Chapter 35: Chapter 035 The Soul in the Ancient Castle
Editor: Atlas Studios
The room on the first floor of the ancient castle.
Richard sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, clearly feeling his body grow heavier bit by bit, like a stone sinking rapidly in water, while his consciousness grew lighter and floated up swiftly like a feather caught in the wind.
A sense of vibration arose, a cellular-level tremor resulting from the separation of consciousness from the body. Richard distinctly sensed one burning magnetic line from the star penetrating his body, inputting energy to accelerate the separation process.
The vibration quickly reached its peak, and under the control of his spiritual power, his consciousness moved toward the outside of his body.
But suddenly, Richard felt an invisible force acting upon his consciousness, pushing it back just as it was about to leave his body.
“Hmm? What’s going on?” Richard was slightly puzzled, as this had never happened before. After pondering for a long time, he tried controlling his consciousness to “drill out” from the side of his body, but as soon as he “poked out,” the obstructive force appeared again, forcefully pushing his consciousness back into his body.
The feeling was like sitting on a chair with someone beside you glaring intently. The moment you attempted to stand up, this person would immediately push you back down, pinning you to the seat so you couldn’t move.
This was somewhat infuriating.
Richard wasn’t angry, but he found it rather odd. What was causing this situation?
He had exited his body without the aid of anesthetics many times before with no obstacles. Why couldn’t he do it now in this ancient castle?
Could there be something in the castle?
Richard thought it over and decided not to give up easily and try again.
Composing himself, he chose a spot directly above his body, and controlled his consciousness to break away from his body forcefully.
The familiar sensation settled over him, a power appeared, pressing firmly on his consciousness as it attempted to break free from his body, trying desperately to push it back inside.
Richard summoned his spiritual power, resisting this force with all his might. In the next moment, he exerted a tremendous effort and heard a “bang,” as if something had been overturned. His consciousness shot out from his body forcefully, going through the ceiling to the second-floor room. Then, Richard noticed with some surprise that Pandora was curled up in a corner of the room upstairs, her purple crystal-like eyes gazing at a certain spot in the room below.
With a thought, Richard quickly understood two things.
First, Pandora couldn’t see him. In that case, Gregory likely wouldn’t be able to see him in his consciousness state either.
Second, Pandora knew something strange was in his room, something that likely almost thwarted his earlier attempt to exit his body. What could it be?
Thinking of this, Richard controlled his consciousness to quickly pass through the ceiling again and return to his original room, looking around and then freezing.
Richard realized that in the room, besides himself, there was another consciousness present.
To be precise, it couldn’t really be considered a consciousness, but something similar.
Compared to the solidity of his own consciousness, the other resembled a very thin gray mist and lacked the transparent tether connected to a body.
In other words, it was independent, a kind of entity that existed without a body. It hovered in mid-air, occasionally moving to reveal a vague female face, indistinct enough that even her age couldn’t be determined.
“This is…” Richard’s thoughts raced. There was no need to guess—it was evidently this entity that had been preventing him from exiting his body. But why was it obstructing him? And what exactly was it?
A soul? A ghost? A spiritual body?
Richard quickly pondered over it and, in the next moment, saw the entity approaching cautiously, reaching out with two arm-like appendages to wave quickly in front of him, emitting a faint consciousness fluctuation.
Upon analyzing carefully, Richard realized the entity was conveying a few words: “You… me… good… go back… danger!”
While Richard was contemplating the entity’s meaning, he saw it float backward, reaching out to grab the transparent tether connecting his body and spiritual body.
Instantly, a sense of extreme danger surged within Richard. He had a vague premonition: if the transparent tether broke, his consciousness might never return to his body, possibly transforming into an existence similar to this entity.
In the next moment, the spiritual power—enhanced through long meditation—exploded, an invisible force rapidly spreading toward the entity’s “soul body.”
A silent collision occurred, and the soul body didn’t have time to touch the transparent tether before it was bounced off by the spiritual power, slamming ruthlessly into the wall. Then Richard noticed something: the entity didn’t pass through the wall but instead stopped upon impact, as if stunned, taking a considerable time to regain its movement.
Was it a difference in density?
Could it be that the entity appeared somewhat similar to his own consciousness but was an entirely different existence? Like filtration in an experiment, though impurities and solutions mixed, the solution could pass through filter paper (the wall), while the impurities would be intercepted.
Had it lost its connection to the body, and as it weakened, something within it depleted, eventually becoming what it was now? Richard quickly conjectured, somewhat unsure.
He didn’t understand this world all that well yet. Some research had just begun, and despite minor breakthroughs, phenomena like souls and dragons clearly required long-term study to attempt scientific explanations. For now, only simple guesses could be made.
As Richard speculated, the soul body, having recovered from its “dazed” state, became extremely fearful, frantically waving its arm-like appendages, transmitting more unclear information through consciousness fluctuations: “No… kill… me… fear… dare not…”
Richard prepared to emit some consciousness fluctuations himself, attempting communication. But unexpectedly, the entity suddenly floated out the door, leaving the ancient castle rapidly.
“Gone?” Richard murmured inwardly.
After shaking his head in the next moment, Richard didn’t waste more time and instead controlled his consciousness to float upward, rising to hundreds of meters high to begin absorbing the energy projected by the star.
A vast amount of energy was absorbed into the Magic Origin within his body, stored and refined to become the mana needed to cast spells.
This was the wizard’s cultivation process. Tedious and lengthy, but inevitable.
Leaving a sliver of caution for the soul body that had just escaped, Richard devoted the rest of his focus to intense meditation.
The energy within the Magic Origin swiftly grew…
In the room upstairs, Pandora’s eyes flickered as she slowly turned her head to look into the distance, sensing something she disliked leaving.
But… that thing had always been in the castle. Though she found it somewhat annoying, she hadn’t the power to drive it away. How did it…
With a slight tilt of her head, looking down, Pandora’s eyes flickered once more.