Regaining the Grimoire of the Ancient was great fuel to his motivation. It allowed him to work hard and tirelessly to regain his former strength.
However, the Grimoire was not the biggest factor that ignited the blazing flame of motivation inside him.
Learning more about himself and his power was much better than blindly following the Grimoire of the Ancient's guidance.
Zayn finally started to use his brain instead of blindly using the techniques of the Grimoire.
That was also why it took only four months to succeed in the replication of the Soul Symbol of the Green Giant.
What did that mean?
It was pretty simple. Zayn etched the Soul Symbol of the Green Giant Spirits – the symbol he always saw in the empty pages of the Grimoire – on the surface of his third Soulring, creating a small, isolated space for the Green Giant Spirits!
Zayn actually succeeded! He couldn't really believe it himself, but his hard work paid of. The excitement that spread through his entire being was more than enough to forget about the Grimoire of the Ancient – even if it was just for a brief time.
The Green Giants' Soul Symbol was the first he etched successfully on the surface of one of three Soulrings. However, it wouldn't be the last!
'Now that I know what to do, the next few Soul Symbols will be much easier to etch on the Soulrings. Two months should be more than enough to finish all of them, yep…two months!'
With that thought pressing on his mind, Zayn went to work.
Two months later, after spending a total of six months in the Normie Union's headquarters, he was finally done.
He learned how to fully utilize the Soulrings as a replacement for the empty pages of the Grimoire, and he found out a few more interesting things. Etching the Soul Symbols on the surface of the Soulrings enhanced Zayn's connection to his Spirits. The enhancement was extremely powerful, and it unveiled a few more secrets behind the existence of Spirits.
Unfortunately, Zayn had yet to research these revelations, but that was something time could do in the future.
For now, it was more important to pay attention to his Spirits, provide them with the proper equipment and let them nourish until they reached the peak of their former power!
The latter had already been achieved. All his Spirits were either Soul Knights with two completed Soulrings, or they advanced to become Soul Lords, just like King, Champion, Herculean, and Glutton.
Weapons were also not really a problem. Several blacksmiths were tirelessly working on the Armaments he requested six months ago. Most of them had been completed by now, but there had been a few complications.
Zayn requested various unique weapons that weren't usually manufactured. For example, Zayn requested a dozen Serpentine Blades, a fierce-looking longsword whose blade was made up of several scale-like blades. The blades were connected via metal threads which one could easily control as long as one possessed experience with carefully controlling soul particles.
It was an exceptional weapon with great reach and high lethal power, but the danger level of the serpentine blade was not to be underestimated. The wielder could easily injure his allies, or himself the moment he lost even the slightest bit of control while wielding the weapon.
Fortunately, sustaining injuries was not exactly a huge problem for Spirits. As long as they had some soul particles left in their body, they wouldn't die. Even if they were to die, it was not as if their death was permanent. They would be sucked back into the Soul Symbol where they would regenerate.
Thus, the only problem was Zayn. His Spirits were extremely powerful and massive in number. The pressure they released inside the Soulrings was quite considerable. It was more than enough to put Zayn into a pickle, if not for the fact that he regained his peak physical condition by now.
In fact, Zayn was even stronger than he had been before. His physical condition exceeded the limit he felt before, by a lot at that.
That was only possible by practicing the Mercur Catanis Martial Arts technique to an elevated level, followed up by reaching high mastery with the Cy-Stride movement technique. His condition improved drastically with the nutrition and other resources he received during the last half a year, but the two techniques helped him the most.
Even his flexibility and subtle movements had improved drastically, allowing him to do many things that were impossible before.
"Are you done regaining your former strength?" Michael Levenstar asked with a faint smile on his lips. He was still a little shocked about Zayn's unique power to manifest and control Spirits, but he had adjusted to it very well.
Michael Levenstar was the staff member who tended to Zayn over the course of the last six months. He was also the same staff member who nearly collapsed upon seeing his Spirits.
It was a little embarrassing because he had been in the Normie King's presence at that time, but it was also reassuring that the Normie King was just as shocked as Michael.
Now after half a year passed, Zayn's strength was even higher. As for his Spirits, there was no need to say anything about them. Their power was hard to fathom, especially since they were similar to the Undead as they didn't fear death.
However, contrary to the Undead, Spirits were still conscious and able to think, even the weakest.
"I am even stronger than before. If possible, I would like to leave the headquarters to hunt a bunch of monsters. Right now, I feel like testing my Spirits' strength. Maybe, I'll find a useful monster and turn it into a Spirit," Zayn said. He was ready to leave at once. There was no reason to stay in the Normie Union's headquarters any longer.
However, Michael's expression changed drastically upon hearing what Zayn had to say.
"I'm sorry, but it won't be possible for you to leave the headquarters for the time being," Michael said with an apologetic expression.
"...and why not?" Zayn returned, narrowing his eyes.
"Actually, nobody can leave the headquarters without issues right now," Michael said slowly. It looked like he didn't want to explain any further but upon seeing the fierceness in Zayn's eyes, he gave up.
"As you may know, the headquarters of the Normie Union have been built beneath the Demon King's territory. The Demon nests are overpopulating once again, and they're searching for food. Living in infertile land forces them to invade the territory of other races, otherwise, they would starve to death. Most Demons cannot feast on each other, after all," Michael added before he cleared his throat.
"That means, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Demons are currently charging to the outskirts of the human territory. The shelter will decimate their numbers, reducing the mouths that have to be fed, but that may not be important for you. Either way, the moment you reach the surface, you will be faced with countless Demons of various ranks. There will be Demons with up to four Soulrings if you're unlucky."
Only recently born Demons were thrown in the direction of the other territories. This was to decimate the number of Demons and to see which one of them was talented enough to survive the dangers of facing their archenemies while collecting some food for everyone.
Only the strongest would survive.
This was natural selection at its finest.
Michael looked afraid at this point, but that was given. The Demon offspring could always find the Normie Union's headquarters and besiege them. Their glorious end would be inevitable if that were to happen.
However, Zayn's eyes began to glimmer.
"Demons? Demon Spirits should be pretty interesting!"
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