Chapter 66: Preparation (Part 2)

“Transform!”

“Mami Mami Hong!”

“Balala Energy!”

“Avada Kedavra!”

“Demons and ghosts, be gone!”

“Ha~ I can’t figure out how to use this little thing at all!”

After trying all sorts of methods, Winnidith threw herself onto a chair.

As she watched the spiritual snake curled up sleeping on the stone table, she tugged at her silver hair in frustration.

According to the research results passed down by successive Elven Kings, spiritual power is indeed a superior replacement for mana.

But the conclusions they drew—using spiritual power to replace mana to enhance magic—simply didn’t work!

Forget using it as fuel to load into a magic formula; just getting it close caused the elements forming the magic’s foundation to scatter as if they’d met their natural enemy.

Is it because spiritual power is a product of the outside world and isn’t accepted locally?

Winnidith couldn’t find the answer.

But she was the only one in this world who had mastered spiritual power, so she had to find her own way to explore this path.

It’s not like she could ask the Sacred Tree for advice, hahaha…

…Why not?

Winnidith suddenly sat up straight, realizing something.

In this world, besides her, the four gods could also use spiritual power!

The Demon God of the demons, the War God of the orcs, and the God of Light and Sun of the Empire—she didn’t know how they did it—but the Sacred Tree had definitely used spiritual power right in front of her!

It had used that power to manipulate the emotions and thoughts of the elves, turning them into puppets.

Could she try the same approach?

Feeling like she’d found a direction, Winnidith quickly called Etheriel over and attempted to replace the Sacred Tree’s spiritual power with her own.

“Little one, go! Make Etheriel show a happy expression!”

“Sss?”

The transparent snake raised its head at its master’s command, but after realizing the meal in front of it was too big to swallow, it curled back up and went to sleep.

Instead, Etheriel responded to her instruction with a stiff smile.

The sight sent a shiver down Winnidith’s spine, and she quickly told him to stop.

“No good… Is it because Etheriel is too deeply influenced by the Sacred Tree? Maybe I should try someone else?”

Who?

Winnidith thought it over.

First, anyone from the Empire was out—she hadn’t mastered how to use it yet, and if an accident turned them into puppets like the elves, that would be bad.

What about the people of Alandin?

She had no guilt about them, but they seemed to already be under Olivier’s control.

Using them as test subjects might affect her conclusions.

Eventually, Winnidith remembered several perfect test subjects—the Elven Elders she’d rescued from the Deep Prison, who were still unconscious.

In terms of controlled variables, the only difference between them and Etheriel was that they had broken free from the Sacred Tree’s control, while Etheriel hadn’t.

Etheriel hadn’t broken free?

Just as she was about to act, Winnidith froze, then turned to look at Etheriel standing nearby.

She began to consider a question she had never thought about before.

Then why does he obey me?

Because I have spiritual power?

That was one explanation, and I thought so before.

But why could the Elven King control them too?

The Elven King doesn’t have spiritual power.

She had assumed that the Elven King, as the Sacred Tree’s incarnation, naturally had a certain degree of control.

That wasn’t wrong.

What was wrong was separating her own reason for controlling elves from the Elven King’s.

Maybe she could control the elves precisely because this spiritual power she wielded also originated from the Sacred Tree!

That would explain why her commands took priority over those of the Light Elves—because her connection to the Sacred Tree was closer!

Winnidith turned her gaze to the transparent snake sleeping on the stone table.

From the memories she’d obtained from Leah, she knew that this spiritual power actually came from the first Dark Elf, Aishilin.

Xinliezhi had left a trace of spiritual power inside both her and Anaris as a contingency.

But He never said it was His own spiritual power, did He?

He said He used His power to create the foundation of their souls.

Judging from His behavior, those two wisps of spiritual power also carried His will.

But He never actually said those wisps were His.

Now, let’s make a hypothesis.

What if, from the very beginning, the spiritual power inside the First Generation Elf Twins belonged to the Sacred Tree, Slaanesh?

Xinliezhi just tampered with it so His will could reside within.

Then, when His will dissipated, what remained?

Slaanesh’s spiritual power.

And judging by the state of the little snake, spiritual power clearly possesses some intelligence.

So things like recognition of a master… wouldn’t be strange, right?

Winnidith once again carefully observed the small snake coiled on the table, sleeping.

It was slender, flexible, like the vine of a tree.

Suddenly, Winnidith felt a chill run down her spine.

If her thoughts were true, then this spiritual power was undoubtedly a ticking time bomb.

Once the Sacred Tree awakened from its seal, it would blast her to ashes.

What to do?

Throw it away?

But if she lost the spiritual power, how would she deal with the Sacred Tree?

Winnidith admitted she was panicking now.

She realized she was walking down a dead-end road—no matter which choice she made, she would fall into the abyss of death.

No, wait.

Winnidith, calm down.

It’s not time to give up yet.

Winnidith forced herself to take several deep breaths before she could soothe her restless heart.

Okay, now think of a solution.

Since this is the Sacred Tree’s spiritual power, is it possible to make it mine?

Following this line of thought, Winnidith suddenly found the idea quite feasible.

Looking at what she knew about the uses of spiritual power: the Sacred Tree used it to control emotions; the War God used it for berserking; the Demon God used it to corrupt bloodlines.

The three gods’ applications were completely different, meaning this machine had different functions depending on the user.

Moreover, none of them had demonstrated the other gods’ methods of using spiritual power.

So, could she guess that the essence of spiritual power wasn’t fuel, but material similar to the Eight Elements?

Only after being processed could it serve as fuel, like diamond and coal—both essentially collections of carbon elements.

But once it had an owner, it would be honed into a unique diamond ring, gemstone, or other tool.

These tools didn’t need energy—or rather, they could supply their own energy.

The only problem to solve was whether it could transform from a polished gem back into a malleable raw stone.

“Little one, can you leave your original master and form a contract with me?”

She had found the direction, but how to do it remained a challenge.

Deciding it wouldn’t hurt to try, Winnidith crouched down and met the transparent snake’s eyes with her big ones.

“If you’re willing to become my power, I promise you’ll have plenty to eat every day~ You must be starving over at the Sacred Tree, right?”

“Sss?”

Seeing the snake raise its diamond-shaped head with interest, Winnidith suppressed her excitement and deepened the temptation with a sweet, pet-like coaxing voice.

“Having a full meal is nice, isn’t it?

You don’t want to keep going hungry afterward, do you?”

“Sss sss~”

The snake happily flicked its tail, its coiled body starting to loosen.

Just a little more effort.

Winnidith thought for a moment, then borrowed the classic empty-promise tactic she’d often heard in her previous life.

“Besides, the Sacred Tree has so much spiritual power that even if you made great achievements, it wouldn’t care about you at all. But I’m different—I only have you. Once I become very strong, you’ll be my greatest contributor.”

“Then, I’ll give you whatever you want, okay?”

“Sss sss sss!”

The innocent spiritual snake from another world had never encountered such an evil capitalist scheme.

It happily slithered to Winnidith’s hand, but the moment it touched her, it pulled its head back, as if afraid of something.

What was it afraid of?

Winnidith thought.

By now, this spiritual power—or at least this particular wisp—possessed considerable intelligence.

Treating it as a thinking life form was perfectly fine.

So what did life fear most?

Losing its life, of course.

Having found the direction, Winnidith continued her “seduction.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t erase your intelligence. In fact, I’ll even share mine—ow!!!”

Before she could finish, the little snake, having heard it wouldn’t die, bit down on her fingertip.

How an energy being could give Winnidith a real wound was anyone’s guess, but she soon noticed a drop of blood flowing from her fingertip toward the transparent snake.

Then it became a glowing white sphere about the size of a soccer ball.

When the sphere dissipated, what appeared inside was…a cat?

“Meow~”