3 Chapter 2

Lu Wang went back to his courtyard, due to the talents he'd shown so far nobody would dare to council against him returning here, but in a couple of months' time if he were to show a poor performance at the Awakening tournament, he'd have to leave, son of patriarch or not.

He settled his new partner into the cultivation pool; they'd have to decide on a name first of course. Generally at least for lower ranked sects their beast partner is given the family name of the human partner until they reach an age they're capable of helping decide their own first name. However, since his partner had awakened spirituality already Lu thought it'd be best to choose a full name soon as the earlier a name is given the more power it has.

He reached inside himself, and saw two black balls of energy, he smiled as he knew that he'd lucked out. It is said that only when one contracted a spiritual companion did cultivation truly begin. The earliest benefit of such an alliance was a skill given called merged cultivation, it was the first and earliest skill any cultivator/beast acquired. It is freely given as soon as one contracted a spiritual partner whilst all other combination skills had to be learned through insights and cultivation manuals.

However, there was another situation. The supremely talented managed to acquire an additional skill after contracting a spiritual partner. There were several races known for their particular race combination skills. The phoenix generally gave its contractor the ability of nirvana rebirth whereas the dragon gave the ability of dragon prestige. Saying this though not all things were as clear cut as that, even within the phoenix and dragon contract there were geniuses or trash that received greater or lesser skills than the general rebirth or prestige skills. Though one could acquire more than one additional skill it was not that more was better but the level and suitability of the skill, though one thing was certain, the additional skill was the easiest to level up and generally became the secret or trump card of the spiritual partners.

He dived deeper into himself and sensed the power of his additional skill. Voidwalk.

He sensed deep and he could sense the attributes of this power. Space and Darkness, the ability to shuttle through space and relocate to or swap places with his partner.

This was quite the life saving skill, as with such a shared skill, in the event of danger even should he die, his companion could flee fast enough that he could come back later.

Many scholar cultivation organisations have put forth the theory that upon signing the spiritual partner contract, the two partners become one body, and just like one could regenerate broken skin after a cut, one could 'regrow' their own spiritual partner in case of death. Though there were many limitations to this skill it served well enough to make the study of escape tactics a must for at least one of the two partners.