Chapter 424 — Spirit Body

"I can see her energy nodes... distributed differently from mine, but I suspect the principle is the same," Camille said, extending an arm brimming with arcane energy and slowly bringing it closer to Emily. "She's not yet very stable—it seems she is in the midst of a transformation—but she has already gained the basic capacity for independent existence..."

Emily watched Camille curiously, then imitated him and reached out her own hand—one brimming with arcane radiance, the other condensed from holy light—and the two glowing limbs slowly drew near. Just before the ghostly fingertips could touch, a brilliant but fleeting spark of energy burst suddenly from their fingertips, forming a tiny blossom of fireworks in the air.

Emily laughed happily.

"Her mind seems unstable as well, but there is no doubt she is capable of normal thought—she is certainly not undead."

"You said her state is unstable, and that she is in the midst of a transformation?" Wright caught Camille's earlier wording and could not help asking. "What does that mean?"

"A spirit being converted from a person needs a process of transformation before it can be fully stabilized, because we are not, after all, elemental creatures born with bodies of energy," Camille said. "Of course, this is merely an inference drawn from my own case—my sample is limited, and I cannot be certain that every transformation works this way."

Wright pressed on at once: "Then do you know how Emily came to be like this?"

"For that I'll need to learn the circumstances from you first," Camille said, turning to Wright. "I heard that after you broke with your faith in the God of Holy Light, you regained the holy light instead, and that this little girl named Emily played a tremendous role in that process... What exactly happened at the time?"

Camille, absorbed in his research, did not know Wright's story and had only heard a rough outline from Amber. So Gaoyang and Wright recounted for him that night in the Consco territory.

When he had heard the whole chain of cause and effect, Camille gave a faint sigh and said in a low, quiet voice: "What an incredible experience..."

Then, as he pondered, he said: "My transformation came about through the influence of the God of Nature—the great stag Amon. The power of the God of Nature was poured into my body, and thus changed my form. Emily's transformation came about through an infusion of holy light... My transformation changed my body along with me; my flesh was reforged into these 'armor plates' you see. But Emily's seems to have been a transformation of the soul alone—her body was not preserved..."

"It must be because the great stag Amon's power is of a higher order, and so could effect a more thorough transformation," Amber ventured. "Still, for Wright to have transformed Emily into a spirit body like this when he awakened the holy light... that's impressive enough."

"That was likely not Wright's power alone," Camille said, casually summoning a sphere of arcane energy as he spoke, which set Emily drifting around and around it. "Emily herself... must also possess a sufficiently high affinity for holy light."