Chapter 192: The Spirit Realm
Night had completely blanketed the camp. Elyria had set up a small, secluded nook right at the edge of Dornheim, hoping to practice her spiritual meditations in peace. She hovered in the air, closed her eyes, and tried to find her inner calm.
It didn't work. The silence was constantly broken by sounds.
Swish. Swish. Clack.
Elyria twitched a wing in annoyance, but the noise didn't stop.
Unable to take it anymore, the spirit darted over to Noah like a bullet.
"Can you stop?!" she squeaked indignantly.
Noah made a quick lunge, flowed smoothly into a defensive stance, and only then shot her a sideways glance:
"About what?"
"Swinging your sword around!" Elyria crossed her arms angrily over her chest. "You're ruining my meditation!"
Noah turned around and made another sharp swing.
"Then meditate somewhere else. You're the one bothering *me* right now, just so you know."
"Go train on the monsters yourself!" Elyria flared up, hovering just above his shoulder.
"I trained on monsters yesterday," Noah replied calmly, continuing his movements. "Right now, I need to work on my technique. So get going."
Pouting offendedly and making a face, Elyria spun around sharply. Flapping her wings, she flew off toward the forest.
"Noah is such a jerk!" she grumbled under her breath as she flew between the trees. "Why is it never possible to find common ground with him?"
Having flown deeper into the night forest, Elyria stopped. She waved her hand in the air. Right along the trajectory of her movement, space parted, forming an uneven, narrow tear glowing with green light.
Elyria flew inside, and the tear instantly zipped itself shut behind her.
The first thing she saw in the Spirit Realm made her wince. Everything around was crimson-red. The ground was churning, fire blazed everywhere, and the dark silhouettes of volcanoes smoked in the distance.
"Did Mirisa really win the tournament..." Elyria muttered in disappointment, surveying the chaos. "That's just what I needed."
Elyria turned around and, in the exact same way, sliced an exit right back out. She flew out into Dornheim's night thicket, and the green trail behind her vanished instantly.
"Guess I'll just go for a fly then," the little spirit sighed, rising higher above the treetops.
Morning brought the first rays of sunlight, which illuminated the workshop. Iron opened his eyes, coming to his senses after a short sleep.
The first thing he did was mentally check his connection:
"Lumon, are you there?"
Silence.
"The energy channels still haven't recovered," Iron noted to himself. "And that means I can't even start making the basic components for the pocket dimension right now."
"Alright," he concluded. "That means I need to make some guns for now."
The camp had a shitload of free ore right now, which Noah's people had been hauling from the mines.
"I already have one working pistol. Making a few dozen more of the same barrels or designing something much more powerful for perimeter defense won't be difficult," he thought.
And the engineer threw himself into that thought, drafting schematics in his head.
But first things first, he just needed to move around. Iron carefully grabbed his crutches, secured his arms, and slowly made his way to the exit.
Pushing the door, he opened the workshop, letting in the fresh morning air, and said quietly to himself:
"I'll take a short walk now, and then I'll get started."
Iron slowly paced back and forth for about five minutes, forcing his stiff muscles to work. Finally, he stopped near a felled oak that was still lying at the edge of the residential area, and carefully sat down on the trunk, leaning his crutches nearby.
Nearby, at the large fires, women were bustling around cauldrons, getting ready to cook food for all of Dornheim. Darwin was spinning around in their midst—he was diligently helping carry heavy pots, handing over ingredients, and cheerfully telling some story.
Iron watched this scene in silence and couldn't help but think to himself: "Is he trying to get himself a girlfriend or something?"
A rustle distracted him from his thoughts. Albert sat down next to him with a sigh of relief. Iron turned his head toward him:
"It's not often you have free time."
"You can say that again," Albert tiredly stretched out his aching legs. "If Elyria helped me out, I wouldn't be swamped in the infirmary around the clock."
"You know yourself that Elyria can regenerate a maximum of two people a day," Iron reminded him.
Albert didn't say anything, just nodded silently.
For a while, they both sat in silence, watching the hustle and bustle of life around them.
"The camp is thriving," Albert quietly broke the silence, looking over the rows of buildings. "No matter how you look at it, it's nice to see."
"Agreed," Iron nodded, but then quickly corrected himself: "Actually, wait, no. It's not a camp, it's a village. I keep forgetting too and saying 'camp' out of habit, but no. It's a village now."
Albert chuckled and shook his head:
"Yeah, it sure looks like one. Though, regular villages usually manage without a tower like that."
Iron looked at the steel behemoth and smirked:
"Well, the tower... just adds an elite touch, really."
"Yeah," Albert agreed. "You're right about that."