Chapter 69: Purple Cloud Fruit

Upon returning home, Ain immediately washed up, removing all the dirt and grime from that last battle.

With a cleansed body, he briefly stretched his limbs before taking a seat on the ground, next to the little pups’ enclosure. He opened the enclosure and allowed the pups some freedom.

“Woof! Woof!”

“Woof! Woof!”

As soon as the door opened, the two pups flooded out of the roofless cage and began tugging at Ain’s pants as they jumped around with their short legs. Their black-and-white peppered tails wagged like a tornado, a manifestation of their excitement.

The small pups from three weeks ago had grown taller, reaching Ain’s calves. The roofless enclosure was already redundant, but the two little things loved to stay within and seldom jumped out on their own. Of course, that wasn’t the case before. They used to try their hardest to climb out, but the cat’s unknown teachings played a phenomenal role in disciplining these naughty pups.

“Meow.” The cat, which had greeted Ain upon his initial return, once again appeared and lay next to him lazily. Nox didn’t want to be left out and urged Ain to summon it.

“Wooo…” With a flashing light, Nox appeared and immediately floated over to the pups to play. The pups were immediately distracted and began to chase after Nox.

The cat glanced at them for a moment before turning away. Its shift with the pups was already over.

Having cleared his mind, Ain began to think about his future. Now that the two competitions were behind him, he needed to consider his upcoming plans.

His spirit tamer training had to continue, as that was the most integral linchpin for his success. Whether it be meditation or body tempering, Ain planned to continue as they were.

His weekly trips couldn’t be ignored and would also continue. Without an income, he would be hard-pressed for resources.

Lastly, Ain thought about his studies. This was a point of conflict in Ain’s heart. He wished to continue his studies as a spirit master and simultaneously study the AMD, but his slow progress in the latter made him reconsider.

The spirit academy heavily emphasized the point that all students must strive to enter universities after this one year. If the spirit academies were a trial period, then the universities were the completed product.

As much as he loved the process of studying the AMD, he was afraid of not achieving results anytime soon. If that were the case, it was better to put it aside and focus on it once he entered university. The time saved could be used on improving himself further and increasing his chances of entering a better university, where all the opportunities lay.

His studies as a spirit master weren’t a walk in the park either, as they included the entire profession of alchemy within.

After weighing the pros and cons, Ain ultimately decided to shelve the AMD research. He would return to it one day in the future.

To him, this first year was a period of gestation. He needed to focus on building his foundation for the future. Once he was more familiar with the world of spirit tamers, he could venture out to pave his own path.

With a basic plan for his future, Ain retrieved the Purple Cloud Fruit and examined it.

There was a faint fragrance surrounding the spirit fruit, invigorating Ain’s mind. Beside him, the cat also stood up to examine the fruit alongside him.

After scrutinizing the spirit fruit from various angles, Ain used Scan.

[Name: Purple Cloud Fruit]

[Attribute: None]

[Rank: Advanced Rank-1]

[Attribute Traces: Fire 8.243%, Water 8.014%, Earth 8.022%, ...]

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The relevant information appeared in his mind, and Ain didn’t find anything surprising. But he did see the continuing pattern he once noted before.

“This Purple Cloud Fruit also has similar attribute traces to every non-attribute item I’ve scanned before.”

The attribute traces of all the common attributes hovered around 8%. The rarer an attribute was, the lower its attribute traces, but those values were still relatively constant.

Ain was curious about this phenomenon and firmly believed it to be of significance. But he had not encountered it in his studies so far. He decided to hold onto this thought and carefully investigate it in the inheritance book later.

After taking one last glance, Ain quickly used one of the alchemy knives to cut the spirit fruit into bite-sized pieces before consuming them.

“Delicious.” As he chewed, the taste and fragrance melded together to provide him with a magical experience.

When there were no more pieces left on the chopping board, Ain stood still, awaiting the spirit fruit's effects.

After a full ten seconds, he was suddenly overcome with a sense of drowsiness as his spirit energy began to boil out of control. His vision grew increasingly blurry as everything in his sight began to spin, like a twisting sheet of fabric.

Ain staggered backward and fell onto a chair with his head lowered. As his consciousness slowly sank, darkness took over.

…

In the central region of Duskfield City, a brightly-lit mansion stood grandly, dispelling the darkness of the lonely night. In a luxuriously decorated room, Marius was standing across from a man with his head lowered.

The man looked at Marius with a cold expression, “Four seconds! How can the heir to the Varro Family lose to those nobodies? Even with the ‘special care’ I provided, this is the result you bring to me? You failed to even make it into the top five!”

Marius didn’t dare to lift his head and continued to stand there with his fists tightly clenched. With some hesitation, he said, “If I can get more-“

“You think it’s easy?” The man lowered his tone and interrupted Marius.

“With the recent disturbance you’ve caused, the entire city is on high alert. Everything will come crumbling down if word gets out.”

Marius was visibly shaken upon hearing the possible outcome.

After a few seconds of silence, the man’s anger subsided, and he stared at Marius before turning away. “Lay low for a little while. We’re still in the planning phase. You’ll have more opportunities soon.”

With that, the man walked away into the wide hallway.

“Yes, father!”

Marius replied with a hint of relief and returned to his room. As soon as the door closed behind him, his expression warped with hate as he smashed a nearby vase.

Bang! Crack!

With a bang, pieces of broken ceramic scattered on the heavy rug, bringing a sense of disharmony in the otherwise perfect room.

Marius gritted his teeth, revealing an ugly expression. He started at the broken vase as unknown thoughts passed through his mind.

…

The next day, the morning sunlight peeked through the window, illuminating Ain’s small room.

Ain woke up feeling refreshed and sat up on his bed while stretching his arms.

“Hmm, I feel well-rested...”

His thoughts escaped his mind and appeared on his lips, but he paused soon after as memories of the previous night suddenly flooded in.

He looked down at himself and realized that he was in his bed, with a blanket still covering his lower body.

“Wait, why am I in my bed? I remember losing consciousness on the chair.”

Feeling bewildered and alert, Ain hurriedly scanned his room for any anomalies. After a few seconds, his gaze returned to his bed.

Nothing seemed out of place.

Thinking of something, he looked beside him and spotted Nox, who was resting together with the cat and the two pups. They had all climbed onto his bed and squeezed in against the wall.

Ain thought for a second and woke up Nox with a small nudge.

“Wooo…” Nox woke up groggily, but when it saw Ain, it immediately sobered up and began flying around him, transmitting its worry and elation.

“What happened? How did I end up in bed?” Ain inquired.

“Wooo…” Nox immediately recollected what occurred last night and shed light on its spirit tamer’s confusion.

After communicating for a while, Ain finally understood the cause and effect.

After consuming the Purple Cloud Fruit, he lost consciousness and fell asleep on the chair. Nox, who was mentally linked to Ain, immediately sensed these changes, and rushed back, followed by the others.

Upon spotting Ain slouched over and unresponsive, it panicked and didn’t know what to do.

Then, all the little ones held a discussion, and the cat suggested Nox use Possession and place Ain onto the bed, reasoning that he had just fallen asleep as usual.

Nox trusted the cat greatly and followed its instructions.

As he listened to Nox’s descriptions, Ain couldn’t help but imagine a scene of the silly little ones coming together to hold a serious meeting. This caused him to laugh mid-way, earning Nox’s dissatisfaction.

Now that he understood everything, Ain praised Nox heavily before inspecting the new changes within him.

The first thing he noticed was the clarity in his perception. It was as if a foggy mirror had a portion of its surface wiped clean. Most of the mirror was still foggy, but it was still better than before.

“My spirit energy perception has improved!”

Ain realized almost immediately when he compared his situation to the Purple Cloud Fruit’s effects.

Not only could he sense spirit energy more clearly, but his perception range had also increased. The accuracy of his perception still diminished the further away it was, but the overall range had indeed improved.

Then Ain crossed his legs on the bed and tried to meditate. A few minutes later, he opened his eyes with visible joy, “My spirit energy quality and quantity have also increased!”

These were the extraordinary effects of the Purple Cloud Fruit. It directly increased spirit energy quality, quantity, and perception. This was a comprehensive increase in his strength.