Chapter 152
Chapter 152
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Journey
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“It's more like a vessel than a seed.”
“A vessel?”
“A sacred vessel that holds the ego. If a spirit enters the seed, it will be reborn as a new being. For spirits of the spirit realm, it's something they desperately desire. That's the condition for contracting with a spirit.”
“Um.... I see.”
I didn't understand.
Anyway, it's a good item that lets you contract with spirits easily.
Anis, who had given me the reward, left with the elves.
I examined the spirit seed more closely.
It looked like a translucent amber gem wrapped in vines.
The method of use was simple.
Hold it in your hand, and the spirits would speak to you.
Then contract with one of them.
“Sh-should I try it now?”
Aila asked, looking at me with an excited face.
“Yeah.”
I was curious, and there was no reason to hold onto it.
The two elves' expectant gazes focused on me.
“First time seeing one?”
I asked them.
“Yes. We've only heard stories—we've never seen one.”
Luna's answer suggested it was a rare item even for elves.
‘Yeah?’
‘Attracted to this?’
It was supposed to be spirits speaking to me, but oddly enough, Suni was the one who spoke.
Was Suni a spirit?
She seemed closer to a mental entity than a spirit.
Or... an electronic spirit?
‘You want this?’
‘What if I say no?’
But Suni's regret was vividly conveyed to me.
‘Is it dangerous?’
‘You sure?’
‘What to do...’
It wasn't that I thought it would be a waste to give it away; I was just concerned whether it was okay for Suni, whose true nature was unknown, to come into contact with it.
“Why? Is there a problem?”
Aila couldn't hold back her curiosity as I held the seed without any reaction.
“Have you ever heard stories of bad spirits entering this seed...?”
“No, never.... It's a seed from the Tree of Life—isn't it just unnecessary worry?”
Luna tilted her head as she answered my question.
“Yeah?”
I kept holding it, but no voices from other spirits came—only Suni's.
Suni seemed to really want this spirit seed.
She's worked hard without pay all this time, so it wouldn't hurt to give her a gift.
‘Alright. I permit it.’
Joy was transmitted to me from Suni, who rarely showed emotional fluctuations.
Suni seeped into the spirit seed.
The spirit seed began to glow with a black light.
It felt less like glowing black and more like absorbing light.
The black mana stone I had picked up before awakening...
It might not have been a mana stone, but anyway, the light it emitted was similar.
“Huh? It entered?”
Aila's eyes widened at the change in the spirit seed.
“Yeah...”
“What spirit entered?”
“.......An electronic spirit?”
“Electronic spirit...? What's that? I've never heard of it...”
“Well..... First time for me too...”
I brushed it off vaguely.
“Huh? Un-ho's armor...”
As Aila spoke, I looked at my body—the mana armor dispersed, and in an instant, I was naked.
“........”
“........”
I felt Luna's gaze subtly scanning my body, her face slightly flushed.
“Wh-what are you doing, you idiot!! Stripping naked in a place like this!”
“No... this is...”
Originally, Suni had been a simple voice-recognition AI in the combat suit.
When I awakened, she got mixed into the system abilities.
After that, Suni showed capabilities like a real AI.
Especially her ability to utilize my mana was astounding even to me.
If I was the hardware, Suni was the software.
Suni was the one controlling my mana to maintain the armor.
With Suni entering the spirit seed, that control was released. It seemed she had been managing the mana armor in real time.
I could create mana armor myself, but I couldn't make it as refined as she did, and constantly focusing on maintaining it during normal times was subtly annoying.
I pulled out jeans and a T-shirt from my inventory and hurriedly put them on.
And since I'd decided to pretend to be a mage, I materialized a black robe with mana and draped it over myself.
Materializing mana was great and all, but I regretted that I couldn't choose the color.
You can't have a mage without a staff.
I figured the marquess's high-end staff would be perfect for cosplay.
“There's tracking magic on that staff. I'm only 4th circle, so I can't remove it. Anise could have...”
Anise was already long gone.
I couldn't walk around openly carrying something with tracking magic on it.
So in the end, I reluctantly took out the shabby mage staff I'd gotten from the elf forest.
“The time it takes for the spirit that entered the seed to emerge is said to be anywhere from a few days to several years.”
Luna's words weren't exactly good news.
‘You should have told me that earlier...’
In my hand, the spirit seed was emitting a faint black light.
Suni, out of commission.
It was an unexpected vacation for Suni.
With Suni down, things became quite inconvenient.
For starters, I had to take out my own clothes and dress myself.
I had to manually check the system inventory window to find items.
The convenience of just thinking and having Suni pull out exactly what I needed was gone.
‘Whining about something this minor is a bit spoiled, but...’
Originally, humans want to sit when standing and lie down when sitting.
I couldn't exactly halt our plans just because Suni was down.
Worried something annoying might crop up, we set off for the Slumber Labyrinth without re-entering Erfu.
Slumber was southeast of Erfu on the map.
It wasn't that close.
From my previous investigation in Erfu, it was said to take nearly a month on foot.
We followed the road that seemed connected to it on the map.
It said a small village would appear along the way, but even after a day passed, none showed up.
On the map, it was marked as extremely close...
The scale seemed completely off.
I figured there was at least one village on this road.
It was only slightly better than having no map at all.
All three of us had good stamina, so our travel speed was fast, but...
‘Should I have gotten a horse in Erfu?’
Then again, there hadn't been any chance while rescuing the elves.
No people were in sight at all.
‘We should have run into someone by now...’
Even following the map.
Walking endlessly down the silent road was starting to make me anxious that we might be heading the wrong way.
I couldn't rely on the elves, who were clueless about this world's ways.
“I've been thinking since the Silvia rescue... Are you really a mage?”
She must have had doubts after seeing me fight with a greatsword during Silvia's rescue.
“Yeah, I'm a mage.”
“A mage who fights like that?”
“Yeah. Doubting me? Perfect timing...”
Burly figures poured out from the bushes on both sides of the road, surrounding us.
They looked human-like at a glance.
But their prominent, dirty nostrils and long fangs protruding from both sides of their mouths and noses.
Orcs.
Their height wasn't much different from humans', but their muscular builds made them feel far more intimidating and larger.
They were equipped with somewhat filthy gear.
Despite the large number of orcs that appeared, none of us were scared.
Just by looking, none of them seemed able to handle mana.
So there was no reason to be tense.
“Kruk. Human looks meaty. Tasty. Kruk.”
An ugly orc looked at me and spoke.
A male orc eyeing me and licking its lips—it seriously pissed me off.
“Aila, watch closely. This is my magic. Dark Spear!”
I created a black mana spear.
And hurled the mana spear at the orc that had licked its lips at me.
The mana spear pierced the orc's head in an instant.
The orc fell backward with the mana spear still lodged in its head.
“Kruk?”
The orcs wore dumbfounded expressions at the sudden turn of events.
“See?”
“See what! Anyone can tell that's just arm strength! What kind of magic is that?”
“Hah... You still won't believe this?”
“Yeah.”
“No helping it. I'll show you another spell.”
“Another spell?”
“Watch closely. Earthquake!”
I lifted one foot and stomped down hard.
-Boom!
The ground where I stomped caved in, and the earth shook.
The orcs staggered from the vibration.
“Kruk! H-high mage!! R-run!! Kuruk!”
The orcs panicked and scattered in all directions, fleeing.
“See?”
“You're insane!! That was just ignorantly stomping your foot!!”
“Hey... You still won't believe your boyfriend? Looks like I'll have to make you regret it big time tonight.”
Even so, bickering with my pretty elf girlfriend made for an entertaining trip.
After that, we camped for two more days.
And discovered a small village.
```