Adam woke up the next morning, nervous of what was to come. While he wanted to see the end of the demonic bear, he did not relish the thought of being near it again. Last night, Adam had taken Silber around to see if it was comfortable with anyone else at Madame's. It did not really like rowdy people like boys. It seemed to prefer more the more gentle girls, like some of Helen's other friends. They did not mind looking after a cute puppy either, so it fixed the issue of finding people to look after Silber.

Adam passed the morning training with the others, as he felt too anxious to just wait for Thomson, or someone else from the army, to come pick him up. Adam stopped before noon to grab a quick lunch before he had to leave. As Adam finished his short meal in the cafeteria, he finally noticed two men coming to the dormitory.

One of the men was Thomson. The other man had a strong and bright soul. This man should be a spiritualist...

Adam cleaned his spot up and went to greet the two men who had just entered the dormitory. Thomson showed a calm and gentle face as he spoke: “Adam, good to see you. This here is spiritualist Dane. We have come to pick you up.”

Adam exchanged greetings with the two and then went to give some quick goodbyes to his mother and friends. Vivienne was still trying to fuss over him as he was leaving. Adam did not have to take anything besides a few changes of clothes, as everything else would be prepared by the military.

On their way to meet up with the regiment that would be exterminating the demonic bear, Adam was able to freely talk with Thomson and Dane. He curiously asked Dane: “I thought the teachers at SILU were the only spiritualists present in Hessler, are there others somewhere else?”

Dane gave him a wry smile as he explained: “Yes, there are actually a fair few in the military. Presently I am a member of Hessler's standing army and overall part of Heider's military force. Being so closely tied to Heider and it's interests, SILU currently will not accept me as a member due to potential conflicts of interest.”

Adam's mind started to spin. That went a little over his head. Realizing this, Dane tried to explain in simpler terms. Simply said, if Dane was a member of SILU and a member of Heider's military, if Heider got into a war Dane might try to persuade other members of SILU to come help his side. Others would see this as SILU taking sides, when it was not actually an official opinion of SILU. The enemy kingdom would then likely make demands of their SILU branch or even outright attack it in vengeance!

SILU desires to stand independent of any one kingdom. As such, their members cannot be directly tied or affiliated with any kingdom as it could create too many problems. Many spiritualists will join the army of their home kingdom in their first few decades of their lives. Eventually, though, they find the resources the kingdom can give them for research lacking, so they detach themselves from their kingdom in order to join SILU.

Dane felt very patriotic for Heider and so he had decided to join the army. He knew that at some point he would most likely leave to join SILU in order to further study and research his spiritual path. Until then, though, he would help Heider in any way he could.

The reason why Adam never knew of the spiritualists in the military was because SILU did not interact with them. The only time SILU would interact with spiritualist from any other kingdom was if their interests coincided, which was rare.

It all felt very unreal to Adam. All he knew was that small branch in Hessler. He knew SILU was bigger than that, but he still couldn't wrap his head around just how big it actually was. Talking passed the time by fast, it had even turned out that Dane was the leader of the operation to kill the demonic bear! Adam quickly found himself standing before a small regiment of one hundred or so soldiers. They were all currently doing final checks on their gear by the city gate, as they waited for Thomson, Dane, and Adam.

Adam stared a little wide eyed at the large group. Dane proudly said: “We might not be large, but we have myself as a spiritualist and ten martial artists to take the demonic bear down! As long as we find it, it should be no trouble to kill it at all!”

“Really?” Adam asked in disbelief. If the rumors were true about martial artists, wasn't this perhaps to extravagant?

“Yep. Compared to the truly strong spiritualists and martial artists, we might be considered weak, but we are more than a match for a simple demonic bear!” Dane said with pride.

Adam was simply astounded. Dane just called himself and the others weak, but they were already stronger than normal people could hope to achieve! Just how strong were spiritualists and martial artists? Adam couldn't wait to see them step into action to see for himself just how strong they were.

Adam was actually given a spot on one of the few wagons that the regiment had. Adam was surprised by this offer, but felt a little out of place at the same time. It made him feel more like a burden given such treatment. When Adam asked if he could walk with the other soldiers instead, Dane had to reluctantly decline Adam. The soldiers walk in a special file so that they would not take up too much space on the road and displace normal citizens. It would be easier for Adam to stay on the wagon, at least until they hit the forest. The regiment will spread out at that point and Adam would be allowed off the wagon.

On the way, Adam continued to talk with Dane and the other soldiers. He had already known that this trip was going to take a couple of days, no one really knew how long it would take to find the demonic bear. Their first plan was for Adam to lead them exactly to where he fought the bear and see if they could pick up any tracks.

Adam led them to where he fought the bear. It took a little while to find it since Adam was not entirely familiar with the forest. When the common soldiers saw the trees that had been knocked down, many of them were left in awe. There were horror stories of how strong and brutal demonic beasts could be, but it was different to see their work up close. You would finally realize how strong and ridiculous they really were.

The few trackers that were brought with the group quickly set about their work. It had been a couple days since the fight, so the tracks were not fresh and hard to discern. A few animals had been through the area since Adam left as well. In the end, they could only split up and search in the direction that Adam said the bear had fled to.

While various smaller groups ranged around, trying to find any trace of the demonic bear, Adam stayed in the core group. Dane was by his side and let the trackers do their job. He did not have a great ability to see into areas farther ahead, like Adam. He could, however, tell if there was a disturbance in the flow of spirit essence in the area, that would be caused by the demonic bear, but he could just as easily do that by Adam's side rather than be up front with the trackers.

“So, Adam, I hear that you have a rather unique spiritual path.”

Adam was a little surprised about this sudden statement. “How did you know?”

“When the report of the demonic bear was being investigated, someone went to SILU to confirm whether or not you were a spiritualist. They had learned there that you had started down a unique path, but no information was divulged on what that path was. Truthfully, I have been kind of interested in just what path it is.”

Adam gave a wry look as he explained his path and the many problems therein. Dane gave an astonished look. “How truly odd. Here I had been hoping that maybe with my different perspective, I could help you in a way that SILU could not. Unfortunately, there is nothing I know of that could help you.”

Adam gave a small nod. He depressingly said: “I have thought about abandoning my efforts of becoming a true spiritualist. It's seems like it is too much effort to be worth it. When I do try to put in the effort, stuff like this demonic bear happens.”

Dane quickly interjected: “Don't get too depressed by this Adam. Every spiritualist will reach a similar point as you, where they can't seem to progress down their path any further! You have just reached this point faster than others. If you manage to persevere through it, though, you may find that the whole world will suddenly open itself up to you!”

Adam felt better to be comforted, but it did not change his thoughts too much. Just as they were going to continue their conversation, Dane's eye's dilated as he quickly grabbed a whistle from a pouch. He blew a few short notes on the whistle and the entire group suddenly stopped and became dead silent. Dane then looked towards the north with a serious look on his face.

The hairs on the back of Adam's neck stood on end when all this happened. He had not been drilled on what the whistle meant, but this reaction could only mean one thing, Dane thought he felt the demonic bear's presence! Adam tried to spread his sight out in the direction that Dane was looking, but he couldn't find anything.

Dane gave a sideways glance at Adam as he asked: “How far can you see?”

“Umm, now I can see around fifty meters away if I narrow my sight down to looking at a single cubic meter.”

“Impressive, especially for a forested area. The presence that I can sense is around one hundred meters away, though.”

Dane's soul was stronger than Adam's own, so he was easily able to sense the flow of spirit essence from further away. He could only tell the flow, though, and not what objects there were inside the spirit essence like Adam could.

All the martial artists had stayed with the core group as well. This way they would all be able to react quickly to wherever the bear might be found by the small groups scouting further out. They had yet to go to the spot where Dane sensed the demonic bear. After they heard his whistle they stopped in their tacks and didn't move. They had no idea where Dane was sensing the bear and didn't want to cross it's path by accident.

Dane asked Adam: “Did you want to come closer to watch us take care of the demonic bear?”

Adam was conflicted. He really wanted to see it, but was worried about how safe it would actually be to get close enough to watch. Dane alleviated his fears by saying: “I am a spiritualist so I will attack from afar. You can stay by my side and I can surely protect you. The martial artists will also block it from running anywhere so there is nothing to worry about.”

Adam's resistance was eaten away and he couldn't help but agree to come along. Dane quickly discussed with the martial artists to come up with a plan of assault. They had a prearranged plan that would likely work just fine with how things presently were. Leaving the core group, only Adam, Dane, and the martial artists continued ahead towards the demonic bear.

They quietly approached where the demonic bear laid. After a dozen minutes of carefully traversing the forest, they discovered it's resting spot. There was a large protruding boulder that came out from the ground. Beneath the boulder there was a cavity that went into the ground forming a small cave. It was in this cave that the bear was trying to recover from it's battle with Adam.

Outside the cave, everyone paused around ten meters from the entrance. Adam could see inside and saw that the bear was alerted to their presence. It had decided to wait for them in the cave, where it would have an advantage. This cave was well within the range of Dane's plans, so he did not have to discuss anything with the martial artists. He quietly started to pull spirit essence towards himself as he prepared to create a formation.

Adam watched as all the fire spirit essence around the area was pulled into Dane. It cycled around his soul before coming out. The spirit essence started to thrum a peculiar tune as it started to form a shape that was visible to Adam. Most others would only see an indistinct fiery image forming.

The thrumming sound of the fire essence suddenly coalesced and exploded! From this formation that Dane made, tremendous amounts of blue flame spewed forth and went directly into the cave! If one were to watch the bear's one last eye, they would have seen it dilate as it watched the fire storm in.

If it was normal fire, the bear would probably not bat an eye at it, even with such a large amount. However, this fire was formed by a spiritualist and was far hotter and more resilient than normal fire. With a roar, the bear charged through the fire to escape from being entombed in the cave by the fire.

As the bear quickly emerged it was covered in fire. It had quickly run through the fire that was thrown at it, so the fire that was on it's body was small and quickly fading. The bear was more worried about the people in front of it than the fire itself. Adam had been the only human it had ever seen before, now there were eleven humans larger than Adam present. The bear felt extremely threatened by their presence.

When the bear emerged, everyone subconsciously sucked a breath in. no matter how prepared they were, seeing the demonic bear emerge from the fire with a roar was a stunning sight. The bear gave a quick glance their way. It had a scab that had already healed quite a bit over it's right eye. This was clearly the demonic bear Adam had faced earlier.

Instead of fighting, the bear turned around as it prepared to flee! It wanted to live and slaughter, not die in battle. Just as the bear started to trot away, Dane had already completed another formation! This one was clearly weaker than his first formation and was formed from earth essence instead of fire. When he launched the formation, it caused the ground under the bear to distort and erupt! The bear was thrown off balance as the ten martial artists surrounded the bear before it could recover.

The martial artists had moved faster than Adam had ever seen a human move before! Inside their bodies, Adam could even see that they had begun to circulate spirit essence. This spirit essence moved in a rhythm with sharp sounds. The spirit essence even circulated into their weapons!

The ten martial artists started their assault! They took turns going in to attack the bear with a quick hit and then back away as another came in to attack from another side. They were too fast for the bear to catch! Each of their attacks were done very leisurely and without being rushed. Yet the results were far better than Adam's own attacks had caused the bear. Each attack they made went fairly deep into the bear's hide. Only, the bear had a lot of fat, meat, and bone to it. They would wait for it to bleed out before finishing it off.

They fought in this manner for at least five minutes. None of the martial artists ever took an unnecessary risk. Dane had even prepared a few spirit essence formations in case the bear started to rage about uncontrollably. The bear was in a bit of a frenzy, but it did not have the strength to break the ring of martial artists surrounding it.

Suddenly, as another martial artist attacked, the strongest of them quickly rushed the bear and stuck his blade into the bears neck! Twisting the blade, he completely severed its spine! The bear immediately collapsed as the last of it's life left it's body.

Adam watched as some extremely murky and dissonant spirit essence poured out of the bears soul to disperse into the area. As he was watching, something dark suddenly shot out of the bears soul and charged off into the distance!

“What was that!?” Adam exclaimed.

“Hmm?” Dane was curious as to what Adam was referring to. He had not sensed any change in what was happening.

Adam explained to Dane of that weird dark thing that shot out of the bears soul. Dane showed a surprised expression when he heard this. “I think that surely must have been the spirit that possessed the bear. As it died, the spirit separated from the bear's soul and fled.”

“That was a spirit!?” Adam marveled to himself. He had never heard of what spirits appeared to look like, as most people, even spiritualists, had never seen one.

Dane interrupted Adam's thoughts by saying: “I'm pretty sure we got the right bear, but can you confirm that this was the bear you fought the other day.”

“Hm. Oh, yes, it most certainly is.” Adam responded. He then curiously asked: “Should we do anything about that spirit that ran away?”

Dane gave a dry chuckle. “I have no methods with which to catch a spirit. It will have been weakened by the bears death, so it will not cause any more trouble any time soon. You do not need to worry about it.”

Dane then gave another series of blows on his whistle and waited for the others to come. The wagons that were in the core group had brought along tools that could be used to dissect the bear. They would grab anything that could be useful from the bears body and burn the rest to ashes.

While the few people who knew what to grab from the bear worked, the others started to set a camp up nearby. It would take many hours for the work on the bear to be finished. The regiment had already been prepared for a few nights out to track the bear down, but found it far sooner then expected.

That night, there was a small celebration held by the regiment. The bear had been quickly and efficiently taken down without any casualties of any kind. People were rowdily talking and having fun. Adam was at a loss as to what to do. Luckily, he did bring his flute along and managed to play a good tune to accompany the raucous night.

The next morning, the bear had been stripped of everything useful, so Dane prepared to burn the rest of it's corpse. It could potentially be toxic from the demonic influence. A pit was dug out and all the useless bits of the bear were pushed in. Dane then summoned tremendous amounts of fire, like he did when attacking the bear. This time, though, he kept feeding the fire, making it blaze hotter and hotter until every last bit of the bear was burnt to dust. The pit was then packed back in by dirt before they left.

They all then left to return home. Adam was very happy on the return journey. He wanted to see Silber again and he had learned much. He had seen just how much even 'weak' spiritualists and martial artists could effect the world. He had also seen just a little of the relationship between the world and spirits.