Spirit Taming

Chapter 592: Devi's growth Paths

"You're all awake already?" Clark was surprised by the fact that Ralph and Maria were right by the smoldering coals of the fire already. He had expected that they would still be awake. Hence why he had remained within his tent for so long.

Late in the night, Devi had come back with Shy. The two of them had ended up moving outside the camp radius by a decent bit just to scout and also keep track of what else might be happening around the area.

"What? Did you not want someone to be having breakfast with you? Is that why you were hiding away in your tent?" Maria teased Clark a little until she saw that Devi was latched on to one shoulder and Shy on the other. She giggled a little realizing that he had been spending time with the two who were clearly resting but didn't want to go inside the taming space.

Clark just shook his head at this. His mind was a little more distracted by the sheer amount of energy that Devi had gathered last night.

While Clark knew that Devi was growing much faster than before since they had gotten to the wilderness, he was a little sad that the two of them had been working separately more often. But to be fair, Devi was his spirit beast. Born together and they would always be together. Their strength was not just singular though. They had to get stronger separately at times to be able to help one another.

The strength that devi had managed to gather was completely related to the spiritual energies that he stole from prey. Then the death energy he gained as well was stored away. This left Clark sensing the larger amount of energies that Devi was holding on to. But since He had not noticed Devi changing appearance, it was easy to tell that he was preparing for a larger growth spurt.

At the same time, Clark was preparing to get stronger as well. They were making their way towards more dungeons and other places that might have better chances for growth. The energy that he was sensing through his bond with devi though had definitely been flowing properly. If anything, Clark could sense that he was grasping a better understanding as well.

Since Devi was a very mysterious beast in terms of existence, Clark could tell that his overall potential was going to grow higher than most beasts. Many couldn't even land a hit on him now. The laughter that Devi made was already enough to degrade mentality and cause audion stress. This was one way that Devi had been hunting prey in the night. The entire group had heard it though.

That was why Clark had reached an understanding. The dangers of Devi using this method to hunt and in battles with the group had been that he would affect the group. That was only at first though. The unique energies in that attack were now ineffective in terms of the group.

This was a good thing for the group but also meant that a beast that did not rely heavily on sound would be able to easily resist this. And since those beasts also had sharper senses in other ways, the invisibility that devi had would not be useful even for a starting sneak attack.

This in turn meant that Devi would miss the chance for a chilling bite to overall weaken his opponent along with strengthening himself. This would only leave the innate ability to float in the air and to use the shadow claw attack.

The shadow claw attack was an oddly terrifying ghostly attack that used some spiritual and death energy. It dealt a nasty blow that caused some slight rotting at the attacked spot. A good thing against larger beasts since it would remain a painful attack.

It wasn't a one hit finisher though. Attacking like that would leave Devi at risk. This was why Clark was thinking about this so hard. He had to help Devi get stronger and grow sooner than later. Especially since he could tell that Devi was already growing to take on a more humanoid appearance.

The previous round and cute shape was still there for Devi to take on. But he often moved around with a more childlike appearance. Trying to mimic and hold the shape of arms and legs at all times. The deep darkness that seemed to be an endless abyss when devi opened his mouth had also seemingly extended throughout his entire body.

With this as the direction, Clark started to look through the analysis. He had seen that devi had the potential to be a ghost lord or ghost king. The analysis  had shown that as a reliance on spiritual energy while keeping some of the undead. The soul energy and spiritual energy focus was unique. But was that the best way for devi to grow?

The death energy was the key factor here. Clark had been seeing the changes in energy flow as Devi absorbed more. He had also noticed the analysis on the growth potential of Devi changing. Instead of some little spirit or ghost this and that, he had a new path that Clark and Devi both shared interest in. Devi had not been ignorant to this. Clark shared every detail with Devi mentally.

That meant every analysis or thought, Clark did not hide from his most trusted family member.

'Soul reaper requirements for growth are complicated. Because the beast must be a unique ghostly beast, they must strengthen their own soul energy with many other beasts' spiritual energy. This also requires a great deal of death energy taken from other beasts as well through hunting.

The condensed energies will be used to reform the body and create a multiple layered spirit. This process will be enhanced or broken by the tamer since they will also need to share their life energy to remain in balance with the beast during this process. Therefore, the chances of dying is very high.

The reshaping will mimic human bones by condensing the spiritual and soul energies. The death energy will become the main core and act within and around those soul and spiritual energies. This is how a more humanoid shape is taken along with a lessening in undead typing to focus on the shaping of death energy and spiritual energy.

Furthermore, the growth potential of this path is considerably higher since it deals with a main law of existence that all facets of existence will have in some form of another. Therefore, the potential path can not be fully described until each step is reached.'

This being the section that made Clark the most curious. The system had always been showing him more. It had even been popping up to share more useful information. It was smarter than what it had been before as it had clearly stated in some of the quests he had done. Therefore, existance or whatever force it was controlling it, was giving him more as time went on.

Then it made sense that the system analysis would share more, right?

However, right here, it was proof that this was being intentionally hiding some information. That alone made Clark want to tear his hair out and learn everything about it. But dangling that in his mind had been enough for Devi to show his own attention.

Clark had understood that Devi and him were the same. Their loss of Clark's parents was the same as Devi losing his. They were siblings. Family. Spirit beast and tamer. The closest anyone could be.

Therefore, when Devi saw the potential in this path to travel, that was it. This was the path he had decided to take and he was close to stepping on it fully. Clark just needed to find materials good enough for him.

'Sub quest- rotting odor

Requirement: follow the scent of rotting to the source.

Reward: mapping increase in the violent jungle map.'

Clark scoffed internally at the system while eating a piece of the dried jerky that they had brought for their basic rations while traveling. The system had clearly noticed Clark's thoughts and added this here.

Where something was rotting, it meant death. Therefore, Devi would have more chances to get more death energy to strengthen himself. It also meant that Clark would have a chance to check for some unique materials. Not every place had rotting things in condensed places.

But to be fair, the jungle appeared to be unique. Many plants grew at a rapid pace. Therefore, it made sense that to facilitate that, things would also rot under the constant moisture and heat. It was a cycle of life that would allow the plants to grow much faster. Yet, did that mean the source of the rotting would also be the source of a larger plant growing?

Or even plant type beasts that were able to grow much stronger?

These thoughts consumed Clark's mind while eating and chatting here and there foreore they began cleaning up the camp. It was time to move out before the beasts nearby came to investigate the dangers after a fight with the cannibal jungle spider.