"Hahaha! Let's see if you can continue to hold up - this time, against my battle soul," Ghosteye provoked.
"Tch..." I grimaced. This was not looking good. I didn't expect him to bring out his battle soul this early. No matter how powerful I was, a battle soul plus its wielder, a late Golden Monarch stage, was not something I could take on, even with the help of Feng Mian, Yu An Xue, and Qing Yue.
Still...this was an excellent opportunity to test just how much I could hold up.
The three girls were all clearly nervous, and I could make out faint beads of sweat on their foreheads. Surprisingly enough, however, just like me, they remained standing on their feet. They were stronger than I had thought, able to withstand the tremendous pressure emitted from Ghosteye's tiger battle soul.
Why did it emit such a strong pressure? Well...
Battle souls were powerful spirits that helped their master when needed. They gave the wielder buffs in accordance to the original creature - for example, a mage with a Dragon Battle Soul would have increased resistance to Fire Element Magic, and also have his own Fire Magic boosted significantly.
Furthermore, your Battle Soul could fight and think independently as well. This meant that they could fight on their own, and act as a support. Taking the Dragon Battle Soul as an example once more, it could breathe real fire from its mouth, and do damage to its enemies.
Of course, it didn't have a physical shape, meaning it could not be touched, but magic attacks can still hurt it. Once it has taken a significant amount of damage, it will retract into the wielder's body once more, and restore itself there. It would take some time before the wielder can call upon it again.
Unlocking one required a cultivation of at least Ancestral Mage. Once someone hit this rank, they would take a Battle Soul Enkindling test in addition to the usual rank up Awakening process, organized by the IMF. This test would examine the testee's inner heart and element affinities, and awaken a battle soul within him based on that. If this succeeded, they would be promoted to Golden Monarch instantly,
A battle soul could take any shape or form. The only parameters that restricted it were the examinee's personality and his awoken elements.
Animal Battle Souls were the most common. By that, I mean normal animals like lions or cats, not magic beasts. They weren't powerful at all by battle soul standards, but to us, even Ghosteye's Animal Battle Soul was insanely strong.
Next were Magic Beast Battle Souls. These were normal magic beasts that could be found quite commonly in The Wilderness, unlike Mythical Magic Beasts. They were far stronger than normal animals, and so the battle soul version of them were as well.
After that came Element Battle Souls in terms of rarity, which specialized in a certain element and could boost the power of that specific element by a frightening degree. This was under the prerequisite that the wielder of the battle soul had an affinity for that element, of course...though even if the wielder didn't have an affinity for that specific element, he or she might as well have just gotten it - since battle souls can think and act on their own, it would be equivalent to having an ally that has that element, except the ally is pretty much within you.
Next were Mythical Magic Beast Battle Souls. They were very uncommon, and powerful enough to match their rarity. Mythical Magic Beasts included Dragons, Phoenixes, Pegasi (Pegasus), Griffins, Basilisks, and many more. They were the strongest of all beasts, and their battle soul forms were just as powerful.
And finally...the rarest kind of battle soul: Human Battle Souls.
Indeed - humans. Not any other race, but humans. The reasons for this were unknown, but out of all the people on the planet of Xenith, the number of people who have awoken a Human Battle Soul could be counted on one hand.
Human-type battle souls were highly impressive, even more so than Mythical Magic Beasts. Their power was unpreceded, and they were the only type of battle soul that could take physical shape - be felt and seen just like a real human.
Other battle souls could be seen too, but only in a translucent, single-color form, above the user. They could only be used for battle, and nothing else. Human Battle Souls, however, could be used for battle, gathering information, and doing literally everything a normal human could do. They also had emotions and basic needs just like a real human does, and were bound to their masters by an unbreakable bond.
And so, everyone wanted a Human-type battle soul. They were far more versatile and convenient to use, compared to any other type. But the chances of someone actually awakening one were very slim. Every time someone awakened one, the news would instantly be spread across the world. And so far, the last time someone did it was...7 years ago in Shanghai, the Magic Capital.
This was Human territory, meaning it was most likely a human that awoke the battle soul. In fact, I've heard that most of the current Human type battle soul wielders are humans. It makes sense - humans have a higher chance of awakening a Human Battle Soul.
Suddenly, Ghosteye launched himself at us at a shocking speed, like that of a tiger.
"Hahaha! You didn't think I would have the Blessing Element as well, did you?!" he yelled as he rampaged forward.
Blessing Magic...hm. I see. So he had 4 elements in total. That's still quite sad, considering he is a Golden Monarch stage. It meant that he would have to awaken only 1 element every time he went through the Awakening process, or awoke two in one process and zero in another.
Failing the Awakening process isn't all that rare, which my come off as surprising, but it really isn't.
As you progress your cultivation in magic, it becomes harder and harder to awaken a new element. The reason being, you're becoming more and more proficient in the elements you already have, so your body naturally alters itself to match those elements. Building a new element affinity from scratch...that is quite difficult.
Either way, however, having only 4 elements as a late Golden Monarch stage...he definitely could not be considered a talent, or exceptionally strong for his level.
Feng Mian and Yu An Xue quickly put up a Glacier Form: Wall together, which stopped Ghosteye's advance. But he wasn't done.
"Level One Sky Magic - Aerial Blades!" Ghosteye yelled, unleashing a barrage of blades made of wind at the ice wall.
"U-Uh...Xuan Kai, you got a plan here, or what?!" Feng Mian yelled in a panic, desperately trying to enforce the defence she had placed down earlier.
Yu An Xue also seemed to be concentrating very hard, doing the same thing Feng Mian was.
"Hm...whatever. No point in wasting anymore time," I murmured.
"Huh? What do you mean, Big Brother Xuan Kai?" Qing Yue asked, pulling on my sleeve.
I sighed. "Stop the defences and get out of the way, Feng Mian, Yu An Xue," I instructed calmly.
"E-Eh?! B-But-" Feng Mian began.
"Trust me," I cut her off, looking at her in the eyes. "I'll handle things from here."
She looked back and forth between the ice wall and me, but eventually succumbed to my wishes. Yu An Xue did the same, and the ice walls shattered immediately. The aerial blades dispersed as well, leaving Ghosteye and I staring at each other, face to face.
"Well? Do you see the gap in power between us now?" Ghosteye asked haughtily. "I haven't even used any Legendary spells yet."
I grinned. "Yeah..." I began, and made a slight pause for a dramatic effect. "...And you'll never get a chance to."
"What?" Ghosteye asked in confusion. "You still think you can defeat me? What a farce."
"Mhm," I hummed nonchalantly. Then, after a short period of thought, I continued. "Well...it's not me that will defeat you, per se, but..."
I couldn't see his face thanks to the mask, but I could've sworn he raised an eyebrow at my statement.
I merely smiled and took out something from the back pocket of my jeans.
"It's your time to shine, old geezer."