Spirit Soul

Within a few minutes, every single Cultivator within the dome had collapsed on the ground.

They were affected by the spores, inducing dizziness, nausea, paralyzation and far more on them.

The overwhelming density and potency of the spores even put them to sleep as their immune system was unable to react and defend itself in time.

This allowed Kyle to end up as the only one being who was still standing on his feet.

He walked through the dome, and looked at the situation at hand, but quickly noticed that there was really nobody else who had been able to overcome the spores' attack.

'Why were the Aeroa unable to protect themselves? They have a wind affinity, after all?'

There were quite a few things that confused him, but while looking at the others' hues, Kyle realized that even their development paths were somewhat affected by the spores of the devouring tree seedling.

Gently holding the crystal necklace in which he had placed the sentient seedling, he smiled brightly.

"Thank you, little one!"

After that, Kyle quickly realized that the wings of the Aeroa were twitching as the pores entered their body through them, permeating through the thin membrane of skin.

This looked somewhat painful and caused him to flinch.

With a quick glance thrown to the countdown of the mutated Licara flower, Kyle nodded his head before approaching the dome's walls.

Walking towards the edges, he located Sven and his unit on the other side based on the fiery armor they were wearing in no time.

Next to them, Beatrice and Yasmine were standing close to each other while looking at him with puzzled expressions that hid their true feelings.

They were glad that Kyle had survived the Brawl, but at the same time, the two women couldn't help but wonder if his last act had been too much.

Only Beatrice and Yasmine knew how he put everyone inside the dome to sleep, and if the others were to grow overly interested in finding out, they would start investigating Kyle pretty soon.

There was not much to find out, to begin with.

But if one looked at the entire Brawl with focus on Kyle, one could identify his secret pretty easily.

He had revealed his Spirit Soul a few times, the cuts he had sustained were healing at a rapid pace, and the spores he had released left behind remnants that could be researched if someone wanted to.

Only the fact that he was an Old Soul was still hidden.

However, even that was unlikely to be the case as the Quetzalcoatl had mentioned an Old Soul.

This Old Soul was obviously Kyle, which meant that the Quetzalcoatl was now fully aware of every single hidden trait concerning the youngest reincarnation of the Old Universe!

Beatrice and Yasmine were truly bothered by this, depriving them of the joy they felt when seeing that Kyle was relatively unscathed.

'Was it really worth exposing everything just for the mutated Licara flower?' They wondered, feeling that he shouldn't have done so.

"I wonder how he will react after hearing about Duchess Silvermoon's invitation…"

It was one of the Soldiers mumbling this, feeling sorry that Kyle had to go through the Brawl, and face near death dozens of times, just to realize later that he had already been invited to the Lahin kingdom, and the Glory Knight academy!

When Sven heard his subordinate saying this, he knitted his brows before turning around to face the young man.

He had wanted to lecture the young Lohar, but decided otherwise a moment later.

With a sigh, Sven realized that Kyle wouldn't simply hand over the mutated Licara flower seed.

At least not after hearing that it was not required of him to hand over the seed to reunite with Selene!

This caused Sven to contemplate what to do next as he entered a train of deep thoughts.

As such, he didn't even notice when Kyle's countdown had run out which allowed him to leave.

Without hesitation, Kyle left the dome by stepping out of it.

The moment he was out of it, he couldn't help but release a breath he didn't even know he had been holding.

Almost instantaneously, the tension within his body was released, giving him the ability to calmly wave towards Beatrice and Yasmine, both of whom nearly ran into him.

Their expressions were still stiff, but neither realized that a subtle smile had formed on their lips.

This caused Kyle to smile as well.

However, nobody was able to see it because the mask he wore was still tightly put on his face, covering it completely.

Because of that, there was not a single existence that noticed Kyle's sudden frown as he perceived how someone was trying to send a voice transmission towards him.

[Old Soul, if you are willing to join the Guild, and become my master's direct disciple, come to us! If you are not willing, at least don't become a burden to my Master!

He asked me to let you leave and not meddle with whatever you do, but I don't like uncertain factors!

And you… are the most mysterious, and uncertain factor I've ever encountered!

So keep your head down, or at least don't disrupt the balance and peace in the Shalivra valley!!]

When Kyle heard this, he nearly froze in place.

But, it was just a few moments later that he sensed something soft embracing his right and left arm.

Looking at the two women, who had each woven their arms around his, he let them drag him towards Sven and the other soldiers of the Lahin kingdom's Blazing Legion, because they wanted him to be as secure as possible.

With that in mind, they didn't even bother about the fact that their chest was pressing against Kyle.

In the end, Kyle was also too tired to say anything, while his mind was trying to digest the things the Quetzalcoatl had said.

But it was just a few seconds later that he even forgot the words it had issued in the voice transmission.

His mind went blank, as exhaustion took over him while he tried to fend it off by taking a few deep and much-needed breaths of fresh air.

Only now did he truly get a grasp of how exhausted he was as the adrenaline that had coursed through his body was slowly subsiding.

He was unable to invigorate his body with the use of the Nurture ability as he had no energy left to do so, and even his mental exhaustion was slowly beginning to make him feel disoriented.

The only thing he was able to grasp tightly was the mutated Licara flower seed.

"Are you fine?..." Yasmine asked, tilting her head to take a better look at him.

She was trying to see through the mask, but even with the help of her unique eyes, she couldn't gauge his condition perfectly.

But even then, both Yasmine and Beatrice could clearly sense that Kyle was not fine, at all.

Only the fact that Arashi was residing within him, and providing Soul force at a rapid pace for Kyle to recuperate faster, prevented them from pulling off his mask and forcing several potions down his throat.

Revealing his identity right now, after everything Kyle had given in order to hide it would mean that his efforts had been for naught.

As such, they only looked at him worriedly as they saw him nodding his head, and reassuring them that he was fine.

"Don't worry about me. I'm just exhausted. I will only require some much-needed sleep once we leave this God-forsaken place, and I hand over the mutated Licara flower seed to Sven…"

Kyle was ready to go to sleep, but he knew that the mutated Licara flower seed was not safe in his hands.

Thus, he approached Sven with determination, only to hear Beatrice mumbling,

"Don't just hand it over as a present…"

Her voice was extremely low and nearly incomprehensible to Kyle, but he saw Yasmine nod her head vigorously, indicating that she completely agreed with Beatrice's comment.

"Why? I…no, we need to gift it so as to enter the Lahin kingdom and the Glory Knight academy… or am I missing something?"

Even though he was tired, Kyle noticed that something was different than earlier.

"Well, it is a little bit more complicated, but to put it simply, the silver-furred Lohar whom you saved seems to be of more importance than we had assumed.

Her master came over not long ago and invited the three of us to the Glory Knight academy. We are allowed to join the special class that includes students belonging to the royalty and nobility of the demihumans.

The Lahin kingdom and the Anadra kingdom seemed to be trying to forge a strong bond with each other."

Kyle felt as if he had been thrown into a blackhole, the moment he heard what Yasmine said.

He halted in his tracks before closing his fingers around the mutated Licara flower seed that lay in his open and outstretched palm.

"Are you serious, right now?" He asked them with a raised eyebrow, not sure what to think or how to react.

When he had saved Alice Silvermoon, the silver-furred Lohar, he had realized that she was someone special.

Through the hues that were visible to his eyes, Kyle had deduced her importance and the fact that she was no ordinary woman.

Yet, to think that she simply invited him to the Lahin kingdom, and even the prestigious Glory Knight academy was something he would have never imagined.

This decreased the value Kyle held for the mutated Licara flower immensely, causing him to frown deeply.

'Well…in the end, my reason to enter the Brawl was to gain permission to enter the Lahin Kingdom, preferably to enter the Glory Knight academy.

Saving Alice was also only possible by entering the Brawl… sooo…I guess it is fine?'

He was not sure if convincing himself would make him feel less gloomy, and neither was he sure whether to feel happy or frustrated about the given situation.

It was obviously good that Alice had been able to invite him to the academy, but the painstaking efforts he had put in to obtain the mutated Licara flower seed was now a somewhat wasted effort.

Kyle didn't even need the Licara flower seed to begin with as his Nurture ability was far better!

As such, after giving it a thought, he averted his attention back to Sven, who was contemplating whether to approach Kyle and talk to him, or to wait and allow him to overcome the shock of the news.

"I guess that will be fine?" Kyle suddenly mumbled before he took the last few steps towards Sven.

A moment later he threw the small mutated Licara flower seed over to the Captain of the Blazing Legion.

"Just take it."

Catching the seed mid-air, Sven looked at the small seed for several seconds, utterly dumbfounded about Kyle's sudden move.

A simple touch of the seed allowed him to understand that this was the real deal, causing him to feel goosebumps spread all over his body.

'He is willing to give it to us? Just like that?' Sven wondered what was on Kyle's mind, and given the way he had simply thrown the mutated Licara flower seed at him meant that the young Cultivator had truly lost his interest in it.

"Are..you sure?" Sven asked, feeling that he had to.

He didn't understand the mindset with which Kyle was acting right now.

However, it was just a moment later that everything began to make far more sense.

"I will win the Queen's favor with this, right?"

Kyle spoke in a seemingly simple, and resigned manner.

But the importance behind each word was clear as even one of the Blazing legion's Soldiers couldn't help but gasp for air before he blurted out,

"He really wants to become the Queen's benefactor? Is that it?!"