“G-great Ancient Spirit, is this truly necessary?”
“Yes… do we really have to do this, Mr. Leigong. I’m not sure how this is supposed to help…”
“You dare question my methods?”
“I dare not Great Spirit but…”
Isabella answered while looking at Beatrice that was narrowing her eyes at the spirit called Leigong. For one reason or another, the scenery changed to a large dance hall. It looked like a party fit for wealthy powerful nobles.
The hall was large but mostly empty. The floor was polished to a shine and made from some expensive stone resembling marble. There were some yellowish patterns here and there that made everything look as if it was bathed in gold.
Isabella was wearing a lovely-looking yellow ball gown with a lot of beautiful accessories. She looked quite dolled up for the occasion. On the other end, there was Beatrice that looked a bit maddened by the fact that she was wearing a noble man’s clothes.
The two were opposite each other and it was clear that they were supposed to dance.
“Your assignment is to dance! One will lead while the other will follow. Also, be wary of the sharks and alligators below!”
This was another part of this strange scene. The dance floor was quite large but at the edges, there was a pit filled with water. In this water, there were many flesh-eating fish, alligators, and even sharks.
“But…”
“No buts, now start!”
Zhang Dong clapped with his hands and the two girls looked at each other. Beatrice was used to the strange training methods that her spirit offered her by this point, thus she was more relaxed. On the other hand, Isabella didn’t know what was happening. The spirit told her that both of them needed to practice their soul resonance but how dancing would help with that was unknown.
With a clap the music started, a large beam of light was pointed at the pair and indicated the start of the spectacle. The two girls looked at each other with mixed expressions. The two weren’t very close with each other. They were actually more akin to enemies than friends. The predicament with the Prince going for another woman than his fiance brought this upon them.
“You should start dancing… otherwise…”
While the two looked at each other with spite the stage started getting smaller. The sounds of splashing and gnashing of teeth forced the two girls to move forward. The two had gone through extensive etiquette and dance training in their youths so they knew how to perform.
The problem was that one of them needed to play the part of the man and lead in the dance. This would fall to Beatrice but Isabella wasn’t that eager to follow at that pace. Thus it resulted in stepping on feet while the awkward dance continued.
“You need to understand your partner more, your spirits must become one. When one leads the other follows…”
Zhang Dong looked from the side while examining the dance. This was actually a very basic way of training people to work with each other. In his sect, something like this was used to teach new disciples to work with each other during formations. It was required to know their partner while performing specialized movement techniques in combat formations.
Dancing was a good way to bring people together. Though most of the time they would perform the same dance side by side, mimicking each other's movements at the same time. He went with a more noble dance due to the upbringing of these girls but it might have been a bad decision as they weren’t working together that well.
Isabella wasn’t willing to follow Beatrice’s lead during the dance. Beatrice on the other hand was very forceful in guiding the dance, not willing to pace herself. Thus the two were awkwardly moving around and soon the sharks came into play. The stage continued to shrink due to their failures to sync up and thus their end was nigh. Both of them fell down into the pit filled with sharks, their screams filling the air.
This was nothing but an illusion but the feeling of wetness was quite real as the two found themselves back on the same stage with drenched clothes.
‘Hm, it looks like their dislike for each other is keeping them from working together... how did they even manage to get in that state of soul resonance in the first place…’
He tried to remember back to that moment. Beatrice was close to passing out before Isabella moved into the picture. The two collided with each other by mistake and somehow went into the state of a trance.
‘I might be able to force this state by tweaking the spirit gathering formation… but a forced technique will always be weaker…’
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Zhang Dong knew that if the two learned to work together this soul resonance could get stronger. It might even be able to boost his power towards the nascent soul level. It was unknown how strong this demon king was in this world. He was probably above the demon lords that were at the great circle of core formation level.
‘If he is at the half step into the nascent soul level the forced method might be enough… If not…’
There was also the option of gathering more mages into the gathering formation to fuel his transformation. Getting people to cooperate with him would be the hard part. Isabella’s father seemed to be wary of him but due to the dragon ancestor title he was willing to work with him.
The number of core formation experts was also limited. To get enough power to push him towards the nascent soul level he might even require a thousand of them. These two girls on the other hand pushed him into the half step realm even with a forced soul resonance. This was an easier way to give him a power-up.
Otherwise, he would need everyone in the academy to power him during a fight against the Demon King. If the other demons would just let them power him during the final battle was something out for debate.
“Okay start over again, remember you have to work together, if not for yourself do it for the people close to you.”
The girls looked at him while thinking. He had already explained to them that if they lent him enough power he would take care of the demon menace that was plaguing the whole continent. This was something they were willing to believe as he did trash the Lord of Pain quite easily with their help before.
What followed was a myriad of trust-building exercises between the two girls. Dancing wasn’t the only thing Zhang Dong was making them do. To some, it might have looked like he was giving them random tasks but in reality, there was a purpose to this madness.
One of the exercises consisted of them being chained together and having to run away from some ferocious monster. Another one pitted them in various sport events against some soul constructs that he made. Unless they were willing to work together they would not be able to persevere in these tasks.
The days passed and while it did the girls continued to recover their lost soul power. While Isabella was here he also used some time to teach her some new techniques to gain more mana. He wasn’t directly connected to her soul but when Beatrice was close by there was a soul connection formed. Through it, he could pull her into his world after she recovered.
‘Think I might have overdone it a bit…’
In his attempts to get the two girls together he had forced them to live in one room. They had to eat together, clean together and even bathe together. They had started out staring daggers at each other but after a while, something clicked. Now he was looking at the two again, they were even braiding each other's hair and applying makeup that they were able to produce with the help of soul power.
“You sure look cute with this hairstyle Lady Isabella.”
“Not as cute as you~”
They laughed and smiled at each other while continuing to play around in the soul realm.
‘Think they started acting like this after seeing that…’
He was thinking about the time ago when the girls asked him to show them what was happening in the material world. Through his summoner he was able to peek around the room they were sleeping in and a bit further beyond.
There was no reason to refuse so he obliged. To his surprise, there was a certain moss head hanging around them. At first it looked that he was just there to leave some flowers along with sweet words. The problem was that the girls wanted Zhang Dong to see what he was up to outside the room. There a little scene played out that he wasn’t expecting.
“My prince, it might be harder to court lady Beatrice after this event.”
“The harder it is, the better the rewards will be my friend. You saw what that spirit could do, we need to have its secrets!”
Quite the scene played out behind the doors as the two were leaving. It was now clear that the prince had ulterior motives which was Leigong the Spirit Emperor. Apparently, he only approached Beatrice to get to her secrets. He might have even wanted to steal him from her in some way or another.
“Will lady Isabella be fine with it?”
“Isabella? She has already been sworn to me, she just needs to follow the path that was laid out to her. She won’t mind a Mistress or two.”
It was clear that this prince was quite the character. He closed the connection before the girls could hear too many chosen words. This reveal had shattered their worldview quite rapidly. At first, they didn’t want to believe it but soon rage took them over. It was clear that the two were now dead set on getting back at the casanova of a prince.
‘Well, at least they can focus on one enemy… thank you moss head, your sacrifice will be remembered!’
He did a little prayer for the pretty boy in his head. In the near future, he might have to give him a little thrashing if the girls deemed it so. This would all be to increase the soul resonance and bring him closer to his own goal.
“Okay, listen up you two. Your souls have recovered and will soon be drawn back to your bodies. For now, continue with your training when you return.”
With the new techniques at hand reaching a level of a foundation establishment expert wouldn’t be a dream anymore. How long it would take both of them to get there was vague as it depended on them. Zhang Dong felt that if that happened they would be able to boost his power even more, maybe enough to propel him back into his true realm.
“Isabella!”
“Beatrice.”
The two sleeping beauties were back amongst the living and their parents were there. The man with the mustache was more reserved than the blond haired Duke that was hugging his daughter.
“Let us return to our estate!”
The Duke called out while checking Isabella from head to toe. Beatrice’s father didn’t say anything for now as there was a little agreement made beforehand. It looked like the Duke was trying to not follow through with it. Thus Leigong the Dragon Ancestor had to make an appearance again.
“This wasn’t what we agreed on. Your daughter is to aid me and my contractor in defeating the Demon Lords.”
A little clash of wills was upon them, the Duke was quite strong so a diminished Zhang Dong couldn’t really make him budge just yet. The little stare-off between the Duke and Zhang Dong’s small version was broken through Isabella’s words.
“I wish to stay with Lady Beatrice's father, we will lend them our flying ship, the Jergintarth!”
“But sweety…”
He could see the girl with the drill hair pouting with a disappointed look while the Duke tried to appease her. It was quite obvious that she had him wrapped around her finger. If they could use that to their advantage then it would be fine, getting a mobile flying vessel was something that was very high on his to-do list. With it, he could finally start the search for a way home.