Chapter 187: Give Me a Private Room in a Net Cafe Part 1
Chapter 187: Give Me a Private Room in a Net Cafe Part 1
Spirits. When it comes to those guys, they are a whole lot more common in video games than Chimeras. At least in theory. Neither humans nor monsters, their race is one of the ‘Higher’ tier, oftentimes being on par with Phantasmals such as Dragons, or creatures of the divine realms such as Angels and Demons.
As to the Spirits themselves, there is a whole lot of them…… For example, we have Spirits and Greater Spirits representing the elements of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Water. Then we also have Spirits from the mythology or folklore, such as Djin, Arabic Spirit from inside of the magic lamp and Excalibur, an English Sword of Promised Victory which originally belonged to the Spirit known as the Lady of the Lake. Although I’m not all too sure about the credibility of that last one.
One must also take into account the fact that depending on the game, the exact details and descriptions may vary, as many creators change the actual fact in order to suit their setting better. Sometimes it even reaches the level where the nature of the creature in question is purely cosmetic, making you ask yourself the ever-important question: ‘What was the point, then?’
On the other hand, staying as close to the original as possible is no good either, as it sometimes can give birth to quite the contradictions…… Take Ifrit, the Fire Spirit for example. In some setting it is presented in form of a flaming lizard, because in Europe salamanders were pretty much equal to Ifrit. But we are not in Europe here, so thank you very much for that.
Oh well, at least that is how the story goes in other games. Now, how does that compare to the Spirits presented in ShanFro? Well, let’s imagine a natural catastrophe or cataclysm. Now give it free will and the ability to go basically whenever it pleases. It is that kind of existence.
But rather than spreading death and destruction indiscriminately, it also possesses a unique ‘ego’ and a set of parameters that is its very own. That is the definition of a Spirit on the world of ShangriLa Frontier.
It is because of that that the comparison to the natural disaster or a cataclysm is surprisingly accurate, because Spirits are not living beings per se. It is an accumulation of condensed magical power, but that also means that once all that magic is used up, the spirit also ceases to exist. Just like tornado, that disperses into normal winds the moment all of its raging fury disperses…… In other words, Spirits are creatures that live with the constant reminder in form of a ticking clock.
What’s more, the ego of a spirit is not a fully grown one, like that of adult humans or animals. If you had to compare it to anything, it would be an ego of a small child, capable of acting on its own, but barely capable of distinguishing itself from the rest of the surrounding world. That is why most of the Spirits will usually disappear without a trace, not even trying to fight their fate. Apparently when they use up all of their power, they disappear simply because they are unable to decide whatever they should do after that fact.
Nonetheless, it was not entirely wrong to think that the more famous and grand the name of the Spirit in ShanFro, the greater its power and the scale of the catastrophe they could cause.
And it goes without saying, but since they possess at least some semblance of ego and personality, Spirits can sometimes be a real pain in the ass to deal with, but sometimes they can be even more insignificant than insects such as cicadas or fireflies. Not to mention their abilities to absorb magic from their surroundings and that the way they could wield them were more potent and dangerous than that of any human.
But in the end, Spirits are just that for the players: Spirits. Unless they are an enemy mob or boss characters, or are involved with NPCs or in certain questlines, players could go on about their daily business without really caring about them all that much to begin with. But if they appear during a Unique Scenario like this one? That’s a whole different story.
「So? What’s the deal with this Igezizdentsu here?」
「It’s Existence, thank you very little. A very powerful Spirit, indeed…… But that’s only a given. Did you know that all Spirits that fail to become strong will fade into oblivion as a result?」
「Which means?」
「It means what I just explained. Ae you perhaps deaf?」
This is bad. I knew I should have read the strategy guides and forums in greater detail before coming here.
「Even the Dwarves are aware of such basic knowledge. Or should I call it common sense? And if you do not possess any power on your own, then there is no need for anyone else to provide you food or shelter.」
「And what happened to any sort of aid or help from those at power? Also, what does Existence even mean?」
「Umm, usually it’s the term given to beings that are alive! Sanraku, are you doing that on purpose? Or are you just a little bit slow on the uptake?」
「Well, it doesn’t really matter. Let’s just continue.」
For a moment out there Alva looked as though he just witnessed the most unsightly of insects, but he did not try to argue. It was simply because having me around was beneficial to him, as we all could see from our previous fights together. That was more than enough to tolerate all of my deficits of common sense and knowledge. But Alva proved to be a capable fighter before, especially during the Reaperorca battle.
「She happened to be that kind of Spirit as well. She had an ego of her own, but she was unable to harness magic for herself from her surroundings, as a result of which she was on the brink of disappearing completely.」
Their story was really noisy and all over the place, but from what I could understand it is that this sword contained a Spirit that was at one point in time about to disappear because of its own inability to adapt and survive.
But after that, the Spirit decided to show me her ‘human’ form. Everything about here was bluish in color: her eyes, her skin, her hair…… She was even wearing a robe that looked just like the surface of the water, bluish in color, but not transparent or see-through. Normally it would be a really stimulating clothes, but the outline of her body clad in that water-dress seemed to blur at some point so you were unable to pick up any details…… No, it was not that. It was more like her whole appearance was made out of water, rather than being of flesh and blood. That would certainly explain why she would liquefy from time to time.
「Ahh, that is where I come in. I couldn’t leave her like that to her own fate, so I managed to bring her to a dwarven blacksmith who enchanted her into my own weapon…… Of course, it was done with her consent and with her best interest in mind. Or at least it was something like that?」