Chapter 1063 - Evolution
"So, that's the problem. Do you think you can do anything about it, Father?" asked Alex while sitting in the courtyard and faced the garden.
Rilt sat next to him while sipping his tea and nodded with a complicated expression. "I see. First of all, there are several problems. The people might think that the Spirit Crown is counterfeit and you are just a stand figure that Eulja needs. That's why they will think that we, the Six Elemental Gods, push you into this position.
"Secondly, we need to check whether your Spirit Crown has a side effect or not. Even I don't entirely understand your Spirit Crown. Still, I believe we can work on it for two years."
"Yes. That's my plan." Alex nodded in agreement.
"If the ability is better than the original Spirit Crown, that can be good and bad at the same time. After all, if the upgraded ability doesn't resemble that of the Spirit Crown, they will realize that it's not the Spirit Crown."
"There is nothing I can do." Alex sighed. "I thought that it would be the best time to meet Alaya and formed a contract considering…"
"That Julian…Haiz. No one knew what he saw because he always kept it alone." Rilt sighed while pointing at the garden. "Anyway, stand there first. Let's proceed to your two other abilities first, Sharing and Enhancement. I will explain in detail first."
Alex nodded as both of them stood up, walked to the garden, and faced each other.
"Sharing is the ability to channel or share your power to anything. This won't be limited to other people, but it's also for your Martial Techniques. For example, if you use the Blossom to your Martial Art, only Sharing allows you to do something like that. I don't know why it's so complicated, but with the Spirit Crown being so strong, there must be several limitations that I don't know."
Alex nodded. "I know. I have tried channeling my power to my Martial Arts, but all of them failed miserably."
"Exactly. I will be teaching you how to do it." He smiled. "Summon your Spirit Crown."
Alex closed his eyes for a second as the evolved Spirit Crown appeared above his head.
"…Such a fearsome Life and Death Energy. Let me see your third eye."
Alex slightly nodded his head as suddenly a kind of vertical eye socket appeared on his forehead before slowly revealing Alex's Samsara Eye.
"You have no problem in hiding it, right?"
"Yes."
"I see. If that is the case, come over here and close that eye again."
Alex followed his instruction and walked closer to Rilt.
Rilt stretched his hand, asking him to hold his hand.
Alex didn't think much of it and reached Rilt's hand.
"Nature Energy will constantly flow. Only those who have the necessary elements can control it. The exception is the Spirit Crown. It absorbs the Nature Energy from the surroundings, turning it into its energy. The flowing process is similar but different from the Blossom, where it only requires you to release it all.
"You need to understand the nature in your surroundings because it will surely clash with the Nature Energy in the Spirit Crown. That's why you will need to harmonize with nature in your surroundings, especially your weapons.
"Hence, I am going to make you understand the harmony in Nature and use it to synchronize your Spirit Crown with the surroundings."
"I understand. What should I do?"
"Before that, I will explain the other one, Enhancement. This is a very powerful ability that can improve your Original Technique. It's like tracing the origin of the flow, including your past. I have heard something about Sword Mastery from Lin Xingzhi, and yeah, it's something similar to that.
"It allows you to gain a deep understanding in an instant and turns it into perfection. There are advantages and disadvantages compared to the Sword Mastery. First, this Enhancement is not restricted to one type of improvement. For example, if you use a sword, you can upgrade a bow technique or even an elemental technique.
"At the same time, the more complex the technique, the longer it will take to comprehend it. There is a time limit for you to understand it. This time limit is a bit different from the normal one because if you are comprehending more than the time limit, you will get a certain side-effect which, trust me, you don't want to have."
"How long?" asked Alex without hesitation.
"It depends on your limit. As soon as you feel fatigued, it would be best if you stopped. In the past, the Spirit God almost lost himself and went berserk because he passed the time limit."
"I see. That's not something I want to see." Alex agreed and thought for a moment. "In that case, which one are you planning to teach me first? I mean, we are cramming all the training in one go, right?"
"Yes. I think I will teach you the Enhancement first. This way, you can channel your power easier because you have gotten used to this one."
Alex nodded. "What should I do then?"
"I don't want to accidentally have you upgraded your own technique since it's only one in a lifetime. That's why I go to the other places to ask the spirits there whether they are willing to be guinea pigs. Of course, it's voluntary. Besides, to be training with you and have their skill upgraded by you is an honor and a bonus, so they readily accepted it."
"I understand. Before that, I would like to ask them again whether it's okay to do that."
"Sure." Rilt nodded with a smile before leaping outside the house. "Wait here. I will be bringing a spirit here."
Alex nodded and waited for him.
Rilt took fifteen minutes before he returned with a tree. Yes, a tree. The tree trunk was one meter wide, so it was quite a big one. At the same time, the height reached five meters with so many branches stemmed out of it.
"This is a Tree Spirit." Rilt put down the tree on the ground.
Alex furrowed his eyebrows when he saw that the tree had enough Spiritual Energy to rival that of a Martial Emperor.
"I don't know its name and other things." Rilt then patted the tree and said, "Try to use your skills here. Just show everything."
The tree released a Spiritual Energy as if responding to Rilt. The tree then shook its body before the green leaves fell to the ground.
Suddenly, the leaves rose to the air and turned into a small doll without any other features such as eyes or anything. Even so, it looked amazing to see it before his own eyes.
After that, the tree extended its roots and pierced all the leaves, showing its accuracy.
"That's all?" Rilt asked after noticing that the tree didn't do anything more after the second trick.
The tree released its energy again.
"Alright." Rilt nodded and turned to Alex. "It's your turn."
"What do I need to do?" Alex asked.
"Place both your hands on the trunk. Use your right hand to transfer the Nature Energy from the Spirit Crown and absorb it back with your left hand. The energy will gradually circulate between you and the tree, allowing you to understand the tree deeper, especially the skills. The Spirit Crown will show you the rest."
Alex nodded and stretched his hands, touching the trunk. He closed his eyes and summoned his Spirit Crown.
Nature Energy began gathering inside the blue jewel of his Spirit Crown.
At this point, there was no problem in Rilt's eyes. However, only after this process that strange thing began to happen.
Instead of channeling the Blue Jewel into the tree, the Blue Jewel sent its power to the White Jewel.
Alex furrowed his eyebrows despite not knowing what happened. There was no discomfort for the time being, even though it was a weird feeling. He unknowingly sent the energy from the White Jewel into the tree.
"This…" Rilt widened his eyes in shock as he never expected to see its uses right away.
All Nature Energy gathered by the Blue Jewel was turned into Life Energy by the White Jewel before Alex sent it to the tree.
When the tree absorbed the Life Energy, the trunk felt an influx of energy as it showed its bliss by turning the green leaves into golden. This was even more surprising because the tree shouldn't be able to do that.
Alex's left hand then began absorbing the Life Energy. It flowed peacefully through his left hand and returned to the Spirit Crown.
And once again, it went through the Black Jewel first before sending the energy back to the Blue Jewel.
This was when the second occurrence started. The Blue Jewel turned into the black for a while.
A vision came into Alex's mind. It was a vague image. He was in the forest, surrounded by trees. When looking around, he felt the weight under his chest.
The moment he looked down, he saw his own chest like that of a woman.
Before he could react, the image disappeared and turned into another thing. This time, it was a few words.
"Reila. Awaken." Alex muttered subconsciously as he only followed what the Spirit Crown wanted to do.
As if responding to his words, the tree began to glow, shining until everything turned into yellow light.
Rilt narrowed his eyes and observed everything that happened.
What made him baffled was when the tree started shrinking. He couldn't comment anything because this was the first time he saw this from the Spirit Crown, not the natural process. After all, if it were the natural process, he had experienced it too in the past.
This wasn't like Alex's usual Enhancement because this process had another name.
Evolution.
The tree began to form a shape like that of a human with a height only slightly lower than Alex himself.
The green leaves turned into hairs. However, due to their current position, it turned out that the place Alex touched this whole time was her chest that he saw earlier in the vision.
Alex felt the softness and noticed something different. There was no more energy to circulate, so he thought the process had ended.
When he opened his eyes, he saw where his hands touched and quickly widened his eyes. He tried to act not coolly and slowly take a step back as if telling them that it wasn't supposed to happen.
Still, the shocking sight he saw utterly made him dumbfounded.
After all, the huge tree earlier turned into a beautiful naked green-haired young girl.
Alex looked at Rilt, who still couldn't speak. "Father. What is happening?"
"This…This is Evolution. A process where every spirit needs to take and it turns out that this girl can evolve from the lowest form into the highest form in one go." Rilt looked at him with a scared expression.
"Is that good?" Alex tilted his head in confusion. He never understood the way spirits worked, so he couldn't understand Rilt's words.
"Of course it's good. No, I should say it's a miracle instead." Rilt drew a gasp and took a step back.
"Is that so?" Alex smiled.
Meanwhile, the tree looked at her hands and body, feeling it to see if it were real or not. When she realized that everything really happened to her, tears that should have never come out in the tree form damp her cheek.
She fell on her knees and kneeled in front of him, showing her thanks. There was no doubt that her life would change after this and Alex was the one bringing that change. Yes, the almighty Spirit King that they considered as the father of all spirits did it personally for her.
Although it was Rilt that convinced her to do it in which she agreed, there was no way that the Spirits would be oblivious to what kind of honor she had received just now.
Rilt, on the other hand, focused on Alex instead before remembering a certain but unnecessary thing as he slapped Alex's hand and shouted.
"You lucky bastard! Are you cheating in front of me?"
"Whaaaatttt?!"