Capítulo 39: The Holy Spirit's Test (pt.1)
Holy Spirits were one of the rarest existences since the beginning of time. Some people may be wondering why, and the answer was rather simple.
'Humans are not that faithful.'
No matter how much they pretended, in their hearts, humans did not have much faith. Not in each other, not in religion, and of course, not in some unknown god whom they had never seen.
Thus, Holy Spirits were hard to find. Their existence was only possible because of the devotion that the believers displayed in temples.
'But without any true believers, especially as the time changed and people's beliefs changed, they became almost nonexistent.'
This was a fact.
'Both in my previous world, and this new world I am in.'
The Holy Spirit spoke again.
[Do you want to leave this place?]
"I am not sure."
Alastor was not sure.
[What do you mean?]
Alastor fell silent as he observed his surroundings again. The white walls were still white and smooth, even after he tried to touch them, he was unable to feel anything. Not even a single dent.
This meant that the room was indeed empty and without any secret passages hidden in any corner.
The only thing in the room was the four floating symbols in front of him.
After a few minutes of silence, Alastor asked the Holy Spirit about the symbols.
"What are those? The energy they are made from is foreign to me."
The Holy Spirit did not hesitate to answer.
[That is what we call 'Divine Essence', it is the power of the gods.]
'Power of gods, huh?' Alastor mused. He recalled hearing something similar to this before in his previous world.
However, Alastor did not know much about it. The temples did not like Alastor that much, and similarly, Alastor loathed temples and their stupid ethics.
But there was something he remembered.
{Holy Spirits are the only beings, aside from gods, who can bestow humans with a more powerful Foundation.}
{Despite humans' first Magic Circle being weak and needing a lot of time to develop, there was a shortcut.}
{If a human could be blessed by a Holy Spirit, their Magic Circle is going to grow and extend. And in the future, all of their Magic Circles are going to be solidified by the blessing; growing stronger as a result.}
'Should I ask about that?'
Alastor's eyes gleamed for a moment before he shook his head. No, he could not ask the Holy Spirit about this. What if they thought he was a greedy person who was coveting their power?
'Even though that description fits me, the Holy Spirit doesn't need to know.'
This was the domain of the Holy Spirit.
Even without doing anything wrong, they could squash Alastor like he was nothing.
'Strength means nothing in the face of dominance.'
As Alastor came to that conclusion, he decided what he should ask the Holy Spirit next.
"What am I supposed to do here?"
The Holy Spirit shook, gulping thickly. Fortunately for them, Alastor could not see them as they were far away from him.
After steadying their voice again, they answered.
[You need to get out of here.]
"How?"
[By going through my test. It is a very short and simple one, and I promise you a reward if you pass it.]
Reward.
Alastor perked up at the mention of that word.
What would this Holy Spirit give him? Naturally, nothing small. However, Alastor was not an idiot to not notice how this offer was to incite him.
"I see you have mentioned a reward," he sat down before adding, "Yet you haven't shared the punishment of failure with me."
[Does that matter?]
For the first time since their conversation started, the voice of the Holy Spirit changed. A hint of genuine curiosity, rather than annoyance.
'A unique one.'
Perhaps this Holy Spirit had not met many humans and was only surrounded by greedy intruders. But that was also weird.
The Holy Spirit should have some memories and thoughts about humanity. Those were absorbed alongside the believers' faith.
Curiously, Alastor asked, "Why are you asking? Is this the first time someone has asked about this?"
[Yes.] The Holy Spirit nodded, despite knowing that Alastor could not see it.
'I see.'
Alastor laughed internally, how innocent was this Holy Spirit? Even if they were not the most innocent, given how they tried to lure him into taking these tests.
'But they are far too naive of real human nature.'
Alastor was elated.
"You see, humans are like this. The rational ones at least. They tend to weigh their choices and what they may get or may lose."
[I see.]
The Holy Spirits fiddled with the robe that was covering their whole body. This person was interesting to them, the first of his kind.
The gas was supposed to cause him to lose his reason.
[The punishment is nothing big. One of the temple's traps is going to be activated whenever you fail.]
"Hmm, I see."
Alastor, who had just calmed down earlier, started to think. 'Nothing big', said the Holy Spirit. But who was the receiving end of that?
"Where is Vian?"
[Who?]
"Vian, the girl who came here with me."
Words were a terrifying thing. What could be considered nothing big, may be considered something that could end someone else's life.
[I cannot say.]
"And why is that?"
[Because I don't want to do that.]
"Ha!"
Alastor scoffed.
Interesting, how interesting. The Holy Spirit did not lie. Even though this response was vague, he was able to understand a few things.
One, the Holy Spirit could not lie to him. That, or the Holy Spirit was simply unwilling to tell him some things. To be sure which one of those two predictions was the truth, Alastor needed to talk with the Holy Spirit for a while.
The second thing was something Alastor believed in.
'Whether she was taking tests like those or trying to find a way out of here… Vian is in danger.'
Regalos
-- Regalo
recibido Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder