-----

Veronica decided to focus for a moment as she sensed her soul… for a moment, she felt alienated by her armor, as if her real body was a strange and slimy substance inside of it, wearing the armor as a carapace. ​​

"So this is my true body, huh? To think that what I needed to finally 'train' my soul was to lack any kind of flesh… Perhaps I would have been able to in my second life, but there wasn't any special training for doing so…" she thought.

Veronica and the reincarnated soul's special skill, 'Soul Form' was a skill that no one in Kritias had ever owned. There were strange variations such as 'Phantom Form', often wielded by Undead-type monsters such as Ghosts. Not even the Lich Demons had 'Soul Form'.

For many years Veronica had pondered the reason why she had such skill and what were its differences with 'Phantom Form'.

She discovered that Phantom Form was a skill that granted its user the ability to easily mold the 'phantom' of one's soul, the white mist that covered it. Only Undead was capable of learning this skill. Molding own's phantom could lead to a series of advantages and powers, but 'Soul Form' was different, no matter how much she was taught by the Liches, she never learned how to mold her soul.

Veronica had considered that the reason behind the acquisition of this skill was because she was called into that white space after her death. At that time, she was but her pure soul, there was no phantom surrounding her.

The strange entity granted consciousness to the souls and gave them the ability to develop five senses even as souls, this seemed to have naturally given them the 'Soul Form' Skill.

"Perhaps when I was a Baphomet I couldn't mold my soul… but now, I can clearly feel it. My soul had become my 'true body' now, like my bones, muscles, and flesh, I can move my 'carapace', the armor that covers and protects me… And just like muscles and bones, it can be further strengthened" thought Veronica, as the flows of blue mana were released from within her soul, dancing like mystical and ethereal rivers of dazzling lights.

"The more I mold it and merge it with my mana, the more it would strengthen. While I do this, I will also try to regain my 'No Attribute Magic' Skill…" said Veronica, using 'Mental Retention' to recall the hundreds of times she cast No-Attribute magic, the natural flows of mana, and the desired incantation.

"Let's try the simplest of spells… Mana Bullet!" said Veronica, gather pure mana in her hand and molding it as a sphere, the sphere seemed rather chaotic, but it slowly seemed to calm down, the mana inside spiraling at a fast speed.

Flash!

Releasing the sphere, the bullet of mana hit the dungeon's wall, creating nothing more than a little smoke… dungeon walls were almost indestructible, so it was natural that this was the case.

She then sent another one to a nearby piece of armor, the piece of armor received a few cracks but did not explode into pieces.

"As weak as ever…"

Ding! Ding!

[You acquired the [No-Attribute Magic; Level 1] Skill!]

[You acquired the [Mana Control; Level 1] Skill!]

"There they are my old friends… You two would have been very useful in the last fights, but I didn't have time to sit and focus on relearning you, sigh… Now, I wonder if I can call upon the spirits? I remember it being a 'racial skill' of the Elves, inherited from my mother… but I clearly remember how to call them with 'Memory Retention', would I be able to befriend them? Are there even Spirits in this new world?" wondered Veronica, quickly recalling every time she called upon the Spirits of the attributes.

In Kritias, nine attributes make up the entire world, they form everything, from the sky, the atmosphere, the earth, the water, the heat, time, space, life, and death.

Each attribute had its own spirits, which were called with certain names by the intelligent races.

The Fire Attribute spirits were named Salamander.

The Water Attribute spirits were named Undine.

The Wind Attribute spirits were named Sylphid.

The Earth Attribute spirits were named Gnome.

The Light Attribute spirits were named Wisp.

The Time Attribute spirits were named Chronos.

The Space Attribute spirits were named Aether.

The Life Attribute spirits were named Gaia.

And the Death Attribute spirits were named Hades.

There was the speculation of a tenth spirit, 'Chaos', that represented the No-Attribute, the purest form of mana. The primordial energy that was created and also destroyed.

Also, the light attribute spirit, 'Wisp' had two forms. It was named Wisp when it created brightness and reflections, and it was named 'Shade' when it created shadows and darkness.

Furthermore, the wind attribute spirit, named 'Sylphid' also had two forms. It was named 'Sylphid' when it created winds, gases, and smoke, and 'Fulgora' when it generated electricity, voltage, and thunder.

However, these were just names made by intelligent races, there were not two different spirits for the same attribute, they were the same for both functions.

Spirits would often take the form of whatever the one calling them to think they would have, as they are originally formless, primordial lifeforms made entirely out of mana.

Spirits held fewer thoughts and most of the time acted by instincts, maintaining, and nourishing the environment. Only those capable of calling upon them would be able to see, touch, and interact with them, as most beings were incapable of seeing or touching them.

"The basics of Spirit Magic is using the elements of the environment to create magic spells, without using my own attribute affinity. Using any spell constantly depends on my environment. Unless my Spirit Magic reaches level 5, where I can make contracts with spirits and bring them with me, I will have to use whatever spirit I can… Though I wonder if there is any in here, a dungeon filled with corrupted mana. Perhaps Wisp and Undine could be present, as it is dark, eerie and damp in here" muttered Veronica.

Veronica chanted the incantations using 'Memory Retention', calling upon Wisp or Undine… she used her generous mana to cover her body, as spirits were often hungry for mana, they would approach someone who had naturally large quantities of it.

"Spirits… I call upon thee… hear my call…"

Flash!

Suddenly, a strange, dark creature, of the size of an apple appeared. It was entirely dark, with a crimson eye in the middle of its spherical body. It flew using two, bat-like wings.

"Child of the dungeon… how are you capable of calling upon me…? You are not one of my blessed children, the elves… you are a mere pile of junk…" it muttered.

This Wisp, or Shade, was very rude.

"Oh, Shade, the spirit of shadows and darkness, sibling of Wisp, I call upon your assistance. Please, bless me with your benevolence" said Veronica, without breaking her cool.

"You… You are interesting… your soul is damaged, and your armor is just a mere pile of junk… yet you have such a large amount of Mana and Magic… It is tasty as well… I like you" it muttered, approaching Veronica and touching the 'forehead' of her helmet.

Flash!

[Shade, Spirit of Shadows and Darkness has taken a liking on you!]

[You acquired the [Spirit Magic; Level 1] Skill!]

Veronica wanted to celebrate her success, but calmed down and tried to call upon Undine first. However, no matter how much she called for her, she never showed up.

Just like normal attribute affinities, there are Spirit Affinities, sometimes spirits would not be too fond of someone, and would never hear their call or just ignore them.

Though these cases were rare, some had an affinity for every spirit, usually being high castes of Elves. Veronica in her second life had an affinity with every spirit as she had inherited this from her mother, an Elven princess, but in her third life, it seems that this is not the case.

"I suppose Shade will do, it is better than nothing, although it was a very rude one… I will have to constantly feed it with mana, so he can follow me around" said Veronica, admiring the darkness of the dungeon with a new light.

"Hmm… your mana is delightful, piece of junk," it said.

"My name is Veronica, Shade," said Veronica

"You are a piece of junk in my eye… Don't get cocky, or I will leave you…" said Shade.

It seems that this spirit could be as mean as he wanted, and Veronica had to deal with it if she wanted any help.

"Alright, call me as you may, eyeball," said Veronica.

"Hmm… Yes, I will… What? How did you call me just now…?" said Shade, bewildered.

"Nothing… I said nothing, Shade. It must have been your imagination" said Veronica, nonchalantly.

"Hmm… I may have heard wrong then…" said Shade, as it shrouded itself into the darkness inside of Veronica's hollow body.

"The only thing left before leaving this 'secret room' is finally evolving and choosing a new Job!"

-----