Adam slowly came to his senses. He looked around and saw that he was no longer falling through the sea of black tendrils. He muttered in confusion, "Was it an… illusion?"
But he immediately shook his head. "No, that was way too real!"
Next, he tried to discern where he currently was and found that he was floating amid an amalgamation of myriad colors. All these colors tried to mix with one another, but they failed. Resulting in a bizarre sea of chaos.
But at the very least, this place seemed much safer and peaceful than the one he was previously in. Just thinking about it made him shudder.
Adam was slowly getting used to the strange happenings in the Spirit World. But still, he didn't want to experience that abyss full of tendrils ever again.
He floated in the colorful void for a long time, thinking to himself, How do I go back home without the chain?
The youth wanted to cry but didn't know how to. He pulled at his hair and roared, "Why did I have to follow the voice of that damned egg?!"
Adam was livid, but this feeling didn't last long. Once again, he had this strange feeling that he was being stared at by something… or someone.
And when he looked around, it was indeed so.
GASP!
Dozens of pairs of eyes as large as mountains were looking at him with malice and whispering words of madness in his ears.
"Aarrgghh!!" Adam groaned in agony. He felt he would go insane by simply listening to these ravings. "It's one thing after the other in this damnable place!"
Just when he thought that he was at his limits, from the depths of his soul the white lotus bloomed and emanated an aura of placidity throughout his being. Adam felt his mind gaining clarity and his soul body began shining brighter than ever.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"I need to get out of here!" He muttered in panic.
Seeing that the ravings didn't affect the puny human, the owners of these pairs of eyes drew closer and the ravings intensified.
"AAAGGGGHHHHH!!" Adam screamed at the top of his lungs. He had never felt such pain. After all, it was an attack directly on his soul. Meanwhile, the white lotus began emanating an even brighter light as it protected the youth's soul.
ROAARRR!!!
Suddenly, an enormous wolf as dark as the night appeared right in front of Adam. Its size seemed to be similar to the owners of the pairs of eyes. It opened its gaping maw filled with razor-sharp teeth and swallowed the youth in one go.
Following that, the wolf cast a glance of warning to the owners of those ominous eyes and then disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived.
Seeing that their prey had vanished, the dozens of pairs of eyes slowly disappeared, not wanting to follow after the wolf.
…
"Ugh…" Adam massaged his temples as he slowly opened his eyes. "Where am I?"
His eyes landed on a familiar wooden ceiling, causing him to be puzzled. Then he looked around and confirmed that he was indeed in Berger's guest room.
"What the hell am I doing here?" He slowly sat up and tried to recall what had happened. But the splitting headache prevented him from doing so.
"Woof!" Suddenly, Blackie dashed into the room and jumped on the youth's lap.
"Oh, Blackie! It's you." Adam gently rubbed the little puppy's head. But suddenly he stopped. The last thing he remembered was him being stranded in the Spirit World and then being swallowed up by a large wolf.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Adam's eyes narrowed. "It was you, wasn't it?"
Blackie avoided eye contact with the youth. At the same time, the puppy was secretly smirking. Seeing this, Adam's eyebrows twitched and he thought to himself, 'So this fellow has just been acting cute all this while, pretending to be a puppy…'
That's right! Blackie was actually a wolf in puppy's clothing!
"You're finally awake, boy." Berger's deep voice entered Adam's ears.
The gnome entered the room while smoking his pipe. He came in front of Adam and carefully scrutinized him. "How're you feeling?"
Adam replied while massaging his temples. "I've got a terrible headache, old man."
"Just a headache, eh?" The old gnome muttered under his breath, hiding the shock in his voice.
After all, Adam was in the Spirit World for hours. By all rights, he should have died. In the best-case scenario, his soul would have been heavily eroded and he would have become a vegetable for the rest of his life.
But all he had was a headache. Berger didn't know what to say. He looked at the youth and solemnly asked, "Boy, tell me what happened in the Spirit World. How did the chain anchoring you to our world break?"
Adam nodded and began recounting all the fantastical and terrifying things he had witnessed.
From drowning in the tsunami to swimming with the dolphins. From entering the citadel through the dark woods to running away from the white serpent.
With lingering fear, he spoke about his descent into the abyss of tendrils and then finally getting stranded in a sea of myriad colors while being surrounded by ominous hidden entities.
Berger was speechless. He couldn't believe that the kid was able to witness so many different things on just his first visit to the Spirit World. And it appeared that he went to quite a lot of places.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})The gnome couldn't help but rub his temples. Then, he asked, "So in the end you didn't manage to contract any familiar, eh?"
"Heh," Adam smirked. "Who said I didn't?"
The next moment, he willed it and a gray light shot out from his head. Following that, an egg appeared on his hand.
"Oh!" Berger was very intrigued. He gently grabbed the egg and 18:45
looked at it from up close. "How fascinating! I've never seen a "Oh!" Berger was very intrigued. He gently grabbed the egg and looked at it from up close. "How fascinating! I've never seen a creature, or an egg for this matter, being able to reside inside one's mind."
Adam remained silent. He knew that it wasn't technically his mind that the egg was residing in, but the white lotus!
The youth didn't know what to feel about it. The white lotus was his life's greatest secret, one that he hadn't planned on ever telling anyone.
But things seldom went the way one planned.
"And it looks like the creature inside the egg has already formed a bond with you." Berger gently handed the egg back to Adam.
The youth was surprised. "Already?"
"Yes." Berger nodded. "I sense a very strong connection between you two."
"Woof!" Blackie nodded vigorously.
Adam stared at the egg and thought in a daze, Is it because I saved you from the snake?
He then looked at the gnome and gratefully said, "Thank you for everything, old man." He then patted Blackie on the head and continued. "And you too, Blackie. Without you, I would have probably died."
Blackie didn't reply, but his tail began swaying faster.
"Anyway, you should head back to the academy. It's already been ten days," said the gnome while puffing out a ring of smoke.
"What?!" Adam was shocked. "Damn it! I missed a test! No wait, I think I missed two!"
"Don't worry about it. I've already spoken to Helene. She'll take care of it." Berger added casually.
"Who's Helene?" Adam asked, still in a state of panic.
POW!
"Get lost! You ask too many questions!" The gnome roared.
"Y-Yes, sir!" Adam hurriedly grabbed his belongings, willed the egg to go back inside his mind, and then sped off.
Berger looked at Adam's departing back and sighed helplessly. "Not to mention being able to survive in the Spirit World for so many hours, but the fact that he even attracted the attention of those hidden entities…"
Usually, when Magi explored the Spirit World, they made sure to not wander too far away. After all, the concept of distance was messed up in that dimension.
But listening to Adam's recount, the gnome couldn't help but think that the youth had gone on a long vacation.
"This boy… so troublesome."
