The Hellhound was in a miserable condition. Massive roots and resilient grasses coiled around its legs and waist, restraining the monster just enough to give Zayn multiple opportunities to teleport to its side and cut it deeply.

The Hellhound had been poisoned, and its energy and lifeforce were drained through Draining Touch. Zayn accelerated and inflicted deeper wounds using Double Impact to transform minor cuts into mild to severe wounds.

A pained squeal escaped the desperate monster when it noticed it had no chance against Zayn. Their Foundation might be similar, but Zayn was faster and circulated several times as much energy through his body as the monster. Any other Player would have nowhere as much energy as Zayn. They would be sucked dry long before the battle ended. The Hellhound would have a chance to deal with them.

But that was not the case here.

A minute into the battle, the Hellhound’s legs caved in, and it slumped to the ground, where it writhed weakly in pain. Zayn appeared before the Hellhound and slashed its neck, ending the monster’s suffering once and for all.

Hellhound(Mutant) has been slain. +3 Soul Essences.

Zayn ignored the notification. His attention fell upon the particles that emerged from the Hellhound’s body. The particles sparkled brightly as they squirmed helplessly in the air. They tried to disperse in all directions but were pulled together. The particles merged and formed a small, golden Wisp that was about to leap into the sky and disappear when Zayn reached out to the golden wisp.

He managed to grasp the wisp and block its ascend. The golden wisp was warm and threatened to burn his hand as the temperature the wisp released increased drastically. Zayn grit his teeth and continued with where he’d stopped. He used Soul Link.

The Primal Soul Lord’s knowledge surfaced in his mind as he wondered for a moment what he was supposed to do now. He swallowed hard and pressed the golden wisp against his chest. His chest felt warm, but the golden wisp didn’t hurt him. Instead, Zayn felt something else happen. A faint connection build between the Soul and Zayn, the Soul Lord.

[Soul Link succeeded. The connection to the Hellhound’s Soul has been established.

You created your first Spirit Soul!]

The Hellhound’s Soul squirmed in Zayn’s palm. He thought that the Hellhound tried to escape, but Zayn quickly realized that he was mistaken. The Soul was expanding, and his palm was too small to contain the Spirit Soul.

Zayn released the Soul, which glimmered even more beautifully as it expanded, shaping into a near-perfect replica of the large Hellhound. The only difference was that the Spirit Soul didn’t have the blemishes and scars the lone Hellhound sustained in his – more-or-less – long life. It didn’t have the intricate scar stretching across its face nor the wounds Zayn had inflicted earlier.

Last but not least, the Spirit Soul was golden. It looked like the Hellhound’s hair was dyed, yet, at the same time, Zayn couldn’t help but feel that the Hellhound was incorporeal in some places. Some spots weren’t vibrant golden. They were semi-transparent, mixed with golden specks.

Zayn touched the spots but noticed that he couldn’t reach through the Spirit Soul. It was corporeal, yet it looked insubstantial in some areas.

‘I wonder how much this will affect its’ combat prowess. Will it be weaker than the physical version, or will it be stronger? It would be enough if it was roughly as powerful as it used to be.’

“Sit,” Zayn ordered, and the Hellhound Spirit obeyed. It sat down before him.

“Down.” The Hellhound laid down.

The corner of his lips curled into a vibrant smile. He got onto the Hellhound Soul’s back and decided to try riding his Spirit Soul.

“Let’s go!”

The Hellhound Spirit got up from the ground. It roared into the Magma Prairie and kicked the hot ground to set off.

**

The Hellhound reached the nearest entrance to the underground cavern system much faster than Zayn could without wasting his precious energy. But Zayn couldn’t get himself to smile as he jumped down from the Hellhound. He rubbed his butt and groaned deeply.

‘That was anything but comfortable. Even a wild wyvern is easier to ride than this!’

The ride to the underground cavern system wasn’t that comfortable, but Zayn managed to save some time traveling without spending too much stamina. He thought about many things while doing his utmost to hold onto the Hellhound Spirit Soul as well.

Zayn found out that he didn’t have to say anything to the Hellhound to order it around. A mental command was all it took. Zayn could also imagine what the Hellhound was supposed to do, and it would do exactly that – to its best capability. Obviously, the Hellhound couldn’t jump into the sky and levitate mid-air just because Zayn imagined that. There were still restrictions.

His eyes landed on the Hellhound, who stared intently at him.

Stolen novel; please report.

“You did a great job,” Zayn murmured, patting the Spirit Soul before realizing what he was doing.

‘Is it too weird to pat a semi-physical Spirit Soul? Probably, but that should be fine. Being a little weird in this crazy world is the new norm.’

He retrieved one of the Empty Spirit Cards from his Heart Deck rather easily. Zayn didn’t remove the Card from his Heart Deck by cutting his connection with it. He manifested it temporarily to store the Hellhound Spirit inside it.

The Hellhound Spirit Soul’s transformed into a wisp and shot into the Empty Spirit Card with a simple mental command. Zayn returned the Empty Spirit Card to his Heart Deck a moment later.

He tried summoning the Spirit Soul from his Heart Deck without manifesting the Spirit Card only a few seconds after the Card returned to the Heart Deck.

A strong pulling force enveloped Zayn’s heart. A wave of energy surged from his palm, but it didn’t look normal. The energy formed into see-through mist that spread out quickly.

It wasn’t much energy either, but Zayn was still confused. He didn’t do anything that should release so much energy, let alone transform his energy into mist, but Zayn remained focused. He studied the scenery before him with great interest.

The energy mist twinkled faintly like it contained thousands of stars as it spread across the ground and shone brighter. The stars within the mist seemed to connect, forming a golden circle that twinkled even brighter right before a familiar golden wisp leaped out of it.

The golden wisp transformed into the Hellhound Spirit Soul the moment the last traces of it left the energy mist. It landed softly on the ground and tilted its head as if trying to figure out what Zayn was doing.

However, Zayn was not yet done. He again stored the Hellhound in the Empty Spirit Card before throwing it out a second time. Zayn repeated the process dozens of times before summoning and retracting the Hellhound Spirit Soul fast enough to surprise his enemies mid-battle.

‘If I use the Spirit Card properly in battle, I can deal with most enemies before they realize I’m not alone. I can turn the tides of any battle with a single move. Who said the Spirit Card is merely an ordinary storage for Spirit Souls? The Spirit Cards are extraordinary…as long as I use them properly. Well, that’s just like any other Card. If I use all of my Cards properly, each can become extraordinary. It just depends on how I use them.’

Zayn scoffed at his train of thought and returned to the more critical task.

“That reminds me, I still need a Storage Card,” He murmured before storing the Hellhound in one of the Spirit Cards. He saw something change on the Empty Storage Cards when the Hellhound entered them. It was time to find out some information about the Hellhound Spirit Soul.

Spirit Soul – Hellhound(Large)

Elite – Tier-1

Evolution Path - 0

Foundation Orbit – 619/824 (Expand)

Zayn briefly inspected the information and frowned, “Looks like my Foundation was higher than the Hellhounds. I guess that makes sense. The Lord Rune’s boost made a big difference.’

The Star of Spirit was also at 300ish. That was equivalent to having three Foundations at 300 - basically.

“It has no Evolution Path. But that was expected from a Spirit Soul. I doubt Souls can evolve like ordinary monsters,” Zayn thought aloud while scanning the Primal Soul Lord’s knowledge. A few instances of similar scenarios appeared before him. It looked like Souls could evolve in rare cases.

Unfortunately, it was too expensive and time-consuming. It wasn’t worth to work toward evolving his Spirit Souls.

Instead, he expanded the Hellhound’s Foundation Orbit to take a close look at its Foundation.

[Foundation Orbit] – 619/824 [+2]

[Star of Vitality – Novice 69/99][+2%]

[Star of Strength– Basic 120/153][+2%]

[Star of Agility – Basic 144/199][+2%]

[Star of Dexterity – Basic 113/159][+2%]

[Star of Perception – Basic 103/134][+2%]

[Star of Energy – Novice 42/52][+2%]

[Star of Wisdom– Novice 28/28][+2%]

Zayn’s eyes glimmered as the Foundation Orbit unfolded before him. This was a lot more than he’d expected. He tilted his head once again and decided to try something.

Integrate 3 Soul Essences into the Hellhound Spirit Soul’s Star of Wisdom?

Zayn watched the Hellhound with great interest. The three Soul Essence he’d harvested from killing the Hellhound disappeared from his Heart Deck. They integrated into the Hellhound Spirit Souls.

Error!

At least, that was supposed to happen.

Error!

Soul Essence cannot be integrated into the Hellhound Spirit Soul’s Wisdom.

Spirit Soul may shatter if you want to proceed.

Proceed to integrate 3 Soul Essence into the Hellhound’s Star of Wisdom?

“No. Integrate the Soul Essence into the Hellhound’s Star of Agility!” Zayn changed his command without batting his eyelid. He’d already expected to be unable to upgrade the Hellhound’s Star of Wisdom, but he had to check it out.

‘That means every Spirit Soul will have a natural limiter. I cannot break that limitation without evolving the Spirit Soul – which won’t be worth it. The fortune and time invested into the Spirit Soul won’t be beneficial enough.’

That was a bummer, but Zayn was not dissatisfied. Spirit Souls were merely tools. He could replace them with better Spirit Souls at any point.

It would be alright as long as they fulfilled their designated effect. They certainly did that.

Zayn had yet to use his Spirit Soul in combat, but he felt immense power surging through him.

Hopefully, nothing would go wrong now that he was finally on the right track.