Chapter 781 Spirits"What?" Saphandra asked. "Am I not allowed here?"
"No, that's not what we are asking," Ning said.
"I just wanted to see if the place here is similar to the one back on my planet," she said. "Well, it certainly isn't."
"Your planet? Did you reincarnate as well?" the slime asked.
"What? No," she said. "Did you?"
"He has a system," Ning said.
"Oh, good for you," Saphandra said. "I nearly got one too. What's your name again?"
"I don't have one," the slime said. "Hmm, I should have one. Maybe I should just call myself Milo again. That was my name in my last life."
"No, you're Slimy!" the princess said from the side.
The slime made an exaggerating shrug and said, "Sure, why not? Call me Slimy because I'm slime. I will call you little human then. That will be your name."
"Okay, Slimy!" the princess gave a big smile.
"Sigh, I give up," the slime said in a dejected fashion.
"B-brother Ning," Ori spoke from the side. "Thank you for bringing me here."
"Oh, it's fine. I needed 5 people, and you 5 were the ones that came to my mind," Ning said.
"Not Taron?" Saphandra asked.
"No, I did. But I already asked him why he wasn't here before and he sent me a message saying he was chosen, but he gave his position away. He knew he wasn't going to stay here for long, so he didn't want to spend his time taking away other people's opportunities," Ning said.
"You should learn something from him," Saphandra said and turned around.
"What? You don't get to say that," Ning said and started walking too.
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"Thank you for bringing me here too, Ning," Tessa said. "Although, I'm sure grandma is going mad right now, and I will be gone for another month."
"Oh… yeah I forgot about that," Ning said. He had been in such a hurry that he simply grabbed the people from where they were and left.
It wasn't just Verina that was going to be worried, both the Duke's family, and the King and Queen of Darius would be worried again.
"System, can I leave and come back?" Ning asked.
"Great. I'll be back in a minute," Ning said and teleported out. He had to first teleport out of the secret realm onto its edge, then from there, he teleported to the different locations to leave behind information on the sudden disappearance of the 5 individuals.
The Darius Kingdom, the Mooncrest city, the beasts in the rain forest, and the old man on the boat who was confused out of his mind, all learned of what had happened.
Some were worried, some were confused, but most were excited out of their mind for their loved ones to gain an opportunity that only came to 1 in a few million people.
Ning returned back to the island and disappeared into the island.
"You're here. Let's go," Saphandra said and started walking.
The group of 7 slowly made their way into the rainforest.
The slime moved at the front, pushing away any branches that were on their way.
Trevain and Saphandra moved on either side, with the princess, Ori, and Tessa, who weren't very strong in either combat or survival.
Ning walked at the back, making sure nothing attacked them from the rear.
"So, where are the spirits?" the little princess asked as she excited walked along the forest.
"Do you want to know?" Ning asked with a smile. He could locate every single spirit at once if he wanted to.
"No," Saphandra said from the side. "We have a month inside here, let's take our time."
"Sure," Ning said and continued walking in silence.
He felt the energy inside the island. For some reason, it was barely any different than the world outside.
'But they do say this island helps them collect Spiritual Energy faster, don't they?' he thought. That was what he had heard. 'Wait, does it have to do with this being an Origin?'
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"System, what's the Energy absorption speed ratio here?" he asked.
"Ah, no wonder," Ning thought. While the energy was of the same density, one could collect it 15 times faster than outside.
"Brother, what should I do? I'm not prepared at all," Ori said softly to Trevain. "I don't even know much about spirits, let alone how to bond with them."
"Hah! You don't know about spirits? That's so easy," the princess said from the side.
"You know about spirits?" Ori looked surprised.
"Of course, Teacher taught me," the little princess said.
"You've been learning every day?" Ning asked.
"Yes, teacher," she said. The little princess was now Rank 4 with yellow hair. Soon, she was most likely going to have green hair too.
"Have you been learning about everything?" Ning asked.
"Yes," she said. "Mother makes me study every day. I know about many beasts, spirits, and summoning circles."
"You know about summoning circles?" Tessa looked surprised.
"Yes, Teacher taught me," the little girl said.
"What exactly do you know?" Tessa asked.
"Hmm… I can tell all the rank of the summons, their elemental affinity, and how strong they are," the princes said.
"That's more than what most know," Tessa said.
The princess put on a smug face with how proud she was. "I also know about spirits. Spirits form in a place with many spiritual energy and they give natural powers," she said.
"What natural powers?" Ori asked curiously.
"I don't know. I haven't got to that part yet. The book only said natural powers," the princess said.
"Unlike with beasts, bonding with a spirit grants you complete control over one of the fundamental laws of the world," Ning said from the back.
"For example, little blue lets Saphandra attract and repel things. The headmaster of First Bond school has control over the sound. I saw another headmaster with the power to control gravity too I think," Ning said.
"Given that you are also guaranteed to have violet hair after bonding with them, you can see how lucrative spirits become to everyone."
Chapter 782 Rest"Hey, wanna become my subordinate?" the slime asked the massive bear that was standing in front of the group threateningly.
It was only a Rank 5 beast, but the size alone made it look like it was stronger than that.
"Stop trying to tame every beast you see. How are you going to bring them away from here?" Ning asked.
"Can't you help me?" the slime asked.
"I can, but why would I?" Ning asked.
"Hey, you're the one that brought me here," the slime said.
"Yes, to bond with spirits, not tame every random beast you will come across," Ning said.
"Well, I—"
" *YAWN* Teacher, I want to sleep," the princess said. It had been half an hour since they entered the forest, so now that her excitement level had died down, her sleepiness had returned and she was feeling lethargic.
"Sigh, fine tame that beast," Ning said and the slime excitedly bonded with the beast.
Then, Ning used a large piece of cloth to tie the princess to the bear so she could sleep while the rest of the adults continued walking.
They came across beasts, but most of them just walked away when they saw the bear. If they didn't, the Slime or Saphandra simply fought them off without much trouble.
"Ugh, my feet hurt," Tessa cried. She hadn't prepared for the journey, so the clothes and shoes she was wearing weren't the best.
Ori was in a similar situation, but she was just bearing the discomfort.
Ning looked at the sky which was starting to get dark.
"Okay, let's stop for the time then. It's getting dark too and soon it will be night. I don't think you guys will like to walk around at night, right?" Ning said from the back.
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The 6 of them stopped after hearing him and looked around for places they could sleep in for the night.
"That tree looks good. If you can get us some cloth again, we can tie it around, create a hammock or something to sleep for the night," Saphandra started saying.
"Maybe tying myself to that branch alone will be enough," Trevain said, but he wasn't so certain about that.
"I… I can sleep in that tree's hole. I think I can fit in there," Ori said, even though she was clearly worried about the insects and reptiles that might get to her up there.
"I don't know what I will do," Tessa said. "I've never slept out in the wild before."
"What are you guys doing?" the slime asked with a confused look on his human face.
"Looking for a place to spend the night at. You should help us look around too," they told him.
"Why are you looking for a place to stay when you have him?" the slime asked.
Everyone turned to look at Ning who had a playful smile on his face. "I was hoping to see you guys come up with some ideas on your own. You should have let them keep going for a while longer," Ning said.
"You have a plan?" Saphandra asked.
"Not so much as a plan as a place to stay itself," Ning said and something flashed from his body.
Suddenly, a large metallic vessel slowly landed on top of the tree, supported entirely by them.
The door at the bottom opened high in the air and Ning looked at them. "Let's go."
Saphandra flew on her own, going ahead in front of everyone. She entered the spaceship and started looking around.
The slime flew behind her and told her not to touch anything, as that was what Ning had told him and his beast the last time he was in here.
Ning took the princess off of the bear and started flying. As he did, he pulled on the other 3 as well.
He entered the spaceship and pulled the 3 in. Then, the hanger door slowly closed itself.
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"Is this the spaceship?" Saphandra asked.
"What's a spaceship?" Trevain asked.
"So much metal," Tessa looked around.
"Touch nothing, okay?" the slime spoke up.
The group looked around curiously while Ning took the princess a sleeping quarter and lay her there.
Then, he returned back to the group and showed them around the spaceship.
The awe continued for a while as they looked around at everything that was so new to them.
The slime acted like he was better than everyone because he knew about the spaceship and did act a little smug from time to time.
Ning prepared places for them to sleep in, but the group preferred to stay awake as long as they could and talk with each other.
Given that they were all strangers to each other, they decided to learn about each other.
When Tessa learned that she was walking along with the son and daughter of a Duke of the Taminghall Empire, she didn't know how to respond.
Her face only twisted when Ning told her that the little girl sleeping in the other room was a princess.
Ori caught up with her brother and learned what he had been up to for the last 2 months since he had left. She had heard that he had joined the school and that he had even beaten their elder brother, but aside from that, she knew nothing else.
Ning talked with the slime and asked him how far along he was to ranking up again.
The slime told him that it was only a matter of a few years before he reached that rank.
They continued talking until dead in the night before Ning suggested they all go to sleep.
He led the girls to one of the compartments of the spaceship to sleep where the little princess was already sleeping and took the two boys to another compartment.
He lay on the bed with his eyes closed, listening to the outside jungle that was alive even at night.
Slowly, the sound of the jungle and the distant bubbling of lava lulled him into a deep sleep.
Chapter 783 SpiritNing woke up early the next morning and walked out of the ship to check the surrounding.
"Oh," he thought when he saw the dark sky with clouds covering it from end to end. "It's going to rain huh?"
He went back to the ship and started preparing for their travels today.
The first thing he did was create some food for them all to eat. He called them all to the hanger where it was open and wide and they all sat down as they heard the torrential rainfall on the spaceship.
Once they were done, Ning gave them all a few things.
The group looked at the items they received a little weirdly. Most of them had no idea what they were looking at. Neither could they tell what the material they were touching was.
"Oh, plastic," The slime said when he heard the crinkle as touch was foreign to him at the moment.
"What are we supposed to do with this?" they asked.
"Well the boot should be obvious, right? They are thick boots that come up to your knee. Perfect for wearing in a rain forest where leeches and snakes and a lot of bugs are a pearl a dozen. I don't have to constantly scurry them away like I did yesterday," Ning said.
"You did something like that?" Trevain asked. "I didn't notice."
"If you did, you would have run away too," Ning said. "Next is a cream to keep away mosquitoes and other flying bugs. Just wear them all over your body."
"Finally, you have the raincoat. It will help you walk in the rain without getting soaked in it," Ning said.
"Hmm, not bad," Saphandra thought to herself.
"Oh yeah, let me know if you need some better clothes. I can give you some," Ning said.
Tessa and Ori asked for a more tight-fitting dress that wouldn't get caught in the branches of the trees or such.
Ning made a few such suits and a small one for the princess too. After all of that was done, they dressed up and got ready to leave.
Ning was the first one to jump from the hanger. He landed on the ground with a large bang.
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"Come on," he said and the rest slowly got down.
Saphandra caught the little princess and jumped, slowing her descent before she reached the ground.
The slime simply floated down and landed next to the bear that was sitting under a giant tree, hiding from the rain.
"I'll catch you," Ning said and finally the last 3 dared to jump from the massive height.
Trevain was the first to jump, and Ning slowed him down before he arrived. Tessa jumped after that, and Ori after her.
Once they were all on the ground, Ning looked in the direction of the volcano and started walking.
"Hey, you got anything for my beast?" the slime asked as they walked.
Ning looked towards the beast, upon which the princess was riding, and shook his head. "It's a bear that was born and bred in the rainforest. It doesn't need anything as living in the rain is second nature to it," he said.
"Oh, okay," the slime said and they continued walking.
The constant sound of pattering continued as the rain fell on them, and once or twice they even saw a student or two walk by not far away.
However, each time they would change the direction after seeing so many people at one location.
The slime turned its slimy arm into sharp-edged weapons and sliced away any vines or branches that were on their way.
Ning constantly looked around just in case there were any beasts that were secretly trying to target them.
Just as they were walking around, the princess suddenly shouted.
"There!"
Everyone turned towards the princess and then towards where she was pointed. When they did, they saw the last bit of something blue flying into the forest, disappearing away from view.
"A spirit!" Ning's eyes widened in surprise. Without hesitation, he teleported away.
He arrived not far from where the Spirit was, and he put up his arm to use Telekinesis on the spirit. However, it did not work on the spirit at all.
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Spirits were being of energy, and unfortunately, energy was something he could not control.
Just as he was about teleport again, the spirit stopped and looked back. A slight ringing sound came from the spirit as the humanoid manifestation of energy turned its head towards Ning.
Ning wasn't sure if the Spirit was interested in him or not, but he didn't move. The spirit slowly moved towards him with a curious look on his face, making multiple jingling noises as it did.
It was merely 5 meters away from Ning when its head suddenly turned away from Ning and behind him where the group was running towards him.
The Spirit was spooked and it fled away.
"Wait, don't go," Ning said, but the spirit flew away. "Dammit!"
"What happened?" Ori asked.
"The Spirit got scared. It saw you guys running and got scared," Ning said.
"I— I'm sorry," Ori said with a dejected face.
"No, it's alright. I don't blame you," Ning said. "But we will have to be careful next time to—"
He stopped speaking when he noticed the spirit far away, hiding behind a tree and looking at them.
"What? What's wrong?" they asked when he stopped speaking suddenly.
"The spirit is right behind me. Don't move and let it approach us instead," he said.
Everyone suddenly stood still and only moved their eyes around to look for the spirit.
"Ah, there," Tessa said in a whisper. Everyone else saw it too.
The male-looking spirit was slowly flying towards them, with a very curious look on its face. The jingles and bells only got louder as it came close and right next to them.
No one made sudden movements and let the spirit come in between them.
Then Ning looked at the rest of them and asked in a low voice.
"Who first?"
Chapter 784 Bonding a Spirit"Me!" Trevain said excitedly to become the first one of the group to try and bond with the spirit.
He waited until the spirit was close to him and slowly spread out his spiritual energy until it touched on the spirit.
The spirit turned around when it felt the familiar energy and curiously jingled as it floated towards Trevain.
"Please bond with me so I can become stronger than I am right now," Trevain said. He was told to be genuine, so he told the truth. He was doing this just for strength after all.
The spirit giggled, making sharp bell-like sounds and flew away from him. Trevain only realized when the spirit was next to Tessa that he had been rejected.
"Uh… Uh… I… I really want you to help me become stronger," Tessa said. She probably had more in her mind that she wanted to say, but the spirit suddenly arriving in front of her sent her mind into panic and in haste, she basically repeated what Trevain had just said.
The spirit giggled again and moved away.
Tessa became dejected and it was Ori's turn now. She hesitated for a bit and in that time, the spirit got bored and moved away.
"Spirit!" the princess said excitedly when it came by her. But her excitement scared away the spirit.
The spirit finally flew back to Ning who looked at it for a while. "You want to join me?" he asked.
The spirit stuck out its tongue and flew away. As it was leaving, the Slime jumped in front of the spirit and said, "join me!"
The spirit suddenly fell into a lull where a summoning circle appeared beneath its feet and was bonded to the slime.
"Ooh! It works," the slime shouted in glee.
Everyone else looked at him in surprise.
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"What did you do?" Saphandra asked with a shocked expression.
"Oh, it turns out my system has a skill where I can bond with a spirit so long as they don't hate me," he said.
"So long as they don't hate you?" Ning asked.
"Yes," the slime said. "Oh, my color changed."
The slime's fake body was fine, but his real body, that was the blue slime was now purple in color.
More accurately, violet.
Everyone saw the bit of himself that the slime had put out and was more than surprised to him change color too.
They had never seen a beast change color after bonding with something else. Although to be fair, they had never seen a beast bond with anything, to begin with.
"You didn't force him to bond you, right?" Saphandra asked.
"I… don't think so?" the slime said, uncertain. "Do you want to leave me?"
The spirit that was flying around the Slime shook its head and continued giggling.
"Great," the slime got happy. "Let me give you a name then. Hmm, what should I name you?"
"What powers did you get?" the princess asked.
"I… who said that?" the slime turned around.
"I did," the princess said.
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"No, not you. Someone else spoke," the slime said.
"Huh? No one else spoke though," Ning said.
"Someone did. They s— Look, there it is again. Someone just said 'I can't believe I didn't even speak.' Was that you, girl?" the slime turned towards Ori.
"Me? I did not speak," she said.
"Weren't you the one who didn't speak to the spirit?" the slime asked.
"I… wait, how do you know what I just thought?" she asked.
"Can you listen to people's thoughts?" Ning asked. "Listen to what I'm saying."
"Woah! He can listen to thoughts?" the slime repeated what he heard in his mind. "Did you say that?"
"No," Ning frowned. "I thought of someth—"
"I thought that," Trevain said. "What the hell? You can really read my thoughts."
"That girl is thinking of what to say to the next spirit she meets," the slime pointed to the Tessa as he spoke.
"Eeeh! Stop listening to my thoughts," Tessa cried out.
"No! We're not going to play your game," the slime said to the princess who gave him a bright smile now that he was hearing her thoughts.
"What about mine?" Ning asked.
The slime looked at him and shook his head. "You're as much of an enigma as always," he said.
"Hmm. System, can he not read my mind?" Ning asked.
Chapter 785: Volcano
Ning pulled everyone closer and with a single thought appeared on the other side of the lake.
"Whew! Your powers are truly something else, Ning," Tessa said, looking around at the black rock beneath her feet.
"Wow, I can feel the heat from here," Saphandra said.
"Yeah, well we should maybe get rid of the raincoats now. There's not more rain," Ning said.
"Yes," the group said and started getting themselves out of the plastic covering.
"What do we do with these, teacher?" the princess asked.
"Keep it in your necklace," Ning told her.
"Okay," the princess said and the plastic raincoat disappeared into her multipurpose artifact.
Saphandra kept it in her own ring as well, but the rest of them had to hand over their coats to Ning for safekeeping.
Once they were all handed over, Trevain looked around and frowned. "What exactly are we supposed to do here again?" he asked.
The lava flowed down the left side of the mountain and fell into the lava. As a result, the lake was quite hot and bubbling around that location.
The steam however moved towards the rainforest, turning into rain and flowing back into the lake.
The ash and soot from the volcano also mixed in with the rain, giving much-needed nutrients to the forest from time to time.
"I do want to go to the top, but I can understand if you're against it," Ning said. There was something he had wanted to try out for a while now after seeing the volcanic mountain.
"I want to go to the top too, but it's so hot," Trevain said.
"It is indeed very hot, brother Ning," Ori said.
Ning frowned. "System, do you have something to help them fight against the heat?" he asked. "Something that's a very good insulator for heat."
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"Hmm, make some for these people, and… do you need one too?" he looked towards the slime.
"No need. I have multiple heat-resistant skills," he said.
"Good, 5 then," Ning said and instantly 5 suits appeared that looked suspiciously like space suits one would wear to go outer space.
"Wear these," Ning said. "It's not perfect, but it should help you quite a lot."
Unfortunately, because they had to see, which was the main reason why they were going up there, the system had to create a small point of 'failure' on the suit, mainly the visor.
They quickly started wearing the suit, trying to figure out how it all worked, when Saphandra noticed something.
"Eww, why is the inside so mushy?" she asked. It was as if
there were two layers of clothes and inside the two-layer was another layer of something fluid.
"There's some gel in the cloth," Ning said. "That's the main thing that will be responsible for stopping the heat. Get dressed, quickly."
"You're not wearing any, brother Ning?" Ori asked curiously.
"I don't need it," Ning said. He turned around to look at the trek up the steep mountain and quickly helped the princess dress.
Then, he picked her up and placed her on his shoulders before starting to walk up the mountain. "Leave the bear there and follow me," he said.
The side of the mountain he was on was already cooled for many years, so there was no problem with walking. However, from time to time, he came across rather a smooth surface, as if that segment of rocks were all made up of obsidian or other volcanic glasses.
Ning hit those parts with his foot and made divots to help those behind him not lose their footing.
At the same time, from time to time, he placed ropes in places that were mostly treacherous. Looking back, such help was really just useful for the three that did not have a spirit yet.
The slime and Saphandra were actually not even walking at this point and were simply flying.
Ning looked ahead at the peak of the mountain that was about a kilometer away and continued walking.
The group of 3 rested from time to time, but he needed no rest. "Come at your own pace," Ning said and continued forward.
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As he went ahead, he checked for any beast that might be hiding along the side of the volcano, any caves that were maybe hiding birds or bugs.
Fortunately, there was no such thing.
So, Ning effortlessly and without obstacle, walked all the way to the top of the mountain and finally viewed the bubbling magma of an active volcano.
"What is that teacher?" the princess asked.
"That… is a volcano. Those are molten rocks that come from deep underground," he said.
The crater of the mountain was at least 500 meters wide, if not more and nearly half of it was active magma. There was a portion of the crater broken towards the left, from where the lava was continuously pouring down the side of the mountain.
While waiting for the group to catch up, he explained to the princess about the volcano.
After 15 or so minutes, the group finally made it up in their heavy suits. They breathed heavily, but the sight in front of them was almost enough to make them feel as though it was worth it.
"I have heard about volcanoes, but this is the first time I'm seeing it," Trevain said.
"Me too," Tessa said.
"Same here," the slime said.
"Is it really dangerous?" the princess asked.
"Let me show you," Ning said and took off his shoes before tossing them off into the lava. As soon as they made contact, the shoes burned to nothing in a matter of seconds.
"Wow, that's dangerous," Tessa said and backed off a bit.
Ning pulled the princess off his shoulders and handed her over to Saphandra. "Take her for a moment please, I have something to test," Ning said.
"What test?" Saphandra asked while taking the princess.
"I want to see who's stronger," Ning said. "Me, or a volcano."
Chapter 786: Volcanic burns
"What do you mean who's stronger? How are you going to check?" Tessa asked from the side. She was confused about how one could even possibly think of comparing themselves to a volcano.
"Well, you'll see," Ning said.
He suddenly flew up and hovered over the volcano in the air.
"Hey! What are you doing? You'll die!" Saphandra shouted all of a sudden when she saw him fly over the volcano, wafted by the heat from it.
"You should know better than that by now," Ning said and slowly lowered down towards the volcano.
Ori grabbed onto the princess that was next to her and closed her eyes.
About 20 meters above the volcano, the heat had reached a point where Ning's clothes were catching on fire.
As he descended, they essentially burned off of him, leaving him naked.
Trevain ran in front of his sister to block the view, but he didn't have to. The erogenous zones that should have been completely out in the open were invisible. It was as if Ning was wearing a set of underwear that were invisible.
The clothes were off, but not a single hair on his body burned at all.
The 5 humans and the slime continued looking curiously now that they were truly surprised by him not getting hurt despite being so close to the volcano.
"Do you think he summoned some heat resistance skill while we weren't looking?" Tessa asked.
"I don't think he is," Saphandra said.
"That bastard is showing off," the slime said. "Even if he did get some heat resistance skill, he would still be feeling the heat and even getting burned."
"What is he doing then?" Trevain asked.
"Nothing," Saphandra said. "His body is just that strong."
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Ning lowered and lowered until he was right on top of the volcano. While he couldn't feel the pain from his feet burning atop the lava, he could feel the heat, and he could tell that it was something else.
His feet touched the lava and instantly blisters started forming on the bottom of his feet. However, the healing was enough to keep it from staying that way.
"Hmm, so I can't just survive falling into the lava huh?" he thought. He crouched and put his hand into the lava before pulling out some of it. His hand started burning and in some places, he could even see the lava pushing through the wound to reach the bones.
"Well, it's quite some damage, but not as much as I would have expected," Ning said.
"Oi, Ning! You're done, right? Let's leave," Saphandra shouted. The sun was going to set at any moment, so she wanted to leave this place as fast as she could.
"One secon
d," Ning said and put his left hand into the lava. Then, he toggled on his heat resistance.
Instantly, 80% of all the heat that was hurting his hand was instantly nullified, and Ning was left with a pristine hand that did not suffer from any such thing.
As soon as Ning realized that, he stopped flying and fell into lava.
"NING!"
"Teacher!"
"Brother Ning!"
The people there cried out the moment they saw Ning fall and tried to help him anyhow they could.
"I'm fine," Ning shouted and lay there. In fact, he lay down flat on the lava and was a little disappointed that he didn't just sink like he thought he would.
The bubbling lava was liquid, but it was still molten rock, so Ning floated like a piece of foam on the water.
"Sigh, I was expecting something more," he thought and got up. He slowly flew up as the lava fell from his body.
He scratched off those that just didn't leave and once he was away from the heat, he asked for the system to return his clothes back.
After he got it back, Ning was about to leave the volcano when he saw some specks of blackness in the distance.
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He turned around and looked at it with his eyes. When he barely saw what it was, he zoomed in the vision and suddenly he smiled.
"Spirit! There's another spirit!" he shouted and flew to the group.
"What? Where?" they asked.
"No time. Hold your hands," Ning said and the moment they were all connected, they disappeared.
The group fell on dry sand and some even rolled down the dune. Ning moved immediately as a spear appeared in his hand and pierced the tail of the giant pink scorpion that was about to sting Ori.
"Get up," Ning said and casually swung his spear backward, cutting off a worm that was jumping out of the sand.
He used telekinesis to catch on to Tessa who was not far from him and sent her flying back to the top of the dune where Saphandra and the slime were taking care of the few monsters that were coming out of the sand there as well.
Ning grabbed Ori and flew back to the top. As soon as he reached there, he shouted at them to hold on and then blasted vibrations beneath him in full strength.
Sand flew in the air from the strong vibrations and a sand avalanche appeared all around him.
The slime flew up as he was slowly being sunk into the sand from it no longer having a rigid surface.
The many beasts that were hidden inside the sand immediately jumped out and ran off.
"Where are we?" Ori asked as she looked
around in the unfamiliar place.
"It's the desert," the slime said. "We're still inside the island I believe. Oh and look, there's the volcano we were just at. You can see the lava."
The group turned around and nearly more than 20 kilometers in the distance, they saw the volcano.
"So far," Tessa thought. "Right, you shouted spirit. Where is it?"
"Right, behind you," Ning said and pointed in the distance where a group of people was gathered, following a spirit that was having fun around them but was also making the people chase it.
Surprisingly, the spirit was flying in their direction exactly.
Chapter 787: Ori's Promise
Nearly 15 different people wearing all sorts of clothes were following the spirit, but the spirit easily outran them all.
As it got closer, Ning realized that it would be hard to keep it still with so many people following it.
"System, what's the easiest way to bond with a spirit?" he asked. Until now, they had been going off of what the headmasters and others had said, but now he wanted to learn exactly how it was done.
"Entice the spirit with something it might look forward to," Ning repeated the words for everyone to hear. "What might the spirit be looking forward to?"
"Is it possible for a spirit to be materialistic?" Trevain asked.
"Probably not, what about freedom? Although it should already be free," Tessa said.
"I… I have an idea," Ori said.
"What is it?" Ning asked, but the spirit was already at their side already so there wasn't much time. "Never mind, just try it."
He gave the way and the spirit flew directly in front of Ori, who immediately took off her helmet and put forth her hands towards the spirit.
"If you bond with me, I will show you all the amazing places in the world outside of just this small island," Ori said.
The spirit suddenly jingled and cocked its head to the side in amusement. It flew around Ori, and even as the crowd came up to them, it made a thinking face.
Trevain and Tessa looked nervously, but none of them could be as nervous as Ori herself. The spirit kept moving around her, increasing her anxiety all the more.
Then, it finally stopped in front of her, and even as the crowd stopped right in front of their group, it touched Ori's hand and a bond was formed.
Instantly, Ori's hair which was perhaps the worst amongst everyone here suddenly turned violet from the stem and moved all the way out to the tip.
Their group and the crowd of 15 that had gathered looked at Ori in shock, for entirely different reasons.
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"What the hell are you doing?" one person cried out.
"Who are you? What is that dress?" another person asked.
"That was our spirit. You can't simply bond with it," a third person cried out.
Instantly, the 15 different people cried out injustice and some even prepared to attack them.
Ning was the only one aside from the slime there that wasn't wearing the spacesuit to block the head, so he walked in front of them all and smiled.
"My friend here has bonded with the spirit. Please go away," he said.
"Then have her cancel the bond or we will kill you all," a girl spoke from the side.
Ning's casual eyes narrowed all of a sudden as he stared at the girl who said that.
"I don't take threats of death easily," Ning said as he started walking toward the girl. A spear came out of nowhere in his hand as he pointed it at the woman.
"If you are willing to die in the process, then come ahead and try," He said.
The group hesitated a bit. 3 of the people from the group that belonged to the First Bond school had already recognized Ning as the person that summoned the Draconic beast in the sect not long ago.
If he was really let to go all out here, who knew how far he would go with this? So, without any hesitation, they turned their tail and ran.
The rest of them were hesitating not because of Ning, but because their group of 7 had 2 spirits flying around them.
Not only was Ori with a spirit now but there was also a violet slime that seemed to be with a spirit as well.
Some of them backed away as a result and left angrily. Still, some of them were just too angry to just leave after spending so much time chasing the spirit.
They started shouting again, demanding that the spirit be unbonded.
"These bastards!" the slime got angry. "The spirit wasn't yours to cry about. Also, we didn't steal it, it came flying towards us."
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"Do you want to fight them?" Saphandra asked Ori, who was still trying to make sense of the fact that she had bonded with a spirit and had violet hair.
Her father was ready to destroy her brother's life just for a chance at this, and now she had it.
And she didn't know what to do.
Ning turned around to look at Ori. He wanted to ask her to fight, but given that she was only Rank 4 at the moment, it didn't feel right to have her fight.
"It's about time for sunset, let me get rid of them," Saphandra said and suddenly pushed them all back, regardless of how strong they were.
"You all want to fight? Come!" she dared them all.
The half dozen people stood up to fight, but Saphandra pushed them again, this time sending them tumbling down the dune.
Suddenly, the many beasts that had run away not long ago returned and this time they had a feast for them.
The youngsters that were full of anger were suddenly scared for their life and did not dare to even think about fighting Ning and his group.
They needed to think about their life instead.
"Sigh, that girl is going to die," Ning said with a reluctant tone in
his voice. "You figure out what her new powers are, I'll go save them."
Despite what he had said about killing them, he still couldn't just sit and watch as the beasts overwhelmed the 6 different people and killed them.
So, he went to help them out.
"Ooh, let me help too. I might want to tame some of them," the slime followed him and teleported directly onto the shadow of one of the beasts in his vision.
"Ori, are you alright?" Trevain asked after getting rid of his helmet. He was having a hard time believing his sister had done it.
"I… I'm fine," Ori said, unable to hide the smile on her face.
Chapter 788: Silver
"You know what your powers are?" Saphandra asked.
Ori nodded. After all, whenever someone bonded with something, they always learned the skills they acquired from the other beast or spirit.
Only the slime was a unique case as not many would have so many beasts' skills to keep track of.
"It has to do with… metals," she said. "I can attract and repel metals and some variation on that power. I… I think it's called Magnetic powers."
"Oh, you became a magnet? Haha," Saphandra laughed. "Anything you think you can do? Also, do a very weak version of whatever you are thinking okay? You don't want to hurt people."
Ori nodded. She closed her eyes to use her skills and as she did, she felt the faint existence of things around her.
There was something quite bright in her feelings that she tried to pull on.
"Hmm?" the little princess looked down. "Aaah!" Her cries immediately surprised and made everyone turn towards her.
A bright yellow light was around her, making anything impossible to enter it, even skills.
Ori had accidentally pulled on the metal clips that kept together the heat suit that the princess was wearing, and as a result, inadvertently activated the defensive abilities of the necklace she had received from Ning.
"What's that?" someone asked.
"A barrier?" Saphandra was surprised. "How?"
"I think it's from this necklace my teacher gave me," the little princess said, but did not take it off.
"Of course he did," Saphandra sighed and turned around towards Ori. "Don't use your skills on the little princess. You can't do anything to her."
"Oh, sorry," Ori apologized and tried it again. This time, she destroyed her own suit, which she wasn't sure if would make Ning angry.
"Don't worry, he won't get mad. What else?" Saphandra asked.
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While Ning and the slime finished getting rid of the beasts, whether it was by killing them or the slime simply taming them, Ori and the rest figured out her powers.
By the time Ning and the slime returned, they were almost assured that they knew all of Ori's powers.
"Magnetism huh?" Ning thought to himself.
According to the experiments, Ori was capable of attracting metal on a very small level. If hairs were made up of metal, she could pull on just a single one from nearly 10 meters away.
Similarly, she could also repel metal in the same way. Depending on the spiritual energy she had, the power could be quite something.
Aside from that, she was also capable of sensing where all the metals were around her in a certain radius. It apparently got hard to keep track of unless she was searching for them very carefully, but simply having that
skill alone was amazing for someone like her who could control metal.
Finally, she could also imbue magnetic capabilities to objects she touched to whatever degree she desired. Meaning that she could make anything she touched a magnet.
"Nice, not bad," Ning told her. "I'm surprised you were able to do it before your brother."
"Thank you, brother Ning. If you didn't give me that idea, I wouldn't have known what to say," Ori said and bowed his head.
"That's fine," Ning said. "Also, why are all your clothes in tatters? The gel is getting all over the sand."
"Ah, that was because of this big sister," the little princess pointed at Ori without hesitation. "Only I didn't destroy what your made, teacher."
Ning chucked. "Then I must reward little Janice for this. What do you want?" he asked.
"Want?" the princess's eyes widened in expectation. "I want the next spirit."
"Okay, you will be the first to bond with the next spirit," Tessa said as she kissed the princess on the cheek rather aggressively.
"I hope you can think of what to say by then," Ning said and looked around.
The sun had gone down and the world was getting dark at this point. If they stayed out there any longer, they would be unable to see anything in the darkness.
It wouldn't be a problem for Ning, but for the rest, they couldn't continue. Besides, they were human that had been walking all day and was most likely very fatigued.
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"Let's settle for the night here then," Ning said and pulled out the ship as it softly landed on the sand.
The arms tried to push the ship upward to open the hanger door, but it sunk into the sand and as such wouldn't be able to do so without using the thrusters to hover for a bit.
Ning instead directly took them all in after they got rid of their suit.
One by one, the men and women, and even the slime went looking for the bathroom so they could both relieve themselves and take a bath.
Once they were all done, Ning gathered them by the hanger again, where he gave them food and water to drink.
The two new spirits flew around the room, making bell-like noises all around. From time to time, they flew by Saphandra's neck, where little blue was hiding this whole time.
They called little blue out to play with them, but little blue wasn't intelligent enough to understand what they were trying to say to her. Everything felt alien.
"Who are you?" the slime said.
"What?" Ning looked at the slime.
"That spirit, it's asking who are you to the other spirits," he said.
"How do you know that?" Ning was surprised.
"I can listen to othe
rs' minds now," the slime said. "Or I can understand spirit languages. It's one of those two."
Ning was confused.
"Oh right! She's asking for Ori's spirit's name? Don't we need to find a name for it?" Tessa said.
"Right, Ori. Do you have any idea?" Trevain asked.
"I've been thinking, and… because I can now control metals, I wanted to name him with a name of a metal," she said.
"Metal huh? Are there any good metal names that would suit a spirit?" Tessa asked.
"Well, he's kind of white more than anything," Ori said. "So, I have been thinking of naming him, Silver.
Chapter 789: The Grasslands
The desert region was large, but not so large that one couldn't entirely cover it in a matter of days.
It had been 3 days since Ori found her spirit and was now using it to the best of her capabilities.
Along the way, she was practicing against beasts that would appear. Her rank didn't allow for her skills to be very strong, but she still trained against the beast and gained quite a bit of training on her abilities.
It would still take her years and years before she was capable of using everything in her arsenal through sheer instinct, but for now, simply training like this was enough for her.
2 small metal balls the size of a Spiritual pearl were in her hand, which she would throw at the beasts with incredible speed.
Ning had created the metal balls for her to use like bullets, and with a bit more spiritual energy, she would succeed as well.
"Try to go for the eyes, Ori," Trevain explained.
"Yes, brother," Ori said and shot the metal balls at incredible speed. A lizard-like beast that was looking at them to kill them suddenly felt the metal ball go into its eyes.
Instantly, it squirmed around with intense pain, but Ori didn't finish it there. After so many days of training, she knew what to do next.
She pushed the metal even deeper using as much force as she could, and when the lizard turned around even the slightest bit, she would pull on the metal ball.
Since the lizard was shifted, the metal ball wouldn't come back through the eye it went through, but push through a new route before coming close to the skin, or getting stuck inside the skull.
In that case, Ori would push on it again and pull and push, until she pushed the metal ball through the lizard's brain and it died.
Once it was dead, she would pull on the ball, using it to slowly reorient the lizard and pull back the ball.
The ball was surprisingly lacking in blood when it came back, but she was used to it by now. Ning had made the ball so that it was hydrophobic for the most part, especially when it came to stuff like blood and poisons that any beast would have.
It was only for now since he knew that soon enough Ori would start to be able to manipulate blood itself as it contained metal too.
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'It would have been an okay skill if she could only control metals that were attracted to a magnet, but it looks like she will be able to control every single one,' Ning thought. The world had just gained a frightening summoner that they would not want to antagonize.
"Urghh! It's been 3 days. Aren't there still 23 or so spirits left? How are we not finding a single one in 3 days?" Tessa complained.
"Tea
cher, I'm getting bored," the princess started complaining.
"Then do you guys want me to find a spirit right now?" Ning asked. He hadn't done so because they had asked him not to do so in the first place.
"Umm…" Tessa hesitated.
"Let's just go. I'm tired too," Trevain said.
"Okay, grab each other," Ning said. The moment they had grabbed each other, Ning looked for the closest spirit that was around and teleported next to it.
They arrived on top of a massive rock that was one of the many rocks that was around the grassland.
Beneath them, there was grass everywhere, with no sight of any tree anywhere.
Ning crouched down and instantly, the stone vibrated. The 6 of them caught each other and stopped themselves from falling, while around the rock, snakes and other beasts hidden in the grass immediately ran away.
"There is quite a bit of danger around here. Look out for them," Ning said.
The group nodded and one by one, they slipped down the rock.
The slime walked up front, while the others walked behind him, constantly on guard of everything that would attack them.
Ning looked around. The system had led him here because there was a spirit, but he couldn't see anything.
'Is it hiding in the grass too?' he thought and looked around. After carefully looking at everything, he saw something blue flash not far away from him.
'There you are,' he thought.
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"Guys, the spirit is about 20 meters to our left. Make no sudden movement," Ning said.
"What?" the instantly turned around, despite his caution.
"I said no sudden movement," he said.
"Oh, right! Sorry," Tessa apologized and the others followed her to apologize as well.
They then slowly shifted their route to make it go right next to the spirit that they too had noticed by now.
"Remember, something that would entice the spirit. Something it doesn't have," Ning reminded them.
The group appeared close to the spirit, but they didn't approach them. Instead, they just stood around, making small noises to get the spirit's attention.
As curious creatures, they would fly on their own when they noticed something interesting.
This spirit did the same.
The slime and Ori were the furthest away, and Tessa and Trevain were the closest.
The princess was about to shout something, but Ning closed her mouth before she could speak. He didn't want her to frighten away the spirit before the other two said anything. nb
sp;
Tessa took a deep breath, put forth her arm like Ori, and spoke. "If you bond with me, Spirit, I will show you many interesting things that you will never see on this island," she said.
It was a similar version of what Ori had spoken. However, since that had worked quite well, so she had decided to try it.
The spirit looked curiously as it jingled around, but in the end, shook its head and moved away from Tessa.
Tessa looked sad, but that did not distract Trevain from saying his thing.
"Hear me, Spirit," Trevain spoke up. "If you bond with me, I will give you the company that you so desperately desire."
Chapter 790: A Small Farewell
The spirit jingled around Trevain for a while and then smiled.
Suddenly, a summoning circle appeared beneath the spirit and the bond was formed.
"Hah! I did it?" Trevain was surprised, more than anything. He hadn't expected the whole thing to end with him being bonded.
To begin with, he hadn't expected the spirit to bond with him at all. Congratulations poured in from all sides, and he nodded a bit with an embarrassed look.
"Alright, name and power. Go on," Tessa said from the side. She wanted to know what she missed.
"Powers… hmm, it's this," Trevain said and opened up his palm. Suddenly, a very bright light came out of his hands, illuminating the shadows around them.
"I can create light it seems," he said. He then thought for a moment and moved his hands over him.
Suddenly, his entire body disappeared from view. "I can also make light pass through me, so I can go invisible as well."
"Oh, so you have the power of light," Tessa said.
"If it's light, then you should be capable of creating illusions too," Ning suggested.
"Yeah, I should," Trevain said and tried, but what formed was a blurry image that barely resembled himself. "I still need some more practice."
"What about the name, brother?" Ori asked.
"Hmm, light? No. Shine? Bright? Thinking of names on the spot is hard," Trevain said.
"How about Ray?" Tessa suggested.
"Hmm, that's… not bad, actually," Trevain thought to himself. "Ray, how do you like it?"
The spirit jingled a bit, letting them know that he indeed liked it.
"Great!" Trevain said, happily.
Ning smiled. "So, do you want to stay, or do you want to leave?" he asked.
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"What?" Trevain turned to look at him with surprise on his face.
"You and your sister got what you two wanted, so I don't see the point of you staying here in danger any longer. I can take you two out of this island and back to wherever you want to go," Ning explained.
"I can also change your hair color if you want to hide the fact that you have a spirit now," Ning said.
Trevain thought for a moment before nodding. "I will take that dye. Ori, you should dye your hair too," Trevain suggested.
"O-okay," she said.
Ning waved his hands, and suddenly their hair changed to blue and yellow respectively.
"Then, about leaving?" Ning asked.
"Can't we just leave with you, brother Ning? We're going back to the same place after all," Trevain said.
However, Ning shook his head. "I'm not going back to school. I only joined there to get a spot for this place. Now that I have come, I have
no need to return," he said.
"I…" Trevain didn't know what to say. He had forgotten that he too had come because of the same reason. He had gone to the school with the same thought in mind too.
However, along the way, he had forgotten that his home back in Ranadar city was empty.
"I… I wish to go back to my home, brother Ning," he said.
"Great!" Ning said. "Say your goodbyes, as you won't see them for a long time."
"Oh," Trevain looked around and thanked everyone for helping him, and said his goodbyes.
Ori thanked everyone too. "I will come to visit you all as showing new and exciting places is what I have promised Silver," Ori said.
"Come, Ray. Time to see the outside world," Trevain said.
Ning grabbed them both and vanished. He arrived outside the island to the left and then disappeared again to go to Ranadar city.
They appeared at the back of the house and Ori looked around curiously. "This is your house, brother?" Ori asked.
"Yes," Treavain said.
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Ori smiled and spoke, "It suits you."
"Ori, do you want to go back home, or do you wish to stay here?" Ning asked.
Ori thought for a moment before asking, "What did you tell father after you took me?"
"I left them a message saying that I had taken you to the island and that you will be missing for a month," Ning said.
"Ah, great," Ori suddenly became happier. "Then I won't have to return home until the month has ended right?"
"I suppose so," Ning chuckled a bit. "Then you can stay here."
"Thank you, brother Ning."
Ning shook his hands to say that there was no need to thank him. He was about to leave when Trevain stopped him.
"Brother Ning, will I see you again?" he asked.
"Definitely, but not for a long while," Ning said. "After I leave the island, I will look to getting Saphandra settled down. After that, I will go roam the various countries and cities of the world. Go to interesting lands."
"I will come to visit once in a while, but you won't see me for a long time I guess," Ning said.
"I see," Trevain got a little sad, but he handled himself. He bowed toward Ning and said, "Thank you for everything you have done for me, brother Ning. I will never forget your help as long as I'm alive."
"Don't worry about thanking me. I'm only doing this because I can," Ning said. "Goodbye."
Ning disappeared before either of them could say anything, and only left them with a confused, melancholic feeling in their heart.
However, that disappeared the moment the young butler came running out of the house. "Young master? Young lady? How are you
back?"
"Hey, Drefan. I see you've taken good care of the house. I should treat you with some expensive fish tonight," Trevain said as he walked toward the young man.
"Of course not, young master. I only did what I was tasked with," the young butler said.
"Haha, it doesn't matter what you say. Tonight is a night of celebration. How much money do we have? Actually no, that doesn't matter. Loan some if it's needed. Tonight we feast on the most expensive fish in the entire city," Trevain said as he walked into his home with his sister and long-time friend with a massive smile on his face, 2 spirits floating behind them, and a heart with absolutely no worry.
Mistake
"Let's go. Time to find a spirit for you," Ning told Tessa as soon as he returned.
"What about me?" the princess asked with a sour look on her face. "You didn't even let me speak last time."
"Oh yeah, don't just shout. Okay? The spirit will run away if it gets scared," Ning explained.
"I wasn't going to shout. I even had the perfect thing I was going to say," the princess said.
"Oh, what was it?" Ning asked.
"I'm not telling you, hmph!" The princess got angry and walked away from Ning.
"Sigh, let's leave. System, where's the closest spirit?" Ning asked.
3 kilometers north-northwest
"Alright grab each other's hands," Ning said, and the next moment they disappeared.
When they reappeared, Ning and the others were about 20 meters away from 5 different people that were standing still around a spirit.
Ning wondered if they were trying to bond, but then he saw a summoning circle form below the spirit, and the young woman smiled.
She had done it.
'Not bad,' Ning thought. In the last hundred years, the forbidden island had only opened for 3 times, not counting this one.
Each time, 3 people had ended up bonding with spirits, so it wasn't an impossible event to see other people bond with spirits. Still, it was quite a surprise nonetheless.
"Well, someone got here before us," Ning said and asked for the next location where the spirit was. Not only that, he asked for one with fewer people around.
"Oh, looks like you guys will have to wear some warm clo—" Ning's body shifted suddenly as a barrier appeared in front of him.
Something struck the barrier quite hard and shook it as it would break it. However, it would take more than just a wind blade to do so.
"Why are you attacking us? There is a little girl here," Ning asked the girl who had just bonded with the spirit.
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The other students beside her seemed to be quite confused as well. Despite being from the same academy as her, they didn't understand why anyone would target another person so suddenly.
"Oh, I was merely testing the powers I just received. You simply happened to be in the way," the girl snickered.
Ning got a little confused as to why the girl was so confident and only then noticed that they were still wearing desert clothes.
Which meant that Saphandra still had the scarf around her head and face to protect her from the heat.
"Let's kill her," Saphandra said all of a sudden.
"It's fine. Let's just go," Ning said. However, suddenly another wind blade flew towards him.
This time, he punched the blade so hard that the blade dissipated to nothing but wind. His eyes turned dark as he stared at the young woman.
"Ooh, not bad," she said. "Can you be my training puppet? I want to see how strong I can go."
Without warning, the girl created a tornado that sucked in everything from the surrounding, uprooting even nearby trees.
Saphandra pulled on Tessa and the slime stopped the princess from being blown away.
Ning, however, simply walked through the tornado, appearing on the other side.
The girl was surprised and sent all the wind in the area at him to push him back. However, Ning simply teleported behind her and grabbed her by the nape.
"You just had your wish fulfilled and you want to die already?" Ning asked.
"What? Let go of me," the girl cried out.
"No, you don't tell me what to do," Ning said. "Instead, you will do as I say. Erase your bond with the spirit, and I will let you go."
"You bastard!" the girl shouted and suddenly started pulling all the air around her to herself. That included the air inside of Ning.
The air in his lungs was violently pulled towards him, and even the air bubbles that were dissolved in his body were pulled by the girl.
However, in the lack of air, his lungs simply created more air. When his body was hurt, it simply reverted back to how it was beforehand.
Not a single thing the girl did could hurt Ning at all.
"Erase your bond, or I will free the spirit from your dead body," Ning spoke in her ears.
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"No! No!" The girl cried out, but Ning didn't care.
The little princess's eyes were already closed, so he brought out a knife and placed it on the girl's throat.
"Your choice. Will you erase your bond while you are alive, or should I let it happen by killing you?" he asked.
"I will count to 3."
"No!" the girl cried.
"1."
"Please, no. I'm sorry. Please don't make me—"
"2." The knife landed on her throat, the mere sharpness of it that was capable of cutting even Ning's flesh, tore the girl's skin like a hot rod piercing a bubble.
"I promise not to hurt you again. Please don't make me do it. I need—"
"3."
"I'll do it!" Before Ning could do anything, a summoning circle appeared beneath the spirit again as it was unbonded.
The spirit was confused and slightly offended that the girl would unbond with it after bonding just now.
The spirit made some rather harsh bell noises and flew off.
"Good. That's what you get for trying to kill us," Ning said and pushed the girl away before walking back to the group.
Ning left the girl on the floor and walked back to the group.
"You're scary," Tessa said. She was slightly shaken by the fact that Ning was so close to killing the girl.
"Let's forget about that," he said and looked to the side. "Let's go, that spirit is running away."
He grabbed onto Tessa who tried to grab onto the others but missed.
As a result, only Ning and Tessa arrived in front of the spirit. Ning realized the mistake immediately and returned to get the rest of them.
Just then, Tessa looked at the spirit in front of her and started speaking the words of her bonding.
Chapter 792: 10 Minutes
WeineriltPesto,THinG
SENO GIFT
"Spirit, I saw how you were treated just now. I promise you, if you bond with me, I will always never let you feel sad, and you will forever only feel happiness around me," Tessa said.
She had to improvise a little, but the words came from her heart after seeing its expression just now after its bond was erased.
The spirit was conflicted, and the bell sounds made sure to let everyone know just that. Tessa looked saddened as well. What was this, the third time she was trying? Both times before she had tried to copy the other people's words and as such had failed.
However, now that she was using her own words, from her own heart, if even this failed, then she wouldn't know what to do.
'Maybe I'm just not meant to have a spirit,' she began thinking. Tap. The spirit touched her hand and let out a small jingling noise. Ning returned just in time for everyone to see the summoning circle form beneath the spirit's feet. "I... I did it?" Tears rolled down her eyes. "I did it. I did it guys, I did it." "What? I didn't get to do it again, teacher!" the little princess complained. "Not now. I'll get you one later," Ning said. "Congratulations," Saphandra walked up to her and hugged her. Tessa became a sobbing mess for a while, and her spirit made sad bell sounds as it cried just by feeling the emotions in the air. After a while, she was finally calm enough to stand up and try out what she had acquired. She had only thought about it when the wind took up speed around them and moved violently. "Stop!" she cried out in surprise and suddenly the air stopped moving altogether. It stayed still, unmoving, even when other things tried to more it. Ning tried to breathe but the air didn't come into his lungs. It struggled to move outside so much that pulling any in was just too hard. Instantly, both the princess and Saphandra started suffocating. "Release it," Ning spoke. Only then the Tessa realized what she had done wrong. "Move, move!" she spoke and the wind flowed naturally. "I'm so sorry, are you okay?" she asked the two girls that were breathing heavily by now. "Phew! I was about to give her a mental order," the slime spoke from the side. "It seems I will need a hell of a lot more practice," Tessa said softly. The spirit flowed down to her and nudged at her cheeks. "Yes, yes, no need to be so sorrowful," she said to the spirit "Are you naming it?" Ning asked. "Of course," she said. "Hmm, Wind... Gale? No, that's the headmaster's spirit.
"Sylphrena," Saphandra suggested. "Sylphrena... hmm, that kinda sounds like your name, not gonna lie," Tessa said. "Yeah, it's not bad. Sylphrena, Sylph for short. How do you like it? Oh, you love it?"
The spirit moved around happily, making serene bell noises. "So, do you wish to stay, or do you wish to leave?" Ning asked. "L. I think I'll leave. Also, I want that hair dye too. I don't want everyone to know I've received a spirit," Tessa said. "Okay," Ning said. "Umm, can you stick around for a bit? I will take this little princess and see if I can get her a spirit quickly too. If she can't find one in the next half an hour, then I'll take you back alone."
"Sure. That gives me some time to get to know Sylph," Tessa said. "Great! You guys wait around here okay?" Ning asked Saphandra and Slime. "Sure," they both said. "Alright, let's go, missy." He carried to the princess and disappeared. The two of them arrived in the dead cold of the snowy lands in the west of the island. Ning could see the misty barrier of the land not very far away from where they were and started searching around for the spirit. "Teacher! Teacher! What is this? What is that white thing?" the princess asked. "That's snow. You don't know about snow?" Ning asked. "This is snow?" the princess crouched down to touch it. "Hehehe, its so cold." "Ah, you have never seen snow, have you?" Ning asked. It made sense. After all, the Darius kingdom was around the equator line, so any chance of snow there was impossible. "Look how fluffy it is," Ning said. "Play around." "Yes," the princess said and jumped into the snow. He jumped alongside her. They played around for 5 minutes before Ning made her stand up. "But I want to keep playing," the princess said. "Later, we have work to do," the princess said.
Ning searched for where the spirit had moved to and teleported nearby it. The princess was about to jump up and scream at it, but then she remembered she couldn't make any sounds. The spirit saw the only non-white thing in the surroundings and curiously flew towards them in a gentle jingle.
"You want to know what to say?" Ning asked. "No, I know," the princess said and put both her hands on her waist. Then she spoke to the spirit. "Spirit! Do you like playing?" she asked. Ning looked at her weirdly, but the spirit only jingled a bit. Neither of them could tell what the spirit was saying, but the princess still continued on. "Do you like having fun? If you do, then bond with me. Together, we will have all the fun in the world." Ning smiled a little when he heard that "I can also let you play with my friends. There is Occy and another small Occy. Then there's Slimy, and Slimy has so many other friends. There's also Joan, and I think my mother will like you—"
Tap. The spirit bonded with the princess and giggled a bit. "I want to play too!" the spirit spoke with a peal of laughter in its voice that was followed by some smooth jingles. Ning's eyes went wide when he heard that. The princess had managed to bond with a spirit that was fully sapient and could thus speak..
You can speak?" Ning asked the spirit.
The spirit moved behind the princess and peeked slowly. "Who are you?" it asked.
"Don't worry, Fifi. That's my teacher. He won't hurt you," the princess said.
"Really?" Fifi cautiously flew out and looked at Ning. "Yes, I can speak, but only because I bonded with her and know her language now."
"Ah," Ning realized. "Wait, Fifi?"
"Fifi?" Fifi himself turned around to the princess who had already named him.
"Yes, Fifi. Because you can use fire, and now I can use fire," the princess said.
"Fire?" Ning looked surprised. "Your powers are fire related?"
"Yes!" the princess said and moved forth her hand. Suddenly, a massive fire exploded in the middle of the two, reaching nearly 3 meters in height.
Ning felt back a little in surprise and then got scared. "Stop!" he ordered and the princess stopped.
He immediately ran up to the princess and checked her all over. "Are you okay? Are you burned?" he asked.
"I'm fine, teacher," the princess said. "Fire doesn't hurt me."
"Oh," Ning only then understood what sort of powers the little princess had gotten.
'Sigh, I can't let her leave just like this,' he thought. 'She will burn her house down.'
"When we return, I think I will— Janice?" he looked around confused as the princess was gone. However, before he got scared, he saw a small blue spirit looking at him from the snow.
"What are you doing hiding there?" Ning grabbed the princess and pulled her out of the snow.
"Hehehe! It's so fun, master," the princess laughed, and the spirit did so along with her.
"You wanna see if it's fun?" Ning asked. 'System, pause all effects of the necklace.'
Done.
Instantly, the princess's eyes went wide in shock from the cold and she immediately fell to the ground from the immediate change in temperature.
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The necklace had been protecting the princess from the cold until now, so when the protection disappeared, she felt the cold and no longer felt so fun.
However, even as she went into shock, Fifi came to her rescue and suddenly blasted fire onto the princess himself.
The fire didn't hurt the princess obviously, but there was no longer any coldness around her, so the princess could stand back up.
"Not bad," he said and had the system reinstate the necklace's powers. Once they were activated, Fifi stopped.
"Let's go," Ning said and teleported back to the group along with the princess.
When they reappeared, and the group of 3 saw that the princess's hair had changed to violet as well, they were beyond surprised.
"In just 10 minutes?" Tessa asked in surprise.
pAn,d a-n0ve1,c-o-m "Actually we spent 5 minutes playing in the snow," the princess said.
"So, that's your spirit, huh?" the slime said.
"Hello, my name is Fifi," the spirit spoke, making everyone's eyes go wide, including Saphandra.
"Wait, you can speak?" Tessa looked surprised. "Slyph, can you speak?"
Sylph shook his head.
The slime knew Frost couldn't speak, so he didn't even bother asking him.please visit p(anda-n0ve1.co)m
"Haha, I win. My Fifi can speak," the princess laughed.
"But how?" Tessa was confused.
"He's just that advanced of a spirit," Ning explained from what he could understand.
"Yeah, I have been here for a long time, doing nothing but gathering energy. At some point, I could think really well, and now I can speak," he said.
"Amazing," Tessa looked in awe.
"Right, come here you two. Let me change your hair," Ning said. He turned Tessa's hair to green, and the princess's hair to yellow.
"No, I want green too," the princes grumbled.
"Later," Ning said. "You can even have violet if you want later."
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"Alright, we can leave now," Ning said. "You're coming too."
Ning spoke to the slime.
"Okay," the slime said. "Let's leave."
"Do you want to leave?" Ning asked.
Saphandra thought for a second. "Maybe a little later. I want to visit this snowy place that the princess talked about."
"Okay then, be safe. I'll be back in a bit," Ning said and he disappeared with the three of them.
The four of them arrived outside the island and then disappeared again.
Ning first took them to the slime's homeland where the many beasts were waiting for their master to come back home.
As soon as he did, the beasts went crazy with happiness. Tessa nearly used some sort of skill when she saw the horde of beasts run towards them.
Once that was done, Ning took to the princess's palace where he met with the parents of the princess that were quite worried for her.
"Mother! Father! look. This is Fifi," the princess showed off her spirit the moment she returned.
The King and Queen saw something blue sneak out from the side as it spoke to them. "Hello!"
The moment they realized that their daughter had acquired a spirit, they were beyond surprised. The surprise only increased when they realized she now had violet hair, hidden beneath the yellow dye.
"You did this?" the King asked Ning.
"Kind of, but the princess did it herself for the most part. She surprised me too," Ning said.
"Thank you," the queen said from the side. "The amount of help you had done for our family is not something we can pay in this generation."
Tessa looked from the side as the King and Queen humbled themselves before Ning.
"Janice, come here," Ning called the princess before it he left.
"What is it teacher?" the princess asked.
"I have put a skill inside your necklace, okay? Fifi, you listen to this as well. If there is ever a fire that you start accidentally, or you need to put out, use the skill on the necklace. I have added a red gem there that will work for it," Ning told her.
"Really?" the princess checked her necklace. "Wow, how did a gem come here? You didn't even touch it."
"That's just your teacher's powers," Ning said. "Alright, stay safe. I will come to visit in a few days."
"Okay, teacher," the princess said.
Chapter 794: Spirit SpaceNing then took Tessa back to the school, directly into her grandmother's room in the library.
"What? Don't scare an old woman like that," Verina said when she saw the two of them arrive out of nowhere.
"Grandma!" Tessa hugged her grandma and her grandma hugged her back.
"So? What happened? I thought you were taking her to the island. Why did you come back? Did you not get to enter?" the old woman asked. "I should have told you that the headmaster wouldn't allow that. He is kind of an asshole in that way."
The old woman shook her head as she remembered the previous headmaster who had been defeated by this current one and had their place taken away.
"No, grandma. Look, this is Sylph."
The jingling spirit slowly peered its head from behind Tessa. "Sylph, this is my grandmother."
"Wah! You did it? Did you get yourself a spirit? Wait, why is your hair not changed?" The old woman was confused, to say the least.
"I dyed it to hide, grandma," Tessa said. "Look."
The air in the room moved a little, flipping the many books and stray papers lying around.
"You really did it," the old woman got emotional all of a sudden. "If only your parents were here to see that. They would be so proud."
Tessa got emotional with her grandmother too.
Ning sighed as he watched the two family members cry with each other.
"Ma'am, I won't be returning to the school after this," Ning said without hesitating.
"What?" the old woman was confused.
"This is everything you need to know about summoning in and out," Ning said. "Please take this as my farewell gift."
"You… you really aren't going to come back?" she asked. "Where are you going?"
"Here and there. I don't know yet," Ning said. "But I will just roam around. I will come back to visit, but for now, it's goodbye."
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The old woman nodded and thanked Ning for everything he had done for her and her granddaughter.
Ning smiled and disappeared.
The grandma and granddaughter remained in the room, with massive smiles on their faces.
"Ah, you're finally back," Saphandra said. She had waited alone for nearly half an hour before Ning had returned.
"Sorry about that. Had to spend some time explaining to the little girl's parents what had happened," Ning said. "I also had to tell them to make the princess's new quarters away from the palace, so that even if she does go out of hand with her powers accidentally, it won't cause much damage."
"Ah, right," Saphandar said. "What were her powers again?"
"Did she not show you? It's fire," Ning said. "She can use fire now. I wonder how hot her fires can get. Hmm, I will have to teach her later once she grows."
"Alright, let's go to the snow region. I'm curious," Saphandra said.
The two of them teleported away and arrived around the same region where Ning had brought the princess.
He brought out some warm clothes for Saphandra to wear and then fell to the floor to place with the snow.
The two enjoyed each other's company while Saphandra laughed the brightest laugh she had given out in a long time.
"I haven't heard you this happy in… actually never," Ning said. "This is the first time you feel… free."
"I haven't had much reason to smile for a while now," she said. "Especially with the annoying people that keep staring at my hair."
"I did say you should have dyed it," Ning said.
"I know, but for some reason, it feels like dyeing my hair is my way of avoiding responsibility," she said.
"Responsibility? Of what?" Ning asked.
"Responsibility for my planet, for the many people that died, little blue, and then also me," she said. "I couldn't save them."
"I see," Ning said. "Right you did mention something about being in a military force or something like that."
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"Something like that," Saphandra said.
The two of them stayed there for a while, playing with the unending snow, and sleeping in the snowfall.
Only after a long time had passed did they finally stand up.
"Is there anything left to do even?" she asked. "Do you want a spirit for yourself?"
"Uhh… probably not. Although I don't see how that could be a bad choice," he said.
"So you do want one," she said.
"Spirits can survive even when they are out of their planet, right?" Ning asked. "Like what would happen if I took a spirit and left for a plant with no spiritual energy."
"Hmm, it should be fine. You won't get to use the skills I suppose," she said.
"What about the spirit itself? Would it have any problem? I remember little blue being non-expressive back in Genesis," Ning said.
"No, that was because Genesis completely suppressed every power in the area. Since spirits are made up of Spiritual energy, they won't work well in the suppressed areas, but in other areas, they should be fine even without the presence of Spiritual energy," she said. "Although, the prolonged effect might be something you should ask the system."
"System?" Ning asked.
"Oh, that's… a few billion a day doesn't hurt me now, right? There will be some problem if there are multiple of them, but I guess that's enough for now," Ning said.
"What the hell? That's cheap. Awesome!" Ning said. "Buy it."
He felt a space open inside of him. By now, there were 3 different spaces inside of him, and in the near future, he would have to start opening the fourth one.
"Let's go get me a few spirits," Ning said with a bright smile.
Chapter 795: 3 SpiritsA few days had passed since Ning had left to search for the spirits.
In the easternmost edges of the grassland, he had found Terra.
Terra was a feminine spirit that couldn't speak or even have conscious thoughts. She hid around giant rocks, that were impossible to traverse without being able to fly over the rock or in some other fashion get to her.
At first, the spirit was immediately scared the moment Ning and Saphandra arrived at her hiding place, but when they didn't do anything and just stuck around, her curiosity took the better of her and she came out.
Ning took the opportunity to bond with her. There was really just a single thing he could say to entice the spirit.
"Come with me and I'll take you to see the stars," he told the spirit.
When the spirit realized he was talking about the sparkling things she always saw in the night, she immediately accepted the bond.
After the bond was successful, Ning learned what new powers he had acquired from the bond.
Terra was an Earth spirit. Her powers had to do everything with earth, and how one could manipulate it.
Ning created pillars, hovered giant rocks in the air, and created minerals out of nothing.
He could even sense the structure of the ground around him and know if there was something in the earth that was not just rocks and minerals.
They appeared in his sense as vacuums, and mostly they were simply tree roots.
After learning how to use Terra's powers, Ning let her fly around him, and then he and Saphandra went to look for the other spirits.
The next spirit remained alone near an oasis. It remained hidden in the shrubs, so no passerby ever found it.
However, Ning knew where it was, so he peered through the shrub and located the spirit.
He used the same words to bond with the spirit that he later named Gray.
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Gray had powers that easily destroyed things. Plants lost their green at a single touch. Rocks turned to sand with barely any force. Metals rusted to nothing very easily.
Human flesh rot with but a thought.
Ning realized that it was quite a strong power and even an evil one from what he could see.
However, it didn't take him long to realize that it was not something evil. It was something that was fundamental to the life and death of everything in the universe.
Time and Entropy.
The spirit he named Gray had the power to speed up the entropy of anything and make it look like it was getting destroyed when all Ning was doing was forcing the thing he touched to age faster.
"I have to admit, that's a scary skill," Ning said. "Thank god someone else didn't get it."
Then, they moved onto the snowy mountains again since there was another spirit that had wandered here and was alone.
Ning quickly formed another bond with the spirit saying the same thing. Since he wasn't promising his spiritual energy at all, he could continue to get more and more.
The third spirit was named Void. That was because he gave Ning the power over space itself.
He could warp it, split it, compress it, expand it, or create small portals to teleport things.
All in all, it wasn't quite bad and Ning was happy with the powers he got from Void.
Void, Terra, and Gray played around with each other, making noises of jingling bells, while Saphandra looked at Ning to ask him a question.
"You still want more?" she asked. "I think I'm done with it all, so we can leave anytime we want."
"Uh… I wouldn't say no to another one, but if you want to leave then let's do that," Ning said. "Although, before that, there's one place I need to visit."
"Where?" Saphandra asked.
"I don't really know," Ning said. "But it should be around there."
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Ning pointed towards the east, which Saphandra had no way of telling what he was pointing towards.
"Sigh, let's go then," she said and flew up. Ning followed here, and they were quickly outside of the mountain with snow and were soon around mountains that were full of tress.
Ning kept his eyes open and looked around for a while before he noticed something.
"There!" he pointed towards the center of a massive forest, not very far from the lake that surrounded the volcano.
There was a small pond at the center of the forest, and when Ning landed next to it, he saw a small stream of it flowing down the slope into the massive pond.
Ning looked at the pond and smiled. He was here and he was looking at it.
The Origin of this planet.
The water there was a little misty, but he could see the small ray of light coming from the tiny portal that led to a world where even his survival wasn't certain.
'This isn't water, is it?' he thought. He remembered the thick, liquid Qi back in Kumia and knew that this was Spiritual Energy that was so dense that it turned liquid after a long time.
He placed his hands into the liquid and immediately the spiritual energy rushed into his body, and surprisingly, his body was absorbing it all rather easily.
Slowly, Ning was growing to Rank 9 and then growing more and more to reach the legendary Rank 10.
"What's this? Drinking water?" Saphandra asked and crouched to touch the liquid too.
Ning was so into absorbing the liquid that he realized too late that Saphandra had stuck her hands into the liquid and started sucking in the Spiritual Energy.
He saw the shock and fear in her face along with a pained expression from violently absorbing so much spiritual energy at once.
"Are you okay?" Ning asked as he pulled her back from the Origin, but she wasn't responding at all.
Instead, her eyes were wide as she realized what was going to happen now.
Something awoke that was long asleep and a resounding voice spoke in her head.
"GIVE ME BACK MY BODY!!!"
Chapter 796: AimeeA massive battle had taken place in a world that was invaded by demons.
This battlefield was located right in front of what was considered to be the final haven for humanity. All other humans in the world had died at the hands of the demons, and this was their final strike before they would eradicate all life on this planet.
The demons were here to either enslave the planet or destroy it. The Bondforgers of this planet had been fighting the demons for nearly 2 years now.
No one knew how the demons were capable of opening portals over to other planets, but they had done it and now they were here to destroy Aimee's home planet.
Aimee, a blue-haired girl, sent out a ball of fire toward the flying demon that couldn't even speak. It looked more bug than anything as it flew around the battlefield, along with many other such bugs.
Aimee's fire struck the demon right into the throat and blasted it into two.
However, that was just a single kill in what looked like a million different demons flying toward her.
The flame in her hands turned into a spear that she launched as far as she could and surprisingly managed to impale two demons at once.
Despite that, they were still losing. They had already lost 3 of the 5 Spirit bonded fighters in their military, and now two more were fighting high in the air against the generals of the Demon army.
Lightning flashed in the sky and something fell to the ground next to Aimee. When she looked at what had fallen, Aimee recognized her commander that was fighting.
She was one of the remaining two spirit-bonded fighters, and now she was dead.
She looked high in the air and saw the one remaining commander fighting with all he could.
The wind ripped every common demon that approached him, but the generals still fought him and gave him a hard time.
Aimee turned to look back towards the giant wall that protected the normal survivors behind it, and then at the mountain, the peak of which was known to have a spirit living on top of it.
A man appeared next to her and jammed a sword into the throat of the demon that was trying to attack her while she was distracted.
The man was about to shout at her for being distracted when he too saw the corpse next to her.
"Is that..?" he asked.
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"The commander," Aimee said. "We're going to lose if we go on like this."
"What can we do but fight?" the man asked.
"I have a plan," Aimee said. "It's our last hope."
"What plan could poss—"
Before the young man could finish his statement, a demon pierced his chest from behind using its horns.
"You bastard!" Aimee cried and sent a fire spear through the demon's chest and killed him.
The young man slipped from its horns but fell to the ground dead. Aimee was devastated.
She turned around to look away, but then she saw her commander's corpse. When she turned in the other direction, she saw nearly a thousand different corpses. Most were civilians fighting to the death to get rid of the demons, but a few were from her corp.
Her eyes grew hateful with anger as she turned to look at the demons. However, there wasn't much she could do with her Rank 5 powers and blue hair.
She needed something good. She needed something better.
She turned back towards the mountain and decided to go along with her plan.
Aimee ran away from the battlefield and towards the wall. She feared what the security would do seeing her run away from the battlefield, but when she arrived at the gates, she realized it was wide open, with corpses strewn everywhere.
Was it demons? Or deserters from the battlefield? She didn't have a tie to think.
Aimee blazed through the road of the city, past the many corpses, ignoring them all, and not even waiting to see if any of them belonged to her little sister.
She couldn't afford to stop.
She finally arrived at the foot of the mountain and then ran up the mountain as fast as she could. Her legs hurt, and her feet blistered, but she persevered and kept going.
Sounds of battle rung even this far away, and she could hear the cries of the dying in the city down below.
But she couldn't afford to stop and take it in. She continued running.
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Finally, after nearly half an hour, she arrived at the peak of the mountain and saw a massive lake in it.
At the center of the lake was a small piece of land with a gigantic tree growing on it.
This was where people had said that they had seen a spirit many times before. But no one had seen it twice until now, so all she could do was hope.
She jumped into the water, and using the fire she could create, she blasted her way over to the small island.
She climbed up quickly and looked at the tree.
"Spirit! Come out, please," she said. "We need your help."
Silence. There was no sound from the tree. Was the rumor wrong?
"Spirit, if you are there, please come out. We need your help," Aimee cried. "The demons are killing us. Please, help us."
There was silence again.
Aimee didn't know what to do. If there was no spirit here, then…
Something flew out of the tree in a lazy fashion and flew at eye level around Aimee.
"A spirit!" Aimee's hope was rekindled.
The feminine spirit looked at Aimee curiously and moved around her, checking everything.
"Who are you, little blue-haired girl?" the spirit asked.
"What? You can speak?" Aimee was surprised. She had never heard of spirits being able to speak at all.
"Do humans answer questions with a question?" the spirit asked.
"Question? Ah, sorry. My name is Aimee, spirit," Aimee replied.
"Aimee, huh?" the spirit nodded to herself. "I have a name too."
"You may call me, Saphandra."
Chapter 797: Little BlueAimee had never seen a single spirit that could even attempt to communicate before they were bonded with someone. However, this spirit was not just able to talk but was also highly wise from what she could see.
Hell, the spirit had even named itself despite no one being around to influence its thought. Was it that advanced? If that was the case would it also be stronger?
Aimee felt like she finally saw a silver lining behind this cloud of darkness that had been covering this land for the last 2 years.
"Saphandra, please help us. We are dying. The demons are killing us," Aimee spoke. "Please, bond with me so I can go save the humans."
Saphandra flew around, quietly contemplating the offer.
"What do I get from it, little blue-haired lady?" Saphandra asked.
"Wh-what do you want? I can give you anything I have," Aimee said. She didn't have time to argue about what the spirit could ask for or take from her. Her friends and family were dying, and she needed to quickly go save them.
"…anything?" Saphandra asked.
"Anything," Aimee said. "You want all the energy I collect. You can have it. I will give it to you for as long as you bond with me."
"Hmm… that's not a bad condition, but you said I could have anything I want, right? I want something else," Saphandra said.
"Wh-what is it?" Aimee asked. Even though she was ready to give away anything, she was still a little hesitant.
"Give me your body," Saphandra said.
"My… body? What do you want my body for?" Aimee asked.
"I will take over your body, in exchange for whatever it is that you need me to do," Saphandra said.
"You really want my body?" Aimee asked. "Forever?"
"No, not forever," Saphandra said. "How about I return it to you after I defeat the demons?"
Aimee's eyes went wide when she heard that. "You are sure you can defeat them?" she asked.
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"I have been here since before humans were but monkeys, fighting each other to get the sweetest fruit on the tree. Trust me, I am capable of defeating the demons," Saphandra said.
Aimee tried to think for a moment, but she didn't have time to do that at all.
"Ok," she said. "But what happens to me?"
"You? Hmm… why don't you take over my body in the meanwhile?" Saphandra asked.
"O-okay, I agree to everything," Aimee said without hesitation.
"I agree as well, little girl," Saphandra said. A summoning circle appeared between both of them, and suddenly their bodies were swapped.
The blue hair that was on Aimee turned to violet, and Saphandra opened her eyes.
"I… am a spirit?" Aimee spoke from her now spirit body. She admired it for a second before realizing that she had wasted quite a lot of time already. "Please, hurry."
"Okay," Saphandra said. "So, I… hmm? I don't have any spiritual energy?"
Saphandra was confused. She couldn't feel anything. She tried absorbing it from the air, but nothing remained in her body.
"What's going on?" she looked confused for a second before realizing that all the spiritual energy she was gathering was going into her spirit body which Aimee had taken over.
"What's going…"
"Please, hurry. Save my people," Aimee shouted.
"Ah, yes. Let's go," Saphandra jumped from the mountain and flew through the sky at such a speed that she broke the barrier of sound multiple times.
Her human body could barely survive that sort of speed, but Saphandra pushed away any things that would cause resistance against her body.
She slowed down and gently floated down onto the battlefield… only to realize that she was too late.
Everyone on the battlefield was dead.
"Ugh! My head," Aimee shook her spirit head as it got a little wobbly. She looked through it, but her head was getting groggy.
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She was barely able to register the massacre that was around them.
"No…" she spoke. "My sister. My sister is… my sister is in… where's my sister?"
"In the city," Saphandra said. For some reason, she could see the memories left behind by Aimee. "Come, Little blue. Let's check out the city."
She once again sent herself flying through the air to arrive at the city, only to find another massacre once again. Everyone in the city was dead.
Saphandra went around searching, and near the staircase of a house, found the body of a young girl with wide eyes and half her body missing.
"Blue, don't look," Saphandra turned to stop Aimee from not looking at the image, however, she only then realized that there was something wrong with her.
"Little blue?" she called, and the spirit turned and gave a quizzing look.
A horrified expression fell on Saphandra's face when she realized what was happening. Because she was using Aimee's spiritual energy instead of her own, the spirit was slowly regressing mentally as more and more spiritual energy was drained away.
Soon, she would stop being able to think. Fortunately, they had made a pact where the spirit would gain the energy that the human absorbed.
'I can keep her alive,' Saphandra thought. 'But barely.'
If she wanted to help her improve her consciousness, Saphandra would have to collect a lot of spiritual energy at once.
From Aimee's memories, pearls seemed to be a good way, but more than that, just jumping into the ocean should have been enough to gain back some consciousness.
Saphandra stopped thinking about that for the moment and went on to search for survivors, or even just the demons so that she could kill.
However, there was no one alive in the entire world anymore. The humans were dead, and the demons had left.
She had failed at her words to defeat all the demons and save the humans.
Then, a curious look appeared on her face. 'Does that mean I don't have to give back the body just yet?' she thought.
Greed took over her, as well as the fascination she had for human life. As such, she decided to 'keep her words.'
"I'm sorry, Little blue. But I wish to remain human just a bit longer."
Chapter 798: Companion"Give me back my body!" a voice rang, loud and clear.
Ning who had left to help Saphandra was surprised all of a sudden. Saphandra stood up on her own, and the spirit that always remained hidden behind her flew out and looked at her threateningly.
"Little blue, please listen t—"
"My name is Aimee! Don't call me Little blue," the spirit spoke out loud. "Give me my body back right now, you liar!"
"I-I will," Saphandra said. "Please, calm down."
"I won't calm down until I get my body back," the spirit said. "You said you would give it back as soon as you finished saving the humans. Why did you not return it?"
"I… I was too late," Saphandra said. "I couldn't save them at all, neither could I fight the demons. They had already left by the time I was there."
"Liar!" the spirit shouted. "If they're dead, then what is he?"
"What's going on?" Ning asked from the side after the spirit pointed to him. He wondered if the spirit had improved after gaining the spiritual energy from the Origin, but then when he took into account the words that were being used here, he understood a whole different concept that hadn't even ever occurred to him.
"She took my body to save you guys, and yet she never went through our deal to return it after she saved everything," the spirit spoke.
"Little blue, are you… a human?" Ning asked.
"I'm not Little blue. My name is Aimee," the spirit said. "And yes, I am a human."
"Little b— I mean, Aimee, please listen to me," Saphandra said. "This is not our world. Our world is somewhere far away. I was taken away a year after I took over your body, and now I'm here."
"I know I was wrong to take over your body and not return it to you, but I promise, I never broke our deal. I stuck to my words," Saphandra said.
"Wh-what? This is not our world?" she asked. "Wh-what about my sister? My friends? Are all of humanity really dead?"
"I'm afraid so," Saphandra said.
The spirit's face turned into one of fear and despair, and suddenly she broke out into a loud cry.
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Ning looked at her pitifully, and then at Saphandra. "So… you're a spirit?" he asked.
"Yes," Saphandra said.
"That was the secret you were keeping to yourself all this time?" Ning asked.
"Yes," she said. "I knew you'd judge me if I let you know. Well, not like I don't judge myself. I know I'm a horrible being for doing something to such a poor person."
"I suppose it's hard not to judge," Ning said as he heard the spirit in front of him cry his ears out.
They quietly watched Aimee cry for a long time as they stayed together in what were most likely Saphandra's final minutes as human.
Suddenly, a group of people arrived after hearing the cries of someone. When they saw the spirit, they were immediately surprised.
They turned around to look and saw that Saphandra had violet hair. With Ning's dyed hair still not changed, they didn't know that he had bonded to spirits as well.
Instantly, a few of them prepared attacks to throw Saphandra's way as they shouted at her. "Release the spirit from your bond or we will kill you."
Saphandra chuckled. Any other time, she would have been angry and knocked a few of them far away. But instead, she was filled with melancholy this time.
She turned to look at Ning and grabbed his hands. "I was always alive in solitude for probably thousands of years. I never had a friend I could talk with, and as such, I had always envied humans."
"Thank you for being my friend for such a long time," Saphandra said.
"Of course," Ning said. "I would do it all over again."
Saphandra smiled and let his hands go.
"Do what we said now!" the people cried out.
"Okay, I will," Saphandra said and looked at Aimee.
"Aimee… little blue, thank you for letting me use your body. I free you from this bond."
Suddenly, two different summoning circles appeared below Saphandra and Aimee. Then, their bodies went back to each other.
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The crying spirit stopped all of a sudden and instead put on a somber face.
At the same time, the human with a sad smile suddenly turned miserable and started crying loudly.
"Good!" they said when they saw the bond being broken. After that, they all started chanting out conditions like they had planned it all along to try and get Saphandra to bond with them.
"Leave, I'm not bonding with any of you," Saphandra said.
However, the people didn't listen. Instead, more people arrived and they started shouting over each other to bond with Saphandra.
"Didn't she tell you to leave?" Ning's voice boomed through the crowd, shocking them all.
"W-we are trying to form a bond with her. What is it to you?" the people asked.
Ning slowly stood up. "She's my friend. Now leave, or else."
His hair slowly turned violet, and 3 different spirits floated out of his body, all different from one another.
Seeing 3 different spirits at one place, even the most greediest of them didn't dare try their luck.
"Thank you," Saphandra said quietly.
"Of course," Ning spoke to the now spirit Saphandra. "Anything for a friend of mine."
She smiled and said nothing else for a while. "I… I guess I'm back to being a spirit again," she said.
"Do you want to become a human? I might have ways to do that," Ning said.
"Really? I—" Saphandra stopped. "No, no need."
"Really?" Ning was surprised.
"Yeah, it took me a while to realize, but as it turns out, I wasn't looking to become a human at all. I just wanted companions so that I didn't have to live my life in solitude," she said.
"Do you still want it?" Ning asked. "If you still want companionship, I will be your companion until the end of time and afterwards."
Chapter 799: Leaving the IslandWith the words, Ning requested a bond, and Saphandra didn't hesitate to accept.
She wanted his companionship and a way out of the solitary life of a spirit.
A summoning circle appeared below Ning and the two were bonded.
"Great," he said. "Should we leave now?"
Saphandra nodded, but then she looked at Aimee that was still sulking on the ground.
"We should help her," she said.
"Of course," Ning said. He walked up to Aimee and sat in front of her while Saphandra came to sit on his shoulder.
"Aimee, do you want to talk?" she asked.
"Let me cry in peace, please," she said.
Ning stayed quiet and decided to do nothing but stay there. Aimee sniffled for a long while.
The sky even turned dark in the time she was there doing nothing but crying.
"Aimee, you can't keep sulking like this. You are the last of your people. If anything, you need to step up and move on, for everyone's sake," Ning said.
"I… I can't just forget about them," she said. She was horrified that Ning even suggested such a thing.
"I'm not telling you to forget about them. I'm telling you to do what your friends would have wanted you to do. What your sister would have wanted you to do."
"They may be gone, but their spirit lives on with you. You need to let them live," Ning said.
"I…" Aimee finally looked up. "Yes, I… I can't sit here doing nothing." She quickly wiped away her tears. "Wha-what do you suggest I do?"
"For now, come in there," Ning said and pointed at the spaceship behind him. "You need a place to eat and rest for today. Regarding the rest, you can take your time."
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Ning took Aimee into the spaceship and gave her something warm to eat, and then a place to sleep in.
She cried herself to sleep, of course, but there was nothing Ning could do about that. Besides, crying was a much better option than letting it bottle inside her for now.
Early morning, Ning woke up and went to check on Aimee. She was still asleep from having slept in late last night, so Ning let her be and consulted with Saphandra on what they should do now.
They no longer had a need to stay, especially since Ning had reached Rank 10 as a Bondforger, but they couldn't just let Aimee stay alone on this island.
"I guess we can stay with her for a while, right? How much longer is there even?" Ning asked.
"21 more days?" Saphandra asked. "Let's explain the situation to Aimee and see what she will say we should do."
"That does feel like the best option," Ning said and waited.
After Aimee woke up, he gave her some food, and while she ate, he explained everything that had happened when Saphandra had taken over her body.
"I'm… in a new planet?" she asked.
"Yes," Ning said.
"There are no demons here?" she asked.
"Demons?" Ning was a little surprised by her questions. "System, are there demons here?"
Ning explained to Aimee what he heard, and she couldn't help but be happier.
Afterward, Ning let her know about his plans and Aimee said she did want to bond with a spirit if it wasn't going to take over her body and corrupt her will as Saphandra had.
Ning nodded and took Aimee around the island to look for the spirit. He taught her what to say, but it wasn't until the 5th spirit that she finally found the right thing to say and bonded with a feminine spirit.
She named the spirit, Mary. That was the name of her little sister.
Through Mary, Aimee gained the power of Speed. She could become very fast both physically and mentally. She was so fast that she could run on top of water too.
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From what Ning could test, she could reach close to Mach 5 without much problem. Also, she was very much capable of thinking at an incredibly fast speed.
Aside from that, she could also speed up healing in her body as well, while at the same time slowing down other aspects of her body, such as aging.
"That's not bad," Ning said after learning all of it. "In fact, I want the same powers too. System, can I have those powers too?"
"Yes, ignore the unnecessary ones and give me the rest," Ning said.
'Superspeed movement', 'Superspeed Perception', and 'Superspeed thinking have been bought.
The system bought the skills without letting know the price. That simply meant that Ning had so much energy that the price wasn't a problem at all.
"Should we leave now?" Ning asked. Both Saphandra and Aimee nodded.
"Let's go."
Ning and Aimee appeared outside the island. Ning turned to look at the island one last time and then towards the edge to the north where he could barely see the ships there.
He could go fight the headmasters there, but there was no need.
"Come, I'll take you to a place you can settle down and live your life."
Ning took Aimee towards the south where it was colder and visited a city called Harmoon. It was a small city in the middle of a small country by the name of Twuntar.
Ning helped her settle down there with the many spiritual pearls that Saphandra had earned. He helped her however he could on behalf of Saphandra, and after she was well adjusted a month or two later, he left.
Ning felt like he had done it all in this world. He reached Rank 10, bonded with spirits, and summoned beasts using the summoning circle.
Now, all he wanted to do was go around and see the world, help his friends and students when he could, and just wait for the spaceships to come and take him away.
Chapter 800: DepartureNing sat in front of a man in his late twenties that had great flowing green hair, a great beard and mustache on his face, and a 3-year-old girl playing with some sort of metallic toy in her arm.
Ning gave a sympathetic smile and said, "So it really is a no, huh?"
The man shook his head at what a shame it all was. "Yes, it is a no."
"This is quite a surprise to me, I must say. But I suppose it was more of a surprise to you than anything," he said.
"If you had asked me this very question 4 years ago, I would've said yes, but now, I can't," the man said as he played with the child on his lap. "I can't leave them, and taking them away from here would be a crime in my eyes because I know what harsh life they would have to live there."
Ning smiled a little and looked at the little girl. He thought of something and created something using the system.
A small bottle appeared in his hands, one that was filled with some sort of silver liquid.
"Hello," Ning crouched next to the little girl and spoke. "What's your name?"
"My name is Freina," the girl said, almost as if she had rehearsed it multiple times.
"Ooh… Freina, that's a nice name," Ning said. "Isn't it?"
"Yes, it's very nice," Saphandra said from the side. She had been floating next to him, looking at everything with a fond smile on her face.
"Are you a spirit?" the little girl asked.
"Yes, I am," Saphandra said.
"Here, since I met you for the first time today, this is my gift to you," Ning said and handed over the bottle to the girl.
The girl took it and looked curiously. "What is it, papa?" she asked.
"I… don't know," the man said. He looked at it for a few seconds before he was given an answer and his eyes went wide.
"Are you…?" he looked at Ning.
Ning smiled and looked at the child. "Drink it, it's tasty," he said.
The girl didn't immediately drink it and instead looked toward her father for approval. There was no way the man was ever going to be opposed to this at all.
"Drink it, Freina," the man said and the girl finally did as told. She gulped down the liquid, which Ning had made rather tasty for her.
A bit of the silver liquid spilled down from the side of his mouth, but it quickly moved back into her mouth and disappeared.
"Tasty!" the girl said after she had finished drinking it.
"Time to test," Ning said. Suddenly, something moved inside the little girl as things started spilling out of her skin.
It was the same silver liquid, only this time it formed some sort of suit around the little girl, with only her face not covered.
"Wow, papa look!" she showed the suit to her father and his eyes went wide with shock.
Taron could have never thought that Ning would gift his 3-year-old daughter a suit just like his own. No, even better.
"That's amazing, Freina. Thank uncle Ning for it," he said.
"Thank you," the girl said.
"You're so cute," Ning pinched her cheeks a little. As his hands left, the suit went back into her body.
"Go play with your mommy, okay? Papa has some things to talk to Uncle Ning with," Taron said and sent away his kid.
"I've locked the suit for now, and it will only be active after her 15th birthday. You can activate it using Wendy whenever you want to. I suggest you do that and train her when you can."
"Aside from that, it will automatically activate whenever she's in danger, and the autopilot will take over. Have your daughter give it a name herself," Ning said.
"Thank you," Taron said.
"Don't mention it," Ning said. "I'm just a little saddened that you didn't get to go to the island with us. I couldn't help you get a spirit there. Although, you haven't done badly for yourself."
"Yes, I did quite well once I was able to gather spiritual energy," Taron said.
The two of them talked for a while, with Saphandra speaking in between the two from time to time.
"Alright, I will have to leave now," Ning said. "The guys are gathered for my farewell, and the spaceship will be coming any minute now."
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"It's funny really," Ning continued. "When I first came here, I thought it would be Saphandra that would have a family here, and you would instead leave with me to the inner reaches of the galaxy. Oh, how wrong I was."
"I am a little sad that I couldn't go, I won't lie," Taron said. "But that has nothing on the happiness I have for me right here."
Ning smiled. "I'm happy that you're happy. Goodbye Taron, live a good life."
Taron smiled back. "Goodbye Ning. I will hope that I meet you again in another life."
Ning teleported away, and Taron remained there with a melancholic feeling in his heart. His one hope of seeing an advanced society was leaving him today.
"Papa, it won't work. I want to show it to mommy," Freina ran back to him.
The smile returned back onto Taron's face. "Is that so? Let me help you then," he said. Wendy activated the suit inside Freina's body and the suit appeared around her.
"Aaaaah! Mommy, look," she started shouting from outside, as the smiling Taron took his daughter back into the house, where his wife Pamella was working on their supper.
Ning appeared on an empty island near the Darius kingdom from where he had first sent out the signal out to the galaxy to call for help.
On the island were 6 people gathered. 4 females, and 2 males.
"You're late, teacher," a teenage girl with fiery red hair talked loudly to Ning as soon as he appeared. Behind her, Fifi floated around the 5 other spirits, speaking to them, while the rest made jingling noises.
"So, you guys are already here, huh?" Ning said.
"We've been here for a while, Ning," Ori, who was wearing clothes with metallic bits all over it, spoke. Silver wasn't far away from her, together with the group of spirits behind her.
"I can't believe it. You really haven't aged a day, do you?" another girl wearing light blue clothes asked. Tessa's hair was now bright blue, contrasting well with the uniform she was wearing. Sylph was with the spirits too.
"Right? Here I thought he was awesome because he was so talented at such a young age. Makes me wonder what his age really is," Trevain said. He had grown a rather dense beard and looked like a lord of some land from the way he was dressed.
His spirit, Ray, was also together with the other spirits.
"Hello, Ning," the violet-haired Aimee spoke. Mary floated behind her mingling with the rest of the spirits, making jingling sounds all around.
Finally, there was a young man that looked like he was 15 years old at most. There wasn't any defining feature on him aside from the fact that he had light blue hair. If not for Frost being amongst the spirit behind him, no one would recognize that this kid was the slime that went by his name Milo now.
"So, your friend's not coming?" Milo asked.
"I'm afraid not," Ning said. "He's with his family now."
The 6 of them walked forward and sat down on a desk they had prepared beforehand and brought out some dishes they had prepared for this exact farewell.
Ning let Gray, Terra, and Void go out and have fun with the rest of the spirits, and the rest couldn't help but be jealous at the fact that he had four spirits and had barely used them at all.
Ning had used the spirits' powers many times, but of course, he didn't have to use them more than he had to. As such, the group never really saw him use the powers.
They had fun together as they ate and talked, and soon some of them started tearing up at the thought of Ning leaving.
Janice, the little princess that was 16 years old now was the first to tear up. She stood from her place and went up to Ning and hugged him with her face dripping with tears.
"I don't want you to go, teacher," she cried. "Please stay."
"I'm afraid that's not possible, Janice. I need to go find my wife as I mentioned to you before. She's been alone for a long time, and I need to return as soon as I can," Ning said.
"But I won't see you again," she said.
Ning didn't have an excuse for that. That was the truth. Given the speed at which the two worlds ran, just a year in Kumia would end up being something like 13 years in this world.
Not to mention, if he had to spend even a single year in the next galaxy, which he most definitely would have to, over 600 years would have passed in this world.
That was just too long of a time that even Aimee couldn't survive with her delayed aging.
"I will most likely never see you again, any of you," Ning said. "That's why I want you to remember this moment, our final moments together, and cherish them for as long as you live."
The words only served to evoke more tears from everyone around, including Ning.
The farewell talks lasted as long as it took for the spaceship to arrive. They all felt it land even though they couldn't see it because of the camouflage.
Ning walked off from the group and introduced himself. "I am Ning Ruogong. I'm the one that sent you the message from ZSS Unity III," he said.
"Your message was well received," the captain of the ship spoke from inside the ship. "Please clear the memories of the ones beside you, and we can leave."
"Not going to happen," Ning said and instantly teleported inside the ship. Many of them scrambled to find a way to defend themselves, but Ning was very fast.
He could move, think, and perceive everything 5 times faster than everyone. So, he moved around the room, grabbing anyone's head he could and dominated them.
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Once he was done, he stopped and went back outside.
"Drop the camo," he said, and the camouflage disappeared. The group saw the gigantic ship that was much bigger than the one Ning had.
The door opened and readied for Ning to enter.
Ning walked back into the group for one last goodbye. He wiped the tears off Janice's face and patted her head.
He then looked to the rest of them and said, "live a long life, and hopefully I will meet you all in your next one. Goodbye."
He turned around and left them as his spirits flowed back to him.
"Goodbye teacher!" Janice shouted as he left.
"Goodbye Ning! Goodbye Saphandra" the other followed.
"And thank you for everything you've done for us," they all spoke in unison.
Tears flowed down Ning's face as a smile appeared on it. Even Saphandra was in tears at this point and couldn't help but sob into her hands as she sat on Ning's shoulder.
Ning turned one last time to look at them and waved his hands before turning back and going into the ship.
He didn't look at them after that and ordered the captain to take off.
The ship started flying, and before anyone could think of anything, it flew off into space.
Janice fell to her knees as she cried, and the rest of them were also crying with their tears refusing to stop.
However, a while later, they understood that he was gone, and so they decided to leave as well.
Their ships were by the side of the island, so Janice and Slime got onto one ship full of soldiers, Ori and Trevain got onto a giant fishing vessel that belonged to Trevain's new company.
Tessa didn't need any ships as she could freely fly away using the wind as her support, and Aimee ran away so fast that no one even saw when she left.
They would meet each other from time to time, but they were mostly concerned with their own things.
Janice practiced being the best princess she could be. Being the only child of the king, she knew she would have to become a queen one day.
However, about 7 years later when she was 23, a giant empire from the north would push its borders and come attack the Darius kingdom.
That would be the day the world learned the legend of the Flame Princess who could fight battalions on her own.
The Flame princess of the Darius Kingdom was a strong force to slow down the empire's pushing, but not nearly strong enough.
However, when aid came to the princess in the form of 3000 strong beasts, the war was all but over.
The young man that appeared next to the princess alone was a terror that not many would forget to the end of their lives.
The millions of different attacks he used, each of which was strong enough to kill anything in their way, along with the many beasts he controlled was why the people started calling him the Devil of the Beasts.
Together, the Flame Princess and the Devil not only destroyed the empire but also created an empire of their own where humans and beasts could live in peace.
On the other side of the planet, Tessa would become the headmaster of the First Bond school after the headmaster died of a heart attack.
She would win the position after revealing the fact that she had a spirit with her. She would go on to be the headmaster for nearly 40 years before another person came to take her place.
Trevain lived a slow life in Ranadar with his wife and 3 children, doing nothing but fishing all day long. He had bought back his business from the friends he had sold it to, and continued expanding it.
He was now the biggest and best fishing business in the entirety of the Taminghall empire, and he was happy with that.
Aimee had become a member of the Summoning Circle, so she would slowly climb her way up to the top, and even become an executive in it.
She would break records after records in the number of quests done by a single person, and none would ever come close to her. She would live a great life with her partner and even give birth to two daughters of her own.
Ori, in order to keep her promise to Silver, would become a traveler that went around the world.
At first, her travels were random and without rhyme or reason. However, once she realized the potential of the powers she had acquired, she started traveling to places with a lot of mountains, and potential ore deposits.
When she found a place with a lot of metals on the ground, she would start a mining company there.
Soon, she became one of the richest people in the whole world and would continue to be so for a long time.
Everyone's life was a unique experience, everyone's life was different, and their life barely intersected together.
However, as if to fulfill their final promise to Ning, they did the best they could and lived a very long and happy life.
[End of Volume 4: Nulwurn]
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