 203: the spirit of destruction

“So now what?” Aurivy asked as we left the library, closing the doors behind us. In order to ensure that the people inside would not be disturbed, Tubrock had placed noise canceling enchantments on the walls and doors of the library. No matter how sensitive Tsubaki’s hearing was, she wouldn’t be able to hear us now. As for Trixy, I could still feel her presence moving further and further away towards her room.

“I’m… honestly not sure.” I had to admit, taking a moment to think about it. “I took care of the problems with Trixy, resolved my concerns with Tsubaki, and handled all of the immediate emergencies. I think I actually have some free time now.”

I could return to the Admin Room and begin training in order to master the World Sight energy that Balu told me about. However, I wasn’t even sure where to begin with that, and would have to first conduct more research to see if there were any common themes with it among other Keepers’ worlds. If there are, then that would at least give me a starting point.

“Well, how about we do a bit of training that you can actually do on Earth?” Aurivy asked with a wide grin. “You still have so many abilities that you haven’t properly explored, right?”

Aurivy did have a point. Though, most of those abilities I didn’t explore because the didn’t really suit my talents… Wait, that reminded me. “I have a better idea.” I said with a small smile. “Leowynn?”

Yes, father? She spoke up from within me as soon as I called her name, curious about what I might want.

“Are you ready to go on a field trip to train?” She had said that she would need to consume a large amount of spiritual energy to ‘level up’, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Plus… it would give me a look at an area I’ve never been before.

Yes, father! She repeated the same words again, though this time much more enthusiastically. Next to me, Aurivy let out a reluctant sigh.

“Get my hopes up and smash ‘em back down. Oh well, we’ll be able to train together soon, I’m sure!” Sure cheered herself up, bringing her hands up to slap her cheeks before turning to look at me. “There’s no air in the Underworld, so you’ll have to go back to descend as a spirit or daeva.”

I gave a brief nod to her reminder, checking to make sure that nobody was in the hall watching us, and then ascended to the Admin Room again. I wasn’t there for long, just enough time to select a different descent point and body. Though… this would also be the first time that I had descended as a spirit in a long time.

Just as I was planning to descend, a voice shot into my mind. Wait! The voice belonged to Irena, catching me by surprise. Moments later, she materialized in my room, a focused expression on her face. “You are preparing to descend to the Underworld, correct?”

I nodded my head slightly, confused about her sudden appearance. However, she let out a sigh, her wings relaxing as she shook her head. “Were you planning to visit the monster zone?”

“Well, I had been thinking about it, yes.”

Irena gave a knowing nod before reaching into her breast pocket. “You don’t have access to the levels of the living world as a spirit, remember? I know that it has been an age since you visited. If you want to descend, you will need this.”

The item that she retrieved from her pocket was a black fountain pen, the tip looking to be made from gold. I immediately recognized it as the Quill of Souls that Tubrock had created. Irena’s own godly artifact that could easily neutralize high level monster souls.

“This will handle your offensive power. As for your defense, you will have my blessing.” Irena promised, slipping the pen into my hand. She let her hand rest in mine for a brief moment before pulling it back. “But before you visit the monster zone, I suggest you familiarize yourself with the functions of the pen.”

To be honest, it had been so long since I had gone to the Underworld that I had forgotten that the classes aren’t all shared between it and the living worlds. My power would receive a drastic cut. And given that the concept of a level limit had never restricted the growth of monster spirits, I could very likely meet monsters at the same level of power as myself.

For a moment, I wondered whether it would be best to avoid going altogether, and get the energy Leowynn needs through another method. However, seeing the reassuring smile on Irena’s face, I decided to trust her. At the same time, I would take her advice and not immediately go to the monster zone.

Changing my ‘spawn point’, I allowed myself to descend. As I wasn’t going anywhere public, I had chosen my normal human body, give or take the fact I was only a spirit.

When I appeared, I found myself in an endless landscape of grey mist, my feet lightly touching on something I recognized to be solid ground. As soon as that thought occurred to me, my body stabilized. The fog thickened and lowered, forming into a wide plot of land beneath me.

The area that I had chosen to descend to was an uninhabited part of the Underworld, out beyond the areas that the ghosts had occupied. As such, it seemed that the world was responding to my thoughts. This would make for good practice, even before I go to the monster area.

“You can come out, Leowynn.” I said quietly, and felt her energies separating from my own. The connection seemed much deeper here, now that we were both nothing but souls.

Leowynn stepped onto the hard ground, glancing down at it. “So, this is what the afterlife is like?” She asked, looking up. “Somehow, I thought there’d be… oh.”

Before she had even finished her sentence, lights began to appear in the sky above us, one by one forming from the mist. Each one represented a star that she had seen in her life, appearing just as they had on the day she had died. “This is so weird…”

“Believe me, I understand.” I muttered. Closing my eyes, I conjured my information window, half in dread of what I expected to see.

Even having expected it, I let out a groan upon seeing the reduction in my overall level. Me as a living Keeper could kill me as a spirit Keeper just by casually waving a hand. And given how the classes were balanced, it seemed likely that it was difficult to advance one without the other after a certain point.

Still, I had Irena’s godly weapon to back me up. Not only that, but I had the Goddess of the Underworld herself watching over me. Of course, I still wouldn’t take any completely stupid risks, but this gave me more assurance.

Looking down at the pen, I aimed it up towards the starry sky that Leowynn had created. At first, nothing happened, until I began to focus on the pen itself. I let out a groan, feeling as if something had cut away at a part of my essence. But the scene above me had changed drastically, at the same time.

A golden vortex spread out from the pen, and the stars above us began to shake. One by one, they shattered into a burst of mist that streamed down into the pen, vanishing inside of it. Once the stars had all been destroyed, the vortex vanished.

The pen seemed to feel heavier in my hands, as if to tell me that it had consumed the energy properly. So next, I pointed the pen at the ground and focused on the pen’s second ability. As soon as the thought had occurred to me, a black ray shot out from the tip of the pen.

Once the ray had touched the ground, I felt as if the world shook beneath me. Cracks spreading out along the surface, causing Leowynn to stumble and fall. Her eyes widening as she saw a hole appearing in front of me, growing wider and wider. Since the ground had only been a thin layer of spiritual mist, there appeared to be nothing beneath us but endless fog.

It didn’t take long for the black ray to pass, the pen becoming lighter once again. I felt a smile come to my lips as I looked down at the holy relic. And glancing at my character window once again, I saw that it had consumed exactly a thousand spiritual energy in order to absorb the energy into the pen. As for expelling it, that had only taken a mental command.

Irena. I sent a message to the goddess watching over me. Is it possible to absorb the energies inside of the pen?

It is, Dale. Irena responded, her voice seeming relieved. That is why I wanted you to familiarize yourself with its use. In the Underworld, your spiritual energy is your life. Spend too much of it, and you will die.

Would it be possible to have Leowynn absorb the energies? Our reason for visiting the monster zone was to help her strengthen herself, not for myself.

To my question, there was a brief pause before she answered. Yes, that would be possible. At present, Leowynn is regarded in the system as a monster spirit. Theoretically, there is no limit to how strong she can become, even when the level cap was in place. However, you must take care not to let her absorb the energy too quickly, or else her spirit could collapse.

I gave a brief nod, before looking towards Leowynn. The former demigoddess was currently pushing herself back up to her feet while the ground beneath us began to repair itself. “That was… wow.” She muttered, glancing warily towards the pen in my hand.

The same pen that I passed towards her. She took it with a confused expression that slowly became brighter as I explained. “This is Irena’s holy weapon. With it, you can absorb all the spiritual energy you could ever want from the area around us. You just have to be careful not to take it in too quickly.”

“You mean, we don’t have to go to the monster zone?” She asked, both disappointed and pleased at the same time. It seemed that she was excited to see what was on the other side of the Underworld, but possibly not quite confident in our chances.

“That’s right.” I nodded, stepping aside so that she could examine the pen.

“Okay, I can do this.” She spoke, mostly to herself. Seeing as I had already devoured the sky with my test, she aimed the pen downwards and ahead of herself. When she focused, I could see her wincing. Above her, a grey health bar appeared, dropping down to just below the halfway points.

However, before I could even worry about the large cost of using the item for her, the bar immediately filled again. Once it was full, it disappeared entirely, showing that she was already back to her peak condition. Not only that, but I could feel her presence growing stronger… the notification windows that appeared certainly helped.

…

The messages came in one after another, until finally I saw some strain beginning to form on Leowynn’s face. The pen was still madly absorbing the energy around her, and it looked like she was feeding on the energy as it came to her. Unlike when we were in the living world, there was no rejection here. This energy was pure, and did not belong to any creature.

“Leowynn, enough!” I called out, startling her from her focused ‘training’. In just a few short moments, she had gained thirty levels, but I could see the pain on her face. More than that, her skin was starting to blur, as if she was losing her ability to hold herself together.

Once the vortex vanished, her body became vivid once again. “Sorry, I lost control there for a second…” She apologized, looking down at the pen. “I think… I think I can do this. I just need time.”

I gave a small nod, stepping up and gently taking the pen from her. “You’ll have time later. For now, we’re going back so that you can stabilize, and make sure that you can control what you have now. You just did years worth of training in mere minutes.”

She blinked in surprise at that, as if not understanding herself just how much she had grown. “Oh… okay.” She muttered, seeming distracted. I hurriedly called her back inside of me, and ascended to the Admin Room. If there was anywhere she could properly and safely stabilize her power, it would be up there.