"An Ancient Spirit just woke up."
Vivienne answered and Lucian blinked in surprise.
"An Ancient Spirit...?"
Lucian’s expression changed.
An Ancient Spirit.
Lucian obviously knew about it. He had a general-level grasp of all the races in this world, he hadn’t been studying for weeks for nothing.
He never liked how some of those protagonists never bothered to learn about the world they were in without any apparent reason and then got surprised whenever they heard about something. So obviously, he wasn’t going to do the same thing.
He read about the Supernatural World and he did read about the Spirits as well.
In general, the Spirits could be divided into seven ranks.
Weak Ghost.
Common Spirit.
Bound Spirit.
Greater Spirit.
Domain Spirit.
Ancient Spirit.
And finally—
Primordial Spirit.
Of course, this was a vast generalisation. The Spirits were far more complicated than most races. One of the many reasons for that was because most strong Spirits were territorial. They were bound to their Anchors, these Anchors could be anything—
From a small wedding ring, to a mirror, a room, an entire house, or even a piece of land, depending on the strength of the Spirit.
One thing that was almost always certain was that Spirits could never leave their Anchors. That made it almost impossible for the Spirits to unify like other races did, which in turn weakened their influence in Supernatural Politics.
Even then—
No race in the world dared to ignore them.
Because inside their own domains, Spirits were powerful.
Absurdly powerful.
An average Ancient Spirit could easily be compared to a Demon General, stronger Ancient Spirits could even stand against Demon Princes.
Some were even believed to be impossible to kill.
Yes.
An Ancient Spirit was a big deal.
What Lucian did not understand, however, was what Vivienne meant when she said an Ancient Spirit had ’woken up.’
Spirits did not sleep or wake up like ordinary creatures.
So, confused, Lucian only stared at his teacher, waiting for her to explain.
"The Ancient Spirit of the Unseen Road, Aevrienne."
Vivienne spoke as she walked towards the table, picked up the dark coat she had left there, and put it on.
"The Unseen Road..."
Lucian muttered as he thought about the thin silver path he had seen before.
"Aevrienne, is that her name?"
He asked curiously.
"Yes."
Vivienne nodded and began walking towards the exit.
Lucian and Evelyn followed her.
"Aevrienne is different from other Ancient Spirits. Not only is she one of the oldest known Spirits, but she is also one of the very few Spirits capable of moving."
"What...?"
Lucian’s expression changed.
"The Unseen Road is her Authority."
Vivienne continued as they walked out of the Training Hall.
"Hidden paths, roads that do not normally exist, places between one destination and another."
Lucian remained silent. He honestly did not understand the point of having Authority over the ’Unseen Road’, but from everything he had read so far, including countless novels—
He knew the simple rule.
The more odd-sounding the name something had, the more dangerous it was.
Not to mention, this was an Ancient Spirit they were talking about. There was no way an entity like that would be ’weak’.
So Lucian listened silently.
"Distance means very little to Aevrienne. If she wishes, she can create a road between two places that have no direct connection. A door inside this building could open into a forest hundreds of kilometres away. A narrow passage could connect two different cities. A person could walk for ten seconds and cross a distance that should have taken several days."
And just as he expected, she was absurd.
"That is..."
"Powerful?"
Vivienne completed.
"Yes."
Lucian nodded and she only chuckled.
"It is the simplest use of her Authority."
"There’s more?"
Vivienne looked at him and shook her head with a smile.
"The roads Aevrienne creates do not fully exist inside the normal world, they exist between places. Someone travelling through one of them cannot normally be seen, sensed, followed, or attacked by anyone outside. Even divination and tracking abilities struggle to locate them."
"So she can hide people inside those roads."
Lucian could instantly see the use.
"People, objects, buildings..."
Vivienne paused for a moment and then—
"An entire Kingdom."
Lucian’s eyes widened in disbelief.
"Aevrienne also controls whether a destination can be reached."
"What does that mean?"
Lucian frowned.
"If she does not want someone to reach a place, every road they take will lead somewhere else. A straight corridor would return them to where they began, a door would open into the wrong room.
A person could run towards their target for hours and the distance between them would continue increasing."
"So she controls direction."
Lucian commented, trying to understand her power while he thought of ways to possibly defeat her.
He couldn’t think of any.
Vivienne chuckled as well.
"Direction, distance, entrances, exits.
And the paths connecting them.
She controls it all."
"She is... terrifying."
Lucian blinked in disbelief.
"How do you even fight her?"
He couldn’t help but question.
"You cannot.
She is one of the most dangerous Spirits in existence."
"What about you?"
Lucian asked carefully. That made Vivienne pause for a slight second, then she shook her head as well.
"I have no way of defeating her either."
Those words made Lucian raise an eyebrow in surprise.
To think even his Teacher would deny it.
An Ancient Spirit truly was different, huh...
"But how is she able to move?"
Lucian asked curiously.
"Is it because distance doesn’t mean anything to her?"
He guessed.
"No."
Vivienne shook her head.
"According to the records, she wasn’t always able to move. Like most Spirits, she was bound to her Anchor, a Shrine. But thousands of years ago, she discovered a way to temporarily separate herself from it."
"How did she do that?"
Lucian tilted his head in confusion.
"Through a contract."
"A contract?"
"Aevrienne forms contracts with living beings and when she does, that living being becomes her new Anchor."
Lucian finally realised it.
"And since her Anchor is an entity that can move...
She can move as well."
"Exactly."