Most of the martial families did not like spirit power, but fewer of them disliked the idea of spirit as the main force as much as the Flower family did.
Since the death of the first Duke, the Flowers could not use spirit very well.
The family members thought that if one learned spirit, one would not be able to reach the peak of a warrior's strength.
The same thing happened with families of natural spirit power.
While families with natural spirit power, greatly despised the use of "blood aura". It was believed that the aura tainted and clouded the purity of the spirit. However, these beliefs were erroneous.
The real reason the Flowers had banned the spirit was only that they had lost contact with Belenus.
When Draconis was still alive, the Flowers were a family of "spirit warriors and swordsmen".
Back then, the Flower family was not as famous as it is now, and history was not as distorted and fabricated.
The only ones who knew this truth were Raimon the Belenus contractor and Eclipse, along with some key figures in the Flower family and the two families who have been enemies since the time of Draconis.
"Will my father kill us when he realizes I learned spirit from you? Not if he kills me first for coming here secretly and without authorization."
"Indeed. If what you have told me about your father is true, I have no doubt he would kill you. Since we are accomplices, let me tell you a secret before we start training. People all over the world believe that, despite being rare, 'spirit warriors and swordsmen' can never become truly powerful, do they?"
"They certainly do, oddly enough."
Raimon played ignorant, to which Eclipse laughed.
"That's a lie! It's a lie made up by those Fire family morons along with other families, who are far eviler than the Flowers. While it's true that a prerequisite is needed to achieve it, spirit warriors and swordsmen are the most powerful."
"Your family was once a venerable and respected family of spirit swordsmen."
"Really? This is the first time I've heard this story."
"Doesn't it surprise you?"
Eclipse asked in a disappointed voice. Though belatedly, Raimon screamed and surprised the dragon, who merely shook his head at the boy's terrible performance.
"Haha, nothing could top the surprise I felt the day I met you. Anyway, did you say anything about a precondition?"
"Geez, you aren't cute at all, baby. So you must have a great affinity for spirit, aura sensitivity, and an excellent physical body. Oh, and a contract with a god."
"So I've already fulfilled the conditions."
"Now that you understand, there's no need to be afraid of learning spirit from here on out. But promise me one thing, baby. You must never reveal your solar spirit to the family until you are strong enough."
"There's no need to make me promise that. I already know the possible consequences. I've just turned eight and I don't plan to bite the dust soon."
"Good, good. So, from now on, your goal in life is to be at the top."
"To be the strongest than anyone else to let me live comfortably and luxuriously I want a cave full of gold as the basic requirement. Let's start training now. First, let's try to stimulate your spirit. Hm, to do that, you need..."
Wong.
Raimon created a walnut-sized solar spirit sphere in the palm of his hand, and Eclipse could only stare in disbelief.
"This madman... What the hell, how could you do that in a second? You didn't even let me finish explaining."
Raimon couldn't hide his surprise either.
He planned to restrain himself and show the dragon only the bare minimum to satisfy him, but he had created the spirit sphere unconsciously. It was more difficult to minutely control the body of an eight-year-old than his 29-year-old spirit body when he took the test.
In addition, it had been a long time since he had used the spirit, which was another cause of this mistake.
Before Raimon could come up with an excuse, Eclipse clenched his fists tightly and stood up.
"I see, Belenus! I finally understand why you've chosen him as your contractor after a thousand years! Kuhaha, it's amazing, it's amazing! Boy, you make my heart beat so fast with excitement!"
The mistake seemed to have benefited Raimon.
To continue with his childish act, Raimon scratched the back of his neck and gave an awkward smile.
"Is it such an impressive thing?"
"Is that even a question, I've only seen five people manage to create a spirit sphere so early in their childhood! And I have only met three of them in person. The first time was with the first Duke of the Fire family, the second with the fourth Duke of your family."
"And finally, you!".
Eclipse began to relate the story of how the first and fourth Duke of the Fire family and Flower had accomplished this feat at the tender ages of 6 and 8, respectively. Raimon, however, was not very inspired by the story.
Because he was just like them.
Raimon, along with those two Dukes, were all "geniuses of the spirit" in the truest sense.
Since he managed to sign a contract with Belenus, Raimon was potentially more talented than those two acclaimed geniuses.
If he had been born into the Fire family, he would have reached the 8-star stage before the age of 9, at the very least, at the age of 15. Maybe even the 8-star stage."
Eclipse finally ended his maniacal laughter.
"Baby. Honestly, I thought it would take you at least a few years to learn how to release spiritual energy. But at this rate, you might get it before you leave the Blood Castle. Let's move on to the next phase immediately."
The next lesson was about spirit transference. It was a basic technique that required one to extinguish the spirit in one hand and transfer it to the other with pinpoint accuracy.
Learning this technique was once again a piece of cake for Raimon, but this time he had to control himself and restrain himself.
Now that Eclipse had high expectations of Raimon, there was no need to raise them even higher.
Otherwise, Eclipse's overwhelming and unbearable expectations would become a burden to Raimon as in his previous life and might turn against him later on.
Moreover, even if his previous life benefited Raimon this time, the fact that he committed it was important and alarming. To acquire the skills and techniques to control the spirit as skillfully as the best of the best, he had to train repeatedly, even for basic techniques.
Raimon listened to Eclipse's explanation and tried to transfer the spirit from his right hand to his left.
"I should purposely fail for a while before I succeed."
"Thirty minutes should be enough."
Ten minutes later, Raimon succeeded in transferring the spirit from his right hand to his left hand accurately.
Eclipse smiled broadly.
Beads of sweat began to form on Raimon's forehead. It was more difficult for him to perform an easy technique much more slowly, just as lifting a heavy object slowly was more strenuous than lifting it quickly.
"Good. Excellent job. If you manage to complete this procedure in 5 seconds, you should be able to release the spirit. In other words, you will have become a 3-star spirit master."
"How long do you think it will take me to achieve this?"
Raimon asked as he wiped his sweat.
"Two years."
Hearing the answer, Raimon decided that achieving it in 1 year would be convincing enough.
Having finished the calculations in his mind, Raimon nodded to the dragon.
"Good. Then practice spirit transfer some more and then come back up for the day. And just in case, don't practice inside the castle when I'm not with you."