The River Whale didn't even notice the hell it was subjected to, unable to appreciate the final moments of its individuality. It lay on the ground; the shallow water barely reached a tenth of its height.

The water level became deeper further deeper into the layer, but at the entrance, it wasn't much to comment about. Even a five-year-old child could move through it without any danger to his life. Using the hallucination, Jyorta controlled the River Whale to gently manipulate the water around it, carrying the Shoe Fishes to make a layer around it.

This allowed the Shoe Fishes to reach all corners of its body. Through the soul domain, Jyorta gazed at the Shoe Fishes, trying to attach them all to the River Whale. It was a simple plan he had devised; it was to raise the defence of the River Whale to the maximum and use it as his steed.

The River Whales were capable of flying and could manipulate the water to a fair extent using their Traits. So, they were his best bet in tiding through layer 3. Moreover, he wished to fight in the layer and obtain more benefits. So, getting a strong ally on his side was a must.

The Steel Porcupine was a being adept at long-ranged attacks and possessed high agility. Now, with the Shoe Fishes attached to its body, its defence became its stronger suit. Jyorta used a spindle to prod along its skin, feeling a smooth texture akin to glass.

"The Shoe Fishes have expanded until they touched each other. And, they have created a cohesive structure without any gaps so that the entire surface remains smooth." Jyorta muttered. As the Shoe Fishes possessed a transparent body, he couldn't even notice any difference with the Steel Porcupine.

The Rive Whale, on the other hand, possessed a massive body. The one before him spanned almost five metres in length. It was a hulking creature. And, it was still a youngling. Even without a Frenzy Parasite, whales were capable of growing to about 10-25 metres depending on their species.

Through evolution, an adult River Whale grew to a length of 30 metres. Adding on the Frenzy Parasite, and their lengths were blown out of proportion. At Tier 5, River Whales surpassed a hundred metres in length. Adding onto the density of their mass, they were behemoths.

Just the sheer density of their muscle mass made each of their attacks possess earth-shattering power. Moreover, their tough muscles and heavy muscle mass absorbed most of the power behind physical attacks. At times, just sheer size alone gave a tremendous advantage.

And thanks to their Trait, the River Whales were never constrained by their large bodies. They could move freely thanks to the Trait that functioned the same whether they were small or massive.

"Traits," Jyorta sighed, expressing a bit of envy. The ability of the Traits possessed by the Frenzy Beasts were dependent on their bodies. So, if they possessed a large stature, the Traits were similarly developed. As it was their inherent quality, it grew not just with their strength, but also with the development of their body.

The Traits humanity created were strictly restricted to their Tiers and were largely dependent on pre-established factors. They had zero possibility of growth or adaptability according to the changes in the body.

In the vision of his blue soul, the entire body of the River Whale was covered by murky wisps. And, situated in the centre were two souls, one larger wisp while the other was the River Whale's soul. It was as developed as a twenty-year-old human.

Maybe it was coincidence or luck, but all the Shoe Fishes in the area were used up while every inch of the River Whale was covered by them. Jyorta smiled, knocking its surface with his spindle, hearing a dull thud. It was like hitting against a block of granite.

After a moment of hesitation, Jyorta carefully touched the surface with his index finger. His other hand held the bladed chakram, intending to sever his finger the moment something strange happened.

His armour wholly covered him, so he wasn't making direct contact. Still, he didn't wish to make a hasty move. The last time he did so, he was severely injured. Jyorta touched the surface with his finger, keeping note of everything through all his senses. Once nothing happened, he heaved a sigh of relief, "Thankfully, everything is just like what had been recorded in the Portal. Nothing unusual happened."

Jyorta unleashed his Soul Cornea, seeping it into the River Whale's soul. The fact that it was an Area Controller raised its value in his eyes. There was a lot he could achieve with it. So, he planned to prepare accordingly.

The River Whale's soul was a murky mass, like a boulder covered in a moss overgrowth. It was fairly sturdy, displaying its essence about the intention to congregate. The murky mist it released was very little; it faintly revolved around the murky mass.

The Soul Cornea wrapped around it, unleashing its influence. The murkiness was corroded at a fast rate. The blue soul connected ten soul tendrils to his Brain Crystal, siphoning his psychic energy. It converted the psychic energy into soul energy to be used as fuel for the Soul Cornea.

Thankfully, the energy required to unleash the Soul Cornea's influence wasn't high. His second Soul Cornea formed a cocoon around the blue soul, vaporising any murkiness that came near.

One for defence and one for offence.

Jyorta spent less than a couple of minutes to fully vaporise its murkiness, leaving behind a condensed soul. It was fully crystalline now; the blue soul could also see its soul core. If he wished to make it his subsoul, it wouldn't even take him a minute to do so.

But, Jyorta didn't do that, wishing to train his aura abilities for now. He also didn't have any intention of sacrificing this River Whale. He planned to see if it had any research material value through their ensuing battle.

And, if it proved to be so, it would provide him with a direction of research once he graduated. After all, the Shoe Fishes lacked any intelligence. So, with proper research and planning, their abilities could be abused to the full extent.

'If I can devise a method to raise their intelligence without making them my subsouls and elevate them to Tier 3, I wonder what Tier 3 Skills they would Nurture.' Relics, that was what echoed in his mind. All Warrior Skills were close combat based, save for their Tier 3 Skills.

Only the Tier 3 Skills were emission-based and could be used by Espers easily. This gave them greater value. And, there existed Tier 3 Shoe Fishes in the Wilds in the single digits. Even that was a conjecture.

Their lacking intelligence made them suffer defeat in the Mental Realm—by their Frenzy Parasites. So, a breakthrough to Tier 2 usually meant the Frenzy Parasite was the one that had initiated it. And, it resulted in the Frenzy Parasite gaining control of the body.

But, that also put an end to its development. After all, two entities were necessary to be pulled into the Mental Realm. And, that would no longer be possible after the Frenzy Parasite had taken control of the body. Without heading into the Mental Realm, the breakthrough would be a failure and the Heart Crystal would just explode while its cells would die immediately.

So, any Tier 2 Shoe Fish were beings that had lost control. And, in the extreme cases where a Shoe Fish had won against the Frenzy Parasite, then the Shoe Fish might have a possibility of reaching Tier 3.

Neither the Tier 3 Skills of the Shoe Fishes had been documented nor did anyone have an idea of the Skills they would Nurture. The first step to achieve that was what Jyorta was doing now.

After the River Whale's soul was purified of its murkiness, the blue soul vaporised the murkiness in its Frenzy Parasite's soul. Followed by that were the Souls of the Shoe Fishes and their respective Frenzy Parasites.

It took him around three hours, with his psychic energy reserves dropping to half when Jyorta finished it. As a steady stream of psychic energy gushed into his Brain Crystal, his reserves were at half now. Otherwise, it would have reached rock bottom.

'Now to start the actual plan.' He smiled, barely able to control his excitement.

The blue soul extended its Soul Cornea, tapping on the soul of a Shoe Fish's Frenzy Parasite. It nudged one end of it, pulling out part of the soul before kneading it, producing a soul tendril. It continued to pull at the soul and knead it, extending the soul tendril until it reached the respective Shoe Fish's soul. The Soul Cornea attached the soul tendril to it, infusing a bit of soul energy to mend the gaps, making the link rigid.

It similarly made a connection between all the souls of the Shoe Fishes with the souls of their respective Frenzy Parasites. Once it was done, the Soul Cornea tugged at a Shoe Fish's soul, kneading the tugged part into a soul tendril before attaching it with its Heart Crystal.

Immediately, a bit of energy from the Heart Crystal seeped into it, bulging the size of its soul by a little. The Soul Cornea repeated the same with the souls of all the Shoe Fishes. Once it was done, it extended a soul tendril from a Shoe Fish's soul and connected it with the River Whale's soul.

The foundation of a Shoe Fish's soul was insufficient to make such a long soul tendril. But, as the Soul cornea extended it, and when its foundation proved insufficient, memory fragments flowed out from its Frenzy Parasite's soul and spread through the extended soul tendril.

With the increased foundation, energy was siphoned from its Heart Crystal, bulging up the size of its soul, allowing the soul tendril to be extended.