62. The True Form of a Ghost

Two days after the battle with the Voidwalker, in the afternoon, Randy and the others gathered at the Occult Research Club as promised.

"I'm so sorry! The lesson took longer than expected—"

Annabelle burst into the room with powerful push as if trying to break the door. Randy raised his hand to her, saying, "No worries, we just got here too."

"Well then… I'd like to begin our discussion to unravel the mystery of ghosts."

With high excitement, Annabelle placed the wraith they had captured the day before onto the table. 

It was too pale to be called a wraith, and looked almost like a ghost, but it was indeed a wraith when she captured it.

After taking a day off to refresh their minds, today's discussion was set to define what a ghost truly is. 

Once they formed a hypothesis, they would proceed with testing it. 

Since they could only capture one per expedition, they decided to first come up with a theory before moving forward with tests.

"Can I go first?" Randy raised his hand, drawing everyone's attention.

"There's something bothering me… Is this really a wraith? Or is it a ghost?"

He pointed at the wraith in the container on the table. The difference between a wraith and a ghost often comes down to appearance.

• A monochrome mist-like form is a ghost.

• A more solid form is a wraith.

Ghosts, judged by their appearance, grow stronger and are classified as specters when they can cast spells. 

If they can communicate, they are known as Spectral Wraiths. As they grow even stronger, they go up to the rank of Rage Revenants.

Although there are formal definitions, the wraith here appeared to straddle the line between ghost and wraith.

"I've been curious about that as well. Isn't it strange that it weakens from physical blows?" Cecilia mentioned, referring to how Luke weakened the wraith with a punch. 

It made no sense for a spectral being to weaken from physical blows unless it was through holy water or holy magic.

"When you punched it, you covered your fists with magic, right?"

Both Randy and Luke nodded in response to Corey's question.

"You can't touch it without magic power," Luke added, and Randy nodded again.

"If magic power allows you to touch spirits or souls, wouldn't that create some inconsistencies?"

Liz raised a valid concern. If this hypothesis were true, magical attacks could harm not just the body but also the soul. A fatal blow might pierce both the physical form and the soul.

"Well, I think… souls and ghosts different things."

"And you have a basis for saying that, right?" Cecilia sighed.

Randy recounted the experience with the woman's soul he met in the light. 

Though it was just a feeling, Randy was convinced that ghosts and souls were different things.

"Different… souls and ghosts? That's an opinion we normally dismissed right away—"

"Well, he's a man who's lived by his intuition," Luke grinned mischievously.

Randy frowned at Luke's teasing, and said, "I called it sixth sense."

"Quit straying from the topic, you two idiots," Cecilia said. 

She clenched her fists but was calmed by Liz. 

Ignoring the commotion, Randy resumed.

"I'll tell you why later, but I believe ghosts and wraiths are likely bundles of magical essence."

"Magical essence?"

"Bundles?"

　Repeating Randy's words, Annabelle and Corey nodded as Randy began to explain his thoughts.

"Magical essence, or mana particles, are like the fundamental substance of magic present in the air. Magic operates by using one's own magical power to manipulate these mana particles, manifesting various phenomena and supernatural effects in this world."

"So, are you saying ghosts are a form of magic…?" Annabelle asked hesitantly.

"If I may say so, then yes." Randy shrugged.

Liz fell silent, deep in thought. The idea that ghosts were a type of magic was an absurd hypothesis, but no one could deny it.

"Indeed, I have sensed fluctuations in magical energy from ghosts and wraiths that are very similar to magic," Liz muttered.

Cecilia raised a question in response, "If ghosts are magic, why can't we touch them directly? Some types of magic have physical forms we can interact with."

Cecilia had a point. Many spells, like fire, water, earth, and ice, have tangible physical effects. 

Yet, ghosts cannot be touched with bare hands.

"Perhaps it's a matter of density," Liz suggested.

"Density?" Cecilia tilted her head.

Liz explained that the concentration of magical essence in ghosts is lower than that in ordinary magic. 

While magical essence exist in the air, one cannot grasp them with bare hands. 

However, they can be manipulated with magic power.

In other words, Liz hypothesized that ghosts and wraiths are mass of magical essence with enough density to manifest in this world, but not as dense as typical magic.

"If that's the case, what is shaping the magical essence into these forms?" Luke asked while crossing his arms.

Everyone fell silent. Even if the hypothesis about magical essence was correct, the question remained: who or what was forming these energy into ghosts, and for what purpose?

Randy broke the silence, saying, "About that…," and began recounting his encounter with a woman's soul before a certain memory had flowed into his mind.

The woman had been frail from birth but had still attended the academy and enjoyed her life, even finding a boyfriend. 

Tragically, she fell ill one day and passed away despite her boyfriend's devoted nursing.

Even in death, she was worried about her boyfriend's ability to move on and find new happiness. 

Her soul lingered, unable to resist the urge to visit the school they had shared so many memories in, hoping to encourage him to move forward.

However, what she found was her boyfriend still grieving and slumped over the desk where they used to talk. 

Desperate to console him, she broke the taboo and appeared before him.

Her spirit appeared in the twilight of the school, and naturally, he became captivated by her presence. They spent many evenings in idle chatter, just like old times. But such moments were short.

Other students noticed and spread rumors that he was bewitched by an evil spirit. Despite his denials, the rumors continue to spread.

The rumors spiraled out of control, eventually claiming that he was trapped in an endless nightmare, ensnared by the spirit of his lover. 

Around that time, her soul was pushed aside by a powerful evil entity that appeared somewhere, and that entity began to occupy the classroom.

The continuation of this tale became one of the seven school mysteries.

　"Do not approach that place at twilight. You'll be trapped by the evil spirit and wander the corridors for eternity."

Rumors like this spread widely. Fear, malice, and hatred took over the area, until eventually even her boyfriend refused to go near her. Finally she descended into madness, and the next thing she knew, Randy and the others were standing before her.

"The cause of the seven mysteries is that soul, but the true source isn't her—it's the evil that came from somewhere."

"So, that means—"

"Yes. The magic essences are being shaped by people's hatred, fear, and other negative emotions."

The strange phenomena had already begun before the evil overtook the woman. 

This indicated that ghosts could be created purely from imagination and rumors. The original soul was likely drawn in by the anomaly, evolving into the Voidwalker, but influenced by her lingering will, it couldn't leave that spot.

"Imagination… So, are you saying that we are the ones creating these ghosts?" Cecilia tilted her head.

"It's just a hypothesis," Randy replied. 

If true, it would explain the seven mysteries of the old school building. 

The soul of the girl, who was not originally evil, had been pushed aside and distorted by the evil that came from somewhere.

If that evil came from baseless fear and rumors about her soul, it would explain why the entity, while mimicking her, became evil and even wore the current student uniform.

Over a century, the rumors accumulated, and with each passing years, she likely underwent minor changes in appearance, unknown by anyone.

And this also connects to the mystery of why a formidable enemy would appear in the academy, something that would be impossible in the game. (School = newbie)

Because this is reality, not a game, over a long, long time, the accumulation of fear and rumors allowed the entity to grow, absorbing even her soul, and ultimately leading to the birth of the Voidwalker.

"But if magic essence is the foundation and imagination is the cause, wouldn't that mean ghosts could appear anywhere in the world?" Liz asked.

According to Randy's hypothesis, ghosts could be created anywhere, even now. 

Yet, that hasn't happened, nor does it seem likely. The one to answer this was Luke, who had been silent for a while.

"Probably the miasma. The atmosphere of that old school building was similar to that of the Demon Forest or dungeon. The magic essence affected by the miasma and our imagination… that could be the key to creating ghosts."

Luke lightly tapped the container holding the wraith on the table. The container wobbled and then slowly returned to its original state. 

As the rattling sound stopped, Annabelle spoke up hesitantly, "Ah, maybe there is," recounting a story about a ghost that once appeared in a graveyard.

Someone had seen a figure like ghost in the graveyard. 

The rumor spread, and people speculated about who had recently died and been buried there. 

The conclusion was that it must be Jimmy, the local tool shop owner. As more and more people claimed to see Jimmy's ghost, his son decided to go check for himself.

What he found was a ghost that resembled his father, but he said, "This isn't my dad."

If the ghost had been shaped by everyone's imagination of Jimmy, then the son's reaction made sense.

The silence was broken once again by Annabelle, who stammered, "A-also…" and continued her story.

"It also explains why only student spirits appear in the old school building."

At Annabelle's words, everyone exchanged glances.

"Indeed, as Lady Annabelle said, if souls are being shaped, there haven't been reports of that many student deaths in the academy's past. Moreover—"

Liz paused, drawing everyone's attention.

"Moreover, all the ghosts were wearing the current student uniform."

Liz's statement made Randy nod in agreement. 

The only exception was the female soul that appeared at the end. If someone said her unfamiliar design was an old student uniform, it would make sense.

"So, the current students' fears and imaginations are manifesting in that form," Luke added.

With Annabelle's story and the ghosts appearing in the old school building, there was enough evidence to support the "ghosts as products of imagination" theory, and everyone began to accept it.

"The stronger and larger the imagination, the more power it gathers. In other words, the difference between a wraith and a ghost is the intensity of the thoughts imbued in the magic essence. That's why punching them with magic powered fists weakens them. The phenomenon of imagination embedded in the magical essence gets canceled out."

"So, the reason I'm not sure whether this is a ghost or a wraith is because I punched it and blew away whatever was embedded in the magic essence. In other words, the very existence got weakened."

Luke lightly tapped the container on the table again.

"Holy water works because it dispels the miasma, right?"

As Liz added this, Randy nodded, and everyone stared at the container on the table, which was shaking once more.

"So, should we think of this as magic essence tainted by miasma and has become conscious?"

"Probably."

Luke's words made Randy nod in agreement.

"It preserves the events in the world… Indeed, it makes sense that people's imagination and fear are given form and became a living memory."

Liz and Cecilia nodded, and Corey and Annabelle silently agreed as well, signaling the end of their hypothesis testing.

"Ah, leave the rest to me. Now that we know what it is, I can adjust our experiment methods."

"I'll help too. If we use our connections with the Magic Tools Research Club and the Magic Theory Research Club, we should be able to find a way to crystallize magic essence mixed with miasma."

Their enthusiasm was probably a way of making up for not being able to do anything when hunting ghosts.

Randy decided it was best to trust and leave it to them.

"Then we'll leave that to you. We'll keep working on the camera prototype."

As Randy stood up, Annabelle and Corey gave a firm nod, saying, "Leave it to us."

"Once the camera is ready, let's head to that New Moon Tower."

"Is that really okay?"

"Of course. I'm really curious about it."

At Randy's smile, Annabelle returned the brightest smile of the day, and the meeting concluded.

Two days later, the crystallized mixture of miasma and magic essence arrived at Randy's place, accelerating the progress of their camera development.

—

Patreon.com/medblare