Chapter 271
Chapter 272 The Missing Mindscape
As long as she calmed down and felt around carefully, it should have been easy to find.
Perhaps Lyra just had not gotten used to this kind of inner perception yet.
Elowen had heard Lyra had lived alone deep in the wilderness for years and only begun interacting with other people once she reached adulthood.
Elowen kept her tone patient. “It is fine. Everyone struggles the first time. Try a few more times.
“Quiet your mind. Let your awareness sink deep inside yourself p>
Lyra shut her eyes and tried again.
After a while, Elowen asked, “Can you see it now p>
Lyra opened her eyes, confused, and shook her head.
Elowen studied her quietly for several seconds.
“Here is what we will do. I will send out my spirit animal to help you locate it. Follow its presence with your awareness. Once you know where it lies, you can attempt to enter on your
own p>
Lyra’s eyes went wide with hope. She nodded hard.
The next instant, a secretary bird with vivid orange markings around its eyes materialized right before them.
Lyra’s mouth fell open.
It was breathtaking, graceful, and magnificent.
“Before we begin, I must give you a serious warning,” Elowen said. “Never step into another person’s mindscape unless there is no other choice.
“Another being’s inner world can shatter your psychic stability without effort. By the same token, you can wound or even kill someone by damaging their mindscape.
“You should only enter when there is complete mutual trust, or when you hold absolute certainty you will not walk into danger p>
Lyra’s expression turned tight hearing how grave the risks were.
Did that mean Elowen was risking herself just to teach her?
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Chapter 972 The Masing Medscape
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“Now,” Elowen continued her instructions, “empty your thoughts. Do not resist at all. If you sense something strange, do not panic. Stay perfectly calm until I tell you otherwise p>
Lyra nodded gravely.
“Come here,” Elowen beckoned.
Lyra stepped forward quickly.
Elowen also stood to her feet. Tall and willowy, she stood half a head higher than Lyra.
While Lyra lingered, awkward and unsure, Elowen curled one hand lightly behind Lyra’s neck. A soft, sweet scent drifted over as she pressed her forehead against Lyra’s.
Lyra froze completely.
“Close your eyes. Think of nothing,” Elowen told her.
Lyra obeyed at once.
Right before her vision faded, she saw a glowing halo ripple across the secretary bird’s feathers, lending it an almost divine aura.
Lyra’s brows drew together. Something was pushing its way slowly into her head.
The alien sensation felt deeply uncomfortable.
Her mind throbbed from the intrusion; her temples pulsed in sharp, steady beats.
Remembering Elowen’s warning, she took slow deep breaths to steady her nerves, relaxed her guarded awareness, and forced herself to accept the contact.
Eyes closed as well, Elowen guided her consciousness cautiously into Lyra’s inner world.
She had performed this many times before-with her own personal guard, and with dozens of newly recruited Guides under her instruction.
This was her standard method for helping Guides who could not find their mindscape independently.
Her spirit animal soared through endless darkness. Then Elowen found herself caught off guard.
Where is the mindscape?
She directed her spirit animal to widen its search across Lyra’s inner realm.
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Nothing stretched out before her but boundless, pitch-black emptiness, a dead void without the faintest spark of life.
After circling repeatedly, Elowen faced an impossible truth.
Lyra appeared to have no mindscape at all!
Refusing to believe it, she sent her spirit animal flying once more through the total blackness. searching every corner.
Nothing.
Still absolutely nothing.
There was not the slightest trace of a mindscape.
She could not even detect the faint signature of Lyra’s spirit animal.
Every Sentinel and every Guide possessed a mindscape. Their spirit animals resided there to rest and recover.
If Lyra had no mindscape, she should have no spirit animal either.
But how could she perform purification on Sentinels without them?
Lyra felt Elowen pull back from her.
Since Elowen had not told her to stop, she kept her eyes closed obediently.
Elowen stared at her for a long moment, full of bafflement, before she spoke. “…We are done p>
Lyra opened her eyes, bright with curiosity and anticipation.
Elowen pressed her lips together, her expression complicated.
Lyra typed, “Is something wrong p>
Heavy silence hung in the air. Slowly, Lyra read the unease on Elowen’s face.
The way Elowen looked at her was as if she were observing some incomprehensible unknown species.
Lyra’s heart skipped a beat. Could this inner psychic space reveal what made her different, just as her physical body did?
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Flowen paused, then asked uncertainly, “You completed the official tier assessment at the White Citadel, correct?
Lyra nodded cautiously.
She typed, “Is there a problem?
Elowen’s fine brows knitted together. “It is bizarre. I cannot find your mindscape anywhere”
Her gaze was full of confusion. It is as if… you do not have one p>
Lyra’s breath caught sharply. She typed carefully. “What does that mean for me p>
Elowen kept turning over the puzzle in her head. “Only ordinary humans without psychic gifts lack a mindscape. That is the clearest distinction between regular people, Guides, and Sentinels.
“But you-you hold genuine Guide abilities, yet no mindscape. There is no logical explanation
for this p>
Unease washed over Lyra. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead beneath her bangs.
Only two possibilities crossed her mind. Either her very nature was unlike other humans, or she possessed Tier-35 or even higher power beyond known scales.
Neither was something she could speak aloud.
Her fingers twisted nervously in the hem of her clothing, her mind racing.
She typed hesitantly, “Maybe… it’s because of something that happened to me p>
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Lucia Morh
Lucia Morh is a passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.