Above the spirit mud phase there was the spirit formation phase, spirit foundation phase, spirit expansion phase, spirit strengthening phase, spirit enhancement phase, spirit evolution phase, spirit purification phase, spirit advancement phase, spirit phantom phase, and the last legendary phase, the spirit ascension phase.
Even the ones considered geniuses in this world would mostly be at the spirit foundation phase. With each upgrade in spirit power level, the spirit would get enhanced as well and enter a higher stage.
But if things were left to this, then the end phase any spirit master in this world could reach was only limited to spirit enhancement or even at best spirit evolution phase.
To be able to ascend higher than his past life strength, he needed to reach higher phases. If he wanted a chance against that nine tailed fox, he had to reach at least the spirit advancement phase.
But raising one's spirit grade technique wasn't a big deal for him. The main problem laid in the path he would select. Once the spirit master selected the path of his future spirit form, he wouldn't be able to easily change it.
Even those born with spirits like Berry, they still had a chance to modify it all the way to the top. But the choices would be limited by the innate spirit they were born with.
Despite that spirit masters here would consider mud phased spirit masters weak and failures. But William knew in the outside world they were considered lucky. They got all the paths opened for their spirits to develop, not limited by their inherited spirits.
People like Berry would be limited in comparison. For example, she had a twin spirit, and even with that she couldn't merge with earth based or even water or ice based monster spirits.
Her two spirits were fire based ones. The earth based monster spirits would hinder the berserk and brutal nature of her fiery spirits. And about the water or ice based monster spirits, it was common knowledge how the two reacted with fire.
The only choices for her would be limited to fire, light, darkness, and thunder based monster spirits. One had to know that fire based monster spirits were commonly found, but the other types were like gold found in mud. They were rare, extremely valuable and very difficult to kill.
When talking about Berry as an example, even with how common fire monsters were, not all of them were suitable for her. After all, she had double high end fire based spirits within her.
Low level or even mediocre level fiery monster spirits wouldn't give her anything worth of value. Her options would be limited to the mid and top grade fiery monster spirits. And those types were harder to find, and much harder to kill.
So sometimes, blessing might come as a curse, and vice versa.
As for William, he didn't consider fire based monster spirits for now. If he had to choose, then he would aim for those rare spirits, thunder, light, and darkness for example.
Selecting the first spirit monster to integrate with wasn't a simple decision to make. It was much better for William to select a rare type based monster spirit than common ones.
The Base spirit he'd merge with would determine lots of things later on. If he limited himself to fire, water, or earth based monster spirits, he'd face much difficulties later on.
Selecting a rare monster spirit was better as they weren't just rare, they were also flexible and overbearing against common monster spirits. If he selected light based monster spirit for example as the base spirit of his, he could add fire, water, ice, earth, and even wind based monster spirits later on without worrying about any conflicts between these spirits.
The nine tailed fox had a darkness based spirit, one that helped him create his legend. It was also one of the reasons behind his superiority above most enemies he faced. Even William lost thanks partially to this difference in spirit quality.
So, when considering what type his spirit would be, he couldn't help but crave for light or lightning. Light was the nemesis of dark based spirits. And lightning had a useful purification effect against darkness as well.
He was planning for his battle of revenge against that damn fox in the far fetched future, even if he was in such a weak state of power right now!
But hoping was something, and really getting one of these two spirits was another. William's own experience about this forest from past life was limited to the outer region only.
He ventured deeper only on a single occasion, when he was running for his life when the world was falling apart. Inside the outer region, he was sure there were no single light based or lightning based spirit monsters at all!
These monsters would be considered tyrannical. However, even if he didn't know the inner region of the forest, he still heard stories from disciples about their adventures there.
He heard about the presence of few light and lightning based monsters at some deep regions of this forest. But he never saw a detailed map about the deeper zones of the forest before ever in past life.
Even if he knew about these locations, getting there was a trouble in itself. In addition to that, and by his current strength, he wouldn't stand a chance against any brutal monster of them.
One had to know that both types of monsters were famous for their insane speed and devastating attack power. Even if he was extremely lucky to find a white grade monster of either two spirits, William wouldn't be able to contend against it with his current strength.
"I need to raise my spirit power first," he came to this conclusion and so he didn't hurry to venture into the deeper parts of the forest.
His aim for now was to hunt more monkeys and weaker monsters using the same method he used before. After staying in the outer region of the forest for an entire day, William finally killed thousands of these monsters and devoured their cores.
His spirit power now was fifty-six. He got an increase of twenty-one spirit points during a single day. Even so, he wasn't satisfied.
"As I thought," after devouring the last batch of monkey cores, he stood and muttered to himself, "the higher my spirit power climbs, the weaker the effects of these cores will be."
He was now sure that he could absorb cores of monsters he'd kill. He killed a few other types of monsters aside from the monkeys, and he was able to absorb their cores as well.
At the last few batches, he devoured over a thousand cores and yet only gained five spirit points only. His rising speed was affected now by his increased spirit power.
"I can't keep going on like this," as he reached this conclusion, he decided to exit the safe outer forest region and risk entering deeply inside.
The issue wasn't only for increasing his spirit power, but about his mud phased spirit. He needed to elevate it before hitting the seventy point mark.
Doing so would help him in increasing his spirit power faster. Also, he would be able to use his spirit during the fight, which would be a significant boost to his strength.
William started to walk deeper in the forest, while trying to be cautious when he reached areas he didn't recognize.
He took out his sword and hung it over his waist, took out his bow and made an arrow always at the string. He was ready at any moment to welcome a fight once a monster would appear in front of him.
The bow wasn't as great as his sword, but it was still useful. Its main effect was to slightly boost speed and make the arrows move faster.
Yet it didn't boost his strength or the power of arrows themselves. William knew if the bow had either of these two effects, then it would be considered a silver or even a gold grade weapon instead.
He checked his gold sword before. It didn't only have a sharpness boost, but it also boosted strength and agility. Just moving it around created a series of afterimages behind. And William was sure even if he fought a dark gold monster with it, the sharpness and strength boosted by the sword would leave behind a deep wound at such a monster.
*Tick!*