God´s Eyes

Because he didn't have any weapons at home, which lead Jason to look at what types of weapons were the most suitable to learn with the Azure feisty Ape technique.

In the end, he found out that gauntlets and daggers were the most suitable for this technique.

Jason was tempted to purchase gauntlets but he also wanted to get something sharp as his body was still too feeble to kill or heavily injure beasts with his fists or gauntlets alone.

Only humans with a strong physique would use gauntlets or other blunt weapons and Jason was definitely not one of them.

Looking at the online weapon store he found a few thousand types of daggers at every grade.

Jason was overwhelmed with the supply but the price for most daggers wasn't something he could handle, so he had to filter his research slightly.

With a little bit more than 130.000 credits left, he could afford a grade-1 dagger which ranged from  20.000 to a few hundred thousand credits.

After thinking for a few minutes, Jason understood that he had to buy a weapon sooner or later, as he would venture into the wild zone´s somewhen.

Looking through the descriptions of a few dozen daggers within his price range Jason found something that attracted his attention.

[Low Tier-1 Jade Iron Dagger] Jade Iron, tampered in the flames of a Two-star azure flame, able to pierce through mid-awakened ranked beasts.

Price:30.000 Credits

For a Tier-1 weapon in this price range to pierce through a mid awakened beast was extremely good.

There were many grades for weapons and armors but the most commonly used ones were Tier-1 to Tier-3 while Tier 4 and 5 were already fairytales. 

Jason didn´t know a single human with a tier-4 or tier-5 weapon, as such he regarded them as legends.

There were also mana and soul weapons which are special due to their certain effects.

Mana weapons could enhance the weapon's strength or amplify an element, while soul weapons would grow within the soul world until the material used for the soul weapon would reach its potential limitation. 

Soul weapons could resonate with their contractor and enhance one's strength more than mana weapons if well nurtured.

While normal graded weapons were already expensive, mana and soul weapons could only be purchased by rich merchants, nobles, higher-royalty, and big families.

Soul weapons were more expensive than mana weapons because the materials needed were super rare and the ability to grow and adjust its strength with the master was extremely powerful.

Each Tier could be divided into four segments indicating the capabilities within their grade also called Low, Mid, High, Peak.

Low Tier-1 weapons are commonly only able to pierce the hide of weaker awakened beasts while Peak Tier-1 weapons can already pierce the skin of evolved beasts without focusing on weak spots.

He wasn't sure why the price for this dagger was so low but the website only allowed genuine transactions and would punish frauds harshly.

Jason purchased the Low Tier-1 Jade Iron Dagger and was left with around 100.000 Credits.

This would give him the chance to purchase two small mana stones if needed.

The parcel with the dagger arrived around afternoon and Jason began to learn the Azure feisty Ape technique modified to use with Daggers.

Four days later one could see a small but handsome youth running through the park sweating and slightly exhausted.

Jason trained his body really hard the last few days and he ate a lot which resulted in him growing some muscles and gaining a little bit of weight.

He was still malnourished but his physique got better with each day passing.

Over the last week, his mana core was filled more and more with mana and in a few days at most, Jason would reach the requirements to break into the 3rd Novice rank.

Artemis was still sleeping inside the soul world which made him slightly worried because it was already a week but sensing her health he knew that she was more than healthy.

Inside his soul world, he inspected Artemis for a while when he noticed that the feeble color enveloping her was becoming denser.

This was probably because of the Mana she absorbed.

The absorbed mana was probably able to initiate the mutation that was previously backslashes but Jason wasn't sure about that.

During the last week, Jason chatted a lot with Greg which surprised him quite a bit.

Greg messaged him the day after his soul-awakening and since then they became friends? Or at least chat-buddies.

Greg´s parents had something against him because they thought Greg was persuaded to take a different first soulbond which wasn´t the case.

Six days after Greg formed his soulbound contract with the reinforced horned bull, an advanced potential test found out that the non-elemental bull had a hidden bloodline that normal tests couldn´t find.

This hidden bloodline was from a rare race called "Lesser Minotaur" race which also formed small societies and was almost like one of the foreign invading races except for its lack of intelligence.

Greg persuaded his parents to let his soulbond get tested about his potential because he believed that Jason wouldn't lie to him, even if Greg wasn´t completely sure why he did that

They have never talked much with each other but Greg felt comfortable around Jason which wasn't the case with his other ex-classmates as they liked his strength and background.

In the beginning, he wasn't sure why he believed Jason so much but after seeing his golden eyes Greg´s suspicion was completely shattered.

After finding out about the reinforced horned bull's hidden bloodline Greg´s family calmed down and they had a better view of Jason.

But they were still suspicious as it could have been luck.

How should a previously blind youth be able to find out something that normal tests couldn´t?

They paid huge amounts of credits to let the reinforced horned bull calf tested its potential and it was only because of that, that they found out about its bloodline.

Normally nobody would make a test about something like that without prior knowledge as it was a waste of credits and time.

Nevertheless, they had to thank Jason as this bull calf was a much better first soulbond than every other beast he could have chosen in the C-Grade Beast Pagoda.

Greg also informed Jason that he would move away in a few weeks into an A-grade City called Cyro City where he would attend one of the most prestigious high-schools.

His parents knew some headteachers from the school and due to Greg´s exceptional exam result with his 4-star soul-awakening, it wouldn't be a problem for him to attend the school.

After receiving this information Jason was slightly shocked.

He wasn't sure if Greg was his friend but he was the only one at his age, who he chatted with.

The information that Greg would move away, into one of the two A-grade cities on Astrix, caused Jason to feel sad and even jealous.

School would start its first semester in mid-August and there were still 6 weeks left but Greg had to move in around four weeks.

Jason wasn't even sure if he could apply for a school in a C-grade city… He felt that the gap between him and Greg would only widen as he would get high-ranked support from professional instructors and many resources to increase his rank, while Jason would be left behind.

Even if Greg´s parents were still suspicious about Jason they had to thank him so they asked Greg to question him if he needed something.

Jason didn't expect that Greg´s parents wanted to thank him and he had to think for a while.

He needed many things so he wasn't entirely sure what to ask for but considering the dangers of lacking soul energy for example when Artemis would evolve, Jason got scared.

"Greg I've thought of something." Jason started before he hesitantly asked

"Can you ask your parents if they can get me permission to the Heaven's Hell technique? My Credits and contributions are too low and I don't know when I'll be able to attend a high school or if this highschool has the permission to hand it over... "

The Heaven's Hell technique was a soul energy refining technique that would use up soul energy forcibly and replenished it continuously.

To put it simply soul energy could be compared to a muscle.

If one doesn´t use one´s muscles they would remain at their weakest possible without any change.

However, using the muscle and exhausting it consistently would force the muscle to be tempered and strengthened. 

And this is where the importance of high soul energy came into the game.

Having more soul energy means you have more muscles to strengthen this is harder but also results in higher benefits.

Comparing Jason and Greg's soul energy Jason would need to train a long time to increase his soul energy by one point as was an increase of 100% but for Greg with his soul energy slightly below 500, the increase of 1 point was equivalent to 0.2%.

This was because the Heaven's Hell technique followed the exponential growth principles and Greg had a better foundation while Jason started way behind him.

But even if this was the case Jason had the chance to increase his soul energy with the Heaven's Hell technique.

Jason also consulted Greg about the Azure feisty Ape manual and some flaws he had as Jason wasn't entirely sure of everything he did was correct.

A few days passed and there was still no message from Greg, causing him to wonder if something happened.

Maybe it was too rude for him to ask about the permission to use Heaven's Hell? But that shouldn't be the case as it was a civilian technique which everyone could use with enough credits and some contribution like hunting beasts or jobs like that.

Jason wasn't sure but he didn't think too much about it, as he practiced the Azure feisty Ape technique with the dagger modification.

Artemis was still in her deep slumber.

His mana core reached almost its limit and Jason was close to the break-through into the 3 Novice stage which made him happy.

Jason's slim body became more muscly and his weight finally reached the common standards for a skinny youth.

Suddenly Jason got a call while he was training with his dagger.