"Oh? You have even gotten one of those rings they used. This will be interesting..." Andrea was staring a bit intensely at Luke's face, who didn't seem to mind her stare. With a spring in his step, he summoned both the map and manual on his bed.

Opening the map up he said,

"Ok first thing fi-"

"You seem...more, energetic...than usual."

It was a minimal thing she notices, but any small changes in Luke, Andrea could always tell. Like over the past days or so, she saw Luke becoming more calmer, confident, and a lot happier.

Andrea assumed it was mainly because of those girls...yet now? She could tell something far more impactful happened during his little trip to the clan.

"Ah, well, it's because I finally realize the true potential of our souls!" Luke told her with a huge smile. Honestly, how couldn't he get a little excited? He felt power before, but this time it was on another level!

"Potential? Hey, now, have you started cursing without me?"

"To be honest, I only did want to fight or, as you say, curse, normally in these exams. But Spooky suddenly suggested that I fight a full power Spiritual Xiantian cultivator, and my mind couldn't put this idea down. It was an eye-opening battle for me. After we finish talking here, I'll show you what I'm talking about."

Andrea's curiosity was now piqued. During their days here, Luke had talked about the insane level jumping prowess the main characters and some extreme geniuses have. He claims it would surely be there turns soon, but it looks like their turns was always in them.

"I see...you really want to test yourself against your older cousin, eh little Luke? It'll be just like old times." If anyone else were to hear the ominous tone Andrea was using, it would raise hairs on the end of their necks!

Yet Luke only fondly recalled some good memories of their lives on Earth and said while looking at the map,

"Except this time, things will be massively different. Let's get on with the map, shall we? Cause I was thinking we should go to the Azure Dragon Ci-"

'Luke, before you start, spar with Andrea.'

Twice in a row, Luke got interrupted when he was trying to plan, but this time he was surprised hearing Spooky voice. After the fight in the clan, Spooky didn't talk to him at all, and usually, whenever it involved the soul, she was a chatterbox.

However, she just went dead silent for a bit, and Luke didn't know an exact way to contact her since he had tried calling out to her in his mind, but all he received was silence.

Thankfully now she up and talking again!

'Spooky! You went strangely silent for a bit, and why do you want me to spar with Andy now?'

'It will help clear your mind before making any decision.' She had ignored the first part of his comment and seemed a bit forceful for this. Luke was questioning her a bit, although Spooky was never the definition of normal nor talk like a regular person.

Still, he went along with her suggestion since he never got lead astray so far by her in this world.

"Andy, before we do this, let's spar now. Spooky suggested it, and I want to have my mind in its best state when making a decision." Luke said, and he was feeling the anticipation. The thought of having another good battle was enticing to him!

Yet there was something off about this feeling...

"Really? Alright, let's go then. From my talks with Yurei, I also come to realize it's better to take the advice of Godly ghost girls."

Andrea's words got Luke to refocus back on the fresh feeling of fighting and pushed down any other strangeness for now. Luke put the map and guide back into his spatial ring.

The cousins had then picked up their weapons and began walking towards the door, for their first battle here.

"It took us long to realize it, but it's better late than never. And trust me on this, Andy, you'll feel incredible when fighting."

….

In a wide spacious secluded part of Floating Cloud City forest, Luke and Andrea squared off against each other. There was a blue barrier around them, made by both cousin's soul Spirit Power. Luke knows, their prowess being in the Spiritual Xiantian realm can cause quite a commotion.

And of course, he assumed Andrea's prowess is roughly similar to his.

"Show me that completed form you use Luke, Yurei already told me you went through this process, and I can do it too." Andrea was tossing her sword around, staring unblinkingly at Luke, who only clenched his fist in response.

"Alright, watch this!"

'Whir!'

Instantly blue lightning crazily spew out of Luke!

In the same manner during his fight with Xiao Ba, his blue lightning wrapped over him in a lightning aura. The trees, grass, and vines inside their barrier quacked from Luke's power, and Andrea was impressed.

Even with her curse, she felt a magnetic attraction to this form of Luke's. It was akin to look at a lightning model that you want to meet! She could've never thought this form would inspire pressure and even a bit of fear into people.

"Not bad at all, little Luke. Now it's...Luke?" Oddly Andrea notice Luke went utterly still, and his eyes were closed for no reason! Of course, she didn't think Luke underestimated her, but her question was, why would like Spooky call for Luke now when she the one that suggested this fight?

'Spooky moves fast as usual. Though I must say, Luke, is quick to the uptake.' Yurei suddenly said, only further confusing Andrea.

'Just what the hell are you talking about?'

'Wait for a minute or two, and you'll see.'

During their talk, Luke, as soon as he called upon his soul, lightning immediately notices something strange.

The off feeling from earlier return as he thought about fighting Andrea and this time in this form. He didn't have that same wild and rushing feeling of wanting to crazily fight and crush his enemy. Nor did he have that same apathetic attitude either.

In fact, he felt kind of calmer, and while his body was in a high adrenaline state, it couldn't compare to how he felt during the Clans exams. And further thinking about it, in his past lives during fights while he did want to be on the dominant side, it mainly meant being in control of his fights.

Cause he knows one you lose control of a fight, it's hard to regain it back. Yet, it felt so natural and right to provoke Xiao Ba and fuel his anger, but he had never done it before in a fight. Suddenly he realized a point and ask Spooky,

'I know that our personalities are shifting thanks to our fused soul, but...you influenced my mind heavily when I fought, right?' He came to this conclusion because of the strange way she acted after the fight. From pumping him up to complete silence was more than odd.

Plus, he can also tell from the slight mannerism of how she talks about other Gods and their fused soul that Spooky could possibly be a bit arrogant.

'You really are adaptable. I really did think you need a good stepping stone. When I first mention Xiao Ba to you, I was already putting more of myself in your mind to get you confident. Then when the fight came, I could tell we would need to provoke him to see his true powers, so I influence your mind even more, and you subconsciously accepted the change. After the fight, I had to work on reigning back my personality in your mind, but it only started to work once you reached the inn. Um...sorry.'

For the first time since they met, Luke heard a slightly apologetic tone. Not even when she talked about causing his death was she any remorseful, yet now she even directly said sorry!

'Look Spooky, why didn't you just ask first? If I was without your influence, I still would've felt excited about the battle, but instead, I would've just flair my aura to match his Spiritual Xiantian prowess and prompted him for a fairer fight. Speaking off, aren't we fused souls? How can you even...ohh! Because of our fused soul, it's why my mind so easily accepted your change.'

'You would be partially right on that front, but deep down, our personalities differ greatly. I just didn't think you would change that much...for now on, I shall ask for your opinion first.'

Spooky sounded genuinely sincere when saying this. Despite how effortlessly she can hide her emotions, Luke can just barely tell when she has slight fluctuation in her even voice.

Mainly because of their fused soul, but they also talk quite a lot when Luke isn't with someone. Luke had then suddenly recalled another point about their exams leaning on their curse,

'The fear I felt from Kungyun and the others...did all of their souls reject us? Only Xiao Lie, Lingxi, and Yun weren't affected.'

'This is a curse for a reason. Like I said before, you will always be an attractive magnet. If it's just me, I could entirely control the curse any way I want. But for you, it can make you as intimidating as Andrea because of your lack of control over the curse. This curse holds dark secrets that, at full power, can basically mind control people. But left in an uncontrollable state, the curse will exude an obeying feeling that'll cause fear into anyone's souls. Right now, the main priority is for you to learn how to control the curse starting off with the obey feeling. '

It was a lot to take in though Luke smoothly understood every bit she was talking about,

'Obey? Don't tell me the one's who do like me...'

'No, this only applies to people you first meet or have a weak relationship, and you perform an action that is quite fearful in their eyes. This is one of the strangest downsides to this curse. Yet, it will be somewhat easy for you to control it since just from realizing my influence, your will is strong enough to handle this part of this curse. This will also give you peace of mind. First off, relax your mind and connect with our soul. Think to yourself, can you handle rejection?'

The immediate loaded question got Luke to think deeply about all of his past interactions with other people. In his soul lightning state, he quickly reached out to his most profound sensation of his soul.

Spooky had guided him down to a specific spot. Immediately, Luke felt it, the crushing obeying feeling of their curse! While it didn't affect his mind, he could tell from the sensations this would have a devastating effect on other souls.

To overcome this, Luke stayed in this sensation and began to recall every rejection he had in his life. Soon figures of people that he was not too fond of appeared in his mental vision.

'Rejection...in our first world, most of my family rejected me. I couldn't really make friends, and I was never popular with girls. Yet I just kept on pushing on because I simply had other interests and Andy by my side. So what if they reject us? There's no need to force them to obey nor relentlessly pursue them. After all, even with this curse...I can't make everyone like me.'

The simple short and thought of 'not everyone liking me' caused the obeying sensation to halt entirely.

Luke felt his mind broaden!

'This...there only been two people with this curse and one of them was a supreme god and the main part of creating this curse. Yet, from all of their memories, not even they could simply accept that fact this fast! No even another human if they experience this curse shouldn't readily accept it...but you Luke. No matter what the past looks like, the current you are truly far more special than the others.' Spooky was in awe of Luke's pure mind.

Honestly, it really is like he just wants to live a full-filled life without any unnecessary drama...

'And that will be the life I will strive to achieve Spooky! With Andy, Lingxi, and one-day Qingyue by my side, it will be a blissful, exciting life! Who cares about curses or rejection! If they like me, then they like me if, for some reason, they don't...then so be it!'

"Seriously Yurei it's been like 10 minutes or so, how long is-"

'PA!'

Like a loud popping noise, blue lightning surged around Luke in a calm, graceful manner. Andrea, who was sitting down, stood up as this was unlike the last time! Compared to the magnetic charm before, Luke now exuded a graceful, incomparably charming presence.

His glowing blue eyes took on a darker shade, and his expression held a warm smile that invited you to come and talk to him. Luke's posture was now wasn't arrogant or daring, but one that held strong confidence.

Amused at Andrea shock expression, Luke held his axe out to her saying,

"I'm ready now, Andy! Now it's time for your great breakthrough!"