I have Nine Lives

Felix could already move properly as the Hex in his surroundings didn't bother his soul anymore, it took him around 2 weeks to reach this stage and he would always train with Lindo in the same location, they found the best Hex-infested location that they could in the tribe and trained there so the difficulty of moving was at the peak.

Lindo went back to entering the earth when he got there but with a little bit of workout and some motivational speeches, he started to hug the ground again, and sooner or later he would be able to move too...

Felix started to do some simple exercises using his soul, basically, a soul was like a muscle and Felix could strengthen it using the pressure of the Hex energy around him combined with simple exercises that anyone could do.

This type of training gave Felix even better coordination the moment he returned to his body, it was like he was an experienced driver returning to his sports car after improving his driving skills using a Toyota Corolla 1993.

Lindo saw even better improvements considering his soul was rather weak, he even broke through to reach strength similar to lieutenants and was still going stronger!

His body had been strengthened to the limits during his intense training with his father and sometimes with Felix, his experience in fighting was also quite good but he couldn't control his body well enough due to his rather weak soul. It wasn't something that could be helped, just like the body the soul would grow with experience and time... only those who knew how to train it properly would be able to hasten its growth.

Some did it through meditation, others through fighting until the brink of death to experience what death truly felt like and getting their wills tempered and in return, their soul would get stronger as well. These types of training wouldn't do much for Felix's soul anymore, at this point he got too used to death and he didn't have a proper meditation technique, all he did was close his eyes and calm his mind while erasing his emotions momentarily.

But this type of external pressure put on the soul was refining Felix's soul and compressing it into a more compact form that gave him better control over his body and strengthened his soul defenses... as for soul fighting techniques he had none of those, very few tribes dealt with souls and their capabilities and the lion tribe wasn't one of them... Even Siracha only know defensive techniques that relied on the inner strength of the soul and those were the ones that were lent down by the ancestors which were specially made for lion psychology.

Felix's bones made cracking sounds as he returned to his body and stretched it, Lindo did the same thing as he gave Felix a thumbs up, their training had gone better than before and Lindo finally started to move!

Sooner or later they would have to start sparring during this special training to go even further down the strengthening road.

Felix looked ready to leave but Lindo walked near him and asked:

"Do you think that you have some free time for us to talk?"

Felix didn't see any problem with this, even though they talked very rarely these days due to the intense training they went through which tired them mentally quite a lot so they didn't have the time nor did they want to talk.

But at this time Lindo came forward and asked for a spar!

Felix looked him up and down and asked:

"You are finally feeling the fine-tuning of the soul body resonance?"

Felix wasn't sure where these words came from, as his soul grew stronger some of the words from the vocabulary that was stuffed in his brain when Lucian used that scroll on him were more appropriate to use to him.

Lindo scratched the back of his head as he didn't understand what Felix said but he nodded and said:

"Yeah, I can feel I can control my body way better than before... it was like I was limited to using 50% of my true bodily strength before but now I can use above 70%"

Felix nodded, even though he was a little bit exhausted he didn't want to refuse Lindo's sparring invitation, he wanted to see how far he went with his training as well, after all, they hadn't fought anyone at all since Siracha gave them the gem.

Felix stored the gem he was holding in his paw inside his special bag as he made sure it was well tied to his body, even though he could recover it if its holdings were severed during the spar, it would be annoying because the contents would spill on the ground and Felix's bag had quite a lot of things in it at the moment.

Lindo waited for him to finish preparing as he took in a deep breath to control his surging Hex energy and calm down his exhausted mind.

He opened his eyes as he looked directly at Felix who just finished his preparations then heaved a mighty shout as his muscles inflated and a deep white aura engulfed him... it seemed he also had started to strengthen his aura and from the looks of it he must have reached the middle-stages by now!

Felix's refining didn't take a hit as he used the remaining energy that he had after soul training to strengthen his stamina, he was almost at the 3rd stage by now as his body had grown stronger due to the bear meat that he ate his training in this regard increased by a moderate amount, this was because there was a limit to how much stamina Felix's lungs and heart could get using this training technique at his aura rank, due to strengthening of the stamina strength and endurance from the bear meat he ate now he needed less training to fully finish the runes imprinted on his organs.

Felix's eyes glazed over as he watched Lindo use this technique... he always started with this technique to improve his physique and now that his soul was responding better to his body he could feel that the strength he could exhibit with this form increased by quite a lot!

He took in a deep breath as he disappeared from the spot, Lindo felt the danger to his right side of the body as a claw mark appeared on the ground near him, he dodged!

As his soul strength increased so did his perception as he used killing intent detection, he could also act faster as his control over his body was better than before.

Suddenly another slash came from the opposite side trying to dig into his stomach only for him to block the slash with his elbow... after his clothes were destroyed by the claw slash some dark armor could be seen protecting his upper body, it was Dark Hex Iron Armor!

Felix guessed that he got the armor from either his father or grandfather but he didn't care much about the armor, he didn't have the full set so he couldn't protect himself well, also the armor could slow you down depending on how strong you were and lieutenants couldn't move properly with it on their speed would be decreased to around 75% of the original and only captains and above could move properly in it!

Suddenly another slash came over and tried to injure his leg but Lindo jumped up and then used his heavyweight to drop himself in the direction that he thought Felix was... A small crater appeared where he dropped himself but there were no signs of Felix appearing anywhere.

Lindo sighed... fighting with someone who knew stealth was troublesome especially if they had a physique compared to yourself or even stronger... at this point, it could even be called hacks!

It wouldn't be a problem if Felix wasn't that proficient in stealth but his stealth was basically perfect and even Lindo's improved senses couldn't find him yet!

Lindo closed his eyes as he let his instincts fully take over, his head moved to the side by itself as a claw slash flew over the side, another flurry of claw strikes tried to hit him over on his shoulders, his chest, and stomach but Lindo somehow dodged all of them. He started to breathe roughly as his face turned red, it seemed that this state of his was using a huge amount of Hex energy!

There was no aura around him, he didn't feel any different but he could dodge all of Felix's attacks easily, seemingly as if he knew where Felix would attack from and dodge accurately, it was actually strange as if he was somehow reading Felix's mind and attack patterns.

Suddenly he dropped to the side as he dodged an overhead slash that almost touched his neck, then he punched to the side hitting Felix and disturbing his stealth state!

Felix could feel a bruise appearing on his ribs as the attack hit him, he flew a little bit in the air and frowned as he looked at Lindo... it wasn't that he was jealous or anything but more of surprised. Up till now he could mop the floor with Lindo and he couldn't get any hit in, but now he refined his soul a bit and he could hit him? Maybe his grandfather was wrong... Lindo was definitely as talented as him... maybe? He could see that he was kneeling over after that attack and blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Felix stopped the spar as he came closer to Lindo and looked at him, he opened his eyes only for Felix to see that they were bloodshot, and suddenly one vein in his popped as blood slowly started to drip over his cheeks staining his newly grown golden stubble.

Felix didn't know why Lindo pushed himself so far in this situation... it was just a spar was he that desperate to prove himself to him?

As Felix got closer Lindo put his hand forward indicating that he shouldn't approach him, Felix stopped and looked over a few meters away from him as he asked:

"You..."

Lindo coughed multiple times as he quickly took a pill out of his own special bag and crushed it before snorting it.

Some of his symptoms alleviated from the pill but he was still extremely weak, his internal bleeding stopped along with the one from his eye but there was still a rather large tear of blood remaining on his cheek, and some blood was still slowly dripping from his chin.

Lindo chuckled as he watched Felix's shocked face and said:

"What do you think about my secret bloodline weapon?"

Felix looked at him for a few seconds before saying:

"You are a fool..."

Lindo cocked his head to the side:

"A fool? I was only trying out the new technique that I have comprehended after my soul reached certain refining... why are you calling me a fool?"

"That's because you have tried a technique that you know nothing about, this backlash is practically immense!"

Lindo chuckled as he waved his hand:

"I knew about the backlash, I only wanted to try it with you because I trust you, it isn't like you haven't done a similar thing yourself right?"

Felix frowned as he said:

"It's not the same thing, you know I'm chosen by God."

"Whatever, Felix you might not be able to die unless you want to but that doesn't mean you get to scold me if you had done the same thing in the past, while you have more lives and you can use them the way you want, I have one and I can control it however I want as well!"

Felix wanted to argue but decided against it because what he said was true... if he wanted to squeeze out his potential this way during training who was he to advise him? As a friend, he knew that this was a self-destructing type of training but as a warrior of the tribe which needed the strongest able-bodied men to accompany him in the international battle he would have to grit his teeth and leave him at his own devices.

It was time for Felix to make a decision, just like back then, would he follow his instincts which told him that leaving Lindo this way would increase his chances of surviving the intercontinental battle or his emotions who were telling him that as Lindo's friend he would have to talk things out with him and maybe even stop him altogether from using such a perilous technique if his life wasn't in danger.