Chapter 312 - 312 Discussion With A Great Spirit (3)
Waiting For Recha's response to his last question, for the first time she simply said nothing.
Still her silence spoke volumes, and this meant that she was not able to divulge information on this topic.
But that also meant that she did actually know what the administrator's goal actually was, since as she said before, if it was something she could not talk about she would stay silent.
Therefore, if she did not know the answer, she would have just told Marcus that she had no idea.
"Okay I understand. Then could you tell me about why great spirits are worshiped, and how do you give out blessings."
This was one of the aspects of the great spirits he was most confused about, and he wondered if he also had the power to give out blessings.
"Oh, that is simple. When we are worshiped our power grows. To be more precise our followers give us a portion of the experience they gain, and those we give our blessings to, help to develop our abilities. It is a give take relationship, I give out my blessings and in turn my followers get stronger, but I also gain some of the strength they acquire as they level up. Of course, you could say that my blessings are a part of my existence, so I only have so many to give out which is why I need to be careful with who I pick."
Nodding his head Marcus sort of understood what Recha was saying but he was still unclear on the process of how it worked.
"So, is there a way for me to give out blessings myself?"
However, Marcus received an unfavorable answer to this when Recha said, "No right now you are too weak. Also, your spiritual energy is still stagnant, it is quite obvious you have no clue how to wield the true power of your spiritual strength."
After hearing this Marcus was confused. He had no idea what spiritual strength was, as far as he knew his spirit stat was pretty high, and its power was shown with the strength of his spells and his specter powers.
Yet he soon began to wonder something. He had tested it before but none of his specter powers used mana. So, what were they using to manifest? Even in this world that could break the laws of physics as he knew them, energy was still required for any phenomenon to occur, so what was giving his specter powers the energy they needed to manifest.
Deciding to give it a try Marcus brought out his spectral arm and said, "What about this, is this ability using my spiritual energy?"
"Yes, that ability of yours is using your spiritual energy but you are not consciously using it, the system is just bringing it out set by whatever parameters your ability has. If you were able to consciously use your spiritual energy you could make that ability much stronger."
"I think I get what you are saying, but I have never seen a skill called spirit circulation or spirit energy, or the like. What skill do I need to have in order to use it?"
Sighing Recha looked at Marcus like a child that had failed to figure out something obvious and said, "There is no skill to wield spiritual energy, you have to figure out how on your own. It is much like sending mana into a weapon, or releasing it from your body, there is no dedicated skill for it."
With his eyes going wide, this revelation allowed Marcus to understand something pivotal, that he had not really explored. And that was, that the system that governs Mirrion is not omnipotent.
'People are able to create new spells, and even I came up with a new enchantment formation even if it was simple and can only change hair color and shape. And now that I think about it, after my fight with Ander, the administrator said that mine and Irene's souls created my soul devour unique skill.'
"Looks like you figured something out." Recha said seeing the expression of realization on Marcus' face.
With a smile Marcus nodded his head towards Recha and said, "Yes, I get it now, the system is just a tool not a set of rules that have to be followed."
And while Recha did not verbally confirm Marcus' hypothesis, he did notice the corners of her lips seemed to turn up ever so slightly into a smile.
But it was at this point during the lull in their conversation that the other person who was present and quite confused spoke up.
"Um could one of you explain what is going on. Who is this administrator, and what is spiritual energy?" Mrazivy said, a perplexed expression.
Of course, Mrazivy was lost in their conversation. She had no idea what the administrator was, and the talks about being a great spirit and what spiritual energy are was outside her understanding.
"Sorry, Mraz I got a bit caught up in the conversation. I should have realized earlier that you might get lost in what we are talking about." Marcus said, with regret on his face.
He then told Mrazivy everything he knew about the administrator and the system, as well as explained more about the insights into what a great spirit is, and spiritual energy.
Afterwards, Mrazivy still seemed a bit confused but her overall understanding of the topic was to the point where she at least grasped most of what was going on.
With Mrazivy now up to speed Marcus turned back towards Recha, who had been strumming a song on her lyre, and said, "Could you teach me how to use spiritual energy?"
Naturally Marcus knew he needed to get stronger. In this world strength meant everything, and he knew that eventually he would head out to explore the rest of the world and see what it had to offer. To do this strength would be necessary, and since he was going to live forever unless he was destroyed, he figured he might as well aim for the heights of this world.
Unfortunately, Recha's response was not what he wanted, and she said, "Sorry I do not have the time to teach you something like that. While I may seem carefree and laid back, I do have my own goals to accomplish. Ah but here, I will give you a demonstration and a little guidance. The rest you will need to figure out on your own."
Recha then stood up and held out her hand, which began to glow softly enveloped in a shimmering film.
It looked similar to when Marcus used his spirit healing specter power, but lacked the same vibrancy, and had a neutral feel instead of a warm one.
However, Marcus quickly realized he had seen this before. It was the same strange ability that the blade armed demon used to injure him even while ethereal.
Recha allowed Marcus and Mrazivy to both observe her using her spiritual energy for a few minutes, before moving over to them and saying, "Now I will give each of you a little push to help you feel your spiritual energy."
Placing her handed on both of their back, Recha sent a small amount of her own spiritual energy inside Marcus and Mrazivy and knocked on their spiritual center.
This allowed them both to get a better feel for their spiritual energy, though Marcus being an existence completely made up of said energy felt the knock course through his entire being.
'Now I understand.'
After feeling the vast sea of spiritual energy inside him, Marcus understood that it was similar to his mana pool, just being a different source of power.
He had been using it unconsciously since the moment he arrived on Mirrion, but now he had a feel for it.
Up until now he had been like a cook just throwing set ingredients into a pot without understanding why. However, now it was as if he had tasted the ingredient and understood how to bring out its best flavors.
Nevertheless, even with this insight, his ability to put it into practice was still not there and he would need to practice to truly figure out how to use his spiritual strength to the best of his ability.
Still a new question came to his mind after learning this.
"Recha, I now realize that I have only ever seen one creature use spiritual energy before, why is it not more well known."
Shrugging her shoulders, she responded saying, "Well, the answer is simple. Because it is difficult to use, and the results are not all that strong. Its most practical use is as a defense against spirit-based attacks or to attack spiritual beings like us. But either situation is pretty rare. It can be used to strengthen the body, and speed up healing and stamina recovery, but not by very much. In the end the amount of effort to learn it is not worth the reward for most. Remember there is no skill to help anyone master it, and other than for spiritual beings, it is fairly worthless in most situation. Still for a spiritual being such as yourself, you will find a world of difference once you understand how to use it."
Once she had finished giving her explanation on spiritual energy Recha, said, "Well I have already spent quite a bit of time here, and need to get back to my work. Feel free to stay and listen to the music as long as you like but try not to damage my shrine again. Oh, and Mrazivy, if you want, I would be happy to have you as one of my followers. So, if you wish to take me up on this offer come back here in a months' time with your great grandmother."
Recha then turned into a ball of light before vanishing, leaving both Marcus and Mrazivy alone once again.