SPIRIT SOUL

In the end, the last lesson of Knirg and Lahan was a seemingly simple movement technique called [Subtle movement].

In fact, it was not a movement technique per se.

But to be precise, a technique that smoothed out the movements one did.

Through this, Kyle was finally able to increase his fluidity while performing his movements as he had finally received the most basic understanding of battle intent.

He had yet to attain a common mastery of it.

But after another two weeks passed, Kyle finally got the hang of the Subtle movement technique.

He could also learn to use it alongwith his battle intent.

As a result, his movements were smooth and almost perfect, giving him the final opportunity he had awaited.

He was still not on par with the Death Knight and the Dullahan.

But owing to his cultivation base that was not restricted, and also a little bit higher than the two Undeads, he was slowly gaining an advantage.

His cultivation hadn't progressed, but that was not important as the others restricted their cultivation drastically!

On the 14th day since the two Undeads had decided to fight together against Kyle, he finally found an opportunity to strike his opponents.

It was suicidal, but it was worth the risk.

Kyle knew that his progress was rather slow and time was ticking.

Though he couldn't find a way to step out of the castle, he felt as if he was doing a big mistake in spending a long time in the second trial.

Being locked in the castle, he didn't know what kind of chaos had descended upon the seemingly peaceful Sadorla forest.

Otherwise, his desperation would have made him find a way to pass the second trial long ago.

There were too many things that were going on in the Shalivra valley.

And somehow the Jars and Selene were entangled in a huge mess.

Even they weren't sure how they had ended up becoming a part of the controversy of the several Kingdoms that wanted to claim the Sadorla forest.

Almost four months had passed since Kyle was forcefully separated from the others, and many things had changed.

Yet, he was far from reaching the Vitae stage.

His cultivation progress was severely restricted owing to the powerhouses in front of him.

Meanwhile, Selene had progressed rapidly, solely thinking about entering the Lahin Kingdom in order to see Kyle again!

She tried to ignore the chaos all around her while focusing on the last words Kyle had told her.

He had asked her to meet him in the Lahin Kingdom, and she was determined to reach there by hook or crook!

In the end, Kyle had not expected his situation to be so unique. Being forced into an inheritance site hadn't been in his plan.

Neither had he expected to be forcefully teleported away, just because a mysterious woman wanted something from him.

Selene had only one month left before she was eligible to enter the Lahin Kingdom to apply for the Glory Knight academy.

It was the last place Kyle and she had been talking about before separating.

Meanwhile, Kyle had no idea how much time had passed.

Not knowing where Kyle was or how to find him, Selene's only option was to stick to their original plan.

That was the only possibility she clung to, and it shouldn't be a problem for them to find each other.

Unfortunately, both of them were hardly aware of the interest of multiple races in the Sadorla forest.

This led tensions to escalate and situations to rapidly change.

In turn, these scenarios affected their plans and progress

Who could have known that the Lahin kingdom was planning on cutting off their relationships with every race but the demi-humans?

Both Selene and Kyle couldn't know just how difficult it would be for them to meet each other.

The Lahin kingdom's borders were soon to become an unfathomable wall for Kyle to cross.

Would they be able to meet each other again, or fate had more challenges in store for them? Only time could tell.

Despite that, the two young adventurers would give their utmost efforts in order to meet each other again. Neither of the two were willing to succumb to their fate even without trying.

They would gladly accept the challenges, even if their meeting were to be different than either could ever expect!

However, until that day, both were forced to overcome all kinds of obstacles on their own.

Both of them had become dependent on each other since their first meeting.

But now they were forced to become more independent.

In contrast, others who had wanted to do everything alone would learn how to rely on others and trust them.

And that was in the face of an era that was filled with treacherous beings that would kill others and betray their closest allies for minimal benefits.

Yet, right now, Selene had to become strong enough to become independent and enter the Glory Knight academy.

She had no choice but to embrace her new identity and be confident of acting as a Noble.

If she didn't want to be bullied or overwhelmed, she had to let go of her previous demeanor fitting to commoners of the Lohar races.

Meanwhile, Kyle was facing the onslaught of two monstrous combat forces while trying to overwhelm them.

He had always been independent and never liked to rely on others.

But he had been forced due to desperate measures.

However, Kyle also knew that others were likely to betray him once their selfish interests had been fulfilled.

Thus, he gave his best to become the strongest without anyone's help.

But, Selene's naivety seemed to break his iron wall, bothering him despite not being remotely close to him.

As such, the moment he perceived even the slightest chance, Kyle released more than half of the accumulated energy that had been stored inside the Nurture ability.

Brimming with life force, he noticed how his strength had increased drastically.

Unfortunately, Kyle had to release most of the life force consistently.

He was well aware that his body would tear apart if he were to force himself to keep the released energy inside his body.

Because of that, his current force that exceeded the limits of a common Cultivator at the Late Fortification stage would only remain for a few seconds, and weaken gradually.

With that in mind, Kyle pierced out, while using the fraction of a second of a lead he received.

After comprehending his battle intent he could conceal the vigor within him and the intent to attack someone, if only for a moment.

Reaching a shocking acceleration, Kyle thrust the silver serpent spear forward, right in the direction of the Death Knight, who was already slashing out at him.

It was dangerous but Kyle had decided to ignore Knirg's attack and deflect rather than fight it.

He managed to barely evade it to the extent to prevent being severely injured.

His spear reached Knirg's armored shoulder as his eyes were gleaming brightly.

Kyle decided to ignore the injury the sword blade was about to create on the left side of his body.

In the end, they were only small scratches and were barely worth mentioning.

The injuries would be worth the price if he hit Knirg.

The silver serpent spear was rapidly approaching Knirg's armor, and Kyle believed he would make it.

Yet, before he was able to touch it, several things happened at the same time.

First, Knirg moved towards the side and easily evaded the attack.

Meanwhile, Lahan used his longsword in order to attack using a horizontal slash.

The blade would have certainly hit Kyle if he wouldn't change his stance.

This was easier said than done, even more so because of the missing solid impact Kyle had expected to encounter by being able to hit Knirg.

Thus, he stumbled, and was unable to evade Lahan's attack...or so the two Undead's thought.

Knowing that the two Undeads expected him to counterattack, Kyle had already put aside not one but a total of three plans. He had planned it down to the finest detail, the moment a specific scenario were to occur.

With Knirg evading his attack instead of blocking it, one scenario he had expected occurred. The second one followed suit a moment later as Lahan had attacked him decisively.

Because of that, Kyle had the choice to make use of two plans instead of one.

Yet, instead of making a choice, Kyle decided to initiate both plans at once.

This was risky, but his eyes were gleaming in determination.

He had wasted a lot of time and was willing to ignore all kinds of limitations that held him back.

Hence, he released the remaining half of the accumulated energy within the Nurture ability.

Targeting himself with it, he let it flow through himself freely.

His skin burst open and was unable to endure the entire energy that coursed through his body.

Seeing this, Lahan and Knirg wanted to react.

But before they could do so, an extremely strong wind enveloped Kyle's entire being.

At the same time, his strength had increased to be on par with a common Cultivator at the Peak Fortification stage that cultivated in all three cultivation paths.

Making use of this advantage, Kyle blasted a strong wind current towards Lahan's blade, hitting it from below.

This forcefully changed the sword attack's trajectory, lifting it a little bit.

Just at that moment, Kyle exerted the Swift steps movement technique followed by the Subtle movement technique. Making use of the two simultaneously, he disappeared from Lahin's sight.

Ducking under the vertical slash that soared past him, he managed to escape by only sacrificing a few strands of hair.

Kyle's acceleration reached its maximum possible in a moment as he pushed his feet from the ground. Meanwhile, the winds that surrounded him propelled him further.

While the tip of the silver serpent spear had been close to the Death Knight, Kyle quickly changed his stance the moment he emerged in front of Lahan, as he thrust out with the spear's handle.

Having underestimated the speed Kyle could reach explosively, Lahan was a fraction of a second too late to evade the spear's base that barely grazed him.

With this, Kyle had officially defeated Lahan, but the fight was not yet over!

Knirg was still left, and Kyle was fully aware of this.

As such, making use of the remaining force within him, Kyle didn't hesitate as he took a step forward.

Simultaneously, he tightened the grip on the spear's shaft, before using his momentum to swing the spear around. It was only then that it collided with Knirg's longsword that was once again ready to be fully used.

Yet, what Knirg didn't expect was the sudden charge of several dozen wind needles that emerged out of nowhere.

Despite a severe bleeding nose, and blood-red eyes that showed the amount of strain he was subjecting himself to, he never gave up.

Those were required to control the wind needles while every other technique was still activated.

Shooting the needles towards Knirg, Kyle knew that he couldn't simply rely on the wind needles.

Under normal circumstances, they would be enough to hit his opponent at least once, but the Death Knight was not a normal opponent.

And even his restricted death aura and battle intent were merged together more than enough to deflect the simplest attacks.

Kyle had already realized this a long time ago because the two Undeads had shown him just how beneficial a high mastery in one's aura and battle intent were.

With that in mind, he was also able to find the downside of this merging process- focus.

While being restricted in their cultivation, it required tremendous focus to merge the battle intent and death aura.

As such, Kyle used this knowledge, while ignoring the pain that spread through his entire body.

Meanwhile, he exerted the Deathly assault technique on top of everything else.

Starting an onslaught of strikes and slashes, Kyle didn't even realize that he was able to create such a strong impact that forced Knirg backward.

Even though his cultivation was restricted, this was a ginormous achievement.

This caused even Lahan, who had been astonished about his defeat, to look at Kyle in confusion.

'Is he just breaking through his limits, or did he hold back before...no..he definitely gave his best!'

Suddenly, Kyle's sight blurred, and he momentarily went stiff as a board.

Not without knowing what caused the sudden change, he collapsed on the ground.

What he didn't know was that he had just exceeded his limitations several times over.

This included the fact that he had exhausted his own energy, the invigorated energy, and that he overexerted his muscles, soul vein, soul vessel, and brain.

The compound effect of all of this made it unable for his body to keep going.

However, there was one thing he heard that caused a faint smile to emerge on his face.

With a multitude of whooshing sounds, Kyle knew that he had hit his target.

It indicated that the wind needles were hitting something metallic, which finished the second trial that was so much more difficult than it was supposed to be.

As such, he could finally close his eyes and give in to the tiredness that had long since overcome him. He fell asleep like a rock on the ground, unmoving and unbothered by anything around him.