NOVEL NEXT Chapter 139: Spirit Zone (2)
Crack Crack
It wasn't planned, really, but without realizing it, Arthur stepped into the world of the spirit zone.
The world around him turned pale blue, as if the mode of his lenses had shifted from normal.
It was beautiful.
The sounds. The birds. The very air, it all felt familiar, like he was listening, seeing, and breathing in his long-lost friends, no matter how strange it sounded.
But near Corveth, there was a line.
It wasn't visible to the naked eye, but he could sense it, that was where the dean's spirit zone ended.
If zones were truly places where a person could freely release mana without interruption and even potentially block others from using energy,
then could it be said that if he covered the world, no one except him could use mana?
The realization hit him like a jolt, but before he could dwell on it, the same cracking noises he had heard before echoed in his mind.
Crack. Crack.
And then only one word rang in his ears.
DON'T LOOK DOWN!
It was a warning.
But the human body was built to explore. It always wanted to know what and why.
That was why Arthur lowered his gaze and looked down.
The ground beneath him shattered into fragments, and he plunged into the void below.
Numbers, universes, energy, he could see them all.
Everything and nothing.
This was the true form of the world.
The world beyond infinity.
...
Two days passed in a blur after Arthur had collapsed. Actually, no one was even sure he was aware he had collapsed, since he hadn't woken up since that day.
"So, what do you think, Unnie?"
Nathira, who had just returned from God's Palace with Sylvia, turned to Amelia, who had asked the question.
She sighed. "Just as Elizabeth said, this isn't an illness or an injury."
Sylvia nodded in agreement. "It seems to have something to do with God."
The eight wives of the Val Arcain family sat around him.
After a moment, Eira forced out a laugh. "Husband isn't dead, so we shouldn't act like we're mourning."
Isabella slumped into her chair. "Yeah, it's not like it's that easy to kill him."
Cassie's gaze drifted from Arthur to Ellie, who sat completely still, unflinching.
She swallowed hard. 'Ellie…'
Nathira clapped once, snapping everyone back to reality. "You all should go back to your daily lives. I'll stay and watch Art until he wakes up."
All of them nodded reluctantly, except Ellie.
Nathira's gaze lingered on Ellie, but she didn't say a word. "When you leave, also tell his concubines not to disturb him."
Amelia nodded as they all exited the room.
"You aren't going to tell them?"
Nathira turned to Ellie, her exhaustion subtly showing. "No."
The truth was Nathira knew exactly why Arthur hadn't woken up yet.
His soul and spirit were in his body, but his mind and consciousness weren't.
"He's watching us, right?"
Nathira nodded. "Yes, he is."
She looked at nothing. "Get your act together and come back to your family."
Unbeknownst to her, Arthur actually hovered where she was looking.
"Can't believe my soul came out of my body, or rather, my mind."
He sighed, drifting lazily in the air. "I told it to spread out, but I didn't mean that far."
During the two days he had been outside his body, he had discovered a few things.
One of which was that the world wasn't just a massive collection of masses or whatever people imagined it to be.
In reality, it was spirit zone.
A massive spirit zone, and every other force that operated within it, whether gravity or electricity, was a spell cast in that zone.
"Just how strong is God, even?"
When the ground beneath him first broke, he thought he was going to die, but he soon realized he wasn't.
The reason he survived was his God authority; if it had been anyone else:
Death.
Arthur, who experienced this, gave this state a name: Soul Deviation.
A rare state in which someone can not only attune to their zone but to the world itself.
And for that to happen, one needed to connect not to their own zone but to the spirit zone of the world.
That said, Arthur didn't learn anything beyond the nature of the world.
His problem wasn't the mysteries of the world but how to return to his body.
He couldn't just wander the world, because unlike what people usually thought, ghosts didn't roam freely.
Otherwise, Arthur could have already passed out from fear.
As he had realized, the world was a massive spirit zone, and the soul and mind were forms of energy, an odd question popped up in his mind—
What happens when foreign energy enters another's zone or domain?
Bam. Bam. Boom.
Extermination.
It didn't matter who it was; the spirit zone would prioritize refining them.
That meant ghosts were merely refined forms of their original selves.
"Knowing they're just energy kind of makes me feel better."
Arthur suddenly stopped mid-air.
"Can't waste this time."
His system wasn't working, and no one could see him, which left him with only one option:
Find God.
He was literally in His domain, what better chance to trace Him?
He clenched his fist, though there wasn't that satisfying feeling. Regardless, he floated out of the room.
It was time to find the madman who had reincarnated him.
Arthur closed his eyes and extended his consciousness just far enough to avoid dispersing.
In this state, he could vaguely feel everything in the world.
But he was sure of one thing.
At the very end of the academy was a light.
It was like a sun in the void.
A golden rope twisted so finely it seemed as if the crafter had nothing better to do.
Yet Arthur felt an undeniable pull toward it.
"My first real clue."
He had found a trace of divinity.
...And it was in the female dorms.
"What the hell?"
It was funny through the screen, when he usually watched it in anime, but now things were different.
Ignoring the trace wasn't an option.
"Hmm..."
It wasn't like he was going to peep on them.
Yes, strictly business.
Besides, he wasn't a virgin loser anymore.
"Time to get the clue."
─── ✦ End of Chapter ✦ ───