He closed his eyes and sat cross-legged in a meditating position. He could feel his entire body getting filled with energy.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the Soul Realm where a single black orb was floating and the three beast souls waited to absorb it.
Leo instantly realized that he had to choose one of them.
He looked at the soul beasts, the Lion cub was white, the rooster was red and the dog was black.
Since the Dog soul beast matched the color of the Night-Cat, Leo instinctively decided to feed him the energy. Yes, in reality, that was how it was done.
As long as the color matches the beast souls, they could absorb the energy from a beast's heart.
Regardless, the dog in black ended up absorbing the black orb. Yes, just as this happened, the beast's soul slowly changed its form.
Without even saying anything, Leo automatically learned its name. Yes, it was as if the name automatically came to his mind the moment it changed its form.
"Hell Hound, Cerberus…", is what he said in a low voice in the Soul Realm.
The seemingly weak Low-Level pet-type Soul beast that was like a dog turned out to be the strongest Dog form Beast to ever exist.
In the history of beast land, there was one great Supreme Overlord who had the soul beast of Hell-Hound Cerberus.
He was the third strongest during his time, and if compared to all the Supreme Overlords to have existed, he would rank in the top 10!
This was not a joke.
Although Leo didn't realize that he had received a legendary Beast Soul, he was indeed excited and fascinated after seeing the Beast's original form.
Two more heads had emerged around its neck. Not only that, its size too increased.
And the moment this happened, Leo felt a weird surge of energy inside his body which continuously increased.
'This…'
'I can use this energy to help my mystic arts reach the next level.'
He continued with the meditation. Thanks to this, all the three mystic arts that he had mastered, reached Lv.2.
Not only that, he himself too reached Lv.2 and now could be called a real Beast Cultivator!
Also, there was still a lot of energy left inside him.
A person, at level 1, in normal cases, cant kill beasts that are above their level. It is highly impossible, thus only a little energy is more than enough for them to successfully awaken.
However, since Leo got the chance to kill a beast of Level 10, a lot of energy was thrown inside his body.
Even after reaching Level 02, he still had a lot of energy to spare.
He didn't know what to do about that when suddenly, he felt a weird sensation.
It was as if he had gained something extra.
This extra made him open his eyes in real life. The moment he opened his eyes, he found his body covered with some black smoke.
*zoom*
A blast of Soul power occurred which shook the grasses nearby causing a lot of wind to be generated.
More than that, he could feel that he had gained a new skill thanks to the beast heart of the Night-cat.
He knew about the fact that they would gain skills, this was one of the basic things that Ai had said.
'Since that cat was a speed-type beast, I think, I gained a similar skill…'
The knowledge of the skill was directly engraved to his soul.
He focused his powers towards his legs and tried running.
And he was right, the skill let him run fast. His agility was increased by at least five times thanks to the skill which he named – Hell Run.
He named it that way because of the Dark Smoke that his body generated as he ran and also because his first awakened beast soul was named Hell-Hound Cerberus.
It was already Dawn by now. It took him a lot of time for the beast's soul to awaken and learn the skill.
Also, he was excited that he forgot about Leko for now. Suddenly, when he realized that Leko was also here, he used his skill to run towards Leko.
He ran quickly to tell Leko about the skill which he received and how his awakened Beast Soul was not a useless one.
But by the time he ran back, it was already late.
Leko was peacefully sleeping with a smile on his face while leaning on the tree.
His eyes were closed shut. Leo, without realizing it, shook his body while trying to wake him up.
*huff huff*
"Father…"
"Wake up, I have good news…"
He called out to him once or twice before stopping.
"Father, wake up please. Look at me…", he said as tears covered his face.
He had realized that Leko was dead the moment he touched him. His body was completely cold and as stiff as a wooden log.
"You said you wouldn't die…"
"You said you will take care of us…"
"You said…"
"Even if the Death God comes to take you, you will fight him and come back to us…"
Leo knelt on the ground as he held Leko's cold hand. He slowly pulled his hand and rubbed it against his face and then placed it on his head.
"Why don't you pat me like always…?", he continued to cry.
For someone, who had past memories and had spent time living with Leko and the rest, the attachment was much greater than normal kids who wouldn't even realize or remember the death of someone in the coming future.
'No…'
'It's not his fault…'
'It's my fault…'
'I had little knowledge that it would take this long to absorb the power…'
'I agreed about eating the beast's heart because I believed in all of his words…'
He took a look at Leko's smiling face one last time before saying, "Rest easy father."
"With my awakened Beast Soul, I will look after the rest of the kids…", as he said this, he slowly put Leko's hand back on his abdomen.
He then lifted Leko and then walked back while carrying him in his arms. Also, he carried the huge Night-Cat on his back, which was twice his weight, as if it was nothing.
'Sir Leko's funeral needs to be grand, and this beast will do the job…', he thought as he wiped his tears and started moving.