"That may be useful for later!" Zayn mumbled, slightly excited.
The three Spirits found several deposits of ores that could be mined and sold for a hefty price. However, Zayn was quite wealthy right now and he didn't intend to spend his time turning himself and his Spirits into miners.
Mining the ore deposits would take way too long. Furthermore, there might be powerful monsters in the deeper parts of the cave. He didn't want to wake them through the commotion he would make from mining.
The chances of powerful monsters to be down there were pretty high because none of his Spirits found any monsters before they returned to their master. That could have multiple meanings, but the simplest Zayn could come up with was that he had entered the territory of a powerful monster that didn't really like beings intruding on its' space.
Thus, he ordered his Spirits to destroy the cavern tunnels, just to make sure that no monster would reach him from one of the three cavern tunnels.
Once the cavern tunnels collapsed, Zayn felt a little better, more secure than before.
He summoned his Spirits and took a good look at them.
"For the next three weeks, you guys are going to absorb soul particles. If you're bored, go out hunting. But bring back their corpses for Glutton to devour. As long as you guys don't do anything stupid, such as luring monsters in here, or thinking of betraying me, I won't care!"
Zayn felt like giving his Spirits a little bit more freedom. He knew that his Spirits had to heed his commands, no matter what they actually wanted to do. However, Zayn felt that they would actually be much stronger if they were given some freedom every now and then. The freedom would allow them to feel as if they were still alive.
His Human Spirits, with the sole exception of Herculean, were a little bit different. Maman and Agile hated him to the core, while Berserk and Tera should feel similar. Zayn understood that they felt like that, but he didn't really care. He gave them additional restrictions to make sure that nothing could go by giving them some freedom as well, but that was already it.
'They know that I will only use them as long as they're useful.'
Zayn watched the Spirits sit and lay down on the cold surface of the cavern hall. None of them wished to go outside for the time being, especially not the Sparrow Spirits.
They could tell that Zayn wouldn't use them anymore now that he got five Winged Serpent Spirits. They were much faster, could travel silently through the sky, were great hunters with good talent, and their eyesight was exceptional, superior to most Soul Knight Monsters as well.
It was time for the Sparrow Spirits to finish their first Soulring and to exceed the limit of their Soul's potential, otherwise, they would either be discarded or just put aside to collect dust.
At the end of the day, Zayn could only use the Spirits that were of use to him. Spirits that were useless, took up space in the Grimoire of the Ancient's empty pages, and his Soul. After all, all Spirits were connected to him.
He didn't think of discarding the Sparrow Spirits yet, but the time may actually come. But before he would bother something as annoying as abandoning some of his Spirits, Zayn would create a proper frame for his third Soulring.
That was the whole reason for him to search a secure place with a bunch of monsters around to hunt.
With enough food stored in the Silvermoon Bracelet and enough monsters around to hunt in the case of lacking fresh meat, Zayn started the creation of the third soulframe.
Compared to the method others used, the creation of a soulframe required the most attention and it had the highest possibility to result in failure.
However, by working slowly and steadily, Zayn could reduce the failure rate quite easily. The creation of the soulframe was the process that took the longest because of the perfectionism Zayn pursued when it came to creations inside his body.
He wanted the soulframes to be perfect. That is also how he ended up spending an entire month to finish the third soulframe.
With the amount of soul particles he had amassed inside his heart, Zayn could manufacture a stable soulring that didn't need anymore treatment.
As long as it was filled with enough compressed soul particles and closed up properly, the third Soulring would be perfect!
Closing up the third Soulring once it was filled to the brim wouldn't require much time either. The soulframe he manufactured was as close to perfection as one could get. Thus, closing up was a simple task that wouldn't take up too much of his time.
That way, creating the soulframes around his heart would always be the most time-consuming while training.
It was extremely exhausting as well. Spending a full month fully focused on the manufacturer procedure of the third soulframe, Zayn was dead-tired. He wanted nothing more than sleep for a whole week.
With that desire in mind, he slumped down on the cold stone floor and fell asleep.
**
Another week passed until Zayn had fully recuperated from the exhaustion that had pursued him like enraged murder hornets.
After staying five weeks in the cavern hall, Zayn was a little bored. It was necessary for him to go out, start his workouts again, and go for a few hunts.
His Spirits had grown a lot stronger, spending almost every single day absorbing soul particles for 24 hours. Zayn was not sure if they had entered some sort of trance, but he knew that their strength had increased to an extent where it was about time for him to become stronger as well.
Otherwise, his Spirits may actually start a revolt and turn the tables. Zayn didn't really feel like becoming the servant of a bunch of Spirits.
That was something he would avoid, if possible.
Thus, it was about time to start a large-scale hunt once again!