Chapter 17

　　Ghosted

　　Maria felt the strains of the progress of time weigh heavily on her. As she expected, there was a distinct increase in ambient spiritual energy, energy that she used to cultivate. Though unfortunately she was just a spirit, and her core was still linked to her body, a body that she was now well and completely separated from.

　　As such, she decided to spend this time delving into the esoteric, focusing on improving two things, first her mind which was what made it so she could survive even now. Then the second thing she focused on was her spirit, or to be more accurate she wanted to work on weaving spiritual attacks.

　　This was by far and away the toughest form of magic to defend against, as very few creatures could wield spirit magic. Seeing as this was the only form of magic Maria had at her disposal, she decided to at least try the element.

　　There was of course the draw back, the law of conservation. Everyone had a certain magical limit that they could reach. This number was believed to be the exact same for everyone, but that the cost of learning different schools of magic was different for each person. Regardless of the cost, in the end a person could only learn a limited amount of magic, humans just weren`t capable of learning too much magic. Or at least that was the thought, there were of course Omni-mages that could learn a bit of every spell, but then were limited with how far they could push those spells.

　　As it was, Maria didn`t really like magic much, it always seemed too rigid for her. She tried to learn spells, to make it so she could be a support fighter, but her spells were ultimately middle tier at best, as the types of magic that were seen as working the best were ones that cost her a lot of her available magic potential. That or she was just terrible at magic, realistically Maria thought it was more of the latter. She remembered being excited by the idea of magic at first, but then found the practical studies of it to be annoying. That and the fact that she didn`t have time to truly try to comprehend the magic that was being taught to them by the experts. By the time it had been her turn to learn she was told to push as much as she could into healing and support type magic, two fields that she did relatively well with, but was not exceptional at by any means.

　　That was partly why this time she would focus on Spirit magic. As far as she understood, no one had spirit magic, mainly because getting to a place where you could practice spirit magic would be nearly impossible without dying. Or being in a coma, apparently, which is the situation that Maria now found herself in. Also learning spirit magic like this was particularly tough during the actual Integration as even a low-level monster could easily come by and kill your body while your spirit roamed free, just trying to learn the basics.

　　Yet, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn both how to use spirit magic, and how to make it so she would never be forced to learn another healing spell again. This meant she would be self-reliant on her own body`s ability to heal itself, but that was something she was willing to do. Looking back, it seemed that there was of course no way she would have been capable of doing well with healing and support magic, as most of the support magic she had been taught was Create Fire, Create Earth, Earth Fusion was also used to craft gear and weapons. In the end, with that and Healing� her maximum magical capabilities were used up before she even had the ability to try to learn spirit magic.

　　Focusing her mind, Maria decided she would do two things, first cycle mana into her spiritual core, which was a direct mirror of her physical core, but also different. Only now as a spiritual body that was completely separated from her physical body could she truly understand the differences between the two. Her physical body was an intrinsic design, something that her body used automatically. While her spiritual core was something that had to be felt, then once it was felt, it had to be activated.

　　Maria spent hour after hour meditating, here in the realm between, she began to remember more of her past. She could see where she went wrong personally. Again, she couldn`t tell too much about certain events, particularly since most of her big moments came well later after the start of the Integration. But she was certain, there were things she could do better.

　　First, and foremost, she could try to use this time for the gift that it was.

　　"Wiggle your big toe." Maria said, quoting an old movie about a killer who was paralyzed, only to come back and seek revenge. This was mostly the same, all except rather than regaining control over her body that was still lying in a comatose state, she tried to wiggle her spiritual organs, the ones that would help her process and use spirit mana.

　　Focusing on the ambient energy around her, Maria began breathing in the ambient energy around her. Then she held it, and tried to force it through her body. This of course didn`t work, as meditation had to be done through her symbol that was carved on her back. Then linking the tattoo on her back to other nodes that were opened up around her body, she could then start to gain further control over the powers of her natural body.

　　At least that is what she had been told, but that didn`t make sense.

　　The more she thought about needing to have tattoos on her body to help draw in ambient energy only made sense in that her skin, her actual body was preventing the absorption of mana correctly. Here, she was just a spirit, there was no meat suit getting in the way. Here it was just her and a sea of ambient energy. Energy that her body was able to absorb freely and with ease.

　　Attribute Increase: Spirit +1.

　　Then as if to confirm her thoughts in this direction, she received a system message letting her know that she was increasing her Spiritual power. It was this notification, and notifications just like this that made her realize she could do this if she tried. Here, with her soul literally exposed to all the different energies of the universe that were being infused into her planet to make it integrate that much faster, she realized that right here, she was the only one holding her back.

　　Her own mind was the reason that she was not able to flex and use her magical might. That was why she continued to focus on the energy around her. To feel it, and to welcome the strange spiritual energy to flow down her spiritual meridians that led to a core of energy not directly linked to her body, but one that linked to a spiritual core that was almost at the exact same location as her physical core.

　　It was the physical core, and the ease that created the physical core that caused so much confusion. At least that is what Maria was now experiencing, as she had to forget that she had a core, and to meditate once again, but the way she meditated now was like the different way she had to increase her core, but also completely different. Once again, her mind was drawn to the idea of the esophagus, that was able to make it, so all three forms of matter went through and were used to sustain one`s life. Air was filtered into the lungs, while water and solids were filtered to the stomach. This was going to be like that experience, but also different.

　　With her enhanced mind, Maria could feel the moment her new meditation worked. She could feel the moment that cool strands of spiritual energy filtered through her, but rather than using her physical tattoo with her soul`s name on it as a universal filter to attract the ambient particles. This time, she cycled the energy backwards, using her enhanced mind to draw in the energy. Then from her mind, she forced the energy to flow backwards, down her meridians and into her spiritual core, where her magical energy could be stored.

　　Cough, cough.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author`s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

　　This of course made her feel like she was drowning, as she coughed violently. In a way, it reminded her of what happened when you swallowed water down the wrong pipe and were forced to choke on what you inhaled.

　　Yet, Maria felt she was on the cusp of a breakthrough, a fact that the system was soon to confirm.

　　Magical School Activated: Spirit Magic unlocked for 1 magical potential.

　　Remaining Magical Potential: 20 / 21.

　　Spirit Magic Rank: Sensitive

　　Seeing the system message, Maria felt slightly better, yes this meant she wouldn`t be able to grow plants, or likely would be slightly worse of a healer in the future, but that didn`t matter. Here, she was onto something, right here and now she was at the initial stage. The first stage of any field of magic always costs one Magical Potential point. The reason for this was, well Maria never knew why they were all so cheap to begin with. It was the next levels that would prove to be expensive. There was a theory that everyone had one magical field that they were exceptional at, and that this first rank was designed to get it so everyone could find that one field of magic on their own. Being sensitive to all forms of magic also had a boon, as it meant you could sense the other types of magic being used around you. Thus, if an Illusion spell was used, someone who was sensitive to that type of magic could detect it, and hopefully prevent or even resist the magic.

　　Whoom.

　　Just activating her own resonance with spirit magic made her body come to life as she could feel the surge of energy around her. With the first stage of the new and rare school of magic open, Maria could begin working on improving her own understanding of magic.

　　"Maria!" Anita`s scared voice called out.

　　The voice was so loud, that Maria was instantly pulled from her initial insights into Spirit magic, long enough to see her twin sister frantically shaking her.

　　Looking at the clock that displayed the time in wide letters on the ceiling Maria nodded in understanding to herself.

　　4:32 AM.

　　That was the exact time she remembered waking up and studying with her sister earlier. Seeing that Maria`s assumptions were confirmed, she had been reset. However, there was a slight problem as she was still not able to interact with her body.

　　Realizing that she was likely separated from her body until the integration happened, she decided to do what she could do.

　　Right now, all she could do was continue to cultivate the spirit energy to ultimately improve her Spirit Attribute and increase her understanding of Spirit Magic.

　　Tugging.

　　After a few hours, Maria felt a tugging on her body that awoke her from her understanding of what was happening. Upon opening her eyes, she found that paramedics were already on scene grabbing her body and carrying her away. This oddly had a direct effect on her spiritual self as well, as she felt a tether that had remained hidden up until this point suddenly came to life and began pulling her along.

　　Maria instinctively ducked when she saw a wall coming close, but didn`t have to worry, as apparently her spirit was now able to travel through walls.

　　Realizing this, she found that whether she resisted or not, she was going to be pulled along with her body, regardless of where her body was taken.

　　This being tethered to her body was a somewhat good thing, it meant she would be right next to her body once the membrane that separated her from her body was removed. Also, it meant she could avoid some of those dead schoolgirl haunts her high school cliches that she absolutely hated. If she was going to die, she just wanted to move on. That or in this case, just continue to increase her power and potential as much as possible before the integration. This way, when the integration actually took place, she would be ready.

　　With that in mind, she decided to continue working on her understanding of Spirit Magic. Now that her body could sense the odd form of energy, the rest should be easy. After Sensing, came Interacting, this was the make-or-break part of magic and the one where her costs to continue using magic hit an exponential increase in costs.

　　Maria spent the next hour focusing on not just drawing in the energy, but also trying to push it throughout her body.

　　Tingle.

　　At one point she was once again awoken from her meditations. Her body had blessedly stopped moving, as she was taken to a hospital room, but now that she was here her body was being violently shocked. Feeling the surge of energy even caused her body to resonate.

　　"What the heck are you doing. My heart and vitals are clearly working." Maria cursed the overly zealous EMT.

　　"What are you doing." The words of the head nurse asked, scolding the EMT that had done such a great job getting her here safely.

　　Their words were muffled, as if talking through water, then again that is what Maria figured this new membrane that separated her body from her soul to be a slightly watery film that kept her from being able to interact with her body.

　　Still, despite the one violent shock, she was able to get back to a relatively sedate pace of studying the ambient zone of energy around her.

　　Time flew by, or at least that is what Maria thought, as over time the flows of ambient energy slowly began to increase as time went on. That was part of how Maria began judging the passage of time, the greater the increase of ambient spirit energy in her current area, the more aware her body became of the ambient energy being on the rise in the world around her.

　　From her tether, she could tell that her body was now cultivating naturally. This was good, as it meant she would be strong and fully capable of moving once her spirit was allowed to reconnect with her body once again.

　　"I`m so sorry I cheated on you." A whining voice cried out, loud enough to break Maria out of her cultivation.

　　Looking down she could see that it was Mark Price, the person Anita swore was her boyfriend, though the boy meant almost nothing to her at the moment. Then again, hearing this, the fact that he cheated didn`t surprise her, which is likely also the reason why she would mark him as dead to her, even in future restarts.

　　"Does cheating stain the soul?" Maria found herself asking, then looking at Mark`s soul, she could see a few black smudges, but nothing that would conclusively link to cheating. Yet, she did not that there were some things that she could follow up on to see if this was a valid theory or not.

　　Yet, there was nothing Maria could do, other than continue to cultivate and try to teach herself the secrets of spirit magic. Then finally after a long time of purely focusing, she received the message she had hoped for. Well not the true message of being able to rejoin her body, but the next best one before the integration happened.

　　Magical School Improved: Spirit Magic Improved for 1 magical potential.

　　Remaining Magical Potential: 19 / 21.

　　Spirit Magic Rank: Initiate

　　That was good, and what was better is that Maria felt that she could quite possibly eek out another advancement if not more before the integration happened. It wasn`t like she didn`t already know the steps required to meet the next rank of Beginner, from there came Adept, then Expert, Sage, and Finally Pioneer. Yes, seven layers to reach the peak.

　　In her past life, it took three points each to get each school of magic to increase by one rank. Now she could see both her potential, something that she felt was not supposed to be possible at any level of the Integration, but especially not before the Integration happened.

　　With the advent of reaching the Initiate rank, she could feel and pull on spirit mana with ease.

　　It became an exercise, gathering up as much magical energy into a giant ball before her, then coating herself in that energy. Then when that was complete she would receive a new system message.

　　Attribute Increase: Spirit +1.

　　After her twentieth such advancement, she finally reached the Rank she had been striving to reach before the integration happened. There on Wednesday morning, as the sunlight began filtering into her hospital room, she received a message that made her cry out in relief.

　　Magical School Improved: Spirit Magic Improved for 1 magical potential.

　　Remaining Magical Potential: 18 / 21.

　　Spirit Magic Rank: Beginner

　　This proved multiple things; first it showed that she had an Affinity for Spirit magic, as so far each Rank increase only cost one potential, and she was now up to the rank of Beginner, meaning she could begin to cast spells related to her school of magic. This was huge, as she could begin casting the spiritual equivalent of fireball, maybe Spiritball? Maria didn`t know, all that she knew was that this was part of why she had been forced to learn Fire Magic to the Beginner ranking, as the ability to cast a wide area attack spell like Fireball was beyond needed in the future.

　　Maria of course was not idle, as she pushed her spirit and mind forward as far as it would go, increasing her Spirit Attribute by three more times, before the final message she had been waiting for all this time came.

　　WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: GREETINGS PEOPLE OF EARTH! Your time to join the rest of the Universe has come. You have one chance to prove yourself worthy of surviving, or else your planet and its bountiful resources will be forfeit. You will now begin to see numerous&

　　The announcement went on for a long time, explaining everything. With Maria`s enhanced mind she double checked everything to make sure it was exactly as she remembered; it was. Then once she was done reading, she hit the "Accept" option, and finally at long last, the membrane separating her free-floating spirit from her body was removed and she was able to finally touch her body.

　　"About time." Maria said, as she grabbed ahold of her body, and began using the newly learned knowledge of spirit magic to weave her own soul back into her body.

　　Whoom!

　　There was a system message that greeted her, well actually quite a few that greeted her as she found herself awaking, but right now the first thing she did was sit up and look around to find that her sister, brother, and both parents were there around her.

　　"Maria, oy mio! Your alive" Momma Alvarez said, apparently accepting and not heeding the system messages.

　　"Maria!" Anita shouted, as she ran forward and began hugging Maria.

　　Seeing them, Maria did the only thing she could, she tried to save them the only way she knew how, "we have to move quickly.