Lost Miracles

"... You're teasing those things again?"

"No, I'm just killing individual."

"Hmm, I see. A believer."

"Do you think his meat is edible? He looks pretty meaty."

"Are you joking?"

"Yeah, I'm joking."

Mithra placed the corpse, which was covered in cuts and wounds, outside Safin's cave. The head was simply like a squashed watermelon.

Then she collapsed onto the ground and gasped for breath.

Safin looked at her with a hint of concern. Then he saw Mithra raise her hand, instantly gathering Stabilize and placing it on her forehead.

Ding.

It was a simple, almost instinctive action, but it seemed unable to soothe her panting and fatigue.

"You've mastered Stabilize so quickly, it's almost like it's a fixed function," Safin frowned.

Mithra didn't answer.

It was probably because of the intense pain of her body's regeneration, the mastery of Stabilize had increased rapidly. But under the extreme state of Stabilize, the sensation of pain was even more vivid, she was just able to largely prevent the pain from affecting her.

She had finally managed to kill her enemy, taking advantage of the environment.

But her opponent, in a final act of malice, retaliated, shattering several bones in Mithra's body and almost shattering her ribcage.

He had also tried to activate other miracles, but Mithra had killed him before he could succeed. It seemed that believers were still very hesitant to fight at lower levels. After all, miracle activation often required a time lag.

After a long silence, Mithra finally felt the pain in her body subside, and her senses returned to normal.

She thought for a moment.

Ding.

She used another Stabilize.

After her senses returned to normal, her sense also recovered, but even so, she was able to activate Stabilize almost instantaneously. The duration was shorter, but she could achieve the effect of lasting several minutes in a single use.

"When you first learn miracles, your sense won't be lacking. But when you learn more miracles, you'll have to carefully distribute your sense," Safin reminded her, noticing her constantly replenishing Stabilize.

Mithra finally managed to pull her thoughts back to the conversation. "Is sense inherently fixed?"

"A newborn baby's sense is at its strongest right away, but it will weaken significantly afterwards. Then, as they start to have memories, it will grow again. Before the age of twenty is a period of rapid growth. It weakens after thirty, and it's hard to grow further after forty. There will be another leap at fifty, but then it will basically stop growing," Safin said quickly.

"Strange rules," Mithra commented.

"Humanity is very strange. The whole world is very strange," Safin chuckled.

"Are there other ways to grow?"

"Yes," Safin answered without hesitation. "When a miracle is activated or a believer dies, some of their sense will split off and become tangible. You can absorb those. But there's a hidden danger. You must be moderate. Absorb too much, and you'll be 'lost'."

Mithra nodded and made a note.

"I was going to teach you how to hunt in the caves after you came back. But it seems you need to rest for a while," Safin shook his head.

"Sorry, I need to rest a bit," Mithra didn't push it.

"It's alright, I'm not in a hurry," Safin said. "Oh, how many lives do you have left?"

"...What?" Mithra paused before reacting, but she still didn't understand Safin's meaning.

Safin realized something. "You don't even know this...Hmm, very strange."

He thought for a moment and explained. "People from the Enchanting Land, they have many lives. I've heard them talk about it. All people from the Enchanting Land will have at least two lives in Dreamland, and the number can increase depending on their mastery and use of miracles."

"I don't know." Mithra was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then she said, "Do they have a name for this kind of thing?"

"In the Enchanting Land, they call this extra life a 'Life lock.'"

Mithra froze.

Life lock!?

When she traded for "Night eyes," her life lock decreased.

That's why "Life lock" was worth so much, to warrant such unique eyes.

"I don't know if I have any Life locks left. I don't know anything about this." All Mithra could say to Safin was that she was completely clueless.

"These are the common patterns that our ancestors have constantly researched and developed, simplified over time. Every sense type has a corresponding pattern that anyone can learn to use. After all, humans are very weak. We need to learn more to make up for our weaknesses."

"And during their research into the process of miracle activation, some strong people gradually develop their own Faith Totem, which allows them to modify some of the properties of a miracle, or even develop a powerful unique miracle. These are more advanced concepts."

With that said, Safin pointed to the beginner's textbook. "Turn to the last few pages of the textbook."

Mithra did as she was told. After flipping through the pages, she saw the appendix at the end of the textbook, listing a large number of patterns, all Faith Totems.

Mithra looked at them for a while. Then Safin tossed her a sharp rock. "Start with the 'Self' patterns, draw each pattern five times. Get familiar with them. We'll take a break, and I'll teach you Reinforce Body. Then we'll continue drawing. There's no rush. Get them firmly etched in your mind, and then form muscle memory."

And so, Mithra began learning Reinforce Body and Faith Totems simultaneously.

In addition to that, she had to go out with Safin and learn how to hunt the creatures in the caves.

Mostly rabbits and rodents, and of course, some edible insects. The food conditions in the tunnels were really pretty much that, but Mithra accepted it without complaint.

In fact, she rarely had any expressions at all.

Without the sun in the mine, it was impossible to tell how much time had passed. Mithra felt like she was slowly turning into a savage.

It was a good thing that Safin could activate water miracles to help cleanse her body, or she wasn't sure how dirty she would have become.

During this time, Mithra had successfully mastered Reinforce Body at a basic level. Currently, she could only apply it to her arms and forearms. She also began integrating her own patterns into the process of activating miracles.

However, she was encountering a problem.

Adding patterns required extra sense power. Moreover, before she mastered them, the effects of the patterns on strengthening miracles weren't clear. While the activation of miracles did become faster, the time it took to draw the patterns themselves wasn't reduced. Ultimately, for Mithra, the time it took for the lag was actually extended.

It was still a matter of mastery.

And without the stimulation of regeneration, Mithra's learning progress was only average.

She was also considering whether she should just stab herself a few more times to practice in a state of heightened sense.

But she was spending most of her time with Safin, so she shouldn't act too strange.

The two of them also passed through the pile of corpses in the tunnel. After that believer was killed by Mithra, the rest of them waited for a long time, but the believer never came back. They were scared and ran away.

During that time, there weren't any more newcomers coming.

After she mastered the Self patterns, Mithra's learning tasks relaxed a bit. She could start to explore other knowledge.

Like the history of this world.

"Dreamland was once ruled by forty-four beings of immense power. They had different origins, but for a period of time, they ruled and dominated Dreamland. They constantly fought each other, endless wars. Towards the end of their rule, the first group of miracle thieves emerged. They stole the power that only those beings could use and turned it into miracles for humans. From this moment, the era changed. Humans defeated the Forty-Four Pillars, exterminated them, and established the foundation of civilization as it exists today."

Safin spoke with a monotonous tone, recounting the history.

Mithra listened seriously, it was all new information.

"Who was the first person to steal a miracle?" She asked.

Safin looked at her and said, "It was 'Kahira.' She was the first human believer. She stole the power of 'Brilliant Light' Michelle, one of the Forty-Four Pillars, the power of light. She was the first human user of the power of light."

Kahira.

She had seen that name on the "Illuminate" miracle.

Thinking for a moment, Mithra continued to ask, "Do you know the name 'Lebaance'?"

That was the name that had given her the "Regeneration" gift.

"How do you know that name?" Safin was quite surprised.

"What's wrong?"

"......No, your behavior has always been like that of a newborn baby. I'm surprised you know that name. Although it's not unfamiliar in Dreamland."

"Who is he?"

"One of the Forty-Four Pillars, 'Infinite' Lebaance."