Chapter 51 Reflection
Adam raised his head and the sight that greeted him left him speechless. Despite feeling extreme trepidation in his heart, only one word escaped his lips.
"Beautiful."
Through the portal, he could see a sea of colors, symbols, and patterns. It was as if the entire Spirit World was an abstract painting.
Berger's reminder came at an opportune moment. "Adam, you will see and hear a lot of things in there. Do not respond to them! You hear me, boy? Do not respond to them!"
Adam wanted to reply, but suddenly, he felt a tug from within his body. It was as if something, no, someone was trying to get free from his physical body. The next moment, his eyes rolled back, and his body trembled.
Following that, a pristine white apparition escaped his body and hovered above it.
"Whoa!" Adam looked down to see himself sitting motionless at the center of the ritual formation. He then stretched his hands to take a look at them. It was white and glowing with a pure light.
"Is this… my soul?" He muttered incredulously.
He looked toward Berger only to see that the old gnome was looking at him in shock. Meanwhile, Edward and Lisa were covered in cold sweat and were struggling to even stand still.
This level of spiritual power… it's equivalent to a Rank 2! Berger was astonished. He had never witnessed something like this. Moreover, the quality of Adam's soul truly shocked him.
He waved his hand and erected a barrier made of pure spiritual power. Otherwise, the two kids beside him would be knocked out unconscious by the sheer pressure of Adam's soul.
The gnome's expression then returned to its usual self. It was unbecoming of a powerful Magus such as him to lose his composure. But it couldn't be helped. Inwardly, he was still shocked.
He instructed Adam, "This is the soul's true form. Now get ready, boy."
The old gnome then weaved over a dozen hand motions and continued the ritual formation. Then, an ethereal chain covered in runes and as thick as an adult human's arm materialized from the formation and shot inside Adam's soul.
Adam's soul body jerked ever so slightly. He could now see that the chain was firmly binding him to the ritual formation.
"Final word of advice. If you are fated to receive the boon of a spirit familiar, then it will find you on its own accord." Berger revealed a faint smile. "May fortune be with you."
Adam smiled. "Thank you."
Berger then completed the final hand motion. Following that, Adam's soul body shot inside the portal, and then the tear in the void mended itself back and everything returned to normal.
"S-Sir…" Lisa called out to Berger. "That thing… I mean, Adam's soul body… How is it possible for it to be so much bigger than his physical body?"
The youth was still in a state of shock. The sheer suppression that she felt from Adam's soul body was much too great for her to bear. If Berger hadn't erected the wall made of spiritual power to protect her and Edward, they might have already lost consciousness.
Berger remained silent.
Adam's soul body was completely unlike his physical body. It was almost 3 meters tall and extremely muscular. Whereas his physical body was a little less than 1.8 meters and was very lean.
It made one wonder, how such a big soul could even fit inside such a small body. It was completely unheard of.
Berger sighed. "I don't know the answer to that, little one." He then thought of something and added, "Do not disclose what you saw here to anyone else, understood?"
Lisa and Edward solemnly nodded. After all, if word about the peculiarity in Adam's soul got out, there was no small number of deranged Magi that would hunt the boy down to experiment on him.
Berger brought his attention back to the ritual formation. He intently looked at the ethereal chain that extended from the floor and vanished into nothingness.
But he knew…
It had shot into the depths of the Spirit World.
…
"AAAAAHHHHH!!" Adam had been falling for an unknown period of time. He couldn't make heads or tails of where he was, in which direction he was falling, and where he was going.
Sometimes he would feel as if he was flying up, other times he would feel he was falling down. The only thing that gave him a sense of security was the thick chain that was jutting out of his back and anchoring him to the material world.
He took deep breaths to calm down, but he just couldn't. He was in a foreign place, feeling lonely and afraid. Sometimes, he would hear strange voices calling out to him. While other times, he would feel as if he was being stared at by unknown entities.
Adam had never been so scared in his life. His mind was in chaos.
Suddenly…
BAM!
He smashed against a hard surface after free-falling for who knows how long, but surprisingly enough, he didn't feel any pain.
Adam opened his eyes and was shocked to learn that he had collided with a gargantuan mirror. And now, the mirror had broken into countless pieces.
Each of the broken mirror pieces reflected Adam's facial expressions. But the thing was… all these facial expressions were different! Some were smiling, some were crying, while others were screaming.
A chill crawled down Adam's spine when he saw his reflections. On one of these broken mirrors, he found that there was no reflection at all. And his body instantly froze.
In this reflection in the mirror, he saw dozens of pairs of ominous eyes staring at him. Adam hurriedly turned around to look, but he could not see those pairs of eyes. All he saw was a mishmash of colors.
The colors were on the darker end of the spectrum and continuously mixed with one another, forming more bizarre colors.
For as far as his eyes could see, Adam saw nothing.
No!
He did see something. A small luminescent spot that was rapidly enlarging in his vision, followed by the distant sounds of waves crashing.
Adam couldn't help but involuntarily gulp in fear. He turned back around and tried to flee, but he realized his soul body was suspended in absolute nothingness. He couldn't run even if he tried.
He couldn't help but curse his luck. Once again he turned around and looked at the thing that was about to reach him.
It was a humongous tsunami!
Adam couldn't comprehend how a tsunami would appear in the middle of nowhere. Moreover, it was already very close to him. He couldn't understand how it could move so fast.
Suddenly, he recalled Berger's voice. "Don't try to make sense of anything you see or hear in the Spirit World."
Seeing the fluorescent tsunami about to completely drown him, Adam didn't want to give in to his fate. His heartbeat sped up and he involuntarily touched the chain jutting out of his chest.
The youth wanted to return to the material world as soon as he could. But it was too late. Before he could even begin weaving hand motions to activate the chain, the tsunami had already arrived.
SPLASH!
He was completely submerged.
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