Spirit Taming

Chapter 784: Beginning

'Hidden quest- who are you?

Requirements:

Define who you are entirely.

Reward:

Mental stability. Survival. Awakening. Gift from existence explained.'

This system quest flooded Clark's mind as he felt his very being begin to what up. The laughter from the demon that called himself Joker just drowned out any other potential sounds. He was surely enjoying witnessing Clark choose to become a monster when he had been fighting against this entirely.

It was all entertainment, but right now, for Clark, it was a battle of his own existence. His mental will. His physical ability. His very soul.

The feeling started similar to the spirit drive skill that Devi used. He had the ability to greatly enhance Clark's body. Energy flow, and even soul by melding with him. It was unlike what Isa did though. It wasn't a form change in the essence that he was becoming one with Devi. More like Devi was enhancing who Clark was while superimposing aspects of himself on Clark.

Isa would fuse with her partner entirely. Temporarily altering her body and even the way that she thought. That was clear in the way that she had drastically changed her battle styles depending on what energy she used and which partner she fused with. Anyone would mix the two up without sensing the energies and knowing the two people.

As the potion began to force the energy between devi and Clark to surge, he felt the searing heat that came with his soul being torn and grafted together with devi. Yet, there was something else there too. A slight tinge of familiarity.

Clark had been completely different in a past life. Lived his life as a normal person without magic and without anything like a beast. No wars to be involved in. certainly no cultists and demons. However, in this world, he had been born and raised by those that cared for him.

Parents that had perished while only thinking of their son and the love they had for him even though he had seemingly been born without a spirit beast.

Naturally, he had Devil, the mythical little ghost that had been invisible while waiting to hatch one day. The massively large amount of energy needed had been the result of that mythical existence. But it had caused stress.

Overcoming the weakness he felt had shaped his current personality. He could have easily drifted to a darker path. But he had support. Not only from those that reached out to him as he had grown, but those who had offered the opportunities to break a cycle of corruption taking control of all things.

Those simple events could have been written off, ignored even, but Clark had used those as pieces of a foundation. He remembered this. But he also saw it from another perspective.

Feelings of worry, hate, stress, and more echoed through him as he recalled all this. But he also felt a burning desire to stand strong and be a support. To face the great insults that had appeared in life together.

This view saw the pain as Clark had trained until he collapsed. Seen the purple bruising from torn muscles. Felt the dire need to grow stronger and protect more and more as he found himself ever increasing his abilities.

All of that was something Clark had felt, but pushed aside. Now that he looked, he felt that the emptiness within him had been filled with these things. These struggles had created a full core to who he was. But what he had not realized fully, was that Devil had seen himself entirely as the sole supporter to him. The one that felt all this.

The one that was helping to support every emotion in its purest form.

Clark had trusted Devi because of the bonds they had. He could sense the feelings and felt the warnings. They were more than family. Devil had said it too. Even in this soul searing pain that caused Clark's skin to crack as if being burned by unseen flames, Devi's will remained solid too.

Images of the eden's end taming space flitted through Clark's mind.

Hours of training with Crimson who needed guidance on how to utilize the shared energy through bonds with Clark. The failures that crimson faced while needing to use these skills on his body.

Hours of using the slime body to make small pieces of armor that crimson had seen. Hours of having it bombarded by attacks from the eyes that Clark now looked through. The guidance that was given on how to better defend Clark at every turn.

It wasn't just that though. The hours where Shyama was shown how to tap in to the shadows within the taming space to further strengthen her shadow threads. How finding the ambient energy around her could make up for some weakness due to her young age. How she could further grow herself by mimicking the way that Clark meditated and moved at the same time.

He understood now. All the time spent in the taming space, had not been resting at all. The hour upon hours of training that Devil had organized was why he also grew stronger. Why they all grew stronger. It wasn't just the time and training with Clark, but Devi had seen himself as the equal to Clark. The one that covered the second half of growth.

Devil ajd hidden this, not to be sneaky, but to protect Clark. Now, as they [ushed themselves together using this soul mutation potion, Clark could understand. He could sense that Devil saw him as completely different than the way others saw their beasts and spirit beasts.

They were not some separate being. They were just extensions of one another. Devil was the one that could scout, hide, and strengthen through unique means. Clark could wield unique power and grow stronger by procuring them materials. Chennling energies that the others couldn't uniting those energies.

"The blood moon cultists were not right at all. But you and I, we're meant to be one."

The moment that Clark accepted this, he felt like an unseen hand was wrapping him and Devi together. As if the missing parts that both had were being placed together. The puzzle was finally being completed entirely.

That deep void within devi, the darkness that clark had seen was not there because Devi was a ghost of sorts, it was because he was only part of what he should be. The deep despair Clark had felt, the feelings that drove him to constantly grow, were all based in that small missing inside piece.

He had felt the missing pieces when he didn't have a spirit beast like others, but that wasn't true. He had one, but that one should have been united with him sooner. He was always just one piece of a whole. Not perfectly made.

The intense pain suddenly ceased as the Joker's laughter also ceased. The searing skin that had cracked and flaked off was healing. The aging white hair gained a glistening color to it. It remained white, but it seemed to be radiating dense soul energy. A deep gray color had taken hold of Clark's eyes. He looked upon the world in calm while he sensed himself becoming whole.

"How! You should be a monster without a mind!" Joker screamed out while watching Clark heal. While sensing the growing power that had easily tripled compared to what Clark had been before.

"You're Very angry. You didn't understand everything though. Existence might make rules for you, but it also reaches out to those that have been wronged. The damages that came from reincarnation and accidents, it fixes them using mysterious ways."

He understood now. It wasn't that the system has been just given to him because existence was sending him a gift for reincarnation. The system was given because it was there to help Clark grow and repair the damages.

He had been broken when he was reborn. He had been damaged so deeply that even existence couldn't wave a hand to repair him. But there was a method to ensure that Clark returned to what he should be overall.

The reason that the spirit drive skill united Clark and Devil so perfectly as not because Devil took the form of a mythical beast species. It was because he and Clark were one soul broken apart and reformed to survive. Why Devil had been stuck invisible and watching for years before he had awakened.

'Existence has given a gift.'

'A new race has been born.'

"I know who I am now. We were just broken before. We are the next generation of existence and the world. The first of our kind. The divine race will be the ones to repair the bridges to the worlds. Cease the breaking of worlds.

Cease the endless wars as other races decide to take what is not theirs. We will create harmony for all as we grow. You will witness it. But for your assistance, you may witness the beginning."

'Existence smiles upon you. The one that carries their will.'