rlin slowly weaved a series of hand seals, taking all the ti in the world. He wanted to check sothing out.
Eleiney and Kahn turned to him, wondering what the madman was up to now.
Several monts later, the coppery-red-haired youth finished casting the final hand seal. Then, he outstretched his hand, palm facing upward.
A small but radiant magic circle appeared on his palm... for only a second before flickering out of existence.
rlin’s smile deepened.
Kahn and Eleiney, on the other hand, couldn’t help but frown.
"What was that all about?" Asked the striking, blond young man from Coral Cove. "Did you finally run out of mana?"
"Fafafa! What a joke!" rling laughed out loud. He turned to Kahn and added, "It wasn’t funny at all."
Kahn’s lips twitched, and he thought incredulously, Then why did you laugh? You damned madman!
rlin lingered for a mont, then said in a grim voice. "My connection to the Spirit World has been severed."
"...What?" Eleiney was taken aback.
rlin looked at the grey skies of the secret plane and mumbled, "Perhaps it’s because of how young this place is. As long as we’re inside, our connection to the Spirit World will remain severed. That ans... no teleportation, no summoning magic."
He thought inwardly, Although... if I activate the lotus, I’m certain I can forcefully establish a connection to the Spirit World.
But things haven’t gotten so dire.
Well, not yet, anyway.
He turned to the two Magi and said evenly, "It’ll be impossible to use spells from the School of Summoning. You know, since they all draw from the Spirit World."
The Spirit World acted as a bridge.
When a Magus teleported or summoned creatures, items, and magical effects, the target was montarily moved into the Spirit World, bypassing the physical space, then reappearing in the desired location.
If access to the Spirit World was disrupted, then spells from the School of Summoning were rendered useless because the transit path was cut off.
No access. No movent. As simple as that.
rlin—or rather, Adam—specialized in the School of Summoning. Thus, such a situation was highly disadvantageous to him.
Luckily, he still had other cards up his sleeve.
"And why does that matter?" Kahn asked with an arched eyebrow. "Are you a summoner? From what I’ve seen, I don’t think so."
In fact, none of the mbers of Party B—or A, for that matter—majored in the School of Summoning.
So, access to the Spirit World being restricted within the secret plane should not have been a problem.
"No, but it would have made communication easier," rlin said with a shrug.
Kahn’s eyes flashed with understanding. "You’re trying to reach out to Edward’s party?"
"Any party, really," rlin said evenly.
Eleiney was deep in thought. She shifted her attention to the dozens of Mana Liquefaction-level blood beasts surrounding the base of the pillar.
Then, she turned to her party mbers. Each of them had severely depleted their energy reserves after having fought the beasts for several hours without any rest.
The only exception to this was rlin. Eleiney felt that he had a bottomless pit of mana. Still, it didn’t matter if the rest of the party mbers fell behind.
She couldn’t help but recall what her ntor had once said to her:
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
She turned to rlin and asked solemnly, "Do you have another thod to communicate with others?"
Although rlin was strong—very strong, in fact—there was no way Eleiney was going to ask him to go alone and find the nearest party. She could not put her party mber’s life at risk so stupidly.
rlin turned to her and arched an eyebrow. "I might."
Eleiney fell into deep thought once more. She had no idea how vast the second layer of the secret plane was, nor how far the nearest party might be.
But taking all things into consideration, it was wiser to regroup with the nearest party and worry about traversing the second layer afterward.
"Alright then," Eleiney spoke with conviction. "What do you need? Is there any way any of us can assist you? Be it material components or anything, just na it."
rlin deeply looked at the young woman, his pale blue eyes flickering with approval.
Oh, Eleiney dear, one day you are going to grow up to be a splendid Magus.
Those weren’t rlin’s thoughts...
They were Adam’s.
Eleiney might not have been the strongest out of the group, but she was undoubtedly the most resourceful.
And in the cruel world of Magi, survival did not always favor strength... it favored adaptability.
rlin’s lips curled into a grin. "As a matter of fact, you can."
He paused for a mont, then added. "Find a flying insect. Or a bird. No, actually, an insect would suffice."
Eleiney’s lips twitched.
She turned to Kahn, who had an equally perplexed look on his face. Finally, she walked to the other party mbers, asking them if any of them had a flying insect.
Fortunately for them, Charlie just so happened to have several intact wasp corpses on hand. He used them as material components for a spell that allowed him to hurl venom at his targets.
"Ah, perfect." rlin glanced at the half a dozen wasps in his hands with a wide grin.
Then, he turned around and sat on the edge, his feet dangling over the side. "Alright then, this will take a while. So until I’m done, none of you bother , got it? Thanks in advance."
With that said, rlin got to work, completely ignoring the strange looks his party mbers were giving him.
It was ti to cast a spell that he had not cast in a long ti.
A spell that mimicked the insidious technique of the Devil of Secrets.
After weaving a series of hand seals, a small magic circle it up above his palm. However, instead of fueling the spell with mana, he used spiritual energy.
The small magic circle lit up with a dim light, and then... a tiny white maggot made out of his spiritual energy materialized out of it.
Rank 2 Spell: Adam’s Spirit Parasite!
With a simple command, the maggot crawled out of his hand and made its way towards one of the wasp corpses.
Monts later, it seamlessly rged with the lifeless insect, and then...
The wasp ca to life.
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