Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 946 - 945 - Spirit Master

It had been nearly 200 years but Lind had completed the massive complex that made up his Inheritance. Mazes, trials, and other facilities to support them all were contained in gorgeous castles, stand alone towers, and other structures.

Some glowed with emerald light similar to his harmony while others were golden to the deepest black. He did not put too many decorations on any of them but he did make a giant statue at the heart of it all.

It was not of a dragon but of a man. He was rather bland but that was by design. He did not want to impose too much on what he was doing.

As his glowing hands smoothed out the robes on the man, the sound of laughter reached him as he smiled. He turned to find a young man looking somewhat tired as young children hung off his limbs.

His emerald hair was constantly shifting with powerful intent but Protean simply guided the small children to Lind.

"Creator, I brought my siblings as you requested." Once the small children saw Lind, Protean might as well have been invisible. A small wave crashed into him but he laughed heartily as he patted their small heads.

"Have you all been taking your lessons seriously?" The small children all nodded vigorously but Protean glanced to the side in guilt. Lind narrowed his eyes but let it go. They were still young.

It was fine that they play for now.

"Great Father, what is that?" A young girl with obsidian hair and eyes but pale skin pointed at the massive statue. Lind smiled as he guided them to the side where green bushes sprinkled with vibrant flowers of azure, pink, and various others.

Several oak trees were spread around the perimeter as well to give a gentle shade to the benches lining the dais where the statue stood.

"I am about to push myself and it is important you all see it. Unlike you, this will not be just a spirit, but a part of me." He had left the most critical component until the end. He had met plenty of them but only recently understood what the creators had done.

It was dangerous but after making so many realm spirits, he had made a breakthrough.

He was considered a Spirit Forger as he could imbue weapons and tools with living spirits. Still, those spirits required a user to grow and improve over time. The bond was what imbued them with the capacity to be more than just a tool or weapon.

Protean was a bit odd in that respect as his time inside the pseudo-Inheritance had broken him free of such a restriction.

The small children were all realm spirits he had created to run and administer the Inheritance. He knew many were simply mindless trials but he had enjoyed the ones with spirits. Further, he wanted his Inheritance to live.

Making realm spirits was startlingly easy once he tried it. The special realm was essentially his creation so using his Forging and weaving techniques in tandem had made the spirits possible.

Like flesh and blood children, they were born with only the inherent intent he implanted in them. Protean, being their big brother, had happily held classes with Lind giving him jade slips to be the source of his lessons.

He also seemed to spoil them!

"Master, if you are successful, that act would make you officially a Spirit Master." Lind looked up to see a bald headed man with dark skin walking towards them. Inside the special realm, Haro had a much easier time existing outside his ring.

"A Spirit Master?" He had heard of the title but it should not be within his reach yet. He had to be able to make peak grade 7 spirit artifacts or weapons to reach it.

"This is an alternative method. Normally, it would be impossible but your path is extremely different. I have studied beside you enough to know you are going to make more than a reflection of yourself, but an actual part of you will remain here." Haro looked up at the rather bland statue.

"There is a difference?" He had met such beings before so he did not understand what was so different.

Haro merely smiled and stepped back. Lind sighed as he made sure the others were situated.

"As you all have learned, this is your home but I cannot stay here. I do not wish to abandon you either so I have devised a solution. A part of me will always be with you in this place." The small faces looked confused and worried but he smiled at them.

He then looked up at the sky. Although the sun hid them, the stars that made up the sky were always there, waiting for him to act.

They were the culmination of everything he had grasped about the elements of all 3 systems.

As his eyes glowed with emerald light, an ephemeral figure appeared around him for the first time in a very long while. It was a massive dragon but it was calmly surrounding his body as the stars began to become visible in the blue sky.

The ephemeral dragon slowly rose into the sky before it began to pull streams of Qi to it. It went from ephemeral to nearly solid before it began to shrink!

The smaller it got, the more solid it became as Lind guided the Qi like a conductor. His eyes were now closed but he looked far more profound in that moment as an emerald flame flickered from his stomach area on his torso.

It rose up and merged with the statue as the much smaller dragon began to circle around above it. The spirits suddenly all sat up as a ghostly figure appeared around the emerald flame slowly until a man with dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes faintly appeared.

He smiled at them before falling into the statue.

The sound of grinding stone was heard as the once bland statue slowly changed. A staring appeared on Lind's face as he seemed to become very pale. The dragon above also seemed to become even fainter but the flow of Qi never stopped.

Time became immaterial as a pressure built until a thin tendril of energy reached out from Lind and the ephemeral dragon. Once the 2 met the statue, it transformed!

Its features transformed with more grinding of stone until it looked like the original human Lind! Further, the face moved!

[This is a very strange sensation.] The statue spoke but Lind was still Forging and weaving at the same time!

"Master, you are one step away. Currently you are merely controlling the Guardian you created." The statue looked at Haro and nodded. Up to that point, he had essentially spread his soul to the statue but to create a true Guardian, he had to sever the connection.

He looked to Protean and the young man nodded before he vanished and an emerald sword with a black hilt appeared.

Statue Lind grasped it and then paused. It was a very dangerous moment for him. If he failed, he could fall back to the Sliver Tier at best or suffer permanent Qi deviation. He understood it instinctively.

He looked at the small spirits and smiled. He had not come so far to fail.

The glow on Protean changed from sword aura to a very different intent. It became a profound feeling of something dangerous to the very existence of every spirit there. If another cultivator had been present, they would have felt threatened by just seeing it!

It was an intent only created for the sole purpose of cutting into the soul!

The statue carefully held the sword up to the connection between himself and his main body. He used his Eyes to carefully find the point he could cut before the intent shifted.

Rather than directly attack, he used the intent to push a portion of himself into the new spirit he had created. The emerald flame at the heart of it flared suddenly and he struck!

Pain lanced through his mind, body, and soul as his vision and senses doubled!

It was only briefly but he was suddenly on the ground heaving as if he had sprinted multiple marathons back to back! His arms and legs were shaking like he was a newborn calf!

He quickly checked his cultivation and found his Shard was actually advanced! He was at the peak of the high Shard Tier!

How had that happened?! It was only when he looked up and saw the glittering stars that he realized how much time had passed. He also felt a kind of dislocation as he saw a statue in his splitting image looking down at him in concern.

[How are you feeling? Your cultivation is stable as is my own existence. Haro returned to his ring and Protean took the little ones over there a month ago.] It was damned weird to hear his own voice!

"A month, wasn't it just a moment ago?" The statue smiled down at him.

[My creation was not so easy. You just barely did it. Your soul and my spirit had to heal. I recovered faster as I am not a cultivator.] Lind slowly nodded as memory came back to him. It was a hazy thing.

His soul had not split in 2. It was more like he had caused a seed to sprout to resonate and replicated his soul! He had created a spirit copy of himself with all his present knowledge!

"How do you feel?" Lind felt like a wrung out dish rag but the statue smirked as emerald flames appeared! The little spirits came running as if commanded and flooded to Lind!

They had grown but were still very innocent as they piled on top of him. Tears flew and he smiled weakly as they all hugged onto him.

"Congratulations, Creator, on becoming a Spirit Master." Protean came behind them all and looked relieved as well. Lind enjoyed the attention for a time but then had to cultivate to recover.

He had to review his creation but he was only a few steps away from completing his Inheritance. The tigress awaited him as well as finally focusing on his advancement. It was merely a matter of time on that front.

Crystal Tier was a major step but he had confidence after all Delenn taught him. He still had a lot to grasp with his Laws for that major step, but he was far more confident than ever before.

"Come on, let's play one last game." He stood up and pulled the spirit children along with him. He wanted them to have one more happy memory before he left.