Spirit (Part 1)

Ethan was momentarily confused before he immediately started to freak out. He kept looking back and forth over each shoulder.

"Huh? What?! Spirit?! Where?!"

"Bahaha you humans really are a fun bunch.

Calm down young man, it appears that the spirit means you no harm. If it did, you would have long noticed its presence."

Couzar's words did little to ease Ethan's fears though. Ethan suddenly leapt off from the top of the spike he was sitting on and started to run around in circles as if he was going to somehow outrun the spirit.

"Bahaha what are you doing young man? You won't be able to get rid of it that easily... why don't you calm down and tell me what happened. I might be able to help you out a bit."

Realizing that he must look like a complete fool at the moment, Ethan stopped running in circles and lowered his head in embarrassment.

With a face as red as the setting sun, Ethan walked over to where Couzar was currently standing before he began to narrate the same series of events that he had previously told Grant.

Couzar simply listened intently to what Ethan had to say before he gave his opinion on the issue.

"You really are lucky, young man. You do not realize it since you have not reached level 25 and begun to walk your Path, but there are two major types of spirits.

The first, is one that means to bring you harm. They manifest in the form of monsters or are born from souls that have degraded over time due to hatred and anger. They are some of the trickiest enemies one can have because they are unaffected by physical attacks of any kind.

The second, are the ones like the guy stuck to your shoulder. You can think of them as a teacher of sorts. If the spirit of a fallen warrior, lost throughout time, takes a shine to you or your skills then they will attach themselves to you in order to guide you."

Ethan was even more confused following the explanation, "If there really is a spirit attached to me, why can't I see him but yet you can?"

Couzar suddenly reached up and undid the straps to his helmet before removing it from his sparkling skull.

"Bahaha because I'm dead as well!"

Ethan was momentarily stunned at the sight of the boney skull below the helmet, but suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"Are you Couzar then? Related to Skit somehow?"

Couzar suddenly raised his hand and shot it forward with his hand balled into a fist and thumb raised to the sky, "Well deduced young man. I am in fact Couzar and Skit is my younger brother!

The answer to why you can't sense the spirit yourself is rather simple. You are too weak!"

Ethan just stared at the skeleton in distress at how blunt and forward he was.

"Bahaha I do not mean to offend! It is simply fact that you are too weak to see the spirit! Since you have not reached level 25 and begun to walk your Path, you have not gained the ability to properly store mana inside your body or view it outside your body.

When you reach level 25, the spirit will fuse with your body and become a part of you. Until then, he'll be stuck looking over your shoulder! Bahaha"

Ethan didn't know what to say or how to react, so he just stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face, occasionally looking over each shoulder in a failed attempt to see the spirit.

However, he suddenly snapped to attention when the atmosphere noticeably changed.

When he turned back towards Couzard to see what had happened, the skeleton was now mere inches away from his face and observing him intently.

"Ummm can I help you? Aren't you a little too close?"

Couzard didn't say anything in response and continued to observe Ethan from a close distance.

Eventually he took a few steps back and put some distance between the two before he spoke again.

"I do not understand though. I have never once heard of an instance where someone gained the assistance of a spirit before they began to walk their Path.

What makes you so special?"

Since he had no explanation, Ethan simply raised his hand up behind his head and started to chuckle awkwardly. He never thought that he would be considered special, let alone be the first in the history of The Path to achieve something.

Not that he actually did anything to the best of his knowledge, but still, he felt proud of himself.

Since Ethan didn't have any explanation, he did his best to direct the conversation in a different direction, "I don't mean to trouble you, but can you tell me more about spirits? And how they work?"

"Nope!" was all Couzar said before he began to walk away. As he was walking though, he was mumbling to himself, "I can't explain much about them because I don't have one myself! What is with these humans? Why do they all seem to gain benefits without any effort? Skit was right, this is a fascinating planet."

Ethan wanted to stop Couzar and ask him a few more questions, but he could tell that the skeleton was far stronger than he was and if he wanted to leave, Ethan didn't have any right to stop him.

Since Ethan was still recovering from the fight against the ants, he decided to return to the hospital and rest so that he could start fighting again as soon as possible.

After almost dying, he was already determined to become stronger, and now that he had a corporeal hitchhiker, he was even more determined.

Before Grant had arrived, he had been reflecting on the events of the past two days and was feeling upset about his lack of ability to influence the situations he found himself in.

Now that there seemed to be an opportunity literally hanging over his head that would enable him to improve himself, he didn't want to let the opportunity slip through his grasp.

In much higher spirits than he had arrived, Ethan turned around and walked back towards the hospital.

When he arrived at the hospital, Ethan was about to head toward the second floor to find a room to rest, but he saw Aubrey out of the corner of his eye and couldn't stop himself from walking over to the information desk.

When Aubrey saw Ethan approaching, her smile seemed to shine just a little brighter, "Hello Ethan, how can I help you today?"

Ethan, although nervous, had gathered his courage along the way, "Hi Aubrey, you look very nice today!"

Aubrey just giggled sweetly a few times in response to the compliment, "Thank you Ethan. You are very kind."

Ethan giggled like a fool himself in response to her compliment and went silent.

After 15 seconds of pure silence, Ethan realized he had messed up so he coughed a few times and tried to act cool, but failed miserably instead, "So um, I heard that some of the, um... people from the camp were going to, um, put on a show tonight. Would you maybe, um.. like to go with me?"

Aubrey's cute face suddenly morphed into one of pure surprise before her smile grew another few shades brighter and a tad bit bigger.

"I would love too!"

Expecting to be rejected, Ethan was caught completely by surprise when she agreed.

"Ah, really?! Oh, um, okay, how about I pick you up here at the counter later and we can go together? Like a date?"

"That sounds lovely Ethan, I look forward too it! If you'll excuse me, I need to get ready!"

She smiled sweetly towards Ethan one last time before quickly running off.

Once Ethan was sure that she had really left the area, he suddenly balled his hand into a fist and pumped it into the air.

"FUCK YEAH!

Ah! God forgive me, I did not mean to use such foul language."

His sudden scream had attracted the attention of all the people within ear shot so everyone was looking at him with varying gazes.

The ones who had eavesdropped on his and Aubrey's conversation were looking at him sweetly and with subtle smiles on their face, but the rest were looking at him like he was some kind of lunatic for just randomly yelling out curse words.

Realizing he had suddenly become the center of attention, Ethan quickly made himself scarce and ran away from the area heading for his own room.

While Ethan was experiencing the happiness of his youth, Grant was slaughtering his way through any and all monsters that he could find.

There was something therapeutic about the whole process for Grant and he had started to lose himself in the fight once again.

As he fell deeper into the sensations of the fighting, he suddenly heard a voice in the back of his mind.

(You're still not sharp enough! Bend your elbow more when you swing that way! What are you even doing?! Are you even trying?!)