The day started like any other. Zachary woke up with the sun and ate what remained of a roasted red salamander from last night. It was a large creature, about as long head to tail as he was tall. But he had many mouths to feed, with big appetites, so he only had a little bit left over.

After breakfast, he sat and meditated on the flat, exposed part of a statue that had fallen into the lake. His summons were out and about, each doing their own thing. He had transferred all of them into soul orbs so that they could remain outside during the day, allowing them to enjoy life in the real world instead of being confined all of the time.

Onkie lay beside him, sleeping without a care; snoring and wiggling its short legs as it dreamed of food. Whiskers lounged in the shallows while Dream swam around, sometimes darting in and out of Whiskers' gaping mouth as if to tempt it. Sugo was also in the water, crawling around and being useless as always. Its long strands of dark green seaweed gently moved with the soft waves. Boba was sunbathing on a nearby beach made of crushed stone while Blue was perched on the branch of the closest tree, watching everything with great interest.

Five months had passed since he arrived in the New World. He was still stuck in this giant sinkhole, in the middle of this subterranean lake. Some days passed slowly while others seemed to hurry by him. Today was one of those slow ones. It was difficult to concentrate on meditation and his mind started to wander.

He thought about Jean-Pierre. Even though they had known each other for a short few days, the guy had left a strong impression. If his other acquaintances were anything to go by, Jean-Pierre's background was probably not simple. Aaron White of the powerful and politically-connected White Clan, Katherine Holt from the Ice Saint Beast Cult, and himself, the former owner of a saint beast's offspring; they were all supposed to be the simple criminals serving a death sentence but somehow, it felt much more than that. He couldn't grasp exactly why but he was pretty sure.

He also wondered how the other prisoners were doing. By now, those still alive would have obtained their first adept rank Ensouled. With an adept rank Ensouled in hand, they would focus on establishing a coherent summoning lineup based on their individual styles. One could go for a team that focused on offense or defense, bursts of power or endurance. They could also consider adding supporting abilities such as pack bond or something that affected the battlefield in their favor.

A good lineup with good strategy was important. But most important was still soul cultivation. A person at the One Path Adept Rank could only summon one adept rank Ensouled at a time. A person at the Two Paths Adept Rank could summon two. With three paths, one could summon three at a time, and so on. The difference in power between an adept rank Ensouled and a novice rank Ensouled wasn't something that could simply be overcome with strategy and tricks.

Because of this, each survivor would most likely have one primary summon. That beast would have the highest soul cultivation as it was directly tied to their own soul cultivation. They would focus on cultivating the primary summon and when it reached a higher rank, the summoner would be able to take advantage of it to improve their rank at the same time. This was the easiest and most straightforward way people improved their soul cultivation across the world.

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As for Zachary, he could do nothing about his own soul cultivation. With his wounded sky path, he was effectively stuck at the Seven Paths Novice Rank. When Whiskers had broken through to the Eight Paths Novice Rank, it had done nothing for his wounded soul except leave him in debilitating pain for several days from the backlash. Not wanting to experience that again, he only raised his summons to the Seven Paths Novice Rank in the past month and left them at that. Onkie, Blue, and Dream were currently at that level. Sugo was still at six paths while Boba had reached four paths.

He was still interested in catching wild Ensouled but he had yet to find one that utilized the life attribute. He had encountered many different species in the past months from frogs and salamanders to lizards and snakes. There were fish of many different shapes and sizes as well as strange crustaceans with long spiny legs like underwater spiders.

There was one wild Ensouled in particular that he was especially interested in but he hadn't been able to catch it. It was the mysterious creature with the vibrant soul that came and went as it pleased. Unlike every other Ensouled, wasn't attracted by Dream at all. Until now, he didn't even know what it looked like.

"Wait... huh?" Zachary raised his head as he sensed a familiar presence. Then he chuckled, "Speak of the beast and it appears."

It was that unknown Ensouled. It had been over two weeks since the last visit.

"Dream, go and lure it!" He quickly said, pointing his finger.

The little rainbow fish wagged its tail in acknowledgment. It shot off and disappeared from view. He watched the calm surface of the lake for a while before Dream came back. It popped its head out of the water and shook it in disappointment. Another failure, Dream could lure everything in this lake except for that thing.

Zachary briefly considered sending out Whiskers but he had done that the last time and it didn't work either. The creature sensed the large, powerful catfish from far away and would always flee, disappearing into one of the many underground rivers. As for his remaining summons, Onkie would also scare it off while the Blue and Boba couldn't swim. As for Sugo, he hadn't considered it before but... why not? Maybe it was worth a try. It couldn't hurt.

"Sugo, swim over there." He pointed to a distant area of the lake.

Sugo, which now looked more like a bundle of seaweed than a slug, detached from the bottom and floated towards the empty section of the lake he was pointing to. It was directly opposite of where the creature currently was. Sugo was very slow but the creature would usually circle the lake a few times. Their paths would cross eventually.

Zachary followed the progress of the mysterious Ensouled, walking along the edge of the water around the island. It wasn't a big island so most of his summons didn't bother to follow. Only Whiskers swam beside him. They came to a stop facing Sugo. The unknown creature was slowly swimming towards it. He held his breath, waiting for something to happen, anything.

Then all of a sudden, he felt a sharp pang of terror within his soul, carried over his soul bond from Sugo's thoughts and emotions. It was in a full panic. Something was eating it!