Chapter 54: Soul Absorption

Chapter 54: Soul Absorption

Emilia spent a long time examining the various plants, playing with the fish, and even sat down to meditate between two large boulders overgrown with moss. In this secluded space, mana was abundant and meditation was productive. For a long time, Emilia had been trying to improve her muscles and force them to utilize at least three times the world's average mana expenditure. After nearly a full year of attempts, she had only managed to double their efficiency, granting her the strength of a young teenager. But this was woefully inadequate. The terrifying battles she had witnessed showed the critical importance of being even slightly stronger and faster than your enemies. Often, a fraction of a second's advantage could decide the fight.

The harmonious environment helped her sink into a deeper meditation. She guided the rich earth mana, energizing muscle after muscle. She directed her blood to draw from the body's mana-rich energy reserves, then flow through the newly expanded channels. She guided it through even the smallest, most winding veinlets to ensure every cell was nourished. From time to time, she found spots where the tiny veinlets encountered difficulties. Perhaps they had accumulated impurities, maybe the veins were too small, or slightly too short. Perhaps the space between the cells was clogged.

Emilia had to strive tirelessly to continuously improve her control. For her, it was incredibly difficult just to sense such problems, and even harder to remove them. She couldn't attack them directly; she had to seek out all sorts of circuitous methods.

She had spent long years bedridden in her hospital room, constantly searching for news about new medications and treatment options for her rare illness. To understand the complex medical jargon, she often reviewed materials online, and questioned doctors and nurses. She had an excellent grasp of the body's structure, the function of organs, and even understood a little biochemistry.

The new skills provided by the Great System, created personally by Prometheus and the New Gods, helped her recall most of this knowledge.

Furthermore, she had the opportunity to apply it directly. Every day, she explored her body, seeking new possibilities and solving new problems. She was very small, and her experience was limited, but with time this would improve, and her knowledge would have ever-increasing opportunities for application.

Emilia meditated long and deep. For the first time since leaving the village, she managed to relax, and her spiritual energy was restored. There was no wind in the chamber, and nothing could disturb her spiritual tranquility. Butterflies circled, fish swam in the lake, and the unearthly aura of this small island of color, contrasting with the gloomy tunnels, delighted her senses.

Hours passed, and Emilia finally opened her eyes. She slowly looked around, and without rushing, collected the last samples of various plants and mosses. The water descending from above had managed to bring down numerous mana-rich pebbles, which she carefully gathered, filling not only her backpack but also her pockets. Even so, many remained on the ground, albeit the weakest ones.

A lot of time had passed, and Emilia worried about the old Fjorn. She looked around the chamber one last time and, after assuring herself that everything was in order, ran back toward the base.

Within an hour, she was back at the camp. Master Fjorn was waiting for her and, in the meantime, had managed to collect quite a few dry thorns, allowing them to light a small fire to warm themselves.

Emilia quickly shared her discoveries, pulling out the monster cores, the mossy leaves, and the herbs.

Master Fjorn carefully examined the smaller cores.

"These are some kind of communication artifacts. I think the fungus somehow animated these creatures and controlled them to look after it. Those mental attacks the System warned you about clearly show the fungus developing in that direction. Keep them safe. If you develop the necessary skills, one day you might be able to use them to remotely manage a formation or even a series of simple glyphs. Or you could sell them." As he spoke, Fjorn looked at the strange, mossy leaves.

"These leaves are quite interesting. I can't figure out their properties, but one thing is clear: they are very tenacious, and I think we can dry them and use them as a base for simple talismans. Ordinarily, this wouldn't work, but the mana here is quite dense, so perhaps it will. Arrange them near the fire, and later I'll figure out the best way to dry them with magic."

Emilia and Fjorn talked for a long time, but eventually, Fjorn excused himself, claiming fatigue, and wrapped himself in his travel blanket. Emilia was well-rested and stood guard for a few hours, after which she woke the talisman master and lay down to sleep.

Over the next few days, Emilia made two more trips to the strange meadow. She collected more pebbles, plants, and most importantly, the mossy leaves. They managed to dry them using a simpler formation and fire from dry thorns.

Fjorn was still recovering, but he could now move around, albeit with difficulty.

Emilia explored some of the nearby tunnels and even found two shadow creatures trying to break one of the strange mirrors. She surprised them and killed them with her magic, even managing to collect the blood from their hearts. Fjorn praised her at length, lovingly gazing at the full vials.

As he had promised earlier, he showed Emilia a few simpler glyphs and explained how they worked. He was bound by numerous contracts and wasn't allowed to reveal most of his knowledge, but these simple glyphs were widely accessible. "You can even buy their descriptions for a few dozen silver coins. They’re nothing special."

Until recently, those few dozen silver coins would have represented weeks of labor and deprivation, but Emilia decided to keep quiet. She thanked the master three times for his generosity.

"You saved my life, Emilia. I might not have survived against the shadow creatures. Or I might have been severely wounded and recovering for a long time, risking my life every hour. I may not be able to show you the more complex glyphs, but I can pass on a lot of the theoretical knowledge I've gathered my whole life."

For three days, Fjorn talked all day about his experience as a formation master. He focused on the sensing and balancing of auras, which he considered the most important skill. He had noticed that Emilia was already starting down that path.

"It took me years until I started working with auras. At your age, I was playing with wooden toys and didn't even know what a writing brush looked like, let alone how to read and write. In this life, I've seen all kinds of geniuses, but I strongly doubt that many of them surpass you. Perhaps only the children of the most elite nobles and the Imperial Family."

"It's nothing special, Uncle Fjorn. I can just draw a few crooked lines. A hen scratching in the dust often leaves better ones," Emilia said modestly.

"What are you saying? You taught yourself to read and write just like that, without even having a teacher," he praised her again.

"Oh, no, it's not exactly like that. I'm a little slow you see, and I kept asking everyone I could for a whole year. It was soo bad, that they would run away just seeing me, that's how slow I was."

"And yet, that shows a strong spirit and persistence."

"No, no, what spirit, what persistence? Just donkey stubbornness."

The two continued in this manner for a while, and Emilia soon returned to her meditation, a slight smile visible on her face.

The most important thing that happened over the last few days was that Emilia began to absorb the small, amphora-like cores from the fungus. She tried many different methods but finally settled on a combination of Mana Absorption and Soul Absorption.

These cores were quite different from the soul fragments left after battles. Somehow, their nature was distinct, but their effect was very potent. After the very first meditation, in which she absorbed one-tenth of the energy from a single core, she managed to raise her Soul Absorption skill by three whole units, and her soul was strongly energized. She could literally feel her magic become slightly stronger, her control improved, her body became a little more responsive, and her Mana increased from 102 to 105 units.

In subsequent meditations, the result was not as dramatic as the first, but she still reached an impressive 115 Mana! This, combined with the mana-rich environment and the magical root's juices, helped her improve her body every day, and her brain was constantly refreshed. Thus, she absorbed the knowledge that Master Fjorn taught her and asked many questions. She drew a series of talismans and successfully learned and activated the new glyphs that Master Fjorn passed on to her.

Fire Glyph
Powered by a mana source and the correct lines, this glyph created a small flame about 20 to 30 centimeters above the glyph. It lasted for a few seconds, and its temperature was comparable to the flame of a large pillar candle.

Light Glyph
When activated, this glyph simply glowed with a soft, unobtrusive light.

Air Glyph
This glyph could be pre-regulated using various foundational lines. Fjorn spent a long time explaining the theory behind such control. He dedicated at least two hours to how glyphs were activated in sequences and how wind could extinguish the Fire Glyph but could also fuel it and significantly increase its temperature. A simpler Fire Glyph had its limitations, but stronger fire glyphs could not reach even 15% of their potential strength without being influenced by other positive effects, such as that of the wind.

Ice Glyph
There was an Ice Glyph that could make the air cold or, if connected directly to an object, lower its temperature. Over time, interesting combinations could be made with an ice-cold, piercing wind, and when combined with water beforehand, a terrifying ice blizzard could be constructed. Higher-level glyphs could create hurricane-force gales with frigid winds carrying huge ice balls at high velocity. If a little earth mana was added to this for faster hardening, the ice particles had the chance to take all sorts of strange shapes, some sharper than obsidian, with needle-fine edges capable of slicing skin like a scalpel.

Fortification Glyph
Emilia received the Air-Fire-Earth-Water-Ice-Light glyphs, after which Fjorn taught her his final one—the glyph for reinforcing structures and their auras. This was a more complex glyph, the beginning of the branching path toward item enchantment.

Formations mainly used it to strengthen walls and in building construction. If drawn correctly, it could make armor tougher, and for a weapon, besides strength, it could slightly amplify the weapon's own penetrating aura. Although this specific glyph did not have a particularly strong effect, stronger weapons automatically became sharper because they maintained a keener and longer-lasting edge.

A whole week passed this way without them noticing. Fjorn recovered his physical strength, although his mana remained chaotic. Emilia absorbed the three fungal cores and reached 117 Mana. Her soul's power grew significantly, and this improved all her other statistics. For some reason, even the active skill Dispel Ignorance was becoming somewhat better. With its help, she could see the complex tangles of mana and auras within formations with exceptional clarity.