Chapter 241: The Three Components.

There was, however, one thing that bothered Kael.

He couldn’t remember ever crossing Lady Angela. Why would she go to such lengths to deal with him? From Morgan’s memories, he had learned that her reason was supposedly connected to her nephew. Apparently, Kael had done something to the boy that had angered her enough to order an attack against Ezra. Kael couldn’t help but wonder who she was talking about.

Could it be Marcus?

He remembered the young man who had tried to bully Adam some time ago, only for Kael to beat him up. There was a possibility that he was the nephew Lady Angela had been referring to.

Well, it didn’t matter that much.

He would figure it out once he looked into the matter properly. Regardless of who it was, Kael would make sure to deal with them accordingly. He was many things, but he wasn’t the type of person to simply let someone who had tried to hurt him, or put someone around him in danger, walk away without consequences.

Before he could think any further about how to deal with Lady Angela, a voice suddenly echoed inside his mind.

"Master, you need to return. I don’t think she will be able to last much longer."

Kael’s expression immediately changed.

"What?"

A sense of urgency surged through him as he immediately contacted Varek.

"Open the portal."

By now, Varek had already taken Ezra back into the instance. Thanks to Varek’s access to the core of the instance, he had been able to disable the Torpor of the Eternal Rest curse within the area where Ezra was being treated. That way, the local curse wouldn’t affect her while she remained inside.

Thanks to that, Ezra wouldn’t have any issues. The Death Slug had been healing her ever since Varek brought her back, but judging from what Varek had just said, even that wasn’t enough to wake her.

The battle had exhausted Ezra’s mana to an extreme degree, and Kael could already guess what was happening.

Her consciousness was beginning to lose control.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, space before him suddenly twisted.

A spatial portal opened.

Kael didn’t waste another second. He stepped through the distorted space and disappeared into the passage before emerging on the other side.

The familiar throne room of the instance appeared before him.

Varek was already standing nearby.

Beside her was Ezra.

Her body lay motionless upon a bed formed from Varek’s shadow, her pale figure appearing almost lifeless beneath the dim light of the throne room.

Kael immediately walked toward them.

"What happened?"

Varek turned toward him and began explaining. After bringing Ezra into the instance, the Death Slug had continued providing her with healing. Thanks to that, most of her injuries, including the heavier ones, had already recovered. Yet despite the condition of her body improving, Ezra never regained consciousness.

At first, Varek had assumed she was simply exhausted and needed more time to recover.

But after examining her more carefully, he discovered that something else was wrong.

Kael listened silently as Varek explained. From his explanation, he confirmed he was right about what was happening to Ezra, but knowing what was happening and knowing how to fix it were two completely different things, and he would need to rely on Varek to find a solution.

After Kael explained everything he knew about Ezra’s condition, Varek fell silent.

For several seconds, he simply stared at Ezra’s unmoving figure.

"This is troublesome. So you’re saying this is some form of possession?"

Kael nodded.

"Yes."

Varek’s expression became solemn.

"There are many ways to deal with this kind of situation. However, considering her current condition and the circumstances surrounding the possession, most of them aren’t viable."

He paused briefly before continuing.

"That leaves us with the dangerous option."

Kael’s expression immediately became serious.

"What exactly is that?"

Varek looked toward him.

"We will have to fight fire with fire."

Kael narrowed his eyes.

Varek continued.

"We would have to Dreamwalk."

Kael furrowed his brows.

Even from the name alone, he could make a vague guess about what Dreamwalking involved, but he didn’t interrupt. He simply waited for Varek to continue.

"Dreamwalking is a delicate matter. It involves transferring one’s consciousness into another person’s consciousness. Under normal circumstances, it can be used as a method of dealing with possession, but there is a considerable risk of damaging the consciousness of the person being treated."

Varek’s gaze shifted toward Ezra.

"Entering someone’s consciousness isn’t the difficult part. The problem is finding the source of the possession and dealing with it once you’re inside. The consciousness itself can become a battlefield, and anything that happens within that battlefield can affect the person whose mind you’re entering."

Her eyes returned to Kael.

"It could even harm you, Master."

Kael’s brows remained furrowed.

Varek wasn’t exaggerating the danger. He could tell from her expression that this wasn’t some simple technique where he could enter Ezra’s mind, remove whatever was possessing her, and walk away.

If something went wrong, Ezra could be damaged.

He could be damaged.

And there was no guarantee that either of them would come out of it completely intact.

Kael fell silent as he considered the situation.

His newly acquired arcane knowledge had also granted him a deeper understanding of matters involving consciousness. Normally, most living beings could be considered to consist of three fundamental components.

The physical body.

The spirit.

And the soul.

Not every living creature possessed all three in the same manner, but that distinction wasn’t important at the moment. Humans possessed all three.

The soul contained the records that defined one’s existence, including things such as karma and the deeper imprints accumulated throughout one’s existence. It was, in many ways, the fundamental key to what made a person who they were. Without a soul, a living being could not truly exist.

Then there was the spirit.

The spirit was the mind, or the consciousness, whichever one prefers to call it.

The collection of experiences, memories, thoughts, emotions, and everything else that formed the individual personality of a person. It was what allowed someone to think, perceive, remember, and understand the world around them.

Finally, there was the physical component, the body. It was simply the vessel that contained everything else.

But none of that mattered right now. In Ezra’s case, the physical body was recovering.

The problem lay with the other two components.

Her spirit and her soul.