Chapter 17: Mana Ghost (Patreon)

We took a roundabout route to reach the small forest, to avoid being noticed by the bandits. Even with that delay, we managed to reach it before they even came near. It seemed that the bandits weren’t in a hurry.

In fact, at the speed they were going, it almost felt like they were taking a leisurely stroll. Either they were confident they wouldn’t be followed, or they weren’t worried even if they were.

While that attitude made it easier to deal with them, it also worried me. Why were they so confident?

When we reached the small forest, everyone got into position and activated their Clear Eyes Talismans. Since I was the one casting the spell, I didn’t need to use one.

[Mist Arts: Beguiling Mist]

I took a deep breath and let it out. As I exhaled, a cloud of mist streamed out of my mouth. It matched the mist that already coated the forest floor. Soon, the mist covered a good part of the forest and hid our presence from the bandits.

Corie shivered.

“What kind of spell is this?” she whispered. “I’ve never felt anything like it.”

I shushed her.

“Quiet,” I whispered back. “The spell doesn’t block sound.”

Corie gave me a grumpy look, but fell quiet. The four of us waited for the bandits to draw near our position. It took a little while, but soon they were within sight. This also gave me a chance to take a closer look at the bandits.

I always thought of bandits as a disorganized and disheveled group overall. These ones defied my expectations. They were neat and organized, rather than complacent and sloppy. They wore black leather armor, carried weapons that were in good repair, and had a professional air about them.

The Inferno Wolves besides them looked ferocious, like a pack of barely restrained wild beasts. I supposed that wasn’t far from the truth.

The Black Wolf Gang wasn’t an ordinary group of bandits. I knew that beforehand, since they dared to challenge House Icefall, but seeing it for myself hammered it home. If someone had told me that these were mercenaries instead of bandits, I would have believed them.

Despite this, the bandits looked relaxed. While they still kept an eye on their surroundings, it was clear that they didn’t expect to be attacked any time soon. Good.

Physically, the prisoners looked fine. They were covered in minor injuries, but were otherwise unharmed. Their burned and torn clothing looked worse than they did. Some of the prisoners were almost naked.

While the prisoners’ bodies seemed whole, their minds and spirits were another matter. Most of them trudged forward with blank looks on their faces, as if they couldn’t understand what had happened to them. During the course of one fateful morning, they had lost everything. Their homes, their possessions, their families. Everything. That was enough to break some people.

Others openly wept, with tears running down their cheeks. They didn’t cry too loudly, however. The bandits cuffed anyone who did. A few of the prisoners glared at their captors with hate in their eyes, though they didn’t dare to show too much insolence.

When they drew near, I drew my sword and activated one of my five remaining Protection Talismans. After that, I watched Lorelei. As soon as she made her move, the rest of us would act. Lorelei watched the group of bandits, a determined look on her face, both of her hands on the ground. Corie drew her bow and Leroy pulled out his own sword. The seconds ticked by, like grains of sand falling through an hourglass.

“Now,” Lorelei whispered.

Mana surged as she cast her spell. Without even waiting for her to finish, I burst into motion, rushing towards the bandits. Mana surged through my body as I enhanced and reinforced it.

[Lightning Arts: Lightning Flash]

The smell of ozone filled the air as lightning coated my entire body and I flashed forward. While I didn’t move at the speed of literal lightning, I was still pretty fucking fast. I was on the bandits before they even realized what was going on. The Earthen Rampart rose on the far side of the prisoners, shielding them from the bandits over there. That left three bandits and two Inferno wolves for me to deal with.

[Mist Arts: Beguiling Mist]

I breathed out the Beguiling Mist, flooding everything and everyone around me. Even as I did that, an arrow coated in Air magic and reinforced with Wood magic whistled through the air and pierced through an Inferno Wolf’s eye, killing it instantly.

“We’re under attack!” one of the bandits shouted.

“What is this mist?” another yelled. “I can’t see anything!”

“They’re after the prisoners!”

Leroy and Lorelei were seconds away. I just needed to keep the prisoners safe until they arrived.

I covered my sword with sword intent and rushed towards one of the bandits closest to the prisoners. He was one of the weaker ones with four threads, who had an affinity for Air. I aimed for his neck. Because of his affinity, he must have sensed the disturbances my movements caused in the air. He raised his own weapon in time to block my sword with the haft of his axe; the wooden haft.

Due to my mana-enhanced physique, my body cultivation, and my sword intent, my sword went right through the haft of his axe and cut through his neck. His head went flying and his body toppled to the ground. He didn’t even get a chance to scream.

Before the other bandits could react, I rushed towards the remaining Inferno Wolf on this side of the Earthen Rampart and stabbed at its head. The Inferno Wolf sensed it was in danger and tried to dodge, but it was too late. My blade pierced through its hide and skull, stabbing it in the brain. It died instantly.

All this happened within the span of a few seconds. From the corner of my eye, I noticed one of the prisoners yank the rope connecting them all, pulling the whole group to the ground. Good. This made them smaller targets.

“Over there!” one of the bandits said, the one with nine threads. “Kill them!”

The two remaining bandits shot out spells, presumably aiming for me or the prisoners. Because my Beguiling Mist messed with their senses, their spells went off in random directions. One fired a Wind Blade, which went wide.

The other one, the bandit with nine threads, sprayed the area in front of her with a cone of fire. The flames didn’t hit anyone, but they did burn away a good portion of my mist. So much so, that the part concealing some of the prisoners dispersed, revealing their presence to the bandits.

With savage snarls, both bandits raised their hands to fire off spells at the prisoners. An Air coated arrow took the weaker one in the back of the throat. He went down, gurgling as he choked on his own blood. The Fire bandit, however, managed to get her spell off, lobbing a Fireball spell at the prisoners.

Shit!

As the name suggested, the Fireball spell was a ball of fire that exploded on impact. If it hit the prisoners, it would kill them all. I wasn’t strong enough to stop it with a spell, but thanks to my Protection Talisman I could stop it with my body.

[Lightning Arts: Lightning Flash]

Using my movement technique, I flashed forward, blocking the Fireball with my body. An explosion rent the air, burning away the rest of my mist.

The good news was that my Protection Talisman blocked the damage from the Fireball spell itself. The bad news was that the force of the explosion threw me backwards.

A part of me noted that I should take that into consideration for the next batch of Protection Talismans.

My body slammed into the Earthen Rampart and I fell to the ground with a thud, almost hitting one of the prisoners. My head swam and I coughed up a mouthful of blood. The force from the explosion, plus hitting the Earthen Rampart, caused me some internal damage. If it weren’t for my mana-enhanced physique and my body cultivation, I would have died. As it was, I was in a large amount of pain.

I raised a hand to try and hit the Fire bandit with a spell, but I couldn’t focus enough to get the spell off. My vision blurred. Thankfully my divine sense worked just fine. It meant I could watch as the Fire bandit aimed her hand towards me, ready to finish me off with a spell. With my mist gone, the remaining bandits also found their way over to this side of the Earthen Rampart.

Before they could do anything, however, my friends arrived. The bandits had been so focused on me, they hadn’t noticed until it was too late. Leroy swung his sword at the Fire bandit before she could get her spell off. She tried to dodge, but was too slow. Leroy’s blade caught her in the shoulder and carved its way down her body, cutting her in half diagonally.

At the same time, an arrow caught one of the remaining bandits in the chest, knocking him back. Lorelei stomped her foot on the ground. The ground rumbled and a spike rose up from the earth impaling one of the bandits from below.

I reached for one of my low-grade health potions with shaking fingers. However, before I could grasp it, I heard a growl. The last Inferno Wolf snarled as it rushed towards me. I pushed myself to my knees and prepared to stab it with my sword, but I needn’t have bothered.

Leroy’s sword flashed, cutting the Inferno Wolf in two. He couldn’t use sword intent, but with his strength empowered by Earth internal magic, it didn’t matter.

The lone remaining bandit, noticing that all his friends and companions were dead, threw down his weapon.

“I surr-…”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Lorelei punched him in the chest. I heard his ribs shatter as the force of her blow caved his chest in. The bandit’s body went flying back and landed on the ground with a thud.

Silence reigned for a second as everyone looked around.

“Young master!”

Leroy crouched next to me, holding out a low-grade health potion. Where had he gotten that? It wasn’t one of mine. Huh. He must have his own supply.

“Drink this.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “It’s just some internal bleeding. I’ll be fin-…” I coughed up some more blood, putting lie to my words.

Leroy didn’t bother asking for permission. He rolled me onto my back, unstoppered the health potion, and shoved it down my throat. My pain dulled as the life saving liquid did its work.

As this was going on, Lorelei checked on the prisoners. Corie came running at us from the small forest.

“How is it that you’re the only one who was injured, young master?” Leroy asked, fury burning in his eyes.

“Better me than the prisoners,” I said. “I can survive a Fireball spell to the face. They can’t.”

That just made him angrier.

“I don’t know why I let you convince me to let you run into danger like this,” he said. “My job is to protect you, not enable your suicidal recklessness.” He looked up, as if beseeching the heavens for mercy. “Lord Sturm is going to kill me when he finds out about this.”

“You mean if he finds out about this.”

Leroy looked down and shook his head.

“No,” he said. “When. This has gone on long enough. I will send a message to Sturm Manor when we reach Rosewood City.”

I started to sit up, but laid back down again when my internal organs screamed in protest. The health potion needed more time to handle the more delicate parts of my anatomy.

“Leroy, you said you would keep my secrets,” I said through gritted teeth.

“And I will. I never said I wouldn’t tell your parents about your activities with the Adventurers Guild. The only reason why I haven’t done so yet is out of consideration for you. However, this is the second time you have almost died under my watch. I can’t keep quiet about this any longer.”

I tried to sit up again, and pushed through the pain.

“If you do that,” I said. “My parents will either summon me back to Sturm Manor, or come up here themselves. It’s too early for that.”

Leroy looked me in the eyes.

“Is it?” he asked. “In my eyes, you’ve already proven the effectiveness of your methods.”

He gestured to the dead bandits all around us.

“I don’t know yet if they’ll work for anyone else,” I said. “That’s what I need your help for. Just give me more time.”

Leroy opened his mouth to respond, but Corie spoke up first.

“I understand that the two of you are having an important discussion right now, but can you save it for later?” she asked. “We have people that need looking after.”

We both looked at Corie. She stood there, with her hands on her hips, glaring at us.

“Young master,” she added belatedly.

“Fine,” I said, pushing myself to my feet. Leroy tried to help, but I waved him off. Since my body was still in pain, I took one of my health potions and drank it as well. “We’ll talk later about this later, Leroy.”

From the look on his face, I knew I had an uphill battle on my hands. That was for later. For now, I joined Lorelei and checked on the prisoners.

***

That night, we found ourselves camping in a little hollow not too far from where we killed the bandits. In addition to our little party, we also had the survivors from the hamlet with us.

They were in much worse shape than I thought. As I noted before, their bodies were fine for the most part. A few healing potions were enough to deal with whatever injuries they had However, it would take much longer for their minds and spirits to heal.

Most of them couldn’t believe that they were rescued. They remained in shock for hours afterwards, only realizing that this was real when we made camp for the night. When that happened, a few of them celebrated their freedom. The rest, however, mourned what they had lost. The bandits had burned their homes to the ground and killed most of their loved ones.

They filled the air with their wailing, but I didn’t have it in my heart to try and stop them despite the attention it could attract. Neither did the rest of my group. These people had lost their parents, their siblings, their children. The sound of their sorrow broke my heart.

We left the bandits’ bodies where they were, but not before we looted them. The bandits didn’t have much on them to our surprise. We expected to find whatever valuables they had pillaged from the hamlet, if only to return them to their rightful owners.

This confused us, until one of the former prisoners explained it. The bandits had talked freely in front of them, not expecting it to matter. They hadn’t expected anyone to come after them, and had made several disparaging remarks about House Icefall and the Icefall Adventurers Guild.

It turned out that the bandits had been sent by their leader, whoever that was, to destroy one of the larger hamlets and loot it for valuables. However, the inhabitants of the hamlet hadn’t had anything of value, except for themselves. Because of this, the leader of this little group of bandits, the nine thread Fire bandit, decided to capture all the able bodied adults to sell them into slavery.

Slavery was illegal in the Solarian Empire, but that didn’t stop people from engaging in human trafficking. For those without morals or ethics, it was a way to make quite a bit of coin.

Despite this, we did get our hands on a few things. The bandits had health potions and mana potions, all low-grade. We divided them amongst ourselves after healing the former prisoners, though I gave the mana potions to the others. With my cultivation base, low-grade mana potions were now useless to me.

We also found a good number of coins on the bandits’ bodies, but after some discussion, we decided to set them aside for the former prisoners. They were going to need it.

All the bandits also wore rings with a wolf motif. I found this interesting, since bandits usually didn’t bother with anything like this.

Most of the dead bandits had copper rings, but the leader of the group had a silver ring. We decided to collect these and turn them into the Adventurers Guild. House Icefall did have an open bounty on all members of the Black Wolf Gang, and these rings were the proof we needed.

We split them up based on who killed them. Leroy and I both got one, though he got the silver one, while Lorelei and Corie both got two.

Other than that, we just took whatever provisions the bandits had on them. When the four of us had set out to hunt the bandits, all of us had traveled light. This meant we hadn’t had much in the way of food, water, or camping gear. Well, all of us except for Lorelei, who carried her comically large backpack.

After looting the bandits, we didn’t have to worry about provisions, but without tents, we were all sleeping under the stars tonight. Thankfully it was warm, and it didn’t look like it was going to rain anytime soon.

I lamented our lack of holding bags, storage rings, or other spatial items. They existed here on Lumina, but like flying objects or flying mounts, they were rarer than on Spirit Earth. This lack meant that we couldn’t take the Inferno Wolf corpses with us. They were too cumbersome. They would have fetched me quite a few merits too.

Oh well. I at least made sure to harvest their mana cores; two for me and one for Leroy.

As before, we set up a watch. This time we included Lorelei, since we were on our own. She decided to share half a watch with me, and half a watch with Corie. After setting that up, everyone except Leroy settled down to sleep for the night.

Of course, the spirit chose that moment to speak to me.

Greetings, Great One, the spirit said using its spirit sense.

Feelings of gratitude and deference accompanied its words.

Talk about poor timing.

‘Greetings, little one,’ I said to the spirit through my divine sense.

My head throbbed with pain, though not as much as it had the first time I communicated to the spirit through my divine sense. While my cultivation base wasn’t high, it no longer felt like I had needles stabbing me in the brain. After going up a few more small realms, I wouldn’t feel any pain at all.

Thank you for saving me, Great One, the spirit said. I am forever in your debt. How can I ever repay you?

Okay, we would need to get to the bottom of this “Great One” business. I also had a few other questions for this spirit.

‘Give me a moment,’ I said. ‘I have an idea about that, but I want to have this conversation face to face, so to speak. It’s a little awkward to talk with you like this.’

As you wish, Great One. I am at your service.

I got up from my chosen sleeping spot. Leroy raised an eyebrow when he saw this.

“I can’t sleep, so I decided to go for a walk,” I said.

“Now?” Leroy asked. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, young master.”

I waved off his concern.

“Don’t worry. I’ll remain within ear shot. I just need some alone time.”

Leroy looked skeptical, but didn’t try to stop me. After our conversation earlier, I thought he would. Under his watchful eyes, I walked away from the camp.

Sure, I could have talked with the spirit while it remained inside my body, but I preferred to see it with my eyes.

Once the others were no longer in sight, but still within earshot, I searched for a nearby hill. I wanted to talk with the spirit in private, since I hadn’t revealed its existence to anyone yet. I didn’t plan to either, not until the familiar contract was in place. Otherwise, the others would think I was crazy.

Not because this particular kind of spirit was dangerous. In fact, quite the opposite. This spirit was a rare kind called a mana ghost. Despite their rarity, mana ghosts weren’t much sought after as familiars. This was because they were the weakest kind of spirit known to wizards. Most wizards didn’t even bother with them, except as curiosities.

Choosing a familiar was serious business. Except for those who practiced certain kinds of magic, a wizard could only have one familiar at a time. Because of this, most wizards chose powerful magic beasts or spirits as their familiars.

Mana ghosts were so weak that if I told someone that I wanted to make one my familiar, they might have someone check me out to see if there was something wrong with me. To wizards, they were useless. However, to cultivators, they were priceless treasures.

A mana ghost, known as a companion spirit on Spirit Earth, was the perfect familiar for a cultivator. This was because they further refined the mana their partner took in, increasing their partner’s cultivation speed by half. This was a mutually beneficial arrangement as well. The mana ghost grew in power alongside their partner.

Most mana ghosts were only useful in the early stages of cultivation, others were helpful in the middle stages, and some were useful in the late stages of cultivation. However, a rare few mana ghosts could themselves become Immortals and continue to aid their partners even after both achieved immortality.

The mana ghost inside me now was one of the latter. It was a treasure priceless beyond measure.

After climbing the hill, I unraveled the cocoon of divine energy I had wrapped around the mana ghost. As soon as I did this, the mana ghost exited my body. It was in much better shape than the last time I saw it. It was a deeper shade of blue than before, and it no longer bled mana.

How may this humble mana ghost serve you, Great One?

Again, feelings of gratitude and deference accompanied its words.

I snorted.

“First, you can tell me why you keep calling me ‘Great One’,” I said, keeping my voice low. I didn’t want the others to hear me.

I felt confusion come from the mana ghost.

Because you are a Great One, Great One, it said. I noticed it as soon as I felt your presence.

It must have meant when it brushed against my divine sense when we met.

“That’s something else I want to know,” I said. “How were you able to detect my divine sense?”

Ever since I regained my memories and gained the ability to use my divine sense again, no one had been able to detect my divine sense. Not my father, not Leroy, not Guildmaster Sinclair. None of them had been powerful enough. However, this weak mana ghost could. How?

I don’t understand the question, Great One, the mana ghost said.

A part of me wanted to accuse it of lying, but I could feel the sincerity in its words. The mana ghost really didn’t understand my question.

“Nevermind,” I said. “Just tell me what you mean by ‘Great One’. What is a ‘Great One’ to you?”

The mana ghost paused before replying.

A Great One is one of the divine spirits that rule this world from the heavens above, it said. Is that not what you are? You feel like one. Have I made a mistake?

I blinked at the mana ghost.

“You mean a divine being?”

Yes. Isn’t that what I said?

Huh. That was interesting. If I understood this mana ghost right, it was somehow able to detect the fact that I was an Immortal, or rather a reincarnated Immortal.

“I am an incarnation of a divine being,” I said. “An Immortal reborn into a mortal body. I just recently remembered what I am.”

I felt the mana ghost’s surprise.

Oh! it said. That was why you felt strange, Great One. I thought you had possessed this mortal’s body.

I shook my head.

“No, I was born into it.” I peered closer at the mana ghost. “The question is, how were you able to recognize me as a divine being? I don’t imagine that spirits in the mortal realm have much contact with divine beings and heavenly spirits.

This time, the mana ghost remained quiet for almost a minute before responding.

I don’t know, it said. I felt its frustration. Your presence felt familiar, that was how I knew you were a Great One. However, I don’t remember why you felt familiar, or how I even know what a Great One is. I just do.

“What do you remember then?” I asked.

The mana ghost gave me a mental head shake.

I remember waking up in that dark forest and I remember being chased by those beasts, the mana ghost said. I don’t remember anything before that. It hesitated before saying this next part. I also remember that I have to find someone, though I can’t remember why. I only know that it is important that I do.

“Who?” I asked with a frown.

A picture began to form in my mind. While this was just speculation on my part, I believed that this mana ghost might have come from the heavens. It was possible for gods, Immortals, and other divine beings to descend from the heavens. However, doing so came at a great cost. This cost varied, depending on the circumstances. Most sent clones, incarnations, and avatars instead of their actual bodies, which mitigated the cost somewhat.

If I was right, and this mana ghost came from the heavens, it must have lost almost all of its power and its memories as part of that cost. As it grew in power, it would regain more and more of its memories. Again, that was if I was right. However, I believed I was. It would explain a few things about the mana ghost, such as its high potential and its ability to detect my divine sense. It used to be a divine being. That made it similar to me in some regards.

In that case, that meant I couldn’t take this mana ghost as my familiar. When divine beings descended from the heavens, they didn’t do so lightly. They always had some purpose or reason for doing so, usually at the behest of even greater beings. I didn’t want to interfere with whatever mission this mana ghost had and anger whoever sent it.

That was disappointing. However, as an upside, helping this mana ghost with its mission might earn me the favor of whoever sent it. Having the good will of a higher being was never a bad idea, depending on the higher being. Gods and Immortals could be fickle and capricious at times, but they always paid their debts one way or another.

You, the mana ghost said. I believe I needed to find you. That was why I rushed towards you when I felt your presence.

“Me?” I asked, surprised. “Why?”

I don’t remember, Great One.

I narrowed my eyes at the mana ghost. Well, wasn’t that convenient.