The air filled with flying leaves. Each one was triangular like an arrowhead and sharp as a razor. They spun and swerved every which way but most of it went towards the right direction.
In a flash, the flower demon was covered in leaves. They were embedded deeply into its main stalk and vine tendrils. Some of the thinner vines were directly chopped into pieces. Its flower head fared even worse. The bright yellow petals were shredded all over, leaving countless holes and ragged edges. One of its large petals even fell to the ground after being completely severed.
Doro was also covered in leaves. However, it was negligible damage as Archer’s leaves were powerless against a solid defense.
“Keep firing! Archer, keep firing!” Zachary urged.
Victory was in sight. With Doro holding firmly onto the flower demon, it had nowhere to run.
“Shee!”
Archer bristled as it launched the rest of its leaves. They flew towards the target, intent on shredding everything in its path.
The flower demon quivered and let loose with another burst of Eternum. In its last move of desperation, it managed to knock most of the leaves aside, saving itself from death. But it was still its last act. After expelling this much Eternum, it had no more energy left in its soul. Its aura dipped sharply and it could no longer struggle against Doro.
An adept rank Ensouled could almost never be beaten by a lower rank one-on-one. However, this was an unfair fight from the beginning, in a location where it held no advantages. Its fate was sealed from the beginning.
“Doro! Bring it down!”
“Rah!”
Doro fell forward. Using its weight, it crushed the limp body of the flower demon beneath it so that only its flower was left exposed.
“Onkie, it's yours. Finish it.”
“Onk. Onk.”
Onkie went up to the flower and started chewing on its vulnerable parts. Wander looked on unhappily, his mouth overflowing with drool.
“Wander, come on, you’re getting its anima crystal. It’s only fair.” He chided.
“Fine, fine. I’m eating the next flower demon though!”
“Deal.”
A short while later, the flower demon was dead. Even till the end, it tried to struggle and fight back even though it was futile. If he wanted to capture it, a summoning card probably wouldn’t have been adequate.
“Onk!” Onkie snorted, raising her head to look in his direction.
Below, she had dug out the anima crystal. It was mostly clear with slight tinges of green and red. These details weren’t too important. It meant that the flower demon was a normal attribute Ensouled with slight inclinations towards the attributes of life and fire. But it didn’t necessarily mean that it would ever reach that point.
More important was the anima crystal’s size. It was the size of a pea. Although it was still tiny, it was much bigger than the anima crystals of novice ranks. It proved that this was indeed an adept rank.
Zachary took the anima crystal and held it in his hand. It was so small but it carried so much power. It was the key to Wander’s breakthrough. It was the key to him escaping from this jungle wilderness.
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“We did it!”
“Onk, onk!”
“Raah!”
“Shee!”
“Chur, chur!”
His summons gathered around and celebrated. It was not an easy fight. Everyone contributed and performed excellently.
This was especially the case for Onkie who had fought a flower demon before. They were beaten so badly that they had to flee. There was no chance of victory back then. Now, she was almost able to hold her own.
“Don’t worry, Onkie,” Zachary said, patting her head, “You’ll get your chance soon. When you reach the adept rank, you can find a wild adept rank to brawl with on your own.”
“On!” She nodded eagerly.
“Same for you guys, this is only the beginning. All of you will become adept rank very soon. For now, let’s prepare for Wander’s advancement. Blue, go, scout the way back.”
“Churr!”
Zachary led his summons and returned to their hideout which was a hole in the ground beneath some large boulders. With Doro’s presence, he could now easily move large amounts of dirt. He could also use Doro to camouflage the entrance so that they would be completely hidden. It was far better than sleeping up in a tree.
Once back, he first healed Elmont and made sure his other summons returned to their peak condition. There needed to be no interruptions. With only one adept rank anima crystal, they only had one chance.
When night fell, Zachary and Wander were both ready. Wander was swimming around inside his soul sea while he sat cross-legged in meditation. He only knew the basic soul refining technique taught to all youths of the Republic of Adorin. But that was enough for what he needed to do. He was already at the adept rank so he only needed to focus on Wander.
“Wander, we’re starting.”
“Alright!” Wander stopped playing around and swam to his sky path.
Zachary held the hard-earned anima crystal between his palms. It felt so tiny and insignificant. But as soon as he started to draw upon the crystal, he felt the vast amount of energy hidden within.
Eternum surged into his palms, through his body, and toward his soul. Whereas a novice rank anima crystal could provide Eternum like a steady stream, this adept rank crystal was like a raging river. He trembled as he tried to control the flow. Beads of sweat flowed down his back. He didn’t want to waste any of this precious energy.
His sky path opened wide and accepted the incoming Eternum. There was no blockage and everything flowed smoothly. His sky path had been inhabited by Yaoyao for so long so it couldn’t compare to ordinary summoners.
“Wow! Great!” Wander barked as he was baptized by this greater power.
He was alone amidst the swirling lights and revolving strands of energy. His soul sea was completely open, all eight paths letting Eternum flow in unrestricted. Within his soul sea, all the energy he took in combined with the energy that was already there. Novice rank melded with adept rank, driving him towards a fundamental change and a new soul rank.
Some of that energy was also directed at his life path. Once his life path absorbed enough high-quality Eternum, it would be greatly strengthened. It would also have to be promoted to the adept rank for the breakthrough to succeed.
It was now a matter of patience, talent, and luck. If Zachary had a better soul refining technique, he would have been able to provide more help to Wander. As it was, he couldn’t do much except regulate the flow of Eternum.
Time passed slowly. Energy continued to flow. Wander was silent and fully concentrated on the task at hand. Zachary felt nervous. It was taking too long. Since they shared an eternal soul bond, he could sense what was going on with Wander’s soul sea. Wander’s soul sea had almost reached the adept rank but his life path was still a few steps behind. However, the anima crystal was quickly running out of energy, threatening to end the cultivation session before the breakthrough could be completed.
Zachary tried to think of something. He eventually remembered that within Wander’s soul sea, there was also a tiny visage of himself that resided in Wander’s life path. It was a strange artifact of eternal summoning.
Focusing on that visage, he sent his own soul energy into it and through to Wander. He wasn’t sure if it would but he felt that it was the right thing to do.
“Hey!” Wander yelped in surprise.
However, he calmed down after understanding what was happening. He quickly incorporated Zachary's soul energy together with his own as well as the energy from the anima crystal and directed this powerful flow toward his life path. This was exactly what he needed, that last push to get him over the line.
Oom!
The underground hideout reverberated from the pulse of Eternum. Within Zachary’s soul sea, Wander’s visage glowed bright, his color was leaf-green like the jungle. His soul energy was deep and profound as if it contained the mysteries of life itself. It was entirely uniform, without a single strand flawed or out of place.
It was perfect.
It was a success, a breakthrough to a brand-new soul rank!