The cold wind went through his robes, fluttering them. The sound of the flapping fabric and the wind were the only things he could hear besides his breathing. The ring in front of him brightly shone as if luring him into the realm.

"I need to find Gala and kill her."

Arthur spoke his plans into existence. His eyes flickered with unknown light as he looked at the portal. He repeated his plans, trying to digest them.

The portal glowed as Arthur walked into it. He took one step after the other until he stood in its center. An unknown force began pulling on his body as his palm turned ethereal.

"Welcome to the Spirits Realm, Seika of Living Beings."

A voice said in his mind. Arthur closed his eyes as his body turned ethereal, making him feel as if he was floating. When he opened his eyes again, all he could see was a white room.

"Hello?"

Arthur muttered, but his voice was silenced. He looked down at his body and found that it was not the same. Instead of one arm, Arthur now had two. However, all of his body was made of golden light.

"Are these... chains?" Arthur muttered as he looked at the intertwined rings beside him. "They look the same as the ones I used against Ellen."

They floated gently beside his golden body. He retained his humanoid figure, but he was nothing but light. Arthur stood up from his sitting position.

"How do I leave this room?"

There were no doors or windows in the surrounding, so Arthur was confused about getting out. He walked toward the white wall and touched it. Like a sliding door, the wall slid into itself and opened.

Walking out of the room, Arthur found himself standing on top of a suspended bridge. He walked a few steps before he looked back to see that he came out of a giant stone.

The bridge connected two stone peaks that had fog surrounding them. Arthur looked down, and there was nothing but fog. However, he could hear the flapping of wings.

'Are there monsters?'

Arthur looked around with apprehension. He grabbed the bridge's rope and crouched down, his chains surrounding him closely. The flapping of wings continued, and Arthur could tell it was a group rather than a single monster.

The fog suddenly parted as a figure darted from above him. Arthur raised his head to look at it and saw a winged horse made of blue light.

The horse had no physical body but only an ethereal outline of its shape. It neighed as it soared higher than the peaks, looking as if it was trying to defy the heavens.

The clouds parted in front of Arthur's eyes as a dragon's head peeked from between them. The dragon struck down the winged horse and sent it back down.

Arthur was in awe of the sight he witnessed. He looked at the tremendous ethereal dragon with amazement as it traveled between the peaks. It looked like a giant snake with shiny green scales.

'Is that... a spirit?'

Arthur imagined himself contracting such a spirit, but the dragon was gone before he snapped out of his reverie. He stood up and looked below. He tried to see the monsters flapping their wings, but the fog was too dense to see anything.

'I need to find Gala and then kill her.'

However, Gala was nowhere to be seen. All Arthur could do was to go to the stone peak and start climbing it. After getting tired, he glanced at his chains.

With a sudden thought, he tried controlling the chains. They moved as if they were extra limbs and shot out toward the rocky peak, piercing the stone wall.

"This works too?"

The chains were connected to his body, and they pulled him upward. As he got higher, the chains pierced a higher spot, and he climbed the stone peak in a few seconds.

"Phew, thanks," Arthur said to the chains, but they didn't reply. He felt a bit stupid for thanking something that felt like his own arm. He looked around again and found himself on a big summit. There were many ethereal beings here.

As he approached one of them, the giant frog turned to look at him with confusion. Arthur could see right through it. The frog opened its mouth and let out a huge bubble.

The bubble traveled to Arthur and covered his body in an instant. Then, suddenly, a warm glow surrounded his body as realization dawned on Arthur.

"A healing ability?" Arthur felt intrigued. "Are you showing me your ability?" The frog looked at him with bewilderment. It struck out its giant tongue, which was longer than Arthur's height, and licked him.

Arthur laughed as he felt the bond that the frog tried to construct with him. He realized that it was trying to establish a contract, but Arthur simply shook his head.

"I still have a few things to do,"

Arthur said before he walked away from the spirit. The frog didn't chase after him and simply hopped to a different spot. Arthur walked further down the peak, where other spirits interacted with him.

They were all very friendly, and each of them showed Arthur their capabilities. Arthur realized how versatile a spirits master could be by witnessing all of the abilities the spirits had.

The one point that made all the difference was that spirits didn't consume mana but spiritual energy. So, if you have a strong soul and lacking mana, you can win against awakeners using if you had a spirit.

The spirits all tried to establish a contract with him, but Arthur humbly declined. So instead, he asked all of them a single question.

"Is there another visitor in the realm beside me?"

He hoped some of these spirits would understand his meaning, even if his voice was muffled, but they all looked at him with confusion.

He searched for almost two days, walking without stopping before he felt too tired to continue. Finally, he sat on the edge of a highland that overlooked the endless fog.

"GALA?" Arthur shouted, but there was no response. He sighed and swung his legs, thinking of a way to find the witch.

A few giant monsters flew beside him, and one of them was a flying fruit. The fruit looked at him with confusion, as if thinking that Arthur was calling for it. Arthur simply shook his head.

"I'm looking for a friend." He told the spirit, who seemed to be unwilling to leave him. The spirit got closer to Arthur, hovering a small distance away from him.

"I may be able to help you,"

A voice said to him. Arthur looked at the fruit with amazement, but the spirit simply flew away without caring about him.

"I'm down here!"

The voice said again, and Arthur looked down. Beside his leg was a small spirit that looked like a grasshopper. It jumped on his leg and stood there proudly.

"You can... talk?"

"Yessir, it's rude to be this surprised. Most spirits can communicate, but it's up to luck to find one that knows your language."

"And how do you speak Yalveran?"

"I was once contracted to a young man who spoke the same language." The grasshopper said with a sad tone. "He died, so I returned to the Spirits Realm."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Arthur scratched his head. "Is that the reason that you talked to me?"

"No, sir, it's because you look different. Are you a high-tier spirit or a spiritual creature?" The grasshopper asked with confusion. "What are these chains?"

"Uh, I don't know." Arthur scratched his head again. "I'm not a spirit, but a human. So, I don't know what you talk about."

"A human?" The grasshopper jumped back in shock, landing on Arthur's knee. "Heavens, that can't be... a human with this amount of spiritual energy?"

"Someone said the same," Arthur said as he picked up the grasshopper and stood up. "Which reminds me: have you seen another visitor of the Spirits Realm?"

"Hm, another visitor?" The grasshopper pondered. "The Spirits Realm is merely the space between dimensions. So, you might others from other dimensions, making it quite impossible to find someone you know here."

"That can't be," Arthur shook his head as he allowed the grasshopper to rest on his shoulder. "The person I'm looking for told me that I need to find them in the realm."

"That is indeed strange." The grasshopper said as it chippered with its legs. "I think there's someone we can ask."

"Oh?" Arthur was surprised. "Who?"

"We call it the bookkeeper: a high-tier spirit that records everything that happens in the Spirits Realm. If you want to find a certain type of spirit, you can ask it."

"Would it be willing to help a stranger?" Arthur that it would be unlikely.

"Well, it's quite eccentric. I wouldn't rule out anything. Furthermore, you reek of Spiritual Energy. It might be interested in you." The grasshopper said with expectations.

"Alright." Arthur nodded. "What's your name?"

"Call me Mr. Hopper."

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