Chapter 95 – At Midnight

Lin Wei did not return to his own room.

Duan Yu was meditating and opened his eyes when he saw Lin Wei enter.

He glanced up at the ceiling: “What’s up there?”

“The study and the reception room,” Lin Wei didn’t know why he was asking but answered truthfully anyway. “Above that is the terrace—why do you ask?”

“Just now, there was a fluctuation of spiritual energy from above,” Duan Yu replied.

After a moment, he added, “It was very subtle. I only noticed it because I was meditating.”

Lin Wei thought for a moment: “My house doesn’t have anything related to magic—there are some things related to knights since my ancestors were knights, and back then the Holy Spear was still… but those relics aren’t up there either. Could it have been a passing Mage or something?”

“Perhaps,” the Mage said, “but it was very powerful.”

If this guy said it was powerful, then it wasn’t something an ordinary Mage could possess.

“Maybe it was an Archmage from the Floating Sky Capital, or that old man? Can spiritual energy reach that far?” Lin Wei immediately thought of the large floating island above the Imperial Capital, which belonged to the Magic World.

“I can’t do it,” Duan Yu shook his head.

They didn’t come to any conclusion. By now, it was almost midnight. Lin Wei didn’t read the Book of Contracts for long before crawling under the covers.

Practicing contract formation with Duan Yu every day had drained his spiritual energy completely, and his soul strength was gradually changing, making him extremely sleepy.

The lights went out, and the room was immersed in the quiet of the night. Moonlight streamed through the window, casting a faint, silvery glow.

Lin Wei opened his eyes groggily and found himself in the vast Sea of Souls.

Soul lights drifted around like the scenes from the Mermaid World. He instinctively floated upward. The higher he went, the stronger the soul lights became, though they also grew sparser, until he reached the intangible barrier that was nearly impossible to cross.

Below the barrier were the souls that Summoners could communicate with.

Lin Wei’s consciousness leaned against the barrier. He shivered, feeling intense pain and a heavy pressure, while a sharp, trembling hum echoed in his ears.

But he wasn’t particularly afraid of pain, or rather, he wasn’t overly concerned with self-preservation—he would always push forward recklessly unless he was truly at his limit, because he felt he would miss out if he didn’t explore further.

He continued upward.

If he ignored the discomfort it caused his soul, the barrier felt like a soft membrane—perceptible but impossible to break through.

Lin Wei forcibly compressed his soul and slammed against a point on the membrane, pushing upward with all his might.

The restriction imposed by the soul’s rules felt like sharp nails on shackles, deeply piercing his skin, dripping with blood. He knew that in the real world, he must be drenched in sweat.

He hated this barrier. The oppressive confinement ignited a stubborn defiance deep in his bones, like a sharp knife finally cutting through the thick membrane.

Like a gap in the clouds letting through a sliver of light, he squeezed through the breach.

Another boundless Sea of Souls unfolded before his eyes. Above the barrier was an even more dazzling ocean, making him feel all the more insignificant.

Each soul light here was much more solid than before, flickering with light—these were the souls of humans or other intelligent beings of equal status.

Apart from the soul lights, there were also many tiny, bright fragments drifting around, like the glowing dust in a beam of sunlight through a window. When souls died and dissipated, these fragments from different souls would gather again, giving rise to new life.

But his soul strength could go no further. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t advance anymore.

Lin Wei looked up, sensing a faint connection.

From here, in the deepest, highest part of the Sea of Souls, was the soul of his Mage.

Passing through the barrier was just the first step in crossing this Sea of Souls. He still had a long journey ahead.

He made one last attempt, only for everything to go black. His consciousness was expelled from the Sea of Souls, and he opened his eyes in the real world.

Lin Wei recovered from the intense pain, took a moment to steady his breathing, and felt deeply frustrated.

Recently, he had been repeating the process of exhausting all his spiritual and soul energy, leaving him extremely weak, recovering for a while, then exhausting it all again, and waiting to recover once more. The cycle left him utterly drained.

And he didn’t feel like moving at all.

Duan Yu touched his cold forehead: “Does it hurt?”

Lin Wei weakly hummed in affirmation.

He lazily soaked his remaining bit of spiritual energy in Duan Yu’s spiritual energy, waiting for it to recover. He glanced out the window at the starry sky, feeling miserable, and tugged at the Mage’s arm: “The window—I don’t want to see the stars right now.”

Duan Yu went to draw the curtains.

“I saw the souls of humans,” Lin Wei said, staring at the ceiling.

He wanted to say more but suddenly groaned, his last bit of spiritual energy violently trembling as if a great force had seized his neck.

Duan Yu clearly felt it too. His spiritual energy gathered, resisting the impact.

“What is this!” Lin Wei immediately immersed his consciousness into the spiritual energy world and saw an extremely dangerous scene.

Another wave of spiritual energy, like a massive meteor with flames, descended from above, covering the entire world before his eyes.

His small white orb was firmly protected by the Mage’s pale golden spiritual energy, but even Duan Yu’s spiritual energy couldn’t compare to the attacker’s—this was a fully formed spiritual attack!

There was no sound in the spiritual energy world, but Lin Wei seemed to hear the roaring wind as it approached.

He didn’t have time to think. His spiritual instincts tensed, his pupils contracted, and he tightly gripped Duan Yu’s arm.

The Mage’s consciousness also immersed into the spiritual energy world. His dark golden eyes were unfocused, devoid of any emotion—utterly cold.

Spiritual energy collided violently!

The two of them were like isolated islands in a flood. Duan Yu’s spiritual energy compressed, condensing to its limit, barely avoiding being swept away by the flood.

The attacking spiritual energy, having confirmed their position, began to slowly converge, becoming even more solid.

Duan Yu pulled Lin Wei up: “Let’s go.”

Lin Wei understood what he meant. He took out the Plectrum, gripped it tightly, and the two quickly left the room, breaking into the neighboring room. Raber Vines wrapped around the sleeping Daniel, dragging him out of bed.

The Alchemist woke from his dream, recognizing the vines: “Lin Wei—what are you doing?”

As soon as he spoke, his spiritual energy also sensed the nearly tangible spiritual energy fluctuations around him: “What is this!”

Lin Wei didn’t have time to answer him. Seeing that Daniel was awake, he and Duan Yu immediately went to Haitie’s door and broke it open as well.

Spiritual attacks only affected spiritual energy—these two were also in danger and had to be brought along.

To their surprise, Haitie wasn’t asleep.

She was sitting on the bed, holding something in her hands, staring at it blankly. Hearing the door open, she turned her head, saw who it was, and said, “It’s you… come here quickly!”

At that moment, the spiritual energy had completely converged, forming an extremely intense beam, once again attacking Duan Yu’s spiritual energy!

It was like an indestructible blade, gleaming with a sinister cold light, stabbing straight down.

—At the critical moment, everything around seemed to freeze.

Lin Wei’s Plectrum had already slashed down, but the soul passageway hadn’t fully formed yet.

The red-haired girl on the bed finally realized what was happening, her eyes widening in fear.

She moved faster than ever before, getting off the bed barefoot and throwing the thing in her hand toward the door: “Catch it!”

The object traced a sparkling arc through the air, like a drop of splashing water.

The blade was about to strike.

At the last possible moment, Duan Yu’s right hand turned into a pale golden phantom, golden elements dissipating rapidly, bringing the object back into his hand.

The moment the Mage grasped it, the spiritual attack came crashing down.

—Nothing happened.

It was as if an invisible barrier blocked the blade, and the cold light suddenly dissipated.

Haitie gasped heavily, calming her heart, which had been pounding wildly from the intense fear: “It really worked…”

Daniel came to their side, looking at the droplet-like object in Duan Yu’s hand: “That tear?”

The soul passageway formed, and Lin Wei entered first: “Let’s get out of here first!”

The four of them landed on the ground of the Death Swamp.

Haitie and Daniel were here for the first time, and they couldn’t help but gape at the eerie, lifeless place.

They snapped out of it, and Daniel asked, “What on earth happened?”

“I’m not sure,” Lin Wei’s face was pale. He had just exhausted all his strength and had gone through this sudden attack. “It just came out of nowhere—wait, there were signs earlier!”

He suddenly remembered Duan Yu’s question, “What’s up there?”

“It’s from the Floating Sky Capital,” Duan Yu said.

“A spiritual attack from the Floating Sky Capital—how?” Haitie was puzzled.

“The Floating Sky Capital,” Lin Wei’s expression darkened. “It must be her, the master of Kalaway City. She’s awake… but why target the two of us?”

“Who?” Daniel still didn’t understand.

Lin Wei: “The Goddess of Light.”

Daniel: “!”

“I’ll explain later,” Lin Wei took the pendant from Duan Yu’s hand. “Why could it block such a strong spiritual attack?”

“I only knew it had this effect, but not how strong it was,” Haitie said. “During your duel at Kalaway’s Heart, when Lin Wei summoned the Arcane Bats, I discovered it. Tonight, just before you opened the door, it started heating up, so I woke up.”

The pendant was the “Elf’s Tear” that Haitie had chosen from the gray-cloaked old man’s shop.

This pendant had caught the attention of the appraiser Schneider in the Trade House… damn Adrishig again.

“Do you remember the story Schneider told?”

“The elf princess taken by the God of the Undead shed tears that turned into this gem,” Daniel answered.

Lin Wei repeated the words “elf” and “God of the Undead” a few times: “Katanaphia?”

“First the Goddess of Light, now the Goddess of Darkness—what are you up to?” Daniel’s tone was full of confusion.

Meanwhile, the Floating Sky Capital was peaceful.

The young Mage who had spent all his savings in the Trade House now had not a single Magic Crystal left in his Space Ring and couldn’t afford to stay in the beautiful Giant Tree Inn.

But a free-spirited Mage wouldn’t be bothered by such a small matter. He found a comfortable spot under the statue of the Goddess, muttered, “Beloved Goddess of Light, please forgive my offense,” and fell asleep peacefully.

However, he didn’t sleep well.

The young Mage opened his eyes in confusion, wiping his face. He felt something had fallen on his cheek, like sand or gravel.

But how could there be such things under the sacred statue of the Goddess—the young Mage muttered, “It’s just my imagination,” and looked at the Goddess’s flowing white robes before closing his eyes again.

In a small, inconspicuous shop on the crisscrossing streets, the elderly man lying on a rocking chair suddenly opened his eyes.