Chapter 0178

After her conversation with Cardis, Tempest searched for a safe place to meditate and have a heart to heart talk with her spirits.

Cardis was right in that they shouldn’t completely trust anything they don’t understand and at the same time he pointed out how little she understood her spirits.

Tempest jumped to the worst conclusion about her spirits given a little bit of provocation.

Mages cultivate by working with their spirits. The spirits channel energy from their plane and merge with the ambient mana in the Cardinal Realm and infuse it into the body of their mortal. The mortal receives all the benefits in this case. The mortal also receives teaching from the spirits if they effectively communicate with each other.

The mage entrusts their bodies to the spirits.

Tempest doesn’t trust the relationship where one side does all the giving and one side does all the taking. If it were to continue as such, then the giving side will break.

As she was on the receiving end of the benefits, it is she who would suffer should the spirits withhold or stop giving her the energy to grow. Tempest wants to be in control of her fate. She wants to control her own life, do what she feels like doing, going where she feels like going, living the life she wants to live. She doesn’t want to be dependant on anything, not even the spirits.

Tempest likens the mana the spirits provide their mortal a form of the drug. Mages need the mana provided by the spirits. They might go into withdrawal if they were cut off from the mana. Tempest hates drugs with a passion. She hates the control drugs had on her life and by subconsciously likening mana to drugs, Tempest views mana as a necessary evil, to be used cautiously.

Tempest knew she had to change. As to what she needs to change, she doesn’t know. That’s why she is going to have a good long talk with her spirits. She needs answers and knowledge, knowledge the spirits are withholding from her.

Once she found a good spot to meditate, she set up the formation Cardis gave her for her protection and started to meditate.

Tempest closed her eyes and searched for her connections with her spirits. She found the connection easily and sent her consciousness towards her spirits.

“Hello, Tempest. It is good to see you here.” Ventus. Only Ventus had that gentle, soothing cadence that calms the listener.

Tempest was about to say, “I don’t want to be here so tell me everything I need to know so I can get back to living my life,” but she realized she was acting like a petulant child demanding answers from her parents. Being a brat wasn’t the right way to start a relationship, although what kind of relationship Tempest wants with her spirits, she doesn’t know.

“Where are we?” Tempest asked neutrally as she tried to assess Ventus but it was hard to assess air.

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“We are at the border of your sea of consciousness and the spiritual plane.”

“Mizu.”

“Yes.”

“I figured it was you. Your voice always sounds like a gentle stream lazily meandering its way through the land.”

“And I am Astrapi.” A booming yet feminine voice echoed through Tempest's sea of consciousness. Tempest instinctively claps her hands over her ear to try and block out the sounds but it does nothing since they are in her sea of consciousness. They are speaking directly to her mind and their voices take on their individual characteristics.

“You are all here. Why don’t you take visual form? It makes it easier to talk to you guys.”

“We exist like this because you have not let us enter your mind.”

“It’s a thin line. I’ve no doubt you could cross it at any time. No need to wait on my account.” Tempest said sarcastically.

“It may be a thin line to you, but it is a chasm to us. We could forcibly cross the line and enter your sea of consciousness but that would destroy the trust between us.” Although Ventus did not outright scold Tempest for her sarcasm, she can feel the rebuke in Ventus’ words.

“I’m sorry.” Tempest apologized and she meant it. Old habits die hard and it was ingrained into Tempest not to trust in the supernatural. Even when she came to the Cardinal Realm, she never fully trust the spirits. She made use of them when she needed to but complete trust wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Trust has to start somewhere. The spirits already gave her their trust and it was up to Tempest to reciprocate.

“I invite my spirits, the collective known as Ventus, Mizu and Astrapi into my sea of consciousness.”

There were no fireworks, raids, battle for dominances or World War III when all of Ventus, Mizu and Astrapi entered Tempest’s sea of consciousness. There was a sense of completeness and a calm soothing aura spreading through Tempest’s sea of consciousness, enlarging the area by at least three times.

“Welcome home.” Tempest felt tears trailing down her face and she viciously wiped them away. The sense of disconnect she had long felt vanished as if it had never been. She finally felt complete.

Still, a feeling at the back of her head told her something was not right. Tempest took the time to inspect every inch of her sea of consciousness to appease the strange behavior.

Aside from the enlargement from the welcoming the spirits in, there was nothing wrong with her sea of consciousness. Tempest closed her eyes and inspect her body. Again, nothing was wrong. Still, the feelings persist.

“Tempest, what is wrong? Do you regret inviting us in?” Ventus ask, worried about Tempest’s strange behavior. They didn’t want Tempest to regret inviting them into her sea of consciousness. Tempest had been and will always be their top priority. “If you don’t like it, we can leave.”

It was a generous offer of the spirits’ part, one Tempest refused. “You are already here. No need to leave.”

“Then what is wrong? You seem to behave strangely since you invited us in.”

“I don’t know what is wrong with me either. I’m happy you guys decided to take up residence in my sea of consciousness but at the same time there is a nagging feeling at the back of my head telling me I’ve somehow been tricked.” Tempest guilelessly told the spirits her feelings. Once Tempest decided to trust someone, in the spirits' case something, then she trusts them wholeheartedly.

Back in the spirit plane, a ripple of uneasiness spread through the collective. “I see you are still uneasy about us. It is alright for you to feel that way. We will prove to you you’ve made the right decision.”

“It’s not that Ventus. I don’t like this feeling without knowing the cause.” Tempest tried to explain her feelings yet she was stymied by her inability to articulate her emotions. “Anyways, we have to talk, you guys. So start explaining.”

Ventus smiled gently as she started her explanation, while the main collective on the spiritual plane settled down as if they dodged a bullet.