Spirit Soul

Selene and Mel decided to visit the Guildhall in order to figure out if the rewards of Selene's mission were ready to collect.

Mell was the strongest amongst them and she could protect Selene.

As an added layer of security, she had disguised herself, to the best of her ability.

Meanwhile, Gard was storing away the smithy and all other necessities they required.

Initially, Kyle had wanted to help him.

But his gut feeling was telling him that something was off.

And the fact bothered him.

When Selene had almost been assassinated, and he had reacted instinctively, there was a connection to something he felt that hadn't existed before!

As such, he tried to figure out what it was.

Meanwhile, Arashi emerged in front of him.

Looking at the fully matured Spirit Soul, Kyle caressed him.

It was then that he noticed something about Arashi that had changed.

He was conjuring gusts of winds that brushed past Kyle's face.

Proud of his little act, Arashi began to yap excitedly.

The subtle wind brushed past Kyle's clothes.

It enveloped him lightly and a faint smile emerged on his face.

"So it was really a wind affinity!?" Kyle blurted out as his eye widened.

As per his recollection, there were only a handful of rare Emerald foxes that could control the wind.

Hence, it was unexpected for his Spirit Soul to do something like that.

In the end, Arashi had barely reached the combat prowess of a Late Fortification beast. This is why the news was a little shocking.

Nevertheless, it was a great and a welcome change.

Kyle's smile only grew wider when he realized what exactly about his body seemed to have changed.

"Shouldn't that mean, I have a wind affinity now, too? We are one entity after all!"

With this thought in mind, Kyle immediately strained his memory to recall everything he could of using the said affinity.

He began trying all kinds of things to activate what seemed to be hidden deep within the foundation of his Soul vessel.

Unfortunately, even after multiple attempts, he didn't taste success.

He even tried doing a few things after Arashi merged with his body.

But, the end result was the same.

"So...it doesn't matter whether Arashi is inside me or not...I cannot use the wind affinity right now? Do I have to awaken the affinity seed by myself?"

His mind began to churn out reasons for his inability to wield the wind affinity.

As he was desperate for an answer, Kyle even supplied some of his soul force to empower the Nurture ability.

After activating his ability, he could see several hues around Arashi.

However, he was disappointed to realize that he was unable to access even a single one of them.

This meant that Arashi couldn't be further nurtured anymore, not until he finished his evolution.

Kyle had yet to initiate the evolution.

But instead of being worried about that right now, he wanted to get to know what he was lacking first.

Because of that, he kept trying repeatedly, hoping that something would work.

Unfortunately, more than half an hour passed before Kyle slumped to the ground.

Frustration found its way out of his mouth as he blurted out,

"Why does it feel like the wind affinity seed of Arashi is shared with me, but I cannot use it...do I really have to comprehend the meaning of the wind first?"

The simple thought that this was possibly the truth frustrated him.

It was different in comparison to how others could control their affinity.

Under normal circumstances, one would only have to circulate mana through the affinity seed.

This would transmute it before one could release it.

Wielding this affinity would enable Kyle to conjure simple things such as gusts of wind, or even more complex structures like a tornado.

In the end, he had to learn to maintain and completely control the complex structures too.

As a matter of fact, it was possible to conjure them as long as one was concentrated enough.

The other requirements were to have enough mana to create the high-velocity wind currents, and the necessary focus and willpower to maintain everything.

Because of these restrictions, a few additional, more complex compounds of affinities weren't used often.

It was thus more likely to use the simple ones.

This was why in most cases it was more important to conjure a wind blade at a rapid pace than being able to control a tornado!

'Is it different with a Spirit Soul, or maybe even soul force?...What am I supposed to do?….feel the flow of the wind, and try to control it or what?!'

No sooner had he thought this, he jumped up, thinking that this might be the solution.

Rushing out of the house, Kyle jumped into the middle of the empty street.

He closed his eyes to feel the wind splashing onto his face.

Even if it sounded weird to himself, he could at least try.

Kyle's enhanced ears picked up the faint brush of the wind as it swept through the street and narrow alleys.

Not just his ears but every single pore in his body was feeling the wind on him.

It was calming and his smile didn't falter.

Instead, it widened as he released his soul force.

He could perceive the energies that swirled within the wind and were carried around within it.

Time seemed to pass slowly, and after a while his mind was tranquil.

He had attained a state in which his mind was void of anything except the thought about the wind.

The state he was in felt similar to being in a trance as if he was cultivating.

The only difference was that he was not absorbing the surrounding energies while standing in the center of the street like a statue. He was just trying to procure any kind of information out of the wind.

Every single piece of information was important and Kyle digested everything greedily.

However, in the end, he was still lacking the most important thing.

The fact annoyed him but then he suddenly sensed a sudden influx of unknown information. It was coupled with a heightened sense of hearing and feeling.

After being bombarded with so many things simultaneously, everything seemed to change.

At the same time, it was as if something was telling him to trust his instincts.

And, Kyle would happily do so.

Suddenly, the sound of the wind changed as it grew louder.

Meanwhile, the wind splashing on his face caused more impact.

It alternated between a cold splash and a hot stream of air irregularly.

It was a mysterious and unusual feeling.

But Kyle suddenly felt that he could understand everything much better than just a moment ago.

Arashi had transmitted how he felt when instinctively conjuring faint wind currents to Kyle to let him understand what he had to pay attention to.

The gusts of wind around him were flowing along with the obstacles.

They were too weak to destroy them so they kept swirling around.

Without meaning to, Kyle lifted the flat of his hand in a slow, yet seemingly controlled motion.

At this moment, a swirl of wind escaped Kyle's hand.

He released faint currents of soul force out of it.

Moments later, he opened his emerald-colored eyes that had a faint touch of an azure tone within them. It didn't take him long to realize that everything around him had returned to normal.

With his now open eyes, the mysterious sensation he had gotten from the wind dispersed, leaving being the faint swirl of wind that was released from his hand.

Yet, the moment he lost focus, the insignificant and unstable connection he felt towards the Wind affinity seed seemed to vanish.

Now that the connection was severed once again, everything should have returned to its normal state.

However, contrary to his expectations, he perceived something inside the vessel.

It was not empty as Arashi inhabited the same.

The sensation that he felt made him feel overjoyed, yet confused.

'There is….something in my vessel? Is that...the affinity seed?...but I can barely sense it...'

After roughly perceiving what happened, Kyle seemed to have comprehended the wind affinity by himself.

Though he was yet to completely understand it, the first try seemed to be good enough.

With the help of the rough sensation that Arashi transferred into his mind, he was able to grasp it to some extent.

Having comprehended the wind affinity didn't mean that he could use it without the required affinity seed.

Despite that, Kyle had been able to manifest a faint swirl of wind.

This indicated that he had received access to Arashi's affinity seed.

The access was almost untraceable and represented by the minuscule affinity seed within his soul vessel.

This felt weird to him, but at the same time, it was a challenge. Kyle realized that his comprehension was lacking in comparison to Arashi.

Feeling challenged by his own body, Kyle accepted it readily.

He was never a person to shy away from an ordeal that would test his limits.

Understanding it might as well help him become much better in wielding the wind affinity than others who didn't have the same hurdle as him!

He wanted to try accessing the wind affinity to experiment with it. He hoped to actively conjure a gust of wind using the same.

Unfortunately, he was interrupted when Arashi suddenly transmitted another thought.

However, this time it was more difficult for Kyle to decipher it.

Arashi transmitted something completely different from what he had felt before.

'Is he showing me his desire to evolve?' Kyle wondered, trying to make sense of the transmitted thought.

Other than the evolution there was not much Arashi could want from him.

As of now, the Spirit Soul couldn't be further nurtured.

As such, Kyle had to consider evolving Arashi now, or later after they arrived in Niro.

With more than 2500 Lohars, the entire journey through the Sadorla would take quite a while. Thus, evolving Arashi now would mean that he won't be able to cultivate during that time.

However, other than cultivating, Kyle had many other things to pay attention to. Thus, it should be better to evolve Arashi as quickly as possible. It would help reap more benefits the moment he had evolved!

If luck was on his side, Arashi might be able to complete his first evolution the moment they entered Niro town.

Unfortunately, Kyle could not ignore his cursed fate that more often than greeted him at the most unexpected moment.

This meant that Arashi's evolution during the journey with the Lahin kingdom's soldiers might suffer from roadblocks.

The fact that he was not even aware of some of the problems right now bothered him!

In the end, Kyle simply decided to follow his instincts. It was the best thing he could have done, from the beginning.