[Eon's POV: ]
"Here."
"Thanks."
As we sat in this good open area, with this familiar atmosphere of the night in a forest and the bonfire burning bright before us, the lights of the night sky beautified this disguised witch of mine.
"Hmm~. Good, good. This all could have been perfect if it wasn't on this illusionary island like this, or even maybe if it wasn't [1:12] in the afternoon."
"Well, yeah. We should do a night camping on the real sky island someday."
"But there's no forest there…"
She sighed sadly, and I could only smile bitterly at her factual words.
"Maybe we can create a little forest around our house there?"
She looked at me with an interested gaze, thought about it for a while, then nodded vigorously.
"Yes~! But let's do that as soon as we go to check the place!"
She was excited, and that happy smile was better than her sad look from a moment ago.
Rein… she perceived the flow of time as a normal human. And that abnormality continued even in this perfectly created illusionary space.
The grand magic affected every single person on the island, including the two of us.
But just as these illusions couldn't convince me that this wasn't reality, they also couldn't affect her perfect inner clock.
"Alright. We can do that."
This open area was good, the fire was fine; the coffee was wonderful, and there were people watching us, but it was still a good time.
From her perspective, it would still be a few hours when we finished this, and this whole place would still be an illusion from my perspective, so we had to get what we can with these advantages.
"Hmm… so, there's a dungeon here? I didn't see one though?" She had an interested look on her face, and that excited smirk only meant she was looking forward to killing some real stuff.
"Yup. And I want the core that makes this whole illusionary island from there."
"UwU… so that's why you were excited~."
Magic of a grand scale like this either would need a constant great input of energy or a medium through which they can constantly convert the environmental energy to power the magic circle, or a core that can sustain the magic for a certain period.
"This island specifically stands because of a condensed materialized Mana core with the headmaster's unique illusion magic circle. It's the most valuable stuff on this island, so we have to have it, right?"
There was an excited smile on my face, and she also smirked at this smile of mine.
"Are there monsters? Like, the real string ones?" she had some expectations as she asked that, her eyes shining in the orange light of the bonfire.
"Yup. There are strong monsters. There are also so many that you can go wild."
"Yes~! Let's go there asap!"
She was so overjoyed that she finished her cup of sweet coffee in one gulp and stood up. Only to see me still sitting down.
"Sit down and relax, girl. We can't just steal the core when the exam is still ongoing.
And I don't think the headmaster is here himself, anyway.
We will go there when it's the last day of their exam. They will also have fun with our good show~."
I looked to the other side and smiled warmly. The fun president and vice president should be there too.
Anyway…
"Tsk. What would we even do for the time being, then?" She asked with a sad expression and sat down next to me.
"How about watching others like them? Let's see if there's anyone good enough to have."
My suggestion was natural, and she thought about this for another moment, thinking if she should reject me and suggest something like just staying here and talking, or accepting what I said.
Then she shook her head and nodded at me, realizing why I didn't suggest the thing that she was thinking.
"Well, they could only watch anyway. But, fine. Let's see if there's anyone fun. Also, show me the list of creatures on the island. Lemme see if there's another one like those cute puppies~."
She grabbed my hand and kissed my cheeks. Then looked to the other side where I was looking a while back and stuck out her tongue at the tree.
'She's a child. An old-'
-Smack!
"You were thinking something like the good word 'old'? Hmm, darling?"
She smacked my back this time. Still, it was the same strong force that made my stomach hurt every time.
"I was thinking how cute and childlike you are sometimes. That smack was unnecessary!"
She scanned me with narrow eyes, and that suspicious look was sometimes scary. Attractive too, actually.
Thankfully, she just nodded this time and forgave this little thing.
"Fine… let's see."
Closing her eyes with little puffed cheeks, she rested her head on my shoulder.
[[ Sister Elle seems happy~. ]]
[[ "Of course she is. This whole day-night confusion and contradicting sensory inputs would naturally be tiring and on top of that, the creatures on the island are a little too nerfed.
The news that there are 'many' actual 'strong' creatures here was too good for her." ]]
"Wrong channel Celes…"
[[ "Celes?!" ]]
It was in no way a mistake!
[[ Hehehe~. It's alright master~. ]]
[[ "Just show us the most interesting one you found already!" ]]
"Don't shout at her."
[[ "Why is the line still connected?! Celes…?" ]]
[[ Hehe. Yes, yes~. Let's goooooo~. ]]
She was being a little too playful today, but thankfully, the dark view before my closed eyes finally vanished and I saw the view of the outskirts of the sky island.
[[ "Which one?" ]] Rein excitedly asked as she saw this view with our vision sharing.
We were seeing the outskirts and there were many people there.
Most of them were nobles of different nations, so we can practically call this whole place the noble's zone.
And there were many people here, so it was difficult for us to guess who she was talking about.
[[ The one with light blond hair. She has a strong soul, but she's too weak. It's interesting~! ]]
There were many people, many ladies, with blond hair, but when we say blond, there's a certain dark color in our mind.
My hair was more on the gold side and mom's were purely blond like grandpa but this light blond was more light and soft so we could distinguish the 'light' one from those hundreds of people.
[[ "She's talking about her, right?" ]]
Rein also found her and we looked at the girl Celes found the most interesting.
She was wearing normal clothing and selling food to the nobles for an absurd price.
But they were buying her food, which looked like fried spicy chicken, even with a guilty frown. It was a perfectly made thing from what I can say, from the color, their expression, the ingredients, and the methods she was using.
It was interesting. And what Celes said was also exciting.
[[ "She looks normal. Hmm… is she something other than a human? A higher species, probably?" ]]
Rein's deductions were pretty impressive.
There were only a few ways where a person would have a stronger soul than their physical body.
'And it's not like all of them are good things.'
Someone can have a stronger soul in cases like they are from a mixed bloodline of humans and a higher power, like high elves or great dwarves, witches and wizards who are very strong or have achieved divinity, fairies or probably spirits. Maybe even giant half-bloods, but there have only been a handful of such cases.
So if the other genetic part is more dominant, there's a chance that it somehow affects just the soul, but it ultimately results in problematic situations where the person would only die. It's called the true [Soul oddity].
It is a very, very, very rare phenomenon that can be explained by the law of perpetual transmutation of energy.
Anyway, aside from this, a soul can also be stronger if the person is a blessed being, but if that were the case, they would also be physically more powerful.
In other cases, they might be an anomaly like us, but then they would have a totally different reason for a stronger soul.
'And lastly, if a person is like me, someone with a unique trait to handle all energies and is specially trained in soul manipulation, they might also have a stronger soul than their body.'
Well, it sure was interesting so…
[[ "What's her name Celes?" ]]
[[ She introduced herself as Savior~. Hehe. But from what I observed until now, it looks like she is an orphan and has grown up in the kingdom of Manisa. ]]
[[ "Good work, partner." ]]
[[ "Yeah, yeah. Do it quickly." ]] she seemed impatient after I didn't answer her questions from before. It was normal, though.
'Three eyes.'
My third eye could hover above this island and look below at things from the sky like birds. It was easier to move it to a particular person or object that way and use the appraisal on them.
I had checked a few people here, but none were impressive. It was also exciting for me now that Celes was saying this particular normal-looking girl was the most impressive from her point of view.
We were mostly free for now and this thing was exciting, so we looked forward to seeing what this unique girl was but…
[[ *Using skill: [Three Eyes] on a unique being with natural high mental defense.
The nature of the target is uncertain. Halting danger rating calculations.
Starting the understanding of the unique mental defense.
...
The defense is further enhanced by a complex mental barrier. Processing both as a unit.
Processing...
The ability is a special gift, and the energy used to maintain it is unique.
Understanding the energy.
…
…
…
Match complete.
Gift understanding in progress.
...
Gift understanding compete.
Mental defense understanding is in progress.
...
...
Defense breached successfully!
A low-grade (Holevil) mental defense has been breached successfully~.
Intelligence increased by 3.* ]]
An unbearable scream of pure agony escaped my blood-covered mouth…
This wasn't something any of us were expecting.
At least definitely not how Lucy continued processing the information for a damn three minutes, even though it made my entire brain feel as if it was being fried!
This was the first time something so insane had ever happened to me, and also the thing that happened after that.
[[ *Someone from the deeper hell has perceived your presence…! Activating the first defense mechanism!* ]]
"Caugh! Ahem-caught! Haaaa! Haaa!"
I coughed up more blood and at the same time, it felt like my entire body was being frozen in ice.
But the burning headache still persisted and this sudden unnatural and absurd thing even shook the ever-strong Rein.
"Eon…!?"
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