SPIRIT SOUL

Kyle's eyes were glued to the numerous wooden signs that had all different words written on them.

As he stared at the signs intently, Kyle tried to find out if they had a connection with the hourglass.

After observing it intently, he could make some assumptions.

It seem to run out slowly, and if he was calculating correctly, it would take almost six hours before the last grain of sand would fall in the lower part.

Six hours were more than enough for him to determine what he wanted to do now.

With no Skeleton to defeat anymore, using the remaining time with the highest efficiency was probably the best he could do.

However, what happened afterward was a completely different matter.

After pondering about it for a moment, he asked Arashi to start gathering and converting energy.

This would help him be prepared in order to allow Kyle to cultivate once he had decided what he wanted to do.

As such, while picking up the Undead cores, he made up his mind and mumbled.

"If I want to figure out whether I can only pick one item, I shall take something that benefits me the most!"

With that in mind, Kyle didn't even have to think about what he needed the most right now because the answer was simple.

Time!

What he required the most was time.

As such, given the two wooden signs that appeared below the hourglass, he injected his soul force into the one that had a big [+] written on it.

The meaning behind the sign was self-explanatory and he didn't have to think much about it.

The sign was supposed to increase the time it would take for the grain of sands to fall through the narrow opening.

A moment later, Kyle turned around, only to see that the letters on the wooden signs had disappeared.

This was interesting and clearly showed that he could only choose one reward for clearing the first wave.

With no letters on the signs, they were now all mere wooden planks with no clues or hints to any possible rewards.

'Once the timer runs out, the second wave will probably start. I wonder if I can overcome it with Arashi's help, and use the next three days to cultivate…'

According to the revised time added due to the sign, now it would now take around three days before the last grain of sand would fall into the lower part of the hourglass.

As such, he could cultivate in that time.

Simultaneously, Arashi would mature much faster as long as he fed him properly.

This shouldn't be much of a problem because he was already fully satiated.

And, with the remaining soul particles in Kyle's body, the little Spirit Soul shouldn't feel hungry at all.

At least not for the next few days.

With that in mind, Kyle assumed that both he and his Spirit Soul would each reach combat prowess of the Low Fortification stage.

If he were to add the martial art techniques and wind affinities to their advantage, they could even tackle Mid Fortification stage Skeletons easily.

But, that was under the condition that there weren't too many of them at once.

The last batch had left him feeling exhausted.

He dreaded the arrival of a large group of Skeletons yet again and eyed the Door of Fortification nervously.

If another batch of 16 Skeletons, with each of them being at a higher cultivation base, were to emerge inside the entrance hall, Kyle's only choice would be to leave through the Door of Fortification.

Because that was possible, he found that the entrance hall was comparable to a tutorial.

He felt as if he was put on a trial and he would receive rewards based on his success rate.

As such, Kyle wanted to face the second wave.

The rewards could be quite helpful, but even more important was that he could prepare himself well for the first trial.

That was because Kyle had realized that the castle was, in fact, an Inheritance site!

The knowledge from his past life helped him reach this conclusion.

Before, he didn't think that this was possible.

However, the rewards that the castle gave out nonchalantly made him feel so.

It was an undeniable fact that the castle was either training others, or searching for an Inheritor.

Kyle didn't need the castle's inheritance because the only thing he could sense in this ominous place was death.

That was not something Kyle wanted to be ever connected with.

He couldn't see himself enveloped in a death aura, commanding undeads, or anything remotely close to that.

Nevertheless, as he was already fighting with his life on the line, he should reap as many benefits from the castle as possible.

The three cultivation energies within the castle were distinct, and much richer compared to outside.

And the energies in the courtyard were already much denser, purer and higher in quantity in comparison to the Sadorla forest.

Thus, the castle could be compared to a paradise, even more so if he could face opponents like the Skeletons in the first wave.

Their souls were worse in quality than ordinary souls of beasts at the Low Fortification stage.

Despite that, Kyle found them much easier to kill.

After he and Arashi had accustomed themselves to the simple combat style the unintelligent undead used, their confidence increased.

All-in-all, Kyle's anxiety, and fear were now being replaced by excitement.

Thus, he didn't even think about complaining over the fact that he had been forced to enter the inheritance site.

It was against his will, and he had been dragged away from Selene and the others.

But the castle had tweaked the danger level and adjusted it to his strength.

Based on this, Kyle could gauge that he would be able to survive as long as he didn't do anything stupid.

He was relatively confident in his own abilities, and Kyle's only struggle was his weak cultivation base.

Having a strong foundation was imperative to becoming stronger.

If his cultivation base were to increase while the dangers remained at the peak of the Initial Fortification stage, it might as well be beneficial for him to have cultivated.

With that thought, Kyle decided to focus on cultivating.

His mind was creating weird theories about everything that might happen in the Inheritance site, let alone the dangers he would face.

Thus, while giving his utmost effort, he was able to receive the biggest reward he could have hoped for. Meanwhile, three whole days passed as he cultivated.

There were only a few sand grains left in the top portion of the hourglass.

Kyle's eyes were trained on the grains and when the next batch would show up.

His body was adjusting to the cultivated strength that had increased drastically.

He felt that his mind, body, and vessel were brimming with vigor.

In order to test the highest speed he could attain, Kyle ran through the entrance hall.

He wanted to gauge the difference in his improved speed with and without the usage of his wind affinity and the Swift Steps movement technique.

The increment of his strength felt marvelous and he noticed that he had indeed improved considerably.

It was evident because Kyle had been able to enter the Low rank of the Fortification stage during the last three days!

After some calculation, he was confident in his cultivation speed.

He knew that it was extremely fast and enough to generate envy in the eyes of those who had a worse cultivation talent than him.

They didn't know about his hardships until he was finally able to evolve Arashi.

But Kyle knew that he was ought to be envied by others, even more so in the future!

It would take some time, but given enough of it, his future prospects were looking great.

This was even more apparent after Kyle realized that Arashi was growing much faster than he had expected.

It was probably only owing to the fact that the little fox was still in its youngling phase.

Despite that, it was already stronger than Kyle!

Instead of being jealous, Kyle found this to be a great advantage.

He sincerely hoped that Arashi would grow even faster.

Because of that, he didn't even care about nurturing anything else but his growth path.

For this, he made use of the soul particles, only to fill the little fox's stomach with the Nurture ability, almost letting it overflow.

Arashi remained outside Kyle's body and lay on his shoulder.

The height and position were perfect for the little fox to observe the situation.

He could keep an eye on possible ambushes and simultaneously use long-range attacks to target the opponents from an elevated position.

They had already thought of many ways to fight against large numbers of Skeletons, and plan their attacks in coordination.

Kyle didn't think that there would be a large increase in difficulty from the first to the second wave.

Nevertheless, he didn't want to test his fate and decided to have his emergency exit secured.

Thus, just before the last sand grain fell through the narrow gap, Kyle appeared next to the Door of Fortification. If the dangers were to be more than he could handle, he would readily depart at any moment.

Both excitement and a slight trace of nervosity spread through his entire body as he watched in anticipation.

And, the moment the last grain fell through the gap, the portals manifested once again.

He looked around, expecting the entire entrance hall to shake any moment.

He had gotten used to it and was not even bothered by it anymore.

Instead, he focused on the portals and had his eyes trained on them.

He watched nervously as eight Skeletons emerged, one from each portal.

Followed by the first batch, a second, and finally, a third one appeared, totaling the number of Skeletons to 24.

Despite an increase in the number of opponents this time, Kyle couldn't help but smile brightly as he quietly ordered Arashi to act as an assassin.

This was their Plan A about what they would do if only the number of attacking Skeletons were to increase, and not their cultivation base!

They were eight more in number, but all of them were still at the Low Fortification stage.

When Kyle and Arashi saw this, the Spirit Soul acted on his order without hesitation.

Simultaneously, he manifested two crescent wind blades without hesitation.

Now that his cultivation base had increased, he didn't have to rely on the Swift Steps movement technique.

Even without using it, he could move faster than the fastest Skeleton he was about to face.

As such, Kyle wanted to focus on using his wind affinity to finish off everyone in the fastest possible pace!

`Let's end this quickly...I want to continue cultivating!!" He said to Arashi impatiently, while simultaneously being excited to fight a much larger number of Skeletons.

Without another thought, he shot out the two crescent wind blades.

They targeted the four-legged Skeletons that were the fastest and also the only opponents he couldn't defeat with a single attack.

At least that was what he had assumed.

Unexpectedly, the crescent wind blades severed through the wolves' rib cages quite easily.

Cutting in, the wind blades pierced through their Undead cores without much resistance.

It was only at this moment that Kyle realized something.

'Ah...I forgot that Arashi's wind affinity's strength increases with his cultivation base…'

Seeing how two of the 24 Skeletons died within no time, Kyle frowned a little.

Beside him, even Arashi, who had been brimming with the same excitement as him, couldn't help but feel low.

Even if not all emotions between Kyle and Arashi were shared, their personality was mostly the same.

After all, the Spirit Soul was Kyle's soul!

As such, it was only normal for them to act and feel similar.

The sole difference was that the beast-type Spirit Soul had gained sentience too.

Because of that, Arashi was not exactly the same as Kyle, who couldn't help but mumble with only a little euphoria.

"So...I'll solely focus on increasing the time for which I can cultivate then?...That's great...I guess?"