The Teacher for Spirit World Analysis was a white-haired old man, extremely thin and frail, giving off the impression that he barely had a few teeth left.
Furan sized up the Teacher curiously; he was holding a grey orb in his hand.
He placed the orb on the table and began to speak:
"My name is Ichi, and I am the Teacher for this Spirit World Analysis course. This course includes an assessment."
Surprisingly, Ichi's voice was full of vigor, not at all as aged as his appearance suggested.
However, most people taking this class were likely here for that Spirit Realm. Furan looked at the apprentices beside her; they were all staring at the orb together.
"Without further ado, let's begin the lesson."
"After I explain the basic common knowledge of the Spirit Realm, I will take everyone on a Spirit World Tour."
Then, Ichi began his lecture.
"The place we reside in is called the Material Realm, a place where various matters exist and where we can live without excessive survival requirements."
"And the stars we see every night are located in the Astral Realm, which is difficult to reach."
"The Spirit Realm lies between the Material Realm and the Astral Realm. The influence of the Astral Realm is even stronger in the Spirit Realm, while locations in the Material Realm also have corresponding locations within the Spirit Realm."
"Although we can physically enter the Spirit Realm with our physical bodies, such places are often remote and difficult to leave."
"Our usual method of traveling to the Spirit Realm is through a Spirit World Tour, which ascends our consciousness toward the Spirit Realm, rather than our souls..."
After Ichi explained some basic knowledge, he wrote an incantation on the blackboard.
"Everyone, memorize this incantation. After you recite it later, your consciousness will ascend into the Spirit Realm."
"And what I have in my hand is a Spirit Realm Guide, which can open a passage to the Spirit Realm."
"It is worth noting that every Spirit Realm Guide has different functions. Some point to a specific place, while others can grant you strange powers..."
"The function of the one in my hand is to send people who recite the incantation en masse to relatively safe locations and pull you back within a certain period of time."
"Since you likely haven't obtained anything from the Spirit Realm yet, even if your corresponding body in the Spirit Realm dies, it won't have any impact on you."
"Time in the Spirit Realm doesn't necessarily match the Material Realm, but I can guarantee you'll all be back before this class ends."
"Be careful, do not casually sign contracts with Spirit Realm creatures, or you might never be able to enter the Spirit Realm again for the rest of your lives."
"Also, after you enter, you might encounter a trial, a monster attacking you, or other people on a Spirit World Tour."
"But I suspect most of you will probably only see our Apprentice City's correspondence in the Spirit Realm."
"Alright, I've said my piece. Everyone, let's begin now."
The grey orb in Ichi's hand began to glow. After Furan recited the incantation once, she felt her entire being ascending, but the ascent was incomplete, leaving her stuck there.
"Anyone whose consciousness hasn't entered the Spirit Realm yet, recite the incantation a few more times."
After Furan followed the instructions, she felt herself lose consciousness.
---
When Furan regained consciousness, she saw a prompt on her panel, but she didn't look at it first. Instead, she began to size up her surroundings.
Contrary to her expectation of seeing Apprentice City's correspondence in the Spirit Realm, Furan saw that the surrounding environment was a wasteland. A building could be vaguely seen in the distance, with a few withered yellow trees nearby.
After confirming the environment was safe, she looked at the prompt on the panel.
[Detection: A new class can be formed once related skills meet the requirements.
Class: Spirit World Mage (One Star)
Description: Obtains the power to cast Spells from within the Spirit Realm. Different individuals can gain unique talents after becoming a Spirit World Mage.
Requirement: Learn three Spells (Beginner)
Spirit Realm Excursion Method reaches (Beginner)
Pass the trial given by the Spirit Realm.]
Furan scratched her head as she looked at the requirements for the new class that popped up before her.
Based on the information gathered previously and the one-star class rank of this Spirit World Mage, she speculated that this Spirit World Mage should be at the official rank.
But the requirements for this class seemed a bit strange.
They only required beginner-level skills; these requirements were way too low.
Or was it because the final requirement of passing the trial given by the Spirit Realm was too difficult?
Even the half-star Rune Warrior's requirements were higher than these skill requirements. Would a Spirit World Mage, which was higher rank than a Rune Warrior, be easier than that?
She believed that the difficulty of completing the Spirit Realm's trial must be extremely high; otherwise, these requirements were simply too low.
However, it wasn't certain if she would use this method to reach the official rank. She put the matter aside for the moment and began to explore.
It seemed the only option now was to walk toward that building.
Furan saw that there was almost nothing else around, so she began to walk quickly toward the building.
After a while, what came into view was a dilapidated building standing on the wasteland.
There was a clock beneath its spire, but it was no longer ticking, and its hands were nowhere to be found.
The entire building bore the marks of long-term neglect; greenery crawled up the walls, and there were many cracks on the surface.
She passed through the already ruined gate and stepped into the interior of the building.
The ceiling of the first floor was very high, about six or seven meters. After Furan wove through a pile of clutter, she finally reached an open space.
"Hmm!"
Furan was now standing on an aisle, with rows of nearly broken chairs on both sides.
As she walked to the end of the aisle, there was a sculpture—no, it should be called a divine statue.
Only then did Furan realize that the layout here was very much like a church. Behind the statue was a broken window.
The surrounding walls were different from the exterior; there were some dark red traces on the walls here.
Furan began to look around but found nothing until she came before the divine statue.
The statue depicted an angel with folded wings, its face covered by its hands, in a half-squatting position.
Furan suddenly felt the dark red on the nearby wall flash. She looked over, but there were no traces.
Just as she turned back to look at the statue again, she suddenly discovered a tattered book had appeared on the small table in front of it.
"Was this book here just now?"
Furan was certain the book wasn't there a moment ago; it must have appeared suddenly while she turned her head.
Furan cautiously reached out to touch the book. She found its surface to be very rough, with many small bumps.
She flipped to the first page, and there was nothing on it.
But as Furan peered at it, some text she couldn't understand actually emerged on the previously empty surface.
Before Furan could take a closer look, her consciousness gradually began to sink.