Spirit Soul

"Wanna join us?"

Even if Kyle felt a little bit weird about the Sprite, he could tell that she would be a great companion for their group.

The Magic traps she had installed before were quite powerful, and their construction was quite complex.

This meant that her knowledge about runes was deep and that she had gained knowledge from somewhere without having ever been somewhere else but the Mana stone deposit.

Furthermore, from his point of view, the Sprite didn't look at them with anger, let alone wrath.

This was certainly advantageous, and one of the reasons for him to be less worried about possible disasters that may occur by asking her to join them.

'He really asked her…' Yasmine thought, her gaze moving from Kyle to the Sprite.

Even if Yasmine felt a bit of pity toward the Sprite, she didn't actually think about inviting her to join them.

Bringing her to the surface would be more than enough in her opinion.

However, thinking about it, Kyle's decision to ask her to join them shouldn't have been without reason.

'What did he see that we couldn't detect? Is it about his nurture ability? Did he see something that will help us? No, that cannot be. He says that he can only decipher a few hues of development until now.

His proficiency with the Nurture ability is not yet deep enough to understand what new paths of development can do, or how exactly his nurturing affects specific paths!'

Yasmine had learned quite a lot about Kyle's nurture ability. This was mostly based on the fact that Kyle didn't think it was necessary to hide much from Selene, Yasmine, and Beatrice.

They were all good girls, and even if they were to betray him, it would be his fault for trusting them too much.

With that simple thought in mind, Kyle had shared quite a few pieces of important information with the three girls.

That was also why Selene didn't feel baffled about the fact that Kyle invited the Sprite into their group.

She looked at the situation quite calmly, only for a small sting in her heart to distract her.

'Why am I suddenly hurting?! Kyle might accept many people in his group, but he is just doing so because he wants to help them…well, he just wanted to help me as well…he just wanted to help me out of misery.

That is exactly what he did, and now there are others, who need his help…' Selene felt a little bit burdened at the thought of Kyle taking in more and more beautiful women.

The Sprite was not actually dangerous in terms of her 'sexiness' or her potential to seduce Kyle. It was simply non-existent.

However, the more desperate, injured, crippled, or deemed useless women he found, the more would join him.

Kyle just accepted everyone, and he liked to help others.

This was a great trait, but it was also something that began to bother Selene, somehow.

After all, she was not sure if she had been special to Kyle, or if she was just a good tool.

'What the hell am I thinking?! Kyle would never treat me like a tool, let alone think about exploiting me, or any of us.

He genuinely likes us, and it's just that he feels too weak to even consider falling in love that he doesn't approach us differently….I guess?'

Selene was not even thinking about the Sprite, or anything related to her anymore.

She was in her own world of messy thoughts, trying to arrange her weird and complex thoughts. Selene couldn't understand herself, to begin with.

That was why she didn't consider sharing her thoughts with someone else.

Meanwhile, as Yasmine looked at the situation unfolding in front of her, and Selene was in her own thoughts, Kyle waited for the Sprite's answer.

"Join you guys? Why would I do that?" She asked, confusion filling her mind.

The Sprite was still not sure what exactly had happened to her, and she had yet to arrange the information that had flooded her mind.

There were many things she didn't understand, and her mind was not able to comprehend everything as quickly as possible.

Thus, her question ended up like this.

"Why would you join us? Well, because it will be exciting. You will become much stronger if you stay with us. I can help you improve much faster than you could ever achieve on your own.

However, most importantly you would see the vast world of Shima. I can bring you outside this small dimension, and bring you to the real world, where you won't be restricted.

Of course, I won't force you or tell you what you should do. After all, you can decide what you want on your own.

But I believe that you would be a great help for us! I am pretty sure that we need you!"

Kyle didn't want to be over the top with what he said. However, he noticed that it needed one particular sentence to convince the Sprite to join them.

For others, it might be unnecessary, but to the Sprite it was necessary to hear the words 'we need you'.

"You need me?" She merely asked, ignoring everything else Kyle had just thrown at her.

It was a little bit ridiculous that he tried his best to please the Sprite with her words, just to understand that it really needed only three words.

'If not for this one path of development, would I try that hard to please her?' Kyle wondered.

He might be considered sensitive, considered, and kind, but this didn't mean that he would actually save everyone from their miserable situations.

Usually, he would give them one opportunity to allow them to drag their entire existence out of the misery they lived in. Afterward, they would be on their own again.

That was how Kyle usually acted, or he believed so, at least.

"Yes, you are very strong, in your own way, and I think with you by our side, it will be much easier to overcome the dangers we will face!" Kyle once again said.

He was pretty sure that their path to the place the map of the dragon scale had marked was riddled with dangers.

That being said, his Nurture ability allowed him to see quite a few things he wanted to understand better about the Sprite.

"But even if I want to, mother, I mean my other part said that I cannot leave the Ancient treasury's dimension just like that.

I do know that we're living in some sort of dimension, but it is impossible for living beings born in that dimension to leave it, under normal circumstances." The Sprite suddenly said.

Kyle didn't expect her to know that much. Even he hadn't known that it was impossible for living beings born in the Ancient treasury's dimension to leave it.

'Wait, she said impossible under normal circumstances. So there is a way, I guess?' Kyle noticed that the Sprite didn't say anything else.

She could have added what kind of special condition would allow her to leave the Ancient treasury's dimension.

However, she didn't do so, which was why it was Kyle's turn to ask,

"Is that special condition to leave problematic? If not, you could try to meet the requirements for the special condition, and then it would be fine, or am I wrong?"

Kyle looked straight into the tiny Sprite's eyes. He wanted to see whether she was unwilling to tell him the truth or not.

But the Sprite was not actually bothered to reveal the truth. She merely frowned before speaking up,

"According to what my mother….or rather the other part of myself revealed to me, we can leave as long as we submit ourselves to an Outlander.

Outlanders are people like you or your friends, who come from outside. As long as we agree to bind ourselves to an Outlander, we will be able to leave.

However, our freedom will be restricted because we will have to submit our entire existence under the being, we bound ourselves to."

Disgust could be seen in the Sprite's eyes, and Kyle could understand why.

After all, Beatrice was in a similar situation. She had to follow Kyle or needed his blood upon being separated. Without his blood, she would go rampage and turn into a bloodthirsty woman, who would never stop desiring to drink more and more blood.

Kyle always felt bad because Beatrice was bound to follow him for eternity, or at least, until she found another source of blood from a different 'Soulmate', if a second one, existed, in the first place.

Knowing and being close to one person, who was forced to follow him, Kyle frowned as well upon hearing the stated condition.

"Yeah, well that is bullshit." He added, gaining the Sprite's interest.

'He doesn't try to convince me that it's not that bad as long as one finds a good Outlander to stay with and that he is someone like that?'

She was a little bit baffled because her 'mother' had transmitted to her the thought that all Outlanders were bad, that they were greedy and selfish.

She was even told that they would sacrifice their partners and friends to survive dangerous situations, where their life might be in danger.

However, Kyle didn't do so. He agreed that this condition was bullshit and looked at her as if he was contemplating something.

"What if we make a soul contract stating that I will let you free when we're outside? Wouldn't that work? My soul would shatter upon breaking the soul contract that is drawn with the energy of our soul.

If that works, I can let you free afterward and we can go separate ways the moment you want to leave our group."

Soul contracts were very useful if properly drawn out. Under normal circumstances, one would only draw Soul contracts when an extremely important contract was made between two parties, and someone needed the opposite party to do exactly what was written on the soul contract.

The moment one would break a single condition written in the contract, the party, who broke the condition would have their soul shattered, or face the punishment stated in the contract.

At first, the Sprite was distrustful, but then she was confused because the memories of Soul contracts resurfaced in her mind.

She was hopeful for a moment, but after all that hope had passed, the Sprite's mood died down once again.

"That is not possible…I cannot create a Soul contract with the Outlander I bind myself to…The Outlander is also not allowed to make a Soul contract with a third party as long as I'm involved in it" She said, truly sad.

And even Kyle couldn't help but sigh deeply, the frustration clear in his eyes.

The Sprite saw this, and it confused her even more.

'Why is he even more frustrated than I am? Is it not me who cannot leave the Ancient treasury? Why is he so affected by the news?'