Chapter 69: Chapter 58- Tracking Souls

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Satiation LV 7] has become [Satiation LV 8].}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Magic Power Operation LV 5] has become [Magic Power Operation LV 6].}

Ahhhh… The long lost heavenly taste of normal food. I really really missed this.

I’m definitely not crying! Those aren’t tears, it’s just a bit of salty water in my eyes, literally!

Don’t look at me with that suspicious expression! Even if they were tears, can you blame me?! 

This future goddess was forced to eat what was basically soggy rotten animal carcasses for the past few days!

You should be glad I haven’t gone mad already!!

Rubbing salt into a pitiful lady’s wounds isn’t the behavior of a gentleman at all.

Sigh… People nowadays are getting more and more disrespectful, man.

Leaving that aside, I recently noticed a tiny problem with my body.

My required food intake has risen to an astronomical level.

I’m pretty sure I had to eat about half a ton from my stock before I felt remotely full despite my SP bar being over half full.

Even if I was forced to eat rotten meat for a few days, it wouldn't explain why my craving for food has increased to such a ridiculous level.

Just 10% of that would’ve been enough to fill my red SP bar before I entered the dead zone.

I did gain a few levels since then, but my stamina increase certainly isn’t enough to warrant this much.

A parasite perhaps…? No, it can’t be. Sage would’ve alerted me if any unknown objects entered my body.

It might be the dead zone absorbing my body’s energy, or it might be the Kratinz ruins doing so.

It’s like area-specific debuffs in video games, right?

Each of those possibilities is terrible by itself, but the problem might be caused by multiple reasons at the same time.

Yeeeaaah… I better leave this place soon. I’d rather not have my appetite growing to the point where I could rival a blue whale in an eating contest.

It wouldn’t be a problem if I get increased strength in exchange, but I undoubtedly don’t want to become some mindless starved monster and lose my lady’s elegance for no reason at all.

Sure, I might be a glutton, but being forced to eat out of severe hunger is a whole different story. 

Except for refilling my stamina, I usually just eat food for personal satisfaction, not because I actually need to.

Well, it’s not posing much of a problem for me right now, so let’s leave this problem for future me to deal with, shall we?

Since there’s still a bit of time left before a teleportation spell’s worth of magic is unsealed, I might as well continue exploring the city.

Carefully avoiding the black river, I make my way through the other half of the city.

However, just as I expected, there was nothing else but more buildings over there.

Though I did analyze a bit more information about this city through their state.

Judging by how weathered they are along with Sage’s analysis, the city should’ve sunk about one thousand and five hundred years ago.

I assume that should be around the time when the W system was introduced into this world.

Sooo as far as I can see, the inhabitants of this city were actually descendants from an ancient civilization that predates the one that caused the MA shortage by a very long time.

They were probably keeping to themselves, living here hidden from the world, but were affected when the other idiots sucked up the MA energy and nearly destroyed the planet in the process.

Honestly, I can’t help but pity them… 

Well, unlucky them! It’s not my problem anyways! 

What matters to me now is that the owners are dead and there’s no one to claim the inheritance, meaning that their belongings are fair game!

I would like to thank each and every single one of them for working hard to create such an amazing inheritance and then leaving it up for grabs by anyone who finds it!

It’s really hard to find such generous people nowadays. I’ll make sure to get the highest value out of their belongings as a thank you.

A shame none of their tech survived the weathering of time, I would’ve loved to get my hands on some of their technology.

I’ve basically looked through everything this sunken paradise has to offer by now… Well, except for one last thing.

My vision slowly drifts towards the pitch-black river visible only when I use my Spiritual Cognition.

Whatever created this thing remains unknown, though I’d certainly love to sate my curiosity by uncovering its mystery.

Following its downstream leads to the city square, but I already made sure that there’s nothing around there, including an illusion barrier.

So, the only thing I can do now is follow the river upstream while studying it until my magic is finally unsealed.

Leisurely swimming back to the river’s position, I gradually adjust my direction upwards against the stream.

I thoroughly examine the river, doing my best to see beyond its outer facade, but I still see nothing but that continuous stream of pitch-black energy.

Kinda reminds me of the undeads’ corrupted souls, just withouthout the eerie red cores and veins.

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They’re definitely not the same though, the souls in this river retain basic speech and action abilities even if they are basically operating on autopilot.

I made a few more attempts, even tried boosting my Soul Seeker skills with skill points, but I failed to see anything.

So, I just gave up and increased my speed.

I should never give up, you say?

Are you an idiot? Whaddya think this is– some kind of shounen manga?

It’d be silly of me to waste any more time on this when I have something more important to do.

As it turns out, that was actually the correct decision, as I soon discovered that the river’s actually connected to the outer barrier.

Souls flow directly into it from every direction of the barrier’s dome following a specific path

One which I later discovered was also the path of the water current I followed to get into the city in the first place.

However, the discovery did nothing to help me locate its source.

I just stood at the entrance to the sunken ruins, very confused about how I should proceed.

Uhhh… What now? Survey the entire barrier? Maybe dig out the city square? 

Both seem very impractical though. I mean, the original inhabitants wouldn't want to dig up the city square everytime they want to access the barrier’s core, right?

Hmmmm… Guess I’ll go for a full lap around the barrier's perimeter then, maybe I’ll get a lucky find.

For some reason, the hidden enchantments in this place get lifted only when I’m physically near them.

Whoever made this place must’ve been one of those pesky hyperactive fellas, right?

I mean, why else would they go as far as to make a freaking magical motion sensor?!

A few minutes later, I finally detected an abnormality around the 6 o’clock area of the barrier.

The concentration of souls around here is a lot denser than all the other areas I’ve passed through.

It’s so dense that it almost forms a soul river comparable to the pitch-black one

However, the souls around here don’t give off that enticing aura nor do they have that eerie black. Actually, they don’t even have regular golden color. 

Instead, their color is a dull off-white, and they give me the impression of ignorance, as if I’m looking at a newborn baby.

It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like this even though I’ve observed four different states of the soul.

The pale golden color that all creatures share, the full gray color when a soul is corrupted, and the pure black color of undead souls.

And lastly, there’s the missing soul state which I observed in jellyfish only.

Listening to my intuition, I cast a Soul Barrier around my soul and dive into the river.

I gave my shiny violet tail a heavy flick in order and used the momentum to swim against the current.

As I went further along the river, the white color of the souls gradually became more pure in a way reminiscent of my Soul Purification ability.

Suddenly, I felt myself passing through another barrier accompanied by a weightless feeling in my entire body.

It took me a few seconds to reorient myself before attempting to take in my surroundings, but then I crashed face-first into a hard grassy surface.

The feeling of dry grass touching my face and warm air caressing my body sent me into a daze.

A strong feeling of nostalgia welled up inside me.

Coupled with how hard the last few days were on me, my vision went blurry as joyful tears involuntarily rolled down my cheeks.

It’s not like I haven’t gone above water since my reincarnation. In fact, I’ve been basking in the sun everyday ever since my strength increased to the point where I could kill dragons by myself.

What’s making me emotional is the long-lost relaxed feeling in my body.

No matter how you try, it’s impossible for your body to be fully relaxed when you’re underwater.

And even when I was basking in the sun, that sticky wet feeling all over my body was very uncomfortable.

This unpleasant feeling has been especially prominent ever since I shapeshifted into a mermaid body.

It’s to the point where being out of water just like I am right now caused all the tension to leave my body along with any control I had over it.

I laid powerlessly as I felt my entire body going numb and my consciousness slowly slipping away.

But I don’t actually care. Frankly, I want to indulge in this feeling of safety as much as possible after the near death experience I went through.

I might have Exhaustion Nullification for my body fatigue, and my strong soul helps me fight off the mental fatigue, but there’s no denying the fact that it’s been too long since I actually rested.

Hurriedly scanning my surroundings through both my sphere and intuition, I detect a large pond with some flowers and lily pads floating on its surface with nothing but grass around them.

Sensing no danger from them, relief fills my body as I give in to that peaceful sensation.

Soon,  my breathing rate evens out as I drift into a normal sleep for the first time in what seems like forever.