As to why Heather was angry at him, Zachary didn’t get a chance to talk to her about it. The drizzle turned into a shower which affected the course of the battle. The giant seagull horde turned away from the beach and retreated inland, as if they had been commanded by an unseen overlord. The humans on the ground were left dumbfounded, especially the soldiers who felt like they were gaining the upper hand. Still, nobody liked to fight in bad weather, even professional soldiers.

After the seagulls left, Captain Willis flew over from the ship atop her armored eagle. She shouted commands to her marines on the beach who proceeded to gather their things and return to the ship. She then turned to the jungle and spoke with a voice that pierced through the downpour.

“We’ll continue the battle tomorrow or when the weather has cleared. Our goal is to wipe out the seagull menace. That is all!”

With that, she soared into the air and disappeared.

Zachary and the gang let out weary sighs. They could finally get some rest. It had been a long day. But nobody was happy as it was far from over. When the rain stopped and the horde returned, they would have to fight once more. Still, it was a welcome respite for now.

Heather checked on her companions and then spoke to everyone, “We did pretty good today. Focus on healing your summons tonight. We don’t know what else the Republic has in store for us. Other survivor groups might also try to pull more tricks so we have to be careful.”

Zachary glanced up at the sky and squinted through the rain, “Looks like we have a little bit of daylight left. Heather, let’s retreat deeper into the jungle. I don’t like being a sitting duck and the captain didn’t say that we have to stay here.”

“Fine.” She replied and then stomped away, grumbling unhappily under her breath.

The trio of Nellie, Shuhua, and Carlos all glanced at him curiously before following her.

“Women,” Zachary muttered.

Wander laughed, “Are human females always this unruly? If it was a female turtle, I would simply bite her tail and make her behave!”

“No, Wander, I can’t bite her.”

“Just saying.”

The group gathered their meager belongings, they retreated deeper into the jungle. They picked a spot within a dense bamboo grove, cutting out an area for themselves in the middle. It felt much safer than the cliffs as they could retreat in all directions if needed.

They couldn’t start a fire so they all filled their stomachs of dry rations. Afterward, they each picked a spot to meditate and heal their summons. Whether they used soul power or the energy from anima crystals, it would be a long, sleepless night.

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Zachary used Wander’s healing breath and quickly healed Onkie within her orb. The others weren’t wounded, only tired so he couldn’t do anything about that. With nothing else to do, he took out the soul orb that contained Timber, the mantis, as well as the anima crystal of the flower demon.

“Oh! Wait!” Wander suddenly said.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. But… I just remembered something. That anima crystal, it doesn’t suit Timber.”

“It doesn’t suit Timber?” Zachary asked in confusion.

“Yup, use it on Elmont. You might see something interesting.”

“Something interesting?”

“Yup!”

Zachary wasn’t sure what Wander was talking about but he trusted the turtle. Elmont was also a suitable summon for the adept rank, albeit a little slow. He decided to give it a try.

He sat down with Elmont’s soul orb in one hand and the anima crystal in the other. His soul paths opened, connecting to the bond with Elmont while at the same time pulling on the Eternum within the crystal. Soul energy flowed steadily, through him and into Elmont.

As the sun set and the sky darkened, he continued to quietly cultivate. It was a process that could not be rushed.

Treants were plant and humanoid type creatures attuned to the element of life. Flower demons were plant and demonic type creatures but they were also attuned to the life element. This made the transfer of soul energy smooth and steady. Elmont’s talent was also good and it began to quickly challenge the life path in order to break through.

After a long while, the flower demon’s anima crystal was completely expended but there was still a little bit left to go. At this moment, a great surge of life-attribute soul Eternum surged out of Wander, connecting with Zachary through the mysterious effects of borrowed power. This energy then poured into Elmont and rushed into its life path.

Brr!

Elmont’s soul orb shook in Zachary’s hand and let out waves of Eternum.

It was a successful breakthrough.

“What happened?” Nellie asked in surprise.

“Zach?” Heather asked, also sensing the disturbance.

“Nothing, nothing. One of my summons just broke through to the adept rank. I didn’t expect it, sorry for not warning you,” Zachary replied.

“Lucky bastard,” Carlos muttered.

Everyone quieted down after that, each returning to their own efforts.

Zachary examined Elmont’s soul orb, reminded of Wander’s words. After a brief moment, his mouth opened in surprise.

“A new ability?” He asked.

“Haha, yup! As I expected,” Wander said, “Let’s check it out!”

Zachary summoned Elmont.

Crrreeek.

The treant slowly straightened and took stock of its surroundings. As an adept rank, it was much bigger than before. It was taller by about half and its trunk was thick and sturdy. It no longer looked like it would snap in half if hit by a strong gust of wind.

However, the most interesting change was not any of this but the green vines wrapped around its trunk and branches. These were new and unique to Elmont. Other treants, even at the adept rank, didn’t have such vines.

Zachary studied Elmont through their soul bond and could come up with one explanation, “Vine growth? The flower demon’s ability? Elmont learned it?”

He faintly remembered reading about something like this before. But it was supposed to be quite rare. Summoners could not rely on it to teach their summons new abilities. Thus, he had forgotten about it until now.

“Elmont, try out your vines.”

“Arrr. Okay.” Elmont groaned and extended an arm.

Vines quickly grew out, supported by its soul energy and soul control. The green growths extended quickly toward a nearby stalk of bamboo and wrapped around it. Half a breath later, the bamboo was crushed under the force of the vines.

“Great! Awesome! Elmont is a smart tree.” Wander laughed.

Elmont scratched its head, “Arr? I am?”

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