Chapter 136
Professor Caelum allowed the manifested library to fade away. The marble floors dissolved, bookshelves vanished, and the familiar swamp terrain returned around them.
The professor adjusted his glasses thoughtfully.
"Now that I think about it," he said, "this is the only subject I never included in the book I gave you."
Nille blinked.
The book Professor Caelum had personally compiled for him contained years of knowledge on spiritual theory, High Elven practices, manifestations, and various principles of awakened development.
Thinking back on it, he realized the professor was right.
There had been nothing written about manifesting one's own space into reality.
Nille glanced toward him.
"Why?"
Professor Caelum smiled faintly, though there was a hint of resignation behind it.
"Because even after many decades of research," he admitted, "this ability continues to elude us."
He looked out toward the distant settlement.
"We understand that it exists."
"We know some races naturally develop it more frequently than others."
"We can observe its effects and classify its applications."
"But the exact process behind its creation..."
He shook his head slightly.
"...remains unclear."
Nille listened quietly.
"There are professors who have dedicated entire careers trying to understand why some individuals can manifest spaces naturally while others cannot," Caelum continued. "Even among High Elves, where this ability is relatively common, no one has identified a definitive method."
He let out a soft breath.
"We know the 'how.'"
"But the 'why' still escapes us."
The professor's expression softened.
"And because of that, Yamatai follows a particular philosophy."
Nille tilted his head slightly.
Professor Caelum smiled.
"Knowledge freely given is easily accepted."
"But knowledge personally discovered becomes understanding."
He folded his hands behind his back.
"It is a long-standing rule here at Yamatai that professors should not simply hand students every answer."
"Guidance may be provided."
"Theories may be discussed."
"But certain insights..."
He paused briefly.
"...must be reached through individual experience."
Nille understood immediately.
"Because otherwise, students would only imitate."
"Precisely," Caelum replied with visible approval.
"Manifested spaces are deeply personal phenomena. If we told everyone exactly what to expect, they might unconsciously force themselves into patterns that don't truly belong to them."
The professor looked toward Nille.
"Your Enclave is yours."
"The path leading to its understanding should also be yours."
Nille thought about the endless black waters within his Enclave.
The solitary tree.
The luminous core nestled within its trunk.
Simple.
Quiet.
Different from the professor's library.
Different from Instructor Kaori's manifestation.
Different from everyone else's.
Professor Caelum chuckled softly.
"Besides, if professors had all the answers, there would be nothing left to discover."
Nille smiled faintly.
Even after decades of study...
Even among Level 200 Awakened...
There were still mysteries.
Perhaps that was why Yamatai encouraged exploration rather than dependence.
Some knowledge could be taught.
But understanding...
That had to be earned through one's own experiences.
Professor Caelum glanced at him.
"Do not rush to understand everything at once, Nille."
"Sometimes, the answers reveal themselves only after you've taken enough steps forward."
Nille nodded slowly.
For once, he found comfort in not knowing.
After all...
Even the professors were still learning.
Nille remained thoughtful as he stood within Professor Caelum's manifested library.
"If these spaces can function as both sanctuaries and prisons," he asked, "how does that actually work?"
Professor Caelum smiled faintly.
"To understand that," he replied, "you first need to see what a manifested space looks like from both perspectives."
He gestured toward one of the marble walls.
"Come here."
Nille followed him.
As Professor Caelum extended a hand, spiritual energy gathered before the smooth marble surface.
A door materialized.
Simple in design, crafted from polished wood with a silver doorknob.
"There," Caelum said. "Try opening it."
Nille stepped forward and grasped the doorknob.
He twisted.
Nothing happened.
He applied more force.
The door remained completely still.
"It won't open," Nille said.
Professor Caelum nodded.
"Now try using your spiritual energy."
Nille focused, channeling his spiritual power into his hand as he turned the knob once more.
Still nothing.
Professor Caelum watched him quietly before smiling.
"I know you can do better than that."
Nille looked toward him.
"You're only using spiritual output equivalent to Level 4," Caelum explained. "Use what you currently possess."
He paused before adding reassuringly,
"You don't have to hide it. I can already tell your spiritual level has reached approximately Level 25."
Nille hesitated for a moment before releasing more of his true spiritual energy.
He gripped the doorknob again.
This time, as he twisted—
CRACK.
The metal doorknob snapped off in his hand.
Yet the door itself remained firmly shut.
The broken handle dissolved into particles of light and instantly reformed back into place.
Nille stared at it in realization.
Professor Caelum smiled.
"I think you understand now."
Nille looked at the unmoving door.
"The structure itself is maintained by spiritual energy," he said slowly.
Caelum nodded.
"Correct."
"The manifested space exists because I sustain it."
He placed a hand against the marble wall.
"The stronger the creator, the more resilient the space becomes."
Nille thought for a moment.
"So if someone with significantly greater power was trapped inside..."
"They could potentially force their way out," Caelum finished.
He smiled approvingly.
"Exactly."
"If a Level 400 Awakened were trapped inside my manifested space, they could likely tear through it through overwhelming force."
He folded his arms.
"A manifested space is not absolute."
"It is constrained by the spiritual capacity and understanding of its creator."
Nille looked around the library again.
"So a prison isn't perfect."
"No prison is," Caelum replied. "What matters is whether it can contain its intended target."
He then smiled.
"Now, I'll allow you to see the opposite perspective."
The professor gestured toward the door.
"Try opening it again."
Nille reached for the doorknob.
This time, the moment he twisted it, the mechanism turned smoothly.
The door opened effortlessly.
Nille paused.
"The creator allowed me access."
Professor Caelum nodded.
"Precisely."
Nille stepped closer to the doorway.
Beyond it, he didn't see another room.
Instead, it resembled a dimensional distortion.
Like looking through the surface of still water stretched across empty space.
The swamp beyond was visible through it.
Professor Caelum stood behind him.
"Go ahead," he encouraged. "Poke your head through and observe."
Nille cautiously leaned forward.
The moment his head passed through the doorway, his eyes widened.
From the outside...
Professor Caelum's library didn't occupy the surrounding area.
Instead, what he saw was a floating distortion in reality.
A tear.
An enclosed dimensional structure anchored within the swamp.
Its boundaries shimmered faintly like transparent glass separating two worlds.
From the outside, it looked much smaller than it had felt within.
Nille pulled his head back inside.
"...It's like a gate," he murmured.
Professor Caelum nodded.
"That is one of the laws governing manifested spaces."
He looked around the library.
"The interior and exterior perspectives are not always identical."
"From within, it feels like a complete environment."
"From outside, it may appear as a distortion, a boundary, or simply a localized phenomenon."
Nille looked toward the doorway again.
"So a safe zone..."
Professor Caelum smiled.
"...Can become a shelter isolated from external dangers."
"And a prison?"
The professor's expression grew more serious.
"Becomes a cage."
He paused.
"The difference has never been the space itself."
"It has always depended on who controls the door."
Nille stared at the dimensional doorway for a few moments longer before something surfaced in his memory.
"The Mirror Realm..." he murmured.
Professor Caelum blinked in surprise.
"The Mirror Realm?" he repeated, genuinely curious. "I wasn't expecting you to know about that."
Nille nodded slowly. "I've heard about it before."
Professor Caelum adjusted his glasses, his expression becoming thoughtful.
"In that case, using the Mirror Realm as a comparison might make this easier to understand."
He gestured toward the doorway connecting the library to the outside world.
"They are somewhat similar, but there are important differences."
"The spaces created by Awakened individuals are usually personal manifestations. They are sustained primarily through the spiritual energy of their creator."
He paused.
"The Mirror Realm, however, is different."
"It's a fixed location."
Nille listened carefully.
Professor Caelum continued.
"Rather than being entirely self-contained, the Mirror Realm exists as a reflection layered over reality itself."
"It's neither fully separate nor completely merged."
He moved his hand through the dimensional doorway.
"Imagine a forest."
"The Mirror Realm can occupy the same coordinates as that forest without replacing it."
"A house can exist within it."
"A city district."
"Even entire buildings."
"It reflects reality while existing alongside it."
Nille recalled his previous experiences.
"So it's anchored to a specific place?"
"Correct," Professor Caelum said with a nod.
"Unlike personal manifested spaces that move with their creator, the Mirror Realm remains tied to the location where it was established."
He thought for a moment before adding,
"The prevailing theory is that whoever created the Mirror Realm designed it to draw spiritual energy from the environment itself."
"The land."
"The structures built upon it."
"The living creatures inhabiting it."
Nille frowned slightly.
"The surroundings fuel it?"
Professor Caelum nodded.
"Everything possesses some degree of spiritual energy."
"Living beings naturally generate it."
"But even man-made structures gradually absorb traces of spiritual energy through prolonged existence and repeated human interaction."
He smiled faintly.
"A home where generations have lived."
"A shrine that has received centuries of prayers."
"A city filled with countless lives."
"Over time, these places accumulate spiritual significance."
Nille glanced around the library.
"So the creator of the Mirror Realm found a way to utilize those accumulated energies?"
"That is our current understanding," Professor Caelum replied.
"It would explain how such a vast fixed domain can continue to exist without relying entirely on a single individual."
He folded his arms thoughtfully.
"In a sense, the creator shifted the burden of maintaining the space away from themselves and distributed it across reality."
Nille's thoughts immediately drifted toward his own Enclave.
The endless black waters.
The solitary tree.
The luminous core embedded within its trunk.
Could something like that eventually connect to reality itself?
Professor Caelum observed his expression and smiled.
"Of course," he added, "the Mirror Realm remains one of the greatest mysteries in spiritual studies."
"We understand fragments of its principles."
"But the complete truth behind its creation remains unknown."
He looked toward the dimensional doorway once more.
"Manifested spaces rely upon the self."
"The Mirror Realm relies upon the world."
Nille quietly absorbed those words.
For the first time, he began to wonder.
If personal spaces reflected their creators...
And the Mirror Realm reflected reality itself...
Then what exactly was his Enclave becoming?
Nille grew quiet after Professor Caelum's explanation.
His thoughts drifted back to his own Enclave.
The endless expanse of dark water stretching beyond sight.
The solitary tree standing in the distance.
The luminous core embedded within the center of its trunk.
And more recently...
The warehouse he had unconsciously manifested within that space.
At first, he had assumed it was simply another structure that appeared because he needed storage or organization.
But now...
He wasn't so sure.
He remembered standing inside the warehouse.
He remembered looking through its walls.
And what he saw outside.
Nille stopped walking for a moment.
"...I think I understand something now," he murmured.
Professor Caelum glanced at him but remained silent, allowing him to think.
The warehouse itself had been practical.
Simple.
Functional.
A place that could serve as shelter, storage, and preparation.
But what truly stood out was what surrounded it.
The environment outside its walls.
The familiar roads.
The layout of the nearby buildings.
The subtle details that he had overlooked before.
It wasn't random.
It wasn't merely an aesthetic choice.
It looked like home.
Bulacan.
Not the entirety of it.
But fragments.
Pieces that his mind remembered.
The place where he grew up.
The place that had shaped his understanding of safety.
Nille slowly exhaled.
"Maybe..." he began quietly, "my Enclave wasn't becoming large because I wanted it to be."
Professor Caelum looked toward him.
"Perhaps it simply reflects what I consider home."
The professor remained thoughtful.
Nille recalled something else Caelum had said earlier.
Manifested spaces often reflected their creator's inner self.
Their memories.
Their personality.
Their understanding of the world.
High Elves merely had more control over shaping those reflections intentionally.
But even they weren't immune to unconscious manifestations.
Nille looked toward the distant swamp settlement.
The restored castle had become a home for the Dark Elves because it represented security.
His warehouse existed because he valued practicality.
And the environment beyond it resembled Bulacan because...
That was the place he associated with belonging.
Safety.
Normalcy.
The realization was strangely comforting.
His Enclave wasn't trying to become something grand or mysterious.
It wasn't an ancient prophecy unfolding before him.
It was simply...
His.
A reflection of the things he valued most.
Shelter.
Preparation.
Protection.
And home.
Nille smiled faintly.
Perhaps that was why the Enclave had appeared endless.
Because his understanding of home had never been confined to a single room or building.
It was an idea.
A feeling.
Something expansive enough to include the people important to him.
Professor Caelum noticed the change in Nille's expression.
"Did you discover something?" he asked.
Nille nodded slowly.
"I think I did."
He lowered his gaze to his hand, as if trying to organize his thoughts into something clearer.
"Space isn't just about manifesting power," he said. "It's about structure. And how much control you actually have over it."
He paused, choosing his words more carefully.
"It reflects how your mind organizes things. And how stable your inner state is when you shape it."
Professor Caelum listened without interrupting.
Nille continued, now more certain.
"That's why spaces don't behave the same for everyone. When people activate their own space, they're not just creating a place… they're revealing how their mind is built."
He fell silent for a moment, letting the idea settle.
Then his thoughts turned inward.
Home.
Not as a single location, but as something he carried without fully understanding it.
The familiar streets he grew up around.
The simple routines he once overlooked.
The quiet feeling of safety when nothing was uncertain.
He realized something important.
Home was not just a physical place.
It was a mental structure.
A sense of belonging that made everything feel stable and predictable.
That might explain why his Enclave felt so vast and strange.
It wasn't literally "endless."
It reflected how his mind stored and connected the idea of safety and familiarity.
For him, home wasn't one fixed point.
It was a collection of memories, places, and moments where he felt safe enough to relax.
Professor Caelum spoke softly.
"You're starting to understand the principle behind manifested spaces."
Nille nodded.
"Yes… I think I am."
He looked forward, more focused now.
"Space isn't random. It's shaped by how the user thinks, remembers, and organizes meaning."
"And if that thinking is unclear…"
His voice lowered slightly.
"Then the space becomes unclear too."
A brief silence followed.
Nille continued his reflection, but now it was more structured.
The Enclave was not just power.
It was not just memory.
And it was not just imagination.
It was a system formed from all three—but only if the user had enough clarity to shape it intentionally.
Without structure, everything blended together.
Memories became scattered.
Symbols became confusing.
And the space grew unstable or overly complex without purpose.
But with structure…
Everything became usable.
Clear.
Controlled.
He slowly understood what Nymara had been trying to teach him.
It was not about creating something impressive.
It was about creating something understandable.
Something he could manage instead of unconsciously watching it form on its own.
Power alone wasn't enough.
Memory alone wasn't enough.
Even meaning, without direction, became noise.
What mattered was structure.
And with structure, he could finally begin to shape his Enclave deliberately—
Not as something his mind created on its own…
But as something he chose to build.
Nille hesitated for a moment.
"Can I share my thoughts on this?" he asked.
Professor Caelum smiled slightly, already aware of what that question implied.
Among this batch of over two hundred students, only about a dozen had shown the ability to manifest even a basic space. Most of them could only sustain a small domain of around ten meters in radius—unstable, fragmented, and heavily influenced by emotion or memory.
Nille, however…
Caelum had already sensed something different in him.
"Go ahead," the professor said calmly, then gently deactivated his own manifested library, returning them fully to the swamp environment. "I'm listening."
The surrounding air settled back into its natural damp stillness.
Nille took a slow breath.
"Enclave," he said quietly.
The moment the word left his mouth, reality shifted.
The swamp around them faded—not violently, but as if it were being gently pulled away from sight. In its place, an unfamiliar space unfolded.
Professor Caelum's expression changed almost immediately.
"…What is this?"
Before him was not a structured domain like most students produced.
There were no buildings.
No terrain shaped by memory.
No familiar objects or symbolic items drawn from personal experience.
Instead, there was only endless, still, dark water stretching far beyond perception.
And in its center…
A solitary tree.
Its trunk rose from the black surface as if it belonged there naturally. Embedded within it was a luminous core, softly glowing like a sealed heart.
Caelum frowned.
"This doesn't make sense," he said quietly. "Why is your space like this?"
He turned toward Nille.
"An Enclave should normally reflect your life experience, memories, or emotional anchors. But yours…"
His eyes scanned the vast emptiness.
"…is stripped of everything."
Nille looked confused.
"What's wrong, Professor Caelum?"
Caelum's tone became sharper, not out of anger, but disbelief.
"Your space should have manifested items tied to your life. Objects. Places. Symbols of memory. That's the standard pattern."
He stepped forward slightly, still observing the dark water.
"But you removed all of it."
A pause.
Then, more quietly—
"How did you do that?"
He looked at Nille more directly now.
"No… the real question is: how can you have this much clarity and control at your level?"
The silence between them deepened.
Then Caelum suddenly spoke again.
"Quickly—try something."
Nille blinked. "What?"
"I want to test something," Caelum said. "Think of something massive. Something you've seen before. Don't overthink it—just let it manifest."
Nille hesitated.
Something massive…
His mind immediately recalled the Draconian Behemoth he had seen in the mountain range earlier. The colossal creature, docile but overwhelming in presence, standing far beyond normal scale.
He focused on it.
The dark water rippled violently.
The surface began to rise.
Then—
A massive shape emerged.
A behemoth-like creature, reconstructed from memory and spiritual projection, broke through the Enclave's black waters. Its body stretched into impossible proportions—over a hundred meters tall, its length dominating the horizon of the inner space.
It stepped forward, causing waves of dark water to spread outward like shockwaves.
Professor Caelum instinctively took a step back.
"…That scale," he muttered.
He stared at Nille.
"You didn't just manifest it."
"You stabilized it instantly."
Nille looked just as surprised.
"I just thought of it…"
Caelum narrowed his eyes, now fully focused.
"That's not normal."
He glanced at the endless water again.
"No emotional distortion. No memory contamination. No symbolic clutter."
Then back at Nille.
"Your Enclave isn't forming randomly."
His voice lowered.
"It's responding directly to intent."
A pause.
"That's why it's empty."
Another pause.
"Because you're not projecting memory…"
"You're projecting control."
Professor Caelum's expression tightened as he studied the vast black waters and the solitary tree within Nille's Enclave.
He spoke more carefully this time, as if correcting a fundamental misunderstanding.
"No… that is not how the mind works," he said.
His tone carried the calm certainty of someone repeating established theory.
"No being can simply remove memory from itself. Not truly. Not in the way you are implying."
He took a slow step forward, hands behind his back.
"Memory is not a collection of separate objects that can be deleted at will. It is an interconnected structure—an entire cognitive lattice."
He glanced at Nille.
"Every experience you have ever lived is still connected to you. Even memories you believe you have forgotten still exist within that structure, just inaccessible under normal conditions."
The professor gestured lightly toward the Enclave around them.
"In advanced spiritual theory—especially within High Elven cognition studies—we understand memory as a layered system. Not linear. Not isolated. But interwoven across perception, emotion, and identity."
He paused, choosing his words with precision.
"Even high-tier cleansing or erasure spells do not truly remove memory."
"They only isolate it."
Nille frowned slightly.
"Isolate it?"
Caelum nodded.
"Yes. Think of it like sealing a section of reality."
He raised a hand, forming a faint spatial gesture.
"When a memory is 'erased,' it is more accurately being placed into a sealed cognitive partition. A closed system. It still exists, but it is no longer accessible without specific triggers or forced reintegration."
His eyes narrowed slightly as he continued.
"This is similar in principle to the Twelve Sector sealing systems used in large-scale containment domains. Information is not destroyed—it is compartmentalized."
He lowered his hand.
"That is why true absolute deletion is considered impossible under normal conditions."
A brief silence followed.
Then Caelum added more firmly:
"The only known way for a memory to cease existing entirely is if the structure that holds it is destroyed."
He looked directly at Nille.
"Severe cognitive damage."
"Total neural collapse."
"Or death itself."
His voice softened slightly, but remained serious.
"Because only then is the interconnected system of mind permanently broken."
He turned his gaze back toward the Enclave.
"That is why your space concerns me."
Nille remained silent, listening.
Caelum continued.
"Your Enclave appears 'empty,' but not because memory is gone."
"It is because it has been filtered."
He emphasized the word.
"Filtered into something extremely ordered. Extremely controlled. As if every fragment of experience has been reduced to only what is structurally necessary."
A faint tension entered his voice.
"Which should not be possible at your level of spiritual development."
He looked at Nille again.
"No ordinary Awakened can impose that degree of cognitive clarity onto a manifested domain."
Then, more quietly:
"Either you are unconsciously accessing a far deeper layer of cognition…"
"Or something within your Enclave is organizing it for you."
Nille stayed silent for a moment, absorbing Professor Caelum's explanation.
His gaze lowered slightly, as if he was looking inward rather than at the Enclave around them.
"I understand what you mean," he said finally.
His voice was calm, but more grounded now—less instinct, more thought.
"If memory cannot be removed, only structured or isolated… then what I'm doing isn't deletion."
He paused, searching for the right way to explain it without overcomplicating it.
"It's selection."
Professor Caelum watched him carefully but didn't interrupt.
Nille continued.
"When I form my Enclave, I'm not pulling everything I've ever experienced into it. I'm not trying to recreate my mind."
He lifted a hand slightly, as if feeling the concept while speaking.
"I'm choosing what becomes stable enough to exist there."
A faint ripple moved across the dark water of the Enclave.
"The rest… doesn't disappear. It just doesn't get anchored."
He exhaled slowly.
"That's why it looks empty."
A pause.
"I think my mind naturally avoids clutter. If everything stays active at the same time, nothing becomes usable."
He glanced toward the solitary tree at the center.
"So I don't erase anything. I just… don't give most things a physical form inside the space."
Professor Caelum narrowed his eyes slightly, but his expression softened—this was at least a coherent internal model.
Nille then added quietly:
"And when I don't need it anymore… I let it dissolve back."
He made a small gesture with his hand.
"Enclave, cancel."
The shift was immediate.
The endless black water stopped rippling.
The solitary tree dimmed.
Then, like a reflection being erased from a still surface, the entire space began to collapse inward—not violently, but cleanly, as if it was simply being folded back into his awareness.
The swamp returned around them in its natural state.
Mist. Damp earth. Distant ambient sounds.
Reality reasserted itself.
Nille blinked once, adjusting.
Professor Caelum exhaled lightly.
"So," the professor said after a moment, "you don't maintain a permanent mental structure. You generate and dissolve it based on necessity."
Nille nodded slightly.
"Something like that."
He looked at his hand briefly.
"If I hold too many forms at once, I lose focus on what matters in the moment."
A pause.
"So I keep it simple."
Not empty.
Just… controlled.
Professor Caelum let out a slow breath, easing the tension in his shoulders.
"…Sorry, Nille," he said more softly this time. "It just startled me."
He glanced toward the place where the Enclave had been.
"In High Elven terminology, what you manifested has a name."
He paused, as if choosing the correct ancient word rather than a modern translation.
"We call it Aelth'Varos."
Nille repeated it quietly in his mind, unfamiliar with the weight behind it.
Caelum continued.
"It is a concept from pre-structured cognition theory. In simple terms, it refers to a space that appears empty, but is actually complete."
He raised a hand slightly, drawing a slow circular motion in the air.
"It represents infinity, wholeness, and the cycle that has no origin point and no final end. Life, death, memory, identity, all returning into themselves endlessly."
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"In older High Elven philosophy, it was often symbolized as a looped serpent consuming its own tail. But that is only a simplified image."
He looked back at Nille.
"The true meaning is more unsettling."
A brief pause.
"It describes a state where nothing is missing… because nothing is required to be present."
Caelum lowered his hand.
"That's why I reacted. Not because it was dangerous in the usual sense…"
He hesitated.
"But because spaces like that are rare. And when they appear in an Awakened mind, it usually means one of two things."
His voice softened.
"Either the person has achieved absolute cognitive harmony…"
"Or they are suppressing everything that would normally define them."
He studied Nille carefully again, then added in a calmer tone:
"I'm not accusing you of either."
A faint, almost reassuring nod followed.
"I'm simply saying… Aelth'Varos is not something most students should be able to touch, let alone stabilize."