Xavier and Glut didn’t idle around. In the following hours, both of them focused on hunting and growing more accustomed to Xavier’s new set of powers.
Using Borrow allowed Xavier to temporarily increase his Foundation Stars by a large degree. Xavier managed to use Borrow on Glut’s Agility Foundation, granting him a tremendous boost in his movement speed.
Glut’s Agility Foundation was stronger than Xavier’s but he managed to borrow it for three seconds since the Tamer Card Set increased Borrow’s Level considerably. Three seconds was not a lot, but it was enough to initiate a surprise attack.
Adding Dash, Xavier’s Agility was comparable to a monster with a Basic rank Agility Foundation. That was more than enough to take some of his enemies by surprise.
Combining Borrow and the fact that both Xavier and Glut didn’t have to worry about their overflowing Foundation anymore, they defeated many opponents that would have been a problem before.
But they never let their guard down. Xavier continued using both Judgment and Eye of Evolution to pick decently strong monsters with lesser intelligence to hunt.
Of course, using his Minor Fire Affinity with Coat of Fire, Air Bullet and other means of attack with World Energy made the entire hunting process much easier as well.
Xavier left the final blows to Glut, ensuring that the Ember Sparrow would have a higher contribution in the battle against the ferocious monsters. That was essential since Soul Essences integrated into the Evolution Path and Class Path had to be harvested on their own.
Xavier couldn’t give Glut a helping hand by transferring his Soul Essences to his Soulbond to accelerate the progression rate of the Ember Sparrow’s Unique Evolution Path.
It was already late afternoon when Xavier and Glut returned to Haven. He greeted the Card Holder who’d been stationed near the village entrance to eliminate all potential threats and keep both the village and Haven free from pesky monsters.
“Xavier! Everyone has been looking for you all day!” One of them shouted.
Xavier smiled at that. He remembered that the Card Holder was one of the village’s farmers before the world changed. Right now, he had little to do with farming because he changed his profession from farming to an Earth Squire, an Uncommon Class Path. But even if he changed his occupation in the new world, the former farmer’s knowledge was still helpful. He knew about soil porosity, basic tricks to keep the soil fertile, and how to keep the crops from wilting. His knowledge was a little outdated now with the changes in the world and scarcity of resources, but it was still not completely obsolete.
He taught others how to farm, and how to raise cattle properly. Since Haven was an isolated community surrounded by masses of powerful monsters, they had to take care of themselves. Raising their cattle and growing crops were essential tasks to keep themselves from running out of food.
“Looks like someone was too excited today,” The other Guard chuckled, “The Leader was fuming when she heard that you disappeared.”
Xavier’s smile froze at once. A heavy sigh escaped his lips.
I forgot about Mom. Fuck! She will kill me.
His mother had always been overprotective of him, but her attitude got worse after he was nearly killed. Xavier knew that he had been extremely lucky to have survived this long, however, he learned from his mistakes. Avoiding dangerous fights was also not helpful in the new world. Their enemies would grow stronger. That meant they could either grow stronger as well…or succumb to their fate and misery.
Xavier didn’t want to end up like that. He wasn’t planning to die either, but it was necessary to face dangers head-on to grow stronger. And that was exactly what Xavier had been doing in the last few weeks. He fought battles that were deemed impossible to win, yet he survived.
He didn’t win in a matter of minutes every time and sometimes barely managed to escape death or lethal injuries. However, he survived every encounter so far. Ten weeks was not a huge period to learn survival skills or fight monsters when you didn’t even know how to hold a sword properly before.
But survival instinct did wonders for the human mind. It conditioned the mind to adapt and improvise rapidly and pushes you out of the comfort zone. That is how Xavier learned a lot from every fight he fought in the last few weeks. There was no need for his mother to pamper him as if he were the same helpless child he had been when he was young. Alas, he was still a five-year-old in his mother’s eyes who needed constant supervision.
It’s about time that I deal with Mom. But wait! Can’t grandma put some sense in her? That would be much better…
Xavier hoped that his grandmother would be there to deal with his mother. He forced a wry smile on his lips and walked past the Card Holders. They laughed and patted his back, wishing him the best of luck before their attention returned to the wilderness.
He was lucky enough not to encounter too many people on his way back home. It was even better that his mother was busy being Haven’s Leader. Xavier didn’t see his mother or his father at home. He removed his shoes, and armor that he left at the entrance before stepping in with Glut perched on his shoulder. Today’s day had been eventful and a little tiring.
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So he thought of refreshing himself with a nice shower. Thus, he let Glut jump on the windowsill while he turned the shower on and lathered himself with soap as the cold water relaxed his slightly sore muscles. His mind drifted off to the past battles and how he had fared in today’s battle with the Gluttonous Lizard. Though, technically it hadn’t been a battle.
Yet, he couldn’t help but feel happy that his efforts over the past few days had bore sweet fruits. His current progress and upgrades allowed him to deliver a deathly blow to the mighty reptile, finishing it off in one single strike of his katana. He recalled how he had struggled against the Minotaur and the Kobold mutants earlier and felt proud of himself for coming this far.
Though, his success could not be attributed to him alone. Glut had aided him in every possible way and their joint efforts led him to taste success more often these days. As he scrubbed himself well to get rid of the dirt and grime, he also recalled Glut would need some cleaning.
Thus, he put a plug in the basin and filled it with water before calling in Glut to bathe in the makeshift bathtub. Glut was more than happy to dive in the water as Xavier found a soft toothbrush and cleaned the feathers to the best of his ability with soap. Glut chirped excitedly, happy that Xavier was giving him a much-needed cleaning service.
Glut flapped his wings a few times, spraying soap water through the surroundings. Some water splattered into Xavier’s eyes but he did not mind. After Xavier was done cleaning his little companion, he stepped out of the shower but let Glut play in clean water for a while. The little fellow deserved some fun.
Now that he had put on dry clothes and felt refreshed, he could start with the important task of the day.
Finally, Xavier could start integrating Soul Essences into his Foundation Orb, but he was not in a rush. The only one who was in a rush was the fluffy little Ember Sparrow, who was chirping loudly as Xavier combed through his plumage.
Once you evolve, your strength will be nothing like it used to be. You will be several times stronger, at least, and Soulshare will grant me a portion of your strength to permanently enhance my Foundation Orb. After that, we’re going to grow even stronger together. We will be unstoppable with our new powers!
He was excited about the future. The new world was dangerous, but it was also an opportunity. Xavier didn’t want to miss the opportunity.
Glut chirped loudly once Xavier was done combing. The Ember Sparrow landed on the small table in the room and sat down. The little fella closed his eyes and it was not long before a notification popped up right in front of Xavier.
[Soulbond ‘Glut’ successfully integrated 500 Soul Essences into the Unique Evolution Path ‘Descendant of the Ancient Spirit Arcaes’.]
[Glut requests to initiate evolution. The time required to complete evolution is 240 hours.]
During the evolution, your Soulbond will be unguarded.
Interferences in the evolution process will result in a termination of the evolution.
Unique Evolution Paths can only be initiated once.
The messages were warnings. He shouldn’t have evolved Glut if he wasn’t capable of protecting his Soulbond during that time. Fortunately, that was hardly an issue. Xavier was confident that he could protect the fluffy rascal.
But 240 hours…10 days seems a little bit long…
There was nothing Xavier could do to change the time required to complete the evolution successfully, but it irked him to be separated from Glut for 240 hours. That was too long!
Xavier sighed but he proceeded with the evolution nonetheless. Glut desired to grow stronger. Xavier would be the last person to quash the Ember Sparrow’s dreams!
If the Evolution stops midway, Soulbond might suffer severe backlash ranging from permanent wounds to death. Proceed with caution!
“Fuck you, system,” Xavier cursed lightly. Glut’s evolution had already been initiated.
Glut sat in a comfortable position as the evolution began. A swirl of energies started circulating through Glut and only a minute later, it was as if he exploded in fire. Tall flames caught up on his wings and every inch of his body but he sat oddly calm. The fire seemed to devour the surrounding energies hungrily as if they were oxygen. Xavier watched the flames licking the surrounding area, leaping at every single trace of energy to consume it.
It was a slow process at first but the flames grew fiercer over time. The flames were hungry and spread further, reaching out to more swirling traces of energies to devour them. It was as if the flames had acquired a mind of their own and were traveling further away from Glut’s body in pursuit of the surrounding energy.
Yet, oddly enough, nothing caught fire. It only looked like Glut was being charred to the bone but the flames only covered him in a protective cocoon that seemed to swell as it expanded with every bit of consumed energy.
At one point, it became hard to even see Glut through the flames that surrounded him from everywhere. Xavier watched with his mouth half-open, his eyes glued to the sight in front of him.
The room suddenly turned too bright but nothing caught fire and Glut seemed to be doing fine too. Xavier tentatively reached for a flame, pushing his index finger forward. It leaped at his finger, just like Glut would, but it did not burn or scorch him.
Xavier was amazed and kept watching for a while as the flames swirled and danced around Glut. The cocoon around Glut seemed to turn into molten lava, embracing him in liquid fire.
It slowly condensed into a translucent cocoon with crimson flames still swirling around it, separating Glut from the rest of the world. Glut had entered hibernation to evolve and now it was Xavier’s job to safeguard him until the process was completed.
The flames were searing hot but they didn’t burn Xavier. He smiled wryly and picked the blazing cocoon up.
Then, as if it was the simplest thing in the world, Xavier accessed his Soul World and stored his Soulbond inside it.
“Another great use of Soul World.”
Glut would be safe and sound for the next 10 days and complete his evolution peacefully.
****
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