"Did the snow storm manage to freeze your brain too? What kind of idiocy are you suggesting…"

Soren smiled. "The kind of idiocy that might offer me salvation or death. The latter still seems better than what I'm having to deal with now, honestly."

Tazzith couldn't believe what He was hearing.

"How will you manage to upgrade your Soul Weapon when you don't even possess the required Materials of Influence? And where in this damned mountain will you prepare the ritual?!"

Soren's smile widened. Sensing this, Tazzith finally realized something.

"You…

"Don't tell me…"

"Exactly," Soren confirmed with a chuckle. "[The Faerie Court] will have everything I need."

"....." The ancient daemon stayed silent.

"I know what you're thinking," Soren leaned forward and crawled toward the cave's wall, resting his back against it. "As you might have guessed, [Fictionalization] is a sub-ability that is granted to me within the Faerie Court. WIth it, I can simulate any object or metaphysical concept as long as the information I possess on the target is compelling enough.

"Of course, that would still require observing said objects with [Eyes of the Fairy], since the information obtained through its lens is far more reliable than one's own eye. The Materials of Influence for my ritual can easily be simulated due to all the knowledge I've acquired on each of them."

"Soren, you know that isn't what concerns me…"

"I know," he said casually while taking another bite of beef jerky.

"What concerns you is… Who truly owns that subspace."

After learning about subspaces briefly from Solyara, Soren was able to connect the dots back to his own abilities.

Just like with the Temple of the Stars possessing its own private subspace that could be easily isolated from the world it was in, [The Faerie Court] also holds a similar property.

For the longest time, Soren had wondered why he was even able to cast his spells there in the first place. The Faerie Laboratory, as he came to call it, has always been one of the most useful aspects of his Forgotten Rune fragment—allowing him to freely test and experiment with his magecraft without needing to worry about his own anima's limitations.

Without it, Soren might have never been able to reach the 1st Circle as quickly as he did… And even his research into numerous axioms and other arcane geometries would never have developed enough for him to figure out how to upgrade the Fairy Blades spell.

If one were to view a Soul Realm as its own subspace that blends the material and immaterial together, allowing for Material Runes to manifest actual phenomena in the real world, then how could it be possible for the Realm of Realms to do the same using [Fictionalization]?

The answer he came to felt obvious in hindsight: the Faerie Court possessed its own subspace. And since that meant [Fictionalization] was essentially manipulating this blending of the material and immaterial realm, that had to mean the immaterial realm itself also existed there…

[The Faerie Court] did not just possess its own subspace.

It also holds its own version of the Beyond…

Every aspect of knowledge Soren absorbs with [Record] was essentially being added to this immaterial realm. The colossal library floating in the sky that was constantly reshuffling books, scrolls and other documents was simply the subspace's own reflection of that reality, similar to how the Temple of the Stars shows all the Fate Stars in its collection as a spiral galaxy with Sienna's Fate Star being at the center.

With that understanding in mind, simulating his own Soul Alchemy ritual inside [The Faerie Court] shouldn't pose any issues. After all, if he could recreate his own Material Runes with [Fictionalization], what's to say he couldn't do the same with the Pseudo Concept born from the ritual's formation?

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

There were likely many differences between the Beyond he knew of here in Yarian and the one inside the Faerie Court, but the two realms should still operate in similar ways… If Yarian's Beyond holds representations of everything in that world, then so should the Faerie Court hold representations of everything Soren has chronicled so far.

Of course, this brings to question something else—who truly controls this subspace?

Soren might be the owner of the Faerie Court itself, but the one who really commands the space was The Records—the Figment of his Imagination. It was the one in charge of all the operations taking place there—the very knowledge that Soren acquired was organized and chronicled by it alone.

Because his Star Fate was set to unfreeze during or after the Soul Alchemy Ritual, the Figment of his Imagination would once again be free to act on its own. In fact, that paradoxical entity was likely already plotting its grand scheme…

To enact the ritual within the Faerie Court would require Soren to forfeit his advantage… It would be no different from a fool jumping willingly into a hungry lion's den.

Sensing Tazzith's silence, Soren leaned back and sighed, watching the frozen stalactites drip in their usual rhythm.

"My original plan was to simply try and gather the materials normally. Of course, knowing that a few of the materials were scattered far across the continent did dampen my hope, but I still wanted to believe it was possible…

"With many of the Temple Sisters possessing affinities related to spatial manipulation, traveling long distances could have still been achieved easily."

He gripped the dry strip of meat tightly. "Of course, that was my belief before the Whispering Dream's invasion of the Three Temples. And since I know I only possess roughly ten or so days until my inevitable corruption, this is now the only option I have.

"Risking it all.. Here and now before reaching that mountain's summit. It doesn't sound that bad to me." He chuckled softly while pulling his Soul Weapon from its leather strap.

"Rest assured," Soren smiled, "whether it is me or The Records who wins this confrontation won't matter to you. Both of us will still be obligated to the contract, regardless of who inevitably possesses this avatar."

Suddenly, he heard Tazzith click His tongue. "You're more fun to deal with."

Shaking his head, Soren glanced down at his Soul Weapon and chuckled. "I know you've been listening. As you can see, I actually have fans who adore me. Why don't you just surrender and let me pilot this body for a bit longer?"

"I never said I was a fan," the ancient daemon corrected, "Only that I found you entertaining."

"Same thing," He shrugged. Tazzith continued trying to explain Himself in frustration but Soren simply ignored him. After finishing his meal and resting for a bit, he finally gave the mental command.

The ancient grimoire began to glow once again—its incandescent pages burning with excitement unseen in ages. Soren stared at it for a while, watching his own body disintegrate into a million butterflies while a small fracture in space emerged above the open book, ready to swallow him whole.

As the last of his avatar disappeared from the world, Soren smiled and said:

"You know, a part of me really wishes to lose…"

Hearing this, Tazzith sighed. "Out of all the spirits I know, you are the only one plagued by such contradictions. A bundle of chaos wrapped neatly by desire and curiosity."

Soren didn't reply, letting the last butterfly freely enter the bottomless void, returning the frigid cave to its ancient loneliness...

After passing through the shadowy void, Soren finally shot down toward the ancient and enigmatic space. The Faerie Court unfolded quickly before his very eyes, like a magical scene from an ethereal folktale.

Standing upright once more, he was met with a rather strange scene. Unlike the previous times, there was no longer a large and imposing marble canopy marked by the flame of his soul. And rather than a garden, he was instead met with an entire lush forest, glowing faintly with flora and fauna beneath the astral skies.

What is this…

The forest surrounding him was full of exotic trees and the faint whispers of creatures hiding beyond the leaves. It was as if Soren had actually returned to the Feylith Forest.

Taking in the changes, a subtle smile finally flickered across his face.

"Is this your attempt at setting up the mood? How interesting…"

"Indeed," The voice that replied was hardly different from his, and yet, it did carry itself with a different kind of confidence and glee. Soren turned to the source of the sound, only to find someone standing amidst the trees from a distance.

His features were accentuated by the dim light of golden butterflies circling around his form, giving him a rather eerie yet ethereal look. Everything about him mirrored Soren's own appearance—chestnut hair, amber eyes, a calculating smile…

It was as if he was staring at his own reflection. But there was a noticeable difference: their clothes.

Rather than a magi's robe and cone hat, he instead wore a white shirt paired with a tan suit vest and a checkered tie tucked underneath. His brown trousers were also matched with an extravagant pair of leather oxfords. And to top it all off, a pair of round glasses rested neatly above his nose, reflecting the shimmering butterfly light.

The two Sorens stared at each other in silence, unsure of what to say.

Eventually, the real Soren sighed then chuckled with a smile.

"Tazzith was right… I really am a bundle of chaos and contradictions..."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.