Like the Mortal Realm, the Spirit Realm is also far from perfect.

    Problems also encroached on this realm.

    Instead of the Supernaturals or Humans that are vying for the apex, here inside the Spirit Realm, they were dealing with a phenomenon created by their own failings. A phenomenon called the Black Rift—it was this massive black smoke that stretched across the entire world and kept on spreading.

    More than half of the world was shrouded in this black smoke.

    And this black smoke was the home of dark spirits called the Voidal Monsters.

    For countless years, the spirits had been engaging in a world-scale war against the Voidal Monsters.

    The Spirits wanted to reclaim their world, returning it to normal as it once was even though the ''normal'' was already so long ago that they couldn''t really remember how it was while the Voidal Monsters aimed to make the entire world their home.

    It was a devastating war with no end in sight.

    Before coming here, Rex already conversed with Amanir as well as the System as preparation.

    So that once the day came for him to act, he would know what to do.

    ...

    Voidal Shadow Hounds

    Race: Voidal Pawn

    Power: High Spirit 1 (First Circle)

    Soul Artifact: Shadow Whip - D-grade (Attack)

    Echo: -

    Spiritual Points: 1,000

    Strength: 500

    Agility: 1,100

    Endurance: 400

    Danger Zone: Tail and Maw.

    ...

    Rex scanned the incoming Voidal Monsters ahead and was greeted by a status window.

    Unlike back in the Mortal Realm, there were a few sections that he was not familiar with.

    System, explain the new sections.

    Affirmative.

    Soul Artifact section states the kind of soul artifact the target has, its grade—and also its type. Grades for Soul Artifacts range from F to SSS—while the types were categorized into four: Attack, Defense, Support, and Hybrid

    An attack-type artifact would only have attacking abilities?

    Yes. A Soul Artifact''s abilities will stick to their type except for Hybrid-type

    Continue.

    Echo section dictates whether the target would leave behind their Soul Artifact Echo or not. An Echo could be used to strengthen the Soul Artifact''s durability, quite a luxury commodity—within the Spirit Realm

    Spiritual Points reflected the spirit energy reserve and power like the intelligence stat

    Upon reading this, Rex nodded.

    It wasn''t too hard to understand each of the new additional sections.

    Now I''m curious as to what my stat window looked like in this body.

    ...

    Rex Silverstar – Spirit Body

    Status: Calm and Determine.

    Race: Grand Royal Black Werewolf / Ghost Spirit

    Power: High Spirit 1 (First Circle) – Harbinger of the Nightfall

    Soul Artifact: Red Dawn of Kaiser – SSS-grade (Attack), Mask of the Banished Eclipse – SSS-grade (Hybrid), Aegis of Moon Sentinel – SSS-grade (Defense).

    Level: 1 (0%/100%)

    Full Moon: 49 Days – Blood Moon

    Berserk: 30%

    Sanity: 90%

    Spiritual Points: 13,000

    Strength: 102,500 (+66,625)

    Level up!

    Level up!

    Congratulations, the user has reached level 4!

    All stats have been increased appropriately!

    Rex exhaled softly, his gaze steady on the crimson gauntlets.

    He checked his stat window and noticed that one level increase adds 50 points to all his stats.

    But then, he stopped for a moment and checked the notification once again.

    "Oh? Do I get gold now? Good, I could potentially gain back that 49 million gold I spent to cross my King Marks to this realm," Rex nodded and stared ahead again toward the incoming swarm. He stretched his arms and cracked his neck, preparing for a haul of experience points.

    Swoosh!

    His crimson claws gleamed with unrestrained power as he counted the incoming Shadow Hounds.

    Once he got a rough idea of how many there were, he lunged forward without hesitation.

    Rex moved like ablur—the icy cold wind of the Black Rift bit at the air but it posed no threat to him, his Werewolf blood burned hot, effortlessly shrugging the chill. Sprinting as fast as he could, stumbling along the way from the lack of balance, he charged into the mass of snarling beasts.

    In an instant, he became an unstoppable force amidst the chaos.

    Snatching a Shadow Hound by its neck, he crushed it with ease.

    Another leaped from the side, but he spun, claws raking through its midsection, spilling its dark innards to the ground. However, as fast as he struck them down, more came to replace the fallen ones, their eyes glowing with relentless malice.

    Carcasses began to pile as Rex plunged deeper into the swarm.

    Notifications appeared with every swing of his crimson claws, signing more Shadow Hounds dead.

    Each kill brought him a surge of power, the System quietly tallying his growing experience points.

    Against his power, these Voidal Monsters—ranging from High Spirit 1 to High Spirit 3—were nothing more than fodder. Having power equivalent to an Ascendant Spirit 5, none of these beasts could wound him much less kill him.

    Still, the sheer number made the battle messy.

    Rex slipped several times during the fight, causing a tail striking his chest or fangs clamping into him.

    His body was still unfamiliar—uncoordinated, but he was allowed to make a mistake here.

    Their tails—Soul Artifacts that lashed out with the speed of bullets, only managed to shove him back.

    And for their fangs, Rex could break them with a simple shrug.

    Just then, amid the carnage, his instincts flared.

    Rex''s gaze snapped upward, locking onto Amanir who floated above them.

    Amanir unfurled his massive ears and shook them like a deadly fan—splitting into ten clones before he descended with power, sweeping the Shadow Hounds while keeping his ears erected to each side. None of the Shadow Hounds were able to overpower him or even his clones and got swept away.

    As he did that, his eyes scanned the area through the thick dark smoke.

    He was searching for the nearest Life Vein.

    Spirits lived around an Obelisk of Life.

    In order to protect themselves from the Black Rift, they had to do this since the energy from the Obelisk of Life could be siphoned into an anti-Voidal Monster bubble. Not to mention, it also emanated spirit energy that would be beneficial for Spirits'' power growth by keeping the spirit energy concentration in the air high.

    Like a tree, the Obelisk of Life has roots called Life Veins.

    Life Veins could be used as roads since Voidal Monsters also couldn''t get close to them.

    Amanir needed to locate the nearest Life Vein quickly as the longer the battle raged, the higher the very chance of drawing the attention of stronger Voidal Monsters. If a Voidal Prince or worse, even a Voidal Monarch were to be lured by the commotion, it would spell certain doom for them.

    Not to mention, being inside the Black Rift for too long would also be too harsh on them.

    Becoming insane is very common.

    However, finding a Life Vein wasn''t exactly easy.

    Not everyone could see through clearly in the Black Rift.

    Only Spirits who have a support ability from their Soul Artifacts could see through the darkness.

    And these Spirits are called Seekers.

    Amanir was also a Seeker but he was a sheltered one, he never went into the Black Rift as it was a pain.

    So he wasn''t exactly good at navigating the Black Rift.

    Just then, however, a voice snapped Amanir out of his trance.

    "Right there!"

    Upon hearing this, Amanir turned around and saw Linthia was pointing in a direction.

    Her eyes were glowing with a weird and eerie dark glow.

    ''Did she get blessed to become a Seeker?'' Amanir was surprised, a Seeker being born is one in around a hundred thousand perhaps even more so Linthia becoming one was quite surprising. But this was not the time to be surprised, "Rex! Move that way!"