Is that a Wisp?
chapter-224

But Krune didn't have time to think about it, that's because the wisp immediately started to launch a barrage of attacks. Not too surprisingly, that Divine Soul Realm wisp was also a long-ranged attacker. Of course, with its cultivation alone, most of its attacks were a lot more potent than the previous opponent.

Krune immediately activated his Tribulation Lightning movement and started to dodge. He might not be able to use it at full power output in human form, but it is definitely enough to at least keep himself in battle. Krune then brought out all his Hexagonal Flying Shields and was finally able to stand his ground.

The opponent attacks were an eye-opener for Krune, that's because it looked like the wisp was drawing out the spiritual energy that its body was made of. Krune had never tried anything like that before. Still, he could see that every time it happened, the wisp's core seemed to replenish the part that was used.

Only then did Krune understand the principle behind it.

'I'm such an idiot! I have always had so much extra and much easier to use spiritual energy, ready to be used, and I had never noticed it. My soul is inside my core, so my ethereal body isn't exactly that important. Now that I think about it, I have been hit on my core a few times before. Although it hurt when it happened, my ethereal body had never been affected. Not to mention that it had almost no use for the defense to start with.'

If not because Krune didn't want to show his wisp form, he would definitely try to do the same as his opponent.

Still, Krune was puzzled with the fact that the wisp had reached the Divine Soul Realm. As far as he knows, this illusion formation uses the ordinary level of the cultivation realm of the Universe. If there is a wisp here, it means that records of Divine Soul Realm wisps exist in this place.

'I will have to do research later. For a wisp to reach the Divine Soul Realm, there must be a reason for it here. Could it be a cultivation technique like mine?'

Krune finally stopped his thoughts and focused on the battle. It took some time to explain, but all his train of thoughts happened in just a little more than a second.

Krune then started to retaliate while making sure to protect himself with his Flying Shields.

"Tribulation Thunder Line!"

"Tribulation Blazing Wind Blades!"

"Myriad Tribulation Water Dragons!"

His opponent was just an illusion, so it had no emotions. That wisp used some attacks that looked remarkably like Krune's ones. Still, they didn't have the power of the Tribulation Lightning to increase the strength. Of course, as a Divine Soul Realm wisp, it was already enough to make Krune put his all on defense.

That wisp was really very much like Krune, it kept sending several long-ranged elemental attacks. Krune had to change the Elements imbued in his shields who knows how many times to counter the attacking element. Krune might have all his perks, but the difference in cultivation showed its face at this moment.

Outside, the examiner looked at Krune with puzzled eyes.

'That Lightning power is obviously the Tribulation type, but I've never heard about Purple Tribulation Lightning. Also, his Tribulation Lightning is much stronger than the common one, just how did he achieve this?'

There was another thing that he couldn't find an answer to.

'This Krune is at his limit on both attack and defense, so why isn't he going back to his true form? Demon Beasts in human forms usually are weaker. Could it be that he is an Ocean type demon beast or something like that?'

Krune didn't know what the examiner was thinking, but it didn't matter at the moment anyway.

'No holding back anymore. Although it will hurt my human body, I will have to bring the power of the Tribulation Lightning to higher output.'

"Tribulation Lightning, 80%!"

Krune and that wisp had been in a stalemate since the start of the battle. But now that Krune increased the Tribulation Lightning power in plus 30%, his attacks power surpassed the Divine Soul Realm wisp.

Speed, Strength, Elemental Control, Krune's overall combat prowess increased at that moment in exchange for damaging his human body. Of course, this is just an Illusion Formation. Krune's real human body is still fine outside it.

'This should be enough!'

The speed that Krune got hurt wasn't as fast as the wisp in the distance. Some of Krune's attacks started to hit its core one after another, and after not soo long, the wisp's core finally cracked. It wasn't enough to kill the wisp, but definitely enough to defeat it. The illusion Formation considered that the Divine Soul Realm wisp had no chance of victory anymore and immediately dispersed it.

Krune wasn't much better either, so he didn't even wait for the next opponent to appear before immediately exiting the Formation. He knows that for him to battle the 2nd Stage Divine Soul Realm, he would need to rely on his Wisp Form. Not to mention that he used a lot of Spiritual and Elemental Source Energy in the battle against the wisp, so his victory wouldn't be assured anyway.

Outside, the examiner looked at Krune's group as if they were a bunch of monsters! Still, he couldn't be happier with this outcome.

"Good! Those who have defeated at least one opponent can follow me to make the registration."

The examiner then looked at Krune and the others and smiled.

"Now that I think about it, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Rueter Kaves, I'm one of the examiners of this branch."

Krune and the others complimented Rueter and followed him. On their way to the registration office, Krune decided to ask the examiner about that wisp.

"Senior Rueter, that last opponent I fought against was a wisp, right?"

Rueter nodded.

"Yes, is there a problem? I can guarantee that the illusion formation did not make it stronger than it should."

Krune shook his head.

"That's not it. It's just that in the Universe we came from, wisps are extremely weak, and there is almost no one in its entirety that reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. So when I saw a Divine Soul Realm wisp, I was completely taken aback by that. Could it be that the wisps of the Dalin Universe are not like that?"

Rueter then explained.

"Oh, now that you said, I remember having read somewhere that wisps are quite a pitful race in other Universes. In fact, it could be said the same for our Dalin Universe. It's just that here they have a much better beginning. The reason for that is the much higher proximity of our Universe with its own heavens."

Krune was puzzled by that remark but knew that Rueter would explain to him.

"As you know, our Dalin Universe has much easier to understand Laws, and the overall concentration of Spiritual Energy is much higher than the others. It is because of this proximity that wisps have an easier time to cultivate here than anywhere else. Wisps are born from the Spiritual Energy from Heaven and Earth, so they do have a better connection to the heavens itself. Thanks to that, all wisps are born directly into the Foundation Establishment Realm!"

Krune and the others were taken aback!

"Directly into the Foundation Establishment Realm?!"

Rueter nodded.

"Some even have the luck to be already at the late stages of the Foundation Establishment. There are even some extremely rare cases of wisps being born directly into the Core Formation Realm. But those are as rare as phoenix feathers."

Rueter continued.

"Anyway, because they are already at a higher cultivation realm, they have the extra life span. That means that wisps in our Dalin Universe have at least 20 years of life span from the very start, different from outside where they have only 10. It gives them a lot more time to cultivate and the chance to fight for resources."

Krune then noticed something wrong.

"Wait! Didn't you say that the wisps are still considered a pitful race nonetheless?"

Rueter nodded.

"Yes. That's because even though wisps have better conditions here in the Dalin Universe, their greatest flaw still remains. Their life span is just too small! Because of that, they would usually reach the Core Formation Realm or, at most, the Divine Soul Realm. But as you know, the further in the path of cultivation, the harder it becomes, and higher is the time needed. Because of that, the biggest majority of wisps can only reach the Divine Soul Realm. As for Soul Forging, I've only heard about them before, but I have never seen one. Let alone a Void Breaking Realm one."

"Still, with the number of wisps that are born in this Universe due to its peculiarity, we have quite a few Divine Soul Realm ones. Too bad, though. Even at the Divine Soul Realm, they can only live at most 80 years. That is far from enough to surpass the Divine Soul Realm. Let's not forget that the wisps that enter the Divine Soul Realm usually are already in their thirties, so they have even less time."

Krune then sighed. For a second, he thought that the wisps in this realm had a cultivation technique just like him.

"Are wisps used as cultivation resources in this Universe as well?"

Rueter shook his head.

"In our Dalin Universe, the number of idiots that would damage their own foundation by using wisps is extremely low. Although I won't say that it doesn't happen, you will find it very hard to find someone who tried this foolish method."

Rueter then remembered something.

"Now that I think about it, there is a Planet called Wisp World where the majority of its inhabitants are wisps. Although you can find wisps everywhere, that place is where you will find the majority of the Divine Soul Realm wisps."

Rueter only talked this much because it was Krune's group. Otherwise, he wouldn't even pay attention to them. Still, he thought that Krune and the others were just curious, it had never passed through his mind the thought that Krune might be a wisp.

Krune, on the other hand, was pondering deeply about this situation.

'The wisps here have a much better starting line, not to mention that almost no one uses them as cultivation resource. Still, they are barred by the life span, and usually, Divine Soul Realm is the limit.'

Krune isn't idiot, his thought went much further than merely feeling excited that there was a lot of wisps with higher realm here.

'The power balance!'