47 The next floor. Will is here too.
[Eyup. Back again. The end of volume 1 is approaching fast. Just thought I'd let you know. Oh and keep pointing out any spelling mistakes I make. Got to at least have this novel be presentable. Anyway, enjoy.]
"Hey! You guys finally made it?" Eric yelled as he saw Natyr, Tomi and Salon approaching.
"Hey, how did you guys do? Almost die?" Tomi asked him with sarcasm.
"Pretty much yeah. Me and Eric here almost got eaten alive by a bunch of frogs." Shigoto interrupted.
"Oh yeah? Well we had to deal with a giant Intelligent spider." Tomi said, sounding smug.
"Good for you?" Shigoto said as he looked at everyone.
"So we all Tier 4 now yeah?" Seeing everyone nod, he told them they should head on to the next floor already then.
"Wait what? We aren't waiting for the captain?" Tomi asked.
"Do you really think that we finished before the captain? She went on to the next floor already."
"See the message written in the ground over there?" Tomi asked.
"Now that we're all Tier 4 we should be able to survive until the start of the 4th floor at least."
"Why only so far?"
"Each floor has more dangerous enemies, and their level is the average of all explorers on the floor. If the captain gets a power spike later on then we are done. Dead."
"How do you know it takes the average level?" Salon asked Shigoto.
"Some quick math during our hunt."
"What?" Tomi said in confusion.
"I mean. Even when me and Eric had finished, the levels of some of the creatures we saw suddenly rose out of nowhere."
"A simple conclusion to make." Natyr agreed.
"Right?" Shigoto smiled as he looked towards her, only to have her ignore his attempt at eye contact.
"Well let's get going already." Natyr said as she made her way towards the area mentioned in the message left by Mizuki.
As the group headed towards the next floor, Mizuki was currently near the entrance to the floor looking at a corpse.
'He seems familiar.. where have I seen him before?'
Looking through her memories, she tried to find anyone who looke similar to the man.
'Hmm. Although there are a few characters who look similar, the age doesn't match.'
Crouching down to have a closer look at the corpse, she wondered.
'I could just ask if I bring him back to life.'
Creating a magic circle, she used Time, Space and an element she hasn't used in a while, Moon.
A magic circle glowing dark green, grey and silver appeared in her hand.
Placing it above the body, she poured her mana into it and waited.
Small pieces of silver and white manifested in the surrounding air, some shooting out of the walls of the Sanctuary.
'It seems that after death, the sanctuary takes your soul to empower itself or use it for sustenance.'
While the small pieces of silver and white gathering above the spell circle and condensing down into the shape of a spinning circle, the body was slowly regenerating.
After about 2 minutes, both the soul and the body were in good condition.
Yet the soul then suddenly seemed to gain a mind of its own before Mizuki could place it in the body.
The spinning circle suddenly took on a 2D like image of the body.
The image, or rather the soul then opened his eyes.
'What the.. hell? Where.. am I?'
'Well this is unexpected. Looks like I can hear his thoughts.'
'Why am I... wait. Onee-san?'
"Onee-san?"
"Hmm. Who are you again? I can't find anyone like you in my memory."
'She doesn't remember me?'
"There is only one person who called me onee-chan but you are way too old compared to him."
"What?"
"You sure like saying 'What?' don't you?"
"I-I don't have anything else to say in this type of situation. I mean.. I was stuck in a Sanctuary for nearly 10 years."
"So what is your name."
'I can't seem to appraise him.'
This is the point where Will felt hurt. His soul almost cracked.
"Will. My name is Will."
"Hmm. Well I'll give you another chance at life. So what do you plan to do with it?"
'I-I'll make her remember me. Maybe she has amnesia or some memory problems? I have experience with helping people remember things.. But first.'
"I-I want revenge against that brat of hero."
'So the hero is around here too. How annoying.'
"Okay. So can you enter your body then?"
"Sure."
With the soul nearing the body, suddenly the body started to bleed as heavy injuries appeared on it.
'What the hell?'
'What the hell?'
Starting to heal the body with time magic, Mizuki started to struggle.
"Get away from the body."
The moment Will floated away from the body, the injuries stopped appearing.
'Something is missing. All physical aspects of the body should be at the perfect state. What else does a living being need...? Soul, body, blood, HP, MP... potential?'
'If the soul keeps hold of the potential after death and the body holds none, then does there need to be a balance between the body and soul? Or maybe I am completely wrong.'
'No wonder bringing people back to life is difficult. I have no f*cking clue what more is needed.'
Mizuki sat down in a lotus pose as she started thinking.
'Let's go with idea 1, potential. The only thing I have to regain lost potential is my blood and..'
Taking out a vial of white liquid from her inventory, Mizuki poked her finger and dropped a little of her blood in the vial, mixing it around the colour soon changed.
Making the copse drink the liquid, Mizuki thought.
'I have no clue what might happen. God I hate not knowing what will happen or what is going on.'
The body started to change a little, and so did the soul. The same way the soul influences the body, the body influences the soul. Or so it seems.
The body got slightly more muscular and taller while remaining on the thin side. A lock of hair also turned pure white, almost glowing.
"Try now." Mizuki said with a frown, still not knowing what might happen.
Nodding, will neared his body and entered it.
Moments later, a notification sounded out at the exact same time as Will opened his now pitch black eyes that had a hint of blood red in them.
Mizuki meanwhile only turned her head towards the notification.
[Congratulations on-]
For a split second that is as she completely ignored the System for now.
'I don't need answers fed to me like a child.' was her reasoning.
With Will sitting up and looking at his hands, he could feel overwhelming power compared to before, yet somehow felt that Mizuki could end his existance with a *snap*.
*Snap*
Mizuki snapped her fingers infront of Wills face.
"Since I saved your life, I hope you dorepay that sooner or later."
"Ah. I promise to serve you until the end of my days."
"Sure. Anyway the rest of the crew should arrive shortly, you can ask your questions that you might have after we finish this Sanctuary."
"Got it."
"Speaking of which, they seem to be here."
Mizuki said as he appraised the distant nearing shadows.
[Name: Salon
Gender: Male
Race: High Human
Class: Sword Saint Apprentice
Level: 108]
[Name: Natyr
Gender: Female
Race: High Human
Class: Mage of Silk
Level: 101]
[Name: Eric
Gender: Male
Race: High Human
Class: Blade Mercenary
Level: 105]
[Name: Tomi
Gender: Male
Race: High Human
Class: Fearless Bountyhunter
Level: 101]
[Name: Shigoto
Gender: Male
Race: Pitch Black Sheepkin
Class: Merchant of Cursed Thunder
Level: 111]
"Great. Everyone is here. Now get to work, make teams of two and take West and East respectively, I'll take North and Will here will take South."
"Um.. Who is he?" Tomi asked
"Nice to meet you little lad. My name is Will. I'll be part of this crew here from now on."
Will then noticed Natyr staring at him intently.
"Hello there lass. Nice to meet you."
"Likewise." Natyr said while turning away.
'Why does there have to be so many good looking guys on this crew?! My heart can't take it! Is the captain trying to build a harem or something?'
Mizuki also slightly stared at Will, but could not hear his thoughts any more.
'Must be something to do with souls and the like.'
"You can chat after we finish this Sanctuary. Get moving."
"Aye captain." Shigoto said with a smug smile before grabbing Eric and moving towards the East yet again.
"Righty. Bye then." Will then disappeared into the nearby shadows, while Mizuki just teleported away like second nature.
"Looks like this is going to be another difficult yet small adventure." Tomi said, being the first to head out, out of the group.
"Salon, what are you waiting for? Let's go."
"Coming." Salon said as he stared at the lingering shadows on the ground.
