As I walk through a thick forest filled with trees of all kinds—the pink ones that contain leaves needed to make a healing potion; the red ones that are primarily used as handles for weapons; the purple ones which contain ingredients needed to replicate the effects of concealment; and many trees of all colors and effects—I wonder when I'll find the spirit that's wandering through these trees. The spirit of an adventurer who, while exploring this forest, got his body destroyed and is looking for a way to put it back together.

I'm not wandering through this forest just for fun; I need to make a deal with that adventurer. He apparently knows where the Crown of Haite is.

The Crown of Haite is a relic that belonged to a prince named Haite. While powerful, the crown has another purpose.

The small kingdom of which Haite was the prince suffered a mystical phenomenon that killed all of its residents, turning them into spirits of sorts.

In their state of existence, while perplexing, they lack intelligence. They still retain their strongest emotions, such as reverence for their prince.

While wearing the Crown of Haite, they would see me as him and offer me aid while in their kingdom.

As of right now, I'm one of the rare people who know this fact among those who met the destroyed adventurer.

I do have a way to bring his body back together, while the others I assume do not.

Even so, I don't plan on restoring his body all at once; no, that would be far too foolish. Instead, I'll only give him a little—perhaps a hand—and until I've acquired the crown, he wouldn't see the rest of his body.

The method I have is thanks to some relics I've been able to gather: one corresponds to a 3rd Rank aspect that allows me to rearrange flesh, and the other corresponds to a 1st Rank aspect that can make a connection between the body and the spirit.

The 3rd Rank relic looks like an ordinary hammer made of steel with a brown wooden handle. I acquired this one after trading for it.

The 1st Rank relic looks like a golden bracelet. Connecting the body and spirit is not its primary use but rather one of its possibilities. I got this one after completing a mission for that shady guy.

I do encounter some spirits on the way but not the adventurer. What's interesting is how many spirits wander through this forest.

Usually you'd encounter a spirit or two in a forest in a few hours, but this one is special.

It had been a battlefield once, where many powerful individuals died. Thanks to their aspects leaking out, this forest was created. Every tree represents an aspect, some aspects' leakage being so huge that they cover large parts of the forest.

The red trees are the most numerous, meaning those trees come from the most powerful person to perish here.

I'm not sure what his corresponding pathway was, but it doesn't really matter.

I suspect that most of these spirits were once participants in that dreadful battle. No actually i'm sure.

It is hard to kill a powerful person, to say the least. But to truly kill them and not give them a chance to revive is another matter entirely.

So most of these spirits were once powerful fighters considering they still remain hundreds of years after death. Thanks to the passage of time, spirits degrade until they stop existing; and the stronger you were, the longer your spirit would last.

I was mistaken; perhaps the most powerful people to perish here have already revived and not had their aspects turned into trees.

Since upon reviving all their leaked-out power returns to them, there wouldn't be any trees around—well, in most cases.

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But that adventurer had not died in that battle; no, his spirit is far too similar to his body for that.

At most it would have been a couple of months ago that he died—well, that and the fact that he knows where the crown is.

The more spirits wander away from their place of death, the weaker they become.

And that kingdom is far away from this forest, so he couldn't know its state.

As I'm walking, I suddenly feel overwhelming malice coming from behind me. As I slowly turn around, I see a degraded spirit. As spirits degrade, they naturally lose their intelligence, emotions, and all they once were; upon fully degrading, they become something else—someone else.

The spirit looked like a purple lump of flesh with no eyes and an impossibly large mouth filled with countless sharp teeth. From its sides stood three pairs of arms and three pairs of legs.

"D-d-d-do yo-y-y-you k-k-n-know w-h-who I-I am?" The spirit spoke but I cut it off.

"Don't worry about it; take as much time as you need."

All it did was anger the spirit further.

It lunged at me, but knowing I could encounter degraded spirits, I brought a purifying relic with me.

The purifying relic looked like a miniature ball resembling a sun; upon injecting spirituality into it, it evaporates all evil forces. This relic is quite impressive; it comes from the 3rd Step of the Justice pathway.

Before it could even touch me, it was entirely destroyed—no ashes remaining.

And because it was already a spirit—a dead being—its death wouldn't create a relic so I just continued walking.

After taking a few more steps, I heard a familiar voice calling out to me.

"Have you come with means to restore my body?"

Turning around to face him, he looked illusory as all spirits do. He still had yellow hair and green eyes along with high cheekbones. His expression revealed a hint of hope.

"As a matter of fact," I said, "I actually do."

Seeing as he was about to speak up again, I continued: "But I'm going to need the location of that crown first. Oh, and I need to confirm it."

"Do you think I'll give you the information just like that?" he asked incredulously.

"No, of course not." I say as I take out a golden bracelet and a hammer from my bag.

"I'll restore your hand first; if your information is correct, then you'll get the rest of your body."

His eyes gleamed with hope as he agreed.

There would be a big problem with my method if I wasn't from the Time pathway. Although the bracelet connects the spirit and the body, the adventurer didn't have a body.

But after advancing to 1st Rank I could meddle with time just enough to perhaps restore him to a state where he still had his body.

It would only be for a couple of seconds but would be plenty enough time for me to restore his hand.

As I was about to begin all of the spirits in this forest gathered around us and started observing the process. There were dozens of them—all yearning for what I was giving this adventurer now.

After standing across from him, I used most of my spirituality to restore him to a state when he still had his body and put the bracelet on my wrist.

His body stopped being illusory and gradually became real; as this happened I took up my hammer and smacked it onto his right hand.

After several fleeting moments passed by his entire body became illusory again—but not his hand. His right hand remained real.

He laughed joyfully and spoke: "Alright I'll tell you where it is, but be warned it's a dangerous place."