Do ratmen dream of the sacred tree of spirits?

Chapter 71 Spirit Realm

"Victor, you seem to value that little fellow quite a bit. What, are you going to transfer people from the church to the school again?" Bishop Andrei's deep voice rang out.

"Hmm, Professor Ze Ruo, please select two more... oh no, four more people with a certain level of education, preferably with a church hierarchy."

"Those young clergy wouldn't be happy to take positions with no future, but some devout believers without a hierarchical system would probably be willing."

"But that's no problem. I'll issue the regional bishop's order tomorrow."

"Okay, Teacher Ze Ruo. By the way, could you also increase the subsidies for the teachers at the East District School for Children of Poor Families?"

Two years ago, little Allen and little Martha, who rode in the same carriage with us, only received a monthly stipend of eighty copper coins as teachers…”

Although Victor was the assistant to the regional bishop, he still chose to follow the rules and regulations regarding anything involving "salary increases" for church staff.

Choose to discuss with the council or the regional bishop...

Bishop Andrei and Victor were in the basement of the grammar school.

In the very center of the basement was a complex spiritual detection array, with a moonstone embedded in the middle.

Silvery-white spiritual patterns flowed slowly across the stone slab, emitting a faint glow.

This was arranged by Bishop Andre more than two years ago.

As time went on, it became essential to ensure the constant presence of a messenger; this year, Bishop Andrei didn't even attend the opening ceremony.

He spent most of his time here testing the magic array, and Victor often took his place so that Bishop Andrei could get some rest.

"Teacher Ze Ruo, have the price fluctuations become more frequent lately?"

"Hmm." Bishop Andrei walked to the center of the magic circle and looked down at the silvery-white spiritual patterns:

"In the past month, we have detected 14 abnormal fluctuations, compared to only 5 during the same period last year."

"Still can't pinpoint the source?"

"We can't lock onto it. The fluctuations are coming from the depths of the spirit realm, transmitted through the roots of the sacred tree to various monitoring nodes, and by the time we receive them, we can no longer trace the source."

Bishop Andrei raised his right hand, and silvery-white spiritual threads spread from his fingertips, probing into the patterns of the magic circle.

"Teacher Ze Ruo, if these fluctuations really are from the demon race..." Victor paused:

"What exactly are they trying to do?"

Bishop Andrei did not answer immediately. His gray eyes stared at the moonstone that flickered in the center of the magic circle, and he remained silent for a long time.

"The Sacred Tree's perception range covers the entire Sacred Kingdom; it can sense any fluctuations deep within the Spirit Realm immediately."

However, the period of falling leaves is different. When the sacred tree sheds its leaves, there will be a brief window of perception.

With the feather fall season arriving earlier than usual three years ago, the monitoring gaps on 'Eldrasil' are getting longer and longer...

"They are testing the waters."

“It’s not a test,” Bishop Andrei shook his head, “it’s an infiltration; every fluctuation is an attempt.”

They are searching for the boundaries of the sacred tree's perception, for areas beyond the reach of our monitoring network.

……

Time passed slowly, and Victor and Andrei would chat occasionally, then silently perform their tests...

The moonstone at the center of the magic circle suddenly flashed.

Bishop Andrei froze.

"Teacher Ze Ruo?"

"Don't speak." Bishop Andrei closed his eyes and probed more spiritual threads into the magic circle.

The basement was so quiet that only the hum of the magic circle operating could be heard. Victor held his breath, staring at the moonstone.

The flashing is getting faster and faster.

Bishop Andrei suddenly opened his eyes.

"Due east, deep within the spirit realm, about a hundred miles from here, a rift is opening."

"Now?"

"Now," Bishop Andrei said, withdrawing the spiritual threads, a rare hint of urgency appearing in his grey eyes:

"It's very small, but its spiritual characteristics are very clear. It's a demon, second-tier, at its peak. It's infiltrating this area."

Victor did not hesitate:

"I'll go in."

"It's still in the crevice; you'll run right into it if you go in," Bishop Andrei paused.

"Be careful, it might not be a person."

Victor nodded and closed his eyes.

Spiritual threads emanated from his body, illuminating the basement with a silvery-white glow.

Then the silvery-white began to fade, seeping from the edges toward the center, and pure black surged out from the depths, engulfing the silvery-white.

Victor's body became transparent, its outline blurred, and it detached from the material world.

Blackness surged from the depths of Victor's body, staining his spiritual radiance into a pure darkness.

The black spiritual light began to gather and compress around Victor.

A raven appeared.

Bishop Andrei stood there, watching Victor's figure disappear little by little, leaving only a faint, almost invisible spiritual fluctuation before it dissipated.

……

This is a shallow spiritual realm; the colors are mixed, there is no sound, and no direction.

Here, only the flow of spirituality exists.

Victor hovered in a grayish-white void, his spiritual perception spreading outwards. He wove his spiritual threads into a net, extending it due eastward.

Victor pushed his speed to the limit and flew in that direction.

He slowed down as he approached the crevice.

He compressed his spiritual radiance to a minimum, almost completely concealing it, and approached silently.

A black crack appeared in the grayish-white void of the spirit world, with turbid and unstable spiritual fluctuations radiating outward from its edges.

It had just squeezed half of itself out of the crack; its upper body was already in the spirit world, while its lower body was still trapped in the crack.

Its appearance was not like the monster he had imagined; it was more like a cloud of black mist without a fixed shape, with only a vague human-shaped outline visible at its core.

Through his spiritual vision, Victor saw dark spiritual energy pulsating across its body, radiating outwards from the edges of its outline.

The spiritual environment of the spirit world is repulsive to demons; their bodies need time to adapt.

This demon is still in the process of adapting, and its spiritual radiance flickers.

Victor did not hesitate.

He wove the spiritual threads into a capture net and shrouded it around the demon.

The demons sensed the danger at the last moment.

It abruptly contracted its spiritual radiance, compressing from a swirling mass of black mist into a fist-sized ball, attempting to slip away through the gaps in Victor's net of spiritual threads.

But Victor's net was flawless; as a third-tier messenger, even with hastily constructed spiritual magic, he could just barely hold off a peak second-tier demon...

……

Victor's figure emerged from the void, first as a blurry outline, then as a white shirt, and finally as a tired face.

He landed on the ground and had to hold onto the wall to steady himself.

"Found it?"

"Hmm," Victor breathed a sigh of relief. He was a little tired; he had just unleashed his fastest speed for traversing the spirit world.

"It had only squeezed halfway into the crevice when I stopped it."

"Has it been dealt with?"

"It's been dealt with."