Volume 19 Chapter 7, Part 2

They headed to the Floor where the <Earth Jewel> was set up in the Northeast Tower.

It was Kousuke’s first time going to a Floor with a large number of Spirit Wraiths, and it was a strange sight to see translucent spirit bodies coming close to him.

The 12th Floor of Amamiya Tower also had Spirit Wraiths, but not in such large numbers.

Of course, not all the Spirit Wraiths were gathered in one place, but it was still an overwhelming spectacle.

Moreover, there were quite a few Intelligent Spirit Wraiths as well, so it seemed even more overwhelming.

Incidentally, Spirit Wraiths and Intelligent Spirit Wraiths could be distinguished by the difference in the shade of the aura around their spiritual bodies.

Normal Spirit Wraiths had no particular color, but Intelligent Spirit Wraiths had a faint bluish tint.

There were obviously more Intelligent Spirit Wraiths than those in Amamiya Tower, so it was quite a sight to behold.

While watching such a scene, they advanced through the dungeon map.

When he was managing Amamiya Tower, he never went through the dungeon map, so it was a fresh feeling for him.

Of course, he had been there before when he was managing the Northeast Tower, but the feeling was entirely different when he was managing the Amamiya Tower than when he was managing the Northeast Tower.

Moreover, since the management was Peach’s responsibility, he could see it from a different point of view.

As for the Floor, it was mostly the result of experiments conducted under Kousuke’s direction.

Proceeding along the Floor, they arrived at their destination.

The <Earth Jewel> was placed in the center of a space about the size of a typical gymnasium.

There were no summoned beasts in this space other than Spirit Wraiths and Intelligent Spirit Wraiths.

It would appear that whether they were Kousuke’s dependents determined if they could enter the Barrier where the <Earth Jewel> was placed.

The Spirit Wraiths and Intelligent Spirit Wraiths had gathered in what they considered to be a rest area.

When they realized that Kousuke and the others had arrived at the site, they cleared a path to the <Earth Jewel>, Kousuke and the others all looked at each other and almost laughed.

They had not expected the spirits to have that much intelligence.

They thought they were just drifting around, but apparently not so.

He summoned them to Amamiya Tower before, but they didn’t appear that much, so he didn’t realize what they were up to.

Peach had been there often, but never noticed because they never reacted this way.

Obviously, it was because of Kousuke’s presence, but they didn’t know if it was because of the presence of a present deity or if it was a response to being his dependents.

The group advanced to the <Earth Jewel> through the path.

As they approached, they found that the <Earth Jewel> was emitting a faint green light.

Other than its characteristic of being a large crystal ball emitting green light, there was nothing else that stood out to them.

The crystal ball was placed on a neat pedestal, rather than being placed, it was as if it had been attached at the time of installation.

“Hmmm. Do you feel anything special about it?”

” Well~. If I had to guess, I would say that it is emitting power in the form of a Barrier.”

“I don’t sense anything special from the spirits either.”

Of course, this was not to imply that there were no spirits at all, but when a Barrier was set up on such a large scale, there would always be a certain number of spirits that were attracted by the Barrier.

From Collete’s point of view, the number of spirits in this place did not exceed a certain number was strange.

In other words, regarding <Earth Jewel>, the power to work with spirits was limited to the Barrier.

Other than that, the <Earth Jewel> in his eyes did not have any other special power.

This was due to the experience of being near the World Tree and Vermilion Castle in Amamiya Tower.

In a general sense, people may not even realize that the Barrier was worth considerably more than a portable Barrier.

“Well, I guess I should just think of it as an effective base for the Wraiths, right?”

“Yes, I guess so. It’s a little disappointing.”

Kousuke and Peach resigned themselves to the fact that the Tower’s difference in scale meant that nothing much would happen compared to the development in Amamiya Tower.

“Well, I probably should just assume something might happen, right?”

Collete gave them a nail in the coffin, as they were about to give up.

Collete, who said that, was also thinking that the Tower in the south might also end up not being promising.

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Even though they all went into resignation mode, they decided to stay a little longer to see if anything would change since they had gone to the trouble of setting up the system.

There was nothing much to do, though, so Kousuke watched the wraiths drifting in the vicinity.

Of course, he not only looked at their status, but also used his new powers.

Since there were so many Spirit Wraiths and Intelligent Spirit Wraiths, he was hoping for something different, but unfortunately, he could not confirm anything different.

This was because, as far as Spirit Wraiths were concerned, there was absolutely nothing to be confirmed.

The same was true for the other summoned beasts.

The new power itself was not activated for non-evolved beings.

This was an ability that could only be used for evolved beings.

Since he did not fully understand what the new power was, it was too early to say for sure if there was really nothing, so he looked at them on a whim, and unfortunately, nothing changed.

So he was mainly checking Intelligent Spirit Wraiths, and when he checked one Intelligent Spirit Wraith, it happened.

“Whoa! Seriously?”

Kousuke’s voice drew the attention of Peach, Collete, and Kouhi, who were with him.

“What’s wrong?”

Collete, who happened to be standing nearby, asked Kousuke.

“No… The power of my right eye reacted to the <Earth Jewel>…”

“Eh…?”

“Really~?”

The two who raised their voices were Collete and Peach, but Kouhi also looked unusually surprised.

“…. Yes. Really.”

Once again, this time he checked to make sure that it did not overlap with the Intelligent Spirit Wraith, but he was still able to see the <Earth Jewel> by itself.

Unfortunately, it was still <Evolution Sprout> that was displayed.

Still, it was significant that they could confirm it even with a non-living thing.

In addition, the expansion of the vessel of the soul was also displayed.

Then, the next question arose.

Regarding this, Kousuke expressed his doubts.

“It’s a jewel, but does it have a soul?”

“Hmmm. I don’t feel anything like that.”

Peach tilted her head at Kousuke’s question.

Peach’s power as a miko had been growing, so her words were trustworthy.

“I can’t say for sure, though~. If you want to know for sure, you should bring Sylvia with you.”

For this kind of thing, it was time to get down to business.

“Shall I bring Sylvia?”

“No, wait. Let’s go back to the Administration Floor of Amamiya Tower first.”

Collete’s words were interrupted by Kousuke.

“Do you have anything in mind?”

“Yeah, well, I might.”

Peach tilted her head and Kousuke chuckled.

“I also have no idea what he’s on to.”

“It will have to wait until we get to the Administration Floor to find out the answer. I’ll be honest, I just find it a pain to have to explain more than once.”

“Uwah, that’s terrible!”

“That’s mean, you know~!”

Collete and Peach raised their voices in protest at Kousuke’s light-hearted comment.

Of course, they were not serious. It was just playful banter.

If his prediction was correct, there might be progress in the power of his right eye, that he hadn’t been thinking about.

Kousuke was thinking about this with a certain premonition.