24 Aftermath

Rao Wu took a long, well-deserved rest after returning to the island. He curled into a ball under the Dryad's favorite tree and slept like there was no tomorrow. The child's cute, peaceful face as he slept roused protective instincts within the young Dryad.

The Dryad sat by the little boy's side, occasionally brushing his hair from his nose. This was the first time she had seen Rao Wu this relaxed. Only now did she realize that Rao Wu had indeed been tense the past few weeks. He masked his anxiety and impatience with disarming smiles and jokes, but the truth had been revealed at this moment.

Under the Dryad's careful watch, Rao Wu slept for over fifteen hours, not waking up until the sun was high in the sky the following day.

"Whooa!" Rao Wu awoke with a loud yawn and an exaggerated stretch. "Haven't slept that well in forever. Hmm? Where—" For a moment, Rao Wu's memory blanked as he looked at the Sprites wandering about the open field. By his right, he saw the Dryad walking towards him with a leaf bowl filled with water. "Oh, yeah. I was taking the test. Ah, that's right! We won yesterday!"

"It is good to see you are as energetic as ever." The Dryad smiled when she saw the little boy jump to his feet in jubilation. "Here, drink this. You were asleep for a long time."

"Ah, thanks." Rao Wu accepted the bowl with a grateful smile. After drinking, he set the bowl aside, and then said, "I've rested enough. I'm ready to push for stage nine."

The Dryad hesitated. "Are you certain?" A part of her was excited, but the other, fearful that Rao Wu would fail, did not want to indulge her hope for fear of disappointment.

Grururururu!

"Ah, you're right." Rao Wu revealed an embarrassed smile as he patted his rumbling stomach. "Can't do this on an empty stomach." With those words, he summoned Xian Da and then took out a Bugbear carcass from his ring. Due to the ring's vacuum-like nature, the Bugbear meat remained fresh, even after a whole night.

Rao Wu and Xian Da ate the Bugbear meat with reluctant gazes. "Ah, I wish I knew how to make fire." Rao Wu reminisced the meat he ate from the roadside stall and the banquet. He hadn't seen how they made the meat for dinner, but the roadside stall used fire to roast the meat in real-time. Uncle Twilight often told him that Rao Taylor was a master when it came to cooking wilderness meat.

Rao Wu looked at Xian Da. "What do you think? We should make a fire soul monster our next priority, right?"

"Rraff!" Xian Da nodded as it angrily bit the tender meat. Yuck! After eating cooked food, this tasted like sand!

Nearby, the Dryad chuckled as she listened to their exchange. She wondered how fire-attribute monsters would feel if they ever found out a soul trainer wanted them for their food-roasting abilities.

Eventually, a few minutes later, both Xian Da and Rao Wu had full rotund bellies. Within its soul space, Ju Tu shook its head. From the 2nd phase upwards, monsters did not rely much on regular food. They could substitute on soul energy and only ate for the sake of advancement or alternatively, fun. As a result, rather than force itself to eat that garbage meat, Ju Tu was content to sit and snack on a few soul cores.

That's right. Unlike other materials, soul cores and soul crystals could be stored in opened soul spaces. Of course, soul trainers had to ensure they trained their soul monsters well, or else they might finish the entire stock. For this reason, Rao Wu, like many soul trainers, stored a small number of soul cores in the soul space and left the rest in his ring.

After eating, Rao Wu drew a deep breath and then retrieved the pure-beast soul crystal. He looked at the crystal with grave eyes and then turned to look at Xian Da. "Are you ready?"

"Rraff!" Xian Da barked and held out its chest. Its brave and determined eyes revealed its conviction.

"Alright then, here you go." Rao Wu fed Xian Da the soul crystal, then quickly recalled it to its soul space to closely monitor and aid its advancement.

Rao Wu and Ju Tu closely monitored Xian Da with anxious gazes. The soul crystal Xian Da used came from a 2nd Phase, Stage Nine monster. There was a possibility that the energy would prove too much for the little cub. In cases like that, the monster could either survive and waste most of the crystal's efficacy, or die from attempting to store too much soul energy.

Surprisingly, in Xian Da's case, the little cub achieved the third and rarest option of them all: Full Absorption. Despite being a servant-ranked 1st Phase soul monster, Xian Da seemed to have reserves of soul monsters two ranks higher. This allowed it to not only absorb the soul crystal but do so thoroughly, without letting a single drop waste!

Before Rao Wu's Wu's stunned gaze, Xian Da's muscles doubled in size as the little tyke grew a few centimeters taller. Within a few minutes, Xian Da went from a sickly-looking runt to a powerful young wolf cub ready to join its parents on the hunt.

Seeing the change, Rao Wu half-expected Xian Da to have risen a rank. Unfortunately, though Xian Da successfully broke through to the 2nd phase, it remained servant-ranked. Rao Wu, however, was not disappointed as Xian Da broke through the 1st and 2nd Stages seconds later, and then firmly secured its place in the 3rd stage.

The benefits of fully absorbing the crystal's energy showed.

Rao Wu barely had time to celebrate Xian Da's success when he suddenly felt a surge of soul energy pouring in from Xian Da's soul space. Rao Wu, having expected this influx, was not caught off-guard.

The youth quickly congratulated Xian Da and then focused on his soul energy. The energy from Xian Da's multiple advancements flooded Rao Wu's soul, but rather than panic, Rao Wu gently guided them to the next soul space. The relentless energy crashed against the soul space a few times before ultimately smashing it open. Having cleared the ninth soul space, the remaining energy began tackling the gate to the second rank.

Unfortunately, the energy did not seem to be enough to break into Soul Student for now. This was the downside of having a student-ranked soul monster. A monarch-rank advancement would have certainly taken him to Soul Student.

Just as Rao Wu was about to settle down, Ju Tu suddenly called out a warning from its soul space. Following its notice, Rao Wu felt a stream of energy pouring in from Ju Tu's soul space. The Steelback Ape had advanced to the seventh stage! The minor advancement's energy was not much, but it was just enough to spur Rao Wu to push for Soul Student one more time!

Rao Wu consolidated the rampant energies, and then made one last desperate push!

Crack!

To Rao Wu's delight, his desperation paid off! The barrier shattered just as he ran out of energy. Blowing all conventions of common sense, Rao Wu had achieved Soul Student at the young age of seven!

Many factors contributed to this most unlikely of achievements. Aside from Rao Wu's own talent, the child started training a lot earlier than most human children. Due to being raised in the forest, he also engaged in numerous battles daily, which stimulated his body and soul, causing him to grow even faster. Finally, the second phase, warrior-ranked, Ju Tu, greatly helped because Rao Wu's soul strength significantly increased each time it advanced.

Unfortunately, the amount of soul energy needed to advance a stage grew exponentially from Soul Student upwards. It was not a cost Rao Wu could bear with just two soul monsters – a problem Rao Wu intended to solve post-haste.

"Xian Da, Ju Tu, come out!" Rao Wu quickly summoned the two monsters with eager eyes.

Woong! Woong!

To the child's delight, two summoning circles appeared on the ground. Shortly after, Ju Tu and Xian Da emerged from the circles with excited cheers. It had been a few weeks since they had seen each other in the real world. More importantly, however, this was proof that Rao Wu had advanced to Soul Student!

"Congratulations." The Dryad wore a pleasant smile as she looked at Rao Wu.

"Hehe... Thanks, thanks. I couldn't have made it this far without you." Rao Wu was not exaggerating. He could not have hunted so freely without the Dryad and the Sprites' crowd control. The youth grinned and then said as he held out his right hand, "So, are you ready? I can start the soul pact anytime."

The Dryad looked at Rao Wu's hand with hesitation. She did not know if she had the right to accept his request. Just as the Dryad was deliberating, a Sprite bumped its head against her shoulder. She looked at the Sprite with stunned eyes and was shocked to see many more had surrounded her at some unknown time. The Sprites let out grateful cheers as they came over nudged her towards Rao Wu, prompting her, in no uncertain terms, to take his offer!

The Sprites were ever grateful to the Dryad who had protected them for several decades, if not centuries. However, it was time for this young sprout to bloom under her own sky.

"Th-thank you." The Dryad wept as she patted the Sprites' heads. "I shall never forget you all."

Nearby, Rao Wu swallowed a sniffle. The youth grew emotional as the tearful farewell scene reminded him of the family he left behind. With a wistful look in his eyes, he hoped they were doing well. Hopefully, the humans hadn't attacked yet.

The Dryad seemed to sense Rao Wu's sudden anxiety as she turned to look at him. "I'm ready," she said as she took Rao Wu's hand.

"I swear you will never regret this choice. And if you ever want to leave, just let me know." With this promise, Rao Wu began chanting the soul pact. As expected, since she did not put up any resistance, the pact's circle successfully condensed into the Dryad's head.

Immediately afterward, a summoning circle appeared beneath the Dryad's feet, summoning her into Rao Wu's third soul space.

Rao Wu looked at the soul space's newest occupant, and then looked at Ju Tu with a guilty smile. "Hold on a bit, Ju Tu." Ju Tu chuckled good-naturedly as Rao Wu recalled him in place of the Dryad.

When the Dryad reappeared, Rao Wu chuckled as he looked at her. He finally confirmed her exact level after she entered his soul space. The Dryad was a second phase, fifth stage soul monster. Furthermore, she was shockingly general-rank, making her the strongest soul monster Rao Wu had to date.

Unfortunately, most of her abilities were not directly combat-related. Still, Rao Wu intended to fully explore them with future battles.

"Hehe, now that you're one of our own, I can't keep calling you Dryad." Rao Wu grinned as he tapped his chin. "Right now, you can only make a few plants grow, but I promise that at the end of our journey, you'll be able to summon a forest even in the driest desert." Rao Wu clapped, as he then announced with a shining gaze, "Welcome to the team, Lu Lin."

Lu Lin, the newly named Dryad, beamed with a bright smile and then replied with a bashful nod. "Thank you, Master."