The villagers were worried about Dyne and Tetsu, who was outside. But they were relieved when they heard the group returning.
Shock and fear Val and Juno were great as they saw an exceedingly quiet Tetsu dragged an unconscious Dyne in.
Tetsu refused to answer any questions but assured the villagers that Dyne was alright.
Tetsu spent the evening in front of the Genesis Tree in repentance. By his side, a diligent Vahn continued to meditate.
The next day rose, and Dyne also awoke from his unconscious state. It was early in the morning. Dyne could see that the light outside was still a bit dark.
“What happened?”
“You… over-exerted yourself and fainted.” Strafe didn’t have the heart to tell him what happened.
“Oh… Alright. Why does my face hurt, though?”
“It’s Bertugo. He was so worried that he rushed back at Rim Elm and accidentally smashed you on the gate while going in.”
“Oh. So that’s what happened. I got to tell him to be more careful next time.” Dyne frowned.
Dyne went out and sought for Tetsu.
“Sorry for scaring you. I must have fallen unconscious from overexerting my soul.” Dyne laughed as he scratched his head.
“Ex-Exactly! So that’s what happened! That’s good to know!” Tetsu began to nod his head like a chicken eating grain.
Dyne then turned and had a serious expression.
“Master. I think, for the time being, we can create a cycle. We focus on training on fighting by day and cultivating in the Mist by night. For Vahn and Uncle Val, we can have them inhale the Mist inside the jars while standing near the Genesis Tree.”
“We tested one jar. But the moment we opened it, the Mist scattered. The Genesis Tree is too strong...” Tetsu explained.
Dyne was silent but then realized something.
“Wait. So the Mist was still present in the jars before opening it, correct?”
Tetsu nodded.
Dyne then began to walk towards the Genesis Tree.
Val was already there meditating. Surprisingly, Bertugo and the Slime was also there. They had used the Tree as a place to nap.
“For some reason, your two monsters decided to sleep here.”
“It’s their Soul. The Genesis Tree granted them a soul. And by staying here, they can actually slowly make their soul grow stronger.” Dyne explained.
Tetsu couldn’t understand but kept silent.
Dyne then turned over and patted the Green Slime.
“Hey, Slimey. Wake up.” Dyne called out.
The Slime then started to move and shiver. It began to move, and by the direction of the yellowish core at its center, it looked like it was looking at Dyne.
“So, you didn’t remove the other jars inside of Slimey here?”
“No. We waited for you to awaken. Perhaps you could think of something that can allow us to use the Mist.”
“Ideally, I want people to be right here, just below the Genesis Tree. We can make them take a deep breath and meditate right under the Tree.” Dyne frowned.
“That is unlikely. The moment we open the jars, the Genesis Tree immediately destroys the Mist.”
“Wait. But if the jars are closed, it still is there. Meaning the power of the Genesis Tree can be limited in enclosed areas...” Dyne realized it.
“Hey, Slimey. Can you make like a long pipe?” Dyne asked the Slime.
“A pipe?” Tetsu was unfamiliar with the word.
The Slime twisted its little head in confusion.
“Oh. Right!” Dyne then tried to communicate with his soul.
The Slime somehow understood him.
“Nice! It actually works!” Dyne was happy. If his mastership over Bertugo and the Slime is similar to how Rune Knights tame monsters in Brigandine, Dyne knew that he could send commands using his soul force.
Strafe’s spiritual form gazed with his mouth agape.
“Just how skilled is this man in Soul Cultivation?!” He marveled.
The Slime then began to twist and reshape itself.
In the Legend of Legaia, one of the ways a Slime would attack was through stretch out a part of its slime body to strike the enemy. Dyne knew that if this was possible, the Slime could try to reshape itself through other means.
The Slime followed Dyne's soul commands, and while one of the jars was still inside its body, it created a small passageway creating a pipe-like shape. At the end of the pipe was the lid of the jar, which closed the pipe.
Dyne placed the pipe near his mouth and removed the pipe. Almost immediately, he stuck his mouth into the pipe's hole and commanded the Slime to ensure that no gaps were made.
As soon as he did that, the Slime created a gap from his arm that went all the way to the jar.
Dyne took a deep breath and felt a familiar attack on his Soul.
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Dyne immediately closed the lid, making the Slime take the lid and close the jar inside him.
“It works!” Dyne laughed.
Tetsu was amazed at Dyne’s ingenuity.
“How did you make the Slime do that?”
“Oh, it’s related to the soul. I can actually communicate with the Slime because it received a soul when I was blessed that night. No one else could probably do what I did.”
“Oh... So we can’t make the same connection that you do with other monsters?” Tetsu asked.
“No. What I’m doing is something bestowed by Lord Biron.”
“Then you can communicate like that with other monsters? Can you talk with Slimes the same way you do with this one?”
“No. They don’t have a soul. The monsters out there don’t have a soul, and that's why Serus can’t combine with them. The Serus chose us instead because our soul can bond with them. This is also why Lord Biron stopped Monks from bonding with Serus. The bond could threaten it. As for Bertugo and Slimey, they got souls when Lord Biron and God Rem talked to me.”
“Wait... You mean these monsters can combine with Serus?” Tetsu asked with a shocked expression.
Monsters were always physically more powerful than humankind. Even the Monks of Biron cannot entirely fight off the Monster Kings. If Seru and Monster combined, it would create a combination that could end the world.
"Probably. But it’s useless with the Mist around... Unless...” Dyne couldn’t help but look towards the Genesis Tree.
“What if Bertugo combined with a Ra-Seru?” Dyne couldn’t help but consider this.
“No. That won’t work. Or rather, it’s very ineffective.” Strafe’s voice echoed.
“You forget. Bertugo and the other monsters have very limited Mana. To put it in in-game terminology, Vahn can eventually reach 300 mana points at higher levels. But if Bertugo had the same level, he would only have 30 or so. So generally, he can only use the strength that the Ra-Seru bestows but not the magic.” Strafe explained.
“Oh... Bummer.” Dyne sighed.
“Anyway...” Dyne turned to Tetsu.
“It’s a good thing we confirmed that we could do this. Starting today, we are going to have the Hunters go through this. They will take deep breathes with these jars, and we tie them next to the Genesis Tree. We can start with Vahn and Val. If they show that they can withstand it, we can have them do an outdoor session!” Dyne laughed.
Tetsu nodded. He realized that the session last night was beneficial. When he went back and meditated under the Genesis Tree, he could slowly feel the difference between two opposing forces. Yet, he could not understand or perceive it with clarity. He knows that something was going on.
“Alright. Let’s reserve those jars for Vahn and Val later. They can train at night. For now, I request Master Tetsu to help us train in combat.” Dyne turned to Tetsu with a serious expression.
“Good!” Tetsu approved, and so the two went off. They also brought Vahn with them and rushed towards the beach area.
Bertugo continued to train on the other end of the beach. Through Dyne’s connection, he could tell that he was delighted with this.
“Hmm? Why is my link with Bertugo weaker?” Dyne was confused. He could tell that he couldn’t communicate with Bertugo the same way he could with the Slime.
“Think Brigandine.” Strafe explained.
“I don’t have enough Rune Power?”
“Right.”
“Eh... Who cares! I don’t need to have that link with Bertugo thoroughly. He’s having the time of his life. He won’t dare betray the Hunters or me.” Dyne carefreely shook his head and moved towards the beach as he observed Bertugo’s fights.
The hunters would laugh and cheer as they fought. There was not even a hint of discrimination against Bertugo. With the list of words that Dyne gave them, they could make simple communication with Bertugo and even started to teach Bertugo their language.
On the far end of the beach was the cage which contained the Gimard. It was still unconscious. Dyne had given the Gimard a large amount of Soul energy, and by his estimates, the Gimard should be able to survive the night. Dyne intended to make the Gimard’s soul leak more and more to feed him with a large amount of his soul energy.
“Hopefully, by tonight, my Soul can give Ginger a purer soul.”
Dyne went and met with Tetsu at the beach.
“Alright. For now, I want to see how strong you are.” Tetsu urged Dyne to attack him. He assumed a fighting pose and motioned Dyne to attack.
Dyne nodded and immediately rushed to attack.
Dyne was a master of Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Karate, and a specialized form of martial arts that combined several disciplines.
Yet despite all this, Dyne set it all aside and considered himself far weaker than Tetsu.
Dyne delivered precise high-kicks and sweeps, but Tetsu managed to evade all of them. But a surprised expression appeared on Tetsu’s face.
Dyne continued with a continuous barrage of attacks. Tetsu blocked his attacks, and it was as if the entire damage that Dyne could do was practically negated.
It was then that Dyne realized it and immediately retreated.
“What was that?!” Dyne was surprised.
Tetsu smiled.
“As expected of Dyne. You seem to have felt it. I keep forgetting that you are not a Biron monk and would not know how to use Spirit!” Tetsu laughed.
“Spirit!” Dyne knew that term. In Legend of Legaia, Spirit was one of the commands that a player could do aside from attacking, using items, using Seru magic, and escaping. Spirit increases the overall defense of the characters, but mostly, players would use it to increase their characters' agility so that they could perform more attacks and hits.
Legend of Legaia used a “Bar” system where each character would have a bar as a measurement for how many attacks they could deliver per turn. The higher their agility was, the longer the character's bar would be.
A level 1 Vahn would have enough bars to contain three attacks. Noa would have four, and Gala would only have 2 bars worth of attacks.
Dyne disregarded this information because he thought that this game mechanic would not be applied in this world. But when he heard Tetsu say Spirit, he realized that he might have been wrong.