The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet
Chapter 138: The Stargazer (Arc 5 – Wish Upon a Star)

Chapter 138: The Stargazer (Arc 5 – Wish Upon a Star)

It was hard to tell initially how long I was within my domain for. 

It was a large void with no cycles, not exactly a clear way to know the time in such a space. Then there was the issue of not knowing how long I was asleep in this space before I awoke.

Espr couldn’t help with that answer as they didn’t know the speed at which time progressed in my domain. 

Eventually I learned I could create an artificial way to track the time. I formed a star that cycled around the whole void once every twenty-four hours. Then I created a second Star that did the same thing but moved an equal distance to its diameter once a day. Tracking the position of the stars wasn’t hard, so that was how I was able to track a standard flow of time as it passed.

I painted the sky in stars as I slowly felt my energy increase. This whole world stored my energies for later use. Some amounts were still kept within my body—well, a large amount in comparison to what I could use before—but the percentage of that compared to the energy in the domain itself was small.

Despite how wonderful this world was, I did want to leave, but I had to wait for my body to fully recover. Who would’ve guessed a complete transformation had growing pains?

My body, well, domain, did generate a small amount of mana, but it was nearly inconsequential in comparison to the Starlight, Fire, Light, and Sun energies that were generated.

I could only wonder how these abilities of mine would even work back in the Existence of Expansion.

That is still such a strange name.

Within my domain, I could manipulate all these freely. I basically had all the abilities my… Awakened self had?

I had lost my Soul Page, but it was only ever a representation. Espr taught me how to ask Existence to show me a form of the old Soul Page and also taught me how to curate my own. 

Ceella Stella | Spiritual | Race: [Stellar]

Skills:

• Starlight

• Fire

• Sun

• Light

My version was a little different. The idea of skills could still exist, but in general terms, I had enough space to have every type of skill that would be considered a Magic Skill from all my energy types.

What should I add next?

I was bored. 

Creating this Soul Page was merely a pastime as I waited for my turn to leave the domain.

Outside of my manipulation of the above elements. My abilities were basically expansions of what I could originally do. 

Let’s call these other abilities [Star Sight], nah, let's just keep calling it [Star Mapping] and hmm…

[Star Mapping]’s change was simple; I could see through my own light. So my issue in caves, or if I were in a location like the dungeon world with no stars, I could still see all around me. 

My other ability wasn’t really an ability, more a physical change; my body’s physical capability was beyond what it was before, and well, it definitely wasn’t a human body either. I had organs, but they were fake organs made out of Starlight and mana. If I got stabbed in the heart, I wouldn’t die. The physical changes included my basic ability to not need to sleep, but I could actually sleep now if I wanted to. 

Then there were my Starlight antlers. My transformation did consume the parts of my soul that Espr had influenced, which in turn influenced my new form. These horns did hold a purpose, as they let me utilise and receive energy from my domain into my body when I was outside of my domain. They could do this function even when they were not out, but it would be less than a percentage of the transfer rate, according to Espr. 

Ceella Stella | Spiritual | Race: [Stellar]

Skills:

• Starlight

• Fire

• Sun

• Light

• Star Mapping

• Super Body

• Starlight Horns

Hmm, okay, for those skills that let others see other people’s Soul Pages. Let them see this.

Name: Stella

Skills:

• Starlight

• Fire

• Sun

• Light

• Star Mapping

• Super Body

• Starlight Horns

Perfect.

I didn’t have a proper Soul Page for those skills to see, so I gave them a confusing alternative. In the end, I still ended up floating in space for a long time. I was having fun manipulating streams of energy like paint, creating my very own ever-changing sky, but I still had a job to do, people to see again, and others I needed to kill. 

After my star cycled through the domain five more times. 

(“ Ceella, you should be able to leave now ”)

Espr’s words were music to my ears. “Finally.”

(“ Remember, since the marble you used to enter was connected to the original world you had consumed, it holds a connection to you ”)

“Right.” 

“Anything else to note?”

(“ You are going to be the weakest Spiritual Being to have ever existed ”)

“That’s… not too surprising.”

(“ You did consume a dying core for your evolution. Also, I need to mention, you won’t be nearly as strong as you are in this domain ”)

“No way around that?” 

(“ Correct. It has to do with Existence is layered, there are ways to increase those limits, but you can’t utilise a single one of those methods, but on the bright side, because you are so weak, some of the natural limitations don’t affect you ”)

“Cool… Give me some more info later, after I’ve experienced what you are talking about a bit more.”

(“ Sure ”) 

I spent a few moments trying to focus on the marble. Espr was right about there being a connection, and I was able to create a visualisation of it within my domain to improve my focus.

After a while, I created a door of pure Starlight that I simply had to step through.

I turned around to see my work of art. 

Streams of red, yellow, blue, and purple flowed like rivers across the domain but didn’t need to follow the whims of gravity. Small and large stars were scattered around; some floated within the rivers, while others stood still within the void. Some stars were placed in formations to make constellations, while others were left to shine brightly without others.

I will show you soon…

I turned back to the door, and I finally left my domain.

...The world feels strange.... 

I used [Star Mapping] to check out everything within the building, and there were some interesting things around.

I reached out to touch the air, but moving through the world, everything about it felt fundamentally different. From the air, the ground, even the people, as if I was separated from it, not by a barrier or anything physical, but by a vague feeling.  

(“ It is the difference between being within or out of Existence ”) 

Elaboration, please? 

Espr had left its split in my domain. That allowed for us to have a mental connection—for as long as I wanted—which allowed us to communicate anywhere without Espr’s soul parasite. 

(“ Spiritual beings are separate from Existence. All beings are part of Existence; besides the Spiritual, we exist unbound by its limitations, but at the same time, have to exist without its support. Perhaps in human terms, the difference between a child in a mother’s arms and an adult who lives on their own ”) 

...I see... 

I did kind of understand what Espr was going for. It was hard not to when the world itself felt like a close, familiar acquaintance, but going from what was normal to this separation would take a while to get used to. 

Doesn’t happen in my domain because, well, it is my space. 

(“ Yes, you would also have similar but different reactions if you were in someone’s domain ”) 

I wasn’t stuck within my thoughts for long.

“Ceella!” Lila ran to me as I floated to the ground, and the moment she was close enough, she dived into a hug.

“Good morning, Lila,” I completed the hug. It had been a while since I had seen her, but being gone again and seeing her after all my changes.

“It’s night.” Lila chuckled.

“Oh, my sense of time is a little off.” I hugged for a while longer.

Once I was done with the hug, “Hello, Nina.” I said hello to my other guest, who stayed around for my entry.

“Hello, Ceella…” Nina replied with a small, polite wave.

I asked, “You seem nervous?”

Nina swallowed something, then replied, “...Sigh, it has just been a long few days.”

I said, “I feel that. I hope you can get a good break in soon.”

“Thank you.” She smiled and nodded. “Hey, Ceella, did you manage to fix your problem?”

“Yep, and Nope, I am a free girl.” 

Nina replied, shocked, “...How…”

Did she have that little faith in me?

(“ I think most people would ”)

Honestly, it is a fair assumption. 

I knew trying to win a bet against something like Espr was very stupid and hard. I did manage, but I was really on the edge of the tightrope in more ways than one. My original plan was to use what should’ve been an extremely large source of mana to basically block off the infection. Which did work, but I had no way of knowing how long that would last for. 

I ended up falling into a solution that happened to follow the steps of my plan.

In the end, as I told Espr, the idea of belonging completely to Espr wasn’t something I hated the idea of, but I also wanted to be free to do what I wanted. And that was a promise Espr could never keep. It was something I had asked them, but they always refused to answer.

Maybe in a different world, if our relationship were a little different, I would’ve been more willing to take that solution, but what happened has happened, and I am very happy with the solution.

I answered Nina, “A lot of effort, nearly dying, and burning through so much mana.” I didn’t tell her about the whole Spiritual being shit, that was not needed for the moment.

Nina nodded, but she was still looking at me suspiciously.

Did I do something wrong?

(“ I don’t know the reason, but the likely answers she can sense something not normal about your being, or it is her nature as a healer, and she noticed something fundamentally wrong about your body ”)

There had to be a better descriptor than ‘fundamentally wrong’.

(“ Maybe ”)

“Besides, can we go outside? I have been wanting to see the real sun for such a long time.”

It took a few minutes for safety ‘checking’ before I was allowed outside, but that was fine, it gave me a chance to talk with Lila, who I just learned had been working here. I also learned what Espr meant about those damn warnings about family being in danger, and not being in a safe place.

Dammit Tyell… 

Sigh…

At least everyone is alive.

“The sun feels good,” I said as we stepped outside.

Lila asked, “Going to sunbathe for hours again?”

“No… yes… Later.”

I could still absorb the Starlight from the stars, but that wasn’t the only thing I was absorbing now. I could feel Light and Sun energies being pulled into my body. The result was actually slower than it was before, not even a 1/10th of my original Starlight recovery rate. I guess this was the difference of no longer being a part of Existence.

While I could still absorb Starlight to a lesser extent, along with other energies. I couldn’t use or absorb the surrounding mana at all; there was strong resistance when I tried, and trying to overcome it felt futile. 

Top on my to-do list was, of course, seeing my family. I asked if Lila wanted to come, but she said no, not because she wasn’t allowed to leave, but because she wanted me to have alone time with my family. I, of course, said back she is family, which caused her to blush hard, but she stuck to her firm reason.

I was offered a ride home, which I decided to take since running or flying might be too noisy. Though I hadn’t tried flying outside my domain yet, so I was very excited to try that out.

On the drive home, Espr asked. 

(“ Are you going to remove the scars? ”)

I should huh…

(“ I’m still surprised you kept them ”)

Emotions are complicated. 

I looked at my head with my abilities, and I removed all traces of the scars from there and the rest of my body. Except for the one on my chest, which I saved as a reminder until I killed the bastard who caused it and the cheek scar. 

(“ Still keeping the most visible scar, I see ”)

Well, I don’t want people to get too comfortable. It was always a great deterrent for noisy people. Outside of that, I’m excited to start wearing short-sleeved shirts again. 

(“ Enjoying the simple things? ”)

Exactly, enjoying the simple things.

I said thank you to the driver and left the vehicle outside my house.

I’m home.

I walked to the front door of my house and knocked on the door, and my mother quickly opened it. 

“Mother, I’m back,” I said as casually as possible.

“CEELLAA!!!”

“Sis!”

“Ceella!”

I was greeted with a very loud welcome as the three of them came charging through the entrance, toppling over each other to hug me. 

I’ve missed you all…