From the way Samantha asked the question, posing a challenge for me to differentiate between three Sandmen—two illusory, and one real—the implication was that this was something I could actually figure out, with the information I had available.


    She was right, that I needed to stop depending on her. Eventually, maybe I would figure out a way to kick Samantha out of my head. If that ever happened, then I would want to able to make decisions for myself, not relying on Samantha 24/7.


    I could sneak up under the Invisibility Cloak with heightened Perception, I suggested.


    <No. That would take time, and in that time, you’d have illusions planted and accumulating in your brain. It’s possible, but risky.>


    Then I’m stuck, I said, mentally throwing my hands up in the air.


    <The clues are there, Jarek. For the three Sandmen that are candidates for the real one, they are all curled up in the same position.


    <There is an easy way to test between the three sedentary Sandmen. You can just set off a weak Soul Explosion near one of them, and then we can study to see how they react. If we watch closely, the first one to look in the direction of the explosion would be the real one. If any Sandmen don’t react, or look the wrong way, or look the right way, but slowly, or, if they look the right way but the mana doesn’t flow correctly through their bodies, then that is a sign that they are not real.>


    Wouldn’t that give away my presence? I asked. I thought I wanted the element of surprise.


    <That is true. We can set off the explosion near the peak of the mountain, and then they will not expect us to come charging up from the foot of the mountain.>


    And are you sure it’s worth it to give up the Stat Points? I wasn’t nearly as dedicated to my own development as much as Samantha, so it was something of a surprise to hear that she was willing to sacrifice my own Stat Points.


    <We would only need two Stat Points. It’s worth it. You already gained a Stat Point from the Nimion Flower anyway. You can just take that point you gained in Dexterity and put it to a better use. Then you can take away a Stat Point from Strength, too.>


    Alright.


    As far as Samantha’s plans went, this actually seemed reasonable, well-thought-out, and cautious. It definitely beat getting swallowed whole by a monster the size of a building and fighting my way out of its digestive tract.


    There were two limiting factors to Soul Explosion. First, I could only use 20 Stat Points at a time. Samantha offered a rough calculation about what this would mean. One Stat Point sacrificed would be capable of killing something’s soul at level 5. 2 Stat Points could kill something at level 10, and so on. 20 Stat Points put into a Soul Explosion could kill a creature around level 100.


    It didn’t seem like a coincidence that, if I were to kill a Zone Lord with a Soul Explosion, I would likely have to use 20 Stat Points, and then I would gain those same Stat Points back.


    The effects of this meant that each additional Stat Point that I sacrificed made the Soul Explosion far more effective. Killing something that was level 5 was a joke, killing something at level 20 was well more than 4 times harder than killing something at level 5.


    This was why Samantha was suggesting that I spend 2 Stat Points. An explosion that could kill a level 5 creature might not even be enough to make a Zone Lord turn its head. Hopefully, an explosion that could kill a level 10 creature would at least draw the Zone Lord’s attention.


    The second limiting factor to Soul Explosion was that the explosion originated from my soul, meaning my soul had to be near my target.


    I quickly lowered my spirit down towards the ground, focusing my senses on the three Sandmen I was suspicious of. One at the top of the mountain, two in caves below me.


    In addition to the nearby monsters, I had decided I would also target a Sandman turd.


    Let’s blow shit up.


    I was only in the range of the turd’s illusion-magic for a split second, before I immediately activated the Soul Explosion.


    True to form, Samantha had neglected to mention that it would be painful.


    It felt like I was cutting off a portion of who I was, a deep pain at the core of my being that would never be mended.


    <Focus!> Samantha shouted in my head.


    I immediately sent my soul flying back up into the air, to escape from the illusion magic around me, and focused on the three Sandmen.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    They were all staring intently at where I had just set off the explosion.


    <Well, which one do you think it is?> Samantha sounded like a teacher, calling out the student who had been staring distractedly out a window.


    I don’t know. You tell me. You should have mentioned that Soul Explosion would be incredibly painful.


    <It’s the Sandman on the east side of the mountain, two thirds of the way towards the top. He was the first to look towards you. Now, it’s time to get back to your body.>


    I flew through the air, again at an incredible speed, until I found my body. Since Personal Mana Shields are tied to your soul, I was able to travel through the Personal Mana Shields around my body easily, re-entering without any difficulty.


    I opened my eyes, wriggled my fingers, and breathed deeply.


    After experiencing the Spiritual Realm, it was nice to be back in reality. I still had Mana Sensing’s passive effect active, so I could still see the mana inside the trees and monsters around me, but it was nice seeing the physical outsides of everything. The textured bark of trees, the various colors of the leaves, and the far-off peaks of the Swiss Alps.


    I rose carefully, unsure of how my body would react to being soul-less for a few minutes. I felt a bit of lethargy like waking up from a deep sleep, but I still felt very capable.


    <You should unequip your Personal Mana Shields,> Samantha said. <They will just break pretty much the moment they are exposed to the Sandman shit. They might buy you a second or two, but it’s not worth the cost.>


    I unequipped my Personal Mana Shields, choosing instead to equip my usual assortment of items, including the goat mask, since it would add to my perception.


    Then, I started my newfound skill, building up mana outside of my body, essentially creating a second mana pool outside my body.


    It took some focus. I wasn’t telling the mana to do anything except for follow me around. I waited for my mana pool to refill.


    I felt I rush of excitement. I was currently more deadly than I had ever been.


    The only thing missing was that Cursed Lightning was still on cooldown.


    I shrugged, enjoying the physical feeling of my shoulders rising and falling. Then I sighed, in pleasure. It was strange, how much I missed the physical feeling of movement, and the random itchy feeling of needing to move, after just a few minutes outside of my body.


    I split my floating points between Agility and Perception, and I rushed up the mountainside.


    I was still under my Invisibility Cloak, so I was able to rush around the hundreds of monsters swarming the mountainside.


    I could see, with my Mana Sensing, when the first Illusion-attributed mana from the Sandman feces reached me.


    I braced myself for weird hallucinations, but I didn’t feel anything. I just kept running through a field of Illusion-attributed mana, charging past the Dire Rats, and past a strange hybrid of a greyhound and an eagle called Parons.


    The Parons had the lithe torso and four paws of a greyhound, with the head of an eagle and a massive wingspan much greater than any eagle I had ever seen.


    There were hundreds of them, and I could only imagine how hard it would be to dodge their attacks from the sky and from the ground. Fortunately, I didn’t have to, because none of them had noticed me yet.


    As I rushed up the mountainside, my path grew steeper and steeper, gradually reaching what was essentially a vertical wall.


    To my surprise, Samantha’s combat shadow continued directly through the wall.


    <It’s an illusion,> she said. <Anyone who comes this way would be detoured away from the Sandman’s real nest.>


    I stretched out a hand, watching my own hand disappear though what looked like a very solid rocky cliffside to me. I had thought that my heightened Perception would be enough to break the illusion.


    <Weren’t you listening earlier, when I told you that you need to rely on Mana Sensing in order to cancel out the Sandman’s illusion spells? Your perception isn’t an efficient tool—it costs far more mana than Mana Sensing does. Even if you had 50 Perception right now, you still might not be able to see completely through the Sandman’s illusions.>


    I stepped forward, through the wall and into the darkness—it didn’t look like I was surrounded by dirt. It was just like I was walking through a pitch-black murky nothingness. I was meeting no resistance with every step except for the ground at my feet.


    The combat shadow had slowed down considerably, allowing me to take slow and deliberate steps. It was hard, taking a step and not knowing right away at what level your foot will land on the ground.


    What were the details that showed you this cliffside was fake, then? I asked.


    <I memorized the layout of the mountain when we were out of range of the illusion mana. As I mentioned earlier, the Sandman shit creates a stable, Area of Effect Illusion ward. Earlier, I didn’t know what it’s purpose was. But I would say that it seems clear that the goal was to obstruct the path of any approaching attackers. If you had followed that cliffside, I’m sure you would have found yourself following a gradual spiral up the mountain. Who knows—you may have had to spiral around the mountain five times before reaching the Sandman. By then, the Illusion magic would have had more time to infiltrate your mind for whatever other devious purposes it has.>


    <Anyway, with the layout that I memorized as a template, I was able to filter through the dense illusion mana surrounding us and focus in on the earth-attuned mana that shows where the ground actually is.>


    Everything Samantha said sounded incredibly difficult. First of all, how was it even possible to memorize the topography of a mountain to that level of precision?


    And I had been tuning out a lot of the Mana Sensing information around me, because it was giving me a headache. Everything around me was whitish gold, swirling in confusing patterns. I could barely make anything else out.


    But I didn’t want to praise Samantha—I didn’t want it to go to her head.


    But wouldn’t people eventually just touch the cliffside and find out that it’s fake? As I asked, I took another step in the darkness blindly, trusting Samantha’s combat shadow to lead me up the mountainside safely.


    <Eventually, the illusion would fail. But think about where that would leave most people. Think about the illusion you’re under, now. You are essentially walking through pitch-black nothingness. How are you supposed to kill a Sandman, or even defend yourself, when you are unable to hear, see, or smell anything?>


    Samantha’s questions put me on edge. My five senses were providing me with absolutely no information. Mana Sensing, on the other hand, was oversaturated with confusing blends of white and gold. Mana Sensing gave me a view of the world that was even more chaotic than a toddler painting with watercolors.