Deal with The Devil!

'This is bad.' Jinn's jaws tensed. He had been hiding his real blessing behind the guise that he had been blessed by the Benevolent One-Eyed Goddess.

He did not have to ask someone else what the ability of this blessed lineage was; after all, he was using this ability as a cover, so it was natural for him to find everything about it.

After hours of research in the library with floating shelves and moving tables, Jinn had learned most there was to learn about it.

The ability, or more precisely, the attribute of the blessing of the One-Eyed Goddess, was…

"Just like my ability has a special attraction to light, which can be used to attack and heal based on the ability, you must have the affinity with the Spirit Realm." Father Augustus finished Jinn's thoughts for him.

'There it is.' Jinn regretted using the name of the one-eyed goddess as his cover patron god. 'What am I supposed to say now? I don't even know what this spirit realm is completely.'

"The Spirit Realm can be sensed over type if you are a spiritualist. But even then, only those blessed by the one-eyed goddess can enter it."

'Can you please stop making me feel like using a teleportation item?' If not for keeping his act up, Jinn would have started crying tears of blood.

He was already thinking about how strong the bishop would be and if his powers would work on that man, but just keeping his cover was getting difficult for Jinn.

"Ah, I forgot you have only just awakened your dormant energy." Seeing Jinn lost in his own thoughts, the head priest paused and spoke in an apologetic tone.

"You might not even know what the Spirit Realm is, let alone know how to access it."

After exchanging a serious look with two other priests, he sighed and shook his head. 'Forget it, I will Just teach the kid as much as I can. He is already here, and we need the support of these two lineages.'

"For now, I will help you with your task." Saying this, he looked at Father Nelson and added, "you should catch the girl up to speed; we will move elsewhere for now."

'This might be the last chance I am getting. Better make full use of it.' Thinking this, he followed after the man to the backyards behind the castle.

The sun had already started to set since the days were shorter in winter.

"Since I am also a spiritualist, I can only guide you on how to sense the spirit realm with your powers. From there on, you will have to accomplish everything on your own."

Finding a neat spot behind the mansion, Father Augustus sat down on an elevated platform before looking at Jinn.

"We don't have time to request other students to help us on this task. Had it not been for the fact that all the priests and deacons of the One-Eyed Goddess church are busy searching for…"

Father Augustus paused here, recalling how close Jinn was to Agnes. Instead of letting the silence stretch, he skipped the line and continued.

"The Church of the End is tasked with another major task. Since we cannot easily deploy bishops, our only option was to ask the academies for your help."

'Academies?' Jinn stayed silent all this time while adjusting his thoughts inwardly. 'Ah, they must have posted this mission on other academies. If someone from there can access this spirit realm, maybe I will be saved.'

Jinn did not want to rely too much on this hypothetical scenario.

'Since all spiritualists can see this place, maybe I can try to sense it first.'

"Normally, no one can sense the Spirit plan in a single day, let alone access it, but we don't have the luxury to wait or look for someone else."

It was quite rare to see someone as lazy as Father Augustus so serious and willing to make an effort.

"I will be under your tutelage." Jinn lowered his head slightly as a sign of respect. Following the priest's guidance, he too sat down before him.

The shade of the tall tree beside them loomed over their bodies as Jinn entered a meditative pose.

"I don't know how much the teachers of your academy have taught you, but I will test your control." He could still hear the priest's voice along with the sound of his footsteps as he was walking behind him.

Seconds later, Jinn sensed a wave of overwhelming energy penetrating his body from the back. It felt like someone was pushing warm air against his back.

The sensation soon filled Jinn with panic. 'What if it sensed another set of cores…?'

But Jinn could not back down now; he knew moving now would only injure him and also pose a chance of exposing him.

Just as he was pondering on a way to hide his devil cores, he heard a familiar voice echo in his mind.

'Don't worry, master; in your human state only your seven Chakra cores are visible. Only you can see the extra cores.'

Jinn's tensed muscles finally relaxed, letting the energy move through him more smoothly.

"You have come farther than I had expected." There was genuine surprise in Father Augustus's voice.

"Not only is your energy moving within your root chakra smoothly, but you are even close to forming your first cloud."

"It seems like the starless awakening was truly a blessing for you." He said while taking his hands back, 'What a genius.'

"You already meet the requirements of moving forward, so let's get to the point."

Jinn relaxed inwardly and followed his instruction.

"Pull a strand of chakra from your root chakra and guide it to your mind."

After so many hours of practicing stretching chakra through complex pathways, directly sending energy to his brain was as easy as lifting the middle finger.

"When it touches your brain, let it spread into every corner. You can use imagination to speed up the process. Imagine that you are standing under a waterfall, but the only thing the water is touching is your brain."

Woosh!

Jinn felt a cooling sensation envelop his brain. For a moment, he forgot all of his worries, and the cloudy sensation surrounding his mind vanished.

"Now open your eyes."

'He is a natural.' As if he could sense the changes within Jinn from outside, Father Augustus smirked faintly. 'This boy managed to do it on his first try.'

Jinn followed his instruction and slowly opened his eyes. Even as the first rays of light touched his eyes, Jinn did not flinch.

Without him even guiding it, the energy in his brain was moving toward his eyes as if it were the most natural thing.

His blue eyes gained a faint silver outline. The world as he saw it had changed. Whatever he was feeling was both similar and different from his innate devil skill.

'Fake it till you make it.' In the farthest corner of his thoughts, Jinn heard a faint voice echo.

To his eyes, everything felt faded, even the light. The colors were distant, and he was not seeing any lines or hues like he did when he used the unnamed skill from his second core.

Just then, a pressure he could not feel before was suddenly pressing down on him from him.

Jinn slowly raised his head, and his eyes widened to their limit. Color drained from his face, and his beads of sweat started gathering on his forehead.

"What do you see?" Father Augustus did not sound as Alarmed as Jinn. He calmly asked with an expectant look on his face.

Without looking at him, Jinn spoke with trembling words.

"There is a veil in the sky that seems to be keeping something at bay."

Even though he said this, Jinn was revealing less than what he was seeing.

High up in the sky… there were no clouds. It was a translucent barrier that seemed to be rippled like an ocean wave.

Even without much light, it gave off a rainbow-like glow. But what startled and scared Jinn was not the barrier but what he saw beyond it.

Woosh!

BOoom!

On the other side of the thin veil that seemed to stretch endlessly, Jinn saw countless translucent beings.

Without any defined shapes and sizes, these creatures floated and drifted in the distant realm freely. Some of the creatures had a defined face, while others did not even have that.

Even then, Jinn felt like if he looked in the eyes of such creatures, he would not have a safe future afterwards.

From time to time, some of these creatures would collide against the barrier with all of their might, but as usual, the barrier would only ripple before returning to normal.

"I can faintly see shadows beyond this barrier, and the air beyond is twisted. It's like…"

"There is a different world on the other side." Father Augustus finished his words with a smile. "This is it! While I can only sense its existence like other ordinary spiritualists, from what I have been told, the spirit realm is like that."

"Now all you have to do is access this realm and try to enter it."

'Can I not do it?' Jinn looked at the man with an impassive look on his face. Just looking at the realm scared him, and now he was being asked to enter it? No, thanks.