I lay down to rest for a moment and ended up falling asleep without realizing it. I had no idea how much time had passed, but when I woke up, my body was completely recovered, with no signs of pain or fatigue remaining.
How wonderful!
"Shiraori, I found this while you were sleeping."
Meradis brought over a strange-looking item and held it up in front of me. It was a small, round gemstone emitting a faint glow. Its surface was covered in flowing patterns, like currents. Each line pulsed with a dim light, as if it were breathing softly.
"This... where did you find it?" I asked, reaching out to touch the gem. A cold sensation spread instantly upon contact, causing me to jerk my hand back.
So cold!
This thing hadn't been on the Greater Spirit before…
"In the remains of the Greater Spirit." Meradis replied, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"If it's something related to Spirits, do you know anything about it?" I asked.
"It doesn't seem like a core, but it's definitely something important. I've never seen anything like it, not even from the Greater Spirits I've met before. None of them ever mentioned something like this."
Hmm…
Even Meradis doesn't know—then I'm really stumped.
I examined the gemstone more closely but couldn't detect anything familiar. There wasn't any intense pressure or frightening aura—just a faint flow of energy, almost completely hidden.
Even someone like Meradis, a Spirit herself, didn't feel anything from it.
"This doesn't look like an ordinary magic core," I muttered, flipping it in my hand. "It doesn't feel dangerous either. So why is it here?"
Weird…
The more I look at it, the more I hate it…
Maybe it's just because it came from the Greater Spirit—the one who just beat the crap out of me—that I feel this way??
Meradis furrowed her brows, her small wings fluttering. "It could be a Spirit relic—part of its power or memories. But we won't know for sure until we figure out a way to decipher it."
I nodded, agreeing with the theory. Relics often contain information, memories, or fragments of the power of their previous owners. But not everyone can access them—and trying can sometimes be dangerous.
"Use Appraisal! What's the point of having the skill if you don't use it?" Seina reminded me.
Ah!
I forgot.
Thank goodness for Seina.
Appraisal!
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So it really is a relic of the Greater Spirit!
That means... this is like a cocoon, and after some time, the Greater Spirit will be reborn from it??
No way!
What if it remembers that I killed it??
It has to be destroyed!
"Hold on! What are you being so hasty for?" Seina shouted in my mind.
Because… it's dangerous…
"At least tell Meradis first. This thing is clearly related to her race."
Hmm hmm, that makes sense??
I passed the information on to Meradis, and after hearing it, she stared blankly for a moment.
"Strange. Normally, Greater Spirits can leave behind a remnant and await rebirth after death—but that process requires the support of the Primordial Forest."
Huh??
What does that mean??
"The Primordial Forest is where the Spirit race has lived for thousands of years, so the natural mana there has become deeply integrated with them. Moreover, after the Primordial Tree was planted, it began producing a special type of crystal. These crystals are extremely compatible with Spirits—when Spirits are injured or drained of mana, they can use them to recover. Eventually, Greater Spirits discovered ways to use them for other purposes."
Oh, so that "other purpose" must be rebirth?
"But those crystals can only be produced by the Primordial Tree. I've never seen them anywhere else. Even Queen Marakia never recorded anything like this."
Hmm...
Another mystery.
So, what should I do with this thing?
"Greater Spirits usually don't retain memories from their past life after being reborn. They keep the same skills and stats, but their mindset and personality are like that of a child."
"Shiraori could keep it, nourish it with energy, and when it's reborn, it might even recognize you as its master."
Oh? A good thing like that actually exists?!
"But... shouldn't you be the one to do this?" I asked. I mean, good stuff like this doesn't usually just fall into my lap.
"I don't get to decide that. There's something I haven't told anyone—my father has a strong bias against Greater Spirits. Even if this one came from the Dungeon, just hearing the term 'Greater Spirit' could set him off."
So he's the kind of old man who holds a grudge against a whole group, huh...
But still, I have a bad feeling—things that seem too good rarely turn out crispy...
"Let me try feeding it some energy." I said, closing my eyes and focusing as I gently infused a small amount of mana into the gem.
But nothing happened.
The gemstone maintained its weak glow, offering no response. I opened my eyes with a slight sense of disappointment.
How long will I have to keep pouring energy into this thing?
What if it eats a ton of my mana and then, when it hatches, refuses to recognize me as its master…?
But really, what's the point of worrying? As long as I'm strong enough by then to overpower it, it'll be fine.
I hesitated for a moment. Keeping something like this definitely carries risks—but passing on something potentially tied to a Greater Spirit isn't the smartest move either.
"Let's just keep it for now," I said, placing the gem into a small box.
"Alright, but you should be careful," Meradis warned.
I nodded and packed the box into my gear. Some vague instinct told me this gem would play an important role in the future—even though for now, it was still a complete mystery.
I stood up and looked around the battlefield. The signs of combat were still clear: cracked ground, and shattered fragments of stone and ice scattered about.
"Meradis, did you find anything else besides the gem?"
"Just a few shards from the Spirit's body, but they're too weak to be useful. It seems all of its power vanished with its death."
"Then let's get out of here. We've still got a long journey ahead." I said, letting out a small breath of relief. That makes one-fifth of the way through this Dungeon complete.
That's definitely a milestone worth marking!
"You really think the battle's over?" Meradis chuckled, floating beside me.
I hope so. But I never let my guard down.
…
Leaving the 20th floor, I continued moving upward, but the problem was that I still couldn't evolve!
Why am I still missing something…? I thought defeating that boss would be enough.
Currently, all I can do is return to the previous floors and repeat the same old method: summon a bunch of monsters and order them to bring prey back to me. But another issue is that the distance between each floor is quite far, so it would take me quite a bit of time to travel.
Hrm…
What should I do now…
If only there was a "saving point" so I could teleport between the floors instantly.
But why not?
If it doesn't exist, then I'll just create one myself.
Let's see… Doesn't seem like there's any skill that would be of much help…
Oh, there's this skill — [Flash].
It's already level nine, so I think I'll upgrade it and evolve it right away. Though I'm not sure if it can evolve…
Oh wait, I still have one level of [Support Evil Eye]!
Nice.
Let's use it now.
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Nice.
Now let's see if it can evolve…
I waited nervously for the system sound.
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There it is!
It evolved!
Teleportation… exactly what I needed.
I really must be the luckiest person alive. But still, can I manage with just this one skill…?
Anyway, first I want to test out this new skill.
Teleport!
Woaaa… woaaa…
So dizzy…
Its effect isn't that different from [Flash], but why does it make me feel so dizzy…?
I tried it a few more times, and the dizziness still lingered, forcing me to take breaks to recover.
Hrm…
Maybe Suzu would know something?
I entered the Virtual World to look for Suzu—luckily, she had already woken up.
Suzu, why do I feel dizzy when I use the [Teleport] skill?
"You evolved the skill?"
Yeah.
I think this is my biggest gain after the fight with the Great Spirit.
"[Teleport] is a bit different from [Flash]," Suzu answered after thinking for a moment.
How so?
"Flash simply moves you at an extremely high speed in one of the surrounding directions. It's so fast it becomes unobservable, hence the name 'flash,' but in reality, your body still remains within the physical world during that time."
Mmm-hmm…
"But Teleport uses an intermediary space to transfer you to your desired location. That is, the 'Void Rift' we once passed through."
Oh.
So what effect does that have?
"Normally, spatial teleportation is very difficult because the 'Void Rift' doesn't accept any living beings except for Void Beasts, which are born there. Moving through it too much can lead to symptoms like headaches, physical weakness, corrosion… and most importantly, it may cause spatial distortion, and in the worst-case scenario, everything could collapse entirely."
Eh?!
That's terrifying!
So does that mean I can't use this skill anymore?
Suzu smiled reassuringly and continued, "That's not the case. First, the skill [Soul Attack Immunity] will block those side effects. The headaches you're experiencing are just from your body not adapting yet during the moment of teleportation. Second, spatial collapse only happens when teleporting a large group of people frequently. So in short, if you just practice using the skill for a few days, those symptoms will disappear."
Oh, I see.
Thanks, Suzu.
Based on Suzu's explanation, I figured I'd need at least a few days to get used to this skill before thinking about making teleportation points.
To be safe, I returned to the 20th floor and practiced there. I trained for three days and also discovered a few new uses of teleportation—and the more I learned, the more I realized how powerful this skill really was.
For example, with Flash before, I could only move in one of four straight directions and always covered a fixed distance. That could be dangerous if the enemy had good reflexes and predicted my movement. But with Teleport, I could move in any direction, and even adjust the travel distance freely.
So convenient!
The dizziness has vanished, and now I just need to keep training it until I master it completely. This is an essential skill in all situations, so I have to make sure I fully grasp it.
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Gaining two levels is already quite helpful.
I think I've pretty much got it now, but before proceeding with teleportation point research, I still have a few things I need to do.
First, I returned to the ice region to check on that spirit. It still seemed to be sleeping but had recovered quite a bit.
Good, I'll just leave it here.
Next up is another issue that's no less important!
During the battle with the Great Spirit, a notification popped up from the system about the fusion of elemental magic skills.
If I remember correctly, the system mentioned that the skills needed to be the same level. Right now, only [Wind Magic] hasn't reached level 3 yet.
I don't think it'll take too long.
After that, I spent two days training, and finally, it reached level 3.
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Oh oh, here we go!
Don't let me down.
…
A moment passed, but still nothing happened.
Huh??
I remember that every time a skill evolved or fused, it was always immediate—why is it taking so long now…?
I waited a bit longer, but still nothing happened. Looks like I'll have to wait for a while. In that case, I guess it's time for me to start focusing on my main task.