From the fortress where we came from to the Spirit Beast Capital, it would take us at least 3 days if we only rely on the carriage.
Well, only Yumiko could fly and we couldn't ask the Spirit King to give us a ride.
Yumiko was also refusing to try channeling the Spiral Guy aka Overlord of Dimensions again to create a portal. She kept remembering the dance she did at that time and that earned me a glare from her. She also remembered how I wanted to record it, after all.
So we have no choice but to take the carriage.
Jayna liked the idea. Since we had just finished the mission, she thought that it's a good time for us to relax.
However, from forests to plains to rocky hills, since it's the territory of the Spirit Beasts, there are no suitable roads for a carriage like this.
"Old thing, I told you to consider making roads. What are you doing these days?"
Yumiko asked. We're currently travelling on a rocky hill so the ride was more uncomfortable than most.
Even if one wanted to nap, one rocky bump would immediately jolt one awake. But on the bright side, it keeps us alert throughout the journey. Jayna was clinging to me on my side though.
"Roads? What use do we need for it? We might be fond of our Humanoid forms because of how easy to move in it, however, we're still beasts."
He's not wrong. There's really no use for a road for them, they could just drag themselves or fly through the air.
But Spirit King. You're the one most uncomfortable during the ride, you were almost thrown out of the carriage earlier, right?
"Haa. I guess it's bad that I didn't consider off-road wheels, I based the design on what I read at the library."
Yumiko muttered at her corner. To think that she's getting her ideas from a library. Use the internet next time and let them build a giant robot here.
Err… there might be a world with that kind of thing existing. I saw one student who's wearing a powered suit under his uniform slightly similar to what they wore in the manga where dead people were resurrected only to be forced to hunt down hiding aliens.
"Ezyn, I'm still new in this world, you're probably the oldest among us here. Surely, you have some stories that the Spiritas have no knowledge of."
I asked the Spirit King who looked too bored at his corner.
Jayna's ears also perked up upon hearing my words, her curiosity was triggered once again. She straightened her body before she used my shoulders to support her head.
"Story? What kind of story do you want? How about the story of how I became a Ruler Spirit?"
Ezyn proudly said.
Even as a Spirit Beast, he got the human mannerisms spot on, with his head held high and arms crossed.
"Old thing, I already heard of that. Even you don't know how you actually became one. Just tell us the difference between a Noble Spirit and Ruler Spirit."
Yumiko shot him down and suggested another thing instead.
So, he got a lucky encounter that helped him in his breakthrough? But it seems he's not at all fixated at finding the Spirit Ocean which meant that's where he's different to the Spiritas.
"Uh... It's hard to tell you about it since you all wouldn't get it. My Seas were combined and turned into an Ocean. Being a Ruler Spirit, a part of the actual Spirit Ocean is already my territory. I could materialize it and spread it to the area surrounding me, with me as the center I could make it my own Spirit Domain where my rule is absolute."
Ezyn detailed about what he acquired when he became a Ruler Spirit.
Spirit Domain, rule is absolute. Ah. I remembered about Old Man Reol's prerequisite to reach the Emperor Realm, it's to make his own Empire. Maybe he could also make his surrounding area with him as the center and make a special zone to declare it as his Emperor Domain.
That sounds about right but maybe there's a slight difference between them.
I see. The paths will probably start to converge through those similarities in nature. And when they reach the next realm after that, they would have already surpassed their own world.
Err... Let's keep this guess to myself for now. I need to see them or experience them myself to confirm it and going with the way things are right now, I'm still stuck at 3 Streams.
It's only been a day so I guess I'll have some progress before reaching the Spirit Beast Capital.
"I haven't seen you use that during the Fortress Battle."
Yumiko commented.
Ah. She's also far from being a Ruler Spirit but her strength almost approached his already. With her Spirit Channeling on top of it, if they really fought each other, can Yumiko cope against a Ruler Spirit?
"I don't like to bully those weaker than me. Those Peak 4-leaf Dark Elves could more or less resist the effect. If someone at the same level as me appeared, that's when I'll go all out."
I see, he's giving them a handicap. If he did use that, there's no point for the others to be there, he could just stomp them all by himself.
After saying all that, Ezyn contentedly lies back down.
I was hoping to ask him some more about the history of the Spirit Beasts but he's probably the wrong person to ask about it.
Learning about the history of these worlds is kind of satisfying. The same thing when I asked the Old Man to tell me about the World of Barbarians, if I haven't asked him, I wouldn't know about the other areas or even the legend of the Emperor Realm expert that dated back 300 years ago.
After leaving the area of the rocky hills, we reached another plain and this time we're starting to see some Spirit Beasts in their natural habitat. Though they're curious about the lone carriage driving along the Spirit Beast territory, they didn't dare to approach it.
Maybe the Spirit King is exuding some of his menacing presence to repel any possible attacker.
Just like that, we passed every area that will lead us to the Spirit Beast Capital. Jayna's curiosity was more than satisfied upon seeing rare Spirit Beasts that even the most knowledgeable Spiritas haven't seen before.
There were all kinds of them that she kept on pulling on me to see it with her. She would even ask me what's their name when I'm as clueless as her.
I continued absorbing Spirit Energy during the nights and when Jayna's curiosity was turned off. But yeah, I noticed how the progress became three times slower.
I took my time to observe and think about why it slowed down. Considering the three paths became one and all the stats from the other two paths in this 2nd realm will still be given, I probably needed to fill the other two paths' share as well.
From the explanation about the Flux Energy State only when I reached the 3rd realm will they start running in the same line so I should expect a normalized speed of progress when I reach it.
During the 2nd day, Yumiko made a breakthrough by managing to conjure her 5th River. And the night of the same day, a notification from the System about the change in average stats of the Heroes I am supporting pulled me out of my trance.
The other Heroes such as Yuko and Raiden also managed a breakthrough from their current stage. From the average of 45 Strength, 42 Endurance and 2 Intelligence, it was raised to 50 Strength, 49 Endurance and 2 Intelligence.
Right, their average Intelligence didn't increase in the slightest.
Through that change, I also got some benefit from them, since it's 30%, the bonuses I'm getting from them right now was raised to 15 Strength and 14.7 Endurance.
Err… even if it's just a small increase, every stat is valuable. When we go back on Earth I'll add two Heroes to the Support List. And if I managed to conjure more Streams before going back, that's one or two more.
A day after that night, we finally reached the vicinity of the Spirit Beast Capital.
Numerous intelligent Spirit Beasts were dotting this land, though most of them were still in their Beast Form there were other Transformed Spirit Beasts who were trying to get comfortable in their humanoid form.
When I heard about Spirit Beast Capital, I thought it would look like just a nest for numerous Spirit Beasts but no, what's registering on our eyes right now were various structures that are on par with what the Spiritas have.
Though most of them were larger than normal, there were still houses as if it's for a human. Ezyn pointed at those and told us that once a Spirit Beast became a Transformed Spirit, they will be given a house like that.
Jayna's curiosity kicked off again as she watched the new scenery that's entirely different from the city she lived in.
When we reached the gate that will lead to the inner regions of the capital, Ezyn stood up and flew out of our carriage.
Transforming himself into his original form, every Spirit Beast in the vicinity all stopped and looked up at him.
"My wife. I'm home!"
Without any sense of shame, the Spirit King shouted from the gates and it travelled towards the biggest structure in the middle.
After a few seconds, a silver dragon whose figure is a little smaller than the Spirit King emerged from it.
"And you still have the gall to come back?! Kneel there for a day!"
A feminine voice rang out from the Silver Dragon. Though the contents of what she said sounded like something you wouldn't hear from a ruler's spouse, the reaction of the Spirit Beasts around us was as if this kind of scene was a normal occurrence.
"No. Yse, you know where I went right?"
Ezyn pleaded as he transformed back to his humanoid form and started to bend his knees like an obedient husband.
"I don't care, just keep kneeling there. I'll pick you up tomorrow."
Now I don't know if I should pity this Spirit King, even if he's the strongest existence here, he's still under his wife's palm.
Though I agree that it's a bit unreasonable when he literally didn't do anything, I saw the Spirit King smiling there like a fool.
Ah. This guy is hopeless.
Then after seeing the Spirit King kneeling, she nodded before she turned her gaze to our carriage.
"Yumiko, come on in, dear."
Compared to her voice when commanding the Spirit King, it's soft and gentle when she calls out to Yumiko.
Alright, since it's the norm here, I'll turn a blind eye to it.
Ren started the carriage again through Yumiko's urging, leaving the kneeling Spirit King behind.
"Old thing, your wife will pick you up tonight. I'll talk to her for you!"
Yumiko shouted to the Spirit King before he disappeared from our sight.
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