"First, just like you suspected, Logan—Vander didn't truly die. His soul is still inside that body. In your Zaun, it seems there's no barrier, the magic isn't abundant enough, and it can't nurture a world like Spirit Blossom…"
"But that's fine, because I'm strong. I'm Ahri."
"And I've got more good news for you. In the Zaun you live in, the spirit realm shouldn't be able to affect that place—but you can act as the medium."
"After all, the thing I gave you last time? You've been using it pretty well." Ahri said with a pleased smile.
Man and fox talked on. What Ahri meant by "the thing" she'd given him before was, of course, that strangely effective charisma-like attribute Logan had now.
Logan felt it himself, too. It might be a passive skill, but it was ridiculously useful. A big reason Zaunites were willing to believe in him was because the moment they met him, they instinctively felt goodwill toward him.
And combined with everything Logan had actually done, things naturally became much easier.
"That means what I gave you can be carried back out. Since that's the case…" Ahri paused thoughtfully, then said, "Wait here. I'll be right back."
She said it once, then turned and walked away with elegant steps. The little fox only took two steps before her figure vanished from Logan's sight.
Logan waited quietly and checked the remaining descent time.
With his soul strength breaking past ten, his descent time had increased by ten minutes. Out of forty minutes, he still had twenty-one left—more than enough.
About half a minute later, a wisp of white mist appeared in front of him. Ahri seemed to step out of thin air, a pink gemstone held between her fluffy little lips. She spit it onto the ground, pressed a paw on it, and looked at Logan.
"This is it."
"What is it?"
"Something that can suppress Vander's beast instincts. I just made it~" Ahri stepped back, nodded toward it, and motioned for Logan to pick it up.
Logan reached down—and the system prompt sounded in his ear.
[Obtained item: "Divine Soulstone" (Unbound)]
[Quality: Red (Mythic)]
[Required Level: None]
[Effect: Contains a trace of a powerful deity's strength. After use, maintains clarity of mind and heals soul injuries.]
[Description: Carefully crafted by a certain powerful and kind deity. It contains one thread of her divine will. Do not squeeze it too hard—I'm sure you don't want to see what happens if this gemstone explodes.]
Another mythic item…
Did Ahri even have anything that wasn't mythic?
What kind of ultimate sugar-mommy—
"Feed that to Vander," Ahri said, "and it'll suppress his beast instincts and wake up his human side. To be honest, I don't fully understand his condition either. That 'science' thing you keep talking about—I've never even heard the word."
"Then again, that makes sense. We're meeting across worlds."
"But judging by what I saw… it looks exactly like a soul fused with a spirit-creature. In plain terms, the human side is being suppressed."
"And I just happen to be best at dealing with things like that." Ahri lifted a paw to her neck and made a slicing motion, chin tipped up as she huffed fiercely. "Beat him. And when his wildness is at its weakest, feed it to him."
Her tone was full of pride—almost smug.
Logan looked at Ahri, nodded gratefully, then took out what he'd brought.
"Ahri, this is for you."
"What?" The little fox immediately scooted closer, tail swishing as she crowded up to Logan—then her fox eyes lit up.
"A book? It's a book?! Is this a book from your world?!"
"Oh my god—wait, you can bring something from another world over here?!" Ahri lifted her head to stare at Logan's face, excitement sparkling as she circled him several times.
How was that possible?
Souls came to this place with nothing.
Even if Logan could come here freely, that was still the rule of this world—how did he break the rule and do something like this?
"Yeah," Logan said, thinking back to Jinx's bedtime reading. "It's got a lot of adventure stories, and some… monsters humans imagined, things like that."
Mostly monsters. Legendary creatures.
And Logan remembered what Ahri liked—stories she'd never heard, souls she'd never met.
This gift was guaranteed to be right up her alley.
Sure enough, the little fox lowered her head and read a few lines. At first, she seemed unable to make sense of the text—but a deity's power was a cheat code. In the blink of an eye, Ahri could read everything. The words, the illustrations, even the places Jinx had marked with her graffiti pen.
Ahri sat properly, graceful and focused, flipping pages with her tiny paws. In seconds, she was completely absorbed.
"Ahri?"
"Mm-hm." Ahri lifted her head, smiled at Logan, and said, "I like your gift. So this time, it doesn't count as me 'helping' you. Let's call it an exchange of gifts. How's that?"
"That gemstone counts as my gift to you. Next time you come, I'll think of something else to give you." Ahri spoke seriously, then added, "You get what I mean, right? I mean… bring me more stuff from your world next time."
Logan laughed and nodded.
Then, seeing Ahri drop her head and start reading again, Logan hesitated, thought for a moment, and said, "Then… can you help me with one more thing?"
"Say it." Ahri snapped out of her book trance, clapped her paws together to close it, then smacked the cover with a firm little thump—
"Poof!"
The storybook vanished.
Ahri looked at Logan and straightened up. "I'm in a great mood today."
"I want to see the creatures in Blossom Valley, and I want to look around your special place—like last time you took me to Autumn Moon Grove."
"I get it." Ahri narrowed her eyes. "So your soul strength gets stronger because of that, huh?"
"But didn't you look at my soul?" Logan asked, confused. "Shouldn't you already know that?"
"What are you thinking?" Ahri wrinkled her nose. "I only looked at what you've been through recently. Your secrets? I wouldn't look at those."
"Alright, come with me. I'll broaden your horizons."
The little fox lifted her head and turned lightly, walking ahead with a catlike strut, leading Logan through Blossom Valley.
[You discovered…]
[You explored…]
[Discovered…]
Zaun, Broken Gorge in the Entresol—
Logan opened his eyes from the chair.
On his shoulder, Janna—curled up in a ball, asleep—snapped her eyes open too, staring at Logan in shock.
Logan suddenly got stronger?
His soul, in an instant, became… sturdier. Denser.
Logan looked at his system panel.
[Name: Logan]
[Race: Human Soul]
[Soul Strength: 14.2 (Scattered Soul)]
[World Exploration: 4.1%]
[Current Items: Divine Soulstone]
With Ahri's help, Logan's soul strength jumped by nearly four points. He felt noticeably stronger—by Ahri's words, he didn't need to worry about losing to Vander's beast state anymore.
And there was another thing—
Ahri's affection had broken past one hundred.
That book alone had raised it by eighty-five points.
…Yeah. Looks like it'd be worth saving up energy bars and bringing gifts into the spirit realm to farm some rewards.
Logan rolled his shoulders and stood up.
"Singed."
Singed, who had been teaching Jinx and Ekko, turned around to look at Logan. "Yes?"
"You can wake Vander up, right?" Logan asked.
Singed froze, then shook his head. "I can, but we can't do that. I still haven't found a way to suppress his beast instincts. If we wake him now, everyone here will die."
"He'll slaughter indiscriminately," Singed added, glancing at Janna. "And the goddess's condition doesn't look good."
Singed was sharp enough to figure it out quickly.
After the initial excitement of learning about Janna, he'd understood something: with almost no believers in the two cities, how strong could Janna really be?
But he didn't blame Logan. Janna's existence still gave him hope.
Hearing Singed, Logan flashed his teeth in a grin.
He pulled off his outer coat, rolled up the sleeves of his wool sweater, handed the coat to Zeri beside him, and shouted:
"Everyone!"
The Spirit Blossom Gang members inside the cave—Jinx, Vi, Silco, Sevika—all looked at Logan.
Then he said, "Out."
"Ekko. Sevika." Logan's gaze cut to them as he gave the order. "Without my command, nobody comes in."
Ekko immediately agreed. Sevika glanced at Silco first; when Silco didn't object, she finally said, "Understood."
"Logan?" Jinx stepped up.
Logan looked at her, patted her head, and smiled. "Don't worry. Leave it to me."
"I'll bring Vander back. I promised you, didn't I?"
Logan raised his hand and hooked out his pinky.
Jinx blinked, then raised her own hand and nodded hard.
Their pinkies linked—one big hand, one small hand—and then everyone filed out of the cave.
"You're sure you want to do this?" Singed didn't leave yet. He still had to wake Vander.
Singed was the only one who knew how to awaken the beast. Besides turning on certain devices, it also required his blood as a catalyst.
Logan heard him and rolled his shoulders again. Fighting in a wool sweater made Logan's face pinch in discomfort.
This matching couples' sweater—same style as Jinx's—was probably about to be ruined.
Then he said flatly, "Alright, Singed. Wake him up."
"And then you can go outside."
"This is… a conversation between the Lanes' two successive rulers."
Logan's voice was calm.
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