Spirit Soul

They were not far from the first signs of something having been terraformed by the intelligent beings.

And by peering intently, both Kyle and Beatrice noticed that something was off.

Kyle had hoped that he could have an easy time figuring out more information about the Lahin Kingdom.

Sadly, from the looks of it, the only thing that was easy for him seemed to be attracting trouble and challenges.

Scratching the back of his head, he tried to figure out what the reeking stench that permeated the air was.

The stench was accompanied by a faint green vapor that was wafting through the air.

It tried to enter his body, but the moment he released some of his soul force, the green vapor was repelled.

The same happened to Beatrice, but in her case, it was owing to the mana she released.

Earlier, she had released spirit force because it was known as a good repellant to certain harmful substances to the body.

But, it was her mana and not spirit force that repelled the green vapor.

Thus they were unaffected by the green Miasma that seemed to become denser the closer they came to the first terraformed area.

A lone and ordinary building came into their sight.

As such, Kyle couldn't help but hope to find some signs of living nearby.

For now, he was unable to see the hue of a single being he could nurture.

Because of that, his earlier joy quickly subsided with a serious expression replacing it, while Beatrice felt the same.

She was not sure what was going on, but it was crystal clear that the green Miasma was harmful.

In fact, Beatrice had retracted her mana for a moment in order to figure out what exactly the green Miasma would do to her.

Thus, she let it near her and waited to sense something odd. But, it was nothing lethal like a poison that would slowly kill someone.

Rather, it prevented beings from cultivating in the path of Maest, while weakening their senses over time.

Kyle was not affected by the green Miasma either which was reassuring. He believed it was most likely because soul force was composed of the substantial essences the three cultivation energies possessed.

As such, his soul force gained the advantages of all three cultivation energies.

However, he had no idea what these advantages could be because his knowledge was lacking in that topic.

There were too many things he didn't know and needed to update himself.

And, if possible, Kyle would rather read the books he had been rewarded with inside the Razkadan castle, instead of doing something that would waste his time.

Even taking care of the seedling that was now carefully hidden in the crystal necklace was a bother, despite the possible gains he could gain from it.

Utilizing all of his time for himself to cultivate, read, or use the Wind orb to comprehend the essence of the wind was not something he could do either.

Instead, the only thing he did with the wind orb, was to take it out of the spatial ring and allow Arashi to emerge from his body.

His Spirit Soul jumped over the orb and lay on it. He quickly began trying to understand more about the wind, while Kyle has his ears and eyes trained on his surroundings.

Traveling was interesting at first, but after a while, it lost its luster. Seeing the same gigantic forest for several weeks started to get on Kyle's nerves.

Thus, despite the growing frustration, he tried to find clues about the possibility of a settlement in his surroundings.

In fact, the green Miasma grew denser to the extent to which it restricted the combat strength of beings that didn't possess any mana.

Because of that, Kyle made the bold assumption that the green Miasma might have been artificially created in order to repel beasts and intelligent races.

And that it only allowed entry to those using mana without any adverse effects.

If that was the case, it was a rather ingenious move.

In a way, the Miasma might protect every single being in the settlement that pursued the path of Maest.

However, even if a single was unable to use Mana, it would turn disastrous for the said being who would almost be exiled from the settlement.

Yet, Kyle thought that if someone could create an additional protection wall similar to the green Miasma that permeated the air, there shouldn't be an issue like the one he had in mind.

With that belief, Kyle grew more interested in the green Miasma, which he could nurture using his Nurture ability.

Based on his experiments with all kinds of hues so far, he was able to tell that he could even nurture the path of Spiral and Pryr.

This indicated that it was possible to alter the Miasma to affect all three cultivation paths.

It might not be something he wanted to do or was currently capable of.

But it was still interesting to know that it was possible to nurture the green Miasma, even if it was something that would require lots of energy.

In the end, Kyle was more interested in what kinds of things he could nurture using his ability, rather than truly nurturing them.

Knowing what alternatives he could opt for if one, or two of his plans of didn't work was essential.

He was someone who liked to have plan B or even C ready if something were to go wrong.

Being thorough and fully prepared was how he liked to be, but he hadn't been able to do that inside the Razkadan castle.

As such, he had been forced to come out of his comfort zone, which was, however, quite advantageous in his case.

Because of that, Kyle tried to find a balance between being detailed and not rushing things, yet spontaneous enough to grasp opportunities once they emerged right in front of him.

This was easier said than done, but Kyle had to stop planning for now.

His nurture ability helped him perceive several hues of beings charging towards them at a fast pace.

At that moment, Beatrice shouted out a piece of quick advice, "Attack from the front!" as she heard the noises of the beasts that had suddenly popped up out of nowhere.

From his experience of hues and the mana fluctuations he had sensed so far, Kyle could determine their rank easily.

Even before he could clearly see them, he sensed that the beasts that attacked them were at the Initial rank of the Vitae stage.

However, it was only a moment later that they broke through the thicket near them.

These beasts appeared to be a cross between a moose and a cheetah.

Their bodies were bulky as a moose while their furry heads belonged to a slightly deformed cheetah.

It had dark green fur, that was almost undistinguishable from the green Miasma.

Kyle noticed this almost immediately and when he perceived that they had a hue that was able to strengthen their affinity seed, he realized something.

'Are the Moose's the origin of the green Miasma, or did the green Miasma alter the Moose's body, allowing them to awaken an affinity seed within them?'  Kyle suddenly wondered.

In his past life he had heard many stories about specific environments or incidents awakening affinities, but they were said to be extremely rare.

Because of that, Kyle could was unsure of the exact truth.

Even if he were to know the truth, it wouldn't help him defeat the six Mooses.

Their cheetah heads had sharp, pointy horns that seemed to be more than enough to pierce through his skin easily.

Kyle knew that his leather armor was pretty good, but due to his rather ungraceful fall into the ginormous tree, it was torn apart.

Now, it was barely held together despite him fixing it to the best of his capabilities.

Unfortunately, that was not enough and Kyle didn't have to be a genius to figure out that the Cheetah-headed Mooses were powerful enough to kill him, and Beatrice even if they rammed their horns into their flesh just once.

Their affinity would only help them to kill the two of them, and Kyle didn't want this to happen.

As such, he didn't hesitate as the Silver serpent spear manifested in his hand, after being replaced by the wind orb, and Arashi, who had merged with him.

Additionally, he circulated Soul force through his body, exerted the Swift Steps technique at the highest mastery he had attained until now.

And to leave no stone unturned, he released the Battle Intent he had comprehended months ago as well.

His Battle Intent was at most at the Common mastery. But that was more than enough to allow him to conceal the means with which he wanted to attack.

In fact, it could also conceal the wind transmuted soul force which he had separated from his neutral soul force!

Kyle prepared himself to initiate a sudden attack, but before he could make a move, his opponents shifted their attention from him.

All of them were now looking at Beatrice, which was rather disadvantageous.

Somehow, she seemed to attract more attention than him.

But instead of taking this as a disadvantage, he told Beatrice to retreat if necessary.

After that, he pushed his feet from the ground, sending the loose grains of sand flying everywhere.

At that moment, a blast of wind shot out from behind him.

It pushed him towards his opponents, allowing his speed to accelerate to the peak in no time.

Afterward, the wind that pushed him ahead began to circulate around him.

It was acting as a means to support his movements, strengthening them by accelerating the speed at which he moved.

Through his, the impact of his first spear thrust was the strongest as the Mooses were oblivious to his true strength.

They simply assumed him to be an ordinary opponent at the same cultivation base as them.

Meanwhile, Beatrice radiated a weird, and dangerous sensation, which made them feel wary about her.

It was only obvious after having lived in a place that was overflowing with death aura, for a total of 50,000 years.

Unfortunately for the mooses, they mistook Kyle as the lesser threat. This might be the case if one focused on experience only, but that was not the most important factor.

Right now, he was still stronger than Beatrice, owing to his cultivation base that was at the Vitae stage.

Instead of receiving an enhancement to a single trait, his entire being was enhanced.  This was good news which meant that his physical strength was much higher than that of the mooses' too.

Despite all of this, they still continued to ignore him and kept their focus on Beatrice.

They were so assured of his incompetence that even after the blood of the first moose spurted through the air like a fountain, they did nothing against him.

Warm blood splattered on his face, which Kyle wiped off with his hand hastily.

He swiftly retracted the silver serpent spear out of the heavy injury he had inflicted on the moose that was the closest to him.

Its abdomen was ripped apart, but Kyle didn't bother giving it a second glance.

He switched his focus to the other five mooses that were still able to retaliate.

Yet, just at that moment, he saw that Beatrice's combat experience of 50,000 was not just for show.

She proved her mettle of having rightfully earned her cultivation rank through hard work, not just by staying idle.

Making use of her blood affinity, she transformed herself completely.

A crimson red hue enveloped her body, increasing her strength manifold as she catapulted herself forward.

Her body was leaning towards the ground, allowing Beatrice to evade the closest moose that charged towards her.

The moment she rushed past it, daggers manifested in her hands.

With brisk steps, she left the moose's side, only to hear a thumping sound followed by a painful bleating, before she emerged in front of another opponent.

When that happened, the blades of her daggers seemed to enlarge.

They turned blood red as they were enveloped by the blood affinity before she tore open the abdomen of the moose she attacked.

Kyle observed Beatrice's sudden increase in strength with an astonished expression as she killed another beast, only to slow down all of a sudden.

The crimson red hue suddenly disappeared, and it was not difficult to perceive that Beatrice had overstrained her body.

Her strenght might have been extremely high for a moment, but it was evident that she was unable to control it properly right now.

'She is still used to her abilities when she used to be stronger!' He understood almost instantaneously, which made him act much faster, when he saw that Beatrice's legs gave in.

Thus, he released his soul force, and wind affinity. Even Arashi helped as the Spirit Soul transferred some of its own soul force tow him, allowing him to splurge more of it.

Because of that, Kyle was able to finish the battle without creating too much of a ruckus.

Once that was done, he took a deep breath before his eyes averted to Beatrice.

However, instead of letting him help her up, she decided to stand on her own jiggly legs, contemplating her weakness.

Seeing her resolve, Kyle decided that he should rather do something else.

As such, once the battle ended, he accessed his spatial ring before taking out the Soul Storage.

After carefully storing the souls of the mooses that were at the Initial Vitae stage, he put it away.

There were too many things he had yet to test.

And, one of these things was to figure out the number of soul particles that could enter his body at the same time!

What better way to test this than using souls that were at the same cultivation base as him?

**

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