The group journeyed deep into the forest.

It was early in the morning, and the sun was yet to shine that the group moved quietly.

Dyne would suddenly begin to talk and talk, asking the group more about their world. Yet despite his loud voice, they still maintained the quick pace.

“Um... young hero... Wouldn’t it be dangerous if you kept talking like that?” Chad asked.

“No. Of course not. I have the ability to sense monsters. I can tell if we will soon approach one. Relax. I’ll warn you if there is a monster nearby.”

“You can sense monsters?” Of everyone present, the Rogue was the most curious one.

“It’s an ability that is taught back where I am from. It's related to Soul cultivation.”

“Soul cultivation? You are a Soul Cultivator?”

“Yes. Are there any soul cultivators in your kingdom?”

“There are. But that path is believed to be weak!” Ishreth was the one who answered.

“What do you think this is?” Dyne frowned as he harnessed Brimstone on his hands.

Everyone was shocked at what they were seeing.

“You... You mean?”

“You are a martial formation cultivator who became a sorcerer. You are using something to create the fire, correct?”

“Yes,” Ishreth answered.

“It’s a pity. Your primary element is actually Metal. It must be hard to maintain the Fire source inside you, right? You must have found a rather strong fire source. Me, I don’t have a fire source. All I have is my soul.” Dyne explained.

Ishreth was trembling. But she believed Dyne. The magic she saw was so pure and unadulterated that it really must have come from Dyne.

“We’ll talk about that later. Anyway... now back to my question. You guys said that the meteors had several rocks that you were also tasked to recover?”

Jaden was about to answer when Ishreth interrupted.

“Yes. A Fire rock, an Earth rock, and an Ice Rock. The main compartment of the meteor was taken by Char the Evil. But it looks like Archbishop Lazarus arranged it to look like that. It’s clear that the Kong Apes took the Fire, Earth, and Ice and now stay in their habitat where they cultivate. That’s the reason how the Kong Apes evolved. Now about your Soul cultivation...” Ishreth asked.

“Ishreth! We don’t have time for that! Lord Dyne requires more and more of what we know so he can help us. Save your cultivation question for next time.”

“Hrm? Amorien, aim in that direction with your bow.”

“?”

“There’s a Kong Ape. It looks like it’s alone. Just kill it.” Dyne instructed.

“This direction?” Amorien wondered as she aimed at the said direction.

“Wait. A little bit higher. Allow me.” Dyne moved closer and adjusted Amorien’s aim.

“This should be alright. Let me just put my soul in here so I can control it. And there we go. Release the bow.” Dyne smiled.

Amorien could feel that his arrow had a strange power.

“Amorien? Do it.” Dyne repeated.

Amorien realized that she was drawn in by the powers in the bow and released the arrow.

The arrow disappeared in the dark.

ROAR! THUD!

A pained scream followed by a heavy fall sounded.

“That... He really killed a monster!” Jaden was amazed.

“The arrow... It moved!” Amorien was even more shocked.

“Yeah. It’s part of Soul cultivation. I controlled it from afar to make sure it went through the eye of the Kong Ape. With your cultivation, killing it is easy. Anyway, so where exactly is the Kong Apes hideout? There were no Fire Kong Apes or Ice Kong Apes in that cave.”

Ishreth hurried to answer, but Amorien beat her to it.

“I can lead you there. They are in the northern region, where a large pond is. About the arrow control and how you sense life...”

“Amorien. Now is not the time! There will be time for young hero Dyne to talk about that!” Chad reprimanded.

“Hm?” Dyne gazed at Jedo, who began to wield powerful energy.

The death energy was now absorbed. And since Dyne tortured the Afarit, parts of its soul were absorbed by Jedo. And with such powerful energy, he finally grew stronger.

Unlike Meta, who Dyne awakened, Jedo’s power was actually a level lower. The current Meta was similar to the level 1 Meta that hadn’t awakened a Genesis Tree. But Jedo used to be at Level 0. But now, with the rich power that he acquired, he finally managed to evolve his Elemental Spirit Seed. He had officially reached level 1.

The power rushed out of Jedo and gave Dyne a power boost.

Dyne contained the energy and could not help but smile.

All of a sudden, his cultivation began to grow stronger. The strength that Jedo provided coursed through Dyne’s body. And while Dyne’s physical body was at the seventh level of Martial Advent, the thick energy he gave off was that of a level eight.

“Oh? Just one level?” Dyne frowned.

“What do you expect? Didn’t Vahn and Meta do the same thing? Awaken more Genesis Trees if you want my boost to be stronger.”

“Fine. Can you open a portal to send me in the Imaginarium Bond?”

“No. At least, not yet. This is Yami’s body, and I still have to assimilate my former time and space powers.”

“I expected that... Songi wasn’t able to open the portals yet in the early parts of the game. I’ll try to see if I can help you.” Dyne nodded.

Jedo didn’t complain or argue with Dyne’s arrogant boasting. While Jedo’s pride took a lot of damage, he kept quiet because he knew full well that Dyne was capable of doing that.

“Lo-Lord Dyne?!” Chad was shocked at the sudden surge of strength. Dyne was not meditating, absorbing energy, or any of those things. He was simply walking and talking, and suddenly he reached the next level.

“Oh. Relax. It’s just Soul Cultivation. It’s giving me quite a power boost. By now, my strength should equal a level 2 Martial Novice. Maybe even a level 3 since the cultivation of this place is vastly inferior to the method Strafe provided.”

“What?!” Chad and Jaden shouted in shock. They knew this was impossible. It was said that there were powerful abilities that allowed warriors to release and fight another cultivator of a higher level and best them. But Dyne claimed that he could cross five levels of power!

BOOM!

Dyne smashed the rock that was nearby, and his fist penetrated through the thick rock.

The four marveled at the sight. They knew that the force they witnessed indeed surpassed the might of a Martial Advent practitioner.

"Lord Dyne... If you may... could you test your strike onto this rock?" Jaden asked as he approached another large rock. He held the rock on the top and channeled his cultivation onto the rock.

"This rock has the same defenses of a Level 2 Marital Novice."

"Nice! How convenient!" Dyne smiled and approached the rock.

“Hmmm... With Jedo’s passive Spirit provisions, I should be able to harness the force easier...” Dyne suddenly thought.

“Let's try this!” Dyne muttered as he lightly punched on the rock that Jaden was holding.

BOOM!

The rock shattered as a small explosion occurred. Dyne had sent his Brimstone powers into his punch.

“Alright. This strike should be able to wound an unprepared Level 3 or 4 Martial Novice depending on the quality of their cultivation.” Dyne nodded.

“Now, back to my questions. So what’s the name of the other group who wants the throne, and how strong are they?”

The four of them erupted in different explanations and were all losing their breath as they began to expound on what they knew about their enemies. Everyone was quickly narrating things and began to talk loudly at the same time that Dyne realized a group of Kong Apes was headed in their direction.

Dyne ignored the Kong apes and listened.

Dyne learned that King Ciroel's dynasty was being challenged by a group that called themselves the Serpentari. It was headed by a common-born man called Sobbig. Despite his humble beginnings, Sobbig had managed to climb the ranks in the kingdom. He was a war hero of many battles. His popularity might draw in a lot of supporters until it reached a point when this group became so powerful that they were a threat to King Ciroel.

He had an elite group of fighters known as the Snakes. These warriors had a powerful cultivation level that none of King Ciroel’s men could identify. And since those of the lower Cultivation Realms can’t use any scanning ability to identify their foes' power, they were unsure of their cultivation levels.

And after explaining all these, everyone began to burst into a series of questions regarding Dyne’s cultivation method. It was as if they were almost demanding Dyne to spill the details of how he was able to do what he just did.

Dyne ignored them and simply raised his hands as he suddenly took out the Chicken King.

Strafe had a very suspicious feeling as he looked at Dyne.

“Jedo, help me. Channel your time energy and link with the Chicken King. This device is something that uses wind and time/space magic.” Dyne began to harness the energy.

Suddenly, a strange golden symbol of a Chicken wearing a crown appeared before Dyne.

“I thought so!” Dyne smiled.

Strafe could only shake his head in regret. But Dyne got this power fair and square. Dyne had beaten and outsmarted fate that Strafe had no choice but to allow Dyne to have Jedo.

“Alright. Let’s go! Jedo, keep marking Ishreth. She is the one who is physically weakest. So help her increase the speed. I’ll deal with Chad.” Dyne smiled.

“You mean... I see! Divide the mark!”

“That’s right! With the two of us working together, we can increase the number of people marked by two!”

“It decreases the speed... but it’s still a power that allows you to run fast.”

“Exactly!”

Dyne turned towards the four warriors.

“Do any of you have spells or abilities that can increase stamina?”

“Yes! Allow me, Lord Dyne.” Chad volunteered and summoned strange magic. The life energy condenses as Chad harnessed the power from the object in his Force Foundation.

“How envious. It looks like having something in my Force Foundation can allow me to wield it into special powers.” Dyne observed.

“Yes. In the cultivation world, people put legendary objects in the Force Foundation and acquire powerful skills. Some put in the heart or organs of some mighty creatures.” Strafe explained.

Chad suddenly released the compressed Life energy and several white energy shot towards each of them.

Dyne was familiar with the spell that he received.

“Stamina Boost! Nice! Just what I needed,” Dyne praised.

It was then that a monster that Dyne had sensed earlier finally approached them. It heard their commotion and was drawn to it.

“Amorien, attack once and run away. Since you know where that secret gateway is, lead us to it!” Dyne explained.

“I was curious what this ability of yours was, Lord Dyne.” Amorien smiled as she shot a single arrow. Then, the powers of the Chicken King activated as the group began to run with great speed.