"It didn’t even have to attack me; just its movement killed me," Laden thought while still in fear.

The tension he was feeling after that short moment of distress, Laden had completely forgotten about his conversation with Jones; instead, he was fixated on the power of that spirit.

"What are you so in awe about?" Prime said arrogantly.

"Do you think that was strong?" He continued.

"Have you forgotten about that eye? It only had to glance at us to kill us; that’s what we need to be worried about and not all of those fries."

Though it was true that Laden had experienced power that was more than that with that eye and that voice that always spoke to him, that was too distant.

He was too detached from those events as he couldn’t even conceive what was happening at that moment, but this time he could directly see how he died, and he couldn’t do anything about it.

He didn’t die from an attack or anything; he died from the Spirit just moving.

"How powerful will a summoner that manages to contract such a spirit be," Laden said with his eyes wide.

Laden didn’t have any idea of what was going on around him, he was fully focused on his thoughts, a deep sense of hunger welling up in his mind.

"If I attain that amount of power, No life we will be treated badly in my presence," he said curtly.

"Hey hey hey, not if, when,"

"We will surely get to that level and we will go even higher," Prime said.

"And don’t forget we just got a high level Summoner as our personal undercover Protector," Prime said.

Laden’s memories were finally jolted awake by those words making a small smile form on his face.

"You are right, we have a high level protector now," Laden said with his wide smile.

"So he actually sensed the connection," Laden said.

"If I wasn’t smart enough to lie about having a blessing, then he might have started getting suspicious," he thought.

"Thankfully we handled it right," he said with a smile.

without letting his mind roam too far, Laden stood up on his feet and approached Caleb’s sitting position.

"What?" he said frustratedly as he watched Caleb’s sleeping face.

From his face, it was obvious that he hadn’t just fallen asleep, instead he had been asleep for quite a while.

"What was I even expecting," he said while shaking his head.

The dopamine that was currently rushing through his body made it hard for him to fall asleep leaving Laden with nothing to do.

"I guess I can train," Laden said.

He looked to the side where he saw his staff lying beside a log to his left giving him an idea on what to do.

He had been using this staff mostly instinctively since he had no particular experience with it. Though he wasn’t particularly experienced with it, Laden knew that his usage wasn’t as efficient.

"There’s so much better I could do with it," he thought.

Laden moved towards the staff and picked it up before heading further away from Caleb’s resting spot.

After getting a location that seemed perfect, Laden started his training which involved swinging the staff in multiple forms and switching forms fluidly.

"Count me in," Prime said while appearing beside Laden.

"I really enjoy that weapon," he added.

"Alright then," Laden said with a smile.

Prime merged into his body, giving him blue fur covered hands and face.

From that moment on, the two of them continued training with the staff and Laden felt a great change the moment they merged.

It felt extremely easy for him to notice the changes in his stances and forms, like he was more attuned with the weapon.

"Merging really works well," Laden thought.

Time flew by extremely fast and in no time, Laden could see the faint glimmer of the sun appearing in the distance.

"Is it morning already," he thought.

Despite having trained all through the night, Laden couldn’t feel any sort of fatigue or tiredness. Instead he felt rejuvenated.

All through the night, the time of he and Prime’s merger had elapsed and after a bit of rest. They were able to refill their Spirit energy and resumed.

"It’s morning already," Laden suddenly heard a soft voice from beside him. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"No it isn’t," he replied sarcastically.

"Why didn’t you wake when you realized I had fallen asleep," Caleb asked.

"There was no need, it’s not like I wanted to sleep anyway," Laden responded.

"And there was nothing going on so why would I stress you," He continued.

Caleb opened his mouth ready to retort but he couldn’t form any words so he quickly shut them back.

"Now that you are awake and it’s almost day time, I think it’s time to share something important," Laden said.

He had been carrying all of the beast parts they had harvested since yesterday not having the right opportunity to split them but now things were clearer and they had time.

"Share what? Don’t tell me it’s those beast parts," Caleb retorted with unusual force.

"And what if it is," Laden said, not backing down at all.

"I won’t be taking any of them, I didn’t kill a single on them," Caleb answered.

At this moment, Laden was already growing frustrated at the sudden stubbornness that Caleb was suddenly showing.

"If it weren’t for you healing me and saving me twice, do you think I would still be alive to even care about some beast parts,"

"Think of yourself as the healer of this duo and I am the fighter so yes you absolutely need a share," Laden said.

Without waiting for Caleb to say anything more, Laden dropped his staff and moved towards the bag that was currently resting on the ground and took out all of its just content except the golden fruit.

And then he began sorting the parts and dividing them into two portions with accurate precision. When he noticed that the two portions were mostly equal Laden finally stopped and packed one into his own bag before turning to Caleb.

"Life is the most precious thing and you have saved mine twice, so don’t think you owe anything. If there’s any owing, then I owe you one,"

He was just about to turn around to go sit when he heard a sinister voice from behind him.

"There’s no need to fight over this, you both can just hand it all over to me. Kekekekeke."