He flipped his palm and released his soul power. A faint blue halo bloomed, and his Silverfalls Vine martial soul emerged, swaying gently.
As soon as the Grass Snake sensed the presence of Silverfalls Vine, it instinctively slithered along Ray's finger and drew close to the grass. The soft blue light surrounding the Silverfalls Vine suddenly intensified.
When the radiance touched the Grass Snake, a faint earthen-yellow ring of light rose from its body.
Ray had never fused with a spirit soul before, but Teacher Gerrad Frost had explained the process in class countless times. Even so, the reality felt entirely different.
A weak consciousness brushed against his mind. It was timid, gentle, and filled with fear, yet there was also a strong sense of reliance, as if it were grasping at him as its only anchor.
Ray opened his soul without hesitation and accepted it.
The moment the connection was established, changes erupted. Soul power surged violently, flowing through his Silverfalls Vine. He closed his eyes and instinctively entered a meditative state, allowing the fusion to proceed.
The tiny Grass Snake twisted softly in his palm. Beyond that first faint emotional connection, nothing else was transmitted. This was the nature of a spirit soul at the lowest level.
The stronger a spirit soul, the higher its intelligence. Those above the purple rank could communicate clearly with their host, and legends even spoke of spirit souls that could assist in battle.
Legends, however, were far removed from Ray's reality.
The Grass Snake's earthen-yellow body gradually took on a blue tint, while the Silverfalls Vine rapidly grew and thickened.
What had once been thin and frail curled in on itself, expanding until it resembled a vine as thick as a finger.
Upon closer inspection, faint scale-like patterns could be seen along its surface. Though still rough and unrefined, it was no longer as weak as before.
The Grass Snake itself grew slightly, reaching about eight centimeters in length, with streaks of blue now visible among its scales. The fusion completed smoothly.
The Grass Snake's spiritual power was far too weak to resist. Meanwhile, Ray's spiritual power had already reached the intermediate rank of the Spirit Origin realm, allowing him to dominate the fusion entirely despite his so-called trash martial soul.
The newly evolved Silverfalls Vine coiled around his body, its vine-like form swaying gently.
Ray's soul power fluctuated violently as it slammed into the bottleneck and burst through, officially breaking into the next realm and evolving his martial soul in the process.
A profound lightness washed over his entire body. The condensed soul power in his dantian unraveled into countless fine threads, penetrating every cell. His body felt awakened, brimming with vitality and warmth.
The suffocating depression in his chest eased, replaced by a strange sense of relief and calm.
Then, suddenly, a wave of heat surged from his tailbone.
The warmth rapidly intensified into a scorching sensation that traveled up his spine, spreading throughout his entire body. The aura surrounding him subtly changed in that instant.
The Silverfalls Vine and the Grass Snake both stiffened as if frozen.
Faint golden veined patterns appeared once more, racing down from Ray's forehead, while a golden thread rose rapidly from his tailbone. The two streams met at the apex of his spine and merged into one.
This time, the golden light was far clearer and stronger than before. It spread across his entire body, flowing into the Silverfalls Vine and the Grass Snake alike.
The previously dull, vine-like grass now bore a slender golden line running along its length all the way to its tip. Under the influence of the golden veins, yet another transformation began.
It was as though the once-soft vine had gained an internal framework. Its tenacity increased dramatically, its surface gaining a faint glossy sheen. A soft blue halo shimmered around it, accompanied by a thin, elegant stripe of gold.
Though still unmistakably Silverfalls Vine, it now carried a quiet, striking presence it had never possessed before.
The same astonishing transformation unfolded upon the tiny Grass Snake. Its originally earthen-yellow body slowly deepened in color, shifting toward a richer golden hue.
The small rhombus-shaped scales that once lay flat now protruded slightly, each one gleaming with a faint metallic radiance.
Slender golden stripes emerged from the tip of its tail and extended upward along its body, converging at a single point on its head like a tiny crown.
Its body lengthened subtly, growing from eight centimeters to nine, and the once-dull scales were now tinged with gold.
Most striking of all, the murkiness in its eyes vanished, replaced by a clear, alert gaze.
At the same time, Ray was completely unaware of the changes occurring to his martial soul and spirit soul.
All he could feel was an overwhelming, indescribable heat raging through his body, as if he had been thrown into a blazing furnace and was being smelted alive.
The pain was so intense that it seemed to burn away his thoughts, leaving behind only raw sensation.
After an unknown amount of time, the searing heat finally began to subside. Yet before he could feel any relief, a new torment replaced it.
A deep, pervasive numbness spread through his limbs and bones, as though countless tiny insects were crawling beneath his skin. The sensation was maddening.
Ray wanted to scream, to cry out, but not a single sound would leave his throat. In that moment, he almost longed for the earlier burning pain, which at least had been straightforward in its cruelty.
The torment pushed his body to the brink of collapse, to the point where even death seemed like a tempting release.
Yet his mind remained unnervingly clear. He could feel every twitch of pain, every ripple of numbness, in precise detail. If the Spirit Master were present to measure his spiritual power at that moment, he would have been shocked to discover that Ray's spiritual power was steadily climbing under the relentless pressure.
Gradually, the pain ebbed away.
As it faded, Ray's consciousness slipped into darkness. Beneath his sweat-soaked clothes, the golden-veined patterns did not diminish. Instead, they sank deeper into his skin, merging with his flesh as if becoming a part of him.
The Silverfalls Vine swayed gently like a retreating tide.
The little Grass Snake slithered toward the hollow of Ray's palm and disappeared into it. The golden sheen on its scales faded, and its body returned to a more subdued color, as though all the extraordinary changes had been sealed away within Ray himself.
When Wilheim finally returned home, his joy from securing funds was abruptly halted by Vivienne standing firmly in the doorway.
"Big brother is fusing with his spirit soul," she said with an unyielding tone as she looked up at Wilheim. "You can't go in."
Wilheim froze. "What did you say?" His voice came out hoarse. "He's already started the fusion?"