A Guide to Raising Snake Spirits - Chapter 5

Even if his own Spirit Body was a snake, it was a slender, wiry thing—nothing compared to the sheer mass of this giant python.

A Green Anaconda wasn’t exactly a fluffy cat or a lapdog. Coiled up, it reached nearly to Guanyue Xi’s waist.

Although he had seen it twice before, this was their first zero-distance encounter, and it looked far more menacing up close than it did from a distance.

Suppressing the primal urge to bolt, he reached out and tentatively stroked the Anaconda’s head.

The snake flicked the tip of its tail. It lacked eyelids, but if it had them, they surely would have been squinted in delight.

Guanyue Xi let out a dry laugh, feeling an odd sensation of being “caught red-handed” as he spoke to the creature in a soothing tone, much like one would use with a small child.

“Be a good boy, now. I’m busy fixing your master’s mental realm.”

The Anaconda’s face remained expressionless. Guanyue Xi couldn’t tell if it understood him, and being stared down by those unblinking eyes made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

“If you have no objections.  may I continue?”

Guanyue Xi tried to extract his left foot from the “snake tower,” hoping the Anaconda would instinctively back away when he moved.

Unfortunately, his hopes were dashed. The Anaconda didn’t budge an inch.

“Could you move over a little, please?”

“Anaconda baby?”

Guanyue Xi nearly gagged at his own syrupy tone, but the Anaconda seemed to genuinely fall for it. It rippled its body, clearing a path on one side, and even gave him a gentle nudge with its head.

Stumbling slightly from the shove, Guanyue Xi thought: “…”

Leveraging its immense length, the Anaconda effectively walled off a narrow “snake-lined” path, as if it were spelling out exactly where he should walk.

“Fine, fine. I’m going.” The Guide held up his hands in surrender. “You’re the big guy, you call the shots.”

From then on, Guanyue Xi followed the Anaconda through a series of twists and turns. He was tempted to ask the Spirit Body where they were going, but since it couldn’t speak, he knew it would be a waste of breath. He simply kept his head down and observed his surroundings.

They weren’t walking among the visible surface roots anymore; they were descending deeper into the ground. By a rough estimate, they were over ten metres deep. Without a Spirit Body to lead the way, Guanyue Xi could have tried ten times and never found this place.

The Guide stepped over unidentifiable objects on the ground and ducked under roots hanging in mid-air. When he finally looked up, he was so stunned by the sight that he froze in place, lost for words. His only coherent thought was: Is this man even still alive?

A grey-haired man stood there, bare-chested. Everything from his waist down was encased within the trunk of the tree, and his arms were swallowed by the bark as well. He stood with his eyes peacefully closed, looking like a statue carved directly into the living wood. It was none other than the master of this mental realm.

Guanyue Xi opened his mouth to speak but hesitated. Finally, he tried calling the Sentinel’s name.

“Shiraishi Hare?”

The mental realm remained silent. There was no response.

He turned to ask the Anaconda what was going on, only to find the giant snake had vanished into thin air. He was alone, staring at Shiraishi Hare in a daze.

Guanyue Xi sighed.

He’d thought the Anaconda seemed like a straightforward, honest creature, but it had brought him to the destination and then ditched him.

“Well, if it brought me here, there must be a reason.”

Since I’m already here—the unofficial motto of everyone from the Special Star.

Guanyue Xi took two steps forward and reached out to touch the Sentinel’s face. He’d wanted to touch his forehead, but since Shiraishi was positioned a bit too high, he had to settle for the cheek. The skin felt soft and warm, but there was no reaction to his touch.

He patted and prodded, searching for some kind of “power switch,” but the Sentinel clearly hadn’t included an “easy wake” feature in his settings. His eyes remained shut.

Guanyue Xi pulled his hand back. He couldn’t stay here forever. Regardless of whether Shiraishi could hear him, he began to negotiate.

“Look, Shiraishi Hare, I don’t know when you’re planning on waking up. I’m done for today. I’ll check on you the next time I come in.”

As he turned to leave, the world was suddenly engulfed by a tidal wave of branches. Before he could even think of retreating, he was snatched up and pulled toward Shiraishi Hare.

His eyes widened and he held his breath. Before the darkness swallowed him, he saw it clearly: the branches dragging him in were extending directly from the giant tree, centered around the Sentinel himself. Then, everything went black.

…Wait, was Shiraishi “planted” in there the same way?

The thought flashed through his mind and was immediately dismissed.

Impossible. Everything in a mental realm is under the owner’s control. Shiraishi was only in there because it aided his recovery.

But why drag him in too? Guanyue Xi was utterly baffled. He never expected that one day he’d be swallowed by another Sentinel’s mental world.

At this moment, he had only one thought.

Haven’t I had a few too many “incidents” lately? Guanyue Xi asked the universe sincerely. First, he falls into a hole during a graduation exam and finds a Sentinel. Then, he gets hunted by a grizzly bear. Now, he’s getting into trouble inside a mental realm.

“Where the hell did I get swallowed into?”

His eyes were open, but it was pitch black. He felt as if he were floating in amniotic fluid suspended without any sense of ground beneath his feet.

He wasn’t panicking, though. Even if he’d been “eaten,” he was still an A-rank Guide. On a mental level, it was very difficult for anyone to trap him unless they were a higher-ranked Guide. This was just a Sentinel’s mental realm; if he wanted to leave, he could force his way out.

But considering the Sentinel’s already fragile mind—if he broke his way out, he’d just have to fix the damage later. He didn’t want to make more work for himself. Guanyue Xi decided to try a gentler approach.

The Guide reached out into the void. Empty… empty… still empty. Wait, what was that?

His hand brushed against something that felt distinctly different from the void. It was solid, soft yet firm, and warm.

It felt like a person.

Guanyue Xi used both hands to feel upward until he reached a face. Chin, mouth, nose, brow, and eyes—he could trace the features one by one. The person’s eyes were closed. While he wasn’t familiar enough with the man to recognize him by touch alone, there wasn’t likely to be anyone else in the Sentinel’s mental realm.

“Shiraishi Hare.”

Guanyue Xi called out, getting a little annoyed. His movements became less gentle as he lightly slapped the Sentinel’s cheek.

“Hey. What’s the big idea, dragging me in here?”

“You won’t wake up, and you won’t let me leave.”

He started to grumble.

“Either give me some kind of reaction, or let me out. Otherwise, I’m going to make things very unpleasant for you.”

As he spoke, he felt Shiraishi’s eyelids flutter beneath his hand. He was waking up.

Encouraged, Guanyue Xi leaned into some nonsense.

“Once upon a time, there was an interstellar fairy tale called Sleeping Beauty. He just slept and slept, and no one could wake him up. If you don’t open your eyes right now, I’m going to start calling you Princess Hare.”

Perhaps Guanyue Xi was being too loud, or perhaps his pinching was actually painful. Shiraishi’s eyelids trembled more violently until, after a moment, his low, hazy voice drifted through the dark.

“Why are you here?”

“You’re the one who dragged me in, don’t you know why?” Guanyue Xi facepalmed.

Even though Shiraishi was awake, it was still too dark to see anything, but Guanyue Xi could feel the man’s breath against his fingers as he spoke.

“I don’t know.” Guanyue Xi heard the Sentinel pause. “I remember being in the forest… everything after that is just scattered fragments.”

The Guide explained: “We’re inside your mental realm. After you collapsed, you were taken to a hospital on the Special Star. I came along too. I’m repairing your mental world.”

He expected the Sentinel to say something profound, but instead, Shiraishi simply asked:

“What is your name?”

“Huh? I never told you?” Guanyue Xi blinked. He fell silent. He thought back. He started to sweat.

Upon reflection, he realized he really hadn’t told Shiraishi his name. Under the circumstances—having demanded Shiraishi’s name while keeping his own a secret—he felt like a bit of a jerk.

The Guide quickly tried to make amends. “Sorry, I forgot. I’m Guanyue Xi.”

“Guanyue Xi,” the Sentinel repeated slowly, as if rolling the name around in his mouth to taste it.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

Because he couldn’t see and was afraid the Sentinel might vanish into the dark without a word, Guanyue Xi didn’t lower his hand. Shiraishi didn’t object. They remained in this bizarre, intimate position as they talked.

“Since you’re awake, can you get us out of here?” Guanyue Xi asked.

“I don’t know how. I was never taught.”

Are you seriously telling me you’re clueless about everything? Guanyue Xi gritted his teeth and began an on-the-spot coaching session.

“Your mental realm is like your limbs. Close your eyes and feel it. Clear your mind.”

“Okay.”

“Think of your most important memory, or something you can use as an ‘anchor.’ A thread should appear. Catch it.”

He felt Shiraishi’s brow furrow beneath his hand. The man’s breathing became rapid; he was clearly struggling.

Guanyue Xi immediately closed his eyes and used his own mental energy to guide him.

The Guide’s power was like a gentle hand, nudging the Sentinel’s drifting consciousness back onto the right track. He filtered out the chaotic thoughts like stray threads, leaving only the purest, most stable part of the mind to help the Sentinel reach that disobedient “anchor line.”

The moment Shiraishi caught the line, the world brightened. When they opened their eyes, both Guide and Sentinel were back beneath the giant tree.

Guanyue Xi let out a long breath and finally pulled his hand away from Shiraishi’s face.

Usually, his training focused on lashing his mental energy into a whip—hitting hard and fast. Now, he had to be as gentle as possible, moving slowly and patiently. It was exhausting work.

Guanyue Xi looked up and met Shiraishi’s green eyes. The Sentinel was out of the tree now, standing before him fully intact. His grey hair was tied in a high ponytail, and he was dressed in the most basic, standard-issue Sentinel uniform.

A person’s image in their mental realm is usually their subconscious default—their most comfortable and familiar state. For Guanyue Xi, he was wearing his standard dark Guide uniform from the Tower, with his black hair in a low ponytail and his beauty mark and earring gleaming on the same side.

Some people chose to wear their favourite clothes in their mental realm, but surely no one actually liked the basic Sentinel uniform. It likely meant it was simply what Shiraishi was most used to wearing.

“Who on earth are you?” Guanyue Xi asked with a sigh. “I’m starting to wonder if you have any basic Sentinel knowledge at all”

Guanyue Xi truly felt at a loss.