He closed his eyes.
Slowly, carefully, his awareness sank back into the mind palace.
The pale space appeared again around him.
It looked worse than before.
The reservoir of soul force no longer shone with the quiet clarity it once had. Its light flickered unevenly, thin fractures running through the surface like cracks in glass.
Even observing it made the pain spike faintly.
Riven ignored it.
Instead, he focused on the technique described in the manual.
Unlike the projection exercises he had practiced earlier, this method required force rather than precision.
He gathered what little soul force he could still control.
Then he began to spin it.
At first it was nothing more than a faint current forming around the reservoir.
But slowly it gained structure.
The current tightened.
Accelerated.
Until it formed a slow, spiraling vortex of pale light.
The moment it stabilized, the pain surged again.
The damaged soul resisted the movement violently, each rotation grinding against the fractures running through it.
Riven's body tensed.
Cold sweat formed on his forehead as the pressure tore through his mind.
But he gritted his teeth and forced the vortex to keep spinning.
Gradualy, the effect spread through the mind palace.
The rotating current began to pull at everything drifting within the pale space.
At first nothing responded.
Then—
A faint speck of light shifted in the distance.
A tiny droplet, barely visible against the pale backdrop.
Another appeared nearby.
Then another.
Fragments of Spider Dew.
The vortex tugged at them gently.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
One by one, the scattered droplets began drifting toward the spinning current.
Toward the damaged reservoir at its center.
One of the droplets reached the edge of the vortex.
For a moment it resisted, hovering just outside the spiraling current as if caught between stillness and motion.
Then the pull became too strong.
The fragment slipped into the rotation.
It circled the reservoir once.
Twice.
Then it dissolved.
The effect was immediate.
The fractured light of the reservoir shivered as the foreign essence sank into it. One of the thin cracks running across its surface tightened slightly, the pale glow around it growing steadier.
At the same time, the pressure in Riven's head eased—just a fraction.
He noticed it instantly.
Not relief.
But proof.
It was working.
Riven forced the vortex to continue spinning.
The movement scraped painfully across the wounded structure of his soul, each turn sending another sharp pulse through his mind.
His breathing grew uneven.
Sweat ran down his temples.
Still, he held the technique together.
Another fragment drifted closer.
Then another.
Tiny droplets of faint light slowly emerged from the quiet depths of the mind palace, drawn out by the spinning current like dust pulled toward a whirlpool.
Each one joined the vortex.
Each one dissolved into the soul force.
With every fragment absorbed, the cracked light of his soul grew slightly steadier.
The fractures did not vanish.
Not yet.
But they began to mend.
Slowly.
Painfully.
And little by little—
His wounded soul started to stitch itself back together.
Enough that the pain slowly began to loosen its grip.
At one point the vortex slowed slightly as the reservoir absorbed a larger droplet of essence.
The pale light flickered.
Then stabilized again.
His soul gradualy mended.
Eventually the space around the reservoir calmed.
The vortex slowed.
And when the last faint speck of Spider Dew dissolved into the pale light—
Riven finally allowed the current to fade.
Silence returned to the mind palace.
The fractures were gone, the pale light whole again, steady and calm like it had been before.
Riven exhaled slowly.
It really is a miracle medicine.
Just like the sect had claimed.
If only it hadn't come with that strange foreign will hidden inside it...
He studied the mind palace carefully one last time.
Nothing moved.
The deeper layers of his soul remained quiet.
No stirring.
No reaction.
Riven sighed in relief.
Not just because the pain was gone and his soul had been restored.
But also because the presence that had defended him earlier had not reacted again.
Which meant his guess had probably been right.
The invading will was truly gone.
But then Riven frowned.
Realizing something else.
Even if the intruding will had been destroyed… there had still been something else inside his soul.
Another will.
One he hadn't even known existed until it suddenly woke up.
That realization sent a small chill through him.
It wasn't like the ancient presence from the Spider Dew.
That one had felt foreign.
Cold.
Hostile.
The other presence had felt different.
Closer.
Almost like it had been a part of himself.
And yet… not quite.
There had been something strangely familiar about it.
But also distant.
It was a difficult feeling to describe.
Weird.
Riven hesitated for a moment before extending his perception back into the mind palace.
He searched carefully.
Scanning the reservoir.
The surrounding soul space.
The deeper layers beneath the pale light.
But he found nothing.
Everything looked normal.
At least in his eyes.
Riven sighed.
He wasn't exactly an expert when it came to souls.
He barely understood what he was even supposed to be looking for.
Or how.
After a while he withdrew his awareness again.
For now… he would leave it alone.
Whatever that presence had been, it had saved him.
Until proven otherwise—
He would consider it a blessing.
Riven opened his eyes.
For a moment he simply sat there, letting the quiet settle around him.
The room felt different now.
Not because anything had changed.
But because the constant pressure inside his head was finally gone.
He rolled his shoulders slowly, testing the feeling.
No stabbing pain.
No ringing behind his eyes.
Just… calm.
Riven leaned back on the bed for a second..
Then he pushed himself up.
He wanted some fresh air.
>>>
Jasmine Garden greeted him with soft sunlight and the faint rustle of leaves.
The air carried the quiet scent of flowers and damp soil, a calm contrast to the chaos that had filled his mind only hours ago.
Riven walked slowly along the stone path.
His head still felt slightly light, as if his thoughts had more space than before.
A figure crouched beside one of the flower beds ahead.
Brann.
The hulking man was trimming a cluster of pale blossoms, occasionally brushing dirt from his hands as he worked. He moved very carefully, a strange contrast to his rough appearance.
He glanced up when Riven approached.
"That must have been an intense cultivation session," Brann said casually.
Riven blinked.
"Why?"
Brann tilted his head.
"Because you were locked in your room for three days without food or anything."
He spoke as if it simply made sense.
But Riven's mouth opened slightly.
"…Three?"
Brann shrugged.
"Give or take."
Riven stood there for a moment, staring at him.
How did three days pass?
I thought it was maybe two hours…
The thoughts settled slowly in his mind, like stones dropping into still water.
But before he could explore it further—
His stomach growled.
Loudly.
As if to remind its owner that it had been neglected.
His body suddenly remembered something his mind had been too occupied to care about.
Hunger.
Without another word, he turned and walked back toward his room.
By the time Riven stepped back inside, the hunger had grown sharp enough to make his head spin.
He didn't bother with anything complicated.
Instead he reached into his spatial ring and pulled out one of the wrapped ration bundles he had prepared during the Verdance trip.
Dried meat.
Flat travel bread.
Nothing fancy.
But right now it might as well have been a feast.
Riven sat down and started eating.
Quickly.
Not quite desperate, but close enough.
Within minutes the first bundle was gone.
He opened another.
Only after the worst of the hunger faded did he finally slow down.
Then he reached for a water flask from the ring.
He wedged it between his legs to free his hand before uncorking it.
Cool water ran down his throat, washing away the dryness that had built up over the past days.
Riven exhaled quietly.
Good thing it's still filled.
He stored the flask again and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before leaning back slightly.
For the first time since drinking the Spider Dew, things felt… normal.
Quiet.
Stable.
But knowing that three days had passed, he didn't want to waste any more time.
Riven reached into his ring again.
A thin manual appeared in his hand.
The Arachnotoxin Canon.
He looked down at the cover for a moment.
All of this trouble had started with that technique.
This better be good.
Riven opened the manual.
And began to read.