New Age Of Summoners

For Elemental Spirits, as long as their Summoners had a higher cultivation level, they could consume Spirit Stones to rapidly increase their cultivation.

However, from his previous experience of nurturing Elemental Spirits, Ajax knew that such rapid progress would limit their battle prowess.

Therefore, Ajax decided to let Protos do some exercise, which meant fighting some Elemental Beasts.

’Even though Protos’s battle prowess still won’t match that of Elemental Spirits that slowly increase their cultivation, this is much better than completely relying on Spirit Stones.’

Generally, the Elemental Spirits that grew alongside the Summoner would have the greatest battle prowess.

So, a little exercise won’t help these Elemental Spirits match those that grew alongside the Summoner from the beginning.

’Also, by letting Elemental Spirits fight, they would not only gain battle experience but also have a chance of awakening additional skills.’

The true potential could be unlocked through constant training and battling. So, Ajax wanted to let Protos undergo some training to match his earlier Elemental Spirits.

’Let’s see how much you can improve.’

With that thought, Ajax entered the Flaming Forest with Protos.

After walking for a while, he finally encountered his friends from the first round, the Flaming Monkeys.

They were Elemental Beasts with fiery red hair covering their entire bodies. Their eyes glowed like burning embers, and flames flickered around their limbs whenever they moved.

All the Elemental Beasts in the Elemental Source Land had a minimum strength of the Elemental King Realm, and all these Flaming Monkeys had King Realm cultivation.

Even a single one of these Flaming Monkeys could kill Protos with ease, not to mention the whole group.

So, he casually approached the group, which was still scared upon seeing him.

’The monster has returned. Run away.’

Without hesitation, all the Flaming Monkeys scattered in all directions.

’Sigh.’

Seeing that scene, Ajax sighed. ’Looks like the impact I created on them might be much higher than I thought.’

Generally, the Elemental Beasts pounce on the participants, but thanks to Ajax’s killing spree from earlier, all the Flaming Monkeys had a psychological fear of him when they saw Ajax.

’Forget it… I only need one Flaming Monkey this time.’

’Swiish!’

With a thought, Ajax used his cultivation technique and caught a Flaming Monkey that had the strength of a Low-Level King Realm creature.

He knocked it unconscious before summoning Protos.

”Summoning Master, what are you doing?”

Looking at the unconscious Flaming Monkey lying on the ground, Protos couldn’t help but feel confused.

”What does it look like? I’m preparing your training dummy.”

Ajax smiled before pointing at the Flaming Monkey.

”Now, use your skill, [Flame Arrow], to kill it.”

”Understood, Summoning Master!”

Protos didn’t hesitate to obey Ajax’s order.

He raised his tiny hand, and a small amount of Fire Essence of Nature gathered around his fingers.

Soon, a fiery arrow appeared in front of him.

[Flame Arrow]!

Whoosh!

The Flame Arrow shot towards the Flaming Monkey and struck its crystalline body.

However, the moment it made contact, the Flame Arrow dispersed into countless sparks without leaving even a scratch on the beast.

”Huh?”

Protos stared at the scene with his mouth wide open.

”Summoning Master, why didn’t my skill work?”

Ajax wasn’t surprised by the result because he had already expected it.

The Flaming Monkey was a King Realm creature, whereas Protos was only at Level 9 Elemental Soldier Realm.

The gap between them was simply too vast.

Even though the Flaming Monkey was unconscious, its body was still much stronger than Protos’s attack.

”Your skill isn’t strong enough yet.”

Even though the problem lay not only with the skill but also with Protos’s cultivation, Ajax only mentioned the skill before continuing, ”Keep using [Flame Arrow] until you can kill it.”

”What?”

Protos looked at Ajax in disbelief.

”Summoning Master, I am only at Level 9 Elemental Soldier Realm, while this Flaming Monkey looks quite strong!”

”That’s right.”

”Then how can I kill it?”

”By continuing to use your skill until it becomes strong enough.”

”...”

Protos was rendered speechless.

He looked at the unconscious Flaming Monkey and then at Ajax, hoping his Summoning Master would change his mind.

Unfortunately, Ajax showed no intention of doing so.

”Come on. Don’t waste your time.”

”...Yes, Summoning Master.”

With no other choice, Protos raised his hand again.

[Flame Arrow]!

Another arrow shot towards the Flaming Monkey, only to disperse upon hitting its crystalline body.

[Flame Arrow]!

[Flame Arrow]!

[Flame Arrow]!

Protos continued using his skill over and over again.

Every time the arrow struck the Flaming Monkey, it dispersed into sparks, leaving the creature almost unharmed.

Nevertheless, Protos didn’t give up.

After who knew how long he had spent inside the Elemental Spirit Orb, he had finally obtained a Summoning Master, and this was his first task.

Moreover, his Summoning Master had already given him hundreds of Spirit Stones to increase his cultivation.

Protos didn’t want to disappoint Ajax.

’If I complete this task, Summoning Master will definitely give me more Spirit Stones!’

Thinking about the delicious Spirit Stones, Protos gritted his teeth and continued firing his arrows.

He wanted to become stronger and complete his first task.

And most importantly, he wanted to obtain more Spirit Stones!

’Let’s check what everyone is doing.’

Meanwhile, Ajax used his Divine Spirit Consciousness to check on the other participants in the Flaming Forest.

’Looks like everyone is focused on rushing the cultivation of their Elemental Spirits.’

As expected, the participants were busy feeding Spirit Stones to their newly acquired Elemental Spirits.

None of them seemed interested in improving their battle prowess through actual combat.

Of course, Ajax didn’t blame them.

After all, the rewards for the Second Round were simply too tempting.

The top ten participants would receive Divine Elemental Potions, while the top three would also receive Divine Pearls.

Naturally, everyone wanted to secure a high ranking.

Besides, most of the participants already had at least five official Elemental Spirits.

To them, the official skill they would awaken after passing the Second Round was far more important than the newly acquired Elemental Spirit itself.

After all, they already had several unofficial Elemental Spirits.

Even if their new Elemental Spirits were a little weaker than others, they could still obtain an additional official skill by passing the round and get additional heaven-defying rewards just by entering the top ten rankings.

Therefore, they were more focused on increasing their Elemental Spirits’ cultivation than improving their battle prowess.

’Well, everyone has their own priorities.’

Ajax withdrew his Divine Spirit Consciousness and focused on Protos’s training.

…

At the edge of the Flaming Forest,

’Thud!’

After using [Flame Arrow] nearly a hundred times, Protos could no longer bear the exhaustion and fell to the ground.

He had completely depleted his Fire Essence of Nature.

Even after using his skill so many times, he had barely managed to leave a few faint marks on the Flaming Monkey’s crystalline body.

[Detected that the host’s Elemental Spirit has completely depleted its Fire Essence of Nature.]

[The host’s special title, [Elemental Spirit Master], has been triggered.]

[The Elemental Spirit’s recovery speed will be increased by 10 times for the next one hour.]

’Here it comes.’

Looking at the system notifications, Ajax revealed a slight smile.