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Sophia, who had been scanning the altar with her gaze for a while, soon strode confidently toward it. Her hands moved without hesitation as she touched various parts of the altar.

Sophia rearranged the positions of several artifacts on the altar, and whenever she encountered worn-out inscriptions or drawings, she demonstrated a peculiar talent by delicately restoring them using only the strength of her fingers.

After completing her tasks, she infused “pure spell waves” into three of the statues on the altar. As the spell waves, a resource used by spellcasters to construct spell bodies, were infused, the three statues began to glow brightly, emitting a clear jade-colored light.

It was a scene so mystical that it deserved awe, but Sophia showed no interest in such phenomena and spoke with a calm demeanor.

“You, pretending not to know is useless. Reveal yourself obediently.”

Sophia threatened coercively, saying that if it didn’t reveal itself, she would destroy the altar and seal the dungeon forever using the authority of the Church Order.

“Is it okay to threaten like that?”

Conra, who had been listening, tilted his head and asked Hildegard. Hildegard nodded as if it were obvious and replied.

“Of course. The Church Order wouldn’t just leave a suspicious dungeon alone. Depending on the dungeon, corresponding measures are taken, but the most straightforward method is to suppress and seal the dungeon that has breached the surface and then reseal the ground. Although there’s no benefit, it has fewer repercussions and is more stable. Strictly speaking, it’s not a threat but a procedure that naturally follows the situation.”

As she spoke, Hildegard added, “But your master is truly amazing? I’ve been involved in a few dungeon-related incidents and have seen archaeologists working in dungeons, but I’ve never seen anyone restore an ancient altar and ceremony at a glance like that. It shouldn’t be that simple…”

Conra felt his shoulders rise involuntarily at Hildegard’s amazed expression.

“Well, she’s the master. I haven’t seen her struggle since I became her apprentice.”

After hesitating for a moment, he added, “Though it hasn’t been long since I became her apprentice,” perhaps out of a boy’s conscience. Hearing this, Hildegard began to ruffle the boy’s hair with a pleased expression, soon eliciting screams of “Stop! Ah, my hair!”

While they were fooling around, Sophia, who had been steadfastly threatening the silent altar, finally bulked up her ethereal muscles and raised her gauntleted hand gripping the blade of a longsword like a hammer.

It was at that moment the altar began to react.

{Stop! Do you know how important this ruin is!?}

“It worked!?”

Conra, watching from afar, exclaimed in shock. Regardless, Sophia maintained her stern expression and spoke to the altar.

“I won’t waste words. What are you, and what is the identity of this dungeon?”

The altar flickered as if choosing its words and fell silent. But as Sophia bulked up her ethereal muscles again, it hastily began to speak.

{Wait! I’ll tell you everything! This place was originally a research facility created by our Silver Race for environmental experiments! Later, it was repurposed for entertainment!}

“This is a ruin from the Silver Age? But the last gatekeeper was a warrior from the Bronze Age?”

{It merged with Bronze Age ruins as it breached the layers of time! That’s why the structure of the path here changed strangely!}

Listening to the story, it seemed the altar bore no responsibility for the dungeon’s strange structure. Both Hildegard and Conra were about to let it go when Sophia suddenly asked.

“So, what was your role in this ruin?”

{I was the facility manager.}

“Hmm, guilty.”

With a flash, a massive amount of light power illuminated the altar. Immediately, a sound of agony emanated from the altar.

{※∂⌒∇￥√★&#!!!}

After a while, Sophia stopped emitting the light power, and the altar flickered with a pale, anxious light instead of the clear jade color, emitting weak groans.

“Light power has an interesting effect. It suppresses spiritual beings existing in improper forms and returns them to their rightful form and place. The interesting part is that this includes spirits and wraiths.”

Only ‘spirits’ rooted in natural phenomena, ‘holy spirits’ based on light power, and ‘divine spirits’ spiritually perfected through proper processes can resist light power. Even then, if the wielder is a Paladin, resistance becomes meaningless.

“Since you were the facility manager, you must have had administrative rights over the ruin’s facilities. Moreover, you synchronized yourself with the ruin through a ceremony as the Silver Age was ending. A wise choice. While other spirits went through cumbersome processes to maintain themselves, you could exist by synchronizing with the ruin.”

Generally, spirits follow spellcasters for various reasons, but the fundamental reason is to maintain their existence.

They whisper spell knowledge to spellcasters and receive power to sustain themselves by assisting in spellcasting. They can also strengthen themselves by sharing new spell knowledge created by spellcasters.

However, spirits don’t follow just any spellcaster. Whispering spell knowledge is akin to an investment. But spells aren’t something one can freely wield or combine just by having knowledge. If that were the case, spells and spellcasters wouldn’t be so highly regarded.

Thus, spirits are drawn to spellcasters with the potential for greatness, and finding such talent is never easy.

Sophia praised the spirit in the altar for its wisdom.

“But you’ve become a bit arrogant from being embedded in the altar for too long. Or perhaps you were briefly contaminated by the Bronze Age’s fighting poison when merging with its traces. Daring to play games with us?”

{I’m reflecting. I regret it.}

The altar’s spirit quickly replied, fearing further torment.

Honestly, the spirit felt a bit wronged. Light power? In his Silver Age, it was a mythical power said to exist only in the Golden Age. How could it suddenly appear in this Iron Age, long after the Bronze Age’s fall?

Without knowing the existence of the Church Order’s founder, how could he have guessed about light power?

Moreover, with their monstrous abilities, they swiftly dismantled the dangerous and troublesome gimmicks he had set up, even bisecting his strongest card, the Bronze Giant warrior. There was no way to resist.

No, his mistake was getting carried away and setting up dungeon gimmicks after emerging into the world. In the heat of the moment, he maximized his capabilities to frustrate dungeon entrants, which only angered his opponents.

Perhaps he could summon another Bronze Giant at great cost, but there was no reason to do so. Even if a new Bronze Giant could defeat them, it didn’t seem likely.

If a second Bronze Giant were defeated, they probably wouldn’t let him go.

“Alright, I’ll pass judgment.”

Seeing the altar’s spirit completely submit, Sophia decided to pass judgment.

“I’ve thought about it, and leaving you in the dungeon seems too risky. So, you’ll need to be under surveillance for a while.”

{Surveillance, you say?}

“You’ll follow my apprentice for a while.”

At Sophia’s decree, Conra’s eyes widened. So, he was getting a spirit? As a Druid and Alchemist, he couldn’t help but be intrigued by the prospect of having a spirit.

The altar’s spirit looked at Conra and nodded in agreement. To him, Conra was indeed a talented spellcaster. However, the spirit said, {I’m synchronized with the ruin through a ceremony, making separation difficult.}

“Don’t worry about that. While restoring the ceremony to summon you to the altar’s surface, I also reverse-engineered the ceremony you used to synchronize with the ruin. With a little tweaking, I can activate a ‘reverse spell.'”

The spirit was stunned by Sophia’s casual mention of such a feat. Knowing spells well, he understood how nonsensical her claim was.

But faced with the threat of light power and the beautiful, dazzling spell formulas Sophia laid out, the spirit could only swallow his words and remain silent.

At this point, the spirit had to reconsider. Perhaps following Conra and assisting him would allow him to witness not only Conra’s but also Sophia’s spellcasting. Maybe this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a spirit?

Thus, a spirit joined the Nun Knight’s party.

 

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