CHAPTER 16: FLOWER DIVINATION

The carriage rolled forward, dragged slowly by the headless ogre. Soren sat at the front with Myrin as they navigated the illusionary barrier. It had been two days now and they were still only a quarter of the way there. Soren tried his best to pass the time by experimenting with his abilities. Along the way, he was able to use [Record] on countless different plants and animals. One of the first things he had chronicled was on the existence of Spirit Beasts, as Myrin liked to call them. Creatures that hold and manipulate their anima, but do not possess the ability to manifest Soul Weapons.

Even though he had gleaned a lot of information during that time, Soren’s anxiety was eating him from the inside, and the overuse of [Eyes of the Fairy] certainly did not help his case either.

“Sigh… How long will this trip last… Can’t you get this thing to go a bit faster? I only have two weeks to live, you know!?”

Myrin turned his head toward Soren and frowned. “I can understand your frustrations. However, if I command the Spirit Beast to hasten its advance, it will only throw us off course. The barrier changes too swiftly—we have to stay at a relative pace to monitor these changes…”

Soren sighed. It wasn’t like he couldn’t understand Myrin’s perspective. In fact, he had already experienced the effects of this barrier at full force. Just the night before, they wasted an entire two hours peering back into the beyond as a sudden shift in the map caused them to lose track of where they were. If not for the slow pace they were going in, Tyrel would not have been able to catch the error that soon.

“Then is there anything I can do to extend my lifespan in the meantime? Aren’t you your mistress’ disciple? Surely you've studied the effects of Soul Chain Instability—you yourself are a Vagrant Phantasm after all…”

Myrin thought for a moment—Soren noticed that he was about to say something but held himself back.

“Spit it.” Soren crossed his arms.

“Fine…” Myrin shrugged in defeat. “I do think there is a way, but it is extremely dangerous. I would not recommend it unless you were truly on the brink of death.”

“What would it be?”

“... Soul Realm Manifestation.”

Soren’s eyes widened. “Soul Realm? You mean the ability you used to communicate with me when I didn’t understand Vinuan?” Soren was proud of the fact that in just the past few days, his ability to speak with Myrin and the others had improved to the point that Myrin wouldn’t even need to activate his Soul Realm at all.

He nodded. “Yes, Soul Realms are a fundamental ability amongst Magi. It is the key that unlocks magecraft to us mortals. Without it, most thaumaturgical knowledge would not exist.

“And for you…” He paused. “It is even more important. The issue with your soul chain’s instability has to do with The Beyond and your Runic Existence, but this is a different topic entirely. All you need to know is that a Soul Realm is the external projection of one’s inner will. And if you manifest one, it might aid in stabilizing the inner aspects of your soul—your Runic Existence and the Soul Chain that surrounds it for example.

“Though, this is all just hypothetical. I cannot look into your Soul Chain, my abilities are limited to only the outer layers of self.”

Soren’s brows lifted. Outer layers of self? How is that different from a Soul Realm? Myrin might as well have spoken gibberish to him.

Ignoring his puzzlement, Myrin continued. “However, for a person to unlock their Soul Realm, a grueling task must be done. One that most scholars never accomplish in their lifetimes.”

Soren frowned (while hiding his excitement). “Why is manifesting a Soul Realm so difficult? You make it seem easy.”

Myrin coughed, “Why thank you... But that’s simply because it is not a matter of using a Soul Realm, but manifesting one. Once a person unlocks the ability, using it becomes as simple as moving an arm. But creating one to begin with is said to be harder than climbing Mount Tolarion…” He crossed his arms, “my mistress would probably disagree with this comparison, haha.”

Soren silently pondered over it. Although leaving this option open for when he was truly desperate to save himself was logical, he also thought of the implications. Even if by the end of the two week time limit I decided to try and manifest a Soul Realm, will I even have enough time to explore this option in the first place? No matter what he decided, an inherent risk was always there, looming over his shoulders.

Myrin noticed how conflicted Soren was and looked up—Tyrel was sitting with his feet crossed above the carriage, scouting the area like usual.

“Tyrel… What do you think? What would you do in his situation?”

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After a brief silence, he spoke. “Regardless of risk, I would go with the option that gives me the most benefits.”

Hearing his words, Soren looked up in shock at his hooded companion. Benefits… He looked back at Myrin sharply—his intentions were clear.

Myrin sighed. “Before we decide, how about we let fate show us the path? By the glory of the blossoms.”

“Fate?” Soren frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Yadrian Runology—Flower Divination,” he swung his arm and skillfully plucked a scarlet pink flower from a nearby bush. “I will pluck the petals from this flower one by one. If the last one plucked is pink, then I will teach you the method to unlock your Soul Realm. If it lands on a Scarlet petal, let the Flower Maiden bear witness to fate’s designs.”

Without waiting for Soren’s response, a cold breeze rushed past them—Myrin’s Soul Realm had been activated. Soren looked at him in shock as he held the flower with his eyes closed.

As if listening to his prayers, the flower wilted each petal one by one on its own, flowing in the wind. Soren decided not to waste the opportunity and activated [Eyes of the Fairy] to see what was truly happening.

With the tiny golden butterflies swimming in his irises, the fractal flooded enchanted forest appeared once more. However, this time, it held a different gradient of colors—Myrin’s Soul Realm, that was what he was witnessing. In his palm was the flower he had plucked, and yet something was different about it when being observed from the beyond. It was as if he was witnessing the flower exist in multiple states at the same time—an imposed image with a different set of petals being wilted could be seen overlapping the original.

The two layered images of the flowers losing their petals played at a different rhythm, as if showcasing different possible futures.

Suddenly, his vision flashed back to normal as a searing pain coursed through his skull. Ugh! It was much worse this time. Rubbing his temples, he looked back up at Myrin—the flower had lost all its petals. Myrin slowly opened his eyes—with a soft blow of air, what remained of the flower was sent flying into the forest.

“The results have come in. I will proceed to teach you how to manifest your Soul Realm.”

Before Soren could celebrate, Tyrel decided to pour cold water all over his mood, “That divination technique is advanced, but it isn’t omnipotent. What it foresaw is not guaranteed to mean that practicing how to manifest your Soul Realm won’t end in disaster.”

Noticing Soren’s annoyed expression, Myrin grinned. “What he said is right. Divination techniques like these rely on the information flowing through The Beyond to read one’s future. But it is simply a rudimentary answer. For example, maybe practicing how to manifest your Soul Realm won’t invoke danger, but the success of it will.”

Soren frowned. “The success of it? What do you mean?”

“Who knows,” Myrin shrugged while shamelessly grinning. “There could be a number of things that could impact your future after you awaken your Soul Realm. It’s impossible to really know. But, there is one aspect that is certain. A Soul Realm’s growth rate. This dictates how fast your ability to grow your Soul Realm is. And its usually impacted the most during the unlocking phase. Not all Soul Weapons are born equal after all. Some are more potent than others. And it entirely depends on the preparations a person undertakes prior to unlocking their Soul Realm. With how precarious your current situation is, rushing to unlock it now might hinder your future growth.”

“.....”

Myrin sighed. “The decision is still up to you.”

“I—”

Just when he was about to answer, distant sounds of ruffled bushes grabbed their attention. Myrin swiftly instructed the headless ogre to stop the carriage. He glanced over at Tyrel who nodded back at him while holding the blade sheathed to his back.

Soren squinted his eyes toward the distant bushes—it was very hard to see in the dark, but a silhouette was clearly taking form—what looked to be a human of some kind.

“Show yourself.” Tyrel commanded. A sudden chill spread with each word he spoke.

It took a bit longer for the thing to appear, but when it did, Soren could not believe his eyes.

What the hell?!

With a viscous black liquid pouring out of its eye sockets, the entity looked to be a Yadrian elf. It walked toward the carriage with its back hunched forward—stumbling with every step. Its robe, which was in tatters, did little to cover up its dried up skin.

Is that a fucking zombie?!

Soren looked toward Myrin for confirmation, but all he saw was pure confusion. The same with Tyrel. All three of them stayed frozen, awaiting whatever the ‘zombie’ elf was planning to do.

Just when it looked like it was about to attack them, the ‘zombie’ stumbled over a root and fell to the ground. It growled mindlessly as it slowly crawled toward them.

“Let’s approach it,” said Myrin—his joyful voice had been completely replaced. Tyrel nodded.

Soren watched from the front of the carriage as Tyrel took to the front while Myrin positioned himself behind him in case anything went wrong. Though rather than a response, the creature simply continued its mindless crawl toward the carriage. Seeing this, Myrin frowned. “I will try to calm it down.”

He manifested his Soul Weapon once again and began playing the flute. Although Soren wanted to relax to the music, something about the situation seemed odd. He continued to watch intently.

After a while, the ‘zombie’ came to a halt. It simply laid there on the cyan grass, growling. Myrin tried to read its thoughts using his Soul Realm, but all he obtained was silence. It was as if its soul was devoid of conscious thought. And yet, a desire he could not understand continued to burn within.

Myrin looked over at Soren and called him over.

Hm? He wants me to get near that thing? Although he was hesitant, he too was also curious about this situation. It reminded him of something, but he just couldn’t exactly understand why…

It was only when he got up close to its face that he realized why he was feeling a sense of Déjà vu.

“Memory Void Spirit!”