Spirit Soul

Kyle had wanted to focus on multiple things instead of killing Skeletons just to get more time in order to cultivate longer.

As such, it was evident how annoyed he was the moment the last Skeleton was killed.

They were simply no threat to him anymore, and felt like dummies to him.

Both Arashi and Kyle killed them within a few moments.

After that, the letters on the wooden signs reappeared once again.

This time the only difference was that new words were written on some of them.

'They're getting better with each round? At least that is an advantage...should I even focus on increasing my cultivation stage as my highest priority then?'

Kyle thought that it might as well be helpful to focus on the period of a few hours in which he could rest.

After that, he would fight and receive his reward.

However, that plan had a big downside, which was not having any idea of his opponents.

Every single time the portal opened, he would not know what kind of Skeletons would emerge from them.

If he were to overestimate his capabilities and slacken, he would be thrown off-guard when a Late Fortification stage Skeleton would emerge.

His overconfidence might get him crushed without a second of delay.

He had to keep his cool and not get carried away due to a small victory.

Because of that simple thought, Kyle decided to increase his resting time.

He had to cultivate and focus on honing his skills rather than looking at the other rewards that might distract his senses.

As such, he inserted his spirit force into the [+] below the hourglass once again, decreasing the time through which the sand trickled down.

It didn't take Kyle long before he knew how much time he had received.

He was pleasantly surprised to see that it was much more than before.

Seeing that caused a wide grin to appear on his face.

"Great! An entire week? The more the merrier!!"

Even if he was disappointed in the Skeletons he fought, there was no reason to feel the same about the castle's rewarding system.

The dangers he was currently facing had decreased drastically while the rewards were becoming better.

This was probably because the creator of the Castle had not expected someone to focus on cultivating.

The rewards that were shown were tantalizing and would make most cultivators greedy.

However, Kyle gave up the possible rewards, just to increase the time he could spend inside the entrance hall.

His decision was the best, even if it was bound to make the fights less pressuring let alone exciting.

There was also the important factor, that he was considered a single entity despite having his Spirit Soul.

Thus, he had an extra layer of support and could fight the challenges that were designed for a single combatant with the average strength of what Kyle had.

'Having a high cultivation base and receiving great rewards later is more important than a little bit of excitement!' He told himself the obvious.

As such, he ignored his earlier thought and focused on cultivating for the entire week.

This allowed him to fight the next batch of opponents that had a total of 40 Skeletons at the Low Fortification stage.

Unfortunately for them, Kyle had long since reached a much higher cultivation base.

Meanwhile, his control over Arashi's wind affinity increased consistently.

He alone would already be enough to finish off the large crowd of Skeletons.

Once he had defeated the third wave, Kyle prolonged the waiting period once again.

Like before, he returned to gather the Undead Cores while cultivating and nurturing Arashi with his utmost capabilities.

After the third wave, two weeks passed before the fourth wave began.

This time there were 40 Skeletons at the Low Fortification stage and a total of eight Skeletons at the Mid Fortification stage.

However, that was no threat to Kyle who could easily defeat them with the strength he had attained.

The battle ended after less than 20 minutes, and he once again prolonged the time.

It stagnated at two weeks, but that was perfectly fine with Kyle, who was already accustomed to the time.

Unfortunately, his lucky streak ended as he completed the fifth wave.

The bar was raised a little when he had to face a total of 24 Mid Fortification stage Skeletons.

Out of reflex, he wanted to prolong the time once again, and utilize the same strategy.

He noticed that it was not working anymore.

This caused him to look at the timer for a few minutes before he shrugged his shoulders as he turned around.

"It really is a shame that it doesn't work anymore but...that's fine too! At least, I can take a look at the rewards!"

He had already expected that a similar scenario might occur soon.

The creator wouldn't just let him cross the hurdles so easily.

As such, it was not further shocking.

He had even expected that he wouldn't even be able to use the timer prolonging function for such a long time.

Thus, Kyle didn't feel like complaining.

Instead, he stroke Arashi's head as he told him,

"If there is something you like, just pick it. We should be able to complete a few more rounds before its time to leave the entrance hall!"

Confidence could be heard in his voice, and it was definitely not baseless.

Even if he were not required to take his own strength into account, Arashi's strength had increased by a lot.

His Spirit Soul had already attained the Late Fortification stage, which was exceptionally useful for almost everything!

At the moment, Kyle felt that everything was working as per his plan and expectations.

His cultivation progress via energy absorption and conversion had increased tremendously.

So was the increase in the Spirit Soul's combat prowess, alongwith the efficiency with which he could wield his wind affinity.

Kyle was overjoyed with Arashi's growth.

Even if the rate was now gradually slowing down, and it was becoming more difficult to have such a rapid increase in strength, there was nothing to complain about.

The little Spirit Soul had increased in size, reaching a height of almost 17 centimeters.

It was roughly the same as he had before evolving.

As such, Arashi was still lying on his shoulder and did not leave his side for even a second.

Like an attentive and watchful companion, he was intently observing the faintly glowing wooden signs.

Meanwhile, Kyle did not even bother to look at the rewards as he collected the Undead cores.

His mind was currently occupied with calculating how many rounds he was likely to finish unscathed before it was time for him to leave.

With a period of six hours in hand, there was not much he could do except resting a little bit.

Simultaneously, he could either try to cultivate or increase his understanding of the wind.

'I should try to enter the Late rank of the Fortification stage before leaving the entrance hall. With that, my survivability should almost be given!'

Kyle found this to be the best approach, and it wouldn't even be long before everything would be concluded.

In a few seconds, he made a few calculations by taking his fast cultivation progress into account.

Based on his rough estimate, Kyle was sure that successfully overcoming the next four rounds should be enough to reach the Late rank.

Because of that, now Kyle's goal was to finish a total of 10 rounds.

According to him, it was a pretty decent number to stop.

With his mindset in stone, he finally averted his attention to his Spirit Soul.

The little fox had been trying to attract his attention for half a minute.

This caused him to be interested in what his Spirit Soul wanted to convey.

Thus, he looked in the direction Arashi was looking at with vibrant eyes.

"You want to change the difficulty?" Kyle asked as he tried to understand Arashi's intent.

He kept looking at the wooden sign with the word [Difficulty] written on it with doubt.

"Are you sure?"

It didn't even take a full second for Arashi to answer with a vigorous nodding, which caused Kyle to feel a little bit taken aback.

'Won't I just cripple myself by changing the difficulty? It will most likely increase after all!'

He immediately thought, and rejected the idea.

He did not think that it would be logical to do what the little fox wanted from him.

However, Arashi didn't seem to agree with Kyle's decision.

He kept disturbing Kyle persistently preventing Kyle from doing anything.

Because of the Spirit Soul's weird behavior, he once again looked at the sign.

'Will the rewards and the resting period also increase if I were to choose to make the waves more difficult to solve? It should, otherwise, there is no reason to make this sign a reward…'

His Spirit Soul had successfully made him reconsider his decision.

With the new doubts popping up, Kyle's mind began to rattle, as he weighed the pros and cons of tweaking the difficulty.

It wouldn't make much of a difference whether he reached the Late Fortification stage, or he remained at the same cultivation base.

He had already attained the peak of the Mid Fortification stage!

As such, the amplification in his strength wouldn't be that much.

At least, one couldn't call it a difference between heaven and earth!

In the end, his earlier goal had just been something to let him know what wave he should reach at the bare minimum.

This would motivate him.

'Should I just try it?' He asked himself, knowing that he had already made up his mind.

With a faint grimace on his face, Kyle took a step closer to the [Difficulty] sign before he injected soul force into it.

Afterward, nothing unique happened, and the signs lost their luster as usual.

This caused Kyle to feel a little bit odd.

But instead of complaining, he approached the Door of Fortification.

"Now that I picked what you wanted, absorb and convert energy as if your life depends on it!" Kyle said to Arashi in a half-serious and half teasing tone.

Yet, what he didn't expect to happen was to see Arashi releasing vibrant green currents.

This was unusual and he watched in surprise as the energies around him were suctioned towards him.

This caused Kyle to look at his Spirit Soul in doubt.

For a second, he wondered whether the little fox had played with him.

He couldn't decide if Arashi had kept this still unknown ability hidden, or if it was just something he did instinctively.

Either way, he couldn't even focus on thinking properly and arriving at a conclusion.

The amount of soul force Arashi generated steadily increased by the minute.

As such, he was forced to focus his entire mind on cultivating.

Thus, he spent the next few hours completing the task without being able to rest even a single minute!

Arashi only halted the conversion of energy shortly before the time ran out.

He had finished the process just in time, giving Kyle the chance to regain his senses.

When he was finally able to open his eyes, Kyle's mind was rattling.

He couldn't help but look at Arashi, who seemed to be a little bit exhausted.

The cultivation session had felt amazing, but he couldn't continue cultivating like this for days, owing to his brain that felt mashed and Arashi's exhaustion.

Nevertheless, he had come one step closer to reaching the Late Fortification stage.

This made him feel even more amazed about his Spirit Soul's unique ability, or the effect it could exert.

Unfortunately, he couldn't focus on it anymore because the time had just run out and all portals were opening.

"Please don't let it be impossible, from the start!" Kyle just murmured and hoped.

Though, what he saw next crushed his hopes. A total of 17 beings emerged from the portal.

'Huh...so it's like that?!'

**

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