"Simply put, every individual who was at the end of the line would think about breaking the spirit and be a spirit breaker."
Elder Grey looked at the sky with tired eyes, "But the success was not possible for everybody. Only some had the chance to ever break those shackles and be free."
"Those that succeded followed the path they were pursuing, and the failed ones could not walk any further."
"The point is, spirit breakers were not common and extremely rare since ancient times. Those that knew about them kept it to themselves."
"The only reason I ever came to know about them was because of my situation as well as luck."
He turned his gaze at his disciples and it instantly became sharp, "Now you have the opportunity to walk a different path than others, but at the same time it is unknown."
Zack did not avert his master's gaze and looked calmy at him slowly saying.
"I will follow master's advice."
Elder Grey looked at his disciple's eyes and nodded slowly.
"It can be said that I've influenced you even before you were born. It is human nature to be selfish no matter how much we try."
"The only reason I ever accepted you as my disciple was so that my legacy can be passed on directly or indirectly."
"My final moments should be in a few days. But it is enough."
"Stabilise yourself properly and we will continue tomorrow"
Zack helped his master with the medicine garden for rest of the day.
He had taken leave for a week because he wanted to concentrate on the spirit training.
The next morning Zack entered his master's meditation room. It was the first time he ever entered this room.
Aside from his master, no one has ever set foot inside this room until now. The room looked bland without any furniture, it had no window or a way for air to ventilate.
As soon as he stepped inside the room the door closed itself making the room pitch black as there was no light source.
Elder Grey stood quietly in the centre of the room as he entered.
As soon as Zack stepped inside the room a mattress appeared at the centre of the room in from of his master.
"Sit quietly and start meditating."
Zack followed his instruction and sat down slowly.
"It is a bit rushed but there are no significant issues. When I became spirit master I was on the battlefield. The only choice I had was to take the step ahead and become strong enough so that I can live another day."
Elder Grey looked at him with calm eyes.
"This will be the last time I will help you. After today you will have to depend on yourself."
Zack sat down and even though he was sad hearing him, he maintained his composure.
In this small kingdom, if he ever wished he could've lived a luxurious life but he did not. The reason being he still had much more to learn from his master.
But he also knew that no matter how much he wanted it was not possible to have it his way.
After all these years he was not the same as he was before and had some achievements in his meditation.
As soon as he closed his eyes his mind became clear, the distracting thoughts started to settle down and his breathing got stable.
He heard his master speaking in a calm voice. Following his instructions, he started controlling the spirit he had accumulated throughout the years.
Unlike Jude, he was strongly commanded to always keep his spirit usage to a minimum and rely on his ordinary physical body.
Even though he was now over thirty, his physical exercise did not lessen and with his master's training, he continued to train.
His figure was somewhat thin compared to other townsmen who worked physically laborious tasks but was more fit than them.
There were no local hunters who travelled further than him in the forest.
Years of accumulation resulted in a strong concentrated spirit.
When one wanted to become a spirit master the first step was to gather enough spirit energy and form a spirit heart inside one's physical heart.
There were other ways too but this was the most common as well as a stable way to do so. Around the world, many searched and created their own ways to become spirit masters suitable for their own and their descendants.
The powerful organisations spent a large number of resources to make those ways suitable for their students and disciples.
But spirit heart formed with the heart as the foundation was more stable for a lot of people and it was widely spread method.
With every step, you take on the spirit walker's path you will come closer and closer to forming your own spirit heart. When the final step is taken the spirit heart will form completely.
But just like the name suggested, anything related to the heart was something threatening to life no matter how insignificant.
That is why many stopped at the gateway and remained there for the rest of their life searching for fortune and opportunities lying around the world.
The further one walked, the more life-threatening it became.
Elder Grey commanded him slowly. The first step was for him to become a spirit master normal way and abandon the spirit heart immediately after.
It was hard just to form the spirit heart and anyone who succeded would not even think about harming it much less abandon it.
It took a majority of the early morning to slowly form the spirit heart for Zack even with his master's help.
The sun was just rising from the mountains when he succeeded.
When he finished forming the spirit heart it looked just like his heart but very small and transparent. It slowly circulated the spirit energy left after the whole process.
But he did dare not relax a bit because he knew this was just the first step.
Slowly he felt pressure on his whole body including his mind. It was suffocating to even breathe under this pressure.
"This is just the small amount compared to how those people felt when they discovered the shackles."
As soon as he mentioned the word shackles, Zack felt an incredibly strong binding force around him. He could not see but he felt them.
Every part of his body was surrounded by small stream like energy. It kept his body and mind firmly in place and as he followed the origin of the stream he came to his newly formed spirit heart.
He could feel the binding force that originated from his spirit heart and slowly it was becoming stronger and stronger.
Unknowingly he started feeling hatred towards his own spirit heart as if it was natural.
"Why do you hate something that was birthed from your own?"
Just when he was about to lose control of his spirit energy he heard his master's calm voice.
"It was after all your choice, so why do you regret it this early?"
Zack calmed down slowly hearing him.
"Just like I mentioned before this is simply a small portion of what you would've happened to encounter in the future."
"Unlike you, a very small group of people are fortunate enough to have support from outside and those that do not end up perishing unknowingly."
"So? Do you want to follow through and break this spirit or continue on this path?"