Chara would be lying if she said she wasn’t scared.

There were too many unknowns. She didn’t know anything about the other spirit, she didn’t know her motive, she didn’t know where they were going, she didn’t even know why she was following. Moreover, this only accounted for the mysteries she uncovered within the last 30 minutes. In fact, she barely knew anything about herself and only recently discovered that she was a spirit.

Despite being surrounded by so much uncertainty, Chara had almost no choice but to bottle up her anxiousness and bear with it. She didn’t want to do anything that could accidentally upset the other spirit.

So far, the other spirit appeared to be friendly and approachable, but Chara had already personally experienced how easily feelings of favorability could be replaced with feelings of spite and was unwilling to test the waters.

Moreover, they could hardly be considered equals. Not only was the spirit obviously much stronger than her, but her magic was also strange and mysterious. And this was even after discounting the invisible leash around her neck and her extremely low mana.

Stuck in a situation where her continued well-being was almost entirely within another’s hands, Chara couldn’t help but be filled with fear and anxiousness. And yet, in spite of all her worries, her most dominant feeling was curiosity.

Despite all her worries, what Chara was interested in the most was how the other spirit spoke. She didn’t understand how it was being accomplished, but when Curiosity spoke, Chara simply understood.

This completely went against her understanding!

Normally, communication can only happen when two or more parties mutually agree; that a specific sound or gesture should represent a certain concept or idea. I.e. speak the same language.

However, in the case of Curiosity, it was as if rather than speaking words from a language, she was just turning meaning into words, miraculously resulting in the words becoming meaningful in and of themselves. To her sense of audio, these “words” sounded like complete nonsense, but to her intuition, they conveyed a clear idea, full of information and purpose. It was beyond science!

As the procession of two spirits and myriad diamonds made their way down the cave, the curiosity spirit observed with interest as the little spirit bubbled with curiosity. Intuiting the smaller spirit’s interest, the greater spirit saw an opportunity. Not aware if her idea was feasible, she prefaced with a question.

“Can you understand what I’m saying?”

In response, the swirling of Chara’s mana slowed like she was parsing the question. After a short pause, her swirling returned to normal. Then she let out a sudden jolt, before resuming her slow swirling. Then, she started bouncing up and down to show her agreement.

Cute…

The curiosity spirit didn’t understand the smaller spirit’s cute gesture but proceeded under the assumption that it meant affirmation.

“Then, would you like me to teach you how to [Speak]?”

The little spirit’s swirling decelerated as she considered the meaning of what she interpreted as the word “Speak.” What she understood is the idea of conveying information. However, she had the impression that what the other spirit meant was slightly more specific than that. Either way, she floated up and down to show her affirmation once again.

Taking note of her agreement, the curiosity spirit began her explanation. “Using [Speech] is simple. First, [Imagine] a concept. Then, direct it outwards or at a target through your [Spirit]. Do not [Envision].”

With her explanation concluded, she quieted down, and began observing the smaller spirit with subdued anticipation.

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Chara kept waiting for the rest of the explanation, but it never came.

……Wait, that was it?

She glared at the other spirit, but the curiosity spirit only let out a childish giggle before going silent. Alas, this would only be the beginning of Chara’s troubles.

When she began reviewing the other spirit’s explanation, she quickly realized that there were many things lost in translation. Well, it wasn’t so much that the curiosity spirit had deliberately obfuscated her explanation, but simply, that she didn’t have the required background information to understand her in the first place.

It was like the time she tried probing the diamond vein. The word “diamond” was not the literal content of the analysis; it was an approximation after Chara carefully interpreted and compiled the information. However, this was only possible because she knew what a diamond was in the first place. Had she not understood the concept to at least a basic degree, the information would have been completely unintelligible.

The problem she was having now was similar to this, but only to a slightly lesser degree. That is, she understood what the spirit was trying to convey, but only partially or within her own comprehension. As a result, even in scenarios where both spirits were referring to the same concept, their interpretations could be completely different.

In this instance, while Chara understood the definitions of both “imagine” and “envision,” she harbored the distinct feeling that she was being expected to interact with something literal. She was in a similar dilemma for the concept of “spirit”. While she sensed that it referred to a specific part of her being, and that it had something to do with the soul, her understanding didn’t extend much further.

There was definitely some additional nuance contained within all four concepts. Unfortunately, it had to be discarded as miscellaneous information as there was no intelligible way to interpret it with her current understanding.

Spirit? “Spirit”?! I am spirit! How can I use myself to send communication? That doesn’t make any sense! That’s like saying, “come up with words and then direct them at another person using human.” Why did you only give me the abstract and then shut up!? Are you actually trying to kill me with curiosity?

As Chara got more and more frustrated, her mana started expanding and contracting while swirling faster and faster until she had turned into a swirling tornado. Soon, the little tornado even started producing different colors!

Haah… Where do I even begin… Um, since she specifically dis-included it, I should probably figure out the difference between “envision” and “imagine” before I try anything… concluded Chara, with her mana now making small rippling patterns.

Um… If I remember correctly, “imagine” means to form a mental image, and “envision” means to imagine a future possibility, or to visualize… she recalled, as shallow waves of mana rolled across her form.

So, like… What? I have to imagine what I want to share, but I can’t imagine how to accomplish it? And what if I want to share future plans? Uuu… This is all so confusing! cried Chara, her rippling now very unpredictable and full of incomprehensible currents.

Well, assuming I’m right about “imagining” something, then I just have to direct it outwards or at a target through my “spirit”? What does that even mean?!

Chara was confused. The term “spirit” didn’t make any sense. However, as she repeated the statement in her head, over and over again, she gradually came to realize that the only part of the explanation that didn’t make sense, was the term “spirit.” When she ignored the term “spirit” and only focused on the instructions, “direct outwards or at a target,” it was reminiscent of the way she manipulates her perception.

Chara had a hunch. Could it be… that the term “spirit” is referring to perception? Or is it the other way around and perception is only a part of “spirit”?

Meanwhile, the curiosity spirit was having an absolute field day watching the little spirit’s swirling adjust nearly every ten seconds as she nearly boiled with curiosity.

Wow~! So many thoughts despite being so small…

The curiosity spirit was happily swishing and swirling down the cave when a childish voice rippled against her spirit.

“Ah, um… Can you hear me?”

This time, it was Curiosity’s turn to be nearly startled half to death as she looked around warily before her gaze finally landed on Chara.

“That voice… Little Spirit, is that you?”

“You can hear me! It’s me! I—I can speak!”

Chara was through the moon. Having been confined in a hospital room for years, she had already been permanently scarred by loneliness. However, even she could have never guessed that once she was finally put out of her misery, she would wake up in an even more miserable place.

After many trials and tribulations, she finally learned how to perceive her surroundings and move around. Having regained her freedom of movement, with no future prospects regarding a body, the only thing she was missing was her freedom of speech. She was really starving for a conversation.

Chara was so delighted by her success that she failed to notice the greater spirit’s gradually worsening mood.

“Little Spirit.”

Without warning, the little spirit’s attention was suddenly no longer hers. Taken aback, Chara stared up at the greater spirit full of confusion.

“Do not speak.”

Without knowing the reason why, she had lost the ability to speak.