“Now, let’s discuss the spirit ceremony once again. Spirits are entities that grant us spiritual powers at an exchange equivalency, and that’s mana. In your case, you don’t have one at all. It was my friend who told me about how you can acquire one. Luckily, you met me.”

Master Irene stroked the head of her serpent spirit. However, I’m in there thinking why isn’t she telling me the name of her ‘friend’ that she has spoken of. It’s been months, but I have no idea who this person is or what she does. Like, is she trying to kill me with curiosity?

“What’s the process? Do I need to sacrifice my arm and legs? Heart? Blood? Perhaps food? My entire body?”

“What? Why did you think of that? They’re spirits, for god’s sake Claude. What’s the use of that for them? They eat mana, not you.”

“Oh—h! Sorry, I thought it’s like I need to sacrifice something for power.”

“No, it’s about how you need to acquire something with an equivalency of mana. Unlike everyone else, you’re an empty vessel.”

“And? I can’t seem to pick up what you’re trying to say to me, Master Irene.”

“Actually, there’s a method on how you can gain mana, but there’s a huge risk following it. The procedure would be, I’ll be forcefully pouring my own mana on you until your soul will create its own Mana Capacitor.”

“Sounds dangerous... If it does work, what will happen to me?”

“Well, instead of mana you’ll have the quintessence.”

“Quintessence? What the hell is that?”

“Actually, I have no idea about it, but it’s what she called them. It works like mana, but at the same time, it doesn’t. She mentioned divinity or something, but I don’t really understand what she meant by it.”

“Can’t you just tell me who ‘she’ is? It’s been bothering my mind.”

“Can’t do. I’m under an oath. So~ No.”

“Fine, so if I get this quintessence. I’ll be able to do things like people with mana?”

“Indeed, although it’s a complicated thing to explain since I use mana. In simple terms, it is like a better version of mana. Doesn’t that get you excited?”

“Not at all, it’s only making me more anxious.”

“All right, let’s do this!”

“Right now?!”

“Of course, it’s better to do it early so we can start training once you have it. Now, remove your clothes and turn your back against me. It’ll be painful at first, but you’ll get used to it later on. And’ll probably lose your consciousness. Nevertheless, I know you can endure it.”

“No way! Plus, how can you be sure it'll work?!”

"Trust me, she told me that I only need to pour mana. Afterward, you'll feel some slight pain and endure it, plus she told me only a few people can actually do it. But, I trust you can do it."

"Are you insane?!"

Painful? And a chance of me going blackout due to the pain?!

Then I immediately stood and started running away, but I got stopped by, tail wrapping around my body, lifting me up in the air. It was Master Irene’s guardian. I tried breaking out by rattling around, but it’s all in dismay because there’s no way for a normal person like me to go against a guardian. Because of that, I cast my head down in defeat.

“That not good Claude. I’m just doing this for you. If you want to get stronger, you must conquer any obstacle that you’ll face, no matter how hard that is. Your journey hasn’t even started, and you wanted to give up? Now, tell me if you want to give up or endure the pain for your own future? I’ll give 1 chance. What’s your answer?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She’s correct. I wanted to live life to the fullest but I’m here, backing down on the very thing that could change my life. Hardships are part of every person’s life. In my last life, at an early age, I gave up everything because of my illness. But now, I’m granted a second chance to waste it because of my cowardness.

Master Irene was observing me while I’m mulling over my thoughts. I gulped and made a resolute decision. Then I looked her in the eyes with my unwavering eyes, telling her I made up my mind. “No, I’ll do it.”

She smiled slowly and said. “Good, those are the eyes I wanted to see.”

Subsequently, Melissa, the guardian of Master Irene, finally put me on the ground. Soon after, I removed my shirt and turned my back against Master Irene.

“P-Please make it quick.”

“Hahaha, don’t worry, I assure you—Nothing will happen.” Master Irene put both her slender hands on my back. Later on, I felt a surge of cold feeling spreading out to my body like it’s traveling through my veins. While a scorching heat manifested inside my chest, causing a huge turmoil inside me. Followed by an extreme headache that’s making me lose my mind.

“Arghhh—! It hurts! Ahhhh—! Make it stop—! I beg you! Ahhh—!”

Screaming for help, something wrapped around my body, locking me in place. Tears of my misery fall in my face, as I can’t endure the pain anymore. The excruciating pain is all over my body, not only in the head. Every single molecule in my body is screaming in sorrow. My arms and legs wanted to rip themselves out.

“A-Aghh!”

I can’t breathe... Help...

“Ahhh—!”

Soon after, blood started coming out on my eyes, mouth, and ears. It went long for a while, screaming and agonizing the sorrowful pain, but after a while, I lost my voice making me completely mute. I lost track of time. I can only see redness. I painstakingly wanted to kill myself at that moment, so everything would just come to an end. No matter how much I cry, the pain kept getting stronger, resulting in my vision fading into oblivion.

As darkness engulfing my eyes, I started reminiscing the miserable life of my past self, the life of Fukushima Aki. The days were every single day or every single second of my life became unbearable, as I can’t bear to live in misery anymore.

If people are thankful for a new day, that’s not the case for me as every time I wake up—I would be greeted by torment, grief, and anger. Please let this end... I then lost consciousness.

────────────

Afterward, I slowly open my eyes. A female face with unusual eyes was right before my eyes, her pupil is a cross-mark shape, and the color is like an emerald surrounding it with a purple iris—A familiar-looking face, it was the girl tiny little fairy whom I met after my arrival on the world of Spirit Infinite—Pix.

“Hello~ It’s been a while~ How’s the new life that my mother gave to you? Are you finally enjoying your life?”

“Pix? What are you doing here? And, where am I...?”

I noticed the unusual surroundings that I’m currently in. Glancing around, I seem to be in a dimension because the place is pitch-black, with nothingness surrounding me. Furthermore, I’m floating as there’s no flooring in here. And then, I saw my transparent arms and legs.

“Fufufu~ You’re confused look is so cute~”

“Where am I?”

“This is the Void. The thing you just talked about with that woman.”

“Void? How the—Wait, you’re listening?”

“Of course, I told you I’m always watching you. Mother appointed me to be your watcher and guide.”

“What—Wait, what happened to your tiny appearance?”

“How stupid can you be? I told you the first time, I can take any appearances—Anyway, you’re currently in astral projection, separating one’s consciousness out of its body to traverse into different dimensions. Now, as to why you’re here, it’s because I called you here to tell you something.”

“What are you going to tell me?”

“To remind you not to use quintessence recklessly because it can kill you.”

“What? Why?”

“It is dangerous, as it can affect or destroy your soul completely. Because quintessence is the purest form of mana, unlike the standard mana of that world, where people use the world spirit as its medium to gather mana. As for you, your soul is technically your own medium.”

“Does that mean, I'm like the world spirit?”

“Not really, there are more elements around it, but it really does share some similarities. There's a huge misconception of the Origin of mana. But I won't be tackling that right now, as we only have so little time to spare. Anyhow, in short, it's too condensed for your soul to even handle it.”

“Okay... Go on..."

Squinting my eyes in confusion, although she's explaining in a clean and detailed way. I can't seem to put my head around it. Unlike last time, I kept going with the flow of conversation, trying not to piss her off.

“Your soul is a special case and right now it’s too fragile to handle that kind of power, that’s why I’m here. I’ll put a seal on your soul so that you can only use a tiny fraction of that. Aren’t I kind?”

“That means, I can use it without any worries?”

“Correct~”

“Oh, I see. Thank you.”

“Fufu~ No problem~”

“I’ve got a question while at it.”

“Yes?”

“Does the world revolves around the protagonist?”

“I don’t know~ Only mother can answer that question~ I’m only a mere messenger~”

“I understand. However, what about the thing you told me? What about the Void—”

But before I could even ask her that question, a blinding light tackled my eyes. Afterward, I felt someone was pulling me into the depths of the darkness of the Void.