The young ones in the crowd erupted in a loud cheer in response to the declaration of Erek Wheld. They were all worked up for this competition, for if they win this competition, they will have a chance to participate in the recruitment of the Academies. If, by any chance if, they manage to get selected into any of the Academies, it will be just like sprouting wings and soaring into the skies!

Their status will undergo a drastic change overnight! With the teachings of the Academy and their cultivation resources, they may step into a Realm they could never have imagined before! This one chance may very well change their very lives!

But they knew in the deepest corners of their hearts, that their chances of winning the competition were very slim. There are the geniuses of the family that they couldn't compare with or contend against.

For example, Delius Wheld, the son of the First Elder. His cultivation recently achieved a breakthrough to the 7th Level of the Spirit Sense Realm, making him the strongest in the younger generation of the family.

Most of them were only at the 4th or 5th Level, with two or three at the 6th Level of the Spirit Sense Realm. Even all of them couldn't hold against him, let alone a one-on-one battle. After all, there was a gap of an entire Level or two between them. Not to mention his top-grade Black Taloned Silver Hawk Spirit. He was the kind of genius that was destined to spread his wings and aim at a higher stage.

So, all the family members practically considered a spot to be reserved for Delius. In their minds, this competition is for the second spot. But none of them took note of a 12 - year old boy sitting under a tree observing everything calmly.

The second Elder who was standing at his seat in the stands suddenly moved and instantly appeared on the battle stage. It looked like he materialised out of nowhere onto the stage!

Waahhh!!!

The young members all gasped in admiration and awe at that display. One moment he was at his seat and the next moment he was on the stage! When will they have this kind of power? Was the one thought that every single one of them had. Delius' eyes were glittering brightly as his ambition once again soared!

“I will surpass everyone in this family. And then I will leave this backward area behind and go to a nice city or even the Imperial Capital!” Delius' ambition was not a small or simple one. He was always highly ambitious and strived hard for reaching them. But his only faults were his selfishness and narrow mindedness. These faults may prove effective when he was chasing his ambitions or goals, but they will severely restrict the growth of his mentality making him a greedy and pretentious person who chases after trivial things.

Even Azalon was amazed by the speed of that Second Elder. Even though his own speed was fast, especially when he used the [Ghostly Illusion Flash], that casual display was not something he was capable of at his current level.

The Second Elder stood in the centre of the stage and spoke with his soft and husky voice.

“The family competition will start at this moment. Before that, let me make the rules very clear to you all. On this stage, any one can challenge any other member of their generation. Once the challenge is issued, you can accept it and fight for victory or you can decline it and admit defeat. The winner may remain on the stage and continue to accept challenges. But once you get defeated, you will not get another chance to get onto this stage. The final two will be selected as the candidates for the 2 spots of the family. But remember, you may injure your opponent during the fight, but fatally injuring or crippling will be dealt severely. Disregard this, and don't blame me for knocking you down.”

The Second Elder's voice was still soft but the sharp and authoritative under tone didn't leave any chances for arguments. After making sure that everyone understood his words, he waved his hand and took two steps back. “Now, for the first battle. Anyone wish to come on to the stage?”

A young boy of around 14 years of age slowly walked forward. With a light jump, he landed on the stage. A white wolf the size of a normal dog jumped along with him onto the stage. He cupped his hands to the Elder first, before pointing to someone in the crowd.

“I, Erik Wheld, challenge Darma Wheld, for an exchange of pointers.” The one he pointed to was another boy of same age as Erik. He was dressed in a loose white shirt and black pants. A small but sleek panther cub was lying on the ground at that boy's feet looking around with it's lazy eyes.

“That's Erik. He is at 4th Level Spirit Sense Realm. His Spirit should be the [Blood Eyed Wolf] and is only a low ranked Spirit. Is he thinking of taking the spotlight by issuing the first challenge?” Some one in the crowd murmured discontentedly.

“No. Look at who he has challenged. That's Darma Wheld, and he is also at the 4th Level. His Spirit is the [Ash Cloud Panther], still a low ranked Spirit, but slightly better than the [Blood Eyed Wolf] of Erik. If I remember correctly, Erik considers this Darma as his rival and is always competing with him. Now that he has reached the 4th Level, he should have decided on settling his rivalry on this stage.” It was a 15 year old young man with a cultivation at 5th Level who spoke about the situation calmly.

“Ah, so that's how it is. Indeed it is as brother pointed out.” After listening to the explanation, they understood what's happening and looked forward to the match. Battles between rivals tend to be interesting...

“LILY, search the database for the information on those 2 Spirits.” Azalon who was at a fair distance from the crowd and the stage couldn't hear the comments within the crowd. So, he could only rely on his own knowledge for information.

“Master, the Wolf Spirit is named [Blood Eyed Wolf] and ranked 12,832 in the Spirit Beast Rankings. The Panther [Ash Cloud Panther] is ranked 12,746 in the Rankings. Both the Spirits are non-attributed Spirits. Further information is not available due to insufficient data.” LILY responded enthusiastically in his mind.

LILY recovered just yesterday and Azalon was truly happy that she was safe. Only after a thorough and complete diagnostics of her system and having nothing stand out as a problem, did he relax completely. If anything happened to her, he just didn't have the resources or facilities to repair her hardware or software. As for the Lightning Spirit, it looks like it will take a little more time, but according to LILY, the Spirit will Awaken after two to three weeks. Azalon was pretty excited for his third Spirit.

Just was everyone was discussing about the match, the young man slowly walked onto the stage with the Panther Spirit in tow. He stood there rather care freely eyeing that Erik who was bouncing with excitement with some interest.

The Wolf Spirit was the size of a normal adult dog. It's fur was completely white without a single blemish on it, but it was not pure white either. It was rather a milky white colour that was bland white. And as it's name suggested, it's eyes were blood red giving an almost ferocious look to its face.

The Panther was ash coloured with patterns of clouds on its body. Whenever it moved, the cloud patterns gave the illusion of moving. Azalon felt intrigued by that as it didn't coincide with the theories he knew on behaviour of light. The Panther was sleek and lean and it was evident that it tilted heavily towards speed rather than power.

Azalon carefully observed the Spirits. As for their Masters, he didn't care at all. They may be invisible for all he cared. He didn't even know their faces let alone bothering to remembering their names.

Just as everyone was discussing about the match, the young man with the Panther Spirit slowly walked onto the stage under everyone's gaze. He stood there rather care freely eyeing Erik who was filled with fighting spirit with some interest.

“As expected of you, Erik. You have challenged me. But I didn't think you would be the first one to come onto this stage.” Darma Wheld spoke blandly.

“Let's settle our rivalry with this match, Darma. I will win this match and there's no better stage than this one for this battle.” Erik was twitching in excitement and his eagerness for the fight to begin.

“Alright, if both of you are ready, battle Start!” The Second Elder stood at an edge of the stage and called out.

It was the first time Azalon was seeing a battle between Cultivators. Even though he fought a lot of Spirit Beasts over these days, he didn't come across any human opponents all this time. So, he was very interested on how Cultivators fought each other.

Ever since he heard how his grandfather lost his Spirit on that day, he had been slightly worried... alright, alright, he was terrified that something like that may happen to him someday. That was also the reason for his interest in the fights. He wanted to know exactly how they prevented their Spirits from getting injured or even killed. You have to know that for a Cultivator, the existence of the Spirit is a source of their strength but also their terrible and very obvious weakness!

Frankly speaking, Azalon was frustrated at his ignorance about this world. He was like a caveman who was thrust into the modern world. Every single fucking thing is new to him and there's no one to teach him, as he was considered the trash of the family and was ignored. It was in fact only a short time he Awakened his Spirits, and most of his time since then had been spent in the Wilderness hunting the Spirit Beasts for their Spirit Cores for himself and Souls for his Spirits. He didn't have the opportunity to find out about his new found powers and mysteries, subjects generally known to all the Cultivators.

And this battle gave him a chance to learn about these things. How the cultivators fought with each other, what's the role of the Spirits in a fight. Do they have a two pronged attacks with Cultivators and Spirits fighting side by side? Or do they set aside their Spirits and just battle each other while protecting their Spirits from any sneak attacks?

Under his attentive gaze, the two competitors were facing each other. The Wolf and Panther Spirits sensed their Master's intent and were growling at each other.

But what happened next shocked the brains out of Azalon. His mind short circuited and he became absent minded as he jumped straight up like his ass has been lit on fire.

On the stage, both Erik and Darma crouched and laid their palms on the foreheads of their Spirits.

“Spirit Integration!” both of them shouted loudly at the same time. The Spirits turned into mist and entered their palms. Changes started appearing on their bodies as soon as the mist was absorbed.

Whitish fur grew on Erik's arms covering till his biceps. His nails grew long and sharp curving at the end making them seem like claws. He slightly grew in height as his toes grew an extra joint an his ankle was no longer in contact with the ground. He was entirely balanced on his rear claws that grew out of his toes. Finally, his eyes became blood red like his Spirit and his excited grin showing his canines gave him a savage aura. Low guttural growls emerged from his throat as his blood red eyes shined with battle intent.

Darma's transformation was not as ... bestial, for the lack of a better word, as Erik's. His fingers curled as his nails grew into claws, but those long and sharp nails actually looked good on the slender fingers of Darma. A gray tail appeared from his tail bone making whooshing sounds whenever it moved. It was evident that the tail was flexible yet strong. Popping sounds rang out as his body grew in height and the bones re – adjusted. But one change disrupted the entire appearance. Four cat – like whiskers on either side of the face gave him a slightly comical look.

Azalon was still gawking with a stupid look on his face. Wha... What exactly happened here? What the hell is going on? Was that an ability or something that any Cultivator could do? Azalon's mind snapped out of his trance as it went over the possibilities and scenarios.

This changed everything! If he did have this kind of ability, then he wouldn't have to worry about his Spirits any more! He could retract LILY into his body but he couldn't do that with Raka. So this ability proved to be useful if he ever ran into some troubles. He would just have to do just whatever that guys managed to do at the first sign of trouble. But first, he had to verify whether he could do it or not. Ah, that's right...

“Oye, LILY. LILY! Did you record that transformation process? Analyse it. And are you capable of that kind of ability? Also investigate whether Raka is capable or not.” Azalon immediately talked LILY to find out the answers.

“Master... Ah, I have indeed recorded the process. Per the system analysis, I am not capable of replicating that ability. The system shows that something is preventing me from manifesting that ability. The situation is the same with Raka, as per the scanner results.” LILY replied in a small voice so as not to shock me too much.

Azalon was shocked as he heard that. “I can't do this merging thingy? Then what the hell am I supposed to do to protect both of you? On top of that I still have another 7 waiting in the line! I can at least hide you, but what about Raka?” He collapsed as a deflated balloon as his excitement turned 180 degrees into disappointment. This was another nice and new thing he can't do. At first it was Spirit Awakening, then Cultivation and now this. Why the hell is this second life of his so fucked up? Huh?

Azalon lost his interest in the fight. But all the same he watched to find out some more things like this. But he was still talking with LILY to find out why he was incapable of doing the merging.

“Hmmm? You are saying that whatever transformed your system when you have Awakened caused you to be unable of the Spirit Integration?” Azalon asked incredulously. This was a piece of news for him.

“Yes, Master. By the system logs, I was capable of that transformation. In fact the transformation process was even more profound than those Cultivators were capable of because of my assimilation with your consciousness. But the next moment, it was locked out by some foreign influence. As to what that was, the system couldn't analyse properly. But based on the characteristics of the influence, it was estimated that it was the same foreign influence that caused my evolution to this form.” LILY obediently reported what she found in her system logs.

“Hmmm...” Azalon sank into deep thought contemplating this information provided by LILY. In the mean time, the fight on the stage went on.

After the transformation, Erik and Darma both exploded with their cultivation base of 4th Level Spirit Sense Realm. Their bodies were enhanced by integrating with their Spirits, in a particular trait. Erik had his strength enhanced and Darma's lean body lightly crouched as his calves tightened up like a spring. Clearly his speed increased by quite a bit after merging with his Panther Spirit.

Both moved at the same time. Erik's Spirit Energy covered his claws as he punched out. Azalon noted that the Spirit Energy was slightly murky. It seems that Erik did not manage to refine his Spirit Energy to it's purest form and so the impurities in it. Darma moved quickly and with a whoosh the tail appeared from behind Erik trying to wind around his neck. Erik jumped and the force created a small web lines like crater on the stage.

Since the Spirits were not remarkable or Unique, they didn't have any abilities or techniques. And as LILY pointed out in the beginning, they were non attribute Spirits. They were just relying on their cultivation base and physical enhancements to fight their opponent. But since, they were almost equal in all aspects, it came down to perseverance and battle experience. They would have to wait for that opportunity where their opponent would make a slip up and take advantage of it.

Erik assaulted with his powerful claws and kicks. Every attack of his brought about a small size wind storm on the stage. Darma relied on his reaction speed and swiftly evaded them and often even attacked at that moment where Erik had his guard breached due to continuously attacking.

The battle lasted for 10 minutes and within these, those two exchanged over dozens of blows. A loud 'Bang!' came from the stage as they collided and were forced back ten steps.

Erik was panting heavily and clutching his hand. Blood dripped in small drops on to the stage from the injury on his wrist. Darma was slightly better but his pale face and three claw marks on his chest told another story. It seems that both of them suffered some injuries during their exchanges.

“Aaah!” Suddenly Erik's eyes shined with blood red as he rushed towards Darma with his fist raised. He squeezed out the last bit of Spirit Energy in his body and enveloped it on his fist. It tore through the air as it targeted the chest of Darma.

But just as the fist was about to meet it's target, Darma slightly moved. Because of his Panther Spirit, his reaction speed was a lot faster than Erik's. He moved his right leg behind his left leg. It was just a step but it moved his body parallel to the path of the fist. The fist missed him by just an inch but this made Erik's lower body vulnerable.

Darma quickly circulated his Spirit Energy and his palm shot out. At the same time, the tail wound around the fist and gave a wrench. With a 'Peng!', the palm landed on Erik's lower abdomen and his spine bent inwards due to the force of the palm as well as the forward momentum brought about by his punch as well as the stimulus from the pull of the tail.

Erik felt all the air rush out from his lungs and blood welled up in his throat. His kneels buckled out and he went on all fours, gasping, trying to get some air into his lungs.

“I... I admit defeat” Erik wheezed out as his transformation cancelled out and his Wolf Spirit appeared beside him. Darma's transformation cancelled out too and his Panther Spirit materialised. Both of their exhaustion disappeared instantly and their breath stabilised!

Azalon carefully observed the Spirits and he saw that the two Spirits were clearly exhausted and dull. The initial vigour was not present and they appeared worn out. But what surprised him was the wounds on them. The Wolf had its front leg raised into the air and the Panther's abdomen had three small claw marks.

“Hmmm... it looks like whatever the injury the Cultivator takes in the merged form will be shared by both the Spirit and the cultivator. But the cultivators will share the most of the injury but the exhaustion will be transferred onto the Spirit. But it is still dangerous to both of them. What if the exhaustion was something that the Spirit couldn't handle by itself? What if they were poisoned while in that stage? Did the same thing happen with my grandfather?” Azalon muttered to himself as he observed the injuries and the exhausted Spirits on the stage.

“First battle, Darma Wheld Wins. He may stay on the stage.” the Second Elder announced promptly . The audience responded with a cheer. It was a straight forward battle with no abilities or affinities. Just fists against fists.

Darma Wheld remained on the stage but his expression didn't look good at all. A challenge came from the crowd and a bitter expression surfaced onto his face. It was a 5th Level Cultivator whom he couldn't defeat in his prime stage let alone now. He swiftly accepted his defeat without any second thoughts.

The competition suddenly became more interesting as the 5th and 6th Level cultivators started battling. Among the family's younger generation, only 3 had Spirits with Special abilities or Affinities. One is Delius Wheld with his Wind Affinity Spirit. The other 2 are currently battling on the stage.

Sorry guys for the late release. My PC flipped out on me and I had to use my office PC to type this chapter in the gaps I find within my work. There will be another chapter tomorrow hopefully, and the first battle of our MC as well as his revengah!