The tunnel’s walls were studded with shining gems and Mana Beads, but I ignored them, continuing directly forward.

As I walked, I kept Mana Sensing active as well, and I could see shining reservoirs of mana from various gems on the walls as well. The density of mana in the walls, and in the air, was gradually increasing.

There was one thought that kept crossing my mind—this place is a treasure trove. Of course, I was already rich, with over 150 million coins to my name, but there was something distinctly appealing about walking through a tunnel and choosing not to pick up the valuables around you.

It was thanks to the Mana Sensing that I caught sight of the strange creatures approaching me.

I couldn’t see anything normally, but I could tell that mana was flowing towards me.

Samantha said.

The clouds of mana flying to me were incredibly detailed and intricate. Each cloud had a center, which functioned like a heart—pushing mana out, and drawing mana back towards it. This rhythmic pulsing differed from cloud to cloud—some had mana that circulated faster than my eye could see, and other clouds’ mana moved lethargically, about an inch every second.

I could count ten different “spirits” approaching me.

Samantha said.

I had forgotten I even had one—numerous, in fact, among the supplies the scouts had left behind.

The downside to using a Soul Shield Amulet was that it counted as one of my equipment slots. I took off my Goat Mask, because it was kind of dumb anyway.

The first spirit rushed towards me. Its cloud of mana reminded me of the flickering lasers at a club—darting fast, in unpredictable directions and extending far from its center.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to predict its path—that was Samantha’s job.

I raised my sword at an angle, and I watched as the mana that had been about to strike me was consumed instead by my sword. Ghostbiter thrummed in excitement.

Then, following the combat shadow, I pressed my advantage.

Adding all of my floating points to Agility, I rushed forward, slicing my blade directly towards the center of the spirit that had attacked me.

The mana around the spirit, previously zooming frantically around, immediately contracted towards the center, but the moment my sword traveled through the center of the mana, I felt the slightest amount of resistance, before my sword continued forward, bisecting the center of the glowing mana.

Immediately, the mana that had made up that spirit’s cloud diffused naturally, randomly, settling into the tunnels’ ambient mana or sinking back into the gems around me.

The other spirits, apparently, had been watching that first interaction.

They paused, and then their mana clouds pulsed frantically at the sight of the first spirit’s death.

Then they all rushed me, simultaneously.

I turned to run, but then I noticed that some spirits were coming out of the walls of the tunnel behind me, trapping me where I was.

Samantha said, suddenly.

It seemed risky—twenty points was a lot. But I had just tasted the feeling of gaining huge amounts of loot from the Imperial Scouts. In any case, I had the Soul Shield Amulet in case things went wrong.

The twenty-so spirits rushing towards me were incredibly disconcerting to my Mana Sight. They approached from the ceiling, the ground, and the walls, and they even overlapped on occasion.

A whirlpool of mana approached my feet, while a Ferris wheel of mana spun towards my head, and a rocket of mana flew directly towards my chest.

Of course, those weren’t their actual shapes, just the closest approximations.

For most of them, I had no idea how to describe the mana patterns and fluctuations. Several reminded me of the weird metal sculptures you might see in a city plaza, that move in confusing patterns in the wind.

Samantha had me move towards the rocket-like spirit that was heading directly towards me, and I moved slightly to the side, so it just breezed past me, slicing itself in half over my sword.

My sword continued its slice, chopping off the legs of an octopus-like spirit, and I moved in a delicate, dancing pattern around the spirits that were approaching me.

My next strike targeted the center of the octopus that I had just attacked, and just as I split the octopus spirit’s center, I stepped forward, into the mana that it had previously controlled.

I quickly realized Samantha’s strategy. The spirits tended to avoid too much overlap, which meant I could carve my own path by moving towards the spirits that I was defeating.

I jumped to avoid the whirlpool-shaped spirit then propelled myself again using the tunnel’s walls, bisecting another spirit in the process.

My blade and feet were a blur, but ahead of me, I saw a dense wall of spirits awaiting me.

Samantha’s combat shadow rushed directly through the wall of spirits.

Samantha explained.

If she was lying to me, then I would just have even more ammunition against her in the future.

I charged into the wall of spirits, ignoring the mana that struck me in the form of tentacles, chains, wheels, and strange geometric patterns.

I struck. The first blow sliced through the centers of three different spirits, and I quickly moved into the newly created ambient mana.

At the same time, with a loud crack, my Soul Shield faltered.

But I had cleared my escape path, and I proceeded further through the tunnel, slashing again at the nearest spirits.

Once I was no longer flanked by spirits, I took the time to don a second Soul Shield Amulet, and then I easily dealt with the remainder of the spirits.

Killing all twenty or so spirits had taken under 30 seconds, and I was begrudgingly impressed by Samantha’s battle judgement, once again. I hadn’t taken a single HP of damage, and the second Soul Shield Amulet had never cracked.

I had to be honest with myself. I wasn’t at the point where I could survive these dangerous situations on my own. It wasn’t my skills or stats—it was my own judgement.

If I wanted to be free of Samantha’s influence, then I needed to pay closer attention to her combat shadow. I needed to figure out how she knew what to do. I needed to gradually build the same sense of judgement that she had, that would tell me exactly what to do when, so that I could survive these moments.

I hated coming to terms with relying on Samantha, but for the time being, that was the cold, hard truth. I might not have even switched to Ghostbiter in time without Samantha’s warning, and I may not have remembered to use my Soul Shield Amulets in time. No, to be more exact, I had already forgotten I ever had them. This would have resulted in a quick death.

About half of the spirits had dropped a Soul Shard. The Soul Shards were glossy and translucent, about the size of a paperclip, and they blended into the environment rather well.

What do they do?

Besides the title “Soul Shards,” the Schema didn’t give any information—not even a rank.

And this isn’t going to turn me into an undead or anything?

Samantha said, patiently.

I popped the first soul shard into my mouth and swallowed it whole. It had a slightly slimy texture, but I ignored it. Studying my Schema notifications and Status Window, I could tell that there were no obvious changes. This fit with what Samantha had told me, previously—the Schema didn’t have a soul stat.

Sensing nothing unusual, I continued walking down the tunnel, hoping to finally escape this hellhole and find my siblings.