Soulless Players

After Philip heard the goal of the society, he felt that the people around became instantly enthusiastic, even Sarah, who had been quiet, couldn't contain her excitement.

As for him, while he was indeed surprised and thrilled, he also couldn't help but worry about the society's ulterior motives.

Questions raced through his mind: "Why do they want to study this? What do they hope to gain? Could it be dangerous for those who can summon their astral body?"

The appearance of the strange doors and spirits, or rather, astral bodies, had left him feeling uneasy and suspicious. He had so many unanswered questions but could only watch as the experiment carried on.

The twelve students, arranged into six per table, with two in a row and three in a column, finally laid down. The women grabbed some blankets to cover their skirts, while the men simply laid down, placing their hands beside their legs.

"Enter into a state between wakefulness and slumber. Don't let yourselves give in to fatigue, and at the same time, don't be too overly conscious about the surroundings. Take a deep breath and focus all your thoughts on calming yourself."

While Sam began to guide the students, he took pieces of colored paper cut into circles. He glues them on the students' foreheads, in an area where their eyes can't see.

"If you manage to reach an astral state, look at your body and see the paper on your forehead. After you wake up, state the color to determine whether you have succeeded or not."

Soon, the room grew quiet and dark, with only the sound of breathing and the gentle glow of lamps and scented candles illuminating the area.

Philip carefully surveyed the crowd, especially the sleeping students. At the same time, he unhurriedly positioned himself near the exit door, ready to leave if anything went wrong.

After a couple of minutes of total silence, a sound suddenly broke the stillness. Philip jerked slightly as he quickly looked towards the source. However, when he saw that it came from a man who was snoring loudly, his forehead crumpled.

Realizing the source of the noise, the students around chuckled in unison as they quickly woke the man up to prevent him from disturbing others.

The man was drowsy and confused at first, but after hearing the reason, his cheeks turned red as he quickly blended into the crowd, embarrassed.

However, his embarrassment was short-lived as other students, mostly his male friends, started snoring a few seconds after he woke up.

Seeing this, he smirked and hurriedly woke them up, wanting to share the embarrassment together.

Eventually, from twelve became seven. And after five minutes, the ones who failed to enter hypnagogia slowly began to rise, disappointment was printed on their faces.

Finally, from seven students, only three remained, two of whom were women and the third was a man named Keith, whom Lala had previously disturbed during the discussion.

Philip noticed their closed eyes were rapidly moving... No, it's more like their eyeballs were moving behind their eyelids. The two women's eye movements were particularly obvious and intense, even from a distance.

He guessed that they had finally entered into sleep paralysis, where they couldn't move their body but could still see and hear their surroundings.

It was then that Sam, who had remained quiet all this time, finally spoke,

"Remain calm! Everything will be okay!"

After he said those words, the two women's eye movements slowed down slightly.

Encouraged, Sam continued, "Good good! Maintain that composure. From now on, imagine yourself sitting. Yes, you will now try if you can eject your astral body out from your physical body."

The other students around were breathless, suspense filling the air as they waited for a successful summoning.

Then, one of the women's eyes began to move rapidly again, but unlike earlier, it was more intense and enthusiastic, as if she was panicking inside.

"Casey, stop panicking." Sam stopped before continuing, "What you feel and see are just hallucinations. They are not real!"

However, upon seeing Casey remained panicking and was starting to have difficulty breathing, Sam quickly expressed,

"Okay stop! Stop! It's not your time yet. Try moving your fingers or wiggling your toes."

Just the moment he said them, Casey's toenails twitched for a second before her eyes suddenly opened. She quickly sat on the table as she touched her chest, feeling the fast throbbing of her heart.

Shortly, the other women also woke up. But unlike Casey who had a huge reaction, she had none. She just sat and moved away from the table after she woke up. Nevertheless, there was a hint of disappointment in her eyes but also understanding, seemingly this was not her first time failing.

While everyone's eyes were on the two women, Philip's attention was glued on Keith, who was the only student remaining on the left long table.

He was specifically captivated by Keith's situation as from his eyes, Keith's figures appeared to be fuzzy and out of focus.

He looked around to see if others noticed it but seeing no great reaction around, he returned to observe Keith.

Sensing that it would take Keith a long time to finish, Sam then silently guided the other students to lie down on the empty right table. Among the students who were called was Sarah.

Upon hearing her name being called, Philip immediately became uneasy. He knew that after her, he was next.

Although Philip also wanted to summon his astral body, he didn't want it to happen under the audiences of many, especially before the two men who could summon their astral bodies earlier.

Questions arose from his mind: What if they notice that something is abnormal with him? And if he ever succeeds, what would happen after? What would the men do to him?

Philip had a lot of unanswered questions and felt scared of the unknown.

Luckily, Sarah was called last, giving Philip who was next to her, time to prepare. He secretly opened his system and activated his 'Golden Eyes' uniqueness.

As everything turned golden in his eyes, he quickly shifted his gaze to the scented candle and the colored circular papers on students' foreheads. He wanted to see if there was something peculiar or magical to them. However, upon seeing that they were emitting a light normal to their value, he sighed in relief.

He then turned into the two spiritual men. From them, he saw they were shining far brighter than others. Their brightness was similar to the magician Emile, albeit slightly weaker.

Similarly, the light that was coming from Sarah and Keith was intense, outshining the average students around. However, the glow coming from them wasn't enough to contend with someone who possessed supernatural abilities.

But what truly astonished Philip was the light emanating from Sam and Lala. Their glow was so radiant and fierce that he found himself instinctively deactivating his ability and closing his eyes, overwhelmed by their sheer brilliance.

'So far, they are the most radiant that I've seen. Are they stronger than Emile and Loen? If so, are they also magicians or perhaps witches like Auntie Marissa?' Philip mulled as he rubbed his eyes.

Philip felt it was unexpected but at the same time within his expectations. Seeing that Sam was a presider of the Society and could order the two spiritual men, he might have been also unordinary.

As for Lala... He doesn't know what to feel. He still had an immature grievance against her due to the fast food affair and could not help but be bitter about it.

'I should not be continuing feeling about this...' Philip felt that there was something wrong with his line of thoughts but chose not to confront it.

As time passed, the abnormality in Keith became more eccentric. What was initially blurry turned into as if two Keith were lying on the table in the same spot.

Philip instinctively moved his legs backwards, ready to escape anytime, but also leaned forward, curious about what would happen next.

He didn't have to wait long as Keith's second body arose and sat, leaving the other body lying on the table.

At the same time, Keith began to notice this peculiarity and gazed down, examining his body - it was illusionary and transparent, bordering him from head to toe was a weak pinkish hue that reminded him of a pleasant dream.

Keith smiled with relief, having finally succeeded in summoning his astral body.

As he felt the paper on his forehead, he turned around to his physical body. His gaze turned up to his forehead as he whispered,

"Red."

Suddenly, after he whispered the color, another voice resonated on his side.

"Congratulations."

Hearing a feminine voice, Keith shifted his head to the right and saw Lala in her astral form.

"Thank you," Keith replied, his voice filled with sincerity.

Meanwhile, Philip leaned against the door closer. His eyes widened as he saw that aside from Lala's astral body, her physical body maintained a standing position on the side. Additionally, her eyes remained open, indicating she was not sleeping!

This was totally different from the two spiritual men earlier!