Abium sat down on the rough ground and checked his status first.
'As long as I construct the remaining two spell models, my battle strength will increase exponentially. But before that, I need to comprehend the constructed spell models.' He muttered solemnly.
In truth, Abium didn't even know much about the comprehension process and learned it only after chatting with Runeth a month ago.
He also asked him about the rank-up process, but he didn't get any proper answer from the Ancient Mage. But during their conversation, Runeth advised him to enter the Astral Space as much as possible and try to break through naturally.
'He said that, as long as one puts more effort into it, even an average affinity holder could rank up in a year or two! But is it that easy to become a mage? I don't think so.' Abium even told him about the scarcity of mages in Easica World but got no response from Runeth.
Runeth only said that something might have happened during the past ten millenniums and asked Abium to find the answers on his own.
'Anyway, I should do as he says.' He nodded his head and closed his amber eyes.
After that, he recited the secret chant and soon found himself back in the empty void.
But instead of white clouds, what appeared in front of him was nothing but empty darkness.
'Strange, where are the spirit clouds?' He glanced around and soon found a reddish blob that appeared in a particular direction.
'What's that?' He raised his eyebrows in suspicion, moved his illusionary cloudy legs, and moved in that direction.
Unlike before, his soul form appeared more refined and enabled him to walk faster in this Astral Space.
As he continued to walk towards the reddish cloud, a desire welled up inside his mind to absorb the red cloud!
What was more shocking was that Abium didn't find anything strange about this feeling and moved towards the red cloud faster.
Within a few seconds, he arrived in front of the red cloud, raised his foggy hand, and was about to touch it but abruptly paused in mid-air.
A strange, mysterious power appeared deep in his mind and erased the 'desire' emotion!
Abium also sensed the strangeness a second later and hurriedly stepped back.
'What the hell was that strange feeling?'
As he mumbled, he moved away from the red cloud and woke up.
He slowly opened his eyes and noticed that others had already woken up and stared at him in puzzlement.
In the meantime, Abium stood up with a wary look, scanned the surrounding area, and breathed a sigh of relief only after finding nothing abnormal.
No, he did notice something strange.
'The radius of my spiritual scan has been reduced from 200 meters to 100 meters?'
'There is something wrong with this place.' He also analyzed the mana density in the surroundings and noticed that it was low!
'It might even take a day for my spell models to refill.'
"What happened, Abium? You seem to be in daze for a while." Fennelis's voice woke him from his deep thoughts.
On the other hand, Abium showed a solemn look and decided to tell them everything.
"This place has very little mana when compared to the outside world, My Lady. Furthermore, a strange evil energy permeates the surrounding atmosphere and constantly prevents my spell models from replenishing the elemental energies." He pondered for a moment before adding in a gloomy tone.
"I also sense another energy in the atmosphere. But unlike the evil one, this one appears so pure and refined."
Yes, he not only sensed the corrupted energy but also sensed an entirely new kind of energy in the surroundings.
"Are we really not in the Pocket dimension? But where are we now?"
Nicolaus asked in a puzzled tone and was about to turn around but suddenly froze.
At that moment, Abium and Fennelis also noticed his strange action and followed his gaze.
They soon noticed that a girl about ten years old was sitting on the rock to their right and humming a song.
That girl had long silvery hair, kitten ears, a whitetail, and unique emerald eyes. Anyone could tell that she was a catkin with a mere glance. Her greenish-blue gown, made of soft, satiny fabric, caught Abium's attention the most.
He also saw a strange wooden flute in her right hand and furrowed.
But due to the darkness, he couldn't see her face clearly and moved forward. A few seconds later, he arrived near the young girl and saw her face.
The next instant, his face stiffened up.
'She has been following us all along.' A shock appeared on his face. After all, even the powerful Mages like Alius would have never gotten the chance to meet such a 'divine' figure.
But here he was, standing right in front of a true Divine!
'Should I feel happy about it? Or should I curse at my bad luck?' He smiled bitterly in his heart and soon felt a burning sensation in his eyes.
"Why are you staring at me like that? Do you like me that much?" A teasing girlish voice came out of her mouth the next second.
As soon as Abium heard those words, he noticed that the surrounding area began to crack like broken mirrors and soon became pitch black.
At that moment, he realized Nicolaus and others were missing and showed a tensed look.
"Don't be anxious, mortal. I just pulled your consciousness into my domain. After all, staring at my physical figure would do no good for a mortal soul like you." The same young girl's voice followed.
But unlike before, Abium felt that those words were coming from every direction and thundering deep into his soul!
He soon regained his calm and bowed his head before greeting.
"Greetings, Divine one." He paused as he glanced at the empty darkness and asked.
"Can you tell me why you brought us to this strange place?"
"Interesting. I never thought someone would recognize my appearance in an instant." The young voice paused before letting out a strange giggling laugh.
"It's nice to meet you, Abium. A mortal with an unknown destiny." Just as she spoke, a strange whitish fog appeared before his face and took the shape of a humanoid figure.
"I brought everyone here for a specific purpose." The girl's voice came from the humanoid fog.
Meanwhile, Abium showed a grim look and bowed again before speaking.
"I'm waiting for your order, Divine One."
Although he felt bitter inside, he didn't show it on his face and decided to listen to her words.
'She may be a trickster goddess, but I don't think she will kill me without any reason.' He steeled his heart.
Meanwhile, Nyara walked around him slowly and spoke.
"Your actions had caused a lot of variances in the future, mortal. The Goddess of Destiny had already noticed your action and got annoyed by your existence." She paused for a moment and asked.
"Do you know why I suddenly pulled you out of the pocket dimension?"
Upon hearing the question, Abium thought of something and answered.
"I have a guess, Divine One. Is it due to the Light God Welos's interference?"
A trace of surprise appeared on Nyara's face but soon returned to normal.
"Oh? You even predicted Welos's arrival? Yes, the Light God's followers indeed notified your presence to the Holy See a month ago and started searching for your whereabouts. After finding no clue, they did a sacrificial ceremony next to the Eternal Maze and tried to summon Welos's incarnation." She stopped to see his expression but soon frowned as she saw no emotional change.
After taking a good look at him, she continued.
"Thankfully, I acted before them and sent you all to this undead plane. But what surprised me all this time was your existence and actions. Unlike any other mortals I've ever seen in my life, your soul is shrouded by a mysterious fog and appears well-protected by something. Your actions are always vague and meaningless but give extraordinary results. I first thought you must have been blessed with luck, but it's not." She paused for a moment and then added.
"I also didn't sense any 'Future Time' power around your soul, nor did I find any trace of 'Wisdom Essence.' From this, I thought that you must be an ancient being who belonged to the Era of Past Time or even Origin Time, but I was wrong again. Although you may look mysterious outside, you know nothing about Mages or Magic, which still baffles me."
As Abium heard her explanation, a strange creepy feeling appeared in his heart.
He felt that thousands of eyes were watching him from all directions and trying to figure out what he was thinking in his mind.
It seemed that Nyara had sensed the wariness on Abium's face and chuckled.
"You thought, why didn't I kidnap you and search your soul on my own, right? Well, I have reasons, young mortal. Although I couldn't read your mind due to some strange interference, I can tell you that you have something that even Gods would be jealous of." She conjured a strange needle out of thin air and threw it at his forehead while speaking.
But as the needle arrived near his foggy form, an invisible layer appeared around his soul and repelled the needle!
Nodding, Nyara stepped closer to him, pointed her finger at the invisible layer, and spoke.
"See? Some 'divine' power is protecting your soul form. Although I can still invade your Sea of Consciousness and steal your memories, I decided not to do so."
As he heard those ominous words, Abium started to sweat inside.
'She is not normal at all.'
Before he could say a word, she took a step back and continued with a smile.
"Anyway, I was just curious about your existence. Now, let's get to the current situation. How are you planning on evading Destiny Goddess's and other Gods' senses and changing the future of Easica Plane?"
Her foggy eyes shone in curiosity.