Heavenly Forest Wolf 37 Chapter 37 - Spiritual Essence

After consuming the crane's core, Zaro was overwhelmed with the same pain he experienced previously. The benefit to growing stronger at such a fast rate meant that he could start making a greater impact on the world around him but it, unfortunately, was a double-edged sword. Muscles grow as a result of tear and strain, it is usually ignored but if you gain it at an alarming rate, the tearing becomes visible and your skin begins to rip apart causing an unmeasurable amount of pain. A core, on the other hand, requires room to expand, through normal rates of growth, it allows your body to adjust to the expansion, however, under hastened circ.u.mstances it causes your insides to become crushed in order to make more room. Animals do not become beasts if they don't experience terrifying growth spurts and only become aggressive due to the amount of pain they had to adapt to.

Zaro roared out as his body transformed and he was reminded of his past... there was a time when he was a normal human... when he was weak... but ever since he became a wolf, he went through several evolutions which forced him to become the beast he is now. During his current evolution, he had realized that it was actually quite surprising how he still managed to not become a rampaging monster despite having his bones splintered, muscles ripped from his body, and his insides recovering after being mangled and flipped.

Lidya watched from the sidelines eagerly, waiting for the wolf to regain his senses... he was even bigger now, however, you could see that every evolution took a toll on his mental. The wolf had managed to pull through the evolution and his body had been enveloped by a dark shroud which began healing his body and also tempering it.

Zaro groaned after completing his evolution and contracted his larger muscles and picked himself off of the ground. His body had grown even bigger, his claws had become longer and sharper but most of all his core was now brighter yet smaller. Zaro seemed surprised by this, however, Lidya couldn't believe her eyes...

"No way?! You have begun cultivation Spiritual Essence!" Lidya yelled in disbelief, her sharp eyes focusing on the brighter glow from his core.

"Spiritual Essence? I have heard of something like it from the nomadic elves once before..." Zaro looked towards the barren ground as he thought back.

"Yes! Spiritual Essence is the next stage of cultivation! As children, we were told that there are a few types of essences, we start off with Gaia Essence which comes from all of the creatures in the world, it is also called Life Essence. Then there is elemental essence which comes from the different elements in the world. Once someone reaches a certain stage, they will discover Spiritual Essence which comes from plants and creatures that have reached terrifying stages of power. After acc.u.mulating a lot of Spiritual Essence, one will discover something called Heavenly Essence, however, none know how it is created or found."

Zaro nodded at her explanation of the essences, however, something didn't feel right. Although he had reached the next stage of cultivation, he still didn't awaken his core and it now felt as though it would take even longer to have it awakened!

"Beasts that manage to cultivate heavenly essence will earn the heavenly t.i.tle... for example you wolf... you would become a Heavenly Wolf once you intake it. I only know three existences which possess a heavenly t.i.tle, that is the Heavenly Volcanic Drake, Heavenly Thunderous Lion, and the Heavenly Ocean Drake. These beasts are so powerful, that they control expansive territories that stretch out for millions of acres!"

"What decides that they control these territories?" Zaro was immediately interested in the idea of controlling land... it would let him take a step towards his superior goal.

"Once you enter their territory, you will feel their aura... we were told it acts as a warning to anyone who wishes to trespa.s.s onto a heavenly creatures territory. Currently, we are inside the territory of the creator which allows neutral monsters to roam freely and feed where they please, however, once you become a heavenly existence you will be able to take away a part of our creator's lands and claim the resources on that land as your own."

"Do these territories include different dimensions such as the one Draaklar the dimension devouring dragon consumed?" He asked.

"No... the b.e.a.s.t.i.a.l dimension where we discovered one another was created by the soul of a creature that had already pa.s.sed. When a Heavenly creature dies, it will create a spatial dimension where it will attempt to regenerate itself and return to the mortal world. Yet it isn't indestructible... as we both know."

"Interesting, so if I were to take over some lands I would need to become a Heavenly Wolf!" Zaro roared excitedly.

"Well, you could take over lands now, it all depends on you if you can protect it, right?" Lidya laughed nervously.

Zaro looked off into the distance as he thought to himself, "This world works the same as any other world but the difference is that the beasts have taken over the world and humanoid races were simply too weak to defend themselves and became nomads that travel without a place to call home. In my previous life, we were the only intelligent life-form, so we took over the world and left the remaining animals in their own secluded territories." The wolf's terrifyingly beautiful eyes looked back at Lidya, causing s.h.i.+vers down her spine, "Have the Elatus ever settled?"

"Yes, during the tribal era until we were almost wiped out by a heavenly existence... the Heavenly Volcanic Drake..."

"Would you not have been able to settle anywhere else?"

"We tried..." Lidya paused as she recalled a past she had hidden for so long, "We merged with one of the Aelf races... I am the product of an Aelf and an Elatus, however, since Elatus genes will always be more prominent, the Aelf suspected that we had betrayed our partners and mated behind their backs and banished us all from their settlements."

"I wish to create a territory where all humanoid races may exist and grow strong enough to protect themselves in my absence, where you will be able to revive your race!" Zaro said confidently as he looked back into the extensive barren lands.

"I admire your resolve, but we cannot succeed until you become even stronger... there are some terrifying creatures out there that could easily kill us..." Lidya replied in grief.