Chapter 35: tonight, we dine in hell

The moment that I touched Irena’s hand, the scenery around us changed. This was not an unfamiliar sensation, as I experienced it every time I descended. However, I was somewhat surprised by the grey mist swirling around me. Although I had looked at the afterlife a few times, I had never been here myself.

After a moment, the grey mist flew away, as if retreating from an explosion of force. Instead, what I found was a wooden floor, similar to the architecture of the Admin Room. In fact, there was even the same red bed in the corner. If I didn’t know better, I would have simply thought that someone rearranged the furniture of the Admin Room, rather than transferring to the afterlife.

That was, until I saw the window. Through the window, I saw a landscape of small houses, a black sky, and a veil of grey fog in the distance. “Welcome to my home.” Irena said with a small smile. “I did not have much to base it on… as you can tell.”

I nodded slightly at that. Really, that was to be expected. Unless Irena asked Terra for information on Earth architecture, she would only have what existed currently on Earth or in the Admin Room. “That’s fine. So, this is the afterlife, huh?”

Every time I moved my body, it felt like I was trudging through quicksand. Furrowing my brows, I called up my character sheet to see what I was working with at the moment.

I could only let out a reluctant sigh, accepting my fate. I’d need to look through the advanced classes later, see if I could find any focusing on strength or stamina. However, there was one entry in the sheet that confused me. “Irena, mind clearing something up?”

She nodded her head quickly. “Of course, what is it?”

“This sheet… it has an extra number for my Spirit Energy. I’m not really sure why, though.” After I said that, Irena furrowed her brows, before closing her eyes and focusing.

“Hmm, it seems that you have a second spirit bound to your body?” Oh… right, I forgot about that boar. “Do you want me to exorcise it?”

“Huh? No, sorry, I just forgot it was there. So, how has everything been for you here, Irena?”

Her smile grew slightly when she heard my question. “It’s been good. I am working to migrate the centaur spirits to this city, so that they can be introduced to the population.”

I nodded my head slightly at that. It wouldn’t be good to leave them all alone out there, but bringing them all back in at the same time would be just as bad, if not worse. “Okay… so, how do I do this whole spirit shaping thing? And, any information I should know?”

I mean, I could just figure out how the basic powers work by studying them, but I had the perfect teacher here. Might as well use what she knows.

Irena nodded at the question. She immediately resumed her businesslike appearance, placing both arms at her side, only lifting one to briefly adjust her glasses. “First of all, aging. This is a non-issue for you as a Keeper, but it is relevant to other information. Those in the afterlife are essentially immortal, so long as their age never exceeds their maximum Spirit Energy.”

“If that happens, their usable Spirit Energy will begin declining day by day, and when it is fully extinguished, so are they. For a daeva, you can see that the starting limit is just over sixty units of Spirit Energy. For spirits, their starting Spirit Energy values are determined by their class levels in life. The lower their levels, the less time they have.”

I furrowed my brow in thought at that. “So, a child who did not have time to experience much in life…”

Irena simply nodded in response. “Unless they train quickly when they reach the Underworld, they will find themselves reborn within a few years. Now, for either of the two available classes for this realm, you need to learn how to manipulate your Spirit Energy. As a daeva or a spirit, Spirit Energy represents your entire being. We are but masses of Spirit Energy with wills.”

To demonstrate, Irena extended her hand, which dissolved into grey mist for just a moment. When it reformed, it resembled a lance three feet long. “You try. Remember to be conservative with your Spirit energy, because you do not have much to waste at these levels.”

I nodded my head, holding my arm out in front of me. What did I actually want to make? If it was a question of a ranged or melee weapon, obviously I want melee. Although a ranged weapon could keep me out of direct combat, I’d be making up for that by spending my own life force with every shot. So, what kind of melee weapon do I want?

Closing my eyes, I felt an energy stirring within me. This wasn’t mana, I was all too familiar with that. No, this was Spirit Energy, something I’ve only felt from my own body in the Admin Room. Focusing, I pulled a bit of that energy from my arm, gathering it in front of me. Thanks to Terra’s instructions on smithing, I was all too familiar with how to make simple swords.

Shaping the hilt, the blade, the guard, everything felt so fluent. It wasn’t until the end when something unexpected happened. The boar spirit, which had been silently lurking in my body since I had acquired it, suddenly began to rampage. I was startled, almost jumping from the sensation, feeling that presence run along my arm and jump out through my hand. Directly into the sword I had just made.

Three levels all at once, the messages greeting me as I opened my eyes. What I saw in front of me was… definitely not the sword I had wanted to make. What had started as a short sword grew by a dozen centimeters, putting it just shy of being a longsword.

Additionally, the cross-guard had changed drastically. Previously, it had been a normal line of metal extending from either side, but now it had curved, resembling tusks as they edged towards the blade. At the center of the guard, there was an engraving of a boar head, with two ruby eyes staring down the length of the sword.

“This is… interesting.” Irena said with wide eyes. “I have not seen this effect before.” She then held out her hands, both of which returned to being normal hands, as if to take the sword from me. “May I?”

I nodded, handing it over to her. She held the blade for a long moment, examining the changes that had been made. “Very interesting. It feels like the soul of the boar has merged with the sword.”

Well… I certainly knew that there was an ability like this for higher level Spirit Hunters, but I did not imagine that the basic Spirit Tamer ability would work for the same purpose. “Does it have any special effects?” I asked, somewhat hopefully.

Irena looked taken aback by the question, but nonetheless examined the sword again. “Aside from carrying extra weight and a little more striking power, I do not think you will find any special abilities with this weapon.” After that, she handed the sword back to me. “Try to take it back into yourself.”

I nodded, accepting the weapon. I could still feel a connection with it, and as soon as I tried to recall it, it felt as if the sword shattered in my grasp. Strands of grey mist flew into my arm, and I felt the presence of the boar spirit slowly walking back to its resting place. “Very interesting…” For some reason, I didn’t like the way that Irena was looking at me with wide, excited eyes, as if she had found a subject for research.

The next few hours were spent with me making various different types of items out of Spirit Energy. Each time I made a combat oriented item, such as a dagger, sword, or even a shield or armor, the boar spirit would merge with it. Even when I made a helmet, it ended up looking like the boar’s skull thanks to the spirit’s influence.

On the bright side, this allowed me to get a lot of experience with the Spirit Hunter class. Even without fighting, it seemed that simply making new types of items was enough to level up a good bit. It wasn’t until nearly three hours later that I had to say enough. There were other things I wanted to do here, aside from just training this one class. Though… I did like the improvements I made to it.

“Okay, okay, enough.” I raised my hands in surrender, not wanting to train this class anymore.

Irena smiled at me, crossing her arms under her chest. “Then, what would you like to do next, sir?”

I thought about that for a moment, and then decided to ask a question. “According to the information, this class should be usable by living people, as well. Do you have any idea how to go about that?”

Her smile quickly faded, replaced by a thoughtful expression as she stared into nothingness. “Well… living creatures can’t manipulate their own Spirit Energy, as doing so would permanently damage their own health. So, most likely they need to get an alternate source of raw Spirit Energy, which they can manipulate as their own. It probably won’t recover naturally, meaning that they will need to harvest the energy every time they want to replenish.”

Well, that seemed easy enough, I guess? Basically, Spirit Tamers would be able to become Spirit Hunters if they tried to create items out of the raw Spirit Energy they absorb from damaged souls. Would have to be something I’d try later, maybe give it to another race as a signature class.

“Ah, one more thing. Spirit Energy, and anything made from it, is invisible to the living. I’m not sure if there is some way around that, but to my knowledge, no normal spirit constructs can be seen by or interact with the living world.” Irena decided to share one last tidbit of information with me on the subject, which made me question the usefulness of the class in normal situations for the living.