51 Soul Recovery School Trials (6)

[Climb aboard and hold on tightly].

In a single leap, Ovandarrak was sitting on top of Gray Gray. The massive beast gave a thundering roar and then in one swoop, shot into the air.

"Did you have to do that?"

[Do what?]

"Scream like that."

[It's not a scream. It's a roar. Say it after me… A ROOOOAAAARRRR].

Another ear splitting roar tore through the mountain.

"Can you not do that? There is another person climbing the mountain and I don't want you startling him off. Understood?"

[Fine. You are no fun. I wish Aunt Savy was here].

Ovandarrak resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his ever dramatic soul armos. But he had to admit, Gray Gray was proving to be up to the task. With its strong wings, it was propelling itself at an incredible speed, ascending higher and higher up the mountain. In a minute, they had reached a thousand meter altitude, and the air had drastically become even thinner and colder than before. If they continued at such a speed, they could reach the top of the mountain in another four minutes.

Ovandarrak wrapped his green essence around him like a thick green blanket. Only then was he able to endure the biting cold. As he practiced his breathing exercises and channeled his essence into all the pores in his body, he felt the warmth gradually fill his body like a flicker of ember slowly igniting a forest. By doing that, he was able to bring his shallow breathing under control.

But using so much essence to shield himself from the cold and the oppressive indigo essence meant that he was quickly draining his soul energy. Thus, after a while, his once rich green essence dimmed gradually the more he used it. The dimming meant that he was losing soul energy.

"What kind of beast have you transformed into?" He asked quietly. He was feeling light-headed and he had the strongest urge to talk.

[I don't know. I just thought of something powerful enough to scale such a high elevation].

Ovandarrak smiled. It seemed Gray Gray did not only need to look at a beast before taking on their likeness. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that he did not know much about his own soul armos. As someone who liked to learn everything, was is not a shame that he had learned nothing about his own soul armos? In fact, he accidentally learned about Gray Gray's shape shifting abilities.

"What about a dragon? Can you turn into a dragon?"

[I think the thin air is making you lose your mental faculties. If not, why else will you ask me such a dumb question?]

"Ah, that's right." Ovandarrak sighed, suddenly remembering something. "Dragons are legendary beasts and you can only transform into beasts within the common and rare class. But you are right, the air is giving me vertigo."

[Try not to fall off. Your sister will kill me if something happens to you].

"Don't worry about that. If I die, you will die and Savy can't kill you if you are dead. If something happens to me but I still survived, Savy can still not kill you because you are my soul armos, and killing you will be equal to killing me."

[Goodness… The vertigo is worse than I thought. I better hurry].

Two minutes later, they had covered a total altitude of about three thousand meters. Another six hundred meters altitude later, Ovandarrak's sharp green eyes saw a beam of green light dangling a few meters above them.

"Gray Gray, get closer to the green light."

[It's a person with no hair]. The beast said, it's large green eyes taking everything in with utmost clarity and precision.

"Yes, that is Pan. He has no hair."

[A friend?]

"Absolutely not!"

[At least you still have your amiable personality].

Soon, Ovandarrak caught up with Pan.

Pan was sitting on a rock dangerously dangling at the edge of the cliff. He was breathing heavily and his essence was so dim that that it almost looked yellow. His soul armos was nowhere to be found. Ovandarrak knew that that was a sign of losing one's soul energy. Even though Ovandarrak was losing his soul energy too, his was not as bad as Pan's. It seemed Pan had been doing everything in his power to keep the indigo essence at bay which meant that he did not have enough essence to power his soul armos.

Pan weakly opened his eyes only to stare in the large green eyes of a monstrous beast. He let out a terrifying scream at the sight of the black beast. What was that and where had it come from? Oh no, was this level also made up of monstrous beasts they had to challenge? No one said anything about beasts. Extreme cold, indigo essence, and now beasts? He would never pass this trial. He could feel the last of his soul energy draining and once that happened, the oppressive indigo essence would finally target him head on. He was going to die. Well, at least, this beast could finish the job.

But as Pan was lost in his endless thought, he heard someone call his name. It seemed the voice was coming from the beast. Wait, was the beast calling his name? No, this thin air was making him losing his mind.

"Pan." The voice called him again. He was not imagining it. The beast was indeed calling him.

"Pan, over here." Ovandarrak called the boy again, as he waved at him.

If not for how weak Pan was already feeling, his body would have reacted with shock from the sight before him. This boy was actually riding the beast. Was that his soul armos? What kind of strange looking beast was that?

Ovandarrak crawled on the beast's back until he was sitting on its head, coming face to face with Pan. As he observed Pan's dull green eyes and pale face, he knew the boy was almost at his wits' end. For a second, he admired how Pan had bravely scaled the mountain to such an altitude. All he had been doing was sitting on top of Gray Gray while the sassy beast did all the work.

Ovandarrak did not feel guilty about anything, after all, they were both using their soul armos, so there was nothing unfair about it. Besides, Pan had a head-start. Still, he could not help but feel a level of compassion for the boy. They were both in the same boat, therefore he knew that Pan had been doing everything he could to survive. Clearly, the boy had incredible will and that impressed Ovandarrak. It was a shame he knew nothing about soul recovery, else he would have restored Pan's soul energy.

Or perhaps, there was another way.

"Do you plan on staying there forever? You know you are going to die if that happens, right?"

"I tried." Pan said meekly. "I'm too exhausted to go on."

"Do you want to join me?" Ovandarrak asked.

"What? Is that not against the rules?"

"What rules? They said we could use our soul armos however we saw fit. This is my soul armos and I am using it however I want. Just like they said we could."

Pan stared wide eyed at the Ovandarrak. Was this the same boy who would not talk to anyone? The same boy who kept ignoring him? Why was he trying to help him now? Or was the air making him crazy too?

"Hurry up. I don't have much time." Ovandarrak said harshly. He never raised his voice, yet Pan could feel the irritation in it.

Ah, of course. It was the same boy. Pan thought. To be honest, all he had ever thought about was winning. But it soon dawned on him that this was no competition. To get enrolled into the Soul Recovery School, one must get to the top of the mountain in four hours. It did not matter if they were the first to do so or not. If he went with Ovandarrak, he would survive and more importantly, officially become a student. If he was too prideful to do so, he would just end up dead.

"Alright." Pan slowly got up on his feet, trying his possible best to not fall back down. Ovandarrak outstretched his hand and then helped Pan get on the beast.

As soon as Pan was safely on top of the beast, Gray Gray began its acceleration up the mountain.

[I thought you said he was not your friend?] The beast communicated right into Ovandarrak's mind.

"Shut up." Ovandarrak whispered.

In less than two minutes, Gray Gray reached the top of the mountain. There was an endless sea of white clouds and rays of iridescent light everywhere giving the place an otherworldly appearance. The two boys looked around them in wonderment as though they were seeing the world for the first time, however, they were too exhausted to say anything.

As soon as Gray Gray landed on the summit, the burst of blinding white light they had come to be familiar with instantly consumed them and then teleported them back into the Grand Hall. As soon as they got into the hall, Pan and Ovandarrak dropped to the floor.