Beast Spirit

"What exactly is summer like?"

"I don't know."

When summer arrived, the flower fairies would sink into the tree roots and hibernate, so they did not know what summer was really like. Winter was the same. When the ground began to freeze, they would likewise sink into the tree roots and hibernate.

"Is that a magic wand in your hand?" Du Ke turned into a walking encyclopedia of questions, trying to learn as much valuable information as possible from Shawa Shawa.

"It's the flower stamen I shed when I advanced."

"Advanced? Flower stamen?"

"I call it the Heart Flower Stamen. It gives me a new spell, Nature Healing." As Shawa Shawa spoke, she raised the Heart Flower Stamen in her hand and lightly traced a circle toward Du Ke.

In an instant, a faint green glow flew from the ruby at the tip of the Heart Flower Stamen and landed on Du Ke. His feet began to itch, then turned cool and comfortable. He looked down at them in surprise, quickly took off his shoes, and saw that the skin on his feet was completely unblemished. He had always suffered from athlete's foot before, often getting little blisters that itched terribly.

But now, there was no trace of athlete's foot left.

"Amazing!" Du Ke exclaimed.

Shawa Shawa seemed delighted by the praise. She suddenly called out toward the outside, and four larger flower fairies soon flew in. They were smaller than palm-sized Shawa Shawa but larger than the flower fairies no bigger than a single palm, about one and a half palms tall. Each held a flower stamen resembling a magic wand, laughing as they flew up and down.

"They've all advanced," Shawa Shawa said.

"So they can use Nature Healing too, just like you?"

Shawa Shawa shook her head and pointed at the four flower fairies one by one. "This is Tirafeng Bergberg Gatuthea. She can use Nature Growth. This is Ximoado Lusa Lusa Kristina. She can use Nature Withering. This is Sasfu Siser Siser Prodo. She can use Nature Spirit Summoning. This is Gulijike Azuazu Seloli. She can use Nature Summoning."

"Can you have them demonstrate for me?"

The flower fairies were friendly, so they happily agreed to demonstrate their respective magic for Du Ke.

Borg Borg waved her Green Fuzz Flower Stamen, a magic wand with a mass of green fuzz at its tip, circling it over a blue reed on the ground. A green light flew out and landed on the blue reed. The reed immediately began growing at high speed. In the blink of an eye, it sprouted a tender pink flower stamen like a stick. Then the stamen fluffed up, and clusters of tiny fruits formed upon it.

Lusa Lusa waved her Stone Flower Stamen. A dull gray stone was embedded at the tip of this magic wand. She waved it toward the blue reed that had already borne fruit, and in the next moment, the reed visibly withered, dried up, and collapsed onto the ground.

Xise Xise waved her Big-Head Flower Stamen, a magic wand with an enormous tip. She did not seem to know what she was waving it at, and nothing happened for quite a while. Just as Xise Xise grew deeply frustrated, Shawa Shawa explained, "Xise Xise's Nature Spirit Summoning always fails." Yet at that very moment, a flash of light flickered from the tip of the Big-Head Flower Stamen and shot toward the distant bushes.

The flower fairies and Du Ke all looked toward the pitch-black bushes. Soon, an illusory streak of light flew out from them. It was pale blue and outlined the form of a running Displacer Beast.

When the Displacer Beast phantom arrived, the flower fairies immediately turned pale with fright. The timid ones quickly hid inside their reed blossoms.

Only Xise Xise widened her eyes at the floating Displacer Beast phantom before her and clapped her hands in laughter. "Jiji gugu bulu gugu jigu..." Then she waved the Big-Head Flower Stamen, and the Displacer Beast phantom carried her as it raced across the sea of flowers. In the blink of an eye, it vanished from sight, frightening every flower fairy it passed into hiding.

Shawa Shawa clutched her chest as well, looking thoroughly startled.

Du Ke quickly used Touch of Mind to communicate with Shawa Shawa. "What was that?"

"It was a Beast Spirit, the lingering spirituality left behind after a beast dies. Xise Xise has summoned several different Beast Spirits before, but she never managed to raise them, and they eventually died. This Displacer Beast is so fierce. Maybe Xise Xise can raise it and have it protect the flower fairies of our Sea of Flowers Tribe." As Shawa Shawa spoke, she grew happier and happier at the thought of her tribe gaining such powerful protection.

"Beast Spirits can be raised?" Du Ke did not understand. To him, that had looked like the Displacer Beast's soul.

Earth's scientists had studied souls extensively, but there was no evidence that humans possessed souls. Most scientists believed that so-called consciousness was merely the process of information being exchanged and transmitted between neurons.

Yet here, in this Fantasy World, Beast Spirits actually existed.

Perhaps souls really did exist.

"Weaker Beast Spirits disperse quickly. Only powerful Beast Spirits can last for a long time," Shawa Shawa explained.

Xise Xise, having acquired the Displacer Beast's Beast Spirit, had already run off somewhere. Shawa Shawa called for her several times without receiving any response. At last, it was Azo Azo's turn to demonstrate her magic. She had a black magic wand called the Black Flower Stamen. After she used Nature Summoning, white light flew from the Black Flower Stamen and landed on the window of the bird-nest dwelling, revealing two blue seeds no larger than soybeans.

Azo Azo grabbed the two blue seeds and held them out to Du Ke. "Jigu lululu lala."

"Azo Azo says she's giving you the seeds."

"Thank you." Du Ke accepted the seeds and asked curiously, "What kind of seeds are they?"

Shawa Shawa asked Azo Azo. Azo Azo shook her head, and Shawa Shawa communicated with Du Ke again. "Don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Sometimes they can be eaten, and sometimes they only grow into trees. The tree you're living in now was grown from seeds Azo Azo summoned," Shawa Shawa said. Clearly, compared to the fixed effects of Nature Healing, Nature Growth, and Nature Withering, both Nature Spirit Summoning and Nature Summoning were unstable. Even the casters themselves did not know what Beast Spirit they would awaken or what seeds they would summon.

Despite the unstable effects, Du Ke's eyes were full of envy. No matter what, it was still magic.

After that, Shawa Shawa could not provide any more information. This group of flower fairies lived here in the sea of flowers and never went outside. They slept during the day, came out at night to drink a little dew, then flew around and played, living carefree lives. The outside world was a blank to them. Perhaps they were curious too, but instinct told them that staying in the sea of flowers was safest.

"Teach me the flower fairy language," Du Ke requested.

Shawa Shawa immediately agreed. Du Ke's bird-nest dwelling had air conditioning and was far more comfortable than the stifling 32°C heat outside, so the flower fairies all wanted to come close. Through communication with Touch of Mind, the flower fairy language was easy to learn, and its vocabulary and tones were simple as well. After studying for more than an hour, Du Ke could already understand what the flower fairies playing outside were shouting.

He even compiled a separate document to record the flower fairy language.

Shawa Shawa pronounced the words, and he translated and annotated them, ultimately using Chinese to represent the unwritten flower fairy language. While documenting the flower fairy language, he also created a summary file for the flower fairies.

Humanoid species: Flower fairy.

Racial talent: Purification Magic.

Advancement traits: Larger body size; flower stamen shed to become a magic wand; gains one advancement spell, such as Nature Healing, Nature Growth, Nature Withering, Nature Spirit Summoning, Nature Summoning, and so on.

Current tribe: Sea of Flowers Tribe.

Leader: Aburulia Shawa Shawa Mileya.

Tribe members: 412.

Advanced tribe members: Tirafeng Bergberg Gatuthea, Ximoado Lusa Lusa Kristina, Sasfu Siser Siser Prodo, Gulijike Azuazu Seloli.