The Astral soul system

Zen dodged a quick punch, creating some distance. Before he could react,a portal suddenly appeared at his side with a fist aimed for his head. He quickly deflected the hit, striking it away.

Jade quickly pounced at him, before revealing it was a feint and trying a sweeping kick which he was forced to dodge.

Zen suddenly saw the same portal directly in front of his chest. Quickly grabbing him by his shirt,Jade pulled him back to her and while he was still stumbling, she aimed a kick at his head. Blocking it, Zen grabbed her leg and threw her with ease, launching her off the side of the mountain.

Jade grumbled,a bit annoyed. She created a new portal, with the exit being at the edge of the mountain,thrusting her hand through it and grabbing onto the side of the mountain. With all her strength, she pulled the rest her body upwards, climbing back up in a few seconds.

Zen threw a punch the second she showed herself,an attack she expected as a portal appears in front of her and Zen's fist appeared behind her, floating in mid-air.

Jade's eyes gleamed. This was her chance!

She tensed her fist, throwing a heavy uppercut towards his chin.

"Huh?"

With his natural speed, Zen could easily dodge. He only took a few steps back, easily dodging, before throwing a punch at her side, causing her to reel back.

Before she could do anything else, Zen quickly delivered a knee kick in her stomach followed by a punch straight to her face, knocking her down.

Completely disoriented, She was about to fall off the side of the mountain before Zen caught her.

Zen brought her off the edge and sat her down on a smooth rock.

"You okay?"

"Ouch! Jeez Z. You hit hard"

Jade rubbed her face playfully and stuck her tongue out at Zen.

She had changed quite a bit. Her entire body had become toned and slender, resembling a top athlete. Her previously smooth hair had started turning into soft curls,her hair's natural state,after her being unable to take care of it after a while. She had decided to simply tie her curly hair into a ponytail.

"Man,i thought i had it this time. I was so close"

Zen didn't say anything and kept inspecting her injuries.

"Let's go again,i promise I won't disappoint this time"

Zen stood up.

"Usually I'd say yes, but we can't today,the others are waiting"

Jade didn't say anything in protest, but she still looked disappointed.

"Fine. Race you down"

Jade suddenly dashed for the rope that had been tied to a huge heavy rock. Without any hesitation, she grabbed the other end and jumped off the cliff.

Zen walked to the edge and looked down at Jade who had started running down the mountain using the rope.

"She's improved"

Zen nodded in agreement with Theia.

The only word he could use to describe Jade was brilliant. They had only started a few weeks ago and now she was almost completely different. It was like everytime he sparred with her,he was fighting a different person entirely. A few weeks ago she looked like she could barely climb a mountain, and now she was racing down one.

"This is probably how the mentors of the protagonists in Freya's books feel "

Zen suddenly heard a scoff.

"This is how I felt! You were a frickin beast! Good to see you having a taste of your own medicine "

Freya laughed a bit as she saw Zen going through what she went through, training him.

"It's still quite absurd" Zen said watching Jade.

"Told you all she needed was some confidence. She actually reminds me of one of my old friends in the agency She was absolutely awesome,a total badass too. Come to think of it, she also used a bow"

Zen wouldn't exactly call Jade confident. She froze up whenever someone spoke too loudly, spoke and moved with the meekness of a mouse, and almost always had her head down, although not around him.

"Okay,we better get down there, were loosing"

Zen looked down, and only after a few minutes,Jade was nearing the bottom of the mountain.

[Soul form]

Zen suddenly became completely translucent and started falling through the mountain. His Astra went down rapidly, even more so than usual. He had noticed that although he didn't take physical damage in this form, whenever something solid went through it, his astra would reduce a small bit. There was also a weird sensation that was like a mix between getting tickled, feeling like a thousand worms were crawling in your insides, and getting the wind knocked out of his intangible lungs. Needles to say,it was very unpleasant.

"It's time"

Zen moved out of the mountain, deactivated the skill and landed on the ground in one fluid motion.

[Astra: 5/200]

Less than five seconds later,Jade landed on the ground, looking at Zen, frustration evident on her face.

"Where did you...? How did you...? What..."

Zen looked at her as if he didn't understand.

"Ugh, forget it "

This had happened literally every other time she challenged Zen to a race.

"Let's go. Today's the day "

Jade nodded.

They had all decided to stay in the dungeon for about three weeks, training, and after the time was done and they had improved on themselves, they would go out to see if they could find a way off this planet. They would go in search for any signs of civilization they could find. If this was an apocalypse tier planet,then there should be some old bases,cities and technology in them that they could use to contact earth.

If Zen's calculations were correct,it should be either friday or saturday on earth, not that the info had any good use.

As they walked back, Zen looked at Jade. Although it didn't look like she was doing anything,that was just because of her opponent. Zen was completely sure that if he put her up against Neo without any abilities used, although she wouldn't win because of Neo's increase in strength after the trial, she wouldn't loose either. He had actually tested this theory and it was as he expected, it ended in a draw.

The only place he could say she was lacking was her durability. She was still quite frail, but she made up for it with speed. Her strength was above average too.

"You look satisfied with your student" Theia chimed in

"Quite so"

Zen was suddenly reminded of his own teacher. How was she? Was she looking for him.

Zen suddenly saw Jade trying to smooth her hair out with a comb she had.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

"Hmm?"

"Your hair. It looks fine"

Jade hesitated for a few seconds before answering.

"I did it to look like my mom. She died when i was a kid, and I realized that if i style it like hers and look into a mirror,I look like her. It feels like I'm looking right at her, like she's still there"

"..."

"What?"

"Nothing " Zen shrugged.

After a few seconds of silence,Jade asked.

"What about you? Anything from your parents?"

Zen pointed to the Yin necklace he was wearing without saying anything else.

For the next few minutes, they walked together in silence until they reached the dungeon where the others were waiting for them outside.

For some reason,ever since they killed all the beasts, they hadn't seen any again. It was like the dungeon had become just some other building.

Jade went to Xavier and took Sable's body off him and onto Zen's back. They had decided on this since he seemed to be the one with the most strength physically. For whatever reason, Sable's condition hadn't gotten better or worse all this time, they were all terribly worried about her, but there was nothing they could do.

Zen looked at Neo and saw what looked like a translucent whirlpool of light around his body, drawing energy to him. Zen closed his left eye and left his mutated eye open, and was able to see it clearer. This had started about a week ago. When he asked ,Theia said that after so much practice,Neo had accidentally found a way to semi- passively absorb energy just like him by projecting his soul realm into the real world and rotating it to draw in energy, similar to how a tornado or whirlpool draws things towards and into them.

"Alright, let's go"

They picked a random direction and started walking. Maximilian was in front of the group,his senses on high alert.

Zen and Xavier stayed at the back to cover their rear, and Neo and Jade were in the center of the formation.

Just as he usually did when he wasn't being watched, Xavier started blabbing to Zen again.

"Hey? Ever wondered what would happen if we don't get off?"

Zen raised a brow.

"Hold up, wait, just listen. Imagine,six, immensely skilled, powerful and stunningly attractive adventures,lost on a planet with no signs of of life -"

"Except beasts "

Zen interrupted but Xavier ignored him and continued with his story.

"One of their companions, wounded, and the others with barely any food and gear. Try as they might,they are unable to find a way to their home planet, and are forced to survive on the desolate planet with the beasts while trying to find a cure for their friend-"

Zen once again interrupts

"Let me guess, they all die one by one, sacrificing themselves so the others can escape and survive, and after many years, the surviving one or two make it back, scarred and forever changed?"

"Yeah. Sounds like a cool plot for a movie, right?"

"Also a pretty predictable one" Zen answers in his usual tone.

Zen and Xavier suddenly feel someone staring at them. Looking forward, they saw Maximilian staring at them,annoyed, like he was looking at a bunch of trouble makers. It seemed he didn't like Xavier saying such stories as it might ruin the team's morale.

Xavier laughed nervously.

"Haha, don't worry,we won't cause any trouble "

Zen looked at him

"We?"

Maximilian stopped staring at them and focused back on scouting.

Zen looked up at the dark sky. At this point, he had no idea what the night and day cycle of the planet could be. It had been night ever since they got here, and it didn't look like it would be dawn anytime soon.

After a few hours of walking, they eventually left behind the desert biome and entered a large forest. In the month that they had been here, none of them had seen any rain or Sunshine, so the sight was surprising.

A few steps in, they suddenly heard a loud howl similar to the one from the beasts they fought before.

Jade's eyes lit up.

"Can I take this one, please"

Maximilian looked a bit conflicted. He looked at Zen and the shrug he received let him know that this was his choice.

Zen looked at where the sound was coming from, focusing his enhanced senses as hard as he could, and only saw a single beast.

Maximilian didn't ignore the possibility that it could be a trap, but it at least seemed safe enough.

"Fine, but Neo,go with her. And both of you, be quiet"

Neo nodded and pulled out what looked like two metal batons. They were the broken pieces of his gear, and he seemed to be getting used to using them. Jade on the other hand, although still having her bow,was out of arrows and was using Sable's katana.

The only other gear they had was Zen's throwing star and Maximilian's spear which he had originally lost.

Jade gripped the katana tightly and together with Neo, dashed towards the sound of the beast.

A few minutes later,a soft whimper of an animal could be heard, and almost immediately after,Jade and Neo came back with a beast core.

"Done!" Jade beamed towards Zen.

"Alright let's go".

They pressed on, and as they did, the encounters with beasts became more and more frequent. Luckily they never had to send more than Jade and Neo to take care of them.

After a few more hours,it got to the point where they no longer sent anyone and simply avoided the small hordes of beasts.

It was almost like something was attracting the beasts around this area.

For a minute, Maximilian considered telling them to turn back, but eventually decided to push forward. If something was attracting them to this area, he wanted to at least see if it could help them, and luckily,there were no extremely high level beasts...yet "

A few hours later

Maximilian suddenly signaled for them to stop. Zen could see a bright smile on Maximilian's face as he struggled to control himself.

Zen felt something wasn't right. He passed Sable to Xavier and jumped up the closest tree, swinging and even running at times to get up faster. In a few seconds he was at the top of the tree, and looking forward,he saw the first signs of civilization since they had gotten here. A huge glass dome around the size of a small city.

"A research base"

Before going down, Zen checked how many beasts were in the area and the number alone was huge.

Zen let go of the branch he was holding, letting himself fall and using soul movement to land safely. He had been practicing flying for a while, but it seemed to be his most difficult skill yet as he still couldn't fly straight.

"It's completely surrounded"

Zen told Maximilian to which he nodded thoughtfully like it was expected.

"Do we risk it?"

Zen thought for a while.

"It looks like a research base,at least from the outside,so it shouldn't have much security besides the beasts, and even if it did, they'd probably be useless by now. We should be able to get in through one of the cracks. The problem would be that once we did, we'd have to run as fast as we could to the portal, and there's no guarantee its even still working. Our chsnces of getting in without getting into a fight are less than ten percent "

"How do we even find the portal?"

"I have all the plans for standard federation bases memorized. I should know where the portal is, and if it's still functional,i should be able to get it working "

Maximilian looked at Zen suprised. He didn't doubt what he said, but getting in was the problem.

After a few minutes of thinking hard,Max made his decision