Mixed Blessing System

After a few moments, the couple went down the last corridor in the cave, heading for the last level of the cave.

But as they did so, instead of reaching a place similar to the previous ones, where scorpions would be eating or resting nearby, they were faced with an unusual situation.

There were some level 7 scorpions in the vicinity, but instead of wandering around aimlessly, out of control, they were working evenly.

Some seemed to be watching the area, while others carried rocks on their backs as if they were helping to build something.

And indeed, as Lothur and Annaliese watched the area, they came across a place that looked less like a dig site and more like the interior of a messy temple.

There was a small altar in the center of that area, where the scorpion beasts were working together with three humans who had parts of their bodies devoured.

Annaliese could see the cut marks on these individuals’ bare arms and legs, which proved that they were slowly being devoured by something.

And when the two saw the blank stares, typical of beings without consciousness in their eyes, they knew that these people were not well.

“Is that what the previous man meant?” Annaliese muttered to herself as she brought one of her hands to her mouth. “How can they stand it? What’s going on?”

But Lothur did not answer her, having just stared at the thing in front of him, shocked. ‘What is this?’

“Lothur?” Annaliese squeezed one of his hands as she looked forward and did not understand what her companion was watching to look so shocked.

“Anna, are you seeing this?”

“Yes, they are working in that state… It’s impressive.”

He shook his head in denial. “I’m not talking about them, but these semi-transparent creatures.” He pointed to an area where Annaliese could not see anything.

She frowned her eyebrows as she thought about his Soul Bone ability. “I don’t see any of that. So, what are you seeing?”

Lothur continued behind a large rock along with Annaliese and answered her. “I think they are ghosts…”

He then described the seven illuminated creatures in that place, each glowing in a gray color, with no feet, no arms, just a long torso, and head.

At the same time as this, the expressions on their faces were terrible, like those that Lothur would see in horror movies in his previous life.

“Ghosts? I think you’re talking about spectres…” Annaliese pondered the description Lothur had given while admiring how strong Lothur’s visual ability was.

‘He can see something that can supposedly only be observed by beings of at least 3rd stage… That Soul Bone of his is amazing!’

“What shall we do?” He asked her while keeping his attention on those creatures with unfriendly expressions. “I haven’t studied spectres yet, so I have no idea what to do now, Anna.”

She shook her head and pushed the previous thoughts out of her mind. “Okay, I can’t see these creatures, so I’ll be useless against them, Lothur.”

“But since you can see them, I believe you may be able to estimate their cultivation.” She said in his left ear. “Depending on their strength, we can act without concern.”

“Spectres have no physical power, only mental. So, they will at most try to control us or use these living organisms against us.”

And that was what was happening to the half-devoured humans they observed in that place. Spectres were possessing them to work in that area!

“Oh?” Lothur opened his mouth in surprise and looked in the direction of those beings.

[Spectre ****]

[Cultivation: level 8 (mental)]

[STR: 0] [CON: 0] [DEX: 0] [AGI: 0]

…

[Spectre ****]

[Cultivation: level 9 (mental)]

[STR: 0] [CON: 0] [DEX: 0] [AGI: 0]

Lothur quickly looked at the statuses of each of the seven spectres, noting that they were between the 8th and 9th Transformation.

But Lothur also realized that these creatures were unique and had no physical attributes, despite their levels.

‘How is that possible? Shouldn’t the average physical attributes represent the level of cultivators?’ He looked at Annaliese. “Anna, they are between the 8th and 9th Transformation. But answer me this, how is it possible for them to be at those levels without having physical strength?”

She smiled at him, realizing that her brother-in-law still had much to learn. “When a cultivator reaches the 2nd stage, their cultivation is a mixture of soul and body strength.”

“Those spectres are probably Fallen Souls of 3rd stage cultivators. In general, beings like that retain a fraction of their powers, only they all focus on the mental and soul part.” She explained.

Fallen Souls were soul parts of people who would one day become spectres.

As for these beings, there was no particular reason for such souls to fall off the reincarnation road. So, few understood how to avoid or even resolve the situation of these beings, and there was a lot of mystery about them.

“So, that’s it…” Lothur realized how much he still had to learn about this world. ‘Monday I will have to visit the library in Sector-2. There is a lot I need to learn to become someone influential in this world!’

“In any case, if they look like late 1st stage cultivators, then what shall we do? Our mental strengths might not be able to withstand them.” She commented to him, worried.

“If they look like 9th Transformation beings, they have mental and soul attributes similar to the physical attributes of a living human of that level?” Lothur questioned to confirm his assumptions.

“Yes, that is the case.”

He was pleased to hear that. “And how do we defeat such a being? I have mental strength superior to theirs, but I don’t know what to do.”

“Oh?” She opened her eyes in surprise. “Are you better than them at this?”

Annaliese saw him nod in agreement and then said. “In this case, they won’t do you any harm. But since you are at the 1st stage, you can’t do anything against them until they attack you. Once they do something like that, you will be able to destroy their soul with your willpower.”

“But they will most likely avoid you as these creatures are sensitive to powerful souls.”

“I don’t have a powerful soul, Anna…” He explained.

She looked silently at him and said. “Then they will try to attack you, not least because my soul already has a certain power, and they will try to avoid me and take down the one who seems weaker.”

“You can use this opportunity to destroy their soul!”

His eyes brightened, but he still had many doubts. “But what if only one of them attacks me? If they attack you? How will I defend you?”

She realized the problem and took her eyes off Lothur to observe the area where those scorpions and humans were. “Spectres cannot exist just anywhere. They cannot live independently without a body or away from their origin area.”

“Otherwise, they would have already taken over the world…” She said in a sighing tone, as it was tough to deal with something few could see. ｎ𝚘𝚟ｌ.ｃｏ𝚖

“Then I’ll be fine if I don’t get too close to that area.”

He thoughtfully looked at her. “How do we know what the limit of these beings is?”

“It’s not much. They probably can’t leave this cave, or we would have found them sooner. And they would have noticed us too…” She looked at that place again. “Are they seeing us?”

Lothur then observed the face of one of those spectres, one who was looking in his direction. “I’m not sure, but one of them is looking into my eyes.”

…