Spirit Soul

Kyle was not sure how or why was he suddenly being asked to fight out of nowhere because it made no sense in his opinion.

However, considering that it was his wife who had asked him to fight someone, he thought that it was fine and probably justified in some way.

After all, Yasmine's mother knew her husband the best!

With that in mind, Kyle had no reason to disagree to with the proposal to fight someone else. It was even less because he was eager to fight someone seriously, which he hadn't done in quite some time.

Over the last few weeks, he had been bored because they had always been forced to avoid shedding blood even if they had encountered beasts that were weaker or on par with them.

Blood would attract other beasts and the possibility of being injured was not exactly low because they had been in the wilderness for quite some time.

Beatrice knew that Kyle liked fighting which was why she believed that it was a good thing to see how the situation had changed.

It might have been a bit sudden and out of context, but seeing that Lyon's demeanor changed the moment his wife began to speak about fighting, she realized that it might not have been as weird as she thought.

"Honey, you mean that this young man will be able to defeat my personal disciple? He might be an Old Soul, but are you not thinking about him too highly?

His cultivation base is so low and especially because he is an Old Soul, he shouldn't be that young anymore. He is so weak, and he also got lost on Shima… that is if he was not a failure, who barely passed the reincarnation trial's threshold to keep his memories.

So, I don't think that he will be able to defeat Melin!!"

From the looks of it, Lyon was quickly agitated when it came to combat prowess.

It certainly irked him that Yelene thought that Kyle might be able to defeat his personal disciple.

Because of that, he averted his attention to Kyle, who had heard everything, in order to see how he was faring after being openly insulted.

Yet, instead of throwing a fit, Kyle was simply smiling, thinking that the situation had turned in his favor.

He was confident about his strength, and as such there was no need to bother about the words of Yasmine's father.

Thus, the only interesting thing about them could be the fact that Lyon knew about the reincarnation trials and the threshold about keeping one's memories.

This was intriguing, but Kyle told himself that he could ask about this later and didn't have to hurry right now. And, even if he wouldn't be able to ask the things he was curious about, it wouldn't really matter.

Exuding confidence, he smiled as if he was taking Lyon's teaching skills lightly…or that was what Lyon assumed when he saw Kyle, Beatrice, and even his own daughter's behavior.

From the looks of it, not even his daughter thought that Melin would be strong enough to defeat Kyle. Lyon was astonished that it was not even a day since she had met the two adventurers, yet she felt so!

His pride was deeply hurt, and Yelene, who saw this, couldn't help but shake her head, knowing that Lyon misunderstood the situation.

The situation was, in fact, different than Lyon perceived it.

While Kyle was confident, Beatrice was eyeing him with concern, worried about how the situation could possibly unfold if something were to go wrong.

Yet, at the same time, her worry was mixed with a trace of joy, relief and confidence. It clearly showed that she was assured about the fact that Kyle would fight someone with roughly the same cultivation base.

Melin was at the Low Vitae stage, which was higher than Kyle's cultivation. He was also trained by one of the powerhouses of the Anadra kingdom, indicating that his combat prowess should be extremely high.

Despite that, Beatrice was confident in Kyle, telling Yelene that she didn't interpret the situation wrongly. However, her husband relied too much on the information his eyes provided him rather than thinking beyond what he saw.

This had already been a problem in the past, but she believed that it was even more so the case this time!

As such, trusting her own perception, Yelene's eyes gleamed in interest as she looked at her one and only daughter.

She was getting curious about the way she acted, and wondering what she would do next.

In the end, Yasmine was just staring at Beatrice and Kyle worriedly, thinking that her father would scare them away. If that were to happen, he would be again the reason preventing her from making friends who didn't care about who she was.

In fact, from the moment she encountered them, Yasmine had been drawn towards the two adventurers.

First, she was only intrigued about them because her eyes had told her some of the information her father had just revealed.

However, with time, Yasmine noticed that they simply didn't care about her identity, wealth, abilities, and heritage which was reassuring because it had never happened to her before.

They minded their own business and treated her like an equal.

It was not like she had become their friend, or companion just because she wanted to, which was how it usually worked owing to her family's reputation and power.

Rather, Yasmine was not even sure what she meant to them if they had just accepted her because she told them it was within her power to help them.

However, that was not the case because neither Kyle nor Beatrice had said anything when Yasmine had first expressed her desire to accompany them.

They had been silent when she wanted to follow them, and upon recalling this, Yasmine could only clear her mind of her doubts as she stared daggers at her own father.

Feeling as if everyone was against him, Lyon took a unique-looking device out of his spatial ring before he contacted Melin with it.

Shortly thereafter, he lifted his head once again before he looked directly at Kyle.

"My disciple will arrive soon. Will you leave my daughter alone once my disciple defeats you?"

Kyle couldn't help but sigh at this question but after he took a deep breath to calm himself he retorted.

"I'm sorry to say this, Sir, but I never intended to harm your daughter, and I can promise that I won't do anything to her if I were to lose.

The same goes for Horice too, I will not bother him then! But if I win…well I keep doing what I am currently doing, I guess?"

Kyle's answer was not exactly what Lyon had wanted to hear but instead of complaining, he nodded his head. He was confident that his earlier comment would hold more value and weight once Melin defeated Kyle.

With that in mind, he got up from the throne, before walking towards one of the gates at the site. Soon, he entered it without waiting any longer.

He was angered about the way his family thought about his teaching skills, oblivious to the fact that he had misunderstood something.

However, while he was angered, and hoping for Kyle's humiliating defeat, Lyon was also a little bit expectant.

It had been eons since he had met someone from an old race, let alone an Old Soul.

That was during the old times when they were at a low Cultivation stage.

The memories caused him to sigh deeply as the reminiscence was not only good but also frustrating.

However, the most important thing was that Yasmine was interested in them.

Their child had never been interested in anyone other than the wilderness, the ranch, and her heritage.

Thus, it was the first time for Yasmine to be curious about someone, which was a little bit sad for Lyon.

But then it was great because there were two people she was interested in at once.

While Lyon's mind was filled with complex emotions as he was suspicious of Kyle and Beatrice, Yelene had gotten up from her throne too.

Approaching her daughter, she hugged her, before turning towards the two adventurers.

Bowing lightly, she introduced herself.

"My name is Yelene, nice meeting the two of you. I hope you two will become good friends of Yasmine. She is rather…picky when it comes to choosing friends.

Hence, I hope that you two can cope with her for the time being.

I'm sorry about my husband's behavior, but he was excited to sense Yasmine's presence when she entered the ranch.

But he was disappointed to figure out that she didn't come for him, but to take away Horice, and leave again…so he is probably torn between being annoyed and happy."

After that, Yelene turned towards Kyle before she smiled lightly.

"If possible try to overwhelm Melin. In that way, you will probably be acknowledged as Yasmine's friend. But even if you don't see a chance of winning, don't give up. Giving up is what Lyon hates the most!"

It was nice of Yasmine's mother to hand out advice, and it told Kyle and Beatrice that she wanted her daughter to live the life she wanted.

They were sure that the same was the case for Yasmine's father, and the only issue was that he was overly protective of her.

Thus, he somehow assumed that it was not safe for her to travel with them, or that they might even exploit her.

In the end, there were too many things a father could be worried about if two strangers barged into their home, requesting to take the Horse that was blessed by the Wind God, and his dear daughter while having known each other for less than a few hours.

Because of that, it was not difficult to understand Lyon's behavior but that didn't mean Kyle would allow anyone to treat him like he was trash…not anymore.

With that in mind, he asked Arashi to merge with him, to fill his entire body with Soul force, while doing the same for himself.

Through this, he would have roughly the same amount of energy as his opponent, and the important difference was that Melin was definitely not cultivating in three paths.

Neither did he cultivate with Soul force, which was better than cultivating in all three main cultivation paths.

Thus, without letting anyone know, Kyle was preparing himself for the fight that would start in a short while.

He didn't comment on Yelene's advice and simply bowed, and it was Beatrice, who felt obliged to say something about the advice Kyle had received.

"Don't worry Miss, he is not someone who gives up…rather, you can think of him as a masochist, who would rather suffer and learn something through this than going the easy way!"

Pinching Beatrice when she finished speaking, Kyle ignored her exclamation and pitiful gaze before he smiled lightly, trying to avoid an awkward situation.

Following that, Yelene turned around as she approached the same gate through which Lyon had left.

Falling in steps behind her, they walked for a minute or two until they arrived in front of a huge arena.

Upon entering it, Kyle's attention was directly drawn to a young man, whose appearance resembled that of a human with yellowish eyes, and black wings that were spurting out from his shoulder blades.

The black wings were outlined with faint red lines, and owing to his ability, Kyle could directly perceive the young man's special traits, causing him to smile lightly.

"So that's how it is?" He could only mumble upon perceiving the fire affinity, and the special traits the young man seemed to have in his wings.

With a simple glance, Kyle had figured this out, and it didn't take him much intelligence or time to determine that Melin was a dangerous opponent owing to the powerful characteristics he was likely to possess.

These traits were mainly focussed on speed through his wings that were further enhanced through the unknown special trait, and lethality through the affinity seed he had, which was the fire affinity!