Spirit Soul

Everyone rested for a while after they 'forced-tamed' the five Giganto Eagles. Each of them could carry three Cultivators easily, which was why there was no problem for all of them to find a place on a Giganto Eagle.

They didn't have a saddle or anything to make flying more comfortable but the beast's soft feathers.

Thus, the moment they started their journey in the direct direction of the Anadra kingdom, everyone was quite relaxed.

'Nobody should be able to find us now, not even the Queen. That is if they're even searching for us, to begin with.'

Kyle was actually pretty sure that nobody would find out that they killed the duke. One could only gauge that something happened inside the Ancient treasury for Kyle to suddenly leave the Glory Knight academy after he emerged from the portal of the Ancient treasury.

It was weird for them to leave all of a sudden, and many would be suspicious about it. However, that didn't mean he actually killed someone, or that he did something equally bad.

That was why he was pretty calm when he was on the back of the youngest of the matured Giganto Eagles.

'In a week or so we'll arrive in the Anadra kingdom. After that, I will have to find a few huge groups of beasts to kill so that I can nourish the Giganto Eagles. Afterward, we will see how we path our way to the marked section of the dragonscale.' Kyle created a small plan, without giving it much thought.

He could ask the Giganto Eagles for their help but nourishing their paths further than the Krysal stage, and asking them to fly them somewhere else would make things difficult for the beasts to return to their original habitat.

They might even be attacked by some territorial aerial beasts in the region they had to enter, as well.

Kyle knew that it was stupid to even consider asking the Giganto Eagles to lead them to their final destination.

But even if it was stupid, he could still hope for everything to be a little easier. After all, there hadn't been many times he had it easy since he reincarnated.

And, to make things worse, he believed that trouble awaited him as long as he followed the dragonscale map.

This was something he could feel deep within his conscience. However, the same conscience also told him that he would die if he wouldn't search for the treasure that was marked by the dragonscale map.

It was weird, but Kyle could only do what he presumed to be the best decision for himself and those, who followed him.

With that in mind, he closed his eyes and began to cultivate with Arashi and Aurora's help.

Like this, a week passed in the blink of an eye, and Kyle found himself at the borders of the Anadra kingdom, with two more Soul beads having been created.

'Aurora is really helpful. I never expected her to be so great!' Kyle nearly exclaimed, clearly understanding that it was only thanks to Aurora and Arashi's terrifying combination that he could create two soul beasts in a matter of seven days. Under normal circumstances, even two weeks wouldn't be enough, not if he didn't have something like a Mana stone deposit right by his side.

"Aurora, you did a great job! You're the best!" He said, his expression showing his genuine happiness. His cultivation had increased rapidly, and as long as Arashi reached his racial limit, his Soul Spirit could evolve. Afterward, with Arashi's power and the Sprite armor's effects, cultivating was bound to become much easier for Kyle!

Kyle was so happy about it that he began to caress Aurora's hair using two fingers. She blushed hard at the praise she received, and the caresses. Aurora ignored her disheveled hair and exclaimed pridefully.

"I am the best Sprite, who is actually no Sprite, yaaaay!"

Aurora was overjoyed, while the others could only look at the tiny Sprite, who was actually no Sprite. Nobody had an idea what she actually was.

But that didn't really matter, either way. She was Aurora, and that was more than enough!

Selene, Beatrice, and Yasmine were sitting on a sideways-lying tree trunk, looking at the situation in front of them, while frowning deeply.

At the same time, the heads of the Giganto Eagles emerged from behind them. They were only looking at Kyle, hoping that he would change his opinion and that he would continue to take them with him.

Every night, Kyle had been out hunting beasts to get his hands on their soul. He used the energy he received from the souls to activate his nurture ability, nourishing the Giganto Eagles slowly.

Their cultivation talent had been improved quite a bit. There might still be a gap until their Prym cultivation vein would reach the threshold to allow the Giganto eagles to break through the barrier that prevented them from reaching the Krysal stage.

However, it was quite obvious that the Giganto Eagles started to become greedy.

They didn't care about the instant benefits they would get, but their mind and instincts told them to stay by Kyle's side, to leech off him, to take everything he could give.

Unfortunately, it looked like this would be quite difficult. After all, Kyle was not willing to accept them in his group. The region they had to enter would make it impossible for the Giganto Eagles to come with them.

And even if they could come with them, Kyle and the others wouldn't need them anymore.

They were just baggage to Kyle, who knew that everyone except Jaden was able to learn the technique [Wings of Ilusia]!

There was no need for him to waste his precious ability and the souls he collected with his hard efforts to nourish a batch of five aerial beasts, who would betray him the moment they reached their true limit.

With that in mind, he didn't even give the Giganto Eagles that chance to convince him that they were allowed to follow him.

On the contrary, Kyle threatened to kill them if he were to figure that they would follow him once their 'contract' was over!

This was the safest way to prevent anyone from finding out where they were going and what they were going to do.

However, something unexpected happened when Kyle came back from hunting Krysal stage beasts for their soul.

Selen rushed at him, holding the dragonscale map in her hand. Her eyes were furrowed, and sweat trickled down her temples which made it obvious that something big had happened.

"I-I-I merely inserted my mana and primordial energy to look at the map again…b-but even before I could see something properly, the map started to change!! I-I'm so sorry Kyle. D-did I broke it?!?" Selene stuttered, her eyes already teary.

Kyle looked at the map, and he was not able to see that anything was off, in the beginning. However, upon taking a closer look at it, Kyle could clearly perceive that the map was moving. Something was shifting and it was certainly not supposed to be like this.

Yet, just when he thought that he saw something, the map disappeared as the energy Selene had provided run out.

"Another try." Kyle merely said inserting his Soul force inside the dragonscale to project the map of the Shalivra valley once again.

Changes were happening on the map, which caused Kyle's eyes to widen. However, instead of feeling that something broke, Kyle noticed something particular.

"You didn't break anything, silly. Good job at looking at the map." Instead of punishing her, Kyle praised Selene before he caressed her hair. Selene stopped crying and looked at Kyle with teary eyes. Her heart was beating wildly because she had been afraid that Kyle would hate her now.

However, his reaction was even weirder because he didn't mind the changes. Kyle even praised Selene. This was something Beatrice and Yasmine didn't expect as they were fully aware that Kyle had been excited about the treasure hunt.

In fact, the dragonscale map was one of the most intriguing things Kyle had encountered until now, and that was something his partners had noticed.

"I-I really didn't break it? Really??" Selene asked, her eyes still teary, and Kyle just nodded his head.

"Yeah, really."

Kyle's eyes were fixated on the changes on the map as he kept using more and more of his Soul force. The changes took long before they stopped, and the crossed area was now completely different.

"Isn't that the forbidden forest? The Guild reported that this area is too dangerous even for being at the Acerta stage to be entered." Yasmine suddenly asked, looking at the region where the red cross was located.

Kyle just nodded his head, oblivious to what Yasmine was talking about.

He didn't listen properly to her, and could only smile faintly looking at the map.

"Maybe it's that forest, but who cares? We can still enter it. The map was updated, and it shows how the Shalivra valley currently looks like. You can even see all the cities, the borders are marked and you can see which race lives where…"

Kyle knew that the dragonscale map was precious but looking at the updated map in front of him, he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.

Everything was live-updated as long as he inserted enough energy into the scale to allow it to update properly.

This was scary but it was even more precious. After all, the map was the most accurate one could find of the Shalivra valley.

'It's almost like in those strategy war games, where the territories belonging to a certain party are marked in a specific color, the capitals highlighted, and their power level written below their banner…the only thing the dragonscale map is missing is to show the moving armies and their numbers…' Kyle felt a little bit overwhelmed with the updated map.

However, it was great that Selene took a look at it after they had left the Ancient treasury's dimension.

Kyle would have followed the old map, which he had imprinted in his mind when he had still been in the Ancient treasury's dimension.

In the end, this would have brought him to the completely wrong destination, despite Kyle's understanding that the map of the Shalivra valley had been old and partially incorrect.

'Selene saved us lots of trouble.' Kyle understood clearly, which was why he sighed in relief.

"Looks like we need to learn our new movement technique a little bit earlier than expected," Kyle mumbled before turning to the Giganto Eagles.

"We can either stay here for another day and I will complete nourishing you guys until tomorrow before we part ways, or you guys bring us straight to the west, and I will nourish you a little bit more than I promised. But afterward, we will part ways."

The technique Wings of Ilusia was not easy to learn. Thus, it would be best if someone moved them around while they studied the technique. Kyle believed that it would make things a lot easier.

As for the Giganto Eagles' rejecting him, Kyle doubted that this would ever happen. The more they could be nourished, the happier they would be.

They accepted the deal without a second of hesitation, clearly understanding that the slightest progress of their Prym cultivation veins made a tremendous difference in their strength and future growth!

The more they improved, the easier it was for them to find unique treasures, to have the chance to unseal and activate their thinned-out bloodline of the Legendary Roc, and to survive in the dangerous lands where they were more likely to find opportunities to grow even stronger!

'The forbidden forest it is then, I guess? Looks like it will become a little bit more troublesome than expected… well, it's not like I expected to have some luck, to begin with.' Kyle just thought, shrugging his shoulders.

'Ascerte stage Cultivators are in danger…so we need to find the least dangerous path, or advance to the Acerta stage as quickly as possible…Well…how about both?'