Caelum found himself floating. In an infinite space of nothingness. White everywhere. It felt like he was inside a pool of water… but then the water was taken out.
Caelum felt numb, so he raised his hands up to his face. It was to see if he could at least see himself. His hands were there. He let out a frantic sigh of relief, still a bit shaken up.
"This doesn't look like the stomach of a manabeast at all. Not that I know what that would look like, but-"
Caelum was suddenly interrupted by a loud whooshing sound. Like the sound of the shore being pushed back by waves.
He then saw it.
The same mana beast that had swallowed him.
"That's because this is not my stomach."
It floated within the white space, in the same way that Caelum could float. Its limbless body was infinite, slithering and coiling.
"Even I am not fully sure of what this place is. But, this is an attempt at communication with you."
"A manabeast… that can talk?"
"Manabeast. Ah, it's been a while since I've been referred to as that."
The manabeast chuckled, though his mouth did not move. He was sending his words to Caelum telepathically.
To Caelum, it felt like he was thinking thoughts that did not belong to him.
"Qethis. That is my name," he continued.
"Okay, Qethis. You seem like a pretty reasonable guy. Why did you attack my ship?!" Caelum yelled out.
"It's because of the way that I manifested."
"…"
"Being that you know what a manabeast… You understand how we occur. A manabeast is either born or manifested."
Caelum's face showed a bit of confusion. Qethis sighed inwardly.
"Being that I am not like any regular manabeast, I exist within a spiritual domain, with a spiritual form. I don't manifest randomly, I exist in the spirit world and manifest under certain conditions that even I am not aware of. You managed to check all those conditions, and I returned to my worldly form by force, being unable to control my nature due to that."
"Manifested…. So because you were manifested by force, you became feral."
"Exactly. And I attacked you."
"Okay. I get that. But, there's no way you brought me here just to chat with me and apologize about that, right?"
"Of course not."
Caelum was still, of course, a little stunned by the sudden appearance of a random sea dragon manabeast. Especially with his appearance that seemed to defy natural laws.
"So what is it?"
"The only reason I'm able to chat with you, connect us into this inner world, is because we have linked in some way. You have withstood my potent mana, and because of that, we have connected."
"…"
The discoloration of my mana— that dream I had. It all makes sense now.
"It's something that even I still don't understand yet. But, for now, I'm not sure what will happen if you die while we're connected like this. So I've given you some power."
After a bit of unsettling silence, Caelum found the constant twisting and turning of the infinite manabeast, along with the sound, to be unnerving and decided to speak.
"For a manabeast, you're surprisingly kind."
"All the ones who have gained sentience like me are like this. It comes with the wisdom of our old age, I believe."
Other ones?
Hundreds of questions flooded his mind. But he was focused on one.
"Did you have to swallow me whole to get this message through, though?"
"I never swallowed you. It was all a mental projection. You just need to wake up."
"Huh?"
Caelum blinked.
"What do you mean huh? Am I not clear? I just feel a little… weary!" Yezekael continued. Caelum had returned to the original setting of the lake.
He could now remember the uncomfortably clinging clothing.
"Nothing… nothing. Let's go out of here. I feel like we've enjoyed the lake enough. Maybe if we dry off quick enough with [Casts], they won't even notice, and we can get a bit of food."
The thinking process didn't make too much sense.
"Food? Come on. Let's go back. I just remembered how hungry I was."
Caelum grinned.
. .
"Alina… how has the business been going?" Mr. Laio asked.
The dining room was quiet, except for the sounds of cutlery scraping on ceramic plates. Natalia kept her head tilted down.
"The company has been doing really well. We've been selling a lot more houses, thanks to the people who are afraid of living on the West Coast. We build houses in the east and they sell pretty well."
Mr. Laio smiled lightly, satisfied with her daughter's progress.
"That's… amazing to hear."
"Dad, don't be fooled by Alina. Selling houses isn't that easy. You should see what we have to do for conditioning as a mercenary. Alina wouldn't last 30 minutes," Azil taunted.
Mr Laio chuckled at his daughter's expense, while Alina stared at him, annoyed.
"It's not like you're good at being a mercenary anyway, Azil. Haven't I whooped you with a single hand, using a wooden sword?" Amelia chimed in.
Ruby laughed aloud. Mr Laio chuckled even louder, as well.
"Haha! I really remember that day! Then he tried challenging me, claiming that mages were the inferior class. I won in a single [cast]!"
Laughing erupted.
"Sisters, don't be so harsh on our knucklehead brother," Landon said. He did not need to speak about his achievements. The college he worked at was well-known. That said enough.
"…"
"Is there something you wanna say, little sister?" Landon highlighted Natalia's meekness. Her head suddenly stuck up.
"O-oh… it's.."
"Hm. I really haven't gotten to hear much about your life, Natalia."
"That's true. What have you gotten into?"
"Last time we were all here, she stuttered out a mess. Didn't say a single thing."
"Ha! Our little sister is too cute!"
"What do you guys think she's gonna do this time?"
Natalia abruptly sat up, her head tilted down, her gaze averted.
"I'll be going to sleep early today. Goodnight."
"…"
"…"
"The fishing must've really made her tired," Ruby said, obliviously.
Conversation ensued.