Preparation For The Ordeal: Part 3

"I feel hungry," I muttered instinctively.

"I'm not," Micca replied, as she chewed on the surrounding grass.

"... I'll treat you to something better if we survive this."

"Mm? Okay."

Only five minutes had passed since then, as I needed to grasp the fundamental basics to perform Blooming.

Every sentient existence possessed a soul. No matter what kind of appearance and structure they possessed, there would always be 42 anchors that kept the soul connected and tugged to the time and space of the physical vessel.

To perform Blooming, one must find all of these anchors. Something that took Micca five years to even grasp, actually.

She said that the soul exists in an entirely different realm of dimension relative to our position. It's basically how dimensional space storage works in games, with our body being the bag, and the realm where the soul exists being the space connected to it.

These anchors are the entrance.

"How's the progress, father?"

"I can grasp it, but I can't at the same time––"

"Well, we still have seven hours left to die, thanks to the time dilations." She casually waved her claws to dismiss my worry. 

Half an hour had passed by our side.

Something managed to bug me more than anything.

I possessed full control of my body, and thanks to the soul rending event of forming a resonance with Micca, I'm also conscious of where my soul resides.

So, where the hell are my soul's anchors??

"Micca, does the location of the soul overlap with the material body?"

"Mmm? Nope. The 42 anchors are there to ensure that the soul was kept inside a uniquely isolated dimension relative to our body, but never once there's a case with the location of the body and the soul overlap."

"So theoretically, how do you check if someone has a soul?"

"Using the same spiritual sense that we use to locate our own soul, we use it onto others by utilizing their anchors to peek into their soul's dimension," she answered while munching on numerous flowers and grass.

"Can you do that now?"

"I think I already did that the first time I met you."

"Can you see my soul?"

"Yep."

"Did you use my soul's anchors to see it?"

"..." 

Her jaw dropped from the realization.

And seeing how she reacted to it, I guess it was safe to assume.

I possessed no soul's anchors. My soul overlapped with my steel jello of a body.

That means that my soul is currently existing in this mortal plane instead of the uniquely isolated dimension that a normal sentient being possesses.

"How is father still alive!???"

"I wonder why the moose didn't mention this."

"The Guardian of this forest probably didn't realize it as well. After all, to us users of Blooming, we automatically perceive the souls of others like it's second nature by automating the process of going through their anchors to peek at their souls."

'Us users of Blooming', does that imply the existence of other types of magic?

"Won't that mean I can just perform the Blooming directly?" I snickered, if it even appeared on the smooth surface of planarity.

"I think? I never saw anyone perform the Blooming without utilizing their anchors. Then again, you're the special case."

Seeing how I could just theoretically skip the first step, Micca lectured me on the rest of the fundamental phases of Blooming.

The first would be the 'Opening'. Just like how it was described, this phase was performed by opening your soul inside out…

"Micca, this doesn't sound safe."

I adore magic, but I don't want to die a second time.

"Does the concept of driving a metal box with wheels sound safe?"

"Did the resonance give you that much information?"

"I know the concept of the atomic bomb, to say the least."

Now that I saw the comparison, my excitement for this skyrocketed once again.

By 'opening' one's soul, one would be able to vacuum the hidden matter residing within the essence of space and time.

This matter is known to be many things, depending on the region and culture of the civilization. For the place where Micca called it, this matter is known as ENE due to the faint sound it makes when interacting with the physical matter of our mortal plane.

And because the opened soul would act like a dense super-vacuum for a bunch of these matters, the sound went from ENE to whatever the hell a nuclear reactor's rod was when being dipped into the water.

Unlike nuclear fission however, the ENE are forced to merge instead of forced to split. So the goal of opening one's soul inside out was to gather as much as ENE and make them combine, which releases a huge potential energy when it happens.

This early phase of Blooming needed a great focus on stabilizing the soul-made vacuum. If one lost focus for a moment, their soul would just explode or implode depending on how long they maintained their 'opened' soul.

And because ENE exists everywhere the concept of space exists, having the capability to control one's soul anchors is important to introduce more space to harvest more ENE.

Though, the range of one's vacuuming depends on the density of their soul. The more they perform this, the greater stress their soul can withstand, just like how a rubber could be stretched even further with each attempt.

Just don't bite more than you can chew.

"I think I have managed to perform the Opening!" I boldly proclaimed with pride.

My whole body glowed in a radiant blue hue. It wasn't as bright as I thought, probably because I'm the one engulfed in the light.

Every inch of my body was rendered immovable, just like the moose deity said. If I'm correct, I should also be invulnerable in this state if I could maintain my focus.

Won't this be the most credible method of defense ever!?

Meanwhile, Micca was flabbergasted. Her tone was still as normal as they could be except that she couldn't close her jaw after what she just perceived.

"To perform 'Opening' in less than an hour–– Is this because the soul exists within the same plane where the physical body resides? No, there must be some other factor…"

"So, what's the next step?"

"While the soul is performing the Opening, it also must simultaneously filter the generated energy from the fusions of the ENEs, this is the 'Gathering' phase. Yes, it happens simultaneously with the Opening," she said with a hint of disbelief in her eyes. "And then comes the Manifestation phase.

"Well, how to say this. With the same spiritual method to locate father's soul, father needs to pinpoint the vertical and horizontal coordinate in the material world on where the spell will manifest,

"And wills your imagination into life!" Micca gestured her only available hand upward like a motion of explosion to exemplify the grandeur. "What the spell does and how it performs will depend on the resolution of your mind towards the potential result of that spell. The clearer the intent, steps, and process, the better! You can also use the fused ENE as an extra catalyst to stabilize the manifestation."

In other words, a metaphysical transmutation!

So the form of magic was based on the imagery I had in mind most predominantly.

Immediately after, I began performing the Blooming once again with a clear spell I have in mind.

"Hiyaaaa!"

"Uooooah!" 

I had been performing Blooming for more than half a minute. With every second that passess by, the excited face that Micca possessed began to shift into that of worry and anxiety.

"Uhm, you can stop now, father. A beginner shouldn't be Blooming for more than five minutes. Because the more you stay in the same state, the more you'll be conscious of the surroundings, this can lead to the deteriorating focus that can serve to be fatal to any Blooming user…"

But seeing how I could still maintain my blooming, I kept the light blue.

Only after a whole twenty minutes I began manifesting the spell I constructed in my mind.

Numerous golden strings appear and disappear at a speed faster than light. The amount of those strings also began to intensify with every moment.

"What the…"After she witnessed the step by step process of my magic, Micca's pupils shrank in horror as her mouth was wide open in distress and disbelief. "... WHAT KIND OF MAGIC IS THIS!???