บท 24: Chapter 23: Unravel.
"The stones that you have absorbed, they're called Core. It's a blessing for selected creatures that have made amazing achievements," Lysara'elmaris explained. "You can say that they're like the system that Players received. Both came from the Gods," she continued.
"But I remember that in my past life, the stones still existed and didn't get absorbed like what happened to me," Rigel responded.
"It's because I took them. I absorbed the whole Core and its essence, giving you the power and fuel my life," Lysara'elmaris explained.
Rigel followed Lysara'elmaris from behind, and when he turned into a corner, he was taken aback by what he saw. At the end of the hallway, he saw countless stone coffins in a vast and spacious room where he couldn't see the end of it. He hesitated to go there, but Lysara'elmaris kept walking toward that place that looked like a mausoleum.
"What are you so afraid of?" Lysara'elmaris asked, but he didn't bother to look back at Rigel. "You're already dead. There shouldn't be anything you should be afraid of," she continued.
Rigel started walking, noticing the eerie atmosphere, the ambient sound, and the sound of pebbles echoed throughout the spacious mausoleum. He started to catch up with Lysara'elmaris, and he was curious about those stone coffins. When he looked at the coffin that had a small gap in it, he could see a woman who looked like she was asleep rather than dead.
"Who are these people?" Rigel asked.
"The mortals that devoted themselves to me. Their souls weren't accepted in the afterlife by the other Gods because of it. They ended up here with me, stuck in an abandoned and forgotten space," Lysara'elmaris answered as she ran her fingertips on the cover of the coffin. "They were my believers, all of them here were," she continued.
The further they went, Rigel noticed that the size of the coffins varied. He then stopped when he looked at the tiny coffin next to him, a coffin that could only be fit for a little kid. He started to realize there were more of them out there.
"They were drowned, burned, tossed from the cliff, beheaded, ripped apart, poisoned, stoned, you name it. Only a tiny percentage of them died of natural causes," Lysara'elmaris explained and Rigel could hear the sadness in her voice.
"They were hunted? By whom?" Rigel furrowed his eyebrows.
"Mortals who believed in other Gods, Players, even Gods that brought catastrophe to them," Lysara'elmaris answered. Even with the sadness in her voice, her expressionless face made it even more disturbing. "Without believers, the Gods lost a portion of their power, and the more believers they have, the more power in them grows," she explained.
"They're trying to weaken your power," Rigel remembered about Lysara'elmaris' past.
"Or so they thought," Lysara'elmaris responded. "My power is already powerful without my believers. The Gods thought the source of my power originated from these people. As you can see here, I have so many believers, that was why they thought killing them would weaken my power" she explained.
Rigel started to know more about Lysara'elmaris like reading a book. He unraveled the mysterious and enigmatic being slowly, and he couldn't help but wonder what she looked like during her prime.
"Enough of that and get over here," Lysara'elmaris stood in the center of the mausoleum, a circle platform surrounded by coffins. "You will learn about magic here."
Rigel stood in front of Lysara'elmaris, and then a coffin floated toward them. He looked at the coffin above him, and the cover opened up, showing an old man with very long gray hair and a beard. The body floated and descended behind Lysara'elmaris.
"Elgwartz the third, the best magician that devoted himself to me," Lysara'elmaris said as she looked at the old man. "Put your hand on his forehead," she looked at Rigel.
Rigel hesitated initially, but he put his hand on the old man's forehead. He felt a connection between his subconscious and the old man's subconscious. It was so subtle that he barely noticed it, and when he was so focused on it, the connection disappeared.
"Now, try to cast any magic," Lysara'elmaris said as she put the old man's body back into the coffin and then sent it away.
Before Rigel could question her since he didn't know anything about magic, he felt a conflict with himself. He started to understand the concept of magic while at the same time, his brain was trying to process it. He felt the tingling feeling on his fingertips, and somehow he could track where it came from.
"(It came from my spine)" Rigel thought as he closed his eyes and imagined a human anatomy. "(My spine generates magical power and it wants me to acknowledge it)" he imagined the current of electricity moving from his spine, veins, and all the way to his fingertips again.
The tingling feeling and the numbness in his hands and fingertips intensified. When he opened his eyes to see what had happened, he realized he had released raging sparks on his hands. He was in disbelief because he never thought he could use magic. He then retracted the magical energy on his fingertips and pulled them back to his spine.
He remembered the warmth in his chest and tried to understand where it came from. He realized the warmth came from his heart every time it pumped. The magical energy came from his heart, and when he let the energy run through his veins to his hands, raging flames appeared from his palms.
"Learning magic isn't like learning swordsmanship or any physical weapons. Everyone has their own way of understanding it, and everyone has a different view on how to utilize it," Lysara'elmaris explained as she stood there gracefully. "Trying to learn it from me is like you trying to grab a cloud."
There were so many things that Rigel wanted to try at that moment, but he didn't want to make a mess of the mausoleum. He wanted to show respect to those, the unfortunate and to Lysara'elmaris, so he held back and would try everything once he got back to life.
"Can I have a request?" Rigel looked at Lysara'elmaris. "Can I learn smithing from the best smith during their lifetime?" He added and he hesitated to ask for it because it would sound like he was being greedy.
Lysara'elmaris didn't say anything and then a coffin floated to the center and an old man that looked small came out of it. Rigel thought the man was too small for a normal human being, and wondered if it was a race in legends, a dwarf.
The dwarf was put in front of Rigel, he touched the dwarf's forehead and learned smithing from him. He didn't know if it worked or not, but he felt a connection like before. After he finished, Lysara'elmaris put the dwarf back in his coffee and sent it away.
"Thank you..." Rigel was still in disbelief that Lysara'elmaris would grant his request.
"Is there anything else you want to learn? There are countless talented people during their lifetime," Lysara'elmaris looked at Rigel with her unchanged expression.
"I'm greedy, but I know when I need to hold myself back," Rigel shook his head because he was satisfied with what he had. "I will seek your guidance when I'm really in need," he continued.
"I don't think we will meet each other again very soon, don't you think?" Lysara'elmaris raised her eyebrows. "If you're indeed satisfied with what you have, you should get prepared," she warned as she opened a portal behind Rigel. "You were swallowed when you died. You will be in his stomach when you come back to life."
Rigel looked at the portal and for the first time, he wasn't being forced to enter the portal.
"I almost forgot..." Lysara'elmaris put her hand on Rigel's back. "The more you die, the more power you possess, and yet the less of you remain," she said with a mischievous smile.
Rigel was petrified as a needle was injected into his back. He couldn't move and when the needle was removed from his back, he was pushed into the portal.
Rigel opened his eyes and he was somewhere inside the dragon's body. He looked around and found Eclairswille next to him, still in its excellent condition as if it was fated to stay with him. He grabbed the sword and realized the magic he had learned, and he transferred the magical energy to the sword, creating sparks around it.
"Thanks for eating me up," Rigel readied his stance and stared at the wall of flesh in front of him.
The dragon was asleep, but it slowly opened its eyes when something was off about its body. The dragon stood up and realized the pain from within and roared to get rid of the problem inside its body.
The dragon couldn't do anything as its inside was being torn and ripped apart. The dragon could only roll over in pain as it released a breath of fire and lava, melting everything around it. The wyverns and other dragonkin monsters were terrified by the dragon's behavior, flying away to avoid its wrath.
When the dragon was roaring and blazing its surroundings, it suddenly stopped moving. The dragon collapsed with its eyes and mouth wide open, but the body didn't move afterward. The dragon's chest was being ripped apart from the inside and then Rigel came out, naked with a shiny bright orange stone in his hand.
"It's mine now," Rigel looked at the stone and absorbed it.
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