The Last Page II

[This is not the time to feel guilty, you will have time for that later,] said the voice of Silora’s mother’s consciousness directly in her mind. [You must listen to me.]

Silora barely listened, still terrified by the scene she had been forced to pass through to reach her room. “Did I did that?”

[That soul spell of yours succeeded in awakening the remaining living beings,] the consciousness explained. [The spell continued to work after your death. So the hive minds felt the need to gather in one place. What you saw was the result.]

A tense silence fell for a while. Silora knew clearly that the killer was on his way to her, and she had to move. But the scene she had seen ignited a deep guilt in her heart. Don’t I deserve to die as those people did?

Her mother’s consciousness seemed able to read her thoughts. [You can decide that later. Now you must do as I say. Please.]

Silora regained some focus. As she went for the spellbook inside the box, she asked with knowledge and curiosity, “You say the spell continued to work even after my death? So the piece of wood that pierced my neck wasn’t an illusion. Care to explain?”

The consciousness was silent for a while, but it sent a somewhat acceptable answer through the mental link. [There is no reason to hide things anymore, but this is not the time for a conversation that is sure to last for hours. Take the book out of the chest and never let it out of your hands.]

Despite her guilt, Silora didn’t really want to die—she still had a lot to do. Taking a deep breath, she steeled her resolve and said defiantly, “I’ll agree to that, and you have a lot to tell me. Especially the killer’s words that you seem to agree with.” She paused, thinking. Then she asked hopefully, “Just tell me this, am I flawed and need fixing? Do I really exist, whatever that means?”

[Don’t say that, of course you exist,] the consciousness reassured in a gentle voice. [You must not let others’ words have a significant impact on you. Especially a killer’s words. And you are perfect the way you are.]

“We’re both killers now,” Silora declared darkly. Before her mother’s consciousness could refute her, Silora continued, “Despite everything, I won’t let myself die here. What do I do with the book now?”

Silora held the book in her hands, waiting for the consciousness’s instructions, which didn’t take long. [I will teach you the spell in the first chapter: Language of Patience. An offensive mind spell.]

Silora interrupted, expressing her concerns, “Isn’t the book a book of flame spells?”

[I see why you might think that, but no. The book’s name is The Language of Thoughts. The spell in the first chapter is called Mind as Fire, a mind spell with the potential to be a soul spell,] the consciousness explained patiently. [The effect of this spell is a mental attack targeting the target’s mind, simulating the pain of flames. The spell can be strong enough to paralyze the opponent or weak with no noticeable effect, but that is for you to decide.]

“Let me guess. The spell caster experiences the same pain as the target,” Silora guessed. “That’s why it’s called the Language of Patience?”

[You are right there,] Silora’s mother’s consciousness agreed with her guess. [And I can’t help you with that.]

Before the consciousness could add anything, Silora expressed her concerns, “I have no problem with that. But how will I learn a systematic spell in no time?”

[No worries there. I will cooperate with you in forming the spell pattern, and you will handle the casting and consequences,] the consciousness stated as a matter of fact. [Of course, if you were well-trained in your innate skills, you would benefit fully from the spell. Hell, you wouldn’t even need to form its pattern. But, we’ll work with what we have.]

Before Silora could ask for more details, she felt the connection between her and the consciousness deepen—perhaps because the book rested in her hands.

[Ready.] It wasn’t a request but an order.

Silora didn’t respond, but she felt her mother’s consciousness standing right beside her. She could even discern its shape. It was similar to her mother—as she had seen before, only much younger, and thus, similar to her.

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In her mind, Silora felt a link connecting her to the consciousness. Through that link, Silora faintly saw dormant spell patterns waiting for mana to bring them to life. She didn’t understand how a spell pattern could exist without being formed by mana, but she left that question for later—she would ask it along with the other questions.

Now she knew what she had to do. She sent her mana through the mental link towards the dormant spell patterns. Each pattern covered by her mana disappeared from her sight and appeared in the palm of her hand—only in a transparent white color. This made forming the spell much simpler; she wouldn’t get confused by its complex patterns.

The dormant spell pattern disappeared from the shared consciousness that Silora and her mother’s consciousness shared and formed above her palm. There was no change in the spell patterns, and they didn’t seem to change or activate like any spell after being formed. Silora didn’t know what to do from here on, but her mother’s consciousness seemed satisfied with the result as it praised her. [I didn’t think you would succeed on the first try, but this is good for both of us. You will conserve your mana, and I will conserve enough mental strength to help you if anything changes—now, as your mother taught you, spread your mental senses and focus them on the spell. From there, you will know the next step. The hard part is over.]

Despite her doubts about her mother’s mention, Silora still did as she was told. She wasn’t good at mind magic to claim proficiency. But she was still able to spread her senses and focus them on the stable spell pattern above her palm. As soon as she sensed the spell with her mental senses, its pattern disappeared from her palm and seeped inside—towards her mind.

The spell didn’t change anything in Silora’s external appearance, but inside her consciousness, a small red flame ball formed, resembling one of the flame balls on the cover of the book she held in one hand. As soon as the flame ball formed in her consciousness, Silora knew how to use it, yet her mother’s consciousness continued to explain and warn. [Now, the Mind as Fire spell has fully formed inside your mind. All you have to do is feed it mana to use it. The flame ball won’t disappear as long as you feed it mana, but I must warn you, if you feed it a large amount of mana at once, of course, the mental attack will be stronger, but there are limits to what you can endure. Just use it carefully and cautiously.]

Silora nodded and asked a question that had piqued her curiosity during the spell formation, one she hadn’t asked before because she couldn’t bear failure. But now she found the opportunity. “I know you’ll say, ‘This isn’t the time for conversation, and we’ll talk later,’ but I have to ask. Why do we have the same mana signature?”

As Silora expected, her mother’s consciousness didn’t explain and simply indicated for her to focus, promising they would talk later.

In controlled frustration, Silora asked another question. “One more question. You said if I were well-trained in my innate skills, I would benefit fully from the spell. What does that mean? I’m innate in soul magic, what does that have to do with mind magic?.. You have no excuse not to answer this.”

Her mother’s consciousness sighed impatiently but still answered. [You are innate in both soul magic and mind magic. But your strong affinity for soul magic somewhat pushes mind magic away. However, you are innate in both high-information magic fields. There is indeed a relationship of correlation and integration between mind magic and soul magic, but this subject is vast, and we know little about it. My personal knowledge is very limited, only my personal experiences, which lean heavily towards mind magic. I will share all my knowledge with you later, just stop being difficult, you are not a child anymore.]

Silora looked incredulously at the consciousness she couldn’t see, only feel. “Are you… trying to imitate my mother?”

By now, Silora knew that the consciousness resembling her mother wasn’t really her mother—perhaps a younger version. But it didn’t belong to the mother Silora knew. However, the consciousness’s attempt to scold her by imitating her mother was more amusing than impactful.

In what Silora interpreted as embarrassment, the consciousness defended itself, [This is not the time for accusations. There is a killer outside coming after you. Focus.]

Silora wasn’t convinced by the consciousness’s argument, but it was right, she needed to focus, and she confirmed that with words. “What are we going to do now? If your plan doesn’t work, I’ll go with my plan to confront him. It’s good to have options.”

[Oh… I hate to break your hopes, but your plan wouldn’t have worked from the start,] the consciousness said incredulously. [It’s better to get that out of your mind. If this fails, we are very dead. Well, you more than me.]

“Oh, and who are you to decide that?” Silora challenged. “You don’t know what I’m capable of…”

The consciousness interrupted Silora. [I know you are capable of putting up a decent fight, given your opponent. But the magic you rely on, you can’t use it as long as you’re trapped on the ship. There is something anti-spell preventing any spell from taking shape.] As if reading Silora’s thoughts, the consciousness continued its words as an answer to her unspoken questions. [No anti-spell or artifact affects the innate ones in using their affinity spells. You were able to use spells because you are innate in both soul magic and mind magic. It’s better to forget the idea of confrontation, you are not skilled enough in offensive soul-mind magic.]

Silora thought about the words of the consciousness resembling her mother—it was right. All the spells Silora had used on the ship belonged only to the fields of mind and soul.

With a defeated sigh, Silora asked, “So what are we going to do? We’ve wasted enough time here.”

[Trust me, the best thing we can do is wait,] the consciousness said. [The Mind as Fire spell itself has an impact range depending on the area. But it is still our best chance, for now at least.]

Without further conversation, Silora just waited passively.