『Golden Furball』

"I'm not getting stronger..." A person sighed.

Despite his best efforts, there was still barely any progress on his cultivation. It was likely due to him being unable to complete a Soul Star.

"This makes the 50th monster, are you sure you can still keep going Naoki?" She asked, concerned that he might be pushing his limit.

"Just a little more..."

Naoki, upon reaching the 2nd layer, has been fervently excited. Who could blame him? While it does not seem to be much different from the 1st, it was still a chance for him to grow stronger. Unfortunately, there wasn't much progress as his 4th soul node does not seem to be improving much despite his special ability.

Even worse, he wasn't able to obtain a single Dedicated Soul Node as they weren't strong enough to fight against strong monsters on the 2nd layer yet.

"No, I'm sorry, but we will conclude for today," Astria said admonishingly.

"Hah... fine. I apologize you had to see that." Naoki said dejectedly, his face down.

Naoki had wanted to become stronger so that he might be able to stand on the same level as Astria. He, of course, did not admit that—though it was highly likely she already knew.

"Mhm." She softly smiled.

"How about this? There's a male-only competition held tonight. How about joining? I hear the first prize was a pure soul fragment." Astria tried to console him.

"I'll consider it..." Naoki accepted her intentions.

Apparently, it was a tournament held to give opportunities to males. The winner of the tournament will be included in the main event which will also be held on the same night. Of course, all fights are harmless and pain absorber formations have been set to avoid discomfort and injuries.

<It seems I've missed a lot since the last time you came here>

"Eh...?"

<...you didn't forget about me, did you?>

Naoki looked at his surroundings and found no one other than Astria. She was confused by Naoki's sudden actions and tilted her head.

"Naoki...?"

<She's a sweet girl isn't she? Quite the haul you've gotten, with a lineage to boot.>

"Lea!" He thought to himself.

Leariz was communicating with Naoki through telepathy. She is, after all, the domain master. Knowing everything that happens inside her domain is natural.

<Don't mind me, I'm just inspecting your soul. You may continue.>

"I see..."

<Also-...>

Leariz explained why Astria did not mention anything about her, which Naoki found weird before. Apparently, she had put a seal on that memory so that it can't be read via external methods. She also commended Naoki for not spreading her identity—though she could deal with it even if he did.

"You're..." Astria checked their connection.

"Oh my..."

"Naoki..."

"Isn't it too early for that...?" Astria flushed red as she checked what was on Naoki's mind.

"Eh...?"

"What did you do, you bitch!?" He thought to himself.

<Consider it as thanks. I may have just helped your relationship~> Leariz mocked, laughing grinningly.

Apparently, Leariz had sent a false message and passed it off as Naoki's. That message contains the desire to... be one. While they had already done it, it was only due to the effects of repairing her soul. After all, she isn't mentally ready to make that decision calmly yet.

"Soul saint or not, I'm dealing with you later."

<...>

"Naoki..."

As they head back to the beacon at the center of the domain, they both avoided each other's gaze. Naoki had sworn to get revenge for this someday. He, of course, would later realize that it might not be a bad thing at all.

<<----------->>

"Come at me!" He exclaimed

Shouting in the middle of a vast plain, a person could be seen. He seemed to have gone insane.

*Pierce* *Pierce* *Pierce*

One after another balls of fur had been murdered, recreating a massacre.

"HEHEHEHEHE!" He laughed demonically.

That's right, this arbiter of doom was no other than Naoki himself. After separating from Astria outside of the domain, it seems that he had gone on an excursion—more precisely, a Furball mass genocide.

Time passed...

*Silence*

"Still, to think that my soul has somewhat recovered its limits." Naoki wondered.

After resting for a few hours, it seems his soul was more than ready to absorb more. Naoki figured that if he couldn't raise his soul nodes, he might as well just focus on his [Blitz]. He experimented—Apparently, He can increase his Dedicated Soul Node even if it wasn't a strong monster, as long as it's the same monster.

*Boing* *Boing*

"Hmm... oh!?"

Naoki was shocked at what he saw. It wasn't a strong monster—it was, in fact, a golden Furball. Without thinking, he immediately approached the monster with a shine in his eyes.

"...!"

*Thud*

Naoki stumbled back.

*Fwoom*

"What was that!?"

It seems that the furball had charged at Naoki at supersonic speed, which explained the delay in the sound. Luckily for him, his recently acquired Soul Armor had protected him—which was not bought from his own money.

*Fwoom* *Fwoom*

The golden furball darted in random directions, making craters with every hit.

"How am I supposed to defeat it...?"

"..."

"Wait, that could work!"

Naoki remembered he had another Dedicated Soul Node. He had totally forgotten about it since he had deemed it useless as it would only net him trouble if it was activated near humans.

"Here it goes..."

As he activated it, he readied his [Blitz]-infused fist—arrows were useless here, after all.

"...?" The golden furball looked at him and immediately bolted toward him.

"I got you!"

As he hit the golden furball, a massive shockwave followed. It shook the earth around them and even pushed Naoki back by quite a considerable distance.

"Guh..." Naoki groaned, the shockwave had given him a slight concussion.

After a few moments, Naoki stood up and rush back to the scene. Somehow, the magnitude of that exchange had created cracks in the ground.

"That's..."

A golden soul fragment.

This was the first time he had seen one. Andrew had explained that, occasionally, rare monsters will appear and drop different soul fragments.

"It's quite odd to think that I'm lucky to even find one." He said while absorbing the fragment.

He still had kept his cheap Soul Armor that boosted luck even when Astria said otherwise. Apparently, depending on your cultivation, you have a limit on how much Soul Armor you can have. For people who have just begun, three would be the limit—though there were some special cases like geniuses having four or more when they started.

"This..."

His soul nodes didn't budge at all, it seems the golden fragment didn't help much in terms of cultivation. Although, upon further inspection, Naoki noticed something peculiar—his [Blitz] Soul Node had seemingly turned from white to green.

"I assume it somehow improved...?" Naoki tested it out.

"-Woah!"

Naoki staggered back

As he tried to use it on his fist, it created a shockwave that echoed forward. His Dedicated Soul Node was a lot stronger than before, it seemed.

"Ohh!?" Naoki celebrated.

Dusk was approaching, yet one individual could be seen jumping with excitement. It seems like he had chosen the right decision to train more before the tournament starts.