The Invoked Spirit approached close to the misty layer, stopping a metre away as Pilkan frowned in response, watching the trapped Eagle Invoked Spirits gradually dissolve as the mist seeped into them slowly.
But suddenly, the eyes of his Invoked Spirit shone with starlight as it displayed momentary sentience, something impossible at the Invoker Stage as it condensed a spear and drilled into the cliff, soon making a small enough cave for Pilkan to be seated inside.
Even though he was shocked, Pilkan had already become aware that his Invoked Spirit was different from the norm. Therefore, he simply let things play out their due course, for every time this happened, it was only to his benefit, saving him years of time and effort.
The moment he entered the cave, the Invoked Spirit vanished, returning to his Dreamland as the tattoo appeared on his forehead once again.
And this time, Pilkan felt an urge to stare at the misty layer, or rather at the Invoked Spirits being eaten by the mist. He focused on them, gradually casting his Dreamland over them, the same way he absorbed Mental Fragments from a corpse.
Normally, it was impossible to obtain the Mental Fragments of another Invoker's Invoked Spirit. The reason was simple. Mental Fragments were like bricks while Invoked Spirits were like fully constructed houses, furnishing included.
Disassembling the house, and removing one brick at a time was such a tedious process that it would take months to do so; no Invoker would patiently wait that long for his enemy.
Moreover, the moment an Invoker dies, their Invoked Spirit dies as well. Things were different at a higher Stage, but that was an entirely different case, a level unattainable to the majority of the Invokers.
Therefore, there was never an opportunity for an Invoker to obtain the Mental Fragments from an Invoked Spirit.
But here, the Invokers had died while their Invoked Spirits were trapped in the misty layer. The mist had interfered with them, trapping them while preventing them from simply dying. It was seeping into them and gradually eating them up.
Therefore, it created the perfect opportunity for Pilkan as he focused on the closest Invoked Spirit, one that was trapped the latest, feeling intense resistance at the start, noticing his Mental Strength vanning at a rapid pace.
But gradually, the Eagle Invoked Spirit's Mental Fragments flowed into his Dreamland. Shockingly, they weren't pure Mental Fragments, but ones sporting a trace of the mist that had seeped into them.
The mist was the sole reason they hadn't vanished in the first place, following the death of their Invoker.
Therefore, when he absorbed the Mental Fragment, so did he obtain the mysterious mist. And immediately after, the moment it appeared in the Dreamland, the Human Invoked Spirit sucked it into its eyes, storing it there, assimilating it naturally.
And the moment it assimilated the mist into its eyes, Pilkan noticed the resistance he faced at absorbing the Mental Fragments from the misty layer decrease in response, allowing him to absorb more by expending lower Mental Strength.
With that, he absorbed most of the mist that had seeped into the Mental Fragments, allowing the Human Invoked Spirit to absorb it into its eye, making it further easy for him. It resulted in a beneficial cycle as Pilkan lost the flow of time, spending hours at the place, only noticing what he had done after absorbing the last of the remaining Mental Fragment.
By now, the Human Invoked Spirit had absorbed a tremendous volume of the mist, turning it into its power as that was what Pilkan could sense. He experimented a little following that, bringing out his Invoked Spirit as he made it condense a spear, watching it be covered with a faint layer of mist when he willed it.
'I have the power of the mist?' He was shocked at the revelation, curbing his excitement in a hurry as he gently made the spear touch the misty layer, noticing that it wasn't affected. With that, he was assured that the misty layer wouldn't affect his Invoked Spirit.
As it was only effective against Invoked Spirits, he could pass through it fine, for he had done so once already. Earlier, he was contemplating a way in which his Invoked Spirit could throw him through the misty layer with enough force while he could reclaim it right before he entered the misty layer, summoning it immediately after exiting it.
It would then carry him forward. He had to get both the force and timing of the two process right, a single error would result in him falling to his death and his Invoked Spirit getting trapped in the mist. But now, things had become many times easier as his Invoked Spirit covered itself with a layer of mist and directly passed through the misty layer while carrying him on its shoulder.
Soon after, Pilkan made his way to the top of the cliff, climbing to safety as he sighed in relief upon reaching the flat ground. He retracted his Invoked Spirit, rather jubilant with his growth, for he had attained growth that took others years in the span of a day.
This was not to mention him attaining the power of the mysterious mist, something impossible to obtain even if one spent decades in training. At most, the successors of the most powerful of Clans might have such abilities, derived from places on the same level as the misty layer.
Grrr!
His stomach rumbled as only now did he realise that he hadn't eaten anything for almost a day, now famished as he hurriedly moved through the forest, intending to hunt for something to eat there. Unfortunately, the forest was too barren for wildlife as anything that lived there had long since been captured by the people in the nearby city to rear for their respective Clans.
After all, Invokers was a resource-intensive profession. So, any and all living creatures in the forest had been wiped out ages ago. If not for the fact that trees didn't produce any Mental Fragments, they too would have been cleared out.
Left with no other choice, Pilkan could only walk through the forest while bearing his hunger. He couldn't flaunt his Human Invoked Spirit, for that would only complicate things further. Therefore, all he could do was tie a piece of cloth on his forehead, hiding his tattoo.
Those unwilling to reveal the type of their Invoked Spirit typically did this too, though the gates at the city entrance forced them to reveal their type. So, the only way in which Pilkan could enter the city was through a back door, especially something used by an underground organisation.
"I didn't wish to mingle with bloodthirsty murders." He sighed, making his way towards the city, left with no other choice, forced into the path he had chosen the moment he stole the Human Invoker Crystal.
