God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"Right now, we are still on the a single route. As the traverse it, the creatures in the branching caverns are attracted by our scent and head towards this path. Because of that, we are slowly, but surely cleaning house."

He furrowed his brows,

"Fortunately for us, it will take us a few hours, seven or eight, perhaps a bit more, for us to reach the checkpoint. By then, we would have cleared his entire first floor."

Cain nodded. They were making progress.

Surprisingly, they had yet to encounter the {Darkhum Blossom} again.

Cain didn't know if it was watching them from the shadows, or if it truly has fled in fright after his retaliation.

He shrugged.

Steve nodded, "That's good news, then. I just broke through to Level 193. At this pace, I might hit Level 195 by the time we get out of here."

Li chimed in, "Me too. Perhaps this wasn't such a bad idea after all."

He glanced at Cain, a strange smile on his face,

"By the way what Level are you at right now, Cain?"

Cain spared his a glance, then shrugged,

"Level 198..."

Everyone went silent again.

Vincent couldn't help but whistle,

"Well damn..."

Steve chuckled, "That was quick."

Cain was tempted to roll his eyes but chose not too. They were all leveling up at roughly the same speed, so his wasn't impressive at all. While he was glad that they were trying to make small talk, he was a bit busy at the moment.

He sighed and tried to dim the noises into the background as he focused on his thoughts.

'My main priority should be healingy spirit completely before I take on the Trial of the Second Order.'

There were many risks he could have easily avoided it he could use his many skills spells and abilities.

He was literally forced to fight with one hand tied behind his back.

It was rather inconvenient...

'What is the quickest way to heal my spirit, system?'

{Replying to Host: The spirit of living being is a delicate subject. The host is advised to proceed with caution}.

Cain frowned, 'Just give me an answer...'

{Replying to Host: The Spirit is at its core, an embodiment of a living being's connection to mana and the spiritual realm. It is an anchor and a bridge. However, it is also living. The natural way to let the spirit heal, would be to give it time. However, there are a few ways to seep that process up...}

{The first one is to develop a skill that mends a broken spirit. This method is entirely up to the ability of the host. The second one is to absorb non-elemental mana to bind with the host's spirit to aid in the mending process. However, this method is very wasteful, and might fail to work depending on the viability of the host's spirit}.

{The last method is rather dangerous, and the host is not advised to follow this method. It involves destroying the spirit and rebuilding it from the ground up. If this method fails, the host's spirit will scatter into the winds and the host will perish. However, if it is successful, then the host will have the chance to create a much stronger spirit, moulded to his desire}.

Cain frowned, 'What the hell? Why even mention the third one if it is so dangerous?!'

The system didn't reply.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Cain sighed, then mentally went over his options,

'The second option is completely out.'

The first option was looking rather promising. If it came to crafting skills an spells, then he was rather confident in himself.

Then he frowned, 'But how do I go about something like that?'

How was he supposed to create a skill that could mend his spirit.

The system suddenly responded,

{Replying to Host: The Spirit is like a vast array of silk threads, all embroidered together to create a fabric. There are always small variations, which lead to even larger variations, so every spirit is unique and individual. The center of the host's spirit was torn off due to the incredible strain it had to bear. Because of this, using mana and other energy forms can lead to a whole lot of complications in the future if the hole isn't patched up}.

{To fix this, the host has to weave into existence silk threads of spirit}.

Cain paused.

'Spirit...'

Didn't he had a stat called spirit?

What exactly was that stat?

It signified the strength and density of his spirit. It had grown a lot over time since he had uncovered it, and now, it was very robust.

'Weave silk threads of spirit and mend the hole.' Cainuttered to himself.

He closed his eyes and activated {Spirit Sense}.

His senses, instead of spreading outz were reverted inward, to the depths of his existence.

The world changed focus, and his mind went blank for a split second.

Then, there was light. If was soft and faint, but its radiance was unmistakable.

Cain felt his eyes wide as he stared at the ethereal thing before him.

It was immaterial, yet contained a lot of substance.

There was a sparkling sun seated at the center of this thing. But that's as not what surprised him the most.

Just like the system had said, upon closer inspection, he was able to see the threads of spirit. They were like wisps of an imagination, something real and unrelated at the same time. It filled him with wonder and anxiety.

'Incredible...'

Then he saw it. A huge gaping hole in his spirit.

He frowned,

'So I have to create a skill that can create threads of spirit, weave them into the hole, and patch it up...'

Then he frowned but wait...

He deactivated {Spirit Sense} and asked the system,

'You said each pattern for each spirit is different. If I try to mend the hole, then I have to follow the original pattern, right?'

{Replying to Host: Affirmative... Should you allow your spirit heal naturally, the pattern would reappear on its own. However, should the host desire to take matters into his own hands, then he would have to reconstruct the pattern, down to the most minute details, on his own}.