Q: Who's the most proficient in Spirit Cloud skill so far in the tale?

A: Adarsh Starlight.

- - -

The sun has risen, however, the heavy cloud was still swirling all around the sky, keeping it difficult to cast the light on the snowy land. Along with the razzing heavy mist, it's almost impossible to discern what time it was. Not to mention, I could barely make out Noyar’s silhouette, and she was barely three strides away.

Shailyn was beside me, the same as me, perplexed, not knowing what Noyar intended for us to see. William was with us too, and now a bit accommodating after his outburst. Still, with the blindfold and bag over his head.

Shailyn told me to leave him bound in the cavern, but I thought otherwise. That very cavern held the secret of one unknown Dominion, the only Dominion of astral projection, nonetheless; it would be a real problem if it goes to the wrong hand.

That reminded me, I’ve like half a day to fix everything to get that dominion. No pressure!

“So what happened?” Shailyn asked in a low tone, watching Noyar. Even though she arrived late, she heard William’s outburst, and saw the wrongness in the warlock, however, what worried her most was the broody mood of her partner, when Noyar answered to nothing, nor spoke much.

“I messed up a little,” I said, sighing, “but thanks to Noyar, I didn’t make it too much.”

“Hmm,” Shailyn picked up her pace, finding her good Knight’s figure almost obscured in the mist, “you’re going to explain everything to me in details, later.”

I grunted in affirmation and moved. With William, my pace was slower, but since the warlock was accommodating, I had no issue following through.

All the places in the mountain range seemed familiar, even though they were different. Well, with the mist obscuring our vision, making a distinction of the land covered in heavy layers of white snow was not a simple task.

The place Noyar led us to was not that far, it's filled with tall pine trees, rows by rows, columns by columns. Some of them were even broken, unable to hold against the blizzard last night, yet the clouds were still gathering more. It would likely outburst at the right time, which was, of course, very much wrong, considering our situation.

“What’s here?” Shailyn asked, as Noyar finally stopped before a tree.

Walking further, I manage to see a figure tied up to a tree, unconscious. The figure didn’t seem old, late teenage at best, of masculine build—somehow his figure felt familiar to me. I might have seen him before. With some consideration, I closed my eye for a moment and a grunt escaped from my mouth.

“I know him,” I said, letting out a self-conscious breath. If I’m not wrong, his name is Harth, one of Althan’s underling. And I’m rarely wrong with my memory.

“You do?” Noyar asked, though she didn’t seem interest for the answer all that much. Sliding her left palm into her pocket, she brought out a badge, the badge of the Starlight academy. “I found this on him.”

“Real?” Shailyn asked. Finding her partner nodding, she asked again, “Then why have you bound him like that?”

“Something’s very wrong with him,” Noyar answered and moved towards Harth, gesturing us to come along. “I found him lost, running with no mind. When I approached him, he screamed about Warlock, Dark magic and attacked me. . . .

“I even smelt an aura of dark magic on him. I tried to calm him down but failed. In the end, I could only tie him up, thinking you might be able to help.”

Shailyn approached the body, crouching down next to him, running the basic Spirit cloud on him. I wondered when I’ll be able to learn that, even though it’s an auxiliary skill, it’s useful in a hundred of occasions, from healing, combat, trailing . . .

The usage of the skill was simple in words, all one had to do was transmit enough energy in a form of invisible cloud, however, the skill didn’t finish there, one need to put a lot of concentration on the cloud of spirit energy. When something gets in contact with the cloud, the practitioner could tell with closed eyes. I think I have enough perception to do this, all I needed was time.

I looked towards Noyar instead. “Have you found anything else?” I asked, mildly hopeful.

Noyar shook her head. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t find your friend,” she said bluntly. “I did come across a place with signs of fighting, however.”

I guess we have to try harder. Noyar didn’t go to detail about her findings and I was about to ask her more, when—

Abruptly, Harth opened his eyelids and screamed at the top of his lungs. Shailyn withdrew immediately, sighing.

“He’s under Compulsion,” Shailyn said, nodding to Noyar, meaning she did the right thing to bound him.

“Oh dear,” Noyar prayed, palms on her chest, “Light.”

Compulsion was one of the heinous arts that was banned by the academy. It directly broke the fourth law of magic, invading the mind of others. Not just it's wrong for one to make others do their bidding: Compulsion was extremely hard to break without breaking the mind of the compelled individual.

An extreme few people could even try it and maybe a handful of them do it without breaking the person’s mind, however, it would leave a mark. It always leaves a mark. Still better than breaking the mind or staying with the compulsion.

“I know the basics of the basic healing spells, the bare minimum, to pass the test,” Shailyn said, admitting defeat. “This is out of my league.”

A few of the names came to my head, who could help here. Moira Elins Sholinar could do it. Elinor could do it too, even though she had zero healing abilities so far. And perhaps Yeriel could too, a future version of her a year from now, surely could.

‘Wait, why haven’t I think of this?’ A light bulb clicked in my mind. “Aunt, the compulsion, is it dark attributed?” I asked.

“Yes?” Shailyn nodded, but wasn’t certain why I was asking that.

Compulsion was something that could be done with pure spirit energy or the tainted spirit energy. Either way, the energy only needs to compel the spirit, the soul of the individual, to get a hold of them. Some magus were even so frightening that they could make you do one thing, and you’ll do it without even ever finding out.

Fortunately, we’re not dealing with a case like that.

“Hold onto him for a sec,” I told Noyar, handing her the blindfolded, chained warlock.

“Oscar, what are you intending?” Shailyn asked, and then her eyes widened, staring at my eyes. “No, that’s--”

“It's a compulsion through tainted spirit energy,” I said, lifting my right palm as the flames of purgation conjured out from there. “My power is made for this.”

I was not joking there.

“No,” Shailyn shouted still, stopping me by pulling my arm. “You have no idea how many things could go wrong with this.”

“No, I know exactly what could go wrong with this.”

“And you’re still going on with this?” Shailyn said, glaring at me. “Can you even handle it if something goes wrong?”

“No,” I admitted, “that is why you’ll help me expel it.”

It took me a minute more to make Shailyn agree with this, though she still grumbled. She was, of course, right, even a little deviation could put the compelled person at harm. However, I have confidence, after all, it's not like some grand Magus who was an expert did the compulsion, affected Harth’s mind.

“I can’t believe I’m going on with this,” Shailyn said as both of us approached Harth, who passed out again. “Alright, I’ll make way for you to deal with the compulsion. Remember to use a soft hand. Also, if you even have the slightest hint of something going wrong, give up.”

“Yes,” I agreed and put my palm side by side of her on Harth’s forehead. “Let’s start.”

The process was a simple one. Shailyn did all the handwork, finding the compulsion, and made way for me, while I just drew the flames of purgation through that way, nice and slow.

“Ahhhh!” Harth screamed out again, struggling to get up, but I forced him down, sitting on top of him as he struggled like a fish out of water.

“Steady!”

The process continued for five minutes as sweat beats started to appear on Shailyn’s forehead even though it was cold out here, surrounded by snow and icy wind.

‘Idiot!’ I told myself inwardly. 'How can I not figure out she’s not fully well, not at her full strength?!’

Even though I expelled Shailyn’s afflictions, one side of her body, the channels were truly in terrible shape after all the torment she went through. Like compulsion, all dark art leaves behind the residue effect, not to mention it tormented her enough. She was standing—that was a miracle in itself.

However, there’s no stopping now, and I’m sure Shailyn wouldn’t want me to stop here. I knew her that much by now.

“We did it,” Shailyn said, resting her palm and all spiritual abilities, sweat dripped down from her face. “We actually did it, Oscar.”

Harth passed out again, finishing this round of screaming, but I think he would wake up soon. And yes, we managed fine, without damaging anything more that is not already damaged.

- - -

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