SPIRIT SOUL

Kyle could have never expected the situation to escalate like that.

Even Beatrice couldn't help but feel a bit flabbergasted.

Sensing Kyle's misery, she tried to come up with a solution.

And, when she perceived his brightly shining emerald eyes, everything seemed to make sense all of a sudden.

Recalling the functions of his ability, Beatrice made up something on the spot.

She instinctively bowed deeply before shouting out,

"HE CAN SEE YOUR SUFFERING CHILD!!!"

Only a moment later, she added in a little bit quieter voice, "He…just wants to help…"

Yet, before she could finish her words, Beatrice was also enveloped in dense mana that made her suffocate.

Unable to move, or breathe, Kyle could only blame his stupidity because he had pulled Beatrice into the mess.

It caused him to curse in his mind while struggling to barely get a word out.

However, if he stayed put, Kyle knew that the chances of the Liad race's Leader allowing them to simply leave their settlement would be close to nil.

After all, they had entered his territory without any issues.

If the same applied to leaving, Kyle and Beatrice would expose his well-hidden settlement!

Spreading the whereabouts of the settlement wouldn't be a problem for them after little research.

Thus, Kyle knew had to do something before, but from the looks of it, he had chosen the completely wrong path to do so.

Even then, he had not expected the situation to escalate like that.

It was only when an elderly voice resounded from behind the Liad race's leader that he sensed a trace of hope.

"Yas, don't kill them!" the elderly voice of a woman spoke to the leader in a rather stern voice. Kyle peered in the direction of the voice as an, extremely old-looking Liad revealed herself.

She looked as if she would die any moment. But, Kyle could clearly perceive that she had more lifeforce in her body than anyone else around.

With a simple flick of her arm in an inconspicuous wave, the elderly Liad freed Kyle and Beatrice from their suffering.

They coughed and panted as both of them nearly fell to the ground, gasping for air. Meanwhile, the Liad race's leader, called Yas, stared daggers at the old woman for her actions.

Yet, before he could say anything, something made him flinch before he lowered his head in front of the woman.

"Yes, Old Kas!"

Yas was clenching his fists that began to tremble in anger, but he was able to control himself.

Kyle saw this as he was taking deep breaths, only to avert his attention to Beatrice, who he quickly approached.

Taking a look at her, he was relieved to see that she seemed fine.

But, he felt bad for her which made him mutter in a low voice, "Sorry…".

However, Kyle also realized that their current problem was far from being solved.

He could barely refrain himself from staring at the Liad race's leader with killing intent as he averted his attention to the elderly Liad, called Old Kas.

"Thank you very much, Old Kas. I appreciate your help!"

Unfortunately, instead of receiving a warm response such as her welcoming them, or anything remotely close to that, she only looked at them for a moment before speaking in the same stern voice.

"I heard what you requested the first time.

If you can help us, we will show you the map one of our ancestors brought along from his tour.

He had been traveling through the wilderness outside the Divine Walls our Goddess created.

Afterward, we will send you out, and I hope we will never meet again! And, don't even think about attempting to share the location of our place to others.

You are truly oblivious to who we are and what kind of being protects us. So make no mistake that will lead you to your doom!"

Kyle simply nodded his head, agreeing to everything she said.

He tried not to think about the hidden meaning behind her words.

Unfortunately, this was easier said than done.

And, by joining the dots, he couldn't help but feel a little bit doubtful.

'The pipes and statues look modern and are created using a higher technological level than the remaining parts of the Liad race's settlement.

Either there was someone extremely generous, or there is more to the settlement than what meets the eye… but, why does it feel somewhat similar to the Razkadan castle?'

Kyle was not sure why, but he felt that the entire settlement was too underdeveloped considering that the buildings seemed to have been constructed a long time ago.

As such, the pipes and statues were the complete opposite and a stark contrast to the ancient ruins.

This only meant that someone or something with more knowledge had created the pipes and statues.

And that was also how Kyle began to question himself why someone would do that?

In the end, the green Miasma harbored an entire settlement of a race.

They seemed to be vigilant of the odd pair because they believed that there was something valuable enough for Kyle and Beatrice to return.

Meanwhile, the Razkadan castle had inhabited Undeads, just for the sole purpose of testing someone on the compatibility of binding with the Undead Heart.

As such, the Undead Heart had been the core piece of the Razkadan castle.

Likewise, the same seemed to be the case about the settlement and the green Miasma!

There had to be a core piece that was extremely valuable and hidden from his sight.

This thought caused Kyle to wonder about one particular question.

'Who is the Goddess they're talking about? Someone who wants to nurture something in the green Miasma, or is it to protect something…but is it a higher being…or another Old Soul?'

Kyle couldn't tell why he assumed an Old Soul to have intervened in the business of other beings once again, but he simply thought so.

There was no reason, and no evidence, but only his gut feeling that told him so.

However, the other Old Souls' business was not something he bothered about either. As such, he looked towards Old Kas and replied in a confident voice,

"Of course. I can help the child, and once we know where to go, we can leave immediately! There is no need to be that wary of us…"

Trying to reassure the Liads, he accidentally threw in the last sentence and regretted it the minute the words left his mouth.

It created the exact opposite effect causing Yas to be even more doubtful of Kyle.

This was not what he had planned, but also not something he could change anymore.

Thus, Kyle simply smiled before he followed Old Kas.

Beatrice followed suit, but her mind was somewhere completely different.

Something about the entire settlement irked her and a weird sensation spread through her entire body.

It was nothing adverse, but on the contrary, her senses seemed to be positively affected by this sensation.

This intrigued her while the sensation allowed her to perceive everything around her with much more accuracy.

And that included things she wouldn't usually feel because they were either too subtle or too far away!

This further intrigued her and instinctively she was drawn to one particular direction. But instead of following her instincts, she walked behind Kyle, while trying to make sense of everything.

Kyle was unable to feel the same sensation as Beatrice.

But what he could tell was that the entire settlement had something unique, something that was similar to the Razkadan castle in one particular aspect.

There was at least one object that would be described as a sacred treasure by many races!

Even though this was intriguing, Kyle didn't really care about the treasures inside the Liad race's settlement.

He had more than enough treasures of which he had yet to make use of.

And in order to do so, he required time, lots of it!

Because of that, he wanted to focus on other things that would solve problems instead of increasing his pile.

Unfortunately, this didn't seem to work as he hoped which was frustrating.

But Kyle was unable to do anything against the things that had already happened.

With that in mind, he entered a room after the old Liad.

There he saw another female Liad leaning over a large bed, wiping off the sweat from the forehead of the small Liad child that lay on the bed, breathing heavily.

Seeing the young Liad's condition caused Kyle to wonder if his ability had underestimated the weakened state, or if he was simply unable to precisely state what the Nurture ability perceived.

Nonetheless, Kyle knew that he had to find a way to leave the settlement unscathed.

The feeling grew even stronger when he heard the discussion of the elderly Liad and the Liad Leader.

'What the hell are they even doing?' He wondered.

His eyes then flicked from the two discussing Liads to the pair he presumed to be mother and son.

She had a worried look on her face when she noticed Kyle and Beatrice walk into their room.

Soon after, her husband and Old Kas, who were discussing the possibility of Kyle being a fraud, entered the room.

That was what Yas thought Kyle to be, while Old Kas didn't bother whether Kyle was a fraud or not.

"Even if he wants to exploit you, who cares??

If your child's life is less important to you than a little bit of your pride, reputation or a little bit of humiliation, you shouldn't have gotten a child, to begin with!

Instead of acting like a Leader, be the father that you are. Do you still not get it?!

Just get your act together and hope that he is not a fraud, otherwise, your son might die soon!!"

Hearing Old Kas suddenly scolding Yas made Kyle look back at her again.

And, only a moment later he heard a voice next to them.

"Can't you two fight somewhere else. Lyan needs some peace and not your daily fights!!"

The mother of the child stood up, with a deep frown on her face.

Her anger was clearly visible, and it was only at this moment that Kyle understood that they were one big family spanning three generations.

Everyone was worried about the child, and because of that, Kyle couldn't help himself but step forward the moment the mother looked at him.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and I hope this question is not rude. But aren't there often issues with the awakening of the Maest cultivation vein in the settlement, or is that a rare case?"

This was something he was curious about because he had no idea what was the issue in leaving the green Miasma.

However, the young mother's answer caused Kyle to feel even more confused.

"I don't know what you mean with Maest cultivation vein…but our race faces diseases such as my poor little baby has only once or twice every century."

She seemed to have difficulties answering this question while controlling her tears.

The poor mother had been wide awake during the last few weeks in which her son's situation had worsened.

As such, Kyle thought that it was better not to ask any further, and he had to stop Beatrice from doing the same. He sensed that she would ask something that was inappropriate, the mother Liad said that she had no idea what a Maest cultivation vein was.

It indicated that nobody inside the settlement knew about the three different cultivation veins or the fact that their Maest vein prevented them from feeling miserable inside the green Miasma.

They also seemed oblivious to the fact that the young 'sick' child was weakened because he had only awoken his Pryr cultivation vein and not the Maest vein!

Because of that, Kyle didn't even think of wasting his time in enquiring further about the green Miasma, why they didn't leave it to tend to the young Liad's issue, or who the hell the Goddess they had been talking about was.

Rather, he asked the mother for permission to take a proper look at the young Liad.

Though, he was just being courteous and was, in fact, something he didn't need to do.

He had already taken a proper look at the young Liad the moment they had entered the room with his Nurture ability.

It had allowed Kyle to see the hues much better because there was no wall or a high distance between them.

This made many things easier, such as figuring out what exactly the issue of the little Liad was.

As such, he knew that he could easily tend to the young Liad's issue because his awakening almost occurred and it was only a thin line before that the awakening process had stagnated.

Kyle didn't expect it to be something so simple, and he nearly smiled faintly.

Thus, giving him a small push was more than enough to solve the situation, which was exactly what Kyle wanted to do.

However, this time, he warned both the child and his mother that it might hurt a little bit once he started tending to the young Liad's issue.