Spirit World Gate (The protagonist has no use for it yet; his mother will return it as soon as she's done.)

Thankfully, Barbara did not disappoint him and immediately offered a treatment:

"The Divine Art-Hymn of Life you comprehended can heal damage to the soul. Your body was modified by that being, so you can withstand the backlash from casting a divine art without dying."

"You can wield less than one hundred-thousandth of its power, but fortunately, that's enough to repair the soul injuries of someone at Sequence 6."

After hearing that, Eros did not hesitate for a moment. He immediately began casting Divine Art-Hymn of Life.

Once again, a green speck of light the size of a soybean appeared at his fingertip, then sank into Estelle's body as he pointed at her.

Then he passed out from the spell's backlash. This time, he remained unconscious far longer than after the previous backlash.

The last time, he had only just undergone his baptism. Some of the Elf Race's Deity's power still lingered in his body and helped offset part of the backlash.

This time, however, he was not so lucky. More than a year had passed, and that residual power had long since dissipated completely.

As a result, he spent an entire month bedridden this time. He had long since missed enrollment at the academy.

Fortunately, he belonged to the privileged class now, so pulling a few strings should not pose much of a problem.

Feeling how weak his body was, to the point that even walking took effort, Eros clicked his tongue. The backlash from using skills above his level really was severe.

Barbara, however, thought little of it. After all, using a spell even one or two tiers above one's level could leave someone half-dead.

Let alone using a divine art beyond one's level. Not dying on the spot was already a blessing from a Deity.

Looking at the now-recovered Estelle before him and feeling her warm embrace, he thought, So what if there was backlash? So what if I had to lie in bed for a month? It was worth it.

Just moments earlier, he had woken in his room and found no one there. He dragged his weakened body out the door, then saw Estelle sitting in the living room with a worried expression.

Estelle clearly saw him too, and she immediately rushed over and hugged him tightly.

Large tears spilled from her beautiful eyes, and her voice choked with emotion:

"Thank goodness you're all right. Thank goodness, thank goodness. Promise Mommy! Never act so recklessly again."

[She would rather suffer injury and die herself than have her child hurt himself trying to save her.]

A month earlier, when she woke after receiving treatment, she felt that her soul had recovered, then saw Eros lying on the floor, his fate unknown. How could she not understand what had happened?

At that moment, her heart nearly stopped. Everyone knew that the severity of a spell's backlash depended on how many tiers the caster had overreached.

A spell capable of healing the soul could not possibly be low-tier. How could Eros, a mere Sequence 8, withstand the backlash from a spell of that tier?

For a moment, terror, fear, and despair all flooded her heart. Fortunately, things were not as dire as she had initially imagined.

After examining him with utmost care, she discovered that although the spell's backlash had been severe, it had not extinguished his life outright. A faint trace of vitality still remained.

The discovery filled her with overwhelming relief. The joy of regaining what she thought she had lost made her clutch Eros's unconscious body and burst into sobs.

At the same time, she purchased Alchemy Potions to treat spell backlash at any cost. Only then was Eros able to wake after just one month in a coma.

Eros patted Estelle, whose delicate body was still trembling, and spoke lightly:

"Relax! Relax! It's no big deal. Haven't I recovered?"

"By the way, Mom, what exactly happened to you this time? How did even part of your soul get erased?"

As he finished, Eros looked at Estelle curiously.

Estelle fell silent for a moment before shaking her head and replying dejectedly:

"I can't remember either. My memories of that day were lost along with that missing part of my soul."

"All I remember is that I seemed to catch a glimpse of Elusa. Then I activated the Sealed Artifact, the Spirit World Gate, and it immediately transported me out of the Sin Domain."

The Spirit World Gate? Eros blinked. He had heard of this Sealed Artifact belonging to the family.

... (A humble author's ramblings.)

[To those saying that not seeing each other for twenty years means there's no affection left.]

[What about the families whose children were abducted when they were little, who kept searching tirelessly for decades? There are plenty of examples like that in real life, aren't there?]

[In cultivation novels, aren't there plenty of people who don't see each other for decades, centuries, or millennia, yet still can't forget one another?]

[There are even people who wait through several lifetimes. Why is it fine for them, but when mine haven't seen each other for just twenty years, people say the younger sister is a stranger, there's no affection, and the mother searching for her is toxic?]

[How many years did Ruthless from Shrouding the Heavens spend searching for her older brother? It was far more than twenty. By those people's logic, after so long without seeing each other, Ruthless and her brother should have been strangers, and she shouldn't have kept searching.]

[As for why the mother hadn't seen her younger sister for twenty years, in that era, a married daughter who lived far away might struggle to return to her parents' home even once in her lifetime.]

[The protagonist's home is more than ten thousand kilometers from his mother's family home as the crow flies. Even today, visiting relatives at that distance would be a hassle.]

[Not to mention, the protagonist's mother is the queen of the Duchy. How could a queen leave the palace whenever she pleased?]

[As for why they didn't write letters, that will be addressed when I write the reunion between the mother and her younger sister, to flesh out the characters. I can't pile all of that into the beginning.]

[Sorry, I've said too much. Please don't find me annoying. Love you all.]