The new few days were spent training, not just for Wander but for the rest of Zachary’s summons. He had a lot of anima crystals saved up after he gave up on advancing his summons from the Seven Paths Novice Rank to eight paths. Now that his sky path was fully healed, there was no more reason to avoid that.

Onkie, Blue, and Dream soon joined Whiskers and advanced to the Eight Paths Novice Rank. Onkie grew a little stronger but there were no other changes. He would have to wait until the adept rank to see if she would gain a new ability. Some Ensouled did but it depended on their innate talent.

Blue, however, gave him a pleasant surprise. The bird managed to learn a new ability. It was now able to produce a misty haze instead of just a harmless drizzle. This was far more useful as it could instantly create a wall of fog to confuse opponents and block off their vision. It also wasn’t just a further advancement of its natural water-controlling ability because this incorporated control of the sky attribute to disperse water into the air.

Blue had talent in both the water attribute as well as the sky attribute. It's future was bright. It also meant that Blue would play a critical role in future battles. Although the misty haze ability was still harmless, it could tactically affect the field in their favor.

Dream wasn’t so fortunate but it also gained some benefits. Its speed increased measurably and it was even better at luring wild Ensouled. With it at the eighth path, there was a never-ending supply of meat and anima crystals.

Despite this boon, Zachary still had yet to catch a new summon. He knew that his lineup was severely lacking in attack power, particularly long-range attacks. The Ensouled in these underground ruins were somewhat weak. Perhaps it was due to being isolated from the outside world for so long, he wasn’t sure. Even Wander didn’t know of a species that fit his needs and the turtle pretty much knew of everything that moved in these caves.

After his strongest summons reached the Eight Paths Novice Rank, he encountered a problem. Further advancing to the adept rank was very difficult, at least with novice rank anima crystals. It would take a very long time in addition to a mountain of crystals to just let one of his summons break through. He didn’t have enough time, not if he wanted to get back to the surface and compete for a pardon spot.

The fastest way known to ordinary people was to use adept rank anima crystals. It only needed a few adept rank crystals, maybe even just a single one, to break the limitations of the soul and reach the adept rank.

To obtain adept rank anima crystals, he had to hunt and slay adept rank Ensouled. With only novice rank summons, even if they were all at the peak of the rank, this was a difficult endeavor. In the Old World, people liked to call this poking a tiger’s ass or flirting with a dragon. It was challenging one’s limits as a summoner to conquer beasts of a higher rank. It was something that human ancestors had to accomplish to get stronger step by step. He had attempted it with Katherine and Jean-Pierre against the flower demon. They had been woefully unprepared and were nowhere close to defeating the creature. He was something he would have to do, this time with Wander, Onkie, and rest.

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“Don’t worry…. Mmm, it’s just an adept rank beast… No problem! Mmm, this is so tasty!” Wander said as he munched on a mouthful of seaweed, “Sugo, my Sugo, I didn’t know your seaweed could taste so much better after advancing. How great would it taste at the adept rank? Mmmm!”

“Guuu!” Sugo glared fiercely at the hungry turtle.

There wasn’t anything it could do even though it had advanced to the Seven Paths Novice Rank. It turned to Zachary with sad eyes, begging for help. Zachary rubbed its head affectionately. He poked the spot between its eyes, making it gurgle happily and forget about Wander.

“Chu! Chu!” Blue chirped.

It hopped down from a tree branch above them and landed next to him. It rubbed its head against his arm as if begging for the same. Zachary laughed. He put down a stick of roast fish and stroked its feathers. The happy calls that resulted calmed his thoughts and restless soul.

He was eager to get back to the surface. He had pushed his summons hard during the past few days. They hadn’t let him down. In addition to Blue, Wander had also improved his shield ability to a distance of five meters. If they met an adept rank Ensouled like the flower demon again, he was confident they could fight it to a draw.

But sitting there, surrounded by his summons and sharing a meal, he had to appreciate the moment. The relationship between a summoner and their summon was something mysterious, that few people could explain. He saw it as a blessing; souls that were loyal, souls that would always be at his side. He had once given his heart to another person but had been hurt terribly in return. Now, he didn’t know if he could do such a thing again. Only his summons would never betray him. He could only rely on them.

“Wander, you said you knew the way out. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure, Big Brother Zach!”

Since Wander had said so, Zachary trusted him. Zachary picked up his abandoned fish skewer and took a bite.

“Mmm, we need a few more days to catch a few more Ensouled and dry their meat.” He swallowed and threw away the stick, “Then we will have enough food for two weeks at least. During that time, we can finish the last of our training. Wander, your shield ability is very strong. You can protect yourself as well Onkie while you two fight opponents. However, since we don’t have a long-range attacker, I will be vulnerable if our opponents have long-range Ensouled and they target me. Wander, we’ll have to work out a routine where I will have to recall you so that you can shield me.”

Wander looked over curiously, “Why? What about that thing you mentioned a few days ago, ability summoning? Just use my shield yourself.”

Zachary remained patient and replied, “That’s what I meant. But in order to perform ability summoning, I would need you to be in my soul sea. Since I can’t recall you into a summoning card or a summoning orb… anyway, that’s how it worked for me and Yaoyao.”

Wander shook his head and barked with laughter, “Big bro, you’re forgetting something important. Our bond is different from a normal soul bond. I don’t need to be in your soul sea for you to use ability summoning.”

“What? Wait… what?”

“You didn’t know?” Wander blinked and spoke matter-of-factly, “Look inside your soul sea, focus on my imprint, and apply your will.”

It took a few breaths for Zachary to process those words. It took even longer to finally believe. Holding his breath, he sank inward, letting his mind’s eye enter his swirling soul sea. He focused on the ethereal image of Wander residing in front of his life path. He forced his soul force into it and immediately felt a reaction. He quickly added his soul force and a large amount of Eternum, pushing it out of his life path and toward his right hand.

With a shimmer of light green energy, a familiar shield appeared, floating in the air above his palm.

Zachary finally let out the breath he had been holding, “No way… no way!”