Level Up Legacy

Chapter 1471: A Red String

While Arthur and Gala were creating an entrance to the realm, Diana and the others were facing a different challenge of their own. They had found a forest within the dark realm to hide from the abyssal army.

The elves were masters of using the forest to their bidding. Although the group was here for just under two weeks, they already had a place to hide and plan.

Malrik had found the elves and reunited them under one banner to fight against Invidia. Diana was grateful for his help, too, since he saved her from a pinch when they met again. She joined forces with them under the guidance of the spirit, Athos.

The owl perched itself on Diana’s shoulder as she traveled through the forest. Despite the campsite being rather large, the spirit insisted that they continue their training elsewhere.

Diana agreed. She couldn’t endanger the rest of the elves. However, she had learned to withhold her mana and spiritual energy within this realm, keeping her under the radar.

It had been almost two weeks since she arrived in this realm. Diana had no doubt that Arthur was on his way to get here, but didn’t expect that they would be separate for this long. Her chest ached in longing.

Their hidden spot was within a cave that oversaw the forest. It had strange drawings inside, which Athos explained to be sigils, some form of power used within the realm nowadays.

Athos insisted that Diana learn these sigils and how to replicate them by using spiritual energy. The two of them found the cave during a fight against a giant, slender man — a fight that left Diana wounded for days.

It was a week or so after they arrived in this world that someone else sought them out. It was a powerful spirit, claiming to be the lord of the Infra-Layer for the Spirits Realm.

Halstren was powerful indeed and defeated the abyssal monsters with ease. He rallied the group into joining him to take down Invidia. At the time, Diana wasn’t confident, but Malrik believed it was their only chance.

The attack happened on the eighth day.

It was the first time that they sought out the abyssal army and attacked the ship that carried Invidia throughout the realm. It was a giant structure, enough to carry all the citizens of Janea if needed.

Halstren managed to get them on the ship without being spotted, but it was difficult to take down the Sin of Envy from there. That mission was a bitter one, where they lost several elves including the sweet woman who acted as Diana’s guide.

Diana wept for days following the attack. Invidia killed Halstren, and despite her best efforts, she found herself helpless. Malrik shouted for them to escape, and the group jumped down from the ship toward this forest.

Abyssal monsters swarmed the forest for days in their pursuit. One of those was the Slender Man, a tall creature of fifteen feet and pale gray skin that had no ears or eyes. It chased them for days before Diana volunteered to lure it away.

Diana didn’t expect herself to win against the monster, but found that it shrieked upon touch of her spiritual energy. According to Athos, Diana’s sleep in the spiritual ice had given her energy a trait that no one else had. It cured spiritual wounds.

Slender Man perished, and Diana managed to find this cave. She began training for their next fight against Invidia. Athos taught her the power of sigils that could affect reality, just like mana, but without becoming a beacon in the night sky.

According to the spirits, sigils were beliefs inscribed to one’s soul. It said a word to describe them, but Diana had no idea what it meant, and never bothered to remember it.

In a nutshell, Diana needed to practice turning her spiritual energy into these sigils to learn them. At the same time, she needed to understand what they did and believe that they would achieve just that.

At the beginning, Diana thought it was easy. However, unlike mana, she couldn’t just pour it into her gate, as Arthur described them. It was a more subtle process of guiding her spiritual energy to form the shapes, understanding them, and then believing that they would achieve that effect.

The first sigil she learned was something called Mimic. It allowed her to turn one thing into the appearance of another, but that façade would dissolve once someone touched the fake one.

Athos explained that the sigil would simply influence the soul to see the item as different from what it actually was, which made it useless to people with powerful souls.

Diana still had fun using the sigil to turn rocks into trees or the other way around. She saw potential in this newfound power because it would allow her to create environmental illusions.

"How is this any different than skills or abilities that humans have?" Diana asked Athos while training her first sigil. "It seems almost the same, but it requires no mana."

"Sigils and runes are two sides of the same coin. One of them uses mana, and the other uses spiritual energy. Although they have different shapes, one can actually see the rune inside a sigil and vice-versa."

"Arthur told me that humans have gates within them. Demi-humans have traits. Are they the same as sigils?"

"I believe that this is a language issue," she said. "Humans and demi-humans draw power from the same source. However, the demi-humans have found a way to pass down their powers to their children. Humans evolved to be diverse, making their children wield different abilities than their parents."

"But they are the same? Traits, sigils, and abilities?"

"Almost," Athos said. "Sigils are a higher form of runes. Mana is easier to control, and runes feed on mana. What do you think would happen to sigils that are the opposite during evolution?"

"No one would use them?"

"Correct."

"Arthur told me about his time in the Spirits Realm," she said. "He never taught me about sigils."

"It depends on what kind of journey he has taken. Arthur is the creator, and he wields sigils just as easily as he wields runes. Is there something else he told you?"

Diana thought for a minute and told the spirit about the chains that Arthur said allowed him to fight inside the Spirits Realm.

"Ah, I see. It sounds like Arthur was instinctively using his sigils, but he portrayed his powers as chains at the time. That’s why they manifested as such: powerful chains that he could fight with, but still chains."

"You mean that Arthur sees his power as a burden?"

"He did, at the very least. I can’t say much about now," Athos said while tilting her owl head. "What do you think?"

Diana was silent. Her hands still moved to mimic the sigil, but she found it pointless and stopped. She looked out toward the sky, which remained dark no matter how much time passed, and then let out a sigh.

"I don’t know," she said. "He doesn’t talk about what worries him."

"Maybe he wishes to carry that burden alone," Athos said. "But power is a burden. Because if there exists power, then there is a reason to use it. Arthur has found his reason— fighting against the gods. But what about you?"

"Arthur is my reason," Diana emphasized with a frown. "I would fight for him. Live for him. And die for him."

Athos was silent for a few moments.

"Love is a beautiful thing, but it leaves us blind."

"What?" Diana said a little louder than usual.

"You are blind, Diana. Arthur’s destiny is a great one, but that makes his journey more difficult. He might one day storm the kingdom of gods and slay them."

"And I would be there with him."

"And that’s why I said you were blind," Athos said. "Arthur is powerful, almost omnipotent. He has wrath and creation answering to his call. But he is human, and humans have weaknesses."

Diana thought for a moment. "You mean I’m the weakness?"

"Once the gods know how to shake Arthur and make him throw away his determination, they will come for you. Love is powerful, but it leaves us weak."

Diana was silent. She didn’t want to hear this. Instead, she imagined a lifetime of happiness with Arthur— a small house with a farm and a garden, wooden furniture and old carpets, and tiny handprints on the walls.

Athos called out, bringing her out of her dreams. "What is happening to you?" the spirit asked. Diana was confused and turned toward it.

"What do you mean?" Diana asked.

"Your ice shards," the owl pointed toward Diana’s ears. "They are changing color."

Diana looked at the spirit in confusion, and then realization dawned on her. She touched her ice shards on the two sides of her ears and felt the warmth emitting from them.

"Oh, no." Diana was trembling. "This can’t be happening."

"What’s wrong?" Athos asked, but Diana shook her head.

"What color are they now?"

"They are still mostly white," the owl said. "But there is a thin string of red inside them."