Chapter 2 Cruel Reality

The dangers looming around Shima were unknown.

Connected through multiple universes, there were countless planets revolving around the infinitely large planet.

Kyle's knowledge was vast owing to the detailed pieces of information he had studied for thousands of years while inside the planet's core.

Despite his vast knowledge, his understanding could be flawed because there was a chance he had interpreted stuff differently than its true meaning!

In order to reincarnate he had to choose a suitable destination, which he had done by trusting the information that had been provided with a list of races he could reincarnate in.

Alongside the names of such races, there were also key features of each but he didn't know if the data was recently gathered or was outdated.

There was no other indicator to help him choose his destination, so he had to rely on the given information, one last time!

He was completely alone and on his own in a world filled with death and dangers.

Thus, after making his choice Kyle had found himself in a small valley called Shalivra in the vast and evergreen Sadorla forest which had cascading waterfalls as well as small streams.

However, upon taking another look he realized that the Shalivra valley was anything but small and roughly had the size of his former home planet!

Who knew how large the Sadorla forest, or how deeply interconnected the water streaming through the woods were?

However, Kyle had no time to admire the beauty of nature because he had to make himself familiar with all the beasts and races that called the forest their home! The sooner he learned this, the better.

Despite being an unpopular race, the Yadras race had two particular features.

Kyle was aware of them, but the first, stating that one could awaken all three talents to cultivate in the path of Maest, Spiral and Pryr were uninteresting for him.

That was because he had been able to choose two traits before reincarnating!

One of the traits he had chosen was an ability called <Nurture>

There had been little information on what this ability could actually do, but it allowed him to utilize energy that had been stored within him to vitalize, nourish and accelerate the growth of living beings.

Meanwhile, the second trait was an awakening!

It was not the awakening of a cultivation talent, but that of a random Spirit Soul with the poorest talent!

While his mind lingered on the unorganized memories of his past life, he untangled them so that they made sense which took some time.

As such, Kyle had enough time to feel the changes in his weak body that were slowly adjusting to the high gravitational force of Shima and the Sadorla forest.

The Sadorla forest was a flourishing place and the wind brushing past his face felt fresh and invigorated his mind and body.

Feeling the cold wind, Kyle could not believe that he had received a second chance!

He might have been the last Old Soul to have reincarnated, but in his opinion, this could become his advantage!

Awakening a Spirit Soul was his means to achieve this, even if the chosen talent was the poorest.

Despite having the poorest talent of a Spirit Soul, Kyle was sure that the [Nurture] ability he had chosen as his second trait might be the way to overcome the obstacle of being untalented...or so he hoped.

Spirit Soul cultivators did not awaken a certain cultivation talent, but their soul, materializing it!

Through a soul awakening, their soul would slowly start to transmute from its transparent state into something entirely different.

It would take the form of something inanimate, like weapons, miscellaneous items, or animate, living beings!

That's what a Spirit soul was!

If the widespread rumors from his past life were to be believed, it was said that Spirit Souls could develop and evolve! This might have been a legend of the Yadras race but the possibility existed.

However, Kyle didn't want to rely on luck to achieve this!

Instead, Kyle wanted to nurture his Spirit Soul that was, in fact, his soul!

This would increase its talent, which would in return increase his cultivation pace!

At least that was what he hoped to happen. In the end, he was just taking a gamble with the Nurture ability, which was something that worried Kyle extremely.

By using a Spirit Soul to cultivate, many things would be different compared to how others cultivated!

Yet, in order to be able to start cultivating, he had to awaken his Spirit soul first!

There was no point thinking about future obstacles without even being able to start cultivating!

Had he been in his old world, awakening his Spirit Soul wouldn't have been a problem.

However, now, he was on his own, there was no one around him to act as a means of support or guidance.

That was also the reason for him to reincarnate in the Sadorla forest where most beasts and races were considered to be extremely weak.

Unfortunately, that was not necessarily the case for Kyle because his physique seemed to be weaker than he had expected, and he was still unable to cultivate.

Yet, one thing was certain!

In order to awaken and strengthen his Spirit Soul, Kyle had to kill and devour other living beings' souls!

A Spirit Soul had to be nurtured by souls to awaken it before one could think about starting to cultivate!

Kyle's Spirit Soul would become his energy field and the first means to create a proper vessel.

It was cruel, but he could tell that Shima was even more brutal than the world he had been living in before!

While he had been pondering whether he should remain a Yadras or reincarnate as an individual of a different race, entire races had been completely wiped off from Shima!!

Because he had always been insignificant in his past life, Kyle, who had been exploited, threatened, and beaten up more often than he could remember, knew more about the law of the jungle than most cultivators!

It had been extremely difficult for him to broaden his horizon by studying ancient books in peace because he was unable to procure specific information that was hidden from public view, forced to obey those stronger than him, and work like an obedient slave.

Only now did he get the opportunity to rewrite his destiny, and Kyle knew that he could turn this chance into a reality he dreamt of by facing the obstacles rather than running away at the mere sight of a problem!

With sloppy yet careful steps, he learned to balance himself and fully adjust to the high gravitational force of the planet.

In the end, this looked rather odd, because Kyle had reincarnated as an 18-year-old young man, allowing his body to be in its prime!

Unfortunately, age did little to help him fight the growing weakness and disorientation because he was severely malnourished, which he didn't expect to be the case after his reincarnation.

Improving his physique had thus become a priority!

On his old planet, he had been too weak to kill an ordinary chicken that could cultivate, with his bare hands, so he knew that he had to prevent being the same as in the past.

This was because his physical strength was not enough to strangle, let alone break the chicken's neck that could absorb the surrounding mana, something he couldn't do!

The chicken had received a minuscule increase in its physical strength after annexing mana making it difficult for him, a 'cultivation-less' being to end its life!

In total, there were three energies one could cultivate namely mana, spiritual force, and primordial energy.

Every cultivation path focused on increasing the cultivator's expertise in said energy, but at the same time, a small margin of the other paths would also receive a boost.

Those paths were mainly known as [Path of mystic energy; Maest], [Path of wisdom; Spiral] and [Path of strength; Pryr]!

However, not possessing any of the awakened cultivation paths, Kyle was not only weak but also not perceived as a threat, right now.

Predators wouldn't receive any benefits from killing him either, so they wouldn't waste their time pursuing him.

While this was an advantage, he couldn't relax because he was both unarmed, and naked.

Thus, his first task was to procure a weapon strong enough to defend himself and kill!

As long as he survived, everything would be fine!

Thus, Kyle picked up a stray branch that had fallen off one of the many large trees within the Sadola forest before he swung it around.

The thin branch was a meter in length but heavier than he'd expected.

He was unsure how much time had passed but his body was still weak and learning to do the most basic things such as move and walk.

Hence adapting to long walks was turning into a tiresome lesson for his body.

Meanwhile, his mind was working fast, trying to figure out what kind of beast his first victim would be!

As such, after observing several beast groups for a long time, Kyle came across a pack of boars with long tusks that had been attacked.

His eyes searched for the predator and saw a sole, injured, brown wolf that had sand-colored stripes on its back.

From his knowledge about cultivation, Kyle was able to decipher that both the long-tusk boars and the Sand wolf had reached the [Fortification] stage.

It was the first stage of every living beings' path to cultivate.

One started to gather energy before constructing a vessel to store the absorbed energy inside it, thus, fortifying one's cultivation foundation.

While the long-tusk boars followed the path of strength that focused on refining the body, the Sand wolf followed the path of mystic energy.

The stage was separated according to the accumulated energy depending upon whether the vessel had only been constructed, or completely filled!

Starting with the Initial rank through Low-Mid-High-Peak, it ended at the Perfect Fortification stage!

It was easy to determine the rank of the beasts because they were unable to conceal their energy under normal circumstances.

Yet, Kyle was currently not in the condition to correctly guess the cultivation rank of others!

He had yet to sense any type of energy, much less determine how strong a beast would be solely based on a certain density of energy fluctuations around them!

However, through his observation, he could gauge that the Sand wolf was not scared of the long-tusk boars, despite being injured!

Thus, Kyle estimated that the Sand wolf was stronger than the pack of boars!

This assumption had been correct and when he saw how the Sand wolf created grains of sand out of nowhere, which it compressed to create thin, sharp needles of sand, he looked at the fight with interest gleaming in his eyes.

Howling out, the Sand wolf shot the sand needles at the long-tusk boars without hesitation.

Meanwhile, the boars deflected the needles easily by moving their sturdy tusks into the needles' trajectory.

After the sand needles had been deflected, the long-tusk boars roared out before charging at the sand wolf without any sign of reluctance.

At that moment, Kyle realized that the boars weren't faster than him, giving him important intel!

Meanwhile, the injured Sand wolf seemed to be vigorous and agile enough to be faster than the long-tusk boars that were unscathed.

Utilizing its higher agility, the Sand wolf lunged forward at the exact moment the fastest long-tusk boar had appeared in front of it.

With a few subtle, yet quick moves, the sand wolf had emerged next to its first victim as it used its claws to tear open the long-tusk boar's abdomen.

The boar's hide was no match for the razor-sharp claws and Kyle saw blood spurting out of the deep cut as organs spilled out of the boar's abdomen while it squealed in pain.

Witnessing the bloodbath made him open his eyes to the jarring fact that reality was cruel.

Just at this moment, the blood-stained sand wolf turned its head, sensing Kyle's presence.

His blood ran cold when the beast made direct eye contact with him as he felt the wolf's thirst for blood sweeping through his entire body, petrifying him.

Terrified beyond his wits, Kyle was momentarily rooted to the spot, and it was as if he had forgotten how to move his new body, a fact he had just re-learned hours ago.

Kyle began to realize that his confidence might have been entirely unfounded, that even the most placid area to undergo his reincarnation was still dangerous for someone like him, who had never cultivated!

'What the hell am I even doing here?'