12 Beginnings (12)

Jackson and his team were a big help, every few days we went to the Hunting Grounds, killed Goblins in hundreds. I was able to save up some money, as I didn't have to repair or buy any more equipment.

Whenever there was time, I would train my control over my soul, but there was no progress, the last part of the five transformations cycle, expansion hit a wall in progression very quickly. I could expand my soul image by a centimetre, but that was it. When I did it, the consumption of soul essence would always spike, and the strength would slightly rise.

A week ago, my soul reached the limit and couldn't grow anymore, the amount of soul essence I had was enough to support a full soul image for about an hour. If I keep it up only during fights, I can use it all day. This was a huge advantage, the defensive capability of the soul image saved me a few times now.

Jackson and others also grew a lot, everyone slowly becoming stronger. And after two weeks since we met, we were planning on changing to bigger pray, to be exact hunting for Crocotta, it reaches about to the stomach of an adult male and looks like a mix of a dog and a hyena. Like all monsters, it is born with elemental essence, but unlike goblins, its ability is more… unusual.

It has the ability to mimic voices. Using this ability, it can lure their prey into ambushes. Mostly living in small groups of three or four, at our level we shouldn't have any problem hunting them.

But things change, Jackson was offered a job in the security. He will be acting as a bodyguard of some rich lady. It was by complete accident he saw her getting attacked after she sneaked out here, then her father contacted him and gave him the job. And with that, he also got a job for everyone on the team.

Even I got a chance for a nice job. But I declined. I had two goals when I came here, gain experience and grow stronger. Not to mention that if I were to act as a bodyguard, and based on their deal, live in their mansion. It would be harder to keep practicing in private, not to mention having less time to even do it.

I stayed behind, said my farewells and thanked them for all the help.

With no team to help me, it would be hard to hunt Crocorra's, I would have to either go back to killing goblins or move to a different hunting ground with other monsters. Unless… I can advance in the Five Transformation Cycle.

But can I? If I don't grasp the full control over it now, in the next cycle, the difficulty will be much harder. And if I won't have control, it would be like owning a sword stuck in stone. I read the booklet a few times, but there was no mention about the limit of the control or anything similar.

I could try calling Master, but it was supposed to be for emergency only. Or I can take a risk. Follow the booklet and condense my soul. Higher strength boost, room to grow, more soul essence. If I do condense it in a few days of training, I should be fine taking on Crocorra's.

Taking risk. If I do, and it does go wrong, chances are the most that will happen to me is that my progress will slow down drastically. But even if it is going to be slower, it will move unlike now.

I felt fear of risking after all I did to get here. That fear was choking me, but it didn't stop me. Sometimes risks had to be taken.

The process of condensation will take me a day or so.

I cleared my mind, relaxed my body, and focused on my soul. Like fine mist, it filled my body, with the slow pulse of the soul essence passing through it.

The first step to condense the soul is to remove all the soul essence. The 'shell' will be easier to condense while it is empty. Then during the process, the soul essence will be slowly put back in. While I removed the soul essence, I made it twist and change into a thin thread, gradually enveloping the soul in it like a cocoon.

When that was done, it was time to start the hard part of condensation. Pullin on one end of the string I tightened the cocoon, and at the same time pierce the soul and put the excess string inside the soul. The progress was slow, and the strain it had on my mind was high.

Soon splitting headache assaulted me, if not for the experience from when I was training with Master it would probably break me. Staying focused was not an issue, the pain was only temporary.

After a few hours I was only half done, but this was also the time the difficulty increased, the string now was filling the soul to the brim. It was causing more resistance, but it was necessary. As it is pushed on the soul, it will be absorbed into it. If this is not done, then the soul will go back to its previous state soon after it is released.

It took a long time before I got near the completion, cocoon that used to be the same size as I was now smaller when my soul was when I just moved it.

It was then that it started to glow more intensely like a lonely star in the black sky. The strings that still surround it began to disappear as they were absorbed by the soul. This was the last transformation after this is done the soul will become condensed.

This lasted for a while until the soul stabilized and became clear again, as there was no soul essence it now the shine was dim, but the beauty of it was still there.

Now like a gas tank it will be able to hold the same amount of soul essence in a smaller volume.

When I opened my eyes it was almost evening, I started at around noon… more than a day passed. I was hungry and tired. My soul essence was only now slowly recharging.

Where to go was the problem. I was already blacklisted in every all-you-can-eat restaurant in the town. And going to traditional restaurants was too expensive, but I was left with not much choice.

I ended up in a restaurant opposite the MCA, sitting on the second floor, looking over the street and people passing over. I started eating when a group of four entered the second floor, on their chest, there was a pin with a crest.

Golden shilled with a blue fireball on it. It belonged to the university that I was familiar with. The two founders of the school, one was a Martial Artist with earth elemental essence, carrying a golden shield with him at all times, the other was an Arcane Artist, his elemental essence was mutated, it was a type of fire elemental essence called Sky flame, blue in color.

The University of Martial and Arcane Arts, the best university in the country based in Ottawa. The university that I was rejected from because I had an empty soul.

Well, it didn't matter anymore. They looked around, but there were no free seats. They then looked in my direction whispered something to each other and started walking in my direction. It smelled like trouble.

"I'm sorry, we wanted to ask if you are finished yet?" one of the girls asked.

Her voice was pleasant and eyes honest. She didn't seem to have any bad intentions. But I looked at the table, and there was only one dish left. But there was still more coming, it was then that I realized that their assumption was reasonable, there were quite a few empty plates there already.

"I'm sorry, but I will be staying here for a while."

"Come on man, you are basically finished…" waiters came up at that moment with dozens of plates full of food. It was much more than I usually ate, much more. But the food was coming into my stomach and like if I had an endless pit in my stomach I couldn't fill it up. I knew why was that, the booklet did say that my appetite will grow a few times after the condensation, fortunately, it will be only for a day or two.

I also realized that the soul in the body must somehow speed up my bodily functions; otherwise, my digestive system wouldn't be able to keep up.

"How the hell can you eat so much?!" the man from the group spoke again. He was the only man in the group surrounded by three good looking women. He certainly was lucky.

"I have no intention to tell you, but as you can see, I will be here for a while. If you want, I don't mind sharing the table." I said while looking at him. He seemed… stupid? Or dense?

"Really? If its fine with you…" he said.

"It's ok. Just don't touch my food."