"So if I focus on casting my domain from my heart, I will be transported inside, but if I focus on the palm of my hands, I can summon the domain around me," Light muttered while looking around the bck void.

  The sensation of simply being inside this empty space was enough to cause a sense of vertigo. Not knowing which way was up or down, unsure of how her feet were even pnted on anything, Light knew that if she lingered too long, she would either pass out or throw up, hopefully not in that order.

  [You can alter the ndscape with a single thought. This domain is your inner consciousness given physical form. Your control here is second to none.]

  Hearing the system, Light nodded and pictured the first pce that came to mind.

  Suddenly, her surroundings morphed, becoming a small modern bedroom with two separate beds. Unlike her lone dorm room back in Twilight Manor, this space cked any sense of elegance. The furniture was cheap and old, the door handle was barely hanging on, and the beds were two singles pushed together rather than a proper double.

  Seeing the room, Light could not help but smile genuinely from the depths of her heart. Her gaze softening as she took in all the details.

  Despite how cheap it was, despite its desperate need for a makeover, this room was her heaven. The pce where she and Yuri had grown up together in the orphanage, both being forced to share this one room.

  All of her best memories had taken pce in this very room.

  "I never thought I would see this pce again," Light whispered, walking towards the sole desk in the room. Running her fingers over the engraving of L + Y, she felt a pang of nostalgia.

  Was it childish to vandalise the desk with something so simple? Of course.

  But this was something they had done after Light had been diagnosed with an incurable illness which hadn't even been given a name.

  At the tender age of eight, she had come back from the hospital in tears, not knowing how long she had left. She had sobbed into Yuri’s embrace, begging her to never forget her.

  In an effort to give her a sense of security, Yuri had pulled out a knife from seemingly nowhere. Light could not even recall Yuri ever owning such a thing. And yet, she had carved their initials into the desk, hidden on the side so the caretaker would not notice unless they were looking for it.

  "Even as a kid, her handwriting was way too beautiful. Mine was just chicken scratches compared to hers," Light mused fondly.

  After indulging in her memories, Light shook her head and refocused.

  "Come on, you came here to run tests."

  With a single thought, she altered the room into a vast field, just a ft stretch of grass. Feeling that the pce needed a little more detail, she added some flowers and cleared the sky. Finally satisfied, she got on with the real reason she had come here.

  "System, I am counting on you."

  [Ready when you are.]

  "Tempest." Light completed the short chant, summoning waves of wind that surrounded her in an instant.

  "One."

  "Two."

  "Three."

  "Four."

  "Five."

  .

  .

  .

  "Fifty-eight."

  As soon as the words left her lips, Light’s body gave out, and she colpsed onto the grass.

  Thankfully, with the domain’s healing properties, she shot back up fully alert within moments. Even her mana reserves seemed to be refiled in his pce. Additionally, the headache from using too much mind had been completely erased.

  "How long did I st?" Light asked unsure her memoires were pying tricks on her.

  [Fifty-eight seconds.]

  "Is that it?" Light frowned.

  She had been hoping for at least a couple of minutes, but apparently, her mana capacity was just that low. Well, without a certain development skill supporting her, this result should have been expected.

  "Thank you."

  After noticing her reserves had refilled, Light repeated the process, this time testing how many wind sshes she could cast. After going through the whole cycle of colpsing and reawakening, the system notified her that she had managed three before face-pnting.

  In the dungeon, after feeling how draining it was to cast Ariel just once, Light had refrained from using any more magic out of fear of entering Mind Down. Now that she had a clear understanding of her limits, she could pn around them.

  Afterwards, she tested her Avenger skill. The ability put the user into a state where they could surpass their limits at the cost of damaging their body. The moment Light activated the skill, she felt a surge of power far beyond her current level coursing through her.

  Even a simple sword ssh caused her weapon to crumple, shattering into pieces of junk in an instant.

  Light also noticed that her skill did not seem to have the same mental block as Ais’ did. Unlike the heroine, who could only bring out this power when facing something she perceived as a monster, Light’s was just a single chant away.

  Finished with her initial preparation, "You said I can summon people I have met before to fight, right? How does that work?"

  [Your skill can create a complete copy of a person’s physical and magical capabilities. The only difference will be their personalities. The moment they are summoned, they will enter a berserk state where their only goal is to kill you in the most efficient way possible.]

  "And if they succeed?"

  [The domain will be cleared of summoned targets, and you will return to your optimal state. It is impossible for real people to die inside your domain.]

  Light nodded while pulling out a fresh sword which she had previously duplicated. Repcing the sword on her belt.

  Feeling empowered by the fact that there were no real risks, aside from actually experiencing the pain of death, she decided to summon a goblin, surprised that she even could.

  Fortunately a little bit of pain was nothing new to her, so she could act fearlessly.

  "So monsters count as people to—"

  Before she could finish, the goblin lunged forward, jumping into the air and aiming its dagger at her throat. The system wasn't joking about the target acting efficiently.

  "Tempest."

  With no time to draw her sword, she cast her enhancement magic directly to her feet, just as Ais would.

  At a speed the goblin could not keep up with, Light threw her body forward and aimed to kick the creature’s head clean off.

  Although she failed to do so, the power behind the kick was enough to knock its teeth out and send it hurtling to the side.

  Before the goblin could collect itself, she was already on top of it, stomping down and crushing its skull.

  [Dungeon Goblin defeated.]

  "Dungeon Goblin? Oh right, monsters inside the dungeon are weaker than those on the surface. It is literally the weakest form of the weakest monster."

  Light then summoned two goblins, engaging with both of them at the same time.

  After spending a week on floor one, the only obstacle stopping her from going further was her ck of confidence in fighting multiple enemies at once. Normally, a Familia would send new members down with a senior adventurer, easing them into combat by teaching them how to handle numerous foes. It gave them a safety net to learn behind.

  However, with the Loki Familia currently deep in the dungeon on an expedition, Light was left without anyone to act as her safety net.

  She could wait for them to return, but that felt like a waste of time.

  [Dungeon Goblin defeated.]

  [Dungeon Goblin defeated.]

  "Next," Light calmly ordered.

  [Dungeon Goblin defeated.]

  [Dungeon Goblin defeated.]

  [Light Ashford defeated.]

  "Damn it!" Light roared.

  [Dungeon Goblin defeated.]

  [Dungeon Goblin defeated.]

  [Light Ashford defeated.]

  "Again!" Light screamed.

  [Dungeon Goblin defeated.]

  [Dungeon Goblin defeated.]

  [Dungeon Goblin defeated.]

  Through relentless practice, she quickly discovered something crucial. The domain's immortality and healing effects only deactivated when a summoned target had been pced.

  Finally overcoming a group of three, Light felt as though she had reached her limit. Rather than pushing straight to four, she focused on refining her abilities by repeating the fight against for hours.

  x-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------x

  "She vanished."

  Sitting at the top of the Tower of Babel, overlooking the entire city of Orario, a woman with long silver hair adorned in a revealing bck floral outfit held a mirror in one hand and a gss of wine in the other. Naturally, this being could only be Goddess Freya.

  The reflection in the mirror showed Light’s dorm room inside the Twilight Manor, but inexplicably, Light, who had just been standing there, disappeared in an instant.

  To say Goddess Freya was having an exciting month would be an understatement. First, she had caught a glimpse of the purest soul she had ever seen. Its blinding white glow was without a single blemish. The moment she saw the soul fsh by, she had rushed out of the Hostess of Fertility, but by the time she reached the streets, the owner had already vanished into the crowd.

  Then, a few days ter, she discovered another anomaly. Again, while keeping up her Syr persona, someone had walked into the tavern with yet another unique soul. If the first person's soul had been so captivating that one could not look away, then the second person's was simply intriguing.

  A person’s soul could change based not only on their personality but also on their emotions. Instead of pure white, this second girl’s soul was a deep purple—the colour of sorrow. Her sadness had momentarily consumed her entire being, a phenomenon Freya had never witnessed in all her existence.

  However, that was not the only reason Freya took note of her.

  Traditionally, a soul was like a circur orb of differing colours and intensities. The key word was traditionally. This second person’s soul did not seem to follow these predetermined rules. Inside her, a pink-haired woman with beauty that Freya believed was second only to her own, her soul seemed to ripple periodically. It was as if her soul was constantly in a state of stimution, always shifting, always doing something.

  What exactly it was trying to do, Freya had no idea.

  As someone who believed she knew more about souls than any other divine being, Freya could not help but find this one utterly fascinating.

  If the first person's soul was a once-in-a-generation rarity, then this second person’s was truly one of a kind.

  Freya had pnned to recruit the girl, but to her annoyance, Loki had noticed her as well. Before she could make a move, the girl had already agreed to join her work partner and so-called rival.

  Not that it mattered too much. She could simply consider it as Loki keeping the girl safe for her.

  Freya continued to stare intently at the mirror’s reflection, her stunning features darkening with displeasure.

  "Loki is returning."

  With the trickster goddess on her way back to the manor, Freya was forced to cancel the connection linking Light’s position to the mirror. If she did not, Loki would undoubtedly discover her.

  Noticing his goddess’s swift change in emotion, a giant of a man, his shoulders as broad as he was tall, stepped forward.

  “Goddess?” he curtly asked worriedly.

  The white-haired goddess turned to face the voice of her Familia captain.

  Shaking her head dismissively, she answered. “It's nothing, Ottar. Just a mild inconvenience.”

  Gently pcing the mirror down on the table beside her, Freya sighed as her gaze fell upon the city of Orario. The city seemingly more colourful than it had felt in years.

  "That girl is truly full of mysteries. I wonder if Loki knows anything. Maybe it's time we have a little chat." She said with a slight smirk.