Spirit Soul

When he woke up after several hours, Kyle felt energized and ready to depart.

When he got up, he first noticed that the fog was thinner in the opposite direction of the swamp.

Moving in that direction seemed like a smart decision as his view wasn't hindered by the thick fog.

Hence, Kyle departed in the direction of the open field without hesitation.

As he used some of his naturally regenerated soul force, the Nurture ability was empowered.

It gave him a better view of everything around him.

There were all kinds of plants that released strong energy currents and their herbal scent wafted through the air, hitting his nostrils.

Though he was tempted to, his instincts told him to steer clear of the wide variety of flora.

Hence, he didn't pluck any and walked past them without a second glance.

Not knowing where he was, if the lands belonged to someone, or if the plants had developed a natural defensive mechanism, Kyle didn't want to make a mistake by plucking them.

The further he walked, the clearer his sight became as the fog was slowly dispersing.

This was beneficial because Kyle wanted to determine where he was.

If possible, he wanted to look for clues to determine the direction in which he would have to travel in order to return to the Sadorla forest.

It was not like the Sadorla forest was important to him.

But, now that he had spent so much time with Selene, he didn't feel that it was right to leave her alone.

Though his rational mind was telling him that he hadn't left her willingly, he felt bad nonetheless.

She had just started to come out of her shell and interact with others. The childhood trauma had left scars on her mind and it was still burdening her.

Even if this burden was only subconscious and not physical, Kyle was the type of person who finished something once he started it.

As such, he wanted to return to Selene in order to help her.

In the end, it was not his sole reason but one of the few he had in mind when he thought about his plans that involved Selene.

Unfortunately, his plans of becoming stronger alongwith Selene had been shattered.

Not even in his worst imagination, would he have thought of being forcefully transported to an unknown place, far away from her and the others.

Nevertheless, Kyle felt weirdly comfortable in the place he was currently in.

He couldn't sense death or tension in the entire area, even if there were thousands of beasts inhabiting it.

It was weird, but oddly he felt at peace.

This made Kyle believe that the place was conjured straight out of a mythical tale.

He almost felt as if he had entered a magical region.

Kyle didn't expect to feel like that ever in his life because the Era of Cultivation was bound to be dangerous and filled with death.

The vast majority of intelligent lives wanted to become stronger.

And, even if there were a few exceptions, they were forced to become stronger or bow to the powerful.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to survive and cease to exist.

Because of the tranquility everywhere around him, Kyle's shock was even more distinct a few hours later.

His eyes spotted something at the edge of the horizon where the clear skies seemed to merge with the verdant plains.

It forced his entire body to halt as if he was frozen in place.

"Is that...a castle...a fortress...or an over-dimensional-sized...prison?" Kyle mumbled.

His senses picked up the distinct sensation of dangers and death in the area that was right in front of him.

Despite the evident dangers and eerie feeling enveloping him, Kyle's eyes were trained on something far away from him. It was a gigantic castle-like structure further away from him.

Somehow, it felt like something was pulling him in the direction of the structure.

He felt a sharp tug making him advance towards the structure as if it was beckoning him.

He couldn't describe this feeling.

But even after pondering for some time, Kyle knew that the gigantic castle was the best place to take a good look at the entire surroundings.

'I haven't seen any other place with an elevation...except the castle...but will it really be safe to enter it..definitely not!'

Even if his mind was fairly rational, and warning him to not enter the castle right now, his body was subconsciously being pulled towards it.

Unable to reclaim control over it, Kyle decided to let the pull guide him forward.

Somehow, he felt as if he was bound to enter the eerie region where he saw the gigantic castle from far away.

Despite reluctantly accepting what had happened, Kyle began with his preparations.

He had to try attaining his highest combat prowess by all means before arriving in front of the castle. Otherwise, it might be too late.

As such, he was fully focused on using a small amount of his soul force to gradually satiate the white shroud that enveloped Arashi.

It was already shaking violently and slowly dispersing into thin air.

He could see the first glimpse of a puffed-up tail, but Kyle knew that Arashi's evolution was not yet completed.

His Spirit Soul's wind affinity seed was still the same as before, which should not be the case.

Because of that, Kyle assumed that Arashi's form had been completed.

Now, only a few specific properties of his Spirit Soul had to be enhanced.

This included the wind affinity, the energy gathering, and the energy conversion rate.

All these were all things Kyle was highly expectant to see improvements in.

'Maybe...three days?' He thought, trying to determine the completion date of Arashi's evolution.

At the same time, the date he had picked seemed to be exactly the same at which he should arrive near the castle. His rough estimate told him so.

That was under the condition that he hadn't miscalculated the distance to the castle that looked gigantic even from a huge distance away.

Nevertheless, without a single elevation or indicator to measure the distance to the castle, it was impossible to gauge anything.

As such, Kyle stopped wasting his time on needless stuff.

Instead, he focused on more important things and spent the next few days working on them.

*

Four days later, Kyle reached near the castle.

He had to crane his neck up as much as he could to just look at the tip.

Its sheer size was terrifying, and there was no way that he could underestimate it.

Even in his past life, places such as the castle right in front of him were deemed as exotic, and a waste of precious resources.

And that was what talented prodigies who had centuries of wisdom quotes.

Kyle found it even better that his Nurture ability enhanced his senses while being activated.

This made him see and perceive much more than others would do.

It was a clear indicator of how precious even the most basic materials the castle had been built with were.

Fortunately, Kyle could finally divert his attention from the castle and his body was freed of the pulling force.

Now that he was able to walk around freely, Kyle halted in his tracks.

While taking a look at his surroundings, even now he couldn't see any beast just like it was the case during the last few days.

This was something he hadn't expected because the eerie sensation of death and tension had to come from somewhere. It didn't originate out of thin air.

Owing to this, Kyle assumed that everything he felt eerie about could be found inside the magnanimous castle.

In the end, this didn't make anything better. If it did something, it was destroying his hope to find something good inside the castle.

Until the very end, Kyle had hoped that his instincts were leading his body and not something perilous that housed within the rotten walls of the castle.

Now that he could clearly forget about leaving willfully, Kyle knew that overcoming the issues at hand was the most important.

In fact, the issue was that his combat prowess was too weak and that his comprehension of the wind affinity couldn't be properly used!

His cultivation had yet to reach the low rank of the Fortification stage.

As such, he was lacking a lot in comparison to others.

Exactly because of that, he was happy that his body was under his control once again.

Thus, it allowed him to witness Arashi's completed evolution stage.

Yet, shockingly enough, Kyle couldn't help but frown seeing Arashi's state...of a youngling!

"What in the Lord's name happened to you?!" He blurted out to his Spirit Soul.

Arashi split from his body and appeared in front of him.

He emitted a raspy yelp as his Spirit Soul was overjoyed to see Kyle after more than a month had passed, only to hear his own voice.

That was the moment Arashi realized that his body had returned to its youngling phase, shocking both Spirit Soul and Kyle equally.

Apparently, beast type Spirit Souls would revert to their youngling phase when they evolved, allowing them to compress their energy.

By utilising the compressed energy, their body was naturally evolving by expanding the innate, or acquired potential.

Kyle hadn't known this earlier, which was why he was so astonished about the current situation.

It may not be pleasant, but at least Arashi completed his evolution.

Even if it ended without any spectacular events be it good or bad, he was relieved that Arashi was okay.

This was somewhat disappointing, but Kyle hoped that the next evolution would be a little bit more spectacular to see.

Even if it wouldn't be anything special, his Spirit Soul's evolution should only serve its purpose- to make him stronger!

With the help of a few simple tests, Kyle didn't take long to figure out that Arashi's evolution had largely benefited him. It had enhanced his energy absorption and conversion rate by several times.

In his youngling phase, his Spirit Soul was already able to absorb and conserve enough energy to give him an increase in his cultivation stage between one or two percent!

This was an extremely satisfying sight and in line with the pace, Selene had attained during their journey.

She was able to increase her cultivation speed, but so was Kyle.

He would also receive an added boost as long as Arashi's maturity would further accelerate his properties' strength.

However, there was one thing that caused Kyle to worry as well as frustrate him.

'Please don't tell me that the Wind affinity seed's strength is correlated to my Spirit Soul's maturity…

What kind of bullshit is that?...is everyone playing around with me?!' He lamented in his mind.

Meanwhile, Arashi entered his body, and could sense how Kyle's mind was slowly drawing him to the castle's gate.

Despite having shrunk to a height of mere 8 centimeters, his Spirit Soul's intelligence had increased by leaps and bounds.

Arashi's appearance might not have changed a lot because he still had azure-colored fur.

He had also retained his pitch-black horn, and a plush tail, but everything about him looked more refined.

Energy swept through the tiny body of his Spirit Soul in large amounts.

This made it impossible for Kyle to be too frustrated and lose his cool.

Though he was unable to use the wind affinity to the extent he had hoped for, not all was lost.

'Arashi will grow much stronger than he had been before in no time!!'

He told himself, knowing that Arashi's strong properties would allow both of them to increase their strength by leaps and bounds in no time!

Kyle's most important goal was to overcome all obstacles, surviving everything his fate would throw at him!

With that in mind his first hurdle, which had been forced upon him, was already right in front of Kyle. It was staring down at him as if it wanted to devour his entire being alive!