I couldn’t sleep. I don’t know how Elliana can sleep in this noise.


    I had tried everything, snow plugs, creating sound proof walls with snow. Nothing worked. What is this overpowered sound and why can’t Elliana hear it?


    Is this the gimmick of this dungeon? Overpowered sound? Is this even sound? I can hear it but my ears aren’t involved. Is it telepathy? Not sure. I activated my eyes and tried to look where it’s coming from. My ears nor eyes could pinpoint where the sound was coming from. It was a sound similar to a mosquito buzzing around. I also couldn’t see the possible origin of this ‘sound’.


    Well, I discovered what it was but it didn’t make me any wiser. Instead of soundwaves, these were mana waves. Why it was similar to sound I don’t know but I still couldn’t find the source, it was coming from everywhere.


    I got the same feeling as I did in the library under Boshi town. There was no clock but there was a sound of ticking and it went on and off. It creeps me out to think about it. Now there are mosquitos buzzing around but no mosquitos. I will torch this place if it has a giant mosquito but I need this place.


    Something had been bothering me. Rignef had gotten into this dungeon and gathered a lot of materials from here. I didn’t see a trace of anyone ever being here. No empty treasure chests or spots that were missing the ingredients I needed. Half have been found in chests but the other half were just from plants or monsters here but…


    Even though thousands of years have passed since Rignef was here. An empty treasure chest is an empty treasure chest. So…Who is refilling these?


    The sound stopped.


    Normally that’s a good sign but I don’t believe that is a good sign. I believe in consistency, if this dungeon is consistently annoying that is all there is but if that’s not consistent, that means something is going to happen.


    It kept bugging me so I just thought over every important point that’s needed.


    <hr>


    The next morning came and the sound had returned. It was a bit higher pitched.


    Do you really not hear that?


    “I wish I knew what you were talking about but I don’t hear it no. Maybe only spirits can hear it.”


    Maybe...


    I curbed the temptation to ask her what the point is of her long ears if she isn’t using it but I had already determined that this is a ‘fake sound’ as it’s not normal sound.


    The jungle still seemed quite dark but we pressed on. It only took 4 hours before I had everything and even more than I needed. Which was strange because this dungeon was far from completed. Rignef did state that it’s possible to leave without completing the dungeon.


    I stopped getting mana from my frost glove and waited until my body would pull me back in but it took a while.


    I guess I will try possessing my body then.


    I tried to invade my own body but it seemed harder than I thought. I kept pushing and finally got in. It felt familiar because it was my body but something also felt strange. A wave of spirit energy burst out the moment I possessed my own body.


    “Hey, Agnis, you said you were a nine tailed spirit fox right? Are they supposed to do that?”


    I inspected myself. My hair was silver so were my tails. I also had moon like objects floating where normally the foxfire was floating and they were made out of frost.


    Hmm, I will admit, I did not expect this and I have no clue what this is.


    Nilah seemed excited.


    Do you know what this is Nilah?


    She continued being excited.


    So, I become overpowered when I possess myself? Cool!


    “So, what are you? You have 9 moons floating around you. Wait I remember! Rignef said you were a Lunar fox!”


    That’s correct and I never knew what it was.


    I blasted a sneaky monster and froze the area.


    And its all-spirit energy. Is this what happens if my magic and spirit energy reverse? I can’t use any magic.


    I tried to use foxfire, which was the closest to spirit energy but I just created a cold flame which could be categorized as frost magic and spirit magic. I felt a tug and my cool state dropped and I was back to normal.


    Guess every overpowered state has its limit.


    “That wasn’t even 1 minute, would you even be able to use it?”


    Nope. Besides blasting things with cold I will have to find out what exactly this is. And these moons, I don’t know what the deal is with them but I feel that I could have destroyed everything here and possibly kill you if I had been careless there.


    “That look actually reminds me of the Sarian goddess Adea, her color is silver and she is associate with the moon, silver and ice.”


    I see, that’s true indeed. Does that mean Solar foxes are associated with that loser Zack?


    “Zack?”


    Yeah, god of fire and sycophants. I think that jerk raised the temperature of the whole country after he got released.


    “Oh, I don’t know. This is all new to me…”


    After thinking about this new ability I decided to not use it until I completely mastered it. What will that bitch do when she discovered that I am a lunar fox? Shivers ran through my spine at that thought. Yup not going to fuel her disgusting obsession more. I will show it when I’m strong enough to kill her.


    Can you keep this a secret?


    “Sure, but can I know why?”


    So, you know that our numbers are getting closed to the double digits and that there are only about 5 males left right? How do you think my buddies will respond if they knew that I might be the only Lunar fox? I have already told them but I don’t think it had sunk in yet.


    “They would probably never let you outside taking your normal behavior into account.”


    Yeah. So, thank you for keeping this secret. Now let’s get out of here. On one hand I want to clear this dungeon but on the other, I realize we’re on a clock here.


    Elliana nodded. I tried to locate an exit when the sound stopped again.


    Please be nothing, please be nothing.


    “What’s wrong?”


    I smelled something weird and used [Shadow Vodka Blaze].


    Why is it doing its best to mimic that shitty library?


    Elliana drew her bow and was on full alert after my sudden [Shadow Vodka Blaze]. “You keep confusing me, what does this have to do with a library?”


    Ask Greg, he can remember this better than I do. There is one thing however…


    I was expecting a scythe dog or something similar to appear. It didn’t come but I had to continue using [Shadow Vodka Blaze] to get rid of the pollen attack that seemed to come from nowhere. I didn’t sense any invisible creature.


    “Agnis! The pollen is the creature!” Elliana used [Gust] to blow it away.


    Any idea what happens if we breathe in too much of that?


    “No but I don’t want to find out.” Elliana used [Tornado] to deal with this [Random Pollen Attack] while I snatched some more materials and emptied treasure chests when I found a strange mound.


    This is suspicious as fuck! This might be our exit!


    “I can’t use earth magic!”


    Me neither, wait does this mean we’re stuck?


    Nilah ran over and started digging.


    Good girl!


    She then got tired of digging and blasted the mound open.


    Right, don’t need earth magic to dig, I should know that, let’s go!”


    I grabbed Elliana with my tail and we jumped in. We got ejected forcefully and we were back outside.


    Phew that was something else.


    “That was… exciting. Let’s get back to the village.”


    I kept thinking about that obnoxious sound on the way back. I was curious to know what it was but going back there might be a bad idea. Sound brought forth by mana waves? I have never heard about that and I’m sure nobody knowledgeable has heard of it before. I don’t even remember if the ticking sound in that library was the same.


    I covered myself in illusions as we neared the village, I thanked Elliana and said goodbye. I took over the place of my shadow clone which had already prepared anything I needed to create the Ichor Pneuma and laid out all the ingredients I had collected from the dungeon.


    “So, you’re finally going to start and stop messing around?”


    Jyno seemed to have no idea that my clone couldn’t even do anything even if it wanted to because it was lacking knowledge and materials.


    So far, I could only make the base, after that I would have to talk and tune it to the spirit guardian and I will have to make crystallized Dragonvein and to top it off infuse it with a [Spirit Anchor], so that the first spirit that enters the vessel becomes the rightful owner.


    I mixed the ingredients for the base and it instantly went wrong since it started to foam.


    Uh oh!


    I covered myself in frost and froze the foam.


    Jyno, get out this foam released toxic fumes!


    “Oh shit!” Jyno ran out and I opened all the windows, connected to the air leyline currents and used small [Counter spins].


    I shattered the frozen foam and burnt the powder. Time to start over. At least it failed at the first step.


    <hr>


    So Rignef said that this was one of the hardest steps and I thought it was because of the knowledge needed to make Ichor Pneuma work. But nooo. His recommended amount of ingredients was to account for the good 200-300 times the first step would fail.


    This is insanity. My house had been declared as a biohazard because an elder had sneaked in to steal one of my mangoes but he had been poisoned because all the toxic fumes had contaminated all the fruits in my house. I had to throw them all away.


    I had completed the first step after 2 weeks of failing. There was still enough material for 100 more tries. The next step also had an insane amount of ingredients. I had put my tails to work on this because I would have to start at step 1 if step 2 failed.


    I only failed step 2, 5 times and I was relieved. Step 3 for the basis would just be stirring an enormous vat full of this liquid for a week. It was good that I can’t die from old age because holy fuck everything in this process takes so long!


    Hey Jyno, do you mind stirring this for a bit I need to talk to the spirit guardian.


    “Sure.”


    I handed the enormous spoon, that my tail was using to stir, over to Jyno. He dipped the spoon in the solution and tried to stir it.


    “What is wrong with this stuff?! It’s so viscous!” Jyno was visibly struggling.


    Yup, put your back in it!


    I smirked and went to the big tree. The elders pulled no bullshit and let me through. I grinned at the mango-stealing elders who were getting treated for their poisoned state.


    “You have returned”


    Heya! Don’t you think it’s time we decided on a name for you. You will need a name when you get into the vessel.


    “I have thought about it and I decided on the name Bywen.”


    Nice to meet you Bywen! With that out of the way I want to have a good look at your spirit tether.


    “Go on.” I walked over to Bywen. “You left something behind.” I walked back and waited till I got pulled back into my body.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Ugh so annoying. Ok I need to test some things if you don’t mind.


    “I don…” The glow of the tree disappeared.


    Bywen had another blackout. I sighed. I tried to look for the spirit tethers. The normally blue spirit tethers were white now. Several seemed to have snapped. I connected to the air leyline currents and tried to grab the end of a broken tether. It was difficult because my hand passed through but I eventually succeeded.


    I had no clue which side would go towards Bywen. I held the other side of the broken tether and fed it leyline energy. It was as if I could see the leyline energy go through the tether because the tether in my righthand slowly turned blue as the energy went through the tether. I gathered more leyline energy and sent it through the tether.


    The glow of the tree slowly returned.


    “…t mind. Oh, for how long was I out?”


    3 minutes. I might have found a way to get you out of the blackout.


    The rest of the tethers had turned back blue again. This was not due to my interference; it was more as if I gave her a kickstart to return.


    “Oh, that is wonderful, it is not taxing on you right?”


    It isn’t but it also isn’t something I can keep doing. I am holding your spirit tether here, are you aware of its existence?


    “Spirit tether? I am not aware of its existence nor specifics.”


    It ties you to your vessel, currently it’s wrapped around this tree and has snapped on many locations. I have found that it takes mana, spirit energy or leyline energy and converts it to spirit energy which keeps you here. This applies to spirits in contracts, since they are tethered to the spirit mage, this applied to us who have vessels, we are tied to our vessels and this applies to power spots, the tether connects to a large Dragonvein, which is a flow of energy.


    “Is there a possibility to restore the broken tethers?”


    That I don’t know but maybe you can do something about it now that you are aware. I will send some more leyline energy, try to focus and feel where it’s coming from.


    I made several simple movements and sent more leyline energy through the tether.


    “I feel something, can you give me more?”


    More you will get.


    I spent 20 minutes feeding the spirit tether leyline energy and the tree started to glow brighter and brighter.


    “Yes! I think I feel it now! I never knew!” I saw some of the tethers move, some repaired but most were still broken. “This… is tiring. I will continue working on this.”


    Ok, now I want you to do one more thing. Is it possible for you to send your spirit energy back through the tethers?


    I coated my hands in frost magic. The tether slipped out of my hands, so I had to hold it by having one hand imbued with Dragonvein and the other with frost magic. It was weak but I got some spirit energy out it. My frost magic absorbed it and I sent my tails to work on analyzing it.


    Ok this is all I need; can you tell me how you managed to restore some of those tethers?


    “I focused on my connection to my vessel. It isn’t something that we can consciously feel, I only got aware of it because of the energy you provided me. I just sent spirit energy to where it was disconnected.”


    I see so it repairs itself with spirit energy. And it’s just tiring?


    “Yes. How about I return the favor? It might be easier to understand if you do it yourself. You need this to complete your vessel I assume?”


    I do but you need to be able to interact with the spirit tether which so far, only can be done with Dragonvein.


    “And why wouldn’t spirit energy work? Direct me to one of your broken spirit tethers.” A branch extended toward me.


    Why wouldn’t spirit energy work? That’s a good question. I’m not skilled at using spirit energy so that would never be somethings I would try.


    I grabbed a broken spirit tether on my body and offered it to the extending branch. It took several tries for Bywen to be able to grab it.


    “How mysterious, I will start the flow of spirit energy.”


    I didn’t feel much at the beginning but slowly but surely, I started feeling it. It was as if something warm ran through my veins, but it was the spirit tether, not my veins. Just as Bywen said, I was never aware of them. I could see them but that was all. It now felt as if I was made of 2 parts that were intimately connected but there were some breaks in between. These were the tethers that had snapped.


    I get it now, thanks.


    I sent the spirit energy I just received to those breaks. It cost a lot of energy and it was indeed exhausting. I mended 1 broken tether when I collapsed to the floor exhausted.


    This… is difficult.


    “I wonder why this isn’t known under the spirits. Is it because most spirits spend all their lives in the spirit world and never have to create spirit tethers?”


    No clue, one has to be aware of them first and I don’t think this is the norm. Anyway! This was educational! I will send some details about the spirit vessel to Greg. Have him draw how you want to look like and please… don’t go overboard.


    “I will. I will work on restoring my spirit tethers in the meantime. And make sure to take your rest seriously!”


    I went back home and sent a shadow clone to Greg. I would probably have to sneak him into the room with the spirit guardian because these elves are probably going to take forever to decide that he can’t enter or something stupid.


    Jyno had fallen asleep next to the vat of viscous liquid he was supposed to stir.


    What a slacker. I went over to the vat, grabbed the spoon with my tails and continued stirring. This was a lot but it is to make sure that I have more than enough left when I mess up.


    My 9th tail returned the analysis of the spirit energy that belonged to Bywen. I was unsure if I could replicate this but as long as it’s close enough it should be fine. This liquid can tune itself once it gets close enough to what it’s supposed to be.


    I attempted to generate spirit energy but I failed. I might have to ask Bywen to set aside a large portion of her spirit energy another time.


    <hr>


    The stirring was done a day later.


    “So, it’s finally done?”


    It would’ve been done yesterday if you didn’t slack and fell asleep!


    “Hey come on how is someone supposed to stir that for more than 5 minutes without getting exhausted?”


    You need to work out more!


    “What? Look at my physique!” Jyno started flexing.


    He didn’t look bad. He was slim yet still muscular. “It’s those tails! I don’t know what the deal is with them! Even with that muscle dough! Don’t they get tired?”


    They do, they are getting tired of your whining!


    “I’m getting outdone by some fluffy tails…”


    Hey snap out of it!


    “Oh, the elders are happy with the results of their Eslana project. I don’t know what that means but they are happy.”


    It seems that when I was away, my clone had to give some elves the ‘Eslana Experience’ I didn’t even know my clone could do that. Well, it couldn’t, it popped out of existence after 3 minutes but somehow that was enough. The elders were too busy with the results to notice my clone disappearing. I hope they don’t turn this into a hobby… They already are making it a hobby to steal my fruit. Which reminds me.


    Jyno, where are my oranges?


    “Ehhm”


    The elders passed by, didn’t they?


    Jyno nodded. I went to my empty fruit bowl and filled it with onions and disguised them as peaches.


    Hehe, in that case, I hope they enjoy these peaches.


    “Are you still trying to get banned from this village?”


    I have no idea what you mean, this is my fruit bowl. If I want to eat peaches that taste like onions that’s my own problem, right?


    Jyno shook his head. “So, what time-consuming step is next up?”


    I boil it. It will cause this goop to separate in an oil and watery substance. I need the oil as base. The watery substance is very receptive to spirit energy so I will save most of it and a small part needs to get saturated with Bywen’s spirit energy and I will have to mix it with the oil.


    “Bywen?”


    Oh, your spirit guardian has decided on a name and she decided on the name Bywen.


    “Oh, that’s a nice name. so, it’s happening, eh? We finally get to interact with our guardian spirit.”


    That only happens if you stop slacking! Go get another container while I boil this stuff.


    I started boiling the mixture with foxfire. It needed a specific temperature but this is no problem for a 9t. I wondered how a non 9t could reproduce this. Many steps could be done as a human or elf but some steps just needed foxfire. Other steps were easier if you were a 9t but could be worked around.


    I don’t understand foxfire enough to suggest an alternative so I just wrote down: Before you start this, get your nine tailed spirit fox friend to help out.


    Not sure how the reception will be to anyone who attempts this but that’s not my problem.


    The mixture started to separate into oil and I threw in a special salt to speed up this process. I scooped up the oil and poured it into the container that Jyno had brought.


    I kept doing this until no more oil got produced. I then boiled the oil on a lower temperature and used water Dragonvein to pull out the watery bits and put it back in the original batch. It was now successfully split.


    “This oil looks interesting.”


    I wouldn’t recommend touching it. I have no idea what will happen if you do. I am so glad Raishin isn’t here he would probably…


    The door slammed open.


    Sup Agnis! Can I help?


    Jyno, get him!


    Jyno tackled Raishin and bound him.


    I was just about to tell Jyno that it was a good thing you’re not here because you can’t resist touching stuff you shouldn’t touch…


    Hey, what is that? It smells nice, can I drink it?


    Absolutely not! Did your instinct tell you to come here at the worst possible timing?


    Yes!


    Not even denying it huh? Jyno please if he messes this up, I need to start from step 0, which means you have to stir more viscous liquid.


    “And off you go Raishin, I have nothing against you but I have everything against stirring viscous liquids!”


    Save some for me!


    It is not a drink!


    Jyno removed the problematic element from my house.


    He does this all the time to Greg, shows up in the middle of his potion brewing and ruins it when he doesn’t get stopped in time.


    Greg entered the building.  Hey Agnis. Are you available?


    I am, I just avoided a Raishin Catastrophe.


    I saw Jyno dragging him out yeah. The elders had let me into the room with the spirit guardian. I have completed the drawing.


    Wow they actually let you in?


    They realize the urgency of this spirit vessel. It is not my best work but I tried to be as detailed as possible. Don’t focus too much on the mistakes.


    Ok let me see.


    Gregory showed an image of a tall redhead with 4 arms, long slender legs and small fruits growing in her hair as ornaments.


    Very nice. Are you sure you drew this? Uselessly good at drawing as usual.


    Well, I might have had some practice of drawing relatively recently.


    Oh, do tell.


    Well, I got captured remember? And the reason why they unbound me was because I could draw that bitch goddess. So, I did. They seem to think I am an arch bishop or something. But the requests became weirder and weirder and I might have drawn her in situations and positions that might get me killed.


    Hahaha! Serves her right! You did well. And welcome to the club!


    I don’t want the club of having a goddess being passionately about murdering you!


    Racial hazard. Anyway, can I request a potion that kills pain and promotes regeneration?


    Sure, why might I ask?


    So, the spirit bone is quite easy in theory. I need the bones of a creature that’s living while it’s extracted. The bones of that creature determine the properties of the bone. So bones of a dragon will be extremely sturdy but also heavy. Now Rignef used his own tailbone. I am not going to do that but I am probably going to use my own bones which will make the spirit bones light and strong.


    I understand the reason but why your own bones?


    It''s easier. And well I used to be ambidextrous but I lost my right arm twice and over time it grew back it became better than the last so I’m quite right-handed now.


    So, you want to cut off your left arm so you become a bit more ambidextrous? That is the most retarded reason you could have thought up with.


    So, what bones should I use then if not my own.


    … I will make those potions. I should be used to this shit by now… make sure to call me when you cut off your arm… And is that all to that step?


    No, I have to flush the marrow with Ichor Pneuma until the Ichor Pneuma takes over the marrow and the spirit bone will start producing it. Flushing the marrow seems to take a month…


    You did mention that Ichor Pneuma was important to create the bones. I understand why now, thanks for the explanation. When will you be making those spirit bones?


    No clue. Most of this depends on Bywen.


    That was the spirit guardian’s name, right?


    Yup.


    Ok keep me in the loop.


    I remembered that I still had Elliana’s treasure from the dungeon so I sent a shadow clone over to her house to dump the treasure. I would visit Bywen the next day to have her infuse this spirit liquid with her spirit energy. I hope she only needs to do this once but the process of making Ichor Pneuma was sensitive to mistakes.