Chapter 12: Mutation

Kyle observed the hues enveloping his Spirit Soul for several minutes before he dared to make an assumption.

"If every hue indicates one characteristic or path that can be developed, or reinforced within the Spirit Soul, it has multiple paths that need to be nurtured.

I believe the white hue was what I nurtured when the Spirit Soul was still in the Egg of the beginning! That must also be the reason for this hue to be denser, while the rest are almost equally thin.

This either means that the rate at which the white nourishment path has developed is higher or that it is at a higher level than the rest, to begin with."

These were the only logical possibilities Kyle could comprehend, and everything else was a guessing game.

In the end, he realized that he could nurture multiple characteristics of his Spirit Soul using the Nurture ability and that the same probably applied to other beings too!

For example, Kyle assumed that his Spirit Soul's energy absorption rate could be nurtured, which in turn, would be accelerated and enhanced further.

This meant that it was also possible for him to nurture the pace at which energy would be converted into soul force, speeding it up!

In the end, Kyle estimated that there were around three main paths to nurture with several sub-categories, but that was not something he knew for sure

One hue seemed to represent the Spirit-Soul's maturity. Thus, there should be a hue that would allow Kyle to nurture the Emerald Fox's grade, thereby its potential!

The latter was probably the white hue he had already nurtured earlier, and Kyle's thoughts began to run wild, trying to process the information he had received.

In the end, the white hue was probably something similar to a racial limit or even evolution nourishment, but Kyle was unsure about this.

As for the last main path, it might be the nurturing of an affinity, or maybe even ability.

Kyle was not sure about this, but he knew about Emerald Foxes because they were common pets that were owned and raised by many races in his past life!

Most were deemed useless and just taken in as pets, but a handful had been able to awaken a weak affinity!

Thus, Kyle's joy knew no bounds when he found out that his Spirit Soul was an Emerald Fox!

Earlier, he could only dream of being able to wield an affinity.

Even after his reincarnation, Kyle was not sure if he had the potential to grab the opportunity and make his small dream of possessing an affinity come true.

He had heard of certain races that innately awakened an affinity that made them extremely powerful when compared to others.

However, only a stroke of luck would give other races the opportunity to awaken an affinity. This would serve as a foundation to produce an affinity seed within one's vessel.

Other than that, all living beings without any innate talents or racial affinity had a minuscule chance of awakening an affinity at the time of their birth.

This was considered to be a mutation and similar to abilities like his Nurture ability and unique body parts such as mana eyes!

Those mutations were caused by the modification of one's gene pool and could be inherited.

Kyle had never been fortunate in his past life, thus he was not born with a favorable mutation.

It had been less likely that he would inherit something advantageous from his parents except debts which nobody would want to inherit in the first place.

His parents had been ordinary workers, but his mother had succumbed to overwork and an incurable disease in her prime.

This devastated his father, causing his downfall that led to the once close family growing apart.

Sorrow and depression took hold over his father's mind, sending him into the pits of addiction from where there was no turning back. In the end, he had become an alcoholic and gambler.

Kyle, who had been a small child at the time of his mother's death, couldn't believe how his life had changed for the worst in just a few months, and nothing was the same again.

After his mother's death, he had been forced to mature despite being a kid and face the world alone while his father was wasting away in his addiction.

Despite all the hardships he had to endure, he knew that his parents had loved him dearly, so he was glad when his father found eternal rest.

After becoming an orphan, Kyle was left with a huge debt totaling millions that Kyle had to work relentlessly to pay off.

Shaking his head, Kyle brought himself to the present. He realized that overthinking his past or anything about the different hues was not helping him in any way.

Instead, Kyle told himself to examine the hue that looked the most pleasing to his eyes.

Other than that, there was not much he could do.

Wanting to try again, he focussed on the hues and a black-colored hue momentarily caught his attention.

However, instead of choosing it, his eyes caught the faintest flicker of a hue that made him far more curious than the black hue.

It was an azure-colored hue and was so faint that he had almost missed it at first glance because it was so inconspicuous!

Thinking that it might be the best choice, Kyle couldn't help but pick it and target it with his Nurture ability.

His energy was rapidly drained and only a moment later he had to stop supplying more energy to the Nurture ability.

Almost the entire energy he had accumulated by annexing and merging soul force with his body had been used up!

Kyle felt a bit weaker than before, but he was sure that nurturing his Spirit Soul would be the best way to utilize his soul force!

Cultivating by using the Spirit Soul with the poorest talent wouldn't be efficient and Kyle wanted to figure out the best path to both cultivate and nurture his Spirit Soul at the same time.

He had yet to figure out the true nature of every hue but that would take a while and he knew that there was no point in rushing things.

After he unraveled the mystery of the hues, everything would become much easier for him.

When Kyle noticed that his Spirit Soul was nurtured by the Nurture ability, Kyle couldn't help but smile foolishly.

The azure-colored hue began to glow faintly before it started to become thicker with a soft yet shining glint, dazzling Kyle for a moment.

Only a moment later, several hues began to disperse while several new and different colored hues emerged.

This confused Kyle and he was not sure what was going on or if he had done something wrong as the Emerald fox cub yelped in pain.

No sooner had the cub shrieked, Kyle felt the pain through his connection with his Spirit Soul and he noticed that something about the Emerald Fox had begun to change!

The Emerald Fox was currently within his body but Kyle was able to see everything clearly with his mind.

A small, black colored bulge was protruding from the center of the Emerald fox cub's forehead!

Other than that there were distinct azure-colored strands around the small bulge overlapping with each other.

Kyle was astonished when he saw this but what confused him more than the Emerald fox's transformation was something else.

'The Nurture ability still has some energy left but it seems that the azure-colored hue cannot be nurtured further.'

This was confusing because Kyle felt that the azure-colored hue was something similar to a mutation path of the Emerald fox!

To be more precise, the hues that had disappeared should have been other mutation paths!

Other than comprehending this, Kyle was able to understand something else too.

'The azure-colored hue has exactly the same density as the white hue!'

With that in mind, Kyle assumed that the density of white color was the highest which the azure-colored hue could reach by itself.

This could have multiple reasons but Kyle thought that it was because his Spirit Soul was only able to mutate to a certain degree in its current state.

The Emerald fox cub was an infant and had the poorest possible potential owing to the fact that it was a Lesser Spirit Soul!

It had already been a wonder that Kyle's Spirit Soul was strong enough to mutate to a certain extent.

Unfortunately, there was no use of the mutation, in its current, partially mutated state!

At least not for now and with its current capabilities!

It had undergone a metamorphosis but the only thing that had changed was the Emerald Fox's appearance.

No other trait of his Spirit Soul had been enhanced but Kyle didn't think that this was abnormal.

'It will have to be fully mutated, or at least a majority of the Emerald fox has to be metamorphosed before I see a difference in its strength and other characteristics! This will take a while!'

Rather than being disappointed due to this, Kyle focused on the Nurture ability that still had remnants of its absorbed energy!

As such, he used the remaining energy within the Nurture ability to feed the black hue that had become thinner over the last few minutes.

While he utilized the Nurture ability on the black hue, the Emerald fox's stopped pestering him for food making him think,

'Is the black hue that caught my attention earlier, a replacement for my Spirit Soul's food?....Does that mean the white hue is most likely used to nurture the Spirit Soul's grade and potential, while the black hue is to feed and accelerate the Spirit Soul's maturing?

Other than that, the azure-colored hue is to mutate my soulbond...or at least, it is the hue I seemed to have chosen to mutate the Emerald Fox into…'

He had yet to spend more than days on Shima, and Kyle's brain was already smoking.

'Why is everything much more complex than I imagined it to be…?'