Trinity of Magic Book 4: Chapter 58: The Hole VII

Zeke watched silently as the Chiroi girl finished her al. He tried to put on a carefree expression, but it beca increasingly difficult to do so. Now that she had a na and a face, his guilt had increased exponentially.

Why did he even ask her na?

Zeke didnt know. Yet he wasnt able to help himself at that mont. No, that wasnt entirely true. He had a pretty good guess as to why he had asked, but he deeply regretted it now.

Monts later, the girl finished the chunk of raw at. Her gaze found him, but she didnt seem in a hurry to speak. It was as if she expected him to take charge in this situation. Was that it? Was she waiting for him to give orders? Too bad he wasnt about to do anything of the sort.

Soria slowly grew impatient as she noticed that he wasnt about to speak. What will happen to now?

Zeke raised a single brow. Nothing.

Then what do you want to do? she asked. I promised to follow your orders.

Zeke shook his head. You can do whatever you want. But I suggest you continue practicing the breathing technique. It will co in handy later on.

later on?

When you are back in the hole, Zeke clarified.

You are letting go?! she exclaid. To Zekes surprise, her voice contained a mix of both excitent and regret. How strange. No, this wasnt the ti to ponder this peculiarity.

Zeke nodded at her. Yes, Ill let you go.

When?

When you wake up the next ti, you are most likely going to be back in the hole.

Why dont you let go now? Soria asked, a teasing note entering her voice. Are you planning to attack in my sleep?

Zeke rolled his eyes. I am going to erase your mories before I send you out.

The girl looked horrified. There is no way you can do that.

Zeke smiled slightly. Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?

Soria's expression darkened further. His words clearly hadn't managed to ease her concerns; if anything, she appeared more convinced now. She was a strange girl. Whenever he pushed, she resisted, but when he withdrew, she pushed on her own. What kind of a life had this girl lived to beco so twisted?

Can you really do that? she asked eventually.

Zeke scratched his head. I am not quite sure myself. But it seems possible.

Then how much am I going to forget? For so reason, there was a hint of longing in her gaze as she asked that question.

Why do you ask?

Is is there a way to make forget other things? the girl asked, clearly hesitant to broach the subject. Zeke looked at her, silently assessing her request. He had a good idea of what kind of mories she wanted to erase.

It depends on the mory, he said after a while. The more aningful it is to you, the more damaging if I were to get rid of it.

Soria lowered her gaze, remaining silent.

It seed he had been right. The girl wanted him to get rid of a traumatic experience. However, it was most likely sothing that had been instruntal in forming her character. If he were to absorb it, she might die from the backlash.

Zeke cleared his throat. For so reason, he felt the silence to be very uncomfortable. You might want to get rid of it now, but there is an upside even to the worst of mories.

Such as? The girl clearly didnt trust his words.

It will make you stronger in the long run, Zeke explained. The reason I can not simply get rid of that mory is because it has already beco essential to your developnt.

Intrigued, Soria asked, How so?

Zeke smiled at her. Our experiences form the person we will beco. The more intense the experiences, the more they will help us grow. For obvious reasons, bad mories are often a bigger driving force than good ones.

Then I am going to beco very strong, Soria said, a genuine smile blooming on her face. It was a beautiful sight, wholly different from her usual expression. However, her frown returned a mont later. Whats the point of telling all of this? I am going to forget this conversation anyway.

Zekes smile also vanished, replaced with an expression of profound sadness. The two remained in this tense atmosphere until Soria retreated to a corner of the hideout to start her breathing exercise.

A long while later, Zeke was still hung up on her last words. He had been so caught up in the mont that he had forgotten who he was talking to. Becoming very strong? No, she wouldnt. She wouldnt get the chance to. Why had he been trying to cheer her up anyway? That was not sothing her murderer had any right to do.

With a sigh, Zeke returned to his own practice. Even though he didnt dare infiltrate the Soul of the Archmage at the mont, he could still improve the handling of his own tether. After all, the problem he faced right now was one of fine control, not comprehension.

Ti passed quickly, with neither Zeke nor Soria disturbing the others practice. However, as the day turned to night, he noticed the first indicators of tiredness in the girl. As more ti passed, she began to experience more and more lapses in concentration. Her eyelids were getting noticeably heavier as well. Yet, for so reason, she seed to be actively fighting against falling asleep.

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It was a battle she had no chance of winning, and by the ti each blink lasted a couple of seconds, she decided to give up her resistance and slumped to the floor. Yet, before she closed her eyes for good, she looked at Zeke one last ti. Good night, Ezekiel, she whispered so quietly that he couldnt be sure if she even ant for him to hear. It would have been great if this dream could have lasted for a bit longer. After saying those words, she fell asleep with a peaceful expression on her face.

[Notice]

The test subject has fallen asleep.

Zeke grimaced. After listening to the girls goodbye, Akashas words sounded especially jarring to his ears. Dont call her that, Akasha.

[Answer]

Apologies, Host. The Chiroi has fallen asleep. It is advisable for Host to hurry, as it is unclear how long it will take to infiltrate her soul.

Zeke nodded. He was well aware of his predicant as well. This would be the first ti he tried to infiltrate a Chirois Soul. He had a few theories on how to best go about it, but as of yet, that was all they were theories.

In a first attempt, Zeke tried to use her depleted physical and ntal state as an entry point. One of his theories was that Chiroi, who went into a state of unconsciousness due to malnutrition, were in a similar state as Mages under the effect of Supra root. Yet, the attempt remained fruitless. Either his theory was wrong, or Soria was still too far from such a state, even after hours of breathing exercises.

Next, Zeke tried to use Mind Magic to infiltrate her Soul. He knew that it was theoretically possible, even though he had never managed it before. His confidence was sowhat bolstered by the fact that Chiroi weren't as impervious to Mind Magic as Mages. Nevertheless, after exhausting all the tricks in his repertoire without making substantial progress, Zeke conceded defeat.

One after the other, Zeke attempted every conceivable thod, only to be t with repeated failures. Accessing a soul, as it turned out, was an exceptionally challenging task under ordinary circumstances. Eventually, he found himself left with only one last resort an option he had hoped to avoid despite its higher likelihood of success.

using his connection to the Archmage.

Zeke knew that there had to be a stable connection between a Master and his Slaves. Otherwise, it would be impossible for them to die when their Master perished. However, delving into the Archmage's Soul ca with inherent risks, and Zeke remained uncertain. Specifically, he lacked confidence in his ability to navigate the entire Soul without revealing his presence. His previous practices had focused on staying in the outermost layer, but for this undertaking, he would be compelled to venture deeper.

Zeke briefly hesitated in the face of this daunting challenge. However, a renewed resolve flickered in his eyes. If he didn't summon the courage to attempt it, how would he ever know if he could succeed? This was a trial he would have to face sooner or later. So, sooner it would be.

Following the usual steps, Zeke infiltrated the Soul of the Archmage. This procedure had already beco second nature to him. Yet, the mont he entered, he noticed that sothing was off. The surrounding thoughts and mories were moving in a bizarre pattern.

Was was the Archmage in a good mood?

Zeke had never encountered this situation before. At first, he assud that the man had to be drunk or under the influence of other substances, but that didnt seem to be the case either. What was this situation? Had sothing good happened?

Zeke frowned deeply; anything that could make the old fart happy had to be terrible news. Despite his reservations, he couldn't resist attempting to uncover the nature of this potentially dire information. With utmost focus, he closed in on the nearest mory, well aware that if he screwed up now, he would have to retreat imdiately.

As he neared the mory, the resistance intensified. It was the sa hurdle he'd faced before. Previous attempts at using force had resulted in disaster, so he opted for a different strategy. Instead of trying to force a breakthrough, he countered the resistance by emitting equal pressure. In this realm, it wasn't muscles but intent and thought that controlled his movents, underscoring the significance of the thoughts in his mind.

Without feeling any resistance, Zeke approached the mory. He was absolutely baffled by how smooth the entire process went. This was the beauty and curse of the Soul. Even the slightest change in your ntal state could make or break you.

When he reached the core of the mory, Zeke exerted his utmost control. Now that he had co so far, he didnt want to screw it up at the last mont. He rely existed, soaking in the experience without consuming it. After remaining in this state for a while, Zeke started to get a clear idea of what this mory was about.

He found himself in the body of the Archmage, studying his own reflection in a full-length mirror. The color red makes look slim.

Zeke wanted to do a double-take. Slim? Did he really think so? Recalling the pudgy stature of the Archmage, Zeke could hardly believe the man actually thought that the red clothing made him look slim. What a ridiculous thought

Moving on, from mory to mory, Zeke learned a lot about the Archmages day-to-day life.

I should kill him soon.

Should I promote her?

I want to eat sothing.

Where is that girl?

Where did I put that?

My throne is not big enough.

They fear .

Should I call for her?

Zeke was baffled. What a carefree life this man led. Not a single one of his thoughts seed to revolve around anything substantial. He didnt contemplate Magic, philosophy, or human nature. All he ever thought about was the pursuit of pleasure and his own standing in the world.

After delving into several dozen mories, Zeke began to perceive the Archmage more like an exotic creature than a fellow human being. His thought patterns were so foreign that Zeke started questioning whether he even belonged to the sa species.

Zeke was so absorbed in his research that he almost missed it when he finally learned the reason for the Archmages sudden happiness. It was sothing that seed trivial to Zeke but made the man incredibly happy. The reason for his happiness was that he had managed to purchase a trio of slaves. It was a set of triplets made up of three identical sisters.

From the Archmages mories, Zeke learned that they were a rare breed of Chiroi with a lot of combat and growth potential. That was the reason that the Venomous Cabal in the north also had their eyes on them. The three would make a fine addition to their forces. However, the Ember Scar Cartel had sohow managed to get their hands on them before anybody else could secure them.

Zekes first thought was that the man had been quite fortunate to secure such promising talents. Yet, Zekes face changed when he dove deeper. He shuddered in disgust when he learned what the Archmage planned to do with them. He had been right. Anything that could make this person happy was terrible news.

All of a sudden, Zeke lost interest in reading any more of the Archmages thoughts. It was ti he got going anyway. He still needed to find the location of Sorias Soul connection. If he was lucky, he might even be able to learn a bit more about the nature of the Slave Ritual.