Checking in on her a few hours later after a good rest saw no changes except that she longer looked like a mummy about to kick the crap but just an emancipated woman about to kick the crap. It was interesting seeing the change but I still left her like that. Leaving her like that for a bit less than a day was the magic number.

Back with her she looked much better. ` Hopeful enough that I can finally get some answers. ` Finally having her attention even if most of that was her eating and me asking questions and answering. The most intriguing thing she asked was about the Magical Community. She asked about the most mundane things like how or where everything was situated, how they operated, why they operated the way it did. She never asked about the details, only the general staff.

Constantly I had to reference things she did not understand and explain them. When we finally came to the topic of her and the ripple she stopped eating and looked straight at me as if considering what she would divulge or not yet the next second I felt that field again expand from her. It was bigger than before.

“ Hmm, only 15 now. Ha, at least I am halfway there. ” She said. Taking her attention to me she finally addressed me properly. “ Let's make a deal and before you deny it, no it won't be a Contract but a simple exchange of knowledge. ”

“ Deal? You say, fine I can at least listen to it. ” I nodded my head.

“ It will be simple. I will help you reach your 9th circle and you will help me acquire a Magician's Soul. ” Asked Mira but when I heard the word acquire and Soul my mind just went bonkers. Immediately a thought popped up of destroying this creature that took the shape of a woman but when I looked at those clear eyes that showed me no hostile intent I swallowed that thought.

` It's easy to follow up on it later if needed. `

“ I can see your hostility even if you didnt bring it up. ” Commented Mira as if it was the most normal thing in the World to talk about acquiring Souls. “ Which part offended you? The Souls part? I thought you guys were liberal when it comes to Souls if one considers how you're carving it all the time. ”

“ Well, let's just say that when somebody says acquiring Soul it begets the bad kind of intentions from people. ” I said. “ It's not an impossible task as there are plenty of bad people from which one could acquire a Soul but do tell me. Why do you want a Magician's Soul? ”

“ Oh, so that's the misunderstanding. ” Misunderstanding? Seeing my confusion she spoke. “ I don't need to rip the Soul from somebody to acquire a Magician's Soul. Here let me show you. ” She said all while placing her right hand on her chest. There materialized a small ping pong sized ball. It had no color but once she placed her hand on it from its insides she pulled out a tiny thing. It was easy to recognize that it was a Soul.

Surprised I observed it. The invisible Power she had been using all this time had enveloped it. It was not my first time I was seeing one but using Souls like this was usually only done with Necromancers. Or Cultivators but they are a rarity these days.

Looking away from the Soul I looked at Mira. “ So you want to make a Magician's Soul out of it? Let me tell you that it wont work. It has been tried before and the only thing that came out of it had been the vile profession of Necromancers. ”

“ If what I heard from you is the truth, then I would not be surprised if that was the case. ” Said Mira. “ Either way, in exchange for some of my knowledge I want you to carve this Soul to the 3ed Circle. ”

“ Umm, even if through some way I could do that you still have not told me why you want a Magician's Soul. ” Again I asked the important question but if she truly had the knowledge to make it possible it would open up many avenues.

“ It's for my collection. ”

“ Collection? ” I could only blink at that. Only the most vile of people have such a hobby. Could it be that under that still malnourished face hides an evil mind as well.

“ Yea. ” She said but again her right hand went for her chest. This time she pulled out two more Souls. These were different from the one before. One had a golden color to itself and the other black as he night.

“ I could understand the Demon one but how did you acquire an Angel Soul? ” Is she a Cultivator in hiding? But the Power I felt from her was unlike theirs or was that part just a facade?

“ The Demon one I grew from a seed as for the Angel one, well this one came from a freshly hatched Angel. ”

“ Grew? You say. ” Something in my voice must have leaked as he went on how she came across the Demons seed and the subsequent event that happened. She narrated the story in quite detail but made no mention of how she grew the Demons seed.

“ So you're collecting Souls for a hobby? ” I ask her.

“ Hobby? I would not call it that but I do have a certain project I am working on and I don't really need many souls just the representation of each system of Power that is unique. ” She said but then added on. “ Now all I am missing is a Soul from you guys and one from the Cultivators.”

“ And what is your project? ” Again I asked but this time no answer came.

“ Fine, don't say it but do tell me how you will help me reach the 9th Circle when you barely understand the workings of the Circle path. ” I ask as this was the crutch of it all. If I could advance then I wouldn't mind helping her.

“ I may not understand your path and I don't need to but what I do understand is the way you guys carve your Souls at the very least. ” Replied Mira. “ I am saying that because, while there may be many methods of doing the actual carving there is actually only one way of truly doing it. ”

“ And which is that? ” I asked but she didn't say. She raised her right hand that held the three Souls and there I saw the normal one change. Unlike anything I ever saw before I saw it change in shape, color, density and soon it grew to the size of a melon. Following that words started to appear on its surface and vanish the next second.

It was a breathtaking sight. For many and many centuries many have tried to but all failed at it. The only profession that was even close to it were the necromantic ones. But those were reviled by all scholars as they dealt with Death in most cases and when they didn't, it was still reviled as one needed to experiment with Souls of others to progress. One other reason would be that they still needed the Souls of others to create minions and the stronger the Soul the stronger the minion.

“ I have never seen something like that. ” I said my truth to her. “ And you're not a Necromancer or Cultivator in secret? ”

“ Cultivator definitely not, as for Necromancer. Do they use Magic or some other type of Power. ” Replied Mira with a question.

“ Magic. ” What did she mention? Could it be her Power runs on a totally different system?

“ Then, No I am not one of them. ” She declared.

“ Ok, but while your presentation is impressive, do remember I said that others can not interfere with the inscribing. It has to be done by me. ” Again I repeated an earlier topic but all I saw was an eye roll at me as she put away the Souls she possessed. Once they were inside again the little orb vanished beneath that outer barrier.

` Interesting, if I had known that they existed I could have examined before that outer barrier had been created. Still I do wonder for how long she can use that barrier. I don't think she put it away ever since it was applied. At least I wouldn't if I could. `

Done with that she put her hand upside down on the table. “ Give me your hand. I need to examine your Soul to approximate how I can help you in detail. But if you are not comfortable with that I can just give your Soul a boost and in energy and everything else will be up to you. ”

“ So what will it be? ” This time Mira demanded I choose and of course I would not be stupid to acept that, otherwise I would not have reached my level of power.

“ Yea, no thanks. I will not be letting you anywhere near my Soul. ” I declared without question but my curiosity peaked so a question came from me. “ Tell me more about your Power. What is special about it that enables you to fiddle with Souls like that? ”

“ Dear Markus, you want to know a ladies secret but are afraid of spilling your own. ” With a smile she conveyed her feelings but.

“ Dear Mira I think you forgot how your body looks. ” I relayed my comment to her.

“ Ah, right. I guess the charm route is broken for now. ” She said. “ Oh, well its not like its hard to explain. I'm sure someone of your caliber knows about Qi, right? ”

“ Yes, every renown spellcaster knows about it and the Cultivators. ” I said but she just shook her head.

“ No, I am not talking about Cultivators. From what I heard they only appear after they achieve 4th rank. Is that correct? ” When I nodded she continued. “ While I have not met any of them yet, what I am talking about is the Power they use before they reach for the rest of the Universe. ”

“ Oh, you mean the meridians. Yes, I know about them. Like my forefathers I had the chance to study it. It is thanks to studying them that we could achieve the Mana network. ” Her interest peaked when I mentioned it but I made my intentions clear that I wouldn't be telling her.

“ Good, looks like we are on the same page then. ” She nodded. “ What they call Qi, I highly suspect is what I call Life Essence. The reason I call it that is that that energy is literally the energy of Life. It is created in our bodies everyday of our known existence. The problem everybody has is that any Life Essence outside our bodies if not defended by one's Will is sucked into the Earth. ”

“ Earth? ” I asked for a confirmation if what I heard was correct.

“ Yes or as some call it the planet. ” She said. “ Either way that is not the main problem. The main problem is that all the Life Essence our bodies produce is sucked into the Soul and here is one more piece of knowledge. Since our bodies generate that energy constantly I measure it by the amount that is generated in one year. ” She left it there for me to parse but I could see the point she wanted to make. It was with Life Essence that we inscribed our Soul but one thing I don't understand is that, if we are truly using Life Essence for the carving how came this is the first time I am hearing of it?

Closing my eyes for a second I picture the ceremony that enables the ability to inscribe one's Soul. The simplest and the easiest spell circle to imagine is the first one every mage is forced to memorize like the back of one's hand. For those attending their first inscribing ceremony it is the most anticipated and the most dreaded day of one's lifetime. Succeed it and you're on a good road towards success, fail and luckiest thing that could happen to you is death. Otherwise it's a lifetime of mockery, but those are the exceptions as 99% of those that fail die.

Bringing forth that memory was very easy for the current me. With a simple thought it was there. Examining it I can appreciate the efficiency of it. Everything unneeded was striped away to make it as simple as possible. Observing it with my current knowledge it was easy to find what I sought. A particular set of runes detailed the process of inscribing. Examining it all I notice the problem if I apply Mira`s theory. Everything is established with mana and that is the problem. The reason why there is a minimum set period of rest is due to the energy differential efficiency quote. Mana just was not made to carve a Soul so due to the proxy control process it's inefficient and if what I am thinking is right, then the only reason the process is even viable in higher circles is that the one's control of mana is so precise that it's possible at all.

` Still, this gives me some ideas for a few projects. ` Opening my eyes I looked back at Mira.

“ I have reviewed my knowledge and found out that your theory is correct. ” I told her. “ The process of engraving depends entirely on mana. Due to that it is not efficient but even if you could give me Life Essence for a bigger buffer zone it still wont change the fact that I won't be able to reach 9th Circle any time soon. ”

“ Oh, why is that so? ”

“ The circle path is a layered path. ” I explained. “ As we layer one circle over the other we create 1 giant Soul Circle that is the path we chose. If the components are not fitted accordingly then all of it turns haywire and I don't have to mention what happened at that point. ” Seeing her shaking her head I knew she got the message. “ The reason nobody has reached 9th Circle right now is because nobody has perfected the design for the Circle. The worst problem is that even if the process is streamlined to the current 8th Circle, there are only 2 people that have reached it right now and I am one of them. There are tons of reasons as to why that is so I won't elaborate on it. ”

“ I see. ” She said but turned silent for a bit to think. “ And since none of you wants to be the lab experiment the problem is stuck. ” When I nodded for her she continued. ” Well, then there is only one solution if you won't let me examine you. ”

“ And that is? ”

“ We just have to experiment of course. ” Said Mira, totally ignoring the fact that there is nobody to experiment on.

“ How about we skip the process of you reaching your goal and just get me a Magic Soul. ” Tilting her head she asked. “ If I can observe how they are made and work I could give you some pointers. So how about it? ”

Not saying anything in a reply at first I thought. ` Should I do this? If I do then our secrets would be exposed to her and who knows her agenda. But if I do this then the potential could also revolutionize the Magic path. Should I take the risk? `

“ You know there is a lot you would gain if I do this and I am not sure of your intentions. ” I said and proposed a deal.. “ How about we sign a contract with the main clause being that the knowledge you gain due to this won't be fueling a nefarious purpose. ”

The proposal came from me and her face showed she considered it for a bit. “ No, a contract would not do. For my future plans conflict is bound to happen with the Magical Community even if my intention is kind that can not be avoided. ” Oh, I wonder what she plans to do?

“ No, if we are to do this it needs to be an act of faith from both sides and since I am the one requesting something I shall be the first one to act first. ” With that she stood up slowly as she had yet to recover. Walking to the middle of the room she motioned for me to come to her.

“ Hand: ” Curious as to what she would do, I comply, but just in case I prepare countermeasures. Once she had my hand she spoke again. “ Good, now listen. You'll see the source of the ripple you wanted to see but for that to happen I need you to not resist what I am about to do. In fact I have no idea how it will happen as it will be the first I am doing this so maybe prepare a bit. I guess, but do not resist the transfer. ” That said she did something.

I could feel the field she had deployed earlier contract around the both of us. Similar to the one she had around her body, this one too was skintight. Once it was done it felt like I was cut off from the World. I could feel the Power she used but anything beyond that was cut off. Looking at Mira I saw her eyes closed as if concentrating and soon I noticed how the World outside the skintight barrer blurred for a bit and the next second we were in a different place.

Once the World was set again I no longer found myself on Earth. All around me I could see various colors of everything. On the ground was a white ground as if made out of clouds in the middle I saw many Stars that flowed together into rivers which in turn flowed into Galaxies which in return made some Nebulas appear, only for all of that to repeat all over again. The weird thing was that everything flowed upwards instead of sideways.

Quite mesmerized seeing it all I only got my awareness back when Mira physically nudged me a bit. Coming to myself I look at her and ask the much needed question. “ Where are we? ”