Chapter 7

“Wow!! And then what happened?”

A cheerful, curious girl’s voice sang like a melody in Jack’s ears, interrupting his storytelling.

The fading evening light gave the front stone courtyard of the large orphanage a gloomy look, lit up by a small number of torches. Jack was currently sitting in one of the corners of the courtyard, leaning on a wooden barrel, a cloth covered sword resting in his palm. He had decided to wrap the hilt of the golden sword in rags, obscuring the fine carving and luxurious blade hilt in case any thieves decided to take a chance at it.

Jack smiled down at his audience, giving the small, black haired girl a grin. The rest of the courtyard was empty, just the two of them present.

“Well, after that I managed to run away from the Tundra Wolves, and hid in a deep, dark cave, down dozens of twisting passages! It was only after half an hour I managed to escape!” He had just finished regaling Little Seven with the tales of his adventure today, editing out any mention of the two nobles.

“And these here are the claws I got from the Lopsided Bear! I managed to keep them!” Jack drew out the claws with a dramatic flourish, presenting them to her.

“Aiiyeeee! Ewwww gross!” Little Seven fell backwards as Jack shoved the claws in her face, shrieking in panic. Her little face flushed red as she dodged backwards, trying to avoid touching the claws.

“Bahahahaha!” Jack burst out laughing, watching the girl try, and fail, to avoid him.

It was the evening of the same day. Jack had managed to get back into the city after burying the Spirit Crystals in a discreet location. He didn’t run into any issues getting in, and everything seemed to progress normally. He made a mental note to avoid mentioning he was ever near that cave, however, vowing to not go back for a very long time.

Two important dead nobles meant a lot of trouble was going to come to Snowbank City very soon.

Jack ruffled Little Seven’s hair as she got up, smiling as she stuck her tongue at him. He reached his hand into his back pocket, rubbing the red Bloodline Origin Crystal.

After returning to the city, the first thing Jack did was try to find out more information on what the crystal was.

The orphanage had taught Jack his basic letters and numbers, one of the few perks of living here. Jack had always enjoyed reading tales of warriors and powerful fighters saving countries and defeating powerful beasts.

However, his strict poverty meant he could only read the books the orphanage had, and their supply was very limited. Very few places had books to read, and the only ones that offered such services for free had strict requirements on who could get in. Orphans didn’t qualify.

The orphanage had several books, but Jack ran into trouble when he was younger trying to read them. Several of the older boys at the orphanage would bully him and steal the books from him, calling him names like “freakface” or “monster.”

Later on, Jack learned that most of those older kids also had something wrong with them, explaining why they were still at the orphanage. Thus, they took out their anger on people like Jack.

He wasn’t angry at the kids, he merely pitied them.

While he was weak then, as he was now, not a single kid in the orphanage would dare to bully Jack, and, by extension, Little Seven.

Jack’s efforts in training himself and his ability had already placed him far above the rest of the kids. He’d still get called a few names every now and then, but Jack had long since grown used to the abuse and ignored it. All of the strong kids with useful abilities had long since been adopted.

As a side effect, though, when Jack was younger he sought out other sources to read.

One of those sources was a kind ex-mercenary turned merchant named Barren Gend. The middle-aged man had lost both of his legs in a fight against a Red Thunder Crocodile, a powerful Spiritual Beast that could shoot beams of red lightning out of its mouth. As a result he was forced to settle down and take on a regular job, his Natural Ability mostly useless without the use of his legs.

Jack had been running a basic errand, picking up a few books for the orphanage, when he first met the merchant.

His love of reading fantastic tales had come out as Jack talked to the merchant. The ex-mercenary ended up telling him several of his own adventures, and when he ran out he let Jack read any of the books he had in his store, as long as he kept the books on the premises.

One of the books Jack had read was about Spirit Crystals. Jack had vaguely remembered Bloodline Origin Crystals being mentioned in the book, and decided to to go reread the reference to double check once he got back into town.

The book had very little information about the strange crystals, but it mentioned the gist of what they functioned as. Bloodline Origin Crystals had the ability to fundamentally change one’s Bloodline. They were extraordinarily rare and very few people knew how they were made.

If one successfully absorbed a Bloodline Origin Crystal, one would gain whatever Natural Ability that Crystal was the origin of. This Ability would replace their normal Ability, or sometimes mutate and combined with their previous Ability if compatible.

The only downside to Bloodline Origin Crystals was that the user needed to absorb them when they were young. By the time one matured and grew into an adult, their bloodline would have solidified completely with their Spirit, and changing it could cause permanent damage.

If one was wealthy and didn’t mind the risk, they could go for it and heal the damage with rare and difficult to create medicines.

Absorbing it when one was young, however, was safe and required nothing more than a stable mind.

Jack looked over at Little Seven as he pulled the small, dimly glowing red crystal out of his pocket with a smile. He pulled out a long leather string he’d obtained earlier, trying the rock securely to it. The smaller Origin Crystal was much easier to hold than the larger Spirit Crystals, and could function as a necklace.

“Hey, Little Seven! I got you a present while I was out too!” He held up the necklace for her to see.

“It’s very special, and a secret, so I hope you’ll only keep it to yourself!”

“Ooh!” The small girl clapped her hands together eagerly, her pouting forgotten as she jumped up next to Jack, snatching the gift.

She looked at the red stone, her eyes wide with delight as she saw it glow. She touched it softly and then looked at Jack, her eyes watering.

“It’s so pretty!! Thank you, big brother!” She wrapped Jack in a hug, almost knocking him off the barrel he was leaning on.

“But my name is Diana! Not Little Seven!”

“Sure thing Little Seven.”

“Aiyeeeee!”

..

..

Sparse trees spread out around Jack, the edge of a small forest that bordered Snowbank City. He glanced around surreptitiously before climbing up to a particular tree, making his way through the branches.

A week of time had gone past in the blink of an eye.

In that time, Jack’s life had begun to rapidly change.

He smiled as looked at the hole in the tree, pulling out a fist sized piece of crystal with his left hand, feeling the energy in the stone atune with his soul.

This was the very last Spirit Crystal he had secured. The other dozens of crystals had all been successfully absorbed by Jack, the inherent energy in them absorbed.

It was unusual. From what Jack knew, these were very high quality Spirit Crystals. For someone as weak and young as him, a powerful Crystal should last a very long time, able to help him nurture his Soul and Spirit. All the books Jack had read indicated this.

He, however, seemed to blaze through these Crystals extremely quickly. His body absorbed them extremely quickly, able to take in far more Spirit Energy than a regular person. Because of this, his Spirit which had just barely entered the first of the Six Great Stages of Spirit, the Bearing Light Stage, was able to completely solidify, and reach the peak.

The Bearing Light Stage was the first Stage, and the most basic one. By entering into it fully, Jack was able to freely manipulate and control his Spirit Energy.

He waved his hand in the air as he considered this, smiling as a faint layer of blue energy covered his hand and drifted down to completely coat his right arm. This was the standard color of Spirit Energy.

As the energy coalesced on his arm, Jack felt a slight tension. In his mind, he picture the ethereal state of his soul. A small, glowing white circle represented his progress in training his Spirit. This circle glowed brightly and strongly, indicating he was fully within the First Stage, the Bearing Light Stage.

Though the circle didn’t exist in reality, Jack was able to automatically tell that the width of the circle was around eighteen meters. When he had first formed his Spirit Circle, weeks ago, it had been a mere half a meter wide. The energy and nourishment from the Spirit Crystals had increased the size of his Spirit Circle enormously.

When the size of his Spirit Circle reached roughly twenty meters wide, he would have reached the peak of the Bearing Light Stage, and would be able to evolve his Spirit to the next Stage. As for what came after that, Jack’s knowledge was sorely lacking.

The blue Spirit Energy on his arm shimmered lightly in the mid afternoon light. With it covering his hand, Jack felt a surge of strength. He punched forward with his right arm, slamming against the tree in front of him.

*CRASH*

A resounding thud rang out as he directly split the tree trunk apart, splinters of wood flying through the air and raining down. Jack jumped back off the tree, feeling exhilarated.

Using Spirit Energy to increase the strength of one’s attack was the most basic and common usage of Spirit Energy. The energy would also increase the durability and toughness of his arm, making him able to withstand incredible blows. This mysterious energy truly was the key to strength for warriors that lacked a powerful Natural Ability.

He felt a very slight drain on his soul due to the use of his Spirit Energy. He had used so little, however, that it was replenished almost immediately.

Jack thumbed the small golden sword at his waist, looking at it, rags and all. He removed it from the sheath, letting it flow from side to side in the air. He put the last Spirit Crystal into his pocket as he focused.

He hadn’t seen any more visions when holding the sword. At first he had been a bit leery of using the weapon, but as he practiced with it, Jack realized how good a weapon it was. It far outmatched his old iron blade in terms of sharpness and durability. In fact, Jack had yet to find a sharper or better weapon, and wasn’t really able to compare it to other swords.

*hisss*

A soft hissing sound rang out as Jack let the Spirit Energy on his arm spread out to covered the sword. The sword gained a blue hue to its golden edge, looking deadly. He concentrated, looking at the Spirit Energy intensely. He began to move the Spirit Energy in a specific pattern, following the memories in his mind.

Gradually, the energy on his blade, seemed to shiver and tremble. After a few moments, it drooped inward, and folded in on itself. As soon as it did so, the blue light darkened, and seemed to become stronger.

Once… twice… three times Jack managed to successfully fold the energy.

As he was attempting a fourth fold, however, Jack blinked, his concentration breaking. As he realized his mistake, he immediately swung the sword forward.

*BOOOOM*

A blade of blue light slashed forward, shooting off his sword in an arc. The force of his swing combined with the condensed Spirit Energy on his sword, cutting forward in a deadly strike. This blue light slashed into the ground before Jack.

Immediately, what was left of the tree before him was split entirely in twain, the pieces falling off to either side. The blade light continued forward after splitting the tree, cutting into the rocky earth of the north, leaving behind a deep furrow in the ground that stretched for several meters.

Jack smiled as he looked at the result of his swing.

“Three is enough, for now. I think I’m ready to take that Hunter examination.”