"Huh?" Spes frowned, opening his eyes upon hearing something ring in his head.
The young man put a hand on the floor, slowly lifting his body up and almost falling in the process as he was assaulted by a throbbing pain in his head.
"Uuh... what happened?" Spes mumbled, trying to recollect what had happened.
"We broke through the defenses of the seed and then... I think I fainted..." he recalled, noticing that it was already completely dark outside his tent.
"Were you successful, Liber?" Spes asked, staring at the dark sky with a frown, concerned about whether his other self had managed to take over the seed.
Taking a deep breath, he gathered his spiritual sense and sent it toward the seed between his eyebrows, investigating Liber's fate.
"No..." the young man mumbled, his voice cracking upon laying eyes on the seed. It looked exactly the same—as if they hadn't done a thing at all!
"I'm sorry, Liber..." he sighed. The worst that could've happened did happen. And now, a part of him was gone forever.
Retracting his spiritual sense, a familiar robotic-like voice suddenly spoke in his mind: "Miss me already?"
Spes immediately jumped, the light in his eyes returning as he sighed in relief.
"Liber! You succeeded! You almost scared me to death!" Spes felt like hugging the risen-from-the-dead Liber—but unfortunately for him, Liber did not possess a physical body.
"Hey, calm down. You still owe me a new body, don't forget," Liber chuckled, reminding Spes of his earlier promise.
"Ah, right... I'll see what I can do about it," Spes said with a wry smile, scratching his head as he remembered the promise he'd made in the heat of the moment. Now that he was clear-headed, it sounded easier said than done.
"So what's with your voice, anyway?" Spes changed the subject to Liber's new weird voice, leaving the matter of a new body for another day.
"My soul... I think it got altered when I fused with the seed."
"It's not only my voice that was affected. I feel my entire being changing," he added, slightly shocked.
"So we can finally start with the Tome of the Magician?" Spes asked, ducking down to pick up the culprit behind Liber's sudden change, giving it one last glance before storing it back in his black ring—they wouldn't be needing it again.
"Let me see..." Liber mumbled. His voice then changed as he began to speak in an emotionless tone:
[[Initiating new task]][[Naming new task: Project 1]][[Defragmenting 369 pages]][[Completion rate: 0.001%]][[Estimated completion time: 10 hours]]
Spes raised an eyebrow, both confused and surprised by Liber's tone and what he was saying. And Liber, capable of reading his mind, tried to clear Spes's confusion—this time using his normal, slightly robotic voice:
"I just started arranging the 369 pages in my mind. That's what 'defragmenting' means. Once done, I can transfer the data—"
Liber stopped mid-sentence as Spes flinched when he said "data." The young man obviously didn't know what it meant.
"Once I'm done defragmenting, I can transfer the tome right into your head," Liber rephrased, using words Spes would understand.
"So in only 10 hours, it'll be as if I read the entire book and understood every part of it?" Spes asked, now having a clearer picture of Liber's new ability.
"Yes and no. It would be as if you memorized the entire book. Knowing and understanding are two different things. But I think I can do something about that."
[[Initiating new task]][[Naming new task: Project 1.1]][[Analyzing Project 1]][[Project on hold]][[Awaiting Project 1 completion]]
"Why are you speaking like that? Can't you just state things normally?" Spes finally addressed Liber's odd tone, as it was the second time he spoke that way.
"I do not know. It just flowed naturally when I thought of starting the task."
"I guess I have to get used to it..." Spes smiled wryly, resigned to hearing that strange way of speaking from now on.
"So what else can you do?"
"I feel that I could do so much more... but my authority level is only Level 1, and I can only access basic commands of the seed."
"How do you get a higher authority level?"
"Just like what we did... we break through the seed's defenses again while I fight for control."
"So let's do it! You already know how it works—it's surely easier the second time!" Spes jumped, excited to discover what else the seed had to offer.
"No, not yet. The backlash would be way too strong on us. The Level 2 authority's defenses are far beyond our current capabilities. If Level 1 was a wooden wall, Level 2 is a stone wall. Our spiritual power has to be stronger."
"Well, I don't know how to strengthen my spiritual power..."
"I don't either. We'll have to wait for Project 1 and 1.1 to be complete. The Tome of the Magician surely has the answer to our questions."
"I guess we wait then..." Spes said, yawning as his eyes began to feel heavy. It was already very late—the right time for them to rest.