Soul Shard

His new Spirits were pretty weak. The two Sparrow Spirits could only release one somewhat powerful fire needle before their storage of soul particles would be used up.

After one fire needle with full power was released, the Sparrow Spirits would grow extremely weak and it wouldn't take much time before they would be put inside the Grimoire of the Ancient where Zayn's Spirits could rest a little.

Their weakness was owing to the lack of soul particles. Restoring their old progress speed would take a while under normal circumstances because the Sparrows' talent was below average. Absorbing soul particles from the surrounding area was a necessity and could be skipped in order to gain true strength.

However, there was a faster way for those Spirits to become stronger who had been bound to their master!

Zayn chose to make use of this faster way by allowing the two Pyrat Spirits to devour some of his soul particles.

It was not too long ago that he expanded the snippet of the Grimoire's first empty page. It was large enough to fit the Human Spirit and the two Sparrow Spirits, which meant that the remaining soul particles were used to enhance Zayn's strength.

He had yet to use his soul particles to form parts of his first Soulring. That was why Zayn could easily allow others to devour his soul particles. After all, the soul particles that had been used to form Soulrings couldn't be devoured anymore. They were solid and a permanent part of the host.

By allowing the two Sparrow Spirits to devour his soul particles, they could regain their old glory in the blink of an eye..

It was easy for Spirits to regain the strength they possessed while they were alive, just by absorbing soul particles. They didn't have to do anything special to regain the strength they once possessed.

Even the Human Spirit could regain its full strength just by absorbing more soul particles. They would transform into the Soulring that it had possessed before dying.

As for the Sparrow Spirits, they had never possessed a Soulring, to begin with. They were far from starting the process of creating their Soulring. Thus, they absorbed soul particles crudely without refining them in any way.

The two Spirits devoured everything greedily, to the extent that they grew even stronger than they had been before they died.

This left Zayn astonished and extremely exhausted because all of his soul particles had been devoured and he was back to Zero.

Under normal circumstances, losing all his progress would be terrifying because he had to be stronger than his Spirits to control them.

The Human Spirit may as well sense an opportunity to challenge Zayn's authority now that it was the strongest Spirit under his control while Zayn didn't possess a single soul particle.

However, nothing like that happened. Zayn's back was drenched in a cold sweat and he regretted opening his stream of soul particles to the two greedy Sparrow Spirits because they just didn't know when to stop.

He wanted to get up, just to feel a sudden weakness overcoming him. His sight blurred once again and he couldn't help but scoff at his weakness.

'I really am a loser.'

Shaking his head, Zayn smiled weirdly as he pointed at the corpse of the Bison.

"Hand me the Bison's Soul Shard."

Earlier, Zayn had been wondering why no Soul Wisp emerged from the Bison but it was actually quite simple.

The Bison possessed a Soul Shard, not a Soul Wisp! It was rare for Monsters without a Soulring to possess a Soul Shard but the Bison was one of the rare monsters.

Soul Shards had various uses because they stored most of the monster's soul particles, and refined it as well. Monsters in possession of a Soul Shard were usually stronger than ordinary Soul Monsters. Zayn and the Human Spirit didn't get to see the Bison's true strength because it had already been weakened by dozens of Pyrat Sparrows that had fired hundreds of fire needles at it.

Because of the pre-work of the Pyrat Sparrows, it had been no problem for the Human Spirit and Zayn to kill it, giving them an easy way to obtain its Soul Shard.

Under normal circumstances, Zayn would have sold the Soul Shard for a small fortune but he wasn't greedy enough to put the possibility of earning a small fortune over his own safety.

That was why he chose to absorb the refined soul particles within the Soul Shard and sell the empty Soul Shard's shell.

The Human Spirit looked at Zayn for a few seconds before it followed his commands. Zayn noticed the hesitation of the Human Spirit but that was only expected.

He could tell that the Human Spirit had considered overwhelming Zayn's mind and overwriting the subordinate-master relationship of their souls, and wondered if it should continue following him.

Luckily, Zayn wasn't betrayed by his first Spirit which caused him to smile lightly.

'I hope they will never find out that I'm testing their loyalty like that…or that they would have ceased to exist if they betrayed me…'

He snickered as he retrieved the Soul Shard from the Human Spirit and froze in his tracks when he took a first glance at the Soul Shard.

"So…beautiful…' Zayn marveled quietly.

The transparent prismarine crystal glimmered like a rainbow in the sunlight, its surface smooth and polished. Its triangular shape caught the light and refracted it in a dazzling display of colors. The inside of the Soul Shard seemed to swirl with varying patterns and intricate details.

It was a sight to behold, a true work of art made by nature itself.

He held it up to the light, not bothering about absorbing it immediately and he watched intently as a riot of colors exploded into the crystal that seemed to shine with rainbow hues.

This small Soul Shard that wasn't much bigger than his thumb was truly a marvelous object, and it was worth a small fortune.

Yet, Zayn absorbed it just like that once he regained his senses.

"What a beautiful time and place to live!" He mumbled, the corners of his lips tilting upward.

However, as blood trickled out of his mouth and he began to writhe in pain, he realized what he had just done.

'...Oops.'