Volume 4 Chapter 8-2 Trial of Emptiness
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
My god, or rather, the deity in charge of my job as a Stargazer, is God Sha.
Never really gave it much thought, and I haven’t exactly been on my knees praying.
I mean, if you’ve got time to pray, you’ve got time to hustle and toughen up.
That’s the kind of god I imagine──real manly.
He’s the kind of deity who expects you to take self-reliance as a given.
Not too popular these days, what with the whole ‘thin benefits’ thing, but I kinda like that.
I chose this job on a whim, but maybe there was some fate at play.
Then again, it’s too early to be praying.
God Sha would just laugh and tell me to figure it out myself.
He reminds me a bit of Mr. Zenom, somehow.
Wait, am I really dead?
I can still use my skills, and my MP goes down.
If I meditate, the MP comes right back.
Maybe I’m not dead, just lost in some weird space?
If that’s the case, I’m still alive… but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m trapped.
No clear path to survival in sight.
Look for an exit?
Just ’cause you came in doesn’t mean you can get out.
Common sense doesn’t always apply here.
This is a world with teleportation traps, after all.
If you get stuck in a rock, you’re screwed.
Best not to move around like a headless chicken right now.
For one, I can’t even tell left from right.
Time for my Radar Scan skill.
Last time I didn’t see a thing.
But what if I extend the range?
Right now, conditions are perfect for a Radar Scan.
There’s absolutely nothing around, so no pesky noise to worry about.
Nice and quiet, I can focus.
No threats in sight, and weirdly, I’m not even hungry.
My Searching skill’s proficiency is through the roof.
I’ll take my time and search this place thoroughly.
Covering the whole 3-dimensional space is a pain, but I can just use the Radar Scan’s search cone as is.
Only difference is the range goes from circular to spherical.
I’ll point my head straight up and slowly expand the spiral as I spin around.
Once I’ve passed the ‘equator’ of the imagined sphere, I can start narrowing the spiral again.
It’s a boring job, but honestly, I don’t mind doing things bit by bit.
Besides, not having to be bored is a relief.
If I just sat here doing nothing, my mind would break in no time.
I found nothing in the upper hemisphere.
Thinking about how it’ll all end with me finding nothing… it’s enough to crush my spirit.
But hey, if I don’t find anything, I just extend the search radius and start over.
Simple as that.
If I tighten the probe cone, the distance stretches further.
If I make it as straight as possible, it can reach to infinity.
I calm myself and continue the search.
Now, MP regenerates so fast, I barely need to meditate.
This space is filled with rich mana.
Wait, didn’t Ms. Hóa mention something like this?
She said there’s a world called the Elemental Plane, where the spirits usually live.
Apparently, the spirits summoned by summoning magic come from this otherworldly place.
I didn’t think much of it, since I can’t use summoning magic, but… what if this is that place?
Why would the dungeon’s stone chamber be connected to the Elemental Plane?
Everyone knows that Salamanders, the fire spirits, are residents of the Elemental Plane.
Maybe I just got dragged into this by accident, during a Salamander summoning.
The Elemental Plane doesn’t allow living humans, but Ms. Hóa, being a high elf, can come and go as she pleases.
I remember hearing something about how, when I got the elf’s blessing, I somehow became part of the elf faction.
Plus, Mr. Zenom told me I’m part dwarf──maybe I’ve got the blessing of some earth spirit or something.
If that’s true, maybe I can make it work.
Nah, I’d better make it work.
I can’t imagine what Ms. Hóa will say if I fail after she gave me that blessing.
She’s even tougher than Mr. Zenom, and she’s got no mercy.
I feel a little more motivated.
Focused on the mana flow, I start the search again from the top.
This isn’t an empty space.
It’s the world of spirits──the Elemental Plane.
No proof, but I’m going to call it that for now.
What I need to find is a spirit.
If I can talk to one, maybe they’ll show me the way out.
There’s a chance they’ll want to fight, but spirits usually don’t care about stuff like that.
If some hungry beast decides I look tasty, I’m done for.
But monsters like that tend to stick where food’s easy to get, right?
How long have I been stuck in this endless grind?
Finally… I sense something.
Way, way off in the distance.
That vibe──it’s familiar.
A spirit of earth, just like the ones near Toyata Village.
So I really am on the Elemental Plane, huh?
Looks like the spirit noticed me too.
It starts waving me over, like, “Come here, come here!”
The moment I focus, my body just floats toward it, light as a feather.
Suddenly, the air around me twists.
Gravity snaps back.
My feet slam into solid ground.
I lose my balance──and boom, I land flat on my butt.
Lucky me.
The ground’s covered in soft, moss-like plants.
It’s like falling onto a fluffy carpet.
Barely hurts at all.
Okay, maybe I squished all that perfect moss with my butt, and I do feel kinda bad… but I doubt it’s going to die from that.
Should be fine.
Every breath comes out with a wheezy hiss.
I actually missed that sound.
Feels like I just came back to life.
Standing right in front of me is that same old earth spirit.
It looks like a blank-faced sarubobo doll, but… weirder.
Just 3 heads tall, shaped like a plushie.
Still cute as ever.
Maybe it’s just me, but it’s way more confident than the ones back near the village.
It’s all hazy around here because the moss is glowing with this soft, green light.
Is this what they call “glow moss”?
My shadow stands out sharp and dark against the mossy ground.
When I raise my hand, the part in shadow doesn’t shine at all.
So, it’s not glowing by itself──it’s just extra reflective.
I look up: pitch-black above.
But judging from the angle of the shadows, there’s gotta be some kind of invisible light source up by the ceiling.
Maybe it’s rays humans can’t see, bouncing off the moss and turning visible or something.
Some kind of weird trick.
This whole place is nuts anyway.
Stuff like this?
Doesn’t even surprise me now.
With Radar Scan, I can see the whole terrain like it’s right there in front of me.
Right now, I’m inside a massive tunnel.
The ceiling’s arched, like a giant loaf of bread, and it’s so wide you could park a jumbo jet in here with room to spare.
The moment I used Radar Scan, a bunch of tiny spirits I hadn’t even noticed all went scampering off──prickly and nervous, like they’d just gotten caught.
That was reckless.
If anything dangerous had been hiding out, I’d be dead by now.
The earth spirit who called me here was running around too, but after a bit it came back.
It starts waddling off, keeps glancing over its shoulder──like, “Hey! Follow me!”
It moves funny, but wow, it’s faster than it looks.
Is it trying to lead me to an exit?
I jog after the earth spirit for hours, stomach starting to grumble.
Being hungry means I’m still alive.
But my pack’s almost out of food.
Not great.
Honestly, worrying about your next meal never goes away as long as you’re breathing.
Do people eat to live, or is it the other way around──living just to eat?
I’m mulling over dumb stuff like that when, up ahead, I suddenly spot a bright light.
* * *
A gigantic dome-shaped cavern opens up before me.
Way bigger than any baseball stadium.
The rock ceiling looks natural, but… can something this perfect even form on its own?
Sunlight──yeah, it really looks like sunlight──streams down through cracks in the dome.
So that means it’s connected to the outside world, right?
I want to check it with Radar Scan, but──no.
Better not push my luck.
There’s more than just moss here.
Lots of other plants are growing too.
Maybe since there’s no direct sunlight, every plant is a vivid, fresh green──just like lettuce from the market.
Turns out, there’s actually a ton of wild greens you can eat.
If you don’t care about taste, almost anything non-poisonous is fair game.
Cooked right, most of it’ll fill you up for a little while.
Not much for calories though.
If only there were some wild yams or something hiding around…
Spirits flock around the plants, so thick I keep losing track of the one that brought me here.
It’s not just earth spirits now──water, wind, fire… All the usual ones you see near the village are hanging out together.
Looks like everyone’s having a super chill time, just playing around.
There are some kinds I’ve never seen before too.
Judging by their vibe, maybe they’re light spirits… or even dark ones.
Just because I’ve never seen it doesn’t mean light or dark spirits are all that rare.
They say you can usually find light spirits by searching near the base of wheat stalks the day after a storm.
Dark spirits are said to appear by the water, mixed in with water spirits.
From a distance, they look like water spirits, but up close, you can tell by the dark mist swirling around them.
Sometimes, when you defeat a spirit, it drops a shard.
Some hunt them on purpose, but the people of Toyata Village avoid doing that.
They’re scared of the curses.
I’ve never killed a spirit myself.
It’s not that I couldn’t win, but… what’s the point in killing a harmless being that you can communicate with?
Those who get blinded by a quick buck and hunt spirits end up becoming enemies of all spirits.
Spirits can see Corruption.
If you kill for survival, the Corruption is usually less… but that’s only if you’re eating the spirit you kill.
Even if you sell a spirit shard for money, the Corruption doesn’t go away.
The real problem is the ones who collect shards without getting their hands dirty, just buying them with gold.
Spirit shards are used to make elemental gear.
Top-tier craftsmen like Mr. Zenom, the dwarf, wouldn’t touch that stuff, but for the second-rate craftsmen who can’t even see the Corruption, it’s a big money maker.
If I were a spirit, I wouldn’t want to lend my strength to gear made by sacrificing my kin.
I’d go full strength just to mess with them.
According to Mr. Zenom, there’s a thing called a spirit orb, which is actually meant to be used for elemental gear as a symbol of friendship with spirits.
Spirit shards are just a cheap substitute.
The heroes summoning in from all over have driven up demand for elemental gear, so now the demand for spirit shards has skyrocketed too.
Especially around the royal capital, they’re hunting spirits like crazy.
For the spirits, it’s a real pain.
If the spirit hunters found this place, they’d go wild and start hunting them all.
But with this many spirits around, they’d probably end up getting swarmed instead.
The number of spirits floating around here isn’t in the hundreds or even 2 hundred.
It’s way too many to count, but it’s at least over a thousand.
In the whole dome, there might be over ten thousand.
The earth spirit led me to a small hill right in the center of the dome.
A beautiful girl lay half-buried in wildflowers, all alone.
The spirits kept bringing flowers, adding them to the pile at her side.
She’s not dead, I think.
Her chest rises and falls, just faintly.
Seems like the spirits are playing, offering flowers like it’s some kind of game.
There’s respect for her, but they’re going overboard… just a bit.
If they keep piling on flowers, it’s gonna feel more like a prank than a tribute.
She looks older than Ani-Ani.
Probably younger than me, though──around 15, I guess.
Her clothes are simple, but the fabric looks like top quality.
Real high society types prefer this kind of outfit for casual wear.
She’s gotta be from a noble family… maybe even royal?
The spirit that guided me had vanished without a trace.
Or maybe it’s still around somewhere… But with all the other spirits acting the same, I can’t tell them apart anymore.
Well, when the sleeping beauty wakes up, I’ll just ask her.
She probably knows something.
While waiting for her to wake up, I started getting sleepy myself.
The ground’s covered in dry grass, piled up soft as a mattress.
As I drifted off, the spirits, still having fun, started offering flowers to me too.
The flowers had a faint, sweet scent… like jasmine.
The exhaustion from these past few days, both physical and mental, pulled me into a comfortable sleep.
A little nap wouldn’t hurt, right?
The spirits are chilling, so it must be safe here.
Just before I fell asleep, I remembered the story about monsters that put people to sleep with sweet-smelling flowers, then ate them.
Eh, it’s fine.
Spirits and monsters are different, right?
Probably.
Anyway, I’m really tired right now.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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