She knew I was from another world, just like El did.
High Spirit Priest…
[Analysing… She is probably a powerful spirit whisperer or mage. Her aura corretes with other people of the same kind]
I figured.
“So, any answer, child and sword?” Ade sat in the middle of the runes, looking at us.
“Ah! Eeehhh… yes… she seems to have several questions, one of them reted to the exit of these caves.”
“And does she not have a… voice?”
I am sure she was about to ask if I had a mouth or tongue.
“I am the only one that can speak with her because… well…”
“Hehe…” Ade ughed. I had never seen a wolf smile before and it was… oddly human like. “I see… so you finally got one.”
“Grrrr…”
“But don’t worry… speak, sword from another world.”
“With El’s gift. I can speak with spirits.”
She answered! Her eyes were glued on me, and her retina shone bright as if something moved around it. I felt how she observed deeply within me.
“The spirits told me of a soul that suddenly came in. A human soul, when none had entered these territories in many generations.”
I felt that was one way of telling she was not going to reveal how she knew about me. At least for now.
“I… ummmm… I was…”
Aspen tried to say something, but stopped herself and looked to the side.
“Humans like to name things, that’s how they understand the world. I guess this spirit with whom you made a pact with gave you one like El did to me, child.”
“...Aspen…”
“Shut up! Can we move on? We came in here because she wants to know if there are any exits to the caves.”
Ade ughed at Aspen’s outburst, which only served to fuel her embarrassment even more. I bet she had to be blushing under the fur on her face, if that is even possible for a wolf to do.
Behind the Priest Wolf, water rose from the ke and started to take different shapes as she began her expnation.
“Well… the exit. There is an exit, ascending through the caverns, going further than the wolf cns allow themselves to go, through the spider’s domain. Where a rge concentration of Ether exists.”
I felt I was going to be hearing the word Ether constantly. But seeing she is a spiritist it will be most likely to what she is connected the most.
“They have been keeping us at bay from going to the upper levels, and they did something.. they evouded”
“Evolved, Aspen. They are much more savage hunters, ying traps and using poison. They became bigger, then they grew arms besides their legs. Dangerous creatures.”
Ade shook her head, and I cursed that I was summoning my own misfortune by asking these questions. Something worse than over-evolved spiders with arms.
“There is something roaming that level of the dungeon where the exit is. Much bigger than anything else that exists under us. That has been roaming since before out time.”
“A demon.”
The water floating behind her turned into a skull with horns, which stared maliciously at us.
What I needed, a real demon. Having seen other monsters and other maggical things in the caverns, I was going to believe the idea of a demon walking around with more ease. But having to face one was not part of my pns..
“And being sincere, miss Alice,” the skull dissolved and the water returned to the ke, “I have serious doubts you will be able to reach further than the spider’s domains, let alone confront said demon.”
If the wolves are afraid of the spiders, and only one of their best warriors left me in 1 HP, then the spiders would be right out.
But…
“Ohohoh… your master is not afraid of my warning.”
Either I was going crazy or something was not letting me feel as much fear as I had so far. I did panic a bit at the beginning, but even I should recognize I was getting a bit too daring. It is not like I was jumping directly to fight a damn demon, I was not stupid, I still had my survival instincts and dying was still terrifying.
[Analysis… Having no body gets rid of some parts of the physical elements of fear and anxiety. However, as you have expined, you can still feel the mental part of each emotion. And having been hit multiple times with practice swords also helped you to not fear getting injured if it means getting a positive result]
This thing had to remind me of that period during my Kenjutsu practice. I still feel the pain on my now non-existent arms and legs.
“D-don’t call her my master!” Aspen compined.
“I do wonder how much this new facet of your life will affect you if this leads to where I think it will.” Ade nodded.
“Since this is what you want, Sword Alice, I will give you some guidance. Aspen, take her to the Northern Cn, listen to their pleas. Once you two become stronger, return to me as I will have something to teach to both of you.”
“Wait… are you going to teach me…?”
“No, Aspen. But you will be thankful nonetheless.”
“Dammit.” Aspen sounded disappointed.
“You will see when you arrive there.”
“The best paths are the ones where the winds guide you.”
Code for I am not telling you, sucks to suck. I sighed, however I was able to, and just decided to let it go. I was not getting any answers from that old wolf, she was going to keep going in circles and keeping the meaning of her words to herself.
“No, Alice. Thanks to you.”
Then she disappeared. What the hell was that?
“D-did you know her from before?” Aspen asked.
I searched for her with [Soul Sense], but she was nowhere to be found.
}------------------------------------------o~o------------------------------------------{
The level of the caverns were much more vast than I expected. It took us a couple of days to get close to the Northern Cn, passing through several “rooms” in the caves. This felt like a proper trip.
A question came to me.
Aspen had been guiding me. I noticed she often stopped to look at some mushrooms that grew on some rocks. They seemed normal to me.
“Look at these,” she approached another rock, where the same brownish mushrooms were growing, “look at how they grow. They always have their color in the same direction..”
Then that would not mean it is not necessarily the true north.
[Analysing… Aspen is correct. Those grow towards the north. Some pnts that grow underground seem to be affected by the magnetic poles of the pnet]
The System came in to the rescue of my follower. That was good. I wish it did before I said something embarrassing.
“Hehe… I guess I am that amazing.”
“W-what?! No! Absolutely not!”
“Do I have to get used to you teasing me like that?” Aspen sighed, defeated that I was going to continue, “I wanted to… I wanted her to teach me magic… but she insists that is not the path I should follow, that magic is not the type of training I should go for.”
“She says there are people more fit for it, and that I was meant to do something different… I never understood what, though.”
I didn’t feel I found as many answers as I expected. Why couldn't sages just be direct and tell me if there is a weapon or sword in some part of the cave that could kill that demon? In a game I enjoyed solving riddles, but not irl where I am trying to get out of the caves!
But we continued.
}------------------------------------------o~o------------------------------------------{
Hours ter, I was using [Soul Sense] to sense around, focusing on the skill to find any animal we could hunt. They were rare enough. That is when I found a Muckrat trying to find something to eat.
Aspen, following my guide, stalked it in silence. She insisted on being the one to catch them, as it was her hobby or something like that. She expined to me that she was training to be a hunter for her Cn, but then the thing with her family happened. She had avoided the topic so far.
And she was precise. I witnessed how she stalked the creature almost like a shadow, not making any unnecessary noise, and jumped to catch it between her teeth, snapping it’s neck with deadly precision.
“El, thanks for this meal…” she gave a small prayer.
And then she began to devour the animal with voracious hunger as if she had not eaten in years. I didn’t think she was that cutesy and adorable anymore.
“You shur you dhon’t want shome?” she asked with her mouth full and her lips bloodied.
I would have lost my appetite seeing her eating like that. Even when I could not feel nausea, I was still kind of perturbed from the sight.
I completely forgot she was a predator type of animal. She seemed thrilled every time she sunk her teeth into fresh meat. I get the feeling, but would she enjoy it more if she had that prepared? Do animals like her can taste human food?
[Analising… Some animals and monsters are not capable of tasting some foods. I have no information on Silver Mountain Wolves.]
I guessed as much.
“Just like one or two more light phases.”
With that she meant how long it took the mushrooms in the ceiling to blink dark and then light up again. I did confirm it was around an hour for each cycle, which seemed a convenient way to calcute time, but there was no precise way to tell time without starting a count.
So we were nearby, which made me happy.
But then, someone entered into my [Soul Sense]. A dark wolf, panting and running towards us. Not in an aggressive way, but it seemed to be running away.
And before I could tell Aspen, I saw them.