Matthew looked away, rubbing his temple. "I didn’t know that’s what I was doing."
Honestly, if you had superpowers and could use them to ace an exam, wouldn’t you?
Of course you would. The answer was obvious—yes. A big yes.
She floated a little higher and flailed her arms. "You’re supposed to use that energy to survive battles. Break barriers. Maybe bend reality a little—not pass algebra!"
"I didn’t even have algebra today," he said.
She hovered in front of him, speechless for a mont. Then she pointed at his head. "You really are hopeless. Who does that? Who uses spiritual strength to get through exams?"
Matthew shrugged. "People who want to pass?"
She groaned and floated in circles. "Unbelievable. You’re the first Nexian I’ve ever t who could probably faint after an essay."
Matthew leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "Yeah, well. At least I’m getting good grades."
What was so shocking about that, anyway? He’d only learned about spiritual energy yesterday. Now, suddenly, he was expected to know how to conserve it like so veteran cultivator?
His head throbbed.
"Tsk." The ghost clicked her tongue and crossed her arms. "Fine. I’ll help you this ti. But you’re still helping with my body."
"I already said I’d help you with your body," Matthew muttered, then paused. "Okay, that sounded weird."
She didn’t even blink. "Follow ."
"I have an exam in ten minutes," Matthew said, glancing at his watch. "Actual written test. You know, the normal kind."
"You won’t finish it," she said as she floated backward, her body already moving down the path toward the far side of campus. "You’ll faint halfway through and probably collapse in front of everyone. Maybe even fall into a coma. Or worse. You might even die!"
Matthew narrowed his eyes. "That sounds fake."
"I’m serious," she said. "The only way for you to recover is if you consu a spiritual stone now. A Nexian’s ability or life force is tied to spirit stones. Besides, there’s sothing special on the school grounds. I can sense it. It’ll help stabilize your energy. It won’t take long."
He stared at her for a mont and was about to ask her about being able to absorb ghosts. Sadly, she was already floating several steps ahead, her translucent figure weaving through the path like she had no ti to argue.
Matthew groaned under his breath and pushed off the wall. "Fine. But if I miss this test, I’m haunting you."
He followed her across the courtyard and down a narrow path that most students didn’t use. This was the sa place where he tested his strength. The buildings around this place were mostly sealed off. Broken windows, rusted doors, and paint peeling off the walls. There was even a section of collapsed fencing, long ignored by the maintenance crew.
The ghost girl didn’t stop. She floated past a rusted gate and into a shadowed hallway of one of the abandoned buildings.
Matthew hesitated. "You’re not luring into a horror movie setup, are you?"
She said nothing in response.
Matthew looked over his shoulder, sighed, and ducked under the bent tal fra to follow her in. Dust filled the air. His shoes scraped against cracked tiles as he stepped through the entryway. The air inside was colder, still, like the place hadn’t been disturbed in years.
She hovered ahead, waiting near a narrow stairwell that led downward.
"Down there," she said. "It’s below. I can feel it."
"Of course, it’s below," Matthew muttered. "It’s always below." For so reason, this reminded him of so horror movies.
But he followed her anyway.
"This place..." Matthew mumbled as he continued down the narrow stairwell. The concrete steps creaked under his weight. The deeper he went, the colder it felt.
Then he saw them.
Ghosts.
Not just the annoying one that dragged him here—others. Several of them. They hovered in the corners, so near the broken ceiling tiles, others floating silently by the cracked walls. Their forms were faint and blurred, like smudges of light and shadow. None of them looked aware of his presence. None spoke.
He stopped mid-step, eyes adjusting to the dim light filtering in from above. It wasn’t pitch black, but it was close. The sunlight from the stairwell only lit a small part of the room below.
He glanced toward the ghost girl ahead of him.
"Don’t mind them," she said without looking back. "They’re just lost souls. Echoes. If no one interacts with them, they’ll fade away, eventually."
Matthew didn’t respond. He moved carefully, stepping onto the dusty basent floor. The air was heavier here. Thicker. And even though the spirits didn’t acknowledge him, he could feel them.
And there were more than before.
He glanced around. There were two near the broken cabinet. One drifting across a collapsed beam. Another in the far corner, barely visible. It wasn’t just a few anymore—he was surrounded.
He opened his mouth to ask her why they were gathering there, but the ghost girl suddenly stopped.
She floated completely still, staring ahead into a deeper part of the darkness.
Matthew narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t see anything from where he stood, just shadows and broken debris.
Then she spoke.
"Oh no..." she said. "This is bad."
Matthew didn’t move. "What’s bad?"
"I made a mistake," she said quickly, backing up. "Sothing’s wrong. I don’t think we—I don’t think we’re supposed to co here."
"What do you an sothing’s wrong?" Matthew asked, stepping closer.
"You need to run," she said, eyes locked on the shadows ahead. "Now."
Then she vanished.
"Hey!" Matthew hissed, but the ghost was no longer there. "Did that ghost seriously just panic over another ghost? Aren’t they supposed to be the scary ones?"
Matthew cursed inwardly when the ghost didn’t answer him. That ghost was completely unreliable. Sadly, he was desperate enough to listen to her.
He stayed frozen for a second as he scanned the shadows. Nothing moved. No sound, no presence. Just cold air and dust. And yet, every instinct told him to run. Was the ghost overreacting?
He shifted his weight and stepped back again. That’s when he noticed one of the nearby ghosts hovering to his left, drifting without purpose.
He quickly reached out.
The mont his fingers passed through the ghost’s form, he felt sothing shift. The ghost started to blur—its edges unraveling like mist in the wind. It grew more transparent, its body slowly fading.
And at the sa ti, his headache eased.
The pain didn’t vanish completely, but the pressure behind his eyes eased. His body felt lighter, less strained.
He blinked slowly.
If he rembered correctly, the ghost girl had said sothing about spiritual stones being their life force—the only way for him to recover.
So then... why did absorbing that ghost make him feel better?
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