Path to Transcendence

On another note, his Applied Combat class went a lot better than yesterday. This time he had a real [Quick Step] skill that he was able to use. He also was put up against a much weaker opponent than that scaly cat thing.

This time he had been pitted against a four-legged fat beaver-like monster. It had two massive teeth and used some sort of wood affinity skills to shoot shards of wood at Julius from a distance from its pinecone-looking tail.

It was definitely one of the more unique monsters he had come across yet. The good news was that it had the aim of a ninety-year-old blind grandma. He didn\'t know how its skill worked, but the shards of wood went everywhere. There was no challenge in dealing with them.

While there were admittedly a lot of them, he only needed to worry about the larger shards of wood. The smaller ones only left small scratches and cuts, so there wasn\'t anything to worry about. Also, since they were still wearing simulated combat devices, they didn\'t really leave any scratches. They only made him feel like they did, so it was even easier.

He didn\'t play around with it like he had done with the last monster, he put it down swiftly. He didn\'t use any kinetic energy in his legs, relying only on [Quick Step] to move around. However, that was all he needed.

He blasted an overcharged [Quick Step] like the ones he had been practicing last night and closed in on the beaver monster. The beaver still tried to take a nibble out of Julius when he got too close, but he calmly avoided the large teeth and smashed a kinetically enhanced fist into the temple of the monster.

It didn\'t take it down in one hit, as he was holding back a little, but the next three quick punches had it soon dissipating into particles of mana.

***

It was the next day and the six of them were walking with Julius after they were all done with lunch. After all, he had promised them that he would let all of them watch as he gave Drasil the Sylvan Petal Lily had bought him.

When they entered the main training facility and got a room, Julius quickly summoned Drasil from his core.

The little green spirit had been napping in his core and didn\'t seem to appreciate being woken. He let out a frustrated whistle and tried to curl up in a little ball right on the hand that Julius summoned him on.

Julius let him do whatever he wanted. He knew that the second he took out the Sylvan Petal, Drasil would notice it. His life spirit was a predictable glutton.

Thus, it wasn\'t surprising to him when Drasil flailed around on his palm the moment it was taken from his storage ring. The little life spirit all of a sudden was completely awake and was frantically trying to find out where the life mana he was sensing was coming from.

Drasil spotted it in Julius\'s other hand and without even thinking about it, he jumped from Julius\'s palm and tried to cover the vast space between the two hands. To nobody\'s, but Drasil\'s shock, the spirit wasn\'t even able to get halfway there. Julius had to grab the spirit by the waist to prevent him from hitting the ground.

Julius, realizing that Drasil wasn\'t going to stop until he got his tiny hands on the life treasure, put the spirit down on the ground gently.

He looked back to the others who were eagerly watching with bated breaths.

"Well, come on then. Stop teasing the little guy," Aubrey exclaimed impatiently.

As if he could understand her, Drasil let out another chime that sounded like he was agreeing with her.

Julius let out a soft chuckle and bent down to the ground, placing the Sylvan Petal by his feet. Drasil instantly dashed toward the life treasure as fast as his two little feet could carry him with both hands extended out.

It was soul crushingly adorable.

The Sylvan Petal was a tad larger than Drasil\'s couple of inches, so when the spirit latched onto the treasure, it looked more like the spirit was hugging a tree. It was cute enough, that Lily and Aubrey involuntarily let out a gasp of excitement and joy.

The moment the petal made contact with Drasil it started to glow. Drasil then latched his mouth onto the stem and began sucking on it.

The life treasure was being broken down slowly by the spirit. The green and white petal was peeling away in layers of mana, but none of it was going to waste. Drasil made sure that not a single grain of mana was uneaten.

A few minutes later Julius observed Drasil polishing off the last remnants of the petal.

Just like that a hundred platinum was eaten by a spirit two inches tall.

The author\'s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He didn\'t know if the plant had mass or was entirely made of mana, but Julius laughed when he saw the bulging stomach of Drasil after he was done. The adorable green spirit seemed absolutely stuffed. Which was a very impressive achievement. The glutton never seemed to be full.

Drasil was slumped on his back and had fallen asleep immediately after he was done, needing a nap to digest his meal. Julius shook his head in exasperation and bent down to pick him up with both hands.

The spirit then nestled into his palms and let out a satisfied groan.

Aubrey, Lily, and Kyle all quietly came closer to observe what was happening with curiosity. Aubrey and Lily most likely just wanted to see something cute, but Kyle was most likely more interested in noting down the process of the life spirit consuming the treasure.

However, pretty soon after Drasil had fallen asleep something happened. A strong pulsing glow began emitting from his small body.

It was surprisingly potent, the mana coming from him was of a quality Julius had only seen from the others that usually came with the advancement to Tier 3.

Not even Julius, with his higher-than-normal quality mana, was at that stage. He was close but he was missing the substance that was present in the other mana. It was something that happened when one\'s core, soul, and body merged at Tier 3. He wasn\'t quite sure how it worked, he just knew that it happened.

A part of him was hoping that his mana would be of a higher quality than the others when he advanced, after all his was already pretty close to theirs it would make sense. Still magic could be unpredictable at times, so it really just a hopeful wish at this stage.

As for the mana Drasil was releasing, now that was mana from a bonafide Tier 3 source. It was most likely from the Sylvan Petal, but it also had the feeling that it was Drasil\'s mana as well. That\'s what was giving Julius a hard time. It was like the petal and Drasil had merged in a way.

It wasn\'t like Drasil had simply consumed the treasure, but it was like he had subsumed it and made it a part of him. Perhaps, this was how spirits used natural treasures. It could also be the reason why Drasil hadn\'t needed anyone to process the treasure before he consumed it.

The six of them were eagerly awaiting the results of transformation. Julius didn\'t blink a single eye as he watched Drasil from a crouched stance with the spirit still in his hands.

Eventually, the pulsing stopped and Julius observed as a violent surge of life mana rushed through Drasil. The bulging stomach of the spirit was gently deflating as more mana was released.

The body of Drasil was becoming more dense and material. Before, it was like he was a green wisp in the shape of a tiny boy. However, now he actually had some weight as Julius held him in his palms.

The simple robe of verdant green leaves that covered Drasil began to darken and elongate. That wasn\'t all either. Julius spotted lines of lighter green mana spiraling around the torso and limbs of Drasil.

It looked like tattoos of glowing green mana were wrapping around his body. Each breath of the still-sleeping Drasil sent soft and gentle pulses through these lines of mana. It was quite mesmerizing and beautiful.

The final change to Drasil was what looked to be a small set of green vines that twisted above his head. It was almost like a representation of hair or a hat. Julius wasn\'t quite sure what it was supposed to be, but it made Drasil even more cute, that he was certain of.

"Does that mean it\'s done?" Aubrey asked loudly.

"I don\'t know. I\'ve never witnessed a life spirit consume a treasure before," Lily said while softly poking at Drasil\'s still slightly protruding stomach. "Do you know anything, Kyle?" She asked.

Kyle bent down and looked really close at Drasil. Julius noticed that Kyle\'s eyes were illuminated by some sort of glowing blue ring, he was probably using some sort of eye-based examination skill to see if there was anything else going on.

"I sense some dregs of life mana still infusing with Drasil, but it seems that the process is mostly done. He most likely just needs some rest and some more time to absorb the last remnants."

"That\'s it? You can\'t tell us what happened during that transformation?" Aubrey asked disappointed at his lack of explanation.

Kyle just shrugged his shoulders. "It\'s hard to say. We know that spirits don\'t advance like us humans or even other monsters do. They have their own path of progression. Not to mention, that it gets much more complicated when a spirit becomes a familiar. How much Drasil has been affected by being connected to Julius is unknown at this point. I can say that whatever happened, will likely enable Drasil to noticeably help supplement Julius\'s mana now."

Julius grinned at that prospect. While he had rarely ever needed to worry about someone supplementing his already massive pool of mana, knowing that Drasil was on his way to becoming a very useful familiar was nice to hear.

He looked down at the still-sleeping spirit as Lily continued to rub the puffed-out tummy of the green life spirit. "You hear that? You are this much closer to becoming a juggernaut that everybody will one day come to fear," he whispered to the sleeping Drasil.

Lily looked at Julius with disgust. "You want this cute little fella to become a juggernaut of destruction? That sounds like a waste of his talents."

Julius gave her a side-eye. "Oh yeah? Then what would you use him for?"

Aubrey huffed from the other side of him. "That\'s easy. Enter the little guy into a mana-eating contest. I can honestly say that I have not seen a more mana-hungry spirit. I was expecting him to only be able to eat half of the treasure. I certainly wasn\'t expecting him to finish the entire thing in a few minutes. It is still a Tier 3 life treasure at the end of the day."

"There\'s nothing wrong with a healthy appetite," Edgar said strangely defensive of Drasil from his spot a few feet away.

"Of course you would say that," Aubrey shot back.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Edgar asked offendedly.

"I wouldn\'t expect someone who ate their family into poverty to understand," Aubrey said in casual aloofness while looking off into the distance.

"I did not eat my family into poverty!" Edgar said angrily.

"That\'s what your mother said the first time we met them," Aubrey pointed out.

"She was joking," Edgar argued before looking around at the others for backup. "Tell her, guys."

However, nobody dared to look Edgar in the eyes. Derek and Kyle were looking at the floorboards like they were the most interesting things. The only person who did was Julius.

"You do eat a lot," Julius told him with an apologetic look on his face.

Edgar didn\'t have anything to refute that and accepted his defeat with a sigh and a downtrodden head.