„Okay. So, one Stone Aberration in rank D- and eight Gray Wolves. All dead, with mana stones dug out, with blunt wounds suggesting barehanded, close combat handiwork, without magic. The beast and one of the wolves have hearts dug out, and the same wolf is missing liver and thigh. This suggests that what killed it secured food for itself and went away. There is nothing that would confirm it’s a job of a human, but it is very likely.” – Murky says. – “Maa, any traces?”

“Hmm, actually, there is a problem.” – Maa says in a wondering tone. – “There is only one trail leading to this place, and none leading outside. It seems they were either covered or very light in the beginning, by the way, but I doubt that the one out was masked so well I can’t spot it.”

I glance at her. – “Unless it’s not on the ground. Are they traces of a human?”

“…Likely, though they are quite small.” – Maa says after a pause, then stands up from where she was and looks up. – “I would say it’s a goblin in normal circumstances, but not with these corpses. It will be either something humanoid that can fly, or…” – She drops her gaze and narrows her eyes. – “It went up the trees. Give me a minute, you can also check if there are any traces on the trees.”

Half a minute later Ben notices something. – “Maa, could you come for a second? I think it’s what we are looking for.”

“Hm…? That’s… Yeah, most likely. It’s hard to make out the details, but the bark here seems to have been broken off and scratched in a few places, as if someone climbed up here.” – She looks up. – “…This continues upwards. Yeah, that’s that.” – Maa then turns to Murky. – “Should I go up and check if there are any traces?”

“Will you be able to follow us from up there?” – He raises his head from the small notebook in his hands he always carries with him to record the details about the progress of missions along the way.

“…Normally yes, but with all these plants I will be slowed greatly. I prefer ground.” – She looks up and replies with a frown.

“Don’t bother then. It will take too much time, we have already been here for over ten minutes. Let’s go to the center and we’ll see what to do then.” – Murky concludes and puts his notebook away. – “Just pay more attention to the trees above and we should be good.”

We round everything up and continue inward within fifteen seconds.

The forest is the same abnormally quiet, eerily dark place as it was when we were entering it. And the unsettling feeling has only gotten stronger.

“We should be around three hundred meters away now.” – Murky announces.

“Still nothing.” – I add.

Then I notice a strange feeling. A familiar one, but I can’t remember where I have had it.

It’s oppressive, but quite weak, and gets slightly stronger with each step.

“You all… feel it, right?” – Xana asks in a tense voice and with a frown.

“““Yeah.””” – All four of us say at the same time.

Murky suddenly stops and raises his hand.

“Maa, change of plans. Go up the tree and say if you see anything suspicious.” – He frowns deeply. – “We should be a bit less than three hundred meters from the center. If it’s large, it might be visible from between the trees.”

Maa nods wordlessly and starts quickly climbing up a tree from the side facing inside the forest.

Within half a minute she got to half the tree’s height and looked back with a frown. She looks down and says quietly so it’s barely loud enough for us to hear. – “Nothing.”

She then starts climbing further upwards and repeats the same as she is just below the branching, similarly with no result.

“Follow us from above.” – Murky says, probably using a spell that allows him to speak directly within target’s spirit.

Maa confirms and swings herself upwards, then starts walking on the branch as we continue walking forward with the pressure steadily increasing.

“Two hundred.”

We continue.

Maa says nothing, so she doesn’t see anything out of ordinary, which is at least a bit strange.

“One hundred and fifty.” – Murky says with a few beads of sweat on his forehead.

It seems the oppressive feeling also takes a toll on him.

He suddenly stops, then whispers to us. – “Maa says there is a person on a tree exactly to the front. She seems small and is lying on a branch, resting probably.”

‘Holy shit, that’s probably Nea. Then that pressure-.’

{Hello, Laura.} – I hear a sweet, mischievous voice.

I sigh in my mind. – ‘Um, Natria? That pressure and the mana disturbance are from you? What are you doing here?’

{Ya, that’s my job. I was creating a Mana Core for Nea, the disturbance should be gone shortly. I’ll explain what it is later, but, more importantly, should I kill Murky now? It would make a believable excuse for you, hm?}

‘Uh…’ – I stump for a moment, unable to decide.

{Later then.} – Natria says suddenly. – {Unless he does something stupid.}

‘Un, okay.’ – I nod my head. If she won’t kill him unless he does something stupid, then… – ‘Um, would you be able to deal with him?’

{Yeah. Quite effortlessly actually unless something unforeseen happens.}

‘Um, would it be alright then to lead him onto you?’ – I ask somewhat hesitantly. Since it would endanger Nea, and no matter if Natria could deal with him easily, it would still be not much different from putting up a bounty.

{Sure. Why not I say.}

‘Alright, I’ll try. Before I forget, how is Nea?’

{Great. She grows so fast she will leave you in the dust within weeks. I might get you something later to help you though.}

“Laura? What’s wrong?” – I suddenly hear.

‘Um, alright, we’ll see. I’ll be waiting for you two in the city.’

I turn around to see Ben looking at me with concerned expression.

“Nothing.” – I shake my head. – “I know the person responsible for the disturbance.”

“Really?” – Murky whips his head to me with surprise. – “Who is it?”

“I don’t know exactly, but she is a spirit that follows one of my pupils, Nea. She is relatively weak, but has a few very special abilities.”

“What abilities?”

“I don’t know. I know for one has very precise mana control and can occasionally release this pressure, but no more than that to be honest.”

Murky furrows his brows and looks to the front with a greedy glint in his eyes. – “And I assume the person Maa saw is Nea?”

“No idea.” – I reply, shrugging. – “Does she have red hair?”

Murky stays silent for a moment, most likely asking Maa, then turns to me once again. – “Yeah, red hair.”

“Then it’s probably her, but I can’t be sure unless we come closer. That said though it will be a very bad idea to do that.”

“Why?”

“The pressure.” – I reply simply. – “When I met her a few days back I got knocked out the second the spirit released it. I don’t think we can get much closer to her, definitely not close enough to get more information, unless she restrains herself which is very unlikely.”

“I see.” – Murky looks at the ground. – “We are going back then. We will fill up the report later.”

I can already tell he is planning something.

We all turn around and start walking away slowly, though much quicker than the other way. Maa joins us after a minute and within ten minutes we are out of the forest.

…

Sometime later, already in the city, while we are going back to Hunter’s Guild, Murky suddenly says. – “You guys go first. I need to stop by somewhere for a while and I will join you later. Laura, could you come with me?”

“Hm? Alright.” – I say as the others shrug and go their own way. – “Where to?”

“Oh, nowhere special, you’ll see in a moment.”

He walks away and waves his hand, indicating me to follow.

“Say, you would rather if Nea wasn’t mentioned in the report, right?” – He asks in a quieter alley.

“Huh? Well…” – I pause for a second. – “Wouldn’t it be…” – I look at him with hesitation and concern in my eyes.

“Don’t worry, I can make it happen. You know they would get overly interested in her. I hate these guys messing with children because they are strange or potentially dangerous, I can do at least this to help you.” – He says, surprising me with genuine hatred in his eyes.

“What would you say in the report though?” – I ask, concerned.

“The cause was not possible to determine, but it was most likely a natural occurrence of unknown origin as we have found no signs of any activity above the ground.” – Murky says without batting an eye.

I drop my head, biting my lip, then look at him with a frown. – “Would it really be alright?”

“It will.” – He nods his head seriously.

“I will be thankful then. I really don’t want anything to happen to my pupils.” – I say with relief.

We resume our walk with silence between us, both of us with dark smiles under our masks. But who laughs is the one who laughs last.

I am aware that this man doesn’t exactly have obsession over strength, but he is abnormally even interested in spirits and will jump at every chance to investigate them, talk with them or make them his familiars. I also know he has a few already, and if given information about Natria’s powers he will most likely try to get her.

That said, though, despite what he did to me I have no intention of attacking him just like that, especially considering I don’t know his circumstances. But if he attacks first, well, I’ll let Natria and Nea do what they want.

…

<Natria’s POV>

I feel Laura’s soul going further and further and I smile lightly.

Laura’s encouragement should be enough to make Murky skip Nea in the report and try to get his hands on me. This idea has its own risks, but I don’t think they are high enough to abort the plan.

Well, not that Murky particularly matters much to me. I could erase him from this planet even now, but I’d rather not do that not to attract needless attention in a weak world.

I look back at Nea lying on the branch with a faint, peaceful smile.

I have just finished her Mana Core and now I can focus on other things, mainly her bloodlines, but I also want to test a few things by myself with her Origin itself.

I sigh lightly.

I think that Nea hadn’t properly understood how big of a deal it is when two Origins connect. It is a connection on much, or rather incomparably higher level than having two souls reside in one body, though completely different from having split personality or two Origins within one soul.

Our Origins are connected most likely permanently and even if I get my own body, the link would still remain in the same state.

As a side note, the link is so strong it can survive the space between dimensions to connect us from different worlds. That link might also help with spatial magic, though I would need to check that.

Come to think of it, I believe there is only one way to separate us, and I doubt there is anyone in the whole world apart from me able to achieve that.

I think back to my past, or two pasts. One, of me myself, and another of another person with same soul. It was still me, but it was different since the memories of both my lifetimes have connected barely weeks ago.

I think to the longing I felt before.

I have felt the connection between me and Nea for a long time in the body of Heb’Rath, the Machine Demoness, making actually a few hundred years. It is not long comparing to the time of my other life, but it is still quite a while.

It’s just that back then I had no idea what was this feeling, this longing.

I tried to satiate it by finding someone who would love me, but the feeling still remained, or actually got stronger, and truly, physically painful, telling me it is wrong.

I have even written a song back then when I was seventeen, and I was already tormented by the emptiness in my heart.

I wonder if Nea has felt that, but I honestly doubt. She is too weak now to perceive such connections, unlike me who was one of the strongest people in that world by the time I turned into a proper adult.

No matter though, it is even better for her she has never felt that.

I look at her spirit.

It is mostly red, but it’s not the red of evil or red of crime.

It is the bloody, crimson red symbolizing power, confidence and absolute lack of goodwill for those undeserving.

It is the color of me, since her spirit was affected so much she can’t be said to be the same person as before.

I really do wonder how she will develop though.

I really want her...

Her spirit is getting brighter and firmer with time, but it’s not hardness of steel and arrogance, rather the unwavering will, confidence and greatness reflected in behavior and attitude.

She will probably break to the level of medial spirit in less one month, maybe even week though it is unlikely.

I glance at the new Mana Core and think for a while about its size.

She will probably need a day or a bit more to get it to her soul’s limit.

I will need to teach her how to channel mana when I wake her up.

I have told her the Mana Core will take a few days to properly put in place, but I wanted to test a few things I have no time to during the nights as she sleeps.

First would be if I can do something about the connection between our Origins, because right now it is so strong and firm I feel discomfort even after leaving her body, not to mention what will happen when I get my own.

Another would be her Origin and its effect on mine, and vice versa.

Her Origin should never have the ability to pull out the souls of the victims. It is, in a way, even more faulty than I initially thought, since the only way for it to grow is to absorb stray souls, spirits and ghosts mainly.

Or that’s how it’s supposed to be, because for some reason she can manipulate souls. To an extremely limited extent, since she can’t even take them out of the body for new and needs to transfer them from one vessel to another directly, but still.

That one thing she can do is what baffles me the most.

And the only suspect in this case would be my Origin. It must be affecting her Origin in some way.

And most likely her Origin is also affecting mine, though I haven’t tested it yet. It would solve my problem of having my output bloodline set in stone for one body.

There is also the third thing about her to check, and it is how dangerous her Origin is for me.

To be honest, the only way for my Origin not to feel restless is to touch her Origin directly, but I have not tested that yet since I need time to prepare countermeasures for potential problems, first and foremost being her Origin’s nature of devouring souls. There is also a problem of securing safe and quick method to enter her spirit and soul, since right now it is more accurate to say I am staying on the surface of her spirit, covering myself in the loose part I can easily stretch over myself.

But… I can’t lie to myself. Even completely disregarding my feelings it is a simple, basic need that my Origin wants to be close to hers.

I really want to hug her Origin.

I look at Nea’s sleeping face as a smile blooms on my face slowly along with healthy redness creeping up my cheeks.