Chapter 431: 154: A Place of Enlightenment – Part 1

"Let us first go to a more open area," Petra suggests.

"Let's go directly to the castle grounds. It's private and safe," I immediately suggest.

And she nods. "Very well."

I open a [Gate] directly to our bedroom, but the emellanat is too close, and the spell gets disrupted, so I grab Nono's hand and walk to the other room, then try it again.

We immediately cross through, followed by the Companions, and then Petra a second later. Everyone's eyes immediately turn to my stupidly big bed, where Klein peacefully sleeps. But then I summon six wind-Alissas and pick up Nono in a princess carry, calling their attention back to us.

"It's faster if we jump, but don't scream so that we don't wake up Klein," I state with a grin, and Nono's face immediately warps in horror, but I don't give her time to complain and jump off the balcony.

Petra blinks blankly as the Companions chuckle, then the wind-Alissas lift everyone up through magic, and the teen noblewoman also becomes horrified as she realizes what's about to happen.

Nono buries her face on my chest and whines while Petra squeaks like a small animal, seemingly trying to hold back her voice but unable to remain completely silent as she free-falls a few hundred meters down. The Companions are already used to flying and trust me completely, so they just giggle happily as the wind hits their faces.

I use [Telekinesis] to slow myself and gracefully touch down. Then I look up and see cute light-blue panties as the wind makes Petra's dress flare out.

These elemental-wives know me so well.

Mara's panties are a sexy red and so small that you could barely call them panties, and though I can't see the panties of the rest of the armored Companions, I know that "sexy panties" is basically a uniform for them.

Petra lands right before me, her dark face now with a scarlet tint, but I'm not sure if she knows that I saw her panties as she seems too dazed by the sudden fall to have noticed. Then the Companions safely land around us, and Mara definitely knows that I saw hers.

The wind-Alissas blow me kisses, already saying their goodbyes, and I answer with my most handsome smile, then dismiss them all, but I feel like I should've rewarded them with a quick dicking…

Anyway, we're now in one of the many little courtyards for rest and relaxation spread out all over the castle grounds. There are mossy benches, a few mossy lounging chairs, a spring fountain, flower patches for smelling, and tall hedgerows to give us privacy.

A good place to fuck, and a perfect place to test the mysterious silvery liquid.

I gently lower my shivering rabbit down in the wooden courtyard, the moss carpet muffling any sound of her feet, and she immediately slaps my shoulder in a flash of anger, but it doesn't even hurt. Then she makes a pouty face, so I appease her through her weakness, her long white ears.

"We didn't bring the basin with us," Petra suddenly points out, recovering from her sudden fright.

I open a [Gate] back to the lab and turn to one of the Companions as I [Massage] Nono. "Please, bring us the crystal basin. Be careful to not spill the liquid or touch the glowing moss."

"As you wish, Your Highness," the female soldier obediently replies.

And I flash a smug smile at Petra, who appears to want to pout too, but that'd make her look cute, and she doesn't want to give me any reason to seduce her.

The Companion comes back with the basin at the same time that three naked women walk in. Roxanne, Kaatohe, and Hukarere enter the courtyard with seductive smiles, dripping pussies, and mildly inebriated gaits. The cat and the succubus have been fucking, but the straight wolf has been conditioned to get aroused whether she smells pussy or cock, so she's the thirstiest of the trio.

And she promptly asks cheerfully, her words starting to slur, "Wolfy, can I s~suck your cock while you… do w~whatever you need to do?"

"You slut," Kaatohe quietly hisses back.

"You're just jealous," my white wolf teases with a smirk.

And the cat assumes a smug but solemn expression. "I never said I didn't want to suck his cock."

Petra quietly clears her throat with a crisp and high-pitched "Hem-hem," and I make the uncharacteristic decision to decline a dick sucking while I work because while I like teasing Petra, pulling out my cock in front of her might be too much. I know I've already fucked in front of Lyle and many of my other friends, but Petra is the only one who might actually hate me if I did that.

"My dear sluts, perhaps another time, but you're welcome to wait," I reassuringly suggest and motion to the lounging chairs.

"I haven't had your semen in a while, so I will," Kaatohe replies matter-of-factly.

And my naked cat drags her two companions to the chairs so that they may suffer from sexual denial with her.

Petra doesn't seem bothered by the female nakedness or that they're subtly lezzing out, so I think it's finally time for testing. I stop [Massage]ing Nono and summon a goblin, then scoop up about 10ml from the basin with a shot-glass that we use for Eia.

"This liquid is most likely toxic, so pay attention to any symptoms," Petra warns.

"Why is it toxic?" I question confusedly.

And she sagely explains, "I've tried to filter out any stray powers, but I don't know if I succeeded. Also, we have no idea what otherworldly-infused-power does to one's body."

She's a really dependable researcher, huh?

"Well, we'll know the answer soon enough," I hum back and hand the shot glass to the goblin. Then I summon a light-Ciel and put some points into [Diagnosis] and [Sense Presence].

The goblin drinks the liquid as I activate all-senses sharing, and I frown at the spicy taste of the silvery liquid. It burns the tongue and then the throat as it goes down, but the burning quickly stops, leaving only a vinegar-like taste mixed with something metallic, possibly blood.

The summon obediently returns the glass, but I notice that it's starting to sway on its feet as if it's becoming drunk. I take the offered glass and activate [Diagnosis] on the goblin, but all I get is that it has "Impaired Mental Faculties" and "Unknown Poisoning."

"Well, this is certainly toxic," I wryly remark and share what I just found out with the girls.

Nono looks confused for a second, but then she immediately accepts it with a sigh, "You have [Diagnosis]…? Of course, you have [Diagnosis]…"

But before I can joke back, the goblin's vision starts to darken, and a "third eye" begins to open in its mind, eerily similar to how my vision expands when I summon something.

The little goblin visibly sways, and a Companion grabs it before it can fall on its face.

"Thank you. Now, lay it down for me," I kindly request, and the young elven soldier beams with a smile hidden by her helmet.

The goblin's vision darkens completely to the point that it passes out, and all it sees is a faint light in its "third eye," but nothing more happens. Then I notice that there's something weird going on with its spirit.

I use [Sense Soul] to look inside it and notice that its "soul structures" are becoming transparent, as if they were disappearing, but its presence (the reaction I get from [Sense Presence]) remains the same, so it isn't as if it's dying.

"It's releasing an odd mana," Nono quietly remarks, so I switch to focusing on my [Sense Mana], and I agree, though I can't really explain what kind of mana I'm sensing.

It's similar to the mana released by the basin but different, and it's so exquisite that I have trouble drawing a comparison to anything I know. It's odd because even the most fantastical power I've ever felt, the divine mana coming from a dungeon core, was easily explained, but this mana is completely different from anything I've ever felt before.

Then I start to feel like its incomprehensible flavor is actually part of it, like how a soul is so hard to "see" because it's something that was never supposed to actually be seen with our eyes or understood with our minds. It's like the description of the flavor is on the tip of my tongue, but I can't quite grasp it.

And a couple of minutes pass as the unconscious goblin releases this odd mana, but nothing significant happens apart from that. Then the effects start to wear off, and it wakes up. Its tongue and throat seem very irritated, and it feels nauseous, still poisoned by the impurities in the silvery liquid.

Thankfully, the light-Ciel is able to heal it and purify its body, so it isn't like this is a deadly poison, and there also doesn't seem to be any lasting damage or changes to its soul. But now we're stumped as we don't know how to proceed from here.

Then Nono shares her thoughts, "The goblin released mana, but it isn't a mage, so its compatibility with magic is low."

"We should test with a mage goblin, then," I eagerly reply.

I only have pestilence-themed goblin mages, so I decide to summon a hobgoblin mage instead.

"Is this a hobgoblin? It reminds me of elves, somehow," Nono curiously remarks as she inspects the kind of ugly green summon, and the Companions tense up at her words.

"Never say that in front of an elf," I caution her with a chuckle, and even Petra nods in agreement.

"Oh…" the silly rabbit hums embarrassedly as she realizes that three of the five present Companions are elves. "Sorry…"

Then we have the summon drink 10ml of the silvery liquid.

This time, the reaction is instantaneous, and instead of just seeing a faint light, the hobgoblin instantly passes out as its mind is taken to a confusing and psychedelic world of colorful lights and muffled murmurs.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit…" Nono mumbles excitedly as I describe to her what the summon is seeing.

It's like someone is painting with wild, watery strokes of color that gradually fade into the black of the canvas. The murmuring sounds like speech, as if hundreds of random youtube videos were playing at the same time, but I'm unable to discern any individual words being spoken due to the chaos.

With [Sense Soul], I can see that the inner part of the hobgoblin's soul has completely disappeared, but [Sense Presence] shows no change, still insisting that its spirit is in its body. So, it's like someone's organs have been transported somewhere else while the skin remains in place. Souls and spirits don't obey the regular laws of physics, so this is a flawed analogy, but it serves to illustrate what I'm seeing.

And the trippiness starts to affect me, so I sit down on the ground as I begin to get a bit dizzy.

"Your Highness, are you alright?" one of the Companions immediately asks me as they approach.

"Just dizzy. The summon is seeing something that's so confusing it's nauseating," I reassure them.

Another Companion drags a lounging chair over to me, and they help me sit on it. "A chair is better than the ground," she kindly states, and their overprotectiveness makes me chuckle.

I try to discern more details or interesting observations from what the hobgoblin is seeing, but it's simply impossible for me.

"I honestly have no idea what the summon is seeing," Petra declares and decides to inspect the basin again. "I've never dealt with power from the moon before, so this is all new to me."

Nono approaches the hobgoblin and inspects it closely, trying to glean any new information she can from it or the weird mana it's releasing. "The visions became more clear with a monster with high magical aptitude, so maybe we need someone with even more 'Magic Power'?" she suggests and gives me an inquisitive look.

"No," Alissa immediately chimes in through [Bind].

"I can do it," Roxanne lazily volunteers and lifts her thin, pale arm.

I sigh and agree, "It's not a good idea for me to deal with such things, so maybe Roxanne is a better choice."

Nono tilts her head confusedly. "Well, I suggested you because you have [Summoning Magic], but if you don't want to, then maybe I could be next?"

But I reject her idea and kindly explain, "Roxanne and I have a special connection, so I think she's a better choice than you because I can watch over her and keep her safe while I can't do the same for you."

"Okay…" my white rabbit softly hums, looking quite happy that I've shown concern for her.

It takes a couple of minutes for the hobgoblin to come back to the land of the living, and after Roxanne clothes herself, we give her 10ml of the liquid.

Kaatohe looks a bit annoyed that her lezzing partner is gone, but then she appears to want to tease Hukarere into gayness, and it's almost enough to distract me from scholarly pursuits… almost.

Roxanne downs the glass while sitting on a lounging chair and almost instantly passes out, requiring a Companion to grab the glass before it can fall from her hand and another Companion to lower her body down in the chair.

And then she's dragged into a sea of moaning spirits.

Innumerable lives flash past her eyes like moving televisions that overlap with each other, and the sounds are all garbled to the point of incomprehension, but then she clearly hears the word "Lord," and her mind focuses on a fast-moving TV. She sees a person kneel before an imperial wearing lavish clothes, but then the memory jumps forward to a battle in the Thunderplains as the person rides a Ronti in formation, only to be crushed by a [Meteor].

Then she suddenly hears "love," and her mind focuses on the last moments of an old man dying alongside his oni-type wife. Next, she hears "magic" and sees a mage student of Xane's Holy Academy die in a dungeon after her party bit off more than they could chew.

"The Cycle of Souls!" Ciel suddenly exclaims in realization.

And more and more lives continue to flash past Roxanne's eyes. Curiously, they are all somehow "related" to her. People of Mashoor, people of Xane, students of the Holy Academy, teachers, potion-makers, adventurers in Maoka, adventurers in the High Forest, adventurers in Rabanara, people of Escanso, people of the Western High Forest, knights, alpha males with big cocks, cute boys with big cocks, pretty women who lived in harems, and even powerful mage Lords.

All these lives fly past her in an almost maddening maelstrom of visions, sounds, words, and even smells and tastes. But Roxanne remains in place, calmly observing, at most just irritated by the bothersome environment.

"Wolfy…?" her voice suddenly echoes in her dream, but nothing comes through [Bind].

Nevertheless, I answer telepathically, "I'm here."

"Wolfy!?" she happily exclaims, and her world spins in a nauseating way as she tries to look around, but she can't find me.

"Can you hear me?" I try again.

"Your voice sounds so far away…" she quietly replies, sounding concerned.

"But I'm here."

And she seems to nod in her dream, causing more nauseating movements. "I feel you more than hear you."

Then Ciel takes over and explains, "You're in the Cycle of Souls, where the dead go after their stay in Paradise, but you aren't dead."

Indeed, her body, HP, spirit, and everything seems fine except for the fact that the organs of her spirit, her soul, have become invisible to my [Sense Soul].

"Cool. Annoying place, though," she coos casually, and I can just hear the smirk in her voice.

"Cycle of Souls…?" Petra mumbles absentmindedly and pales. Nono is already pale, so I don't know if she's also paling, but they're both flabbergasted, just listening to my descriptions, so I'd guess that my white rabbit is pale too.

"Can you interact with anything?" I suggest to Roxanne, not knowing how to proceed.

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But Ciel begs for caution, "I don't think that's a g-…"

Roxanne touches the "television" of a mage, and the Cycle of Souls becomes a blur as she begins to "fall" towards somewhere.

After just a couple of seconds of butt-clenching fear, she suddenly wakes up, but I also get a new blip in my [Sense Presence].

She brought back a soul.

"What the…" one of the Companions mumbles in surprise. She likely has [Sense Soul] and has also detected the spirit.

I summon a Spirit elemental just in case, then cast [Materialize] on the spirit at the same time that Roxanne suddenly sits up and [Equip]s her staff in fear.

"LORD CARANTO, I HAVE RETURNED!" a young and boisterous male voice roars, and the blue, ethereal form of a short mage in robes appears before us. The first thing I notice is that the robes' hood has conical accommodations for elven ears. The second thing I notice is that the mage's staff has a coral theme, appropriate for a Water mage.

The Companions immediately grab the handles of their swords but don't pull them out, then they surround the spirit while pulling Nono and Petra away so that they stay behind me. Hukarere jumps out of her seat and [Equip]s her armor, then joins them while Mara hastily casts [Fire Spirit].

And the lithe glowing mage remains standing as he looks around in seeming confusion. I manage to spy between the Companions a very boyish face under the spirit's hood, but there doesn't seem to be any concern in his gaze, and neither is there any hostility.

"Hasn't Lord Caranto summoned me from the dead?" the mage asks confusedly.

"Stand down, please," I kindly request to the Companions, who immediately obey but remain in place. Then I walk forward and politely address the mage, who promptly turns around to face me, "Apologies, but we summoned you by mistake. What land does your Lord rule?"

The mage pulls down his hood, revealing a handsome silver elf boy with spiky hair and a youthful face reminiscent of mine. "Heart Lord Caranto rules Goldport, at the eastern end of the elven lands, under the domain of the Eastern High Forest and Crown Lord Maro Rincipio."

"I don't recognize any of those names," Yunia states through [Bind].

"I'm Wolf Ryder. May I ask for your name?" I politely reply, omitting certain details to not confuse the mage.

"Caio," he answers simply.

"Caio, in which year did you die?"

"Year seventeen of the third century…" -he suddenly raises his thin eyebrows in realization- "of the sixty-second millennium."

"We're in the sixty-ninth millennium," I answer soberly.

His eyes widen in surprise. "Of the Calendar of Festivity?"

And I nod. "Yes."

"Oh…" he hums, a sound that's echoed in the minds of everyone present.

"E-everyone… I think we've just committed a heresy!" Ciel desperately exclaims.

I still have my Blessing from Knowledge, so I think we'll be fine… for now.

Then Caio simply snorts, and his expression relaxes as he casually asks, "You said that you summoned me by mistake?"

The Gods really dislike it when spirits of the dead are bothered or abused. So to not anger them, I continue being very polite as I reply, "Yes, we apologize for that. We were testing a spell and accidentally touched you, but we didn't imagine that you'd come back with us."

He rubs his right ear awkwardly as he confesses, "That might've been my fault. I felt something tug at me, and I was suddenly filled with the nostalgia of my living days, so I gladly let myself be pulled back to the land of the living!" And then he beams with a youthful grin.

Okay, this might not be entirely our fault, then.

And that makes Roxanne feel like her innocence is guaranteed, so she curiously inquires, "Don't you look too young to be a mage serving a Lord?"

"My spirit form has taken my favorite shape from when I was alive," Caio answers matter-of-factly.

"How do you know that?" I immediately ask with a frown.

He shrugs with a grin. "For some reason, some information was imparted into me the moment I died."

"Did you spend time in Paradise?" I inquire further.

"Yes, I already did, and I was on my way to reincarnating when I was pulled back," he cheerfully answers.

"What's Paradise like?"

And he awkwardly averts his eyes. "I shouldn't answer that."

"Fascinating," I hum in excitement.

And the elf boy nods. "Indeed. It was considered impossible to call back spirits even just a year after their deaths, let alone millennia!" Then his eyes sharpen in scholarly curiosity. "But what are you, Wolf Ryder? You look like a special dragonkin, you seem to be protected by… a lot of women, and even though you aren't an elf, it seems that we're in the High Forest…"

I calmly nod and begin explaining, "Well, that's a complicated matter. You see, I-…"

He suddenly interrupts me as his gaze loses focus, "Oh, I'm being called back."

"By who?" I ask curiously.

But he simply shrugs again. "I don't know. I can stay for a while longer, but you said that summoning me was an accident, right?"

"Correct."

And his gaze becomes wistful. "Then I'd rather go, if you don't mind. I'm eager to reincarnate."

"Please, don't let me hold you here," I politely reply.

And he beams with a wide smile. "Farewell, Wolf Ryder. Better luck in your experiments!"

I calmly wave as I reply, "Farewell, Caio. I wish you a happy new life."

He cheerfully lifts his coral staff and exclaims, "So do I…!"

Then he suddenly disappears in a puff of ethereal smoke, and a lot of exotic otherworldly-power-infused mana is released from him.

"Now that was something…" I hum and smile wryly at the frozen pair of Ladies behind me.

Hall of Fame of Patrons

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

Prince PreownedFIN.

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Noble Aclys.

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Noble Tony Starrk.

Manasong

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