SPIRIT SOUL

The entrance hall was made of the same material as the castle walls- stone.

However, those were not ordinary stones, but Quidar stones.

These were some of the strongest naturally existing stones that were found in the entire Shalivra valley!

Kyle had read about it in several books as a scholar in his past life.

He recalled them because they had an extremely high elemental resistance.

His teacher had wanted to make his entire forging room out of Quidar stone.

But unfortunately, it was too expensive for a Rank 1 Blacksmith to purchase.

? This seemingly simple light gray stone was extraordinarily rare.

It was also durable enough to sustain the attacks of a being at the Krysal stage if it were to scratch the stone.

His eyes roamed all around and he saw that the entire castle was constructed with Quidar stones.

This only meant that the owner of this place had to be of extreme importance.

If not, at least that was something that should have been the case in the past.

It looked like the giant castle was void of any living being, except the crimson-eyed being, after all!

After he sensed no danger, his heart had calmed down.

It was then that Kyle was able to inspect everything thoroughly which was not further difficult.

In the end, the entrance hall didn't have any unnecessary furniture.

There were only eight broad pillars erected on either side of the red carpet that was laid out in the hall's center.

Bending down, Kyle touched the fabric. It was soft and spotlessly clean.

It would be a shame to place his dirty and soiled boots that were now smudged with dried mud.

Nevertheless, he didn't want to leave the center of the entrance hall because it was the safest position.

As such, he had to ignore his earlier thought as he saw a total of four doors at the far end of the large entrance hall.

They were lined across the wall in a neat row.

The one on the far left side was the largest and each subsequent door grew smaller in size.

They were hidden from his sight before, but Kyle couldn't help but squint his eyes as he saw something that attracted his interest.

"The symbols representing the cultivation stage?"

Each door had a symbol just below the door handle.

The biggest door's symbol, representing the Fortification stage, was glowing faintly.

'Am I supposed to enter through that door?' Kyle wondered.

He hesitated and continued to look around.

Kyle was trying to see whether there were other things he hadn't been able to see before.

While he was inspecting everything neatly, he didn't forget to replenish his soul force. At the same time, he supplied his Nurture ability with more energy.

Despite no visible threat, Kyle had to keep his guard up to make use of in case he required a sudden burst of vitality.

The Nurture ability was like a blackhole that could be filled with an endless amount of energy.

As such, Kyle felt that it was quite useful to exploit this scenario.

"I should have stored more energy from the souls I devoured…" He grumbled in disappointment.

Right now, Arashi needed a lot of energy. His current state of a youngling Spirit Soul made him want more energy than usual to be satiated.

In order to maximize his growth speed, Kyle had two options.

Either he would have to use his Nurture ability, or use the soul of beasts he killed.

Unfortunately, there was not a single beast around to kill.

But, what he found were small crevices in each of the eight pillars.

This made him suspicious about the entrance hall because there were all kinds of runes inscribed inside the crevice, giving him hints about the dimensions of the entire castle's technological advancement.

'Is the entire pillar swept through with runes…or maybe…the whole castle?'

Owing to his enhanced senses, Kyle was able to perceive the faint streams of mana that were stored within the runes.

With closed eyes he tried to focus on the mana fluctuations and strain his memory.

Somehow, he felt that they were oddly familiar.

Yet, when Kyle remembered where he had perceived the mana fluctuations, his feet instinctively dragged him back.

The elemental transmutation of the mana was stored within the stored, which made him stumble backwards.

"Spatial!!" He shouted out, as the memory of him being teleported away from the Sadorla forest flashed through his mind.

The runes were filled with spatial transmuted mana, and it was not difficult for Kyle to understand what was going on.

After regaining his mind and body's control, he wanted to spend a few days within the entrance hall.

He believed it was a good idea to increase his cultivation to the Low rank of the Fortification stage.

Meanwhile, Arashi was supposed to do the same.

After all, the youngling Spirit Soul's strength had decreased to the initial phase of the Fortification stage as well.

Because of this predicament, Kyle felt that it would be too dangerous to enter the gigantic gate with the Fortification symbol on it.

However, if his assumption was not wrong, it would be difficult to make his plan possible.

'There could be a timer giving me a rough indicator about how long I'm allowed to stay inside the entrance hall before something would happen!' Kyle guessed.

Slowly, he returned to the closest pillar, taking a proper look at the runes.

He was still not sure what exactly the palace he had entered was.

But if he were to make an assumption, the most logical would be a deadly training site or the abandoned abode of a powerful being.

Most likely, this being had left behind an inheritance that could be obtained by successfully absolving several trials.

The huge palace looked spotless and well-kept, both on the inside and outside, to be labeled an ancient ruin.

Furthermore, the differentiation in several cultivation stages made no sense to him.

This was because everything pointed towards the Fortification stage in Kyle's case.

The glowing Fortification symbol etched in both the gate towards the entrance and the large door at the end of the hall were indicators that he had entered a place where one was separated according to their cultivation stage.

Even if everything else was still uncertain, this sole fact was enough to dismiss Kyle's worry.

If this were to be true, then his survival wasn't at stake.

At least, he wouldn't have to fight against Vitae, let alone Krysal stage beings if his assumption was correct.

The runes within the crevice of the pillars were something Kyle had never seen before.

As such, he could only approach the large gate with the Fortification symbol engraved below the door handle, while waiting near it.

If something bad were to happen while waiting, Kyle would at least be able to leave through the large door, securing his life.

That was at least what he imagined to be the case.

A few hours passed and Kyle was able to take a look at the content of his spatial ring and the equipment he had .

It was not much, but he was happy that he had food rations for a few weeks, his peak ranked bow, a bunch of arrows, and the tiola machete.

With all of this, he felt a little reassured as confidence seeped into him.

The Leather armor he was still wearing protected him well from beasts at the Fortification stage.

'If the trials are adjusted to my stage… they should be feasible to complete, right?' He asked himself. Suddenly, he felt the ground rumbling beneath his feet.

As if he had jinxed himself, the runes inside the eight pillars were activated, the moment he thought so.

These pillars released a tremendous amount of mana as dark-blue liquid manifested next to each pillar.

All of it was pointing towards the center.

The liquid began to spread around and reached a height of more than two meters before it took an oval shape before they stopped.

'Portals...as expected!' Kyle quickly understood, realizing that his assumption had been correct.

With slow steps, he approached the door for those at the Fortification stage.

Half of his mind was ready to run away as soon as beasts stronger than he were to emerge from one of the portals.

If there wouldn't be something Kyle wanted to figure out, leaving without looking back would be the best choice.

Unfortunately, there was something he had to see before entering the unknown second hall through the Door of Fortification.

However, his mouth fell wide open to see what emerges first from one of the many portals.

His mind went blank, making him stutter for a moment.

Yet, at the same time, he simultaneously felt that the situation might not be as bad as he had imagined.

His mind had come up with the worst possible scenario and what was in front of him was relatively tamer, if not completely harmless.

White-greyish bones were the first thing Kyle saw when the first beast emerged from the portal that was the closest to him.

Within a mere moment, it was possible for him to figure out what kind of beings would emerge from the portals, and it was more logical than he had expected.

"The Undead!!" He exclaimed, only to shut his mouth when he realized that it was already too late.

The rattling of bones echoed through the large hall as more than ten beings stepped out of the portal.

They were skeletons of various forms that turned towards him.

Their dark-greenish, glimmering core was eerily vibrant.

In addition to that, the distinct blue flames of their soul flickered in their eye sockets as the aura of death permeated the air within the entrance hall.

Squinting his eyes, Kyle halted in his tracks for a moment. His eyes were firmly glued on the first Skeleton's core, only to quickly avert his attention to the other Skeleton's cores that showed him a similar result.

'All of them are only at the Low Fortification stage?'

With the help of the Nurture ability, he could easily decipher the cultivation base of most of the beings around. And, what he saw made him ponder.

Undeads were difficult to kill, but the vast majority had sluggish movements, which Kyle could make use of.

With that in mind, he decided to take a step away from the Door of Fortification as his eyes began to glow brightly.

As long as the number of Skeletons wouldn't overwhelm him he was fine with them popping out.

As long as they didn't block his movement, or stronger types of Undeads were to appear suddenly, Kyle was confident to defeat the opponents in front of him.

His previous plan to nurture Arashi could be resumed with the appearance of the Skeletons.

Because of that, he was unable to keep his poker face.

His eyes went wide when he noticed that even the new Skeletons' that emerged from the portal were only at the Low Fortification stage!

As such, his earlier doubt dispersed, and his eyes brightened up as he felt a deep sensation of excitement spread through his entire body.

"Let me relish my feast!"