Gina’s mana was on the same level as that of a TITAN Rank I, and if Gina had used her mana alone to attack the Valkan, then there was no way she would have been able to damage it so much! But Gina was a Spirit Arts user, and she managed to wrap her mana in Spirit Energy that made it far more deadly to spirits like the Valkan, and that was what allowed her to injure the spirit this much!
But that didn’t mean that the Valkan was going to give up! Right in front of Gina’s eyes, the Valkan began to change! The Spirit Energy that Gina had felt surrounding this part of the forest suddenly began to grow denser and more intense! It almost felt like something was drawing more power from nature itself! Gina looked around in shock as she felt the spirit energy rising, and she quickly turned to the Valkan as it started absorbing the dense Spirit Energy, and Gina realised that it was about to do something! Gina immediately shouted for Farlow to help her! They needed to kill the Valkan before it could finish absorbing the spirit energy!
But even though Gina and Farlow had reacted quickly, they were already too late! The wounds on the Valkan’s body quickly began to close up as its body went through a transformation! Its nails grew longer and sharper, and its body increased in size till it was nearly double what it had been before! A strange, blue, translucent material began to surround the Valkan’s body like armor! There was no doubt that the material was made out of Spirit Energy, and the energy shone with a natural light as it protected the Valkan’s shoulders, sides, and legs! Gina couldn’t help but whisper.
"What the fuck?"
ROARRRRR!!
The Valkan roared loud enough to send a gale of wind across the forest, and Gina had to put a hand up to her face as she was almost blown away by the intense energy that she felt from the Valkan! This was insane! The Valkan had already been a TITAN Rank I before, but now it had enough power to be regarded as a TITAN Rank II! What the hell happened to it!?
Gina didn’t know this, but the transformation that the Valkan had gone through was something known as Synchronization! It was a unique ability that was only available to Spirits as well as Spirit Arts users who had spirit familiars as their partners. Synchronization was the process whereby a Spirit would absorb a large amount of natural Spirit Energy from nature, and they would use this energy to give themselves a sudden boost in power so that they could fight at a level that was higher than their natural state! When a Spirit was in the state of Synchronization, it not only gained a boost to its power, but it also became one with nature! Its healing, senses, and use of magic would also automatically increase, and the sudden power boost from Synchronization would make it look like a Spirit had become an entirely new being!
But for a Spirit Arts user like Gina, who wasn’t directly connected to nature like the Spirits, they could only achieve Synchronization using their companion fairies. That meant that the only way for Gina to reach the point where she could absorb Nature energy the way the Valkan was doing was by forming a proper relationship with the fairy Ulyn! But Gina didn’t know any of these things right now, and all she could tell at that moment was that the Spirit had undergone a transformation that made it far more dangerous than it was just a moment ago! The Valkan’s attention was laser-focused on Gina as it took a step forward, and Gina felt her heart beating faster as she quickly began to come up with a plan. But Gina was surprised when the Valkan suddenly charged to the side, and she glanced over to see that it was charging for Farlow!
Farlow brought up his sword just as the Valkan reached him, and he barely managed to block the swipe from the beast’s claws! Farlow flew back like a rocket as he slammed into various trees behind him, and Gina quickly rushed towards the beast while calling out to her partner!
’Ulyn! I need your help! Ulyn!’
There was no answer for the first few seconds, and Gina thought that Ulyn was really not going to answer, but then Ulyn shouted in an annoyed voice.
’I thought I told you not to bother me unless it’s something important! Are you trying to tell me that you can’t beat a mere phantasmal beast!? My contractor can’t be so useless!’
Gina’s eye twitched as she dodged around the Valkan’s tail swipe, and she tried to attack the Valkan’s blind spot, but the Valkan easily blocked it using its new armor, and it turned around and barked out a roar straight towards Gina!
ROAR!
BOOM!
The entire region around Gina was immediately blown away by the sonic wave from the roar, and Gina dug her feet into the ground as she slid back! Gina couldn’t believe what she was seeing here! It was as if the Valkan was a completely different monster!
’What in the world happened to it?’
Gina spoke up in awe, and surprisingly, Ulyn answered her.
’Tsk, so you don’t even know about mere Synchronization, I suppose. What a useless contractor I have. Well, I suppose it is the responsibility of the wise to impart knowledge to those beneath them. Now listen closely...’
Ulyn easily explained everything that Gina needed to know about Synchronization to her, and even though Gina was annoyed by the way Ulyn was constantly talking down to her, that didn’t stop Gina from listening carefully and ingesting all the knowledge! So that was what happened. Gina couldn’t believe that something like this was also possible because of Spirit energy! Gina gathered the wind around her and used it to create a wall to block a sudden wind blade from the Valkan! The wind blade tore through Gina’s wall, but the wall slowed the wind blade down just enough for Gina to be able to get out of the way, and Gina continued to backpedal to avoid any more attacks from the beast! Gina quickly spoke up to her companion!
’How about us!? Can we do this Synchronization as well?’
Ulyn huffed, and Gina could almost imagine the pompous spirit flipping her hair back proudly as she spoke.
’What do you take me for? Of course, we can do it. I am the great spirit of wind Ulyn, daughter of the Spirit Queen. I can do anything I want.’
Gina grinned, and she spoke excitedly!
’Then let’s do it.’
’Huh, what are you talking about? Of course not.’
’What!?’
Gina was shocked by Ulyn’s answer, and Ulyn clicked her tongue as she spoke dismissively.
’I already told you I’m not interested in dealing with anything useless. You’re my contractor, so if you’re not capable of taking care of something this simple, then you don’t deserve to even have my support. I’ll be going back to sleep now.’
Ulyn’s voice vanished once she was done talking, and Gina called out angrily!
’Ulyn, you bitch!’
BOOM!
A massive explosion went off, and the Valkan’s claw tore through a tree as it tried to cut Gina, but Gina managed to avoid it once again, and she cursed Ulyn again! But even though Gina was angry at Ulyn, Ulyn had actually made the right choice by refusing to Synchronize with Gina. Not only was this the first time that Gina would be trying to synchronize at all, but the synchronization level between Gina and Ulyn was very low at only 2%! If Gina tried to synchronize at this level, she would only be confused by the sudden increase in power, and since the power increase was so small, it would give the Valkan an opening to attack Gina and even kill her! So by refusing Gina’s offer, Ulyn had just saved Gina from potentially losing her life!
Gina decided to ignore Ulyn, and she realised that she had to go all out. All this time, Gina didn’t think she needed to use her Legion abilities because she thought that her Sage and Spirit abilities would be enough to take care of the beast, but now that the beast had gained such a massive power-up, Gina realised that she couldn’t match the Valkan unless she also used her abilities as a Bishop! Gina was currently gliding backwards across the forest floor like she was skating on ice, and the Valkan was hot on her trail as it chased her down.