"Is this the Spirit World?" Stone asked with discernible doubt in his tone.

In truth, if she didn’t tell him, he wouldn’t even consider it. It felt like he never even moved from his place and was still in the water of Kennera Lake.

“Hehe. The Spirit World is the Spiritual Reflection of the material world. It is almost the same but completely different. It is just that the senses you rely on won’t give you too much information.’

Stone nodded at this since it made sense. So instead of looking and hearing, he tried to focus on his poor spiritual perception.

It took him a while, but soon he could feel the whirlwinds of water around him.

He stiffened as he didn’t know what they were. He heard the whispers around him but couldn’t understand.

“What are those?” So Stone asked Zephyr in hope of an answer.

When he did so, he realized that he could talk again. It was as if the water around him didn’t exist.

‘I don’t know. Didn’t Kaoran tell you about some creatures in the Spirit World while I was gone? Thankfully they look harmless, but still, it is better to be careful.’

“Hah? Aren’t you also a spiritual creature?”

‘Nope. Like I said, I am part of you, your imagination, and manifestation of the desire for freedom and adventure. I am not a separate being from you. I only know what you know. Although last year was black for me.’ Zephyr answered with a calm tone despite saying that she was not a being at all.

“Then how come you gave me so much advice already? How did you know that I would need to fight the monster on the raid? That I needed to let loose to win?” The more she talked, the more Stone was confused.

The gentle smile once again reverberated in his ears.

‘It was things you knew. But you didn't think about it. It was deep inside your subconsciousness. That’s where I was made, you know? And I gave you the warning based on the instincts that were hidden…’

“That’s not how instincts work.” Stone wondered what she talked about.

‘The instincts I am talking about are the ones hidden because of your suspicion.’

“Suspicion?”

‘Suspicion towards the world, hehe. Isn’t it weird that so many mishaps have happened to you in such a short time? You are just 15 years old this year. Yet you already lived through several hells. It doesn’t make sense, does it? That made you suspicious. Yet it never resurfaced to the thoughts of yours. Weird right? And then my warning was right, and you went through another hard to survive ordeal.’

Every word that she said engraved into his mind and made him remember.

Born with unimaginable regeneration yet how many times he was close to death. Does it make sense?

He doesn’t understand why it was happening. He didn’t want to know and so he chose to ignore it.

‘Stone, you must be careful. This world is dangerous. No matter what gift you have, there is a chance you will die the next day. And so give it your all. To be free.’

With that, the voice disappeared. But Stone didn’t call out. He contemplated her words.

‘I will keep it in mind. Thank you.’

After a few seconds, he chose not to waste the time, as he knew that he needed to be quick.

He looked around, and those creatures were still there. There were many of them.

Thinking hard, he could guess what it was.

‘Kaoran said that there will be spirits everywhere in all kinds of shapes in the Spirit World. So based on the fact that we are in the water, it can be deduced that they are either elemental spirits or the water animal spirits.’

When he guessed that they are harmless as Zephyr said, he ignored them and started to swim even more down.

But as he swam, he saw his hands.

They were translucent.

This surprised him.

‘So I really jumped from my body?’

It seemed that he was just a spirit now. If he was in a normal world, he would already dissipate never to be seen again.

Thankfully, in the Spirit World, even the weak spirits can survive for some time.

But he can’t leave his body for too long, or he will be assimilated.

And thus he swam as quickly as possible to the bottom where even his material body can’t enter.

This continued for a while until he finally felt something.

‘Ugh!’

He felt a strong pulse going through his body coming out of the bottom of the lake.

This wasn’t the material pulse nor even the spiritual one. It felt too pure for that.

The only way he felt that pulse was his mind, nothing else.

‘Is that what I am looking for?’

Just this was already evidence that there was something down there. Now the question is if it is from the same source.

After a while.

He was still swimming further down; he actually started to see more and more as the place around got brighter as time passed.

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He got excited. While he didn’t see the source of the golden lights, he knew that they were the reason why everything was so bright.

Soon the whirlwinds around actually got a gold tint to their color. In another few minutes, he saw the flashes of light around him and thought that this deep was enough.

He didn’t want to risk too much.

What he didn’t expect was that exactly at the moment he wanted to stop, he could finally see the bottom.

There, a glowing sphere was lying illuminating the entire bottom.

The sphere was humongous and was shining as brightly as the summer sun. Stone didn’t know what it was, but it seemed to be full of energy.

In truth, he didn’t expect much from this venture and just hoped to get the answer to his questions. But instead, his questions only rose.

He noticed that there was another underwater cave from which the water and Cold Energy came from, but the golden sphere was the most fascinating thing.

But this time he was prepared and reined himself in. Last time he was too tired mentally for that, but now he is different.

He was looking at the sphere and felt his mind clear.

Once he was assured that there was an effect, he started to meditate.

To get a name in the Spirit World, you have several options.

Get the powerful Spirit to name you. It is the most safe one but also it will restrict you to the being and it will have your weakness.

The other was through getting enlightenment in the place and molding it into your name.

The last one was to contemplate about yourself and your life. And name yourself once you understand yourself. It is much easier to get to know yourself when in a Spirit World where your material body doesn’t hide your spirit.

The third one was out of three; it is the least favorite in the tribe.

Stone, however, thought it was suitable for him as he was unique in not

a few things. Not things he would be prideful for but still unique.

But now when he remembered about the golden light, he thought that the second way can be also good. If everything will go right, then he can even try to combine both of them somehow.

And so he started to meditate.

But as he started to circulate the little energy inside of him, the golden light was attracted to him.

He froze and was alert, but when the light came, it wasn’t harmful, so he didn’t stop. Instead, he felt as if he was getting smarter.

He felt he started to understand many things he couldn’t before and was basking in that knowledge.

When he looked around, the golden lights seemed to regain a shape. A shape of symbols. Those symbols were full of wisdom that Stone couldn’t understand. Yet he felt as if he got to know so much more now. About the world and himself. He felt omniscient.

He couldn’t read in his mother language but could read in Theras language which Kaoran taught him. It had only a few simple symbols. That also makes the records hard to understand since the writing was so simple.

But the symbols he just saw were on a completely different level.

He couldn’t imagine how someone could create something so simple as language to something so powerful.

After a while when he finally came to himself, he started to gaze back at the sphere, which seemed to be the source of the strings of the symbols.

He stared at the sphere for a long time with fascination as his mind was filled with knowledge never known.

That was until the sphere gazed back at him.

It was at that time that Stone realized…

That sphere was a gigantic eye with a golden sheen.

He couldn’t understand how something so big could exist if the eye was already so big.

The eye also seemed to be still alive as it turned back to look at him.

It seemed to look deeply into his eyes as if it could see his soul which felt frozen. The eye, which looked so ancient, shimmered with the wisdom and stories of a bygone era.

Stone didn’t feel as if he was looking at someone’s eye at all. He felt as if he was something much more fundamental…

The truth.

Burst!

The eyes of Stone burst, and his spiritual body started to crack.

This was so far the worst pain Stone ever felt. He felt as if he saw something so taboo that he couldn't bear it.

If he was still sane, then at this moment he would lose it.

This was a sign that woke him up from his trance, and he started to swim up.

He was still disoriented, but his survival instinct got the better of him.

Unfortunately, the symbols around started to attack him.

They started to tie his body, trying to burn him with the knowledge of the truth.

Knowledge that shouldn’t be known to any more mortal minds.

“Augh!”

Stone felt the pain, but even worse were the things he could see in his mind.

So many things he couldn’t understand and shouldn’t understand.

He was drowning in them.

At the last moment, he used the protection amulet on his neck, which brought him a little respite until it broke off.

The golden light was much stronger.

But it managed to delay it for Stone to swim further above where the eye didn’t see.

This time Stone felt like he made the biggest mistake of his life. He felt so stupid. Thinking that he could only reap benefits without bearing the risk?

In the end, he couldn’t escape the lights. They tangled him and started to pull him down.

He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t see anything as he lost his eyes, and most of his spiritual body was destroyed. In a few seconds, he will be done for.

But then he realized something. The golden light's main use of attack was to show him the overwhelming knowledge that probably belonged to the owner of the eye.

It was so unbearable that every mortal would already die.

But not him.

Grievously injured but not dead.

He felt his spirit body slowly healing despite the flashing of the knowledge in his mind breaking him down.

If he delays any longer, he would die. But he has enough time to try something.

‘Names have power, boy’

He started to imagine those golden symbols. That accelerated the destruction of his being as he couldn’t bear it but he still thought of them despite not understanding them.

Instead, he felt them. He felt what they were and started to change their order.

Meanwhile, he wondered who he was.

A peasant? Victim? Barbarian or the Warrior? Or…

A monster?!

No, he was none of these.

He was someone stronger.

His body could be destroyed yet it would heal. His spirit could be destroyed yet it could heal. His mind could be destroyed. It couldn’t heal. But it would never break. He won’t allow it.

He will live to the fullest. He will have the freedom. The power that will guard that freedom.

And… The thing he just found out about.

Knowledge is power.

The golden lights that literally were destroying his spirit under the sheer amount of them were the clear evidence, albeit the crude one.

But even the most knowledgeable sages could fall easily if they are reckless.

For that, wisdom was needed.

Every step he will take. He swears to himself that he will take one with careful consideration. To survive. To live.

With those traits, he will tread the path he wanted. He needed.

Boom

The symbols were changing the order inside of his mind, making the extreme ripples across the entire Spirit World, even affecting the Material World.

Crack

The tempo under which his spirit was being broken down was accelerating, and he felt his consciousness fading.

Yet it was stronger than ever before.

He felt it.

The core of his existence.

Something that weak beings have no chance to feel.

It was a mere hint but it was there.

As he felt who he was, so did the symbols that were in his mind.

He still couldn’t understand them. He wasn’t capable of that. But he managed to write his name with them. A name that could shake the mountains despite belonging to a weak human child.

When Stone at last opened his mouth to talk, the entire scene was silent.

“My name is…”

The golden lights couldn’t move as Stone was talking with the same language they were written in. His throat, be it the spiritual one or the one in the material body got shredded, yet he continued to talk not caring about that.

“©¤%÷^§...?>@^&#§!©¶||%!!!”

Boom

The water all around swirled as if it wanted to jump

out of the lake, the ground started to shake, and the skies cried as everything changed.

Stone dimly heard squealing at the bottom as everything was warping and cracking. The golden lights around them had already dispersed.

Soon everything flickered as his broken spirit returned to the material world.

But even here it wasn’t completely calm.

The swirling water was decimating his already broken body. The area around was completely crimson.

Yet Stone felt as clearly as he could.

This time he didn’t lose his consciousness and put all his hope in Kaoran.

He preserved and swam to the surface with only one thought in his mind.

‘From now on I will be called Illyan Ragnar.’