A day passed in River Reach...

Dyne was still in a deep sleep, but a strange power was erupting from his body. Rena and Arya constantly checked up on him but noticed that he was alright.

Jedo had assured Terra that Dyne was meditating and training with a special session from Strafe.

“The Hunters and the Monks want to hunt the area. More Serus have appeared, and they plan to take advantage of this.” Terra spoke.

“Noa and I will also join this hunt.”

“That would be alright.”

“Big brother Jedo.” Grim appeared.

“I plan to join them. I want to see what the Zenoir can do and how we can work together. As a Serus, I seem to have a deeper connection to them.”

“Go. Dyne’s meditation has taken an interesting turn. It may take a while for him to awaken.”

“Dyne? What’s with you being so disrespectful all of a sudden?” Terra asked.

“Nothing. Let’s just say I am overly familiar with Dyne.” Jedo answered coldly as he recalled the bizarre dream of Dyne involving all those women.

“What a loser…” Jedo shook his head.

“What?”

“Nothing. Go. Be careful and retreat if Zeto moves. And I sensed a strange power on the west of this place. It’s strangely familiar. It’s like mine.”

“Like yours? A dark Seru?”

“No. A Ra-Seru. It should be Jedo.”

“He has a Ra-Seru?”

“No. I already asked Dyne about it. It should be a Wild Arm. Remember our talk about how there is a reverse world that Strafe created? Dyne said that it must be my other world form. I told him about that, and he deduced that if this was someone that Calamitus based on a game character, it would be Vile. Vile is one of the major antagonists in Megaman X. Dyne also recalled that this Vile appears again in Megaman X3.”

“Is it a strong enemy?”

“Yes. Combining it with Songi, he would be a foe that would surpass Songi in the game. But of course, Dyne’s excited. Vile is the enemy that could defeat Megaman X twice. And it took Zero’s sacrifice to save X. So be careful when you journey out there.”

“We will.”

“Arya…” Jedo called out.

Arya opened her eyes.

“It’s best that you go with them. Try to combine the knowledge you have with water.”

“Yes.” Arya nodded.

“Hey! Hey! What about me? Arya! Let’s practice what we talked about!” The earth Arya suddenly laughed.

“Terra! I’ll need your help! Help me train in the ways of wind!” Earth Arya shouted.

“Of course! We will need to feed you more souls anyway to stabilize your life source.”

“Great! Come on, Arya! Let’s do this! Let's not be left in the dust by that, Rena! And since we want to win Dyne's heart, let's attack him where he is weakest! Games! With two of our training, we could become a Drow Ranger and Windrunner!” Earth Arya declared.

"Yes, Lady Arya!" Arya laughed and moved, excited to try out the secret plan that the two concocted.

The townsfolk began to hunt many Serus. The pushing Mist has brought in an army of Serus. But not all of them were under the control of Zeto. Many Serus followed the thick Mist, and more were drawn to it.

The Mist moved quickly, and the main army followed. But the Serus near the area became lost and were practically moving on their own. Some journeyed beyond River Reach. Some moved around the area.

The Hunter scouts reported it, and everyone was excited to attack and catch a lot of Serus, and the group prepared to attack.

The Gobu Gobu and Piuras wanted to join, as did the Chocobo.

Terra communicated with them through his link with Nanaki, the wolf.

Grim was able to control the Zenoir, and along with Terra, the group began experimenting with how it reacted in the Mist.

Grim was able to manifest a power that could reduce the madness of the Mist. Terra was able to push it back quickly. With these two, the group was confident about their trip.

Finally, it was time to leave.

“Big sister. Tell big brother Dyne that I shall accompany the Hunters and Monks on their journey. I have spoken with Ixis, and we will be on our way. The Zenoir will follow me, but the Vera wants to stay here.” Grim told Rena.

Rena opened her eyes as she was meditating. Behind her was the Vera. The two were not only able to harness light, but Rena felt that she could learn so much from how Vera used her magic. The experience and her meditation have already allowed her to reach newer heights as a Magic Cultivator. Slowly, Soul Cultivation became possible.

“Alright, Grim. I’ll stay here and watch after Dyne. The Evil God Totem has been begging me to feed it as it exerted a lot of energy earlier. It would be great if you could all hunt more Serus.”

“That is my plan. The hunt will be easier now that they have two Serus. I thought I could lure some Gimards and trick them into an ambush.” Grim answered.

“Can the Serus resist the Mist?” Rena asked.

“It shouldn’t be a problem. Terra has gotten stronger from the numerous hunts, and absorbing the Serus we found allows him to push back the Mist. Not that he needs to. My power to somehow fight the madness of the Mist and bestow joy is already enough. It seems that this Vera is treating you like its master, Big Sister.”

“It likes me a lot. I am trying to help it find ways to control the life energy it absorbs. So you could say we are helping each other. Later I’ll try connecting myself to Vera. But little brother Grim, these Serus are amazing! We have to capture more of this! The Light cultivators that Big Brother allied with will greatly benefit from them!”

“This is also why we plan to capture Serus. If we find some level 2 Serus, we will capture them and prepare them for when we go back to the Cultivation World.”

"Let's go! Let's go! I want to beat more serus! The more we capture, the stronger we become, right?" Noa burst out excitedly. She had been jumping around and was excited to fight once more.

"Noa. Concentrate on your training. You still need to work on your skills." Terra laughed and reminded Noa what this trip was.

Grim and the team soon bid their farewell and moved out to begin the hunt.

Half a day passed, and it was already late afternoon when Dyne woke up.

Dyne suddenly raised his arm, and the Wild Arm suddenly flew towards him.

The Ifrit was stunned. It was as if Dyne was controlling his power.

“Interesting. While I don’t have a Mind Palace, I can use you to channel the energy. This is great…” Dyne smiled.

“Lord Dyne!” The Ifrit was amazed.

“Ifrit. You have to grow stronger. In my dreams, I found another Wild Arm. It’s much stronger than the current you. While you can’t cultivate much, it is better for you to cultivate your soul and your mind. I will feed you more Fire serus to recover and bestow the Life absorbing technique. Get stronger!” Dyne ordered.

“Yes, Master! I can sense you’ve grown stronger now.”

“That emerging Brimstone purged more Life Energy, and the molding and harnessing of all the Elements allowed me to create a stronger bond. Jedo helped me too in absorbing the death energy.” Dyne chuckled. The process allowed him to reach level 10.

Dyne closed his eyes and began to observe his stats as his Brimstone Body already gave him a lot of boosts. His wielding of Mind Force began to change, and it easily merged with his Soul Force.

The usual stats were revealed that showed his stat points and compared it with an average cultivating level 1 Martial Formation Expert.

His base stats appeared, followed by the stat point range adding his soul force and Jedo’s passive increases to his attack. And finally, the last number on each stat was the average stat that a Martial Formation Expert would have.

---

Level 10

HP- 66 [128-133] // 125

Vitality- 65 [127-132]// 115

Magic Capacity- 21 [28-30] // 33

Strength- 60 [122-126] // 95

Dexterity- 42 [58-59] // 45

Force- 26 [46-48] // 40

Mind Force- 25 [31] // 30

Soul Force- 55 (+7-12) // 20

---

“Interesting… Thanks to the addition of Soul Force, my basic stats should already surpass a level 1 Martial Formation Expert…” Dyne smiled.

With a strength of 60, he already surpasses a superior cultivator of the Martial Advent stage. If a Martial Advent Cultivator trained by the Gods were to reach level 10, his highest strength stat would be at 55. And it would require miraculous artifacts, herbs, or innate bodily constitutions to help him surpass 55.

But with soul force, Dyne’s strength and power can reach up to 126 if Jedo focuses all his powers on that stat. Average Martial Formation experts would have around 95 strength! It would take a Level 3 or 4 Martial Formation expert to have that strength!

“I wonder if this is enough to fight Zeto? But… I should leave that guy to be food for my precious allies. I should look into the Monster King sidequest that Strafe made…” Dyne began to think.