Rebirth Of The Bastard Spirit Summoner

Jade walked towards the fire and knelt down next to it, picking up one of the rabbits and handing it to Stark.

"You must be hungry."

When she noticed that Stark did not immediately take it, she cocked her head slightly.

"Is something wrong?"

Stark shook his head. "It's nothing."

There were no real leads to finding his mother, so all he could do right now was carry on with his original plans.

And although his mother's words still worried him, right now there was something more important. Food, he was starving.

He accepted the rabbit without question, ripping apart the meat with a ravenous hunger. It was well roasted, its insides soft and tender.

He cleared the first rabbit within seconds and Jade handed him another one.

Stark was about to devour it with the same speed when he noticed Jade watching the fire with a strange expression.

"Aren't you going to have one?" he asked, glancing at the fire where several other rabbits were strewn.

There was no official documentation that said spirits could not eat, although it was useless to them, it was not entirely impossible.

Jade shook her head, her gaze locked on the fire. "I can no longer taste it. What is the point?"

'So she caught this all for me?'

Jade frowned, as though she could read his mind. "I was just passing time. That is why I caught so many."

"Okay…"

Stark took the meat, no longer eating as wildly as he had done a few minutes ago. And when he was finally done, he breathed out a sigh.

"So what next?" Jade asked.

Stark leaned back on his arms.

They had escaped the forest, but they were still a long way from civilization.

The continent, Zethon, was divided into nine regions, with an evil forest in almost every one of them.

Currently, they were in the evil forest of the southwestern region, an isolated area.

It would take them about a five-day walk before they got to any major roads.

Thankfully, they didn't need to find any roads.

In their continent, Zethon, there were certain structures scattered around that made it possible to instantly move from one area to another—Teleport Waystones.

As a former lord in this region, Stark had a good idea of where most of the waystones were.

The nearest one to them was probably a three-day trek from here.

And Stark knew exactly where he wanted to visit first, Sandhill, a place he was all too familiar with.

Darell's city.

They ended up walking for four days instead of three, and on the fourth day, around evening, they finally arrived at the waystone.

Stark stared up at the towering structure, taking in the sight.

It was a large purple rock that had been carved in a way that resembled an obelisk, a pyramid-like top with eight sides and flat edges going all the way to the ground.

The entire rock was placed on a grey stone platform with a few steps leading to the top.

"So you really knew where it was. Did you memorise the map or something?" Jade asked, her voice indifferent.

He walked next to the structure and sat down, relaxing his back on the platform. "Of course I did."

Jade cocked a brow but didn't say anything. Instead, she climbed the podium and began walking around the waystone, paying close attention to the runes etched on its surface.

"It's strange, isn't it?"

Hearing her question, Stark turned to face her. "What is?"

"The waystones… They have been here for several hundred years, if not more. Yet no one knows how they came about."

"Monsters wouldn't even come near it, and yet we use it without a care in the world," she added.

Stark gave her words some thought.

Not only were the waystones very old, they were made out of a material that no one knew, a rock that had never been seen on the planet even to this day.

"Do you think the Echoes have something to do with it?" he asked, his expression serious.

At the mention of the Echoes, Stark noticed a shift in Jade's mood. "Please, don't call their name. I'd rather not have nightmares."

"Alright then…"

He summoned his artifact and checked the time.

—5:00 PM

"We'll leave at midnight to avoid drawing attention to ourselves."

Jade nodded, still observing the structure.

When he turned back to stare at the watch, his eyes moved over to the small screen he had seen just before his ascension.

The numbers had changed.

[75/1000]

The first time he saw it, when he had just newly gotten the artifact, he had not known what its purpose was.

But now he was completely sure. This was a sort of counter that increased by how many spirit shards he had absorbed.

And if he were to max out the bar—he would advance.

'75… that means the banshee must have given me quite a boost.'

But from a hundred to a thousand—that was a crazy jump.

Letting out a tired breath, he placed the pocket watch on his chest and closed his eyes.

"Wake me up when it's time," he said, just before he drifted into sleep.

Hours later…

Thud Thud

Stark roused, feeling a pair of cold hands tapping his cheeks, and then his eyes slowly opened.

"Is it time?"

Jade nodded and rose to her feet, walking up to the waystone. Stark stood up and joined her, placing his hand on the cold stone.

"Enter my soul."

"Alright."

Her body shimmered and disappeared, Stark feeling her settle deep within him.

Then he closed his eyes and concentrated on the place he wanted to be.

There was a waystone in a passing town not too far away from Sandhill, that was his destination.

All the runes from bottom to top ignited, glowing violently like a beacon.

And then a white light shot out of the top of the waystone, tearing into the sky and through the clouds.

Stark, who had stood next to it mere minutes ago, was nowhere to be found.

• • •

The waystone always had a weird feeling associated with it…

As it buzzed to life, teleporting him, Stark suddenly felt extremely light, as though he weighed nothing more than a feather.

An intense feeling of nausea washed over him and it felt as though his organs were going to drop straight through his belly.

But it only lasted for a few seconds, right before he appeared in the town he had envisioned.

The waystone he had appeared at was glowing faintly, the glow slowly receding. But it was more than enough to attract a few stares.

Hurriedly, he cut through the crowd and found his way into one of the isolated alleys.

There, he summoned Jade, as well as his little army of monsters.

"Let's get started…"