14 Chapter 13

I separate myself from interacting with the other group by spending time out of sight either tending to the bear cubs or cooking for everyone, we now had more members after all.

"This is just too annoying. Can't they just keep quiet for a few hours, others are not so lackadaisical with their training after all." Dixie grumbles as he joins me and assists in the cooking. I look back to see Kalan still fawning over Yale and trying to curry favour with him and just shake my head, Dixie could help me and train his fire affinity as well so I did not complain.

Soon Anna and even Reynolds joined and made the excuse of training their fire affinity to help with cooking as well. Even they could not take much more of Kalan it seems.

After an early dinner we decided to tuck in after setting up a watch rotation for security, we naturally did not include any of Kalan's group as with their skills we doubted any of us could sleep in peace if they were put on guard duty. That did not stop Kalan from trying to bluster his way into having guard duty assigned to him and his friends though as a service to his 'Young master Yale'.

"Enough! You do not have the strength or experience necessary to keep watch out here in the mountains. If you don't want to sleep that is fine, just keep your mouth shut and don't make any noise or we will attract attention from unwanted parties. Tch, I swear if I hear one more word from you, I will knock you out for the rest of the night." I finally rebuke after he had irritated me enough.

He tried to bluster some more but after one more stern look from Yale and me, he decided to relent. Wise of him. With our group keeping watch it was easy to deal with the occasional magical beast and assassin ambush we encountered. In the outer regions there was not much that could threaten us and the two on watch at any time were capable of dealing with all the annoyances without needing to wake the rest of us.

After breakfast I was very much glad to see the backs of Kalan and co. as they were escorted back to Fenlai city by Yale, George and Reynolds. I was sure they would be fine on their own so I gathered up with the rest of our group to dig up a hidden base.

After we departed from the mountain range the four of us (Delia, Dixie, Anna and myself) first headed to the meeting point we had assigned to meet Yale's party at in a week. From there we fanned out to look for a good location where we could set up our base. We were looking for places where we could easily set up a concealed cavern that would not be easily detected from outside. In the end, Anna found a good spot that had a number of rocky outcroppings and a pile of large boulders in a considerably big mound. This was perfect in my opinion and with the location now set, Anna and I set about reshaping the rock mound and hollow out its interior to form our base. The many rocky outcroppings gave us enough cover to be able to hide the entrance from any angle to those looking on from afar be it from any direction, even above.

Meanwhile on the side of Yale, George and Reynolds-

"Thank you, so much young master Yale, you have no idea how much it means to me that you are personally accompanying us." Kalan does not waste time as he continues to butter up to Yale.

"Seriously, don't mention it." Yale says in a frustrated manner. He was still cursing his luck when he pulled a short straw when they were drawing lots. His accompanying dorm bros were also not helping him from this a**e kissing fool. Second Bro was at least focusing on keeping a look out but that traitor Fourth Bro… he had ditched his Boss Yale and was flirting with that Niya and Alice chick.

Yale was too busy grumbling internally that the next words of Kalan took a little longer for him to process- "Young master Yale is such a prestigious and powerful person, he is already able to successfully undertake expeditions into the mountain range of magical beasts with such few followers. I guess it must be expected of students of Ernst, the world's number 1 magus institute. Though you should be sterner with your group young master, although some of them also have powerful backgrounds, none of them are as great as yours. They should know their place and act accordingly, especially that cook fellow, he seemed to be very arrogant as he ordered you to keep watch at night as well."

Kalan had been a bit quieter when he was putting down Yale's companions but with the ability of the trio as well as the focus they had on their surroundings, they all heard Kalan's words as if he had shouted them. There was a moment of silence before…

""Bwahahahah…"" Both George and Reynolds broke out in laughter when the pompous ponce's words registered, especially the 'arrogant cook' he had singled out.

"Bwhahaha… He's right Boss Yale! How could that cook order you around like that. You should confront him later; I will support you from the back… Bwahahaha… I can't take it anymore; I must tell Third Bro about this later… Hahaha…" Reynolds jeers in between bouts of intense laughter.

"Huhuhu… ahem… Huhu… You're on your own there, Boss Yale, don't drag me in to this as well… Huhuhu… I wish you luck though." George also comments after getting a bit of control over his laughter.

"You guys…" Yale develops a nervous twitch in his eyebrows. He can just imagine heading up to Third Bro in a pompous manner like this idiot, the hell that would be unleashed upon him by the Devil Instructor would not be something he would ever forget in his life. He shivers in dread for a while before turning his ire upon the blustering dandified pansy that was looking to torture him with his words.

"Yo… Shut your mouth. I was keeping quiet and enduring your pestering only due to our family's connections but don't think I will be silent when go make trouble for me. Damn fool, were you dropped on the head as an infant, even if I had twice my current strength and background, Third Bro is not someone I want to mess with. Idiot, you want me to die trying to annoy him." Yale smacks Kalan onto the ground with one hit and then proceeds to stomp on him to vent out his frustrations. He now had a clearer idea than anyone in his group on exactly how powerful his Third Bro was, though everyone had heard the story of Linley battling with a 9th rank beast, he had witnessed it personally. He had no intentions of making an enemy of his Third Bro for this idiot Kalan, even if his Third Bro would not be offended by the fool's words, he was likely to increase his training load and that was akin to a slow and painful death for Yale.

"Aaaahhh… I'm sorry young master Yale. Oooww… I did not wish to offend you… aaaahhh…" Kalan whines pitifully as Yale beats him up. The fool still didn't seem to have understood what he said that was wrong though so he thoughtlessly opened his mouth again- "Oooowww… Please young master…aaahhh… I did not know I was insulting your close follower…GAAAH!"

That was as far as he got though as Yale became even more pissed by his last statement and directly knocked the fool unconscious so he will not open his foul mouth anymore and get him into even more trouble. It was too late though as his Second and Fourth Bros had broken down in renewed laughter at this development.

"… Second Bro, Fourth Bro… Tell me, how much would it cost me to keep you two quiet about this, I don't want anyone else in our group to find out about this or I will be dead." Yale looks to bargain with his bros with a pitiful look.

"Huhuhu… This is not something we can keep quiet about Boss Yale, I'm sorry." George outright refuses him causing Yale to slump in defeat.

"Worry not Boss Yale, I'm sure Third Bro will be very understanding. He will not push you too hard while training… maybe… I will light some incense for you regardless." Reynolds says while patting Yale on his back.

"Groan… You, Tony, was it? Pick up this b**tard, the journey is still long and the sooner I am away from this idiot and his cursed mouth, the better." Yale orders Kalan's friend and continues to march on. The scary look on his face was enough to cow Kalan's friends to meekly follow his words without protest.

George and Reynolds were still laughing a bit as they watched Yale mumble plan after plan to somehow explain the situation to Linley and lighten the suffering that is sure to come. While they felt a little bad for the suffering Yale would be put through in the name of training in the near future, it wasn't all that much. They all knew each other very well by now and they could say with certainty that while their Third Bro would use this opportunity to put Boss Yale through his paces, it would not be out of malice. Though he was quite strong for his age already, Boss Yale was still the weakest and laziest of the 4 bros of dorm 1987, the extra training would no doubt be good for him.

When the group stopped for the night and set up camp, it was unusually quiet. Though Kalan had regained consciousness for a few hours now, he kept his mouth tightly shut due to the murderous glares Yale was giving him. All in all, the three bros of dorm 1987 felt much better with the silence even though Yale was still grumbling every now and then.

"Brother Reynolds? Is that Third Bro of yours really that powerful and scary?" Alice asks in a soft voice after catching him alone to the side for a bit.

"Haha, it's not that he is a cruel and scary person… well mostly. He has our best interest at heart and helps us out in training, you could also consider him the leader and most powerful one in our group. All of us respect him a lot so Boss Yale got mad at that Kalan fellow for bad mouthing him." Reynolds patiently explains while still managing to only reveal the basics.

"He's your leader? What kind of background does he have to be able to boss all of you around? I've never heard of any powerful Baruch clan or anything of the sort before." Niya comes up to also ask questions. The group must be taking a softer approach as they were a bit more polite in their questioning, not to mention they left it to the females of the party. That did not mean the bros of dorm 1987 would sell out their Third Bro though and reveal all his secrets, they had revealed enough as is so, after a shared look George answered next.

"We have known each other for years now, background is not the only thing that matters in our group. Our bonds were formed over those years of trust and friendship so it would be natural for you to not understand. I would also ask you to stop prying us for information, we have no obligation to explain all the details to you." He firmly states and the other party stops with their questioning at that.

The rest of the journey was just as quiet much to Yale's relief and on the third day since they set off, they reached the out skirts of Fenlai. It took longer as some of the members of the party they were escorting were not that physically strong. The three dorm bros bid them farewell and moved to meet back with their friends after politely refusing the offer to rest at Kalan's place. Though Yale did not even bother to fake his politeness and was openly aggressive of the white armoured fool.

The journey back did not even take them 2 days and they reached the meeting spot well before the assigned 1-week deadline. They were just glad that they did not meet any bandits both times and once again wondered at the luck of that Kalan fellow's group to run into a bunch of decent folks like them. They decided to wait a bit until their friends contact them while they set up a temporary camp.

A few days earlier with the group creating the hideout-

'♪Dig a tunnel, dig dig a tunnel♪You could dig and never get done♪Dig a tunnel, dig dig a tunnel♪What was that?... ♪ Achooo!' I was broken from the monotony of my task of excavating my very own chamber of secrets by a sudden violent sneeze. Someone must be thinking bad things about me, I thought at first but I shrugged it off as some superstition and continued with my work… '♪Dig a tunnel, dig dig a tunnel♪…'

It was still the first day we separated from my dorm bros and the rest of us that had stayed back had got to creating a hideout after we had finalised the location. The four of us had clearly defined roles where Anna and I were in charge of doing the main task of digging and Delia and Dixie alternated keeping watch outside. The one not keeping watch would use their wind magic to ensure the air within the cavern being dug was circulated properly and kept fresh so the diggers could continue.

We had already finalised the layout we wanted and I must say, we had gotten a little carried away as it had personal rooms for all of us with a small workspace and modern bathroom attached (I had used my otherworldly knowledge along with magical enchanting to bring the comforts of modern plumbing to my friends and they were very grateful). A large common area where we could all gather as well as a large secondary chamber for large and powerful formations like those to re-bodify the bear cubs and maybe even Grandpa Doehring.

Was it overkill? Yes, yes it was, for something that would be our temporary hidey hole that we would not use for more than a few years. But I didn't really worry too much about that and just thought it was good practice for when I got to remodelling the place around Beirut's little pocket dimension for my own use. Although it was far away in the Anarchic lands, I had already set my eyes on it along with the massive deposit of Magicite gems around it. The only ones that even knew of that place other than me had abandoned it without care so I had plans to acquire it as soon as I could leave the Union in peace.

The days passed quickly as we continued our work and after five days Dixie had detected that Yale and the other two had returned and were waiting near the meeting point. We paused our work for a bit before going to meet up with them and lead them back to the hideout. Work progressed a little faster after that as George and Reynolds also started to pitch in with their rune and formation mastery. Towards the end I also had Yale, Dixie and Anna journey out to the edges of the mountain ranges to capture a few weak magical beasts of around the 4th rank that I would need for my experiments.

At first, I felt a bit conflicted about this as it felt a little too much like animal cruelty but in the end, I resolved myself to push through regardless. The values of the Transmigrator's world wouldn't hold water here and I seriously doubted if all that propaganda of peace and equality fluff of the modern civilised world actually worked even in that world. That place was by no means perfect either and things were just as bad there, it was just better hidden. Regardless I made a decision to not torture any of the captives and as soon as I felt that the experiments were doing nothing other than causing them pain, I would kill them and release them to embrace the peace of Death. It took us a full month to get the hidden base ready, magical enchantments and formation room included. We had also gotten a good number of low ranked magical beasts to test my formations on.

"Alright let's get this started!" Reynolds exclaims excitedly. He was openly expressing his excitement as he was also a formation expert and was very curious about these experiments.

"Sniff, there is no need to feel so excited, these beasts are obviously not going to enjoy being used as experimental subjects. Can you at least pretend to curb your gleeful sadistic behaviour?" Anna admonishes him and he scratches his head sheepishly while apologising.

"Alright, let's test out with the first specimen." I call out and place a rank 3 Unicorn Boar in the centre of the formation before stepping back. I had already separated the Soul of the beast by inducing a state of clinical death and absorbing the Soul into my CD ring before healing the body of the pig. It was now in a similar state as the bear cubs so we could accurately test out the process.

As soon as I poured in some of my mageforce into the formation to activate it, it began to glow and also draw on the ambient natural essences for extra power like I had designed it. After I felt that all the sub-formations were suitably powered up, I released the boar's Soul and guided it to return to its body with some Death attribute mageforce.

The process did not succeed and I felt that the Soul of the boar just slipped through the body without reattaching itself to it. After the first trail I stopped and did not continue as I wanted to study what exactly happened and why it was not succeeding. I had other sub-formations included in this one that would help me analyse the situation for further study, I wasn't only going to blindly keep pushing until the Soul clicked back into a body after all.

While I got a lot of useful data on what was going on I was not closer to figuring out what needed to be done so, I decided to only activate the analysis formations while I placed another magical beast in the centre of the formation. This time it was a Vampiric Iron Bull and it was only unconscious and not De-souled as I wanted to examine how a Soul is normally tied to the physical body.

I was able to feel the core of the Soul concentrated around the beast's magical core and there seemed to be many fine tendrils or strands of spiritual energy extending from it that spread out to the rest of its body. There was a particularly thick network channel of these strands that seemed to connect the brain and central spine of the beast and the connection to the rest of the body spread from this main channel sort of like a ghostly nervous system.

I observed this fascinating network for some more time before inducing clinical death on the bull as I wanted to also observe what was happening as the Soul leaves the body. At first, I was hoping that the strands of spiritual energy would only be pulled out from the body sort of like uprooting a plant cleanly from the earth but I was let down as I felt numerous strands simply snap. Even the main channels to the brain and along the spinal cord suffered numerous breakages, none of the spiritual strands were complete and only their shortened snapped lengths condensed around the Soul core before exiting the body.

I examined the body of the now newly Soulless Bull to see what had become of the remnants of the spiritual strand network only to see that it was slowly dissipating. In a few minutes, all traces of the spiritual network were completely erased and I could only feel a faint echo of it if I flooded the body with death type mageforce. I repeated these tests a couple more times with different beasts like Windwolves, Warpigs, Griffins, etc. until I had observed similar situations from all of the half-dozen trials. I had significantly exhausted my spiritual energy by that point and could not continue for the day even if I wanted to.

All my friends were also looking on at these proceedings and taking notes, even Yale was really studious for once and was seriously taking notes. I had left a few other sub-formations tied to the main one through which they may also analyse the proceedings if they channelled their mageforce through it. This way they can also deepen their knowledge as well as directly assist me in the experiments if I needed more power. We all regrouped in the common area to discuss our findings and bounce ideas off each other, needless to say I got a lot of interesting suggestions that I thought would work but since I can't continue for today, it will have to wait.

The days proceeded in that manner and I learnt a lot about the connection between the Soul and body even though I was yet to succeed with completely reviving of the test subjects. Thankfully none of the Souls that I was testing with were harmed in any way, they were largely inert for the for the most part in a hibernation like state.

"Hey Third Bro, can I talk to you for a moment?" George asks me one evening as we were resting in the common room after another day of testing.

"Sure, what is it Second Bro?" I ask back.

"I was wondering if I could use the main formation room for some of my own experiments? I have sort of been interested in the special physiques of the supreme warriors, from what you've shared with me, they seem to have some magical beast like properties. I want to see if I could give myself some additional power and improve my physique by incorporating traits from magical beasts." George explains the idea he has.

"Well, that is interesting. I would also like to study further on this subject to see what exactly makes our abilities as Supreme warriors so special. Who knows? It might even give me ideas to improve myself as well or at least help me awaken my bloodline powers more easily. Tell you what, you can take the lead on this project, just let me also join in on the research and let me know what you find." I tell him.

I was now also very interested in this as it could prove useful, I remembered that there was a material plane out there where humans could transform into a set magical beast sort of like an Animagus and I wanted to see if we could replicate that. There was also the awakening of the divine abilities for us supreme warriors, the divine abilities were actually the unique skills of the four divine beasts from which we were descended from and the main clan in the Infernal realm had a method to unlock that power for us. It might not help me directly as I could awaken this ability when I eventually meet up with the main clan and my offspring could also use the same methods but not all descendants of divine beasts were so lucky, Bebe's and also Beirut's progeny could not use his special ability and if we succeed, it could help them.

All in all, I only saw plus points in helping Second Bro with his research so I had no issues with approving it. The only problem I gave him was that I was not willing to simply part with some of my blood for him to conduct research on however he pleased and I also did not let him collect samples from Delia and Dixie arbitrarily either. I was not being particularly difficult either as I was fine if he experimented on our blood in our presence and destroyed all samples before we separated. I was not sure if this world had any special curses that can be applied through blood but I wasn't taking any chances. I was just glad that Second Bro easily accepted my conditions and soon we had another major research project in the works.

The others also worked on some personal projects every now and then or just joined in to observe what someone else was doing to get some unique inspiration for their own work. Reynolds for example became very interested in creation of new spells and formations, especially those that could be used in combat.

Anna and Dixie took the chance to improve their magical forging technique and researched better enchantments that they could use. Delia on the other hand got to developing a unique battle style that incorporated singing and dancing into it and I must say that even her current progress with it were amazing. Her movements were so smooth and the pace was a mix of fast and slow that could cause great confusion to her opponents and that wasn't even taking into consideration her melodious voice that could entrance anyone who heard it and dull their senses.

Yale was a surprise though as he began researching on the divination aspect of the Edicts of Fate. I had shared with him a few of the Fate type spells I had created on my own and among them were a couple them that could be considered divination abilities. It was not anything grand and could only give the caster a rough feeling for the results of certain choices they make but it was better than nothing. Guess his unfortunate encounter with a Saint level beast seems to have given him a wake-up call like nothing else and Yale was putting honest effort on improving himself above and beyond the daily training I was having everyone continue.

"Are you any closer to finding a way to help my children boy?" The spirit of the Saint level mother bear Lana asks me. It was now close to 3 months since we all started to live and train in the secret base and we were very close to the 6-month cut off limit set by the Ernst Institute. We only had a month or so to go before we had to report back.

"I'm close, I figured out why a Soul can't simply be stuffed back in a body. There are a few strands of the Soul that are spread out through the physical body like a network of blood vessels or even nerves, I need to recreate this connection if I have to fully revive someone." I answer back.

"Well, that sounds simple enough, we should be done soon then. You have already done plenty of tests." Grandpa Doehring responds back.

"It's not that simple, the network of spiritual strands is very complex and I only have a success rate of around 30% in pulling it off. There is a very small window of time I have to work with and I need to finish all the connections fast, otherwise the Soul will just slip out of the body again or worse, the snapping of the few connections already made causes great harm to the subjects. It's best not to rush in." I clarify.

"Is there any way to improve the chances? From what you told me so far, the method is sound but the problem seems to be in the actual execution." Lana asks.

"It would help if I had more power. So far, I've relied on my own power to complete the process and that puts too much of a burden on me. I've got a formation here that can help with that and enable other practitioners of Necromantic and Life magic to channel Death and Life type mageforce that is needed. That will take some of the pressure off me, but that still leaves the issue of spiritual strength unresolved. I need a lot of concentration to complete the process and I end up exhausted after every try, I'm also running low on the refined Soul energy stored in the CD ring so that is the biggest problem." I explain

"Hmm… if it is only spiritual energy that is the issue now you may use mine. I will do anything to have at least one of my offspring continue living. I just ask that you take care of them and not abuse them or treat them as common mounts." Lana offers her aid while setting a condition at the same time.

"Rest assured Lana, I have no intention of mistreating any magical beast companions. I would in fact prefer if one of us could form a bond of equals with your daughter after she recovers so she will be like family to us." I reassure her and she gives her approval to my proposal.

With everything set we prepare to complete the procedure for the full revival of Lana's daughter Arya. It was a good thing that both Reynolds and Gorge had found those legacies for training in the edicts and shared them with the rest of us, it was even better that we had a talent for some of them. All in all, we were not lacking in a good number of practitioners of Life and Death style magics to help out.

"Alright, everyone ready?" I ask as we had all gathered in the large formations room. Everyone from our group was there including the little magical beast partners like Bebe and Fey.

""We're ready."" They answer back. Delia, Fey and Reynolds had taken up position by the inlet formations for Death mageforce and George, Dixie and Anna had likewise positioned themselves by the Life mageforce inlet formation. I had designated another formation as well that used Fate mageforce to sort of increase our luck and success rate of the process and had Yale man that location.

I placed the female bear cub in the centre of the formation and stepped back to my own designated position and after one last look around, I decide to speak with Lana one last time before we begin.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this? While using your spiritual power will guarantee the success of reviving your daughter there is a very high chance of it also causing a permanent death for you." I had already gone over all the details with her before and was just asking as there would be no going back after this.

"I'm sure, you and your friends seem to be decent sort for humans. I have seen how you and that girl Delia treat your young magic beast partners and the rest of your groups also seem to have similar mindsets. I can rest assured that my daughter at least will be well cared for and also trained well even if my son has no chance of revival. I also feel that it would be best to get this over with quickly, who knows what sort of hidden dangers there might be if Arya's Soul and body stay separated." She confirms her choice and with that I begin the procedure as planned.

"Let's begin then." I say and pour in my own mageforce into the formation to start the procedure. I also channel a strand of my spiritual essence into the CD ring to draw on Lana's strength.

'Wow…!' I exclaim internally as I feel an enormous power flow through me. It was a bit unexpected to be honest, though I knew all Saint level combatants were incredibly powerful compared to 9th rank combatants I did not think the difference was this vast.

Although Lana should have been weakened as she was only a spiritual being now the sheer quantity and quality of her spiritual power was leagues ahead of anything else I had encountered so far. This was good as it gave me more confidence in pulling off this task successfully and also gave me some more assurances that there was not much danger in her Soul completely fading away afterwards.

Honestly, I was at first guilty that Lana's existence could vanish after this, I was even prepared to tap in to my personal spirit power reserves in the CD ring to help her out if I could and at least ensure that she only passes on to the nether realm instead of fading away. Turns out my worries were not needed as I could tell that while she would be weakened and her connection to the CD ring will be broken after this, I would be able to safeguard her Soul for a bit before opening a path to the Nether realm and sending her through.

I was able to do that much at least after studying the edicts of Death over the years and observing the passage of Souls into the nether realm, I was trying to study the connection to the nether realm so that I could create my own version of the Wraith Call spell. While I was still far away from creating a portal through which I could call forth the Undead, I could at least form a portal to send Souls through to the other side at least.

Focusing back on the main issue of fully reviving the bear cub Arya I push away all other distractions as the energy build up from the formation reaches its peak. I then release Arya's Soul from the CD ring and slowly guide it toward her body while also gently coaxing out all the spiritual strands needed to fully reconnect her to her fleshly body.

The Soul smoothly re-enters the body and I focus on all the sub formations around to help me complete all the numerous spiritual strand connections before the window of opportunity closes and she slips out of her body again. I am positively sweating like mad right now as I stretch my own spiritual energy so thin to complete various tasks with as much precision as I could muster and beyond.

'Igah!...' suddenly there was a bit of reaction from the bear cub's body as it twitched and cried out, this was the first reaction we had seen from the bear cub. Before I got too carried away at the first sign of success, I doubled down on my task so I would not mess up in these crucial last stages. The bear cub was slowly starting to struggle more and more and now I was beginning to think that I had messed up and was harming her. Without stopping the process of completing the reconnections I spare a little attention on analysing the state of her Soul core for a bit so I don't hurt her.

I was shocked to find that while most things were going smoothly the repeated drawing of spiritual strands and general pressure from the ritual had put various cracks on the core. There were not many or very severe even for that matter right now but they were slowly spreading. This level of damage would not be fatal to beings of this realm as I had seen that Second and Fourth Bro's condition was worse after they had foolishly trained in the edicts, thankfully they were recovering well now. It still made me worry a bit as the bear cub was too young and not like my bros who had cultivated for quite a few years already, this could in fact be dangerous to her I thought.

With that in mind I began diverting some of the spiritual power from Lana directly into the Soul core of Arya while also reinforcing it with Life, Death and Fate type mageforce. That seemed to work as the spread of cracks started to reduce and I saw another surprising sight as some of them even started to heal while absorbing the three types of reinforcing mageforce and soon started to draw in the corresponding natural essences on its own. This shocked me and almost caused my connection to the formations to break completely, this scene was very similar to my own situation where the Soul of the original Linley and Transmigrator fused and resulted in my Soul mutating.

I couldn't believe that I had triggered a Soul mutation in the bear cub, this situation was simply too amazing, talk about fortuitous encounters. If this was not an isolated incident, if I could maybe replicate this, I could induce a controlled Soul mutation for all my near and dear ones and directly enhance their power and potential manifold. With this in mind I put even more focus in seeing this process through to the end while closely observing all that happened so I could study it in more detail later.

Although it felt like a lot longer the actual merging of the Body and Soul was successfully completed within a few minutes, I still continued to work the formation to both speed up the recovery of the bear cub and also to study this unique phenomenon of a Soul mutating. Her Soul was still damaged a bit and the power of the formation was greatly lending to speed up her recovery so I saw no reason to stop, this way she might regain consciousness faster.

The twitching and struggling of the cub had stopped by now and she was breathing steadily, no her breathing was even more stable now that her Soul was back in her body and in control. I had also cut the drain from Lana and just in time too as her reserves were starting to get dangerously low.

"It's done, the operation is a complete success… more than just that in fact. Looks like we also managed to increase the potential of the cub." I state out loud for everyone's benefit, mostly Lana's as she looked the most worried. "Don't stop powering the formation though as there are still a few spiritual injuries that remain and they will heal faster the longer we keep the formation active." I add to my friends and the voice their agreements.

"Thank you, Linley, with this I will be able to pass on without too much worry. Promise me you will care for my child Linley… promise me…" Lana starts to say mentally to me as she gets weaker.

"I promise." I tell her before using my Death attribute mageforce to create a small connection to the nether realm and guiding her through before she fades completely. With a final look of love and care towards her daughter, Lana moves on to the next great adventure.

My friends and I kept up the formation for as long as we could which was around a couple more hours before we were exhausted but it was worth it. I checked up on the status of Arya the World Bear cub after a short rest and was overjoyed to find out that her condition was stable and recovering without any external help now, I also saw that she was now drawing the essences of Life, Death and Fate in addition to the Earth essences which was the natural affinity for her kind. This and another closer examination of her Soul told me that she had successfully undergone a 4-way Soul mutation which was amazing.

After a short discussion with my friends, I quickly separated to analyse and study all that I had observed so far. I did not forget about the main patient though and handed little Arya over to Delia and Anna who were more than happy to take care of her for now.

"Did you sense that Grandpa Doehring?" I ask him as soon as I was in my own private room. He had been observing the entire process closely from start to finish seeing as he had a vested interest on the outcome.

"I most certainly did Linley, I must say it was remarkably similar to what I witnessed of your own miraculous recovery when I first say you. The feeling of Earth essences being drawn in and the rapid strengthening of Spirit was the same." He responds.

"It wasn't only Earth Essence Grandpa Doehring, she was also drawing the essences of Life, Death and Fate. She's sort of become like me now and should be capable of using those four elements easily along with a combination of them." I explain further.

"What?! That… that is incredible! Linley, do you think something like that could be repeated multiple times without endangering the subjects?" He asks me with an excited look in his eyes. I could tell that he was very excited about this as if it could be done again, not only would he have a new body but he would also be able to greatly increase his future prospects.

"That's what I want to find out Grandpa Doehring. If we can figure out a safe way to repeat this incident, not only will we be able improve your potential, we could also do the same for my friends as well, even my little brother and the others over at the O'Brian Empire." I add on eagerly. With that we both eagerly dive in to researching what had happened and also making a proper record of our observations of the incident.

It was a few hours later that I was forced to relent from my research when Delia came to drag me out for a meal. By that I meant drag me out to cook for my group but I didn't mind too much, Bebe had also climbed on to my head and was pulling my hair at that point letting his displeasure at not being fed be known.

"Honestly Linley, if we weren't here to drag you for meals you would have forgotten to eat for days on end. It's good to be dedicated and hard-working but there is a limit." She starts chastising me as she pulls me towards the kitchen and attached dining room of our base.

"Haha, thank you for looking out for me Delia." I say with a fond smile and giving the hand holding mine a gentle squeeze.

"Humph, it's good that you know." She fires back with a little blush on her cheeks. I chuckle a bit before making some small talk for the rest of the way.

I was still thinking about the process of safely inducing Soul mutation in others while cooking and for most of the meal later and seeing my distracted form, the others were nice enough to not disturb me too much. By now everyone in my group was somewhat aware that I was prone to getting lost in my thoughts every now and then so they let me be lest I target them for torture in the name of training. They were also praying that the things I was thinking of was not some new intense training method, while all of the things I had come up with before were very helpful in everyone's training, some of them were painfully difficult.

Just then I remembered an important factor I had figured out for successfully undergoing a Soul mutation, the strength of the subject undergoing the process. I had long figured out that the chances of success were lower as one's power increases, at lower ranks the backlash from the combining of different elements was lesser as they were less potent and the cost for healing was also lesser as their bodies and spirits were not yet incredibly powerful.

In fact, if I managed to refine the process just right, I could also channel the excess energy released from the fusion of elements during mutation to act as a whetstone to help them quickly increase the strength of their bodies and spirits. I need to convince everyone to slow down their training for now at least, ideally it would be best if they have not reached 7th rank until after I offer them a chance to undergo Soul mutation. That should be the cut-off I think as even Arya was only at peak rank 4 when she successfully underwent a Soul mutation, still those World Bears are something, being equivalent to 4th rank magical beasts at birth, truly worthy of their reputation of being Saint Level beasts.

"Anna, Dixie, what are your current ranks?" I ask them after I finish ordering my thoughts seeing as they were the strongest in our group. I so hope that they aren't going to say- 'Surprise! We've broken through to rank 7.'

"I've just reached the peak of rank 6 Linley. Breaking through to rank 7 is truly difficult but rest assured, I am close, I feel that I should break through in s couple years or so." Anna assures me. Normally mages would need a decade or so to advance from peak of 6th to the 7th rank, the gap really was huge and the only reason all my friends were so chill about it was due to the amazing techniques I had shared with them.

"About the same for me I guess." Dixie also confirms for me and I let out a sigh of relief.

"That's good, what about the rest of you?" I ask the others. They all respond that their training in going well and that they feel that they have quite a way to go before they can advance to rank 7.

"In that case, I have a small request to make. I would like you all to temporarily put a hold on your training, especially you two Dixie and Anna. There is something I would like to try that will give you all a good power boost but the chances of succeeding with it will drop if you are over rank 6. There are still dangers to this process though as I have yet to perfect it and I won't lie; the chance of death is high. I'm still working on it though and I should be able to at least greatly increase the survival rate but, it will be your choice if you want to go through with it in the end." I put forth my proposal.

"Hmm… can we think on this Linley?" Dixie asks. He trusts me a lot right now and was openly accepting me courting his sister now but this was still the first time I gave them such a dire warning of possible death so he chose to think it over slowly.

"Well, I'm up for it. Let me know when we can get started Third Bro." Yale surprisingly accepts my offer readily much to the shock of the rest of the group that were also taking their time to think on my offer.

"Boss Yale, I'm happy you trust me so much but as I said, I'm still working on the technique so please think it over carefully." I say to him.

"No need Third Bro, I trust you. You would not even propose something like this if you did not have much confidence in the first place and I know you would not put any of us in too much danger. I am sure that you will work out the best possible method to guarantee our lives, I did a little bit of divination after all and it's telling me to go for it." He replies with a smirk.

"Well, I better live up to your trust then." I respond with a smirk of my own while also feeling very grateful to him for showing so much confidence in me.

For the next week I spent nearly all of my time on perfecting my insane idea to create Soul Mutates and even forwent sleep, it wasn't a problem at my strength level. The method was easier to create than I had expected and by studying up on what happened to Arya I was able to create a procedure I was confident enough with to try on my family and friends. It also helped that I was able to monitor Arya's condition over that week and successfully test out some of the theories for protection of the Soul core and recovery which was the main issue when someone's Soul is mutating. It also had the added effect of speeding up her recovery rate and by the end of the week Arya was fully conscious and recovered, she was a very lively bear cub but with the combination of Delia and Anna, they were able to easily care for her.

When I was satisfied enough with the procedure I had created, I set about preparing for live testing with my first volunteer- Grandpa Doehring. He had expressed his desire to be the one to go through this new improved procedure before I had to test it out on my friends- "Let me be the first to undergo this procedure Linley. Don't give me that look, I know better than anyone how much you put in to this work and I've checked all of your calculations personally. You have done everything possible to ensure the subject's survival, besides I don't have a body yet and this ties in to the whole re-bodifying method very well so we can see if I can possess that other World Bear cub body. Even if it doesn't work; I've lived a long life, Linley, I have no more regrets so if this old man can be of use to his genius disciple, then all the better." He puts forth his sales pitch.

We argued some more but, in the end, I was forced to relent to the stubborn old man, really that old man can pout. With that decided I gathered all my friends again to carry out the second Re-Bodifying and improved Soul Mutation procedure on Grandpa Doehring and the male bear cub body. The procedure had to be altered a bit as Grandpa Doehring was not the original owner of the body but thankfully they showed good compatibility as they had the same innate elemental affinity. The main issue of Grandpa Doehring's spiritual power rank being too high was also solved by having most of his strength sacrificed to enable him to successfully possess the new body before we start the mutation process.

The procedure was a resounding success as Grandpa Doehring finally had a body again, full Soul Mutate benefits and all with affinities for Life, Death and Fate along with Earth. The recovery time was also shortened greatly as I knew what would help heal the subjects faster so he was fully alive and kicking 3 days after the procedure. Though he was now starting to regret his impulsive decision a bit as Delia and Anna were cooing over his cute and fuzzy form while Bebe and I were laughing at his new predicament. He couldn't put much of a fight either as they Teddy-Bear-handled him seeing as his physical strength level had fallen to initial stages of 4th rank and his control of his new body was shot to hell as well despite him retaining the spiritual power of a peak 5th rank mage.

Thankfully my friends did not ask too much on which Soul I used for this bear cub or why it was always sticking so close to me. They were not even slightly upset that I seemed to be bonding well with a Saint Beast cub and only thought it right that I should have a beast companion of this calibre. With this as a success I began setting up for the Soul Mutation induction procedure for my friends.

The main issue was to slightly damage the Soul of the person undergoing the procedure before healing them back up stronger under the influence of high concentration natural essences as per their affinities. This was different as I had no intention to pull their Souls out and re-stuff them in their bodies so, the change and mutation would also not be that drastic. This safer version would naturally not increase their power greatly in one go and would only be able to bump up their spiritual rangs by 2 at most but the most important factor of the mutation to use multiple fused elements would be attained, it would be faint at first but gradually they would be able to completely fuse their elements.

For the actual procedure I used the principles of the 4 edicts, where I had the Destruction and Death essences be the main forces that apply pressure and cause the required damage to their Souls while Life and Death essences healed them and the Fate essences helped control the overall process.

In addition to that I created a temporary natural essence storage formation which I could use to store up the various types and release them as per required to ensure each person had high concentrations of essences at the ready according to their affinities. Despite this I was very worried when we began the first test with Yale who had selflessly volunteered to go before everyone else.

I paid extra focus to each and every step and despite the painful screams and twitching of Yale (Damaging your Soul is not a pleasant experience, trust me) that made me feel anxious, I stuck through with it till the end. The pressure on his Soul kept on increasing just like the magus spiritual energy test that we undertook so long ago. I kept the pressure up way past the safety limits of those tests until I saw that his Soul had warped and the surface was shattered before stopping. He began drawing up the natural essences I was supplying him like crazy after that and I heaved a sigh of relief as it was over. Yale's condition was stable now and despite him being unconscious still, he was healing. He did show the initial signs of having successfully undergone a Soul Mutation but I withheld letting anyone else undergo the procedure until he was fully conscious and I gave him a through check-up.

"Wow, I feel great right now. But you weren't joking when you said it would hurt though, I honestly felt like I was going to die…" Yale starts yapping as I continue checking his health.

"I did warn you… Well, you seem fine, I can't detect any major concerns with your health in your body or spirit. I also must congratulate you though as your spirit power has reached the threshold of rank 7 magi." I tell him.

"… Bwahahahahaha… That's right, now you all see the magnificent power of your Boss Yale. Hehehe, I am no longer the weakest in our dorm, Bwahahaha." Yale gets lost in celebration after what I said finally registers with him.

"Humph, don't get so excited Boss Yale, Third Bro said he would offer the same opportunity to all of so. Speaking of which, you better make the most of your head start now or you will be pushed back to last place again." Reynolds cheekily responds as the rest of our group looks on in amazement.

"Well, since everything seems have gone smoothly… Who's next?" I ask and everyone raises their hand eagerly. The earlier fright and trepidation of seeing Yale screaming and writhing in pain is long gone in the face of the benefits they can gain. As they say, no pain no gain.

I carry out the procedure for the rest of the group one at a time after that including the magical beast companions in the party i.e., Bebe and Fey. I did not get careless after the first success though and I completed the process for each of them with the same level of care while also taking plenty of rest in between. By the end of the week, all of them had successfully undergone a Soul mutation and their spiritual energy had directly increased by 1 or 2 ranks putting all of us over 7th rank now. It also benefitted me especially as it helped me digest the initial leftover spirit power I had unknowingly accumulated from Lana and Grandpa Doehring when I was re-bodifying the bear cubs. This led me to finally ascend that final step into the realm of Arch Magus of the 9th rank, if outsiders knew the power of our gang let alone mine, they would definitely be shocked.

I clap my hands to bring everyone's attention to me before saying- "Alright settle down everyone. We will have to return to the institute soon so I recommend that we all take the remaining time that we have to properly adjust to our new strength for the next week. We will head out after that; remember we still need to remain low profile about our strength." They all nod in agreement and we return to our separate rooms for now.

The following week goes by in a flash and we make preparations to head back out. The only down side so far is that both Grandpa Doehring and Arya have not initiated a bond with any of us. It was still too soon for Arya as she had still not grown that close to anyone but we had all come to an agreement that Anna should be the one to partner with her seeing as she and Delia seemed to have the best connection with her. Delia already had Fey as a partner so she was more than happy to let her prospective sister-in-law have this opportunity. As for Grandpa Doehring, he was more than willing to partner up with me seeing as a person could form a contract with up to 3 magical beasts. The problem was that he had no idea how to initiate a bond of equals and I had no intention of putting a servant bond on him.

"Tch… Stupid fat bear body… why must you be so difficult…grumble grumble…" Grandpa Doehring would often grumble whenever I initiated a conversation with spiritual power. We were thankfully still able to do that over a short range thanks to both our experiences and powerful spirit despite Grandpa Doehring's level having fallen greatly.

"Oh relax would you, at least you have a body again now or would you rather go back to remaining as a disembodied spirit bound to my ring. Speaking of which, you know you should be grateful that it was I who found this ring and not just for helping you get back a body mind you. Can you imagine what would have happened if you and the ring were found by that sick twisted character Baelish, you know that guy I got that high-grade interspatial ring from?" I chastise him.

"Brrr… unfilial disciple… how dare you… now I have that stuck in my head. Humph, honestly if I was ever pushed into such a situation, I would have risked it all to cast a forbidden spell like Heavenly Meteor's Descent to kill that mongrel. I'd rather have my Soul completely dissipate to kill him than suffer his madness." He fires back. Well looks like he's feeling better now… I think as I see him go on and on about what he would do to idiots like Baelish now that he had a body of his own.

With the issue of having two powerful Saint beast infants that needed taking care of we decided to temporarily split up with Bebe and Fey staying back in the hideout along with the bears while the rest of us returned to the institute. Anna had decided to just graduate soon after returning to the institute so she would no longer be bound by their rules and freely return to the hideout to continue bonding with Arya. She had decided to only display the minimum 6th rank capability required to graduate as that would ensure that the officials would pay even less attention to her. With our plans set we made haste to return to the institute.