CHAPTER 23: SOUL CRYSTALS

Ray had killed nineteen of the twenty demonized wolves who had managed to find the cave.

Tch!

Seeing one of them escape, he clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"I can’t believe that missed. It was the fastest wind blade I released yet. Did its desire to survive bring out its latent potential, helping it move faster than it thought possible?"

"Now it’s guaranteed that I have more trouble to look forward to."

"Demonized wolves love to hold grudges."

"It won’t forget how I killed its brethren."

"It will bring its entire pack to hunt me down soon."

Ray’s eyes flickered with thoughts.

"Maybe even the alpha would be among them."

"Should I try to tame it?"

He denied that thought after a moment of careful thinking.

"...No."

"My first one has to be a king type. A commander type is good, but it’s severely lacking compared to a king type."

Besides magic type, spirit type, and physical type demonic creatures, there also existed special types of demonic creatures.

The strongest of them all were the king type demonic creatures.

Besides having high stats, they also had unique abilities.

Their most unique ability was the ability to command demonic creatures of the same race.

To give an example, a king type wolf could’ve alpha wolves as subordinates. Each of its subordinates could have their own pack.

If he could get his hands on such a creature, it would be the same as gaining an army.

Ray’s thoughts continued.

"Before the demonized wolf returns with reinforcement, I need to grow stronger."

Another round of upgrading began.

[-8 SP]

[Your Soul Quality has increased from 10 → 18]

[Your Magic Power Capacity has experienced a sizeable growth, increasing from 100 to 180]

[You have gained the special trait "Magic Power Recovery"]

[Magic Power Recovery: Allows you to restore 5 units of magic power every second.]

Ray gaped, his mouth hanging low in surprise.

"Isn’t this a trait unique to bronze rank beast tamers? Even most bronze rank beast tamers don’t have it!"

The ability to regenerate magic power is influenced by the soul, meaning the better one’s soul quality, the greater the amount of magic power they can regenerate in a second.

Every time beast tamers make a breakthrough, the quality of their soul is enhanced.

A typical beast tamer needs to make several minor breakthroughs and multiple major breakthroughs before their soul can be enhanced to a level where they start regenerating magic power automatically.

As revealed in the beast tamer trial, Ray had perfect innate magic power; amongst mortals, his soul quality was the purest, the greatest. Now he further enhanced it using stat points, so it became even better, comparable to talented bronze rank beast tamers and average silver rank beast tamers!

***

"Let’s see what you have to offer," Ray looked down at Torvin’s corpse.

Due to the sudden appearance of the demonized wolves, Ray hadn’t had the time to inspect it. He believed he could get some really valuable things from it. After all, Torvin was a genius who managed to get into the beast hall. He should have a lot of treasure on his person.

Torvin had faced a brutal battle that destroyed his bronze rank armor and weapon and injured him severely before he emerged from the birthplace of beast tamers. Only his interspatial ring remained intact.

Interspatial ring!

One of the many treasures that can be found in the Birth Place of Beast Tamers.

An interspatial ring typically contains a room size space inside it at the minimum. Items can be stored inside this space and taken out with just a thought.

"A bronze rank beast tamer can have an interspatial ring? Looks like Beast Hall members are treated very well."

A desire to get into a guild took root in Ray’s heart.

"According to the original owner’s memory, once the owner of an interspatial ring die, it becomes ownerless. Anyone can become the owner of an ownerless intersaptial ring by feeding it their blood. This means the space inside it doesn’t collapses upon the death of its owner. All the items stored inside it before Torvin died should still be there. By becoming its owner, I should be able to see what’s inside," he thought, holding the interspatial ring.

Using his dagger, he made a small cut on his finger, letting his blood drop on the interspatial ring, becoming its owner.

A special connection formed, allowing his gaze to sweep through it.

A graceful, cool looking black mask embroidered with gold threads, a few sets of clothes, basic necessities, pile of demonic cores, a book, a map, and a few hexagonal crystals that glittered despite the lack of light in the space inside the interspatial ring; these were the items inside Torvin’s ring.

Ray’s eyes lit when he saw glowing crystals.

"Soul crystals!"

Soul crystals were used to make breakthroughs!

They were extremely valuable.

Even a level 1 soul crystal, harvested from a bronze rank demonic beast, could fetch around one thousand silver coins.

It’s said only one out of tens of thousands of demonic creatures might have one. Commander and king-type beasts, however, had the highest likelihood of producing them.

"And there’s two of them!" Ray exclaimed excitedly as he found a total of two soul crystals in the interspatial ring.

A single level 1 soul crystal was enough to help an iron rank beast tamer make a minor breakthrough. He had two of them. With them, he could advance through two minor realms without breaking a sweat!

"Hahaha!" Ray laughed loudly. "If that beast dares to return with reinforcement, he will be in for a suprise."

He hurriedly took out the two level 1 soul crystals and popped them into his mouth.

It was like eating candy while snuggling with your lover.

A sweet taste spread through his tongue as a warm sensation gripped him.

It only lasted a moment, remiscient of a blissful experience that leaves one wanting more.

[You have devoured two level 1 soul crystals]

[Congratulations host. You have reached the advanced stage of the iron rank realm]

[Your soul quality has improved significantly. It has increased from 18 → 72]

[Your magic power has increased significantly. It has increased from 180 → 720]

[Your soul power regeneration has improved significantly. It has increased from 5 → 10]

Every minor breakthrough in the iron rank realm doubled one’s magic power.

Average iron rank beast tamers starts with at most 10 and at least 1 magic power. Until they break through to bronze rank, their magic power rarely exceed 100. Ray’s magic power, however, was already 100 before even becoming a beast tamer, then he improved it to 180 using stat points. Thus, after breaking through multiple minor realms, his magic power had grown to rival those of powerful bronze rank tamers.

Bronze rank tamers are known for experiencing threefold increase in their magic power with each minor breakthrough. So, Ray’s magic power could only be compared to initial and intermediate stage bronze rank tamers.

Still, being able to possess such magic power while still being in the iron rank was an incredible feat.

If the world learned about it, countless powers would fight over him.

Of course, if that scenario ever come to pass, there would be no shortage of opportunist who would try to kill him before he could grow and realize his potential.

After all, his very existence was an enigma that threatened the balance of the world.

Not only demonic creatures, but even humans who wanted to maintain the status quo, would want him dead if they discovered the terrifying level of magic power capacity he had managed to reach at such a low rank!

"I just have to keep quiet about it until I am the strongest," Ray thought.

Once he was the strongest, he could do anything he liked without worrying about the consequences like King Leon.

If there was something he didn’t like, he could just make it disappear with the snap of his fingers!