Spirit Soul

From the moment he had regained control over his body, Kyle felt like he was seeing an illusion.

He had a strong feeling that his mind was being tricked and manipulated by something or someone.

Looks could be deceiving and he knew that something was at work to make the castle seem more appealing.

Initially, his mind fought the pull but with time he gave in to the strong tug and let his feet carry him forward.

Because of that, Kyle realized that he would have to enter the castle, even if he didn't want to do that, at all.

It was also too late to start thinking of making preparations.

He had already crossed a considerable distance and was barely a few meters away from it.

Additionally, his Spirit Soul, Arashi would take weeks, if not months until he was fully matured.

If he were to wait for such a long time, he would completely lose control over his mind.

The reins would completely be under the control of the mysterious spell that seemed to be radiating from the castle.

At least that was the only explanation Kyle could think of.

There was nothing else with as much energy as the castle around!

With his mind being played and manipulated, Kyle was unable to turn around and leave too.

Because of that, he chose the easiest path!

Giving in to the sensation, Kyle finally approached the gigantic gate.

It was towering above him with a shocking height of more than 30 meters.

Even if the wooden gate looked simple enough, he knew that it was a farce.

Had he been in his right mind, he would never enter the ominous place with his current cultivation base.

This was simple to determine because death's aura had manifested around the gate!

It was visible to Kyle's bare eye, as it enveloped the gate in a black gloomy hue.

By simply standing in front of it, Kyle could already sense the aura enveloping him.

If he were to compare the sensation to his past life he felt as if he was on the brink of death.

He vividly recalled his last moments in his past life right before he took his last breath.

Owing to this sensation, Kyle couldn't help but flinch as he instinctively stepped back.

Taking deep breaths, he calmed down in no time as he thought,

'The gate won't be locked...right?'

With this question, Kyle tried to ease his mind by teasing himself.

But that backfired as he realized that he shouldn't do that.

It only increased his worry as he began to imagine how his mind would be tormented if the gate was truly locked.

Just that was already enough for his already shaky confidence to crumble.

Yet, before he could let his mind be muddled further, Kyle gathered all the shattered pieces of his courage in one place.

Gulping nervously, he advanced ahead as he willed himself to not let dread overcome him.

His eyes showed his resolve as he lifted his hands that went right through the death aura.

A sudden coldness made him shudder as he touched the wooden gate.

It was cold, and the death aura around his entire arm began to seep into his body.

While he shivered, the aura further increased the frosty sensation.

Suddenly, Kyle felt a light prick in both hands.

He could see that his blood was being drained.

But what surprised him was that it was soon followed by every single trace of soul force that was left in his body.

The sensation of his blood being drained dispersed only a moment later.

But, Kyle didn't even notice this.

All of his focus laid on the wooden gate that began to shine.

At the bottom of the gigantic gate, a single symbol began to glow faintly.

It was barely visible through the death hue, but Kyle had spotted it.

Surprisingly, Kyle also knew what the symbol indicated.

[Fortification]

He strained his eyes and mind to look at the other symbols surrounding the one he had spotted.

Even after using his utmost efforts, he was just able to see the outlines.

The other symbols were dark blue and represented the other known cultivation stages.

Right above the symbol for Fortification was the symbol for [Vitae], followed by [Krysal].

Though, what he realized after observing them intently was that only the first symbol had a subtle glow.

Trying to decipher the meaning, Kyle's mind began to rattle.

Thinking aloud, he spoke to himself.

"The castle cannot be an ancient ruin... it's way too well maintained for that. But on the other hand, there is nobody around…"

As he retracted his hand, Kyle felt powerless.

His legs gave the moment they realized that the entire stored energy had been used up again.

Trying to retreat farther, he dragged himself away from the gate.

It was then that he barely noticed the almost untraceable puncture in the center of his palms.

No blood was trickling out of the light prick and a scab had begun to form over it.

He continued to eye the gate in front of him in sudden tiredness that overwhelmed him.

His first reaction to seeing the gate move was to stifle a yawn.

With drowsy eyes, he forced himself to retreat further.

A reeking stench permeated the air almost in an instant, and Kyle just wanted to leave.

He wished to be as far away from the gate as possible but knew very well that the mysterious spell on him wouldn't allow that.

Sighing deeply, he tried to take control over his emotions that were slowly escaping his grasps.

Even if he was confused and his mind boggled, he had nobody else around to encourage him.

He had to do it all by himself and prevent the occurrence of any kind of chaotic situation..

Panicking would only worsen the situation, immediately after acting on impulse.

Knowing that fear drove him to do what he was about to do would make him regret his actions.

Unfortunately, this was more difficult than initially expected.

With the gigantic gate opening at an extremely slow pace, the pull on his mind increased consistently.

At the same time, Kyle was able to see through the narrow gap as the gate slowly opened.

He took his first peek at the courtyard.

However, what he saw made him feel even more nervous.

The darkness seemed to devour even the bright sun rays in the large open area.

When he looked around himself, the sun rays were shining brightly on Kyle's neck.

The scene unnerved him and he couldn't help but wish to have never looked through the narrow gap.

'That...won't kill me the moment I step through it...right?' He asked himself.

He didn't even question whether he would be able to see something inside the castle or not.

Kyle was questioning the more important matters- of his chances of survival, and how important it was to be able to see in that scenario!?

Unable to move properly, he had to use every possible means to strengthen himself.

He could still sense the sharp pull that was about to overwhelm him.

There was not much time left before the gate would be fully opened. Instinctively, he knew that this was the breaking point at which his mind would be overwhelmed, forcing him to enter the castle.

To his fortune, the Nurture ability was already empowered to its fullest.

As such, Kyle was able to invigorate himself to a certain extent.

This gave him the necessary strength to fight against the strengthened pull for some time.

Even after the gate was fully opened, luckily, Kyle was able to maintain his calm.

He felt as if the seemingly endless darkness was eyeing him viciously.

Despite that, Kyle's willpower that had also been invigorated allowed him to gain a few more moments of peace.

If Arashi wouldn't have finished his evolution by now, his efforts to postpone his trip into the castle would have been futile.

However, because Arashi was still awake, Kyle wanted to postpone his entry for as long as possible.

By absorbing energy and converting it as fast as possible, Arashi generated huge amounts of soul force in no time.

It was much faster than his natural replenishing cycle.

Additionally, the foundation of Kyle's vessel was quickly filled to the brim.

It was only by using some of his focus on annexing the newly generated soul force.

This gave him the advantage of entering the castle with some preparations.

He knew that it wasn't a big achievement to have a filled vessel before entering a dangerous place. But considering his current situation, it was the best he could do.

As such, once he had filled his entire Soul vessel, Kyle took a deep breath.

After that, he took one step after another, approaching the fully opened gate.

Endless darkness greeted him, making him hesitate.

But unfortunately, nobody had ever asked him whether he was ready or not.

With a few steps taken, Kyle stood near the edge of the frame of the gates.

Taking a deep breath again, he stepped inside with a firm expression on his face.

He was determined to fight for his life in the most desperate manner.

As such, he ignored the fact that he was forced to enter a place he didn't even want to go close to.

Instead, he focused on his survival as he lifted his head staring straight ahead into the darkness.

Suddenly, bright glowing, crimson-colored eyes appeared out of nowhere.

They were far in the distance, and Kyle stared straight into them.

The eyes bore into his soul as he felt every single hair on his arm stiffen, only to take thousands of steps that felt like a single, second step, fully entering the castle.

After the last step was taken, the pull on his mind dispersed.

It gave him the ability to think and move according to his own will.

This was the only advantageous point he could tell from his current position.

Additionally, he felt a bit relieved when he didn't sense any killing intent from the crimson-colored eyes that were glued on him.

Because of that, Kyle ignored his shivering body as he walked a few steps ahead.

Darkness enveloped him but he felt nothing.

And, it was only a few moments later that all of his senses were restricted.

However, after just a moment, everything around him changed.

This moment felt like an eternity to Kyle, whose heart was pounding at a rapid pace.

The darkness dispersed, and his senses returned to him.

At that moment, Kyle turned back to see the gate.

But, he saw that it was already closed.

Frowning, he approached the gate and touched it without hesitation.

At the same time, he tried to find the crimson-colored eyes that had vanished the moment the darkness had dispersed.

This was scary, but Kyle was not afraid at all.

Even if this was weirder, he had expected to be attacked the moment he entered the darkness.

As such, being able to touch the gate, and attempting to open it to have a way to escape, if necessary, would be great.

There was still the possibility of the pull returning the moment he left the castle, but that was not as bad as being killed.

Thus a safety net was what Kyle hoped for.

Unfortunately, during the last few days, and weeks, nothing went according to his hopes, plans, let alone will.

The wooden gate didn't even budge a single millimeter even after trying it for several minutes.

But this was not surprising because not a single living being was in the entrance hall he seemed to have entered.

Nevertheless, the entrance hall that spanned over a hundred meters in both width and breadth felt ominous to Kyle.

Yet, after reconsidering this, he thought that everything about the castle was ominous.

This calmed him tremendously and gave Kyle the first opportunity to take a look at the tidy place he had entered.

"Don't tell me that someone cleans this place?... The scary thing with the crimson eyes?.... Noo that cannot be...."

In the end, Kyle didn't even know how wrong he could be with every single thought that flashed through his still panicking mind.