Chapter 298 - Tipped Balance, Equilibrium Gone (1/2)

Chapter 298: Tipped Balance, Equilibrium Gone

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Night of the Dragon Inn.

Elin closed the room’s curtains and took out a black candle. She lit it and strangely enough, the flame was an eerie blue. There were also runes circling the flame like stars.

“This is the soul-guiding candle I created. It can stop souls from being lost in Soul Realm,” Elin explained.

Link was confused. “Won’t the flesh body enter the Soul Realm?” He hadn’t gone into the Soul Realm with just his soul yet, not even in the past game.

Elin shook her head. “No, doing that is too crude. There can be many side effects if the flesh body goes into the Soul Realm and can greatly restrict the performance of the soul’s power. More importantly, it’s easy to become completely lost in the Soul Realm and be unable to return.”

As she spoke, Elin walked to Link and grasped his hand. “Okay,” she said softly. “Now look at the candle. Yes, just like that. Don’t think about anything. We are safe now, and Nana will protect us…Go!”

At that word, Link felt himself become dazed. His vision blurred too, and when it sharpened again, he realized the soul-guiding candle was gone. It was replaced by a hazy yet warm glow.

The scene inside the glow was very strange. Link actually saw himself.

He saw himself sitting quietly in the chair before the table, staring unblinkingly at something. Elin stood beside him, her face also frozen. She stared unblinkingly in the same direction as Link.

A crisp voice sounded beside him—Elin. “Those are our bodies. The space under the light of the soul-guiding candle creates a bi-dimensional overlapping state. This is also the anchor of our exploration in the Soul Realm. No matter how we travel in the Soul Realm, if anything happens, we can return to the anchor instantly to go back to the Physical Realm.”

“This sounds like dreaming.” Link looked down at himself. His body was still there, but it felt blurry. His limbs were a bit transparent too and looked unreal. Glancing at Elin, he saw that she was semi-transparent too and even more transparent than him. He could barely see her features clearly.

This was probably an out-of-body experience in the other world.

Elin studied Link carefully and praised, “Link, your soul is very strong. It’s practically the strongest soul I’ve ever seen. You’re right. This is like dreaming. It’s the safest way to enter the Soul Realm. Okay, follow me.”

She started walking to the door, and Link followed.

In the Soul Realm, they were also at the Night of the Dragon Inn, but everything had become black and white. It was quiet too, to the point of being frightening.

At the door, Elin went straight through it instead of opening it. Link copied her. Ignoring the door, he walked over, and there was a small poof. Then it felt like something went over his body. Looking back, he was already outside the door.

“This is a basic spell for going through walls. Souls can easily move through any dead objects. Of course, only do it when you’re clear about the situation behind the barrier.” Elin waved to Link from the front. “Follow me closely and don’t hesitate. The soul-guiding candle will only burn for one hour. We must complete the exploration of the Dragon Temple within an hour.”

“Okay.” Link followed close behind Elin.

The two quickly exited the inn. Outside, Link looked up and discovered that the sky was pure gray. Fog obstructed his view in the close distance. Occasionally, a blurry gray-white figure would walk over. They were practically like plumes of fog, wandering aimlessly in Creekwood.

“These are the souls of the atheists of Creekwood,” Elin explained. “They didn’t have any beliefs in life, so after death, they won’t be guided by any gods. They would just follow their instincts and return to where they had lived and wandered. They’ll usually wither away after a year or so.”

Souls were not undying. Like a ball of fire, they would extinguish someday. When you were firewood, the flame would extinguish in the blink of an eye. If you lit the Sacred Fire, you would be like the sun. Compared to the temporary life of mortals, you would exist for eternity.

Link was well-read, so he had a basic understanding of this. He wasn’t too shocked.

Elin continued down a road to the Dragon Temple. She was very fast, almost flying, and would travel 30 feet in a blink. Link was just as fast though and could easily catch up.

Elin sighed. “There’s fog everywhere, and it’s hard to see. Otherwise, we’d be able to teleport to the Dragon Temple with a thought.” Simple souls had no weight, and their bodies would be wherever their thought was. However, they didn’t know what was hidden in the fog, so they didn’t dare take any risks.

As they spoke, they’d already arrived at the mountain path outside Creekwood Village. “What’s with the fog?” Link asked curiously. “I entered the Soul Realm in the North before. It was on the ice field, and the view was great, but once I entered the forest, the fog came. It was even thicker there than it is here.”

Elin didn’t hold any knowledge back. “The fog is made up of scattered souls. Rather than souls of intelligent beings, these are the souls of plants and beasts after they die. They’re very weak and break down soon after death. There are countless lives in forests. More and more souls gather together, forming the fog.”

There were forests on either side of the mountain path. As the two traveled away from Creekwood, the fog became heavier. Elin’s progress slowed down too.

“In the Soul Realm, the forest is the most dangerous. No one knows what is hidden under the white fog…Stop! Follow me!” Her voice suddenly turned nervous.

Her small body flashed and hid behind a tree at the side of the road. Link followed over and found that the tree was solid. It was probably because it was alive and had a soul.

After hiding for less than a minute, a giant figure radiating with fiery red light walked from the corner up ahead. It was hard to see through the fog, but when it got closer, Link saw that it was the soul of a dragon.

The Dragon Soul was 22 feet tall and 50 feet long. It was completely translucent like a crystal and firelight three feet long shot out from it. It was shockingly intimidating.

He came down the mountain path slowly as if he were patrolling. When he went into the distance, Elin whispered, “That’s a Dragon Soul Guard to make sure the Soul Realm isn’t trespassed. He’s very powerful, and unless you have special training, not even a Holy Spirit is his match. There are three of these guards on this path. We must avoid them.”

“Understood.” Link nodded. From the earlier close interaction, Link could feel that his soul had more substance but was weaker.