Chapter 297: Chapter 297 - A bit of fun

"That was… new." Erik panted and put a hand on his chest. "I feel… full? I guess? Was that it? I mean, I feel strange, but it seems too easy. I haven't gotten the urge to draw a symbol yet, so I doubt I have access to the spatial affinity already.""Are you asking us…?" Astrid scratched her head and chuckled.

"It seamed easy, because it was the easy part," Elora's voice suddenly sounded through their link. "The dimension, or catalyst, has been absorbed by the spatial seed, and now exists inside you. Currently, the spatial seed is… sprouting, as it were. It'll take a while before the affinity becomes available."

"Alright, makes sense I guess," Erik nodded with a thoughtful frown. "So what about the dimension then? How do we get back in?"

"Well, that's where the hard part comes in," Elora giggled with amusement. "The dimension is inside you, and now you need to find the entrance and open it. That's going to take a little effort on your part. When that's done, you should practice sending yourself inside, and sending others inside."

"Right, I suppose I better get started then," Erik sighed, hoping it wouldn't take too long, as he was already missing the comfort of his new home.

"Alright, get comfortable," he smiled apologetically to the people surrounding him. "I'll have to figure out how to find and open the entrance to the dimension."

Most of the others shrugged, and decided to simply meditate a while. All except one. "Take your time, Master!" Eira exclaimed happily, as she was busy making snow angels, while continuing to look up at the sun with fascination and awe.

Erik chuckled happily at her joy, and then closed his eyes to start meditating.

He decided to begin by following that feeling of fullness he had felt from the moment he absorbed the spatial orb. 'Alright, dimension. Show me what you've got.'

At first he couldn't find anything, even in the place where he felt that fullness coming from, but than he realized something. 'Wait, obviously this dimension isn't actually physically inside me, so what if its more akin to an Arcanists aetherium storage? There, but not there. Acting more like a balloon on a string, or several strings, than an actual organ.'

So he started prodding around with aetherium, and quickly realized that this would likely be far easier if he already had access to his spatial affinity, but it was what it was.

In the end, it took him a few hours to find and map the entire metaphysical area inside his body that held the dimension. 'Now to find the entrance,' he thought to himself.

Another few hours later, Erik suddenly disappeared from where he was sitting.

No one noticed, however, as they were all meditating with their eyes closed, while Eira was still busy exploring the new outside world.

Erik opened his eyes after he felt the air shift around him, and suddenly, he found himself to be back in the main hall of his new home.

He looked around and blinked before nodding in satisfaction, "Looks like everything is still in the right place. Elora?"

A cloud of light specks left Erik's body, and quickly morphed into the form of a particular fairy, who took her place on his shoulder. "No problems here either, looks like everything got through that all right."

"Plus…" she continued with a sly smile on her face, "It looks like one of the blocks has been removed because the sigils finally recognize you as a second ranker. Oh you're gonna love this new place."

Erik's amber eyes shone with curiosity as he turned his gaze towards Elora, "Well, don't keep me in suspense, woman!"

Unfortunately, Elora just giggled. "Sorry, love. I suggest you find a way to get the others inside first, otherwise you'll just be antsy to get started the whole time."

Erik rolled his eyes, "Well, that attitude isn't helping, you know? But fine! How do I continue? There should be some kind of kind of doorway to the outside world now, right?"

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"Right," Elora nodded. "It should be in the same place it was before. You just need to open it."

Erik understood what she meant, and made his way towards the doorway that held the portal to the outside world before. Only this time, when opening the door, he only found more of the sleek, black wall that the main hall was made off.

However, he could feel something there. Something that called to him through the dimension inside him. Placing his hand on the wall, he closed his eyes, and followed that feeling. A light flashed, and suddenly, the portal was back again.

Erik smiled victoriously, and stepped through the portal, back outside. Only, when he did, the portal immediately disappeared behind him.

"Eh?" he mumbled, surprised. "Why did it close again?"

"Simple," Elora sounded in his head. "Because you've become the anchor now. The portal can only exist when you're inside the dimension, but when you're on the outside, you 'are' the portal. See if you can teleported anyone back inside."

Erik nodded and looked around, noticing that everyone was still meditating, and even Eira was still playing in the forest, apparently having found the joy of climbing a tree. The fact that she could simply float up there seemed to not have occurred to her.

'I guess whether I'm inside or outside the dimension makes no difference to the distance she can move away from me… that's good to know,' Erik thought as he watched her play. He could see she was enjoying herself, but Erik suddenly felt a sting when he realized she was playing all alone.

Looking back at the others, he realized they would likely be fine if he took a little longer, so with a slight smirk, he bend down and grabbed a handful of snow. 'I can't remember the last time I've done this,' he thought to himself with a chuckle.

"Erik? What are you doing?" Elora asked from his shoulder, confused about what was going on.

"Watch this!" he answered, as he pressed the snow in his hands into a ball, and cocked back his arm.

"Hey, Eira!" he cried out to the minotaur construct who was a few dozen meters away.

Blinking, Eira stopped looking out over the forest from her vantage point on one of the branches of a large tree, and looked down at Erik. "Y— Ye—" but before she could finish, a handful of snow hit her right in the face and she yelped, before toppling backwards and screaming as she fell down to the ground.

It was a fall that could easily kill a physically unimpressive human specimen, but Erik just snickered. It's not like a solid form sigil construct with the physical prowess of a second ranker would actually be hurt from that.

Of course, that didn't stop Eira from jumping of the ground with tears in her eyes as she pointed her finger at Erik, "Y— Y— You! Why would you do that! Meanie!"

Grinning, Erik bend down and scooped up another handful of snow. "It's called a snowball fight, Eira. We did it all the time before the awakening. Why don't you try it?"

"Snowball… fight?" Eira mumbled a little confused, but now that it was clear Erik wasn't trying to be mean, she bent down and imitated Erik's actions.

Before long, Erik and Eira were facing each other with large snow balls in their hands. Erik with a smirk, Eira with an uncertain smile. "So… what now?" she asked, a little confused.

"I'm sure you already know what's next," Erik grinned, before lifting his arm, and using his Runebound strength to lob that snowball at her like a cannonball.

Eira yelped, and quickly hopped to the side to barely avoid Erik's attack, before glaring at him, and using her own second-rank Runebound equivalent strength to lob her ball right back at Erik. "I'll get you for that!" she growled menacingly.

Erik didn't avoid her, though. He grinned and met her attack with arms wide open, until it hit him right in the face, and he had to take a step back.

On the other side, Eira blinked in surprise, before a wide grin broke out on her face, and she started giggling. "Look at your face! It's all white!"

Before she could really enjoy her accomplishment, however, another cannonball came flying straight at her and she laughed while just barely avoid it again.

It wasn't long before this turned into a true snowball war. S~eaʀᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Eventually, the others realized what was going on and joined in as well.

It turned into a kind of relaxed fun that most of them hadn't seen in many years. They even switched to showing Eira how to make snowmen eventually and, surprisingly, Elora also joined in; albeit reluctantly, and begrudgingly.

At some point, she even used her magic to puppeteer one of the snowmen for a while, after Emma had worn her down.

After the day of fun, however, Erik finished learning how to control the dimension, and they all went back to training.

With all the immediate problems taken care of, it was time to truly buckle down and spend the next three quarters of a year on relentlessly improving their strength.