Chapter 81: Sword of Fire (3)
As soon as I checked the items that came out of the 30 draws, I handed over the magic book to Eutenia, who was traveling in a carriage.
Eutenia, who received the [Magic Book: Feather Fall], thanked me as before and opened the book.
Pluto, who was next to her, also showed interest in the book, but soon lost interest in it and looked at the scenery around him again.
For a vampire, a human’s magic book didn’t seem to have much meaning.
That’s why Pluto fiddled with his Death Scythe instead of the thick magic book in his hand.
“Well, it makes sense since he uses blood to cast magic.”
If there is a magic that suits vampires, there is no need to learn human magic.
As long as he accumulates enough sacred contribution points, he can borrow simple magic through the <Sacred Response Device>.
Besides, Pluto’s [Divine Artifact: Death Scythe] has an effect of amplifying the power of blood magic.
It would be more effective in terms of output to use blood magic rather than ordinary magic.
I decided that and turned my attention away from Eutenia and Pluto.
Eutenia would offer the magic book as a tribute when she fully mastered the magic.
“Now it’s time to check this out…”
After moving my gaze away from Eutenia, I looked at my inventory and saw [Floating Soil] in one corner.
According to the item description, [Floating Soil] was an earth spirit that grew by eating soil.
Spirit.
A creature that often appears as a pet or an enemy monster in games or novels.
It looked more like a character or a monster than an item.
It felt awkward to see such a spirit in my inventory.
The category of [Floating Soil] seemed to be wrong somehow.
“It came out of the draw, so it must be an item, but it also seems more like a pet.”
Should I consider a pet as an item?
I thought about that and remembered the <Creature Maker> I used before.
If something like that was classified as a skill, there was no reason why I couldn’t classify a spirit as an item.
It wasn’t like there were no games that put pets in the inventory.
After pondering for a while, I decided to take out [Floating Soil] from my inventory.
“[Floating Soil], huh… Let’s see your face.”
Squeeze.
I opened my inventory and touched [Floating Soil] with my finger.
Then I dragged the item all the way and dropped [Floating Soil] on the empty plain.
The lump of soil that came out of the inventory revealed itself on the field.
Maybe it was because of the word ‘floating’ in front of it.
The lump of soil that was placed on the field showed a floating appearance that suited its name.
-“Soil.”
The lump of soil that floated in the air started to spin around in its place.
Above its head, if I could call it that, a speech bubble with the word ‘soil’ written on it appeared.
It was more important that a speech bubble appeared than whether I could call it a head or not.
It was a situation where the lump of soil was floating in the air by itself and even displaying a speech bubble.
It was a strange sight that didn’t look like a simple pet to anyone who saw it.
“What is this thing that can even talk?”
I couldn’t help but be flustered by the sight of [Floating Soil].
Usually, only humans or similar categories of characters display speech bubbles.
Even the dark beasts couldn’t show speech bubbles above their heads.
But this thing looked like a lump of soil and had a speech bubble on its head.
Was it because the race of spirits was special?
I watched the talking lump of soil to see how far it could speak.
-“Soil.”
“Hmm.”
-“Soil.”
“…”
-“Soil.”
But even as time passed, the lump of soil didn’t say anything other than ‘soil’.
Seeing [Floating Soil] repeating the same word, I tried to guess its intention somehow.
Could it only say soil?
Or was it asking for soil?
Considering the description of [Floating Soil] that said it grew well by eating soil, either one was a plausible story.
“Is that thing asking for soil?”
I was troubled by [Floating Soil]’s request for soil.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any magic that could feed it soil.
Most of the magic I learned was about breaking and destroying things.
I didn’t bother with anything other than attack magic because they were not helpful for hunting.
It was very difficult for me to feed it soil directly, even if it asked me to.
-“Soil.”
“I wonder if it will say something else if I hit it.”
Instead of feeding it soil, I touched the lump of soil on the screen and nudged it slightly.
Shiver.
It shook its body once and spun around in its place.
Then it looked up at the sky and showed another speech bubble above its head.
It had one more letter than before.
-“Soil-soil.”
I stared at the lump of soil with a speech bubble with a blank look.
It seemed that my guess that it could only say soil was true.
My eyes moved from the lump of soil on the screen to the pile of soil on the ground.
Despite the soil scattered around, it didn’t eat any of it.
It seemed that it couldn’t eat soil by itself and needed someone else to feed it.
As I wondered how to feed it soil, I saw a new speech bubble that the lump of soil displayed.
-“Water.”
“…”
I had to revise my hypothesis based on the new speech bubble.
It wasn’t that it could only repeat the same word.
It was just asking me for soil.
Now it was asking for water.
I looked at [Floating Soil] coldly and moved my eyes to the skill icon at the bottom of the screen.
-You used <Weather Control: Storm>.
-The effect of <Weather Control> will last for one day.
If it wanted water so much, I should feed it myself.
I used <Weather Control> to create a storm over a wide area.
It was a kind of stress relief to shake off the strange feeling I got from talking to the lump of soil.
The characters in the village that was included in the range of <Weather Control> hurriedly ran into their houses to avoid the rain.
I continued to spam <Weather Control> and scattered storms everywhere the village was.
[Floating Soil], who was caught in the storm, also floated up and soaked wet.
-“Soil.”
The lump of soil that spun fiercely as if it was a god.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.
An earth spirit that I feed soil and water with my own hands.
It reminded me of the palm tree I used to grow when I was young.
Of course, the palm tree dried up and died because I didn’t water it often.
“Do I have to raise soil by feeding it and watering it when it’s not even a character I can make into a disciple?”
Leaving the lump of soil that was happy in the rain, I started to look for another way to raise it.
Fortunately, I had several AI macros at my disposal.
If I couldn’t raise it with my own hands, I could let someone else do it for me.
I moved the screen busily to find Evan, who would be somewhere in the Order.
***
Evan Allemier.
He was the second apostle of the Order, and he stretched his stiff body as he walked toward the clearing that was made in the back mountain of the Order.
After the overthrow of Lithua-Centurios, he stayed in the Order and taught swordsmanship to the young ones.
It was supposed to be a time to rest after the training of the young ones in the Order was over, but he had a new task recently.
It was because of the new order that his master gave him four days ago.
It was an order to take care of the earth spirit in the back mountain.
“How are you doing today?”
Evan, who went to the back mountain, greeted the earth spirit that floated in the air.
Whirr. Whirr.
The lump of soil that flew in the sky spun around in its place and welcomed Evan.
It was a marvelous sight to see a lump of soil floating in the air.
If he hadn’t heard the story of the earth spirit, Evan would have doubted it was a magician’s magic.
Evan reached out his hand toward it and stroked it with his palm.
“Yeah. I think I’m doing well too.”
Evan, who was stroking the earth spirit, also smiled and replied.
He was doing this by the order of the great being he served, but he himself was also secretly enjoying this task.
Raising a spirit itself was a hard and tedious task.
But Evan felt quite satisfied with raising the earth spirit.
It wasn’t so bad to grow a spirit with his own hands.
“You must be very hungry.”
Floating Soil, who was spinning fiercely, stopped spinning and stayed in place.
Oooh.
The lump of soil that stayed in place shook its body once.
Evan couldn’t understand the spirit’s words, but he could easily predict what the spirit would say in this situation.
It must have waited for Evan to feed it soil all day long while starving.
Evan nodded at the spirit’s answer and walked toward the shovel that was stuck in the clearing.
It was something he had stuck on the ground after feeding the earth spirit soil yesterday.
“Just wait a little longer. I’ll feed you enough soil today too.”
Thud.
Evan lifted the shovel that was stuck in the ground.
Maybe it was because he had been feeding Floating Soil diligently for two days.
Near where the shovel was stuck, there was a small clearing that had been created.
And as if to prove that Evan’s efforts were not in vain, the spirit’s size was also tens of times bigger than the first day.
Floating Soil grew bigger and bigger as it ate more soil.
“It might be hard to stroke you if you get any bigger.”
Oooh.
Floating Soil spun briefly after hearing Evan’s words.
It was a spirit that knew how to act cute unlike the first day.
Evan stuck the shovel deep into the ground and moved his arm skillfully to scoop up some soil.
As Evan scooped up some soil with the shovel, Floating Soil came down a little and stretched out its body.
Evan sprinkled the soil on top of Floating Soil.
“Huff…”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
He pressed the soil that he sprinkled on the lump of soil with his shovel.
If he didn’t fix the soil properly after sprinkling it, Floating Soil couldn’t absorb it well.
Only the soil that was firmly fixed could enter the spirit’s influence.
That was why the earth spirit couldn’t absorb the soil around it indiscriminately.
He had to put the soil one by one on top of it and shape it himself.
“Maybe I’m getting used to this after doing it for a few days.”
It was not an easy task to scoop up soil and feed it to the spirit every day.
And even the soil he fed to the spirit was not all consumed.
About half of the soil he scooped up with his shovel flowed down without being fully absorbed.
He had to repeat this hard work every day.
But Evan didn’t complain about his master at all.
He was rather happy to take care of the spirit.
“I’ll feed you until you’re full today too.”
Thud.
Evan’s shovel scooped up some soil from the ground again.
And he sprinkled the soil on the spirit’s head and pressed it with his shovel.
It was a simple but hard work.
But Evan was grateful to his master.
What he saw in front of him was still nothing but a lump of soil.
But if he fed it soil and raised it every day, someday it might form a solid ground.
A huge earth that flies in the sky.
He could easily imagine how much potential there was on it.
“A sky fortress… I look forward to the day when I can face it with my own eyes.”
His current hardship was his master’s plan for the future of the Order.
The spirit that grew by eating soil formed a huge earth, and on that vast territory, new buildings were built for the great being.
The value of the fortress floating in the sky was incomparable to any magnificent castle on the ground.
It could move anywhere and take the people of the Order as far as they wanted.
Thinking of the miracle he would face someday, Evan moved his shovel diligently.
“I have to prepare hard now for that day.”
A small clearing in the back mountain of the Order.
In the empty clearing, only the sound of Evan’s shovel echoed.
