《Intemporal》 Extra information (cultivation realms etc.) The level of someone''s talent in cultivation and body tempering is based on the highest stage they can reach without precious resources or luck. Magic talent is based on their inherent aptitude with certain traits or elements and their ability to store/absorb mana. There will be no information on what the different stages implies, only their names (except for magic.) When they grow common knowledge or obsolete, I''ll add the descriptions. (Numbers represents levels or number of things required in each stage) Cultivation stages: None Qi refinement (1-9) Foundation establishment (1-9) Golden core (1-9) Golden specter (1-9) Soul fusion Soul refinement (1-9) Earthly pillars (1-81-...) Law palace (1-...) Body tempering stages: Inept Blood transmutation (1-9) Blood engraving (Independent) Sanguine core (1-9) Sanguine specter (1-9) The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Soul fortification (1-9) Martial pillars (103-206-...) Earthly palace (1-...) Magic (only talent): Magical talent is split into two parts: aptitude and mana well. During elementary assessment done by a measuring orb, only the aptitude is looked at because a strong mana well is worthless without the required manipulation talent. Aptitude: Broken Frail Solid Robust Resilient Infallible Mana well: Shallow Moderate Deep Abyssal Hadal Ultrahadal Bottomless (one can not be born with talent of this level, it can only be reached) Magicians are also split into different levels according to their accomplishments, namely: Apprentice: Is learning the basics of magic, can feel mana and personalize it to a certain extent, but is yet to engrave a spell on their soul. Channeler: Has one or more spells¡ªcomplex runic combinations and connections¡ªengraved on their very souls. This process can only be completed with a magical aptitude, the higher the level, the greater the ability to engrave. It also decides how many engravings you can hold; there is a limit. They can then channel energy through the soul engravings, lead it through the mana well, and into the world for the spell to activate. It¡¯s important to note that while the aptitude is located only in the soul, the mana well¡ªfor almost everyone¡ªis more like a gateway between the heart and soul. One where mana can pass through, but also be stored. Conduit: Your mana can take on the properties and information for any soul engraving instantaneously, leaving only the physical guidance of mana to the mage. Soul caster (different from soul magic, which is a type of magic): These mages can manifest their soul engravings in the physical world, and use ambient mana to cast them instantaneously. It is important to note that the mages can not control the ambient mana themselves, it only circulates within the projected engraving, nothing more. Dominator: These are apex magicians who transcend all other levels before them. They can finally control the world''s mana like their own, thus allowing them to cast spells without rest for¡ªtheoretically¡ªever. This also means they can control the common aspects inside other mages¡¯ personal mana, disabling them from casting spells in their presence. They dominate both the world, and other magicians, all the while cultivators fear their infinite destructive potential. Chapter 1: Finally! ¡°Did you hear?¡± ¡°About Young Master Gu and the Follta Clan?¡± ¡°How can he keep getting away with shit like this?¡± ¡°Because he¡¯s powerful, and his father is even more so. Who would dare go against the Gu family in Lith?¡± ¡°Still¡­to eradicate an entire clan because their young miss didn¡¯t want to marry him is a bit¡­¡± Hushed whispers and drunken discussions echoed across the Gu family¡¯s city, Gum. Despite the Gu family being recognized as a righteous family by the world, the actions of the younger generation were worrying. Regardless, no one was willing to offend them by raising the issue to their faces. They held too much power and money, after all. It was even rumored they possessed their own sacred pocket-dimension. Many speculated it was the reason behind their unshakable position. ¡°How is it possible for people to complain so much when they know nothing will ever come of it?¡± a young man mused to himself. ¡°No matter how many times I hear it, it just never makes sense.¡± Fillan Strand was sitting in an opulent hotel room, watching and listening to the bustling city below. Surrounding him were a myriad of floating circles filled with runes, as well as paper reports strewn over his desk. Information about people¡¯s whereabouts, their actions, and their plans was clearly noted down for him to pursue. The runic circles projected images and sound from different locations with different people matching to the reports¡¯ portraits. This was clearly a very hardcore surveillance operation. ¡°I swear to god, if I fail again, I¡¯ll try to force myself into their pocket-dimension,¡± he voiced out loud in clear exasperation. ¡°But three times is the charm¡­hopefully¡± In one of the more prominent runic circles, an arrogant young man adorned in baggy white robes was shouting at one of his seniors. The senior was a near mirror replica of the young man, only considerably older and more mature. ¡°They deserved to die!¡± the young man shouted¡ªnearly shrieked¡ªat the top of his lungs. ¡°How dare a peasant reject and humiliate me!?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of your nonsense, Ming!¡± the senior shouted back with evident power. ¡°I¡¯ve let this slide with only a minor punishment, and yet you dare complain? If you don¡¯t come out of the pocket-dimension as a new man, I''ll kill you myself.¡± On that note, the young man was pushed by a seemingly invincible force out of the ornate hall. Once outside, he turned to his entourage, before giving them his orders. ¡°Ting, go fetch the allocated members. Harald, begin the competition and make sure it¡¯s finished before I get there. Moore, did you get into contact with any talented mages?¡± The subordinates with orders hurriedly left, while Moore pulled out a jade stick which he handed to his young master. ¡°This has the information about the five mages I reached out to. Their academic information, accomplishments, perceived personalities, and most importantly, their actions in the city, is all on here, Master.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care about all that!¡± he complained. ¡°Tell me about the best prospect, and why you chose him!¡± ¡°As you wish. I personally assumed that Mr. Lewis would be the best option amongst those interested, but he might be a little too arrogant for your liking and purposes. Instead, I found a promising young man about the same age as you, Master. He is immensely talented, has great accomplishments, abhors weaklings, and most importantly, seems very supportive of your actions against the Follta Clan. He even publicly defended you when slandered. Yet, not once, did he appear arrogant enough to think he was better than you. In my opinion, you should choose him, Master.¡± ¡°Good job, Moore,¡± Mind Gu congratulated. ¡°What¡¯s the mage¡¯s name?¡± ¡°Fillan Strand, Master.¡± ¡°Very well, bring him over immediately.¡± ¡­ ¡°You fucking better bring me over, you rotten bastards,¡± Fillan shouted at the magic circle. ¡°If that fat degenerate Lewis got the position again, I¡¯d have killed him on the spot.¡± With much relief, Fillan slumped into his chair, while dispelling the miscellaneous magic circles. The papers on the desk suddenly combusted into ash, which floated seamlessly out the window. Fillan continued to relax in the chair until someone knocked on his door. ¡°Let¡¯s do this! ¡­ ¡°It¡¯s an honor to finally meat the great Ming Gu,¡± Fillan exclaimed while cupping his fist to show his utmost sincerity. Subservience is a must when seeking something from deranged, power-hungry men-children. ¡°It really is, isn¡¯t it?¡± Ming Gu responded with haughtiness. Ming was always surrounded by praise and fawning from cultivators and body temperers, so a mage behaving like this in front of him felt incredibly novel. ¡°I like you¡­what was your name again?¡± he asked stupidly. ¡°It¡¯s Fillan Strand, Young Master Gu,¡± Fillan forced himself to say. ¡®I get being arrogant, but he heard my name less than five minutes ago; how is it possible to forget so quickly?¡¯ ¡°Right! I like you, Fillan Strand. You¡¯re not like the other mages I¡¯ve seen before, or those who fawn on me for benefit. You seem to genuinely appreciate me. If you can prove yourself in the pocket-dimension, I wouldn¡¯t mind handing over the other subordinates¡¯ shares to you. That¡¯s how generous I am!¡± ¡°I promise not to let you down, Young Master Gu.¡± When Fillan was about to act out some more bullshit, a group of young men and women came waltzing towards them. They¡¯re self confidence was nowhere near that of Ming Gu, but they were clearly difficult to deal with. ¡°Hey, Ming,¡± the leading young man said. He showed no regard for Ming Gu¡¯s temper or status, clearly viewing them as equal. Something he didn¡¯t reciprocate. ¡°It¡¯s ¡®Ming Gu¡¯ to you, Keven Trill. This is not your local brothel, you best behave yourself here,¡± Ming threatened. ¡°It might as well be. After all, I¡¯m talking to a big fucking whore right now, aren¡¯t I?¡± Keven chided. ¡°You dare speak to me like that when your mother is famous for taking it three at a time!?¡± "Says you! Where the fuck is your mother? Oh, that¡¯s right, she abandoned you when she saw your ugly toad face! Who knows what she¡¯s doing now!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll kill you¡ª¡± Just as the two young masters were about to duke it out, a bolt of lightning appeared out of nowhere, only to strike Keven Trill flat onto the ground. ¡°Looks like the heavens don¡¯t appreciate your disrespect, Young Master Keven,¡± Fillan Strand said incredulously from behind Ming Gu. His acting was almost perfect, with the exception of his obvious smirk. There was no doubt in Keven¡¯s mind where the lightning came from. Despite it flooring him, he was uninjured. It was clearly just a warning to avoid a fight, meaning he couldn''t do anything about it since he was in the wrong for starting the confrontation in the first place. One of the older people walking behind the group stepped up, before giving a bow to Ming Gu, and apologizing on behalf of Keven. ¡°I¡¯m deeply sorry, Young Master Gu. I should have stopped little Keven before he stepped out of line.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, just do your job better. Who knows what would have happened if my mage didn¡¯t just warn him?¡± ¡°Indeed. On that note, may I ask who this esteemed mage is? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard of someone so young and powerful before.¡± The old protector was clearly eying Fillan wearily. Mages usually did not radiate any form of pressure, making identifying their prowess difficult. Fillan could either be a newbie apprentice whose lightning spell was the extent of his prowess, or he could be powerful enough to level the entire city with one spell. He was not willing to take a risk and reprimand a magician he didn¡¯t know of. ¡°My name is Fillan Strand, I studied at Hew¡¯s Academy,¡± Fillan responded with a completely neutral voice. ¡®It¡¯s better if they fear me a little.¡¯ The eyes of the old protector widened slightly upon hearing his answer, before quickly bowing again. ¡°So it¡¯s the esteemed Fire-storm Psychic! I¡¯ve long heard of your prodigious name.¡± The old man took a deep breath, before hoisting Keven up from the ground with a pair of invisible hands. ¡°Apologise to Mr. Fillan Strand,¡± he commanded with force. He would not take no for an answer. ¡°Why would I apologize to him, he just attacked me¡ª¡± Before he could finish his statement, a heavy and calloused hand landed flat on his cheek, sending ripples across his entire face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Strand. My nephew was born a little slower than most, please don¡¯t take offense,¡± the old man pleaded, shocking most of those present. ¡°It¡¯s not me he should apologize to anyway, it¡¯s Young Master Gu,¡± Fillan deflected. There was a required balance between being feared by the others, and not encroaching on the authority Ming Gu desired. A balance between dominance and subservience. "Apologize to Young Master Gu!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Keven mumbled with his swollen face. ¡°You better be! If my mage didn''t stop us, you¡¯d be in way worse shape,¡± Ming retorted with clear emphasis on who the mage was working for. Despite being stupid and arrogant, Ming Gu understood Fillan was more impressive than he previously thought, based on the old man¡¯s actions. ¡°Maybe I should take a look at the jade stick after all,¡± he thought to himself. ¡°Everyone, we¡¯ll go to the arena and announce the results,¡± he continued out loud. ¡°Your protectors and elders can go to the pavilion behind the main hall, where my clan''s elders are waiting for you. No one would dare harm us in Gum, so there is no need for you to follow us.¡± Without caring for agreement or opposition, Ming Gu, along with Moore and Fillan began walking towards the direction of the city¡¯s amphitheater. Whether the rest followed didn¡¯t seem to concern Ming as he held his hand towards Moore, demanding the jade stick. Upon channeling his qi into it, he found the information he cared to know. Fillan Strand: A previous top student at Hew¡¯s Academy, was expelled for crippling the headmaster after a confrontation. Despite trying with all their might, even the combined forces of all the school''s professors were unable to bring him down. It was only after they received help from the capital that he was finally driven away. It is estimated, with the level of the headmaster and the professors, that Fillan Strand is a Conduit mage with a vast repertoire of spells, who vastly surpasses other Conduits. According to rumors, the mage from the capital actually didn¡¯t care about what Fillan did, and even tried to recruit him, only to be harshly rejected. Unable to control his fury, but not willing to harm someone with such talent, he barred Fillan from the Magical Society, resulting in him conducting research on his own. He is renowned for visiting a great number of pocket-dimensions in search of material, information, and general ruins. With childlike interest, he turned back to face Fillan while walking. ¡°Are Conduit mages powerful?¡± he asked without malice. He was clearly mentally unstable, but for his emotions and attention to shift this quickly surprised even Fillan, someone who spent more than a decade studying him. ¡°Well, it depends on who you ask. It also depends on the mage¡¯s species,¡± Fillan admitted with a matching level of interest and excitement. ¡°What? Why!? Explain!¡± he shouted, clearly confused and annoyed again. ¡®This damned unpredictable brat!¡¯ ¡°Human mages have grown complacent over the years, and think of themselves superior to everything and everyone. Whether it¡¯s cultivators, body temperers, dragons or elves, they¡¯d never admit they¡¯re someone¡¯s lesser.¡± Fillan paused momentarily to let it set in, and judge whether Ming wanted him to continue or not, which he did. ¡°Conduits can have a near autonomous, and instantaneous transmutation of mana into what their spells require, letting them cast spells faster, and more efficiently. Dragons and elves only acknowledge a mage to have reached this level when they can do this with every single one of their spells, while humans only need one. Thus, any haphazard fool can become a human ¡°Conduit¡±. Not everyone agree with this, like me, but it increases humanity¡¯s authority to announce a greater number of ¡°powerful¡± mages, so nothing can be done about it.¡± ¡°Which level are you at, then?¡± Ming asked without a care if it was invasive or not. The other people, who followed behind, perked their ears when the question was asked. The answer would determine how they¡¯d treat Fillan in the future. If he was weak, then they¡¯d treat him as such, if he was powerful, then they would fawn as much as possible. Mages were great allies, after all. ¡°I¡¯m a Semi-Conduit,¡± Fillan answered without a care, readying his answer to the question he knew was coming. ¡°What does that mean,¡± the foolish young master followed, as predicted. ¡°It means I have formed conduits with most of my current spells, but I¡¯m not satisfied with the number of them, and I continuously add more. Only when I¡¯m satisfied will I be able to call myself a true Conduit. However, Young Master Gu, my level belittles my power. I assure you I¡¯ll be of great help in the pocket-dimension.¡± Almost everyone of the young masters and misses behind pulled out means of communications, through which they sent messages to their elders at the Gu manor, or even at home. They couldn¡¯t quite tell if Fillan was to be feared or not, and thus needed outside confirmation. ¡°Hmmm,¡± Ming Gu hummed in thought. ¡°I don¡¯t doubt you¡¯ll be of help, but I need to know how powerful you are. Can you give your equivalent cultivation prowess?¡± ¡°A normal combat oriented Conduit is probably equivalent to a Golden Specter/Soul Fusion expert, depending on their spells'' variety and power,¡± Fillan answered slowly, to build tension and interest. ¡°I hate to toot my own horn, but I¡¯d put myself somewhere around a completed Soul Fusion expert.¡± Gasps echoed from everyone present, including Young master Ming Gu, who was only at the Golden Core stage himself. ¡°Didn¡¯t Moore say he was around my age!?¡± he thought incredulously. ¡°I need to give him a spanking for lying to me later.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯ll definitely be of great help, Fillan,¡± Ming Gu expressed with great happiness. The only rule for who he could bring into the pocket-dimension was that he must use his own means to convince them. With someone as powerful as Fillan Strand, he was bound to receive far more resources than his predecessors before him. The pocket-dimension was cultivation oriented, but also had a level cap at the peak of Golden Core/Sanguine Core, disallowing those higher from entering. Mages didn¡¯t apply to this rule, meaning they could technically bring in Dominators without issue. However, there was little of worth for them inside, and a Golden Core¡ªeven if from the Gu Clan¡ªhad limited resources to spend. Meaning they simply couldn¡¯t afford powerful mages to cheat the system. Until now. ¡°I hope this won¡¯t come of as rude, Mr. Strand,¡± a voice echoed from behind. ¡°But why would someone as powerful as you want to enter a pocket-dimension for Golden Cores?¡± Ming Gu stared daggers at the one who asked the question: a plain woman. She didn¡¯t appear extraordinary in the slightest, so much so that Ming Gu didn¡¯t even know which family she came from. Yet she dared question his mage? ¡°How dare you question his intentions! Moore, remove her from the entrance list!¡± Ming shouted towards his poor servant, who was put in a difficult position. The Patriarch arranged for her entry, so how could he do that? However, it quickly became apparent, he wouldn¡¯t need to do anything. ¡°Eek¡± A harrowing shriek erupted from the plain woman as her eyes popped fully out of her head, only to land in the nearby koi pond. Her ears and nose were bleeding profusely, while she rolled around on the ground in unbearable agony. ¡°Do you think you and Young Master Gu are the same?¡± Fillan coldly questioned the woman. ¡°You are not fit to question me about anything, much less my intentions. Be relieved I¡¯m leaving you with your life intact.¡± As soon as he finished, the young woman passed out. It was unknown if it was due to the pain, or if Fillan did something more. The entire ordeal was confusing, and above all, fear inducing. To everyone except one person: Ming Gu. Ming could swear he had never been this elated in his whole life. Not only did he receive the help of an incredibly powerful mage, which would elevate his reputation and power, the mage was also incredibly respectful of him. Fillan valued him enough to answer all his stupid and invasive questions, but brutally tortured the woman who simply questioned his intentions. He felt giddy just thinking about it. ¡°This! This is what friendship at first sight is!¡± Ming thought in ecstasy. ¡°I¡¯ve finally found someone who understands me, and thinks the same way I do.¡± ¡°Should we proceed, Young Master Gu?¡± Fillan questioned with sincerity and respect in his tone. ¡°It is unsightly to be near such a weakling, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Agreed!¡± ¡®Despite being unpredictable, I still know you better than you know yourself. Manipulating you is way too easy, you little bastard. I¡¯ll be damned if I let fourteen years of hard work, research, and meticulous planning go down the drain now.¡¯ ¡­ ¡°I hope you don¡¯t take offense, Young Master Gu, but I must ask nonetheless; what was the point in bringing along the three tournament winners?¡± Fillan asked the hopeful Ming Gu. They were currently standing in the deepest and most well protected area of the Gu Clan¡¯s estate. The room was bare with only an old, shabby-looking stone arch standing in the middle of the room. Occasionally, sparks would erupt from runes engraved on its inside rim. It was like they were trying to light a fire, but couldn¡¯t quite do it. At least not yet. ¡°Argh, I know right?¡± Ming sighed. ¡°Those peasants are barely capable of breathing, why should I have to bring them to obtain treasures? It¡¯s my stupid father and our clan¡¯s rules that forced me to do it. Apparently it stabilizes our position as righteous, and cements the peasants'' beliefs in us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯ve never liked politics.¡± Fillan lamented. ¡°What point is there in pleasing the masses when they¡¯re all so weak? Grow strong or die, don¡¯t make my life more boring.¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± Ming shouted with vigor and enthusiasm unbefitting the topic. ¡°Weaklings are all toys. Toys are made to be played with, not rebel against their owner. I shouldn¡¯t have to placate my toys, and since they belong to me, I should be allowed to do whatever I want to them!¡± ¡°Young Master Gu, did your father mention anything about keeping them safe for the entire expedition? These are precarious ruins where anything can happen, after all.¡± ¡°Now that I think about it, he only told me I can¡¯t kill them. So¡­if they trip and die in a trap, that would probably be fine, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Sigh, it would be such a shame if that were to happen,¡± Fillan exclaimed with palpable sarcasm and grandeur. Just as they were about to continue their twisted, but hushed conversation, the arch¡¯s sparks finally did their job, conjuring a purely white liquid-like substance. ¡°Shall we, Young Master Gu,¡± Fillan proposed to Ming, while holding his hand forward in a gentlemanly manner. ¡°I¡¯ll be in your hands, Fillan!¡± he agreed before running straight through the portal, with Fillan hot on his trail. While those two were excited, the rest of the youths, and one old man¡ªone of the tournament winners¡ªwere nervous as hell. Just because their conversation was hushed, didn''t mean they tried to hide it. Everyone in the room could clearly hear them. However, they couldn¡¯t do anything about it. The door was shut, and would remain so until Ming Gu returned. Thus, they couldn¡¯t escape. There was a lack of qi in the room and since all their spatial rings were confiscated before entering, they would eventually starve if they stayed there. They had no choice but to enter the portal and walk towards certain doom. ¡°They only mentioned the tournament winners, do you think there¡¯s a chance they won¡¯t touch us?¡± a woman asked the group. ¡°Are you fucking stupid!?¡± came her answer. ¡°Did you not see what that freak mage did to Melinda? He views all of us equally!¡± ¡°He¡¯s right!¡± echoed another. ¡°I asked my grandfather about who Fillan Strand was, and if I should be afraid of him, and he revealed extremely troubling information to me.¡± She took a little breather to calm her nerves a little, before continuing. ¡°Fillan Strand is one of the most wanted people in all of Garth, but because he¡¯s so powerful, no one really dares go after him. Do any of you remember the Triple Alliance? Apparently, he¡¯s the one who exterminated them overnight!¡± ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you say anything, Secill!?¡± shouted the trembling Keven Trill who kept quiet until now. ¡°I would have run the fuck away if I knew this!¡± ¡°I was going to, but then that happened to Melinda, and I-I¡­ panicked; I¡¯m sorry!¡± Secill was close to tears from all the shouts coming at her. How was it her fault some maniacs were going to kill them!? ¡°Maybe if we prove ourselves useful, and give over everything we get in there, they might leave us alive,¡± mumbled an aloof man, mostly to himself. With that thought in mind, he ran into the portal, disappearing from view. Slowly, with much reluctance, so did the others. ¡­ ¡°I heard from your servant, Moore, that there are a total of six different paths in here, and you can only choose three of them before the others are locked, is that true?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Ming responded in deep thought. ¡°I hope I¡¯m not overstepping any boundaries, but there are three paths I think would provide the perfect tools for your growth. If Moore¡¯s information was correct, then the Sword, Finger, and Manifestation paths would be optimal. They all synergize extremely well, and given the spiritual pressure I can feel from you, Young Master Gu, you have the capability of pushing them to their extremes.¡± ¡°I knew you¡¯d understand, Fillan! That¡¯s what I thought as well, but my father said since they¡¯re the most difficult paths, I wouldn¡¯t stand a chance of clearing a combined ten challenges.¡± ¡°With all due respect, but your father must be bitter in his old age. You have talent and determination! As long as you want to do something, you can. Who is he to stop you from becoming a dragon amongst men?¡± Having his best friend clarify things to him in such a way really opened Ming Gu¡¯s eyes to the despicable worm his father was, cementing his decision. He would shock everyone with his accomplishments! Well, other than Fillan Strand who recognized his greatness from the very beginning. While the two were having their little moment, the portal began to ripple as people stepped through. When everyone finally appeared, Fillan turned to them with a little scare, ¡°Did you hesitate to enter the opportunity Young Master Gu has provided you? How ungrateful can you possibly be?¡± ¡°No, no, no!¡± shouted the aloof man with as much emotion he could. ¡°We discussed how we could be the most useful for Young Master¡ªno¡ªfuture Patriarch Gu. We all agreed that whatever we obtain here should naturally belong to the most capable, which is obviously future Patriarch Gu. Don¡¯t worry, we will be willing to lay our lives down to help you!¡± ¡°Why are you putting so much emphasis on Young Master Gu becoming patriarch? There is no need to state the obvious, especially not when it¡¯s ass kissing.¡± Fillan was a true demon in these kids'' eyes. No matter what they said or did, he always put them in a bad spot. The fact he could kill them over the most minute of slights didn¡¯t help either. Every second around him felt like their last. It would be really interesting if they found out he was simply putting on an act. ¡®Scaring kids is always enjoyable!¡¯ ¡°Fillan, we¡¯ll do what you said,¡± Ming told the reveling Fillan. ¡°Which path should we begin with? I know Manifestation should come last, of course.¡± ¡°Fingers are often used as human swords, meaning a deeper understanding of swords would be greatly beneficial for the path. In turn, manifesting a sword with the help of fingers is also much easier. Learning the other way would work, but it is simply turning worse to worst. ¡°Everyone, we¡¯re going to the Sword, then Finger, and finally Manifestation paths, in that order!¡± With the command, the group of twenty six¡ªwould¡¯ve been twenty seven if not for Fillan¡ªexited the tiny hut they appeared in. Unlike the cheap entrance building, the outside was a giant castle-like construct made out of pure marble. If not for the dim purple-lit sky, void of constellations, they¡¯d be constantly blinded by the castle''s reflective properties. The hut was in the middle of a giant circular square with six different gates, all leading towards tall and prevalent towers. Every gate possessed a duo of statues representing what their path would entail. Giant fingers, swords, torches, waves, birds, and finally orbs. Hence their names, Finger, Sword, Fire, Water, Beast, and Manifestation paths. The marble ground had different runes, circles, and menial engravings on them, all which told Fillan this was a giant formation. What it did, he had no idea, but he knew it was definitely important for something. ¡°Young Master Gu, please avoid stepping on the circles with only one engraving in the center, they¡¯re suspicious,¡± Fillan informed Ming Gu as they made their way over to the giant sword statues. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Ming asked with hesitation. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of something like that from my father.¡± ¡°Although I don¡¯t know what they do, I know it¡¯s not something beneficial to you, Young Master,¡± he answered with confidence. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be strange for your father not to know, since there is no way a Colden Core without comprehensive formation knowledge could identify their oddity. If I may speculate Young Master, I assume stepping on the circles will attach some manner of energy onto the person, which will have an unknown effect. It could make the trials harder, but I¡¯m confident they won¡¯t become easier. After you¡¯ve completed your three paths, we could experiment with the baggage, but before that we should be careful. I might be powerful, but I¡¯m far from omnipotent.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Ming acknowledged before bellowing to the ¡°baggage¡±, ¡°Don¡¯t any of you dare step near the circles with only one engraving on them! If you do, you¡¯re dead! Fucking vermin! Ming Gu spat heavily on the ground after saying that. His dislike for the other entries growing by the second. The thing they said about giving him everything they got really irked him. How could they get anything better than second rate garbage? Why would he want leftovers from the main meal, his meal? With that mentality, the group carefully inched towards their goal. Barely five minutes later, they stood by the sword gate. Despite the white marble castle, the insides of the gate were impossible to make out: it was darker than the abyss. It was an incredibly eerie contrast that sent shivers down most of the group members¡¯ spines. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Every gate has three tiers,¡± Ming suddenly began to monologue. ¡°The first tier accepts three people, the second six, and the third eighteen. Obviously, me and Fillan will enter the first tier. The rest of the slots were decided by the elders before you entered, so you know where to go. However, the arrogance and ignorance of a stinking, rotten fucking bitch has resulted in a vacancy. That means Keven will stick with the tier two path, rather than the original tier one. Any complaints? No? That¡¯s what I thought.¡± Turning around, Ming began to walk towards the infinite darkness with pure unfounded confidence. Fillan hurriedly walked after, and they soon disappeared from sight. The rest of the group began to bicker and complain about different grievances and whatnot, before they realized the consequences of not obtaining anything good from the paths. They scampered in quickly after that. ¡­ After walking for what felt like hours, the darkness around Fillan and Ming began to subside. In its place was a completely unexpected long hallway, seemingly without end. The reason the hallway was unexpected was its architecture. Instead of conforming to the marble castle, it looked like it belonged in a buddhist monastery. There were pillars extending all along the path, with windows placed intermittently. Instead of the windows showing something, or being of any immediate relevance, they only gave glimpses into perpetual darkness. There didn¡¯t appear to be anything there, but when Fillan looked intently, he discovered the darkness¡ªon occasion¡ªshifted ever so slightly. It was so miniscule Ming couldn''t notice it, but it happened nonetheless. ¡°Young Master, do you know if time plays a part in the rewards you receive?¡± Fillan asked after retreating from the window. There was no need to mess with the unknown. ¡°It does,¡± he responded lightly, before following up with expectation, ¡°Do you want to clear it for me?¡± ¡°If you allow me, I¡¯d be more than happy to. From what Moore told me, it seems only the rewards matter, not the way of clearing the paths. So me speeding through to get you the best rewards would be the optimal way of doing things.¡± ¡°Perfect!¡± Ming squealed like a little girl. ¡°Just remember that there are both challenges and traps.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry Young Master, I¡¯ve already detected all the traps in the first kilometer, there should be no surprises for us. Although, there is a force restricting my spell beyond that point,¡± Fillan said before floating off the ground. ¡°Please don¡¯t mind this, it¡¯s all for efficiency. ¡° On that note, Ming began floating next to him. Flying was something that only became possible at the Golden/Sanguine Specter realm, no matter the techniques used. Thus, most of the traps were made obsolete as they zoomed through the nightmarish hallway. Only after they traveled one kilometer did something change. In their path was a flying sword. It looked bland and completely ordinary, but demanded respect from those who saw it. It was a weird instinctive feeling one couldn''t quite understand. Regardless, Fillan couldn¡¯t give less of a fuck about respect and whatnot, he simply summoned a massive lightning bolt¡ªbig enough to cover the entire path¡ªwhich erased all traces of the sword. And the two another kilometer away, and the three at the next, and then the four. Long story short, Fillan could now sense up to a hundred kilometers of the hallway, meaning the challenges¡¯ swords were completely decimated. ¡°What is your family¡¯s record on the Sword path?¡± Fillan asked Ming. ¡°Hmmm, I think my grandfather broke the record with thirty three kilometers?¡± he answered, unsure of himself. His grandfather was a piece of shit weakling, advocating for the betterment of ordinary people, why would he care about his accolades? ¡°Young Master, I think it will take a very long time to clear this path¡­I¡¯ve already finished the challenges up to one hundred, but it¡¯s probably far from done. At every kilometer, the amount of swords increased all the way to ninety-nine, but the hundredth has only one sword again. I¡¯m afraid this will continue to repeat itself.¡± In a stupor over how powerful his best friend was, Ming questioned Fillan on if they could travel faster than they already were. To which the answer was a resounding yes, if he could stomach some discomfort. Fillan wasn¡¯t a wind magician, after all. He could use Float, and he could propel himself forward with fire to enormous speeds, but the air resistance would hurt like a bitch. Ming already felt slightly bad about not doing any of the work, and agreed to not waste his bestie¡¯s time simply traveling. ¡°Young Master Gu, I recommend closing your mouth and eyes with all your strength. It might be difficult, but it¡¯s better than having your eyes become dryer than a desert, and your face tearing in two.¡± With that not at all terrifying piece of advice, Fillan positioned himself and Ming perfectly horizontal to the ground, before a truly ginormous fire appeared behind the soles of their feet. Instantaneously they breached the speed of sound. After Fillan saw Ming¡¯s Golden Core cultivation could handle it nicely, the fire, rather than becoming bigger, compressed itself. They quickly doubled, then tripled their speeds. Ming began to struggle around one kilometer per second, so Fillan kept their speed steady around there. What would have taken ages with their original speed was covered in ninety-nine seconds. Rather than stop, and then have to accelerate again, Fillan fired another giant lightning bolt, but with much more power, and fired it at the uniquely powerful sword in their way. It was clear Fillan overestimated the strength of these new swords, as they were not much more durable than the previous ones, only slightly more intelligent. Not a positive upgrade when you''re about to be destroyed by near heavenly lightning. Fillan was completely correct in his original assessment, and the same system repeated itself, only he didn¡¯t need to attack again this time. The second lightning bolt slaughtered its way far into the three fifties, resulting in a long¡ªand boring¡ªflight. ¡­ Looking to his right, Ming was completely exhausted, and clearly needed respite from the continuous flying. As such, the flames beneath their feet disappeared, only for Fillan to turn them both around, and conjure new, much weaker flames to decelerate them. After a few seconds, they came to a complete stop. Once Fillan let Ming down on the floor, he completely collapsed. ¡°How can the path be this long!? Ming groaned. ¡°There is no way human beings at the Golden Core realm could ever make it this far, even if they spent their entire lives here.¡± ¡°It does seem very excessive¡­¡± Fillan agreed. ¡°Young Master Gu, to be completely honest, I just don¡¯t understand the purpose of this place. A perpetual hallway with swords of ever increasing sentience and power, which gives rewards upon completion? I¡¯ve never encountered something this bizarre in my life.¡± ¡®Oops, almost said lives.¡¯ ¡°My family doesn¡¯t understand it either, but we know it¡¯s unfathomably valuable. Just the rewards for clearing ten stages on the sword path gives you a Heaven grade sword, the memory crystal of an Earth grade technique, and a multitude of pills. It can allow a normal Golden Core without much talent to reach the Soul Fusion stage in a few years without issues. Not to mention that they¡¯d be stronger than most of their opponents. I can¡¯t even begin to imagine what type of divine rewards we¡¯ll receive from¡­just how many challenges did you clear?¡± Unsure of the answer himself, Fillan activated one of his psychic spells to read his own memories. ¡°It appears, this was nr. 2049¡­Young Master, I think you¡¯ll be able to ascend with little difficulty. Forget the other paths, this alone is probably worth countless times more than everything on and connected to Graaryll. I don¡¯t know what this place is, who made it, what it¡¯s for, or how your family got a hold of it. But what I do know is that you must never reveal it to anyone. Not before you ascend, and most definitely not after, or calamity will strike our world. I don¡¯t care about the weaklings, but I do care about myself, and the planet which has provided me with everything I need to grow. Young Master Gu, please promise me you wont tell anyone of this, no matter what.¡± ¡®This place is fucking unholy. The thing I came here for is probably used to decorate a pebble garden somewhere. I was going to use Ming to get in and get out, before killing the vile bastard, but there is no way I can kill my greatest benefactor. Even my twisted morals can¡¯t accept that.¡¯ ¡°No, I refuse!¡± Ming stated with an unwavering gaze. ¡°May I ask why, Young Master Gu? Have I done something to upset you, or¡ª¡± before Fillan could finish his Shakespearean monologue, he was very rudely interrupted. ¡°Why would it matter what happens to Graaryll, my family, or even this place when we¡¯re both going to become overlords in the Immortal Realm? You think I wouldn¡¯t bring my best friend with me? My best friend who actually obtained everything? I¡¯m not greedy enough not to realize the only thing I¡¯ve contributed to this entire thing was an entrance. We should share fifty-fifty, like brothers ought to.¡± ¡°Young Master Gu¡­¡± Fillan meeked out with crocodile tears forming. However, he almost didn¡¯t need to force them, ¡®What fifty-fifty?! You just admitted to being a doorman, while I did everything else; what kind of delusion is an equal split?¡¯ ¡°Enough!¡± Ming commanded with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. ¡°Don¡¯t be so touched, you¡¯ve more than earned it. Now, how many more challenges do you think there are?¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult to say, Young Master¡ª¡± ¡°Ming, or Brother Ming if you want,¡± the brat interrupted again. ¡°Well, Brother Ming, based on the ninety-nine cycle, and the fact we¡¯ve already passed a thousand challenges, we¡¯ll probably need to pass the ten thousand mark at the minimum, and the million mark at the maximum. I see no possible way for there to be more than a million challenges, and if there were, we¡¯d both probably become reality bending beings on the spot.¡± ¡°The rewards are great, but I can¡¯t escape the feeling that this is Hell,¡± Ming joked. Kind of. Maybe not? ¡°Well, we have been flying at breakneck speeds for almost two and a half days now¡­ if we really need to reach ten thousand, it would be about ten more. I don¡¯t even want to think of the million,¡± Fillan revealed. ¡°Has it really? It was uncomfortable and boring, but it didn¡¯t feel that long.¡± ¡°I agree, if I go by my gut feeling, I¡¯d say we¡¯ve been in here for about a few hours at most, but the distance and our speed don¡¯t lie. It might be because everything is so repetitive that we zoned out.¡± ¡°Is there a way you can go faster?¡± Ming asked with hope in his voice, only to be doused with the cold, hard reality of the situation. ¡°Brother Ming, although a kilometer per second is sustainable for your body, going even a little faster could seriously damage your constitution. That would take time to amend, and we¡¯d be stuck here even longer.¡± ¡°Hmmm, I heard from my father that his companion got injured around challenge nineteen, and had to stay behind,¡± Ming revealed. ¡°When my father decided to retreat on a later challenge¡ªhe didn¡¯t specify¡ªhe appeared at the gate with the injured guy. Doesn¡¯t that mean you could leave me here, and go ahead by yourself? Obviously this was something Fillan considered a long, long, long time ago, but ultimately decided against. From the square, he could see the paths lead to different castle towers, meaning this hallway probably has an end. It was impossible to know whether Ming would appear at the finish line, or back at the gate, meaning Fillan might inadvertently obtain all the rewards. Which would naturally be great, but the longer he spent in the hallway, the more insidious he found his situation. Fillan was certain that there were things in the darkness outside the windows, and he was certain someone¡ªor something¡ªwas watching him. Thinking logically for even half a second told Fillan there must be a reason only a Gu Clan member can truly open the passage, and why only Gu members¡ªand their chosen¡ªcould enter the first tier paths. Abandoning Ming here was almost like having the owner of a house wait by the entrance, go rob the house, and then never come back. Which didn¡¯t bother Fillan the slightest, but when he thought of the owner¡¯s wife¡¯s divine power, which could pulverize him in a second, he rained himself back into line. ¡°I could never do that to you, Brother Ming!¡± Fillan shouted with camaraderie heavy in his tone. ¡°We¡¯re in this together. As brothers.¡± A radiant smile bloomed on Ming¡¯s toad face¡ªyes, Keven was simply making an observation¡ªbefore he begged Fillan to start their long and arduous journey. ¡ª3000 ¡ª4000 ¡ª5000¡ªbreak ¡ª6000 ¡ª7000 ¡ª8000¡ªbreak ¡ª9000 ¡ª9999 ¡°Brother Ming, this is the moment that decides our destinies,¡± Fillan warned. ¡°Thus, I feel it imperative we pray to whatever made this place, that it truly does end at ten thousand. If not¡­¡± Fillan shivered at the sheer thought of traveling ten times, or even a hundred times longer than they already did. They¡¯d been in the air for more than eleven and a half days, any more would kill his spirit. Magic wasn¡¯t an effortless affair, after all. Fillan might have made it seem like a breeze but the constant use of floating, fire, and lightning spells took a toll on his mind. Not to mention the ruthless drain on his mana. His circuitry made the expenditure far more forgiving, but it was still extreme. If it wasn¡¯t for his Hadal mana well, and the few scraps of mana in the qi dominated hallway, he¡¯d long run dry. ¡®Every single one of my talents were the worst of the worst garbage, except my mana well. Who¡¯d think it would actually come in handy one day?¡¯ As Fillan reminisced about his distant first life rather than praying like he said he would, Ming lost patience, and pulled him back to the present¡ªor past, depending on how you look at it. ¡°Brother, it¡¯s time for us to welcome greatness!¡± he proclaimed with one fist in the air, and the other behind his back, like some wannabe expert. ¡°Wait, Brother Ming, before we do this, I think we need to talk about the other paths¡­¡± Fillan made himself sound very serious, something he didn¡¯t like doing with this man-child, lest he revoked ¡°brother¡± status, and degraded him to ¡°peasant.¡± ¡°Fuck, I didn¡¯t even think of the other paths!¡± he admitted. ¡°But surely there¡¯s no way they¡¯re as long as this one, right?¡± With a more somber and sad voice, Fillan countered, ¡°I think there is a very real possibility they are either longer, or so considerably more difficult than the sword path. Even if it¡¯s shorter, I don¡¯t think the Manifestation challenges can be beat hundreds at a time with lightning bolts.¡± ¡°Well, you have a point¡­ the Manifestation challenges you with manifestations that can only be countered by other manifestations,¡± Ming admitted. ¡°You¡¯ve told me you have next to no cultivation and body tempering, leaving you unable to contribute much there¡­ since magic doesn¡¯t work¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I was afraid of!¡± Fillan said. ¡°Let me guess, your family has never reached the end of it either; what¡¯s the record?¡± ¡°Seven¡­¡± he responded in a voice so meek and low, Fillan genuinely couldn¡¯t hear what he said. ¡°What, I couldn''t hear you,¡± he told Ming with as much honesty and comfort he could fit into his voice, so as not to confuse the lunatic. ¡°Seven,¡± he mumbled more clearly. ¡°In the name of all that is holy, please do not insist on going there after we¡¯re done. I know, I know what I said about Sword, Finger, and Manifestation and synergy and all that, but we could very well be stuck for years if we go there. Promise me, please! I beg of you Brother Ming.¡± ¡°Okay! I promise,¡± he acquiesced. ¡°Now, let¡¯s go get those rewards. If they were not worth it, I say we destroy the entire path. Even if it takes years to do so.¡± ¡°You bet we¡¯d need to destroy the bastard!¡± With little effort, Fillan easily destroyed the fully sentient swords in their way. Despite becoming more sentient and stronger after every ninety-nine kilometers, the swords only amounted to a peak Colden Specter realm expert in durability. Whether their attack was stronger or not was completely irrelevant because they never got near enough for the swords to react.. With the ninety-nine swords turned to dust, the duo, instead of flying, decided tacitly to walk the¡ªhopefully¡ªlast kilometer. They didn¡¯t talk, they barely breathed. It felt like they were walking towards their deaths. This was the deciding factor between heaven and hell. If the rewards were otherworldly, this would be the path to divinity, something so sacred they¡¯d never say another negative thing about it. If the rewards were lacking, they might truly spend the rest of their lives trying to tear it down. As time passed, they slowly made their way before another sword. Different from the other swords on the path, this one was no longer simple, yet sentient and powerful. It was engraved with beautiful runes and beasts, with the most prominent being a sword-tailed phoenix. Fillan had never even heard of something like that, yet the mere aura from that one engraving made it hard for him to breathe. Deciding it was best to look away, he caught Ming doing the same. After locking eyes, Fillan took time to prepare for the attack. While the sword and engravings were beautiful and impressive, it might be deceptive. He wasn¡¯t willing to take any risks though, so to work he went. Being a Semi-Circuit mage¡ªas he called himself¡ªFillan could instantly transmute his mana into three different simple spells, or one advanced one. Even this was only possible due to his Hadal mana well that allowed for different strings of mana passing through at once. But he could still push it a little further if he did things manually. Through introspection, Fillan ¡°gazed¡± at his beautiful soul. Hundreds of small runes covered the entirety of his right arm, leaving not a speck of area unused. His chest and back both held giant mazes of lines, imagery, runes, and dots. Not only were they incredibly complex, but were also partially constructed from simple and advanced individual spells, making the result even more impressive. With a lot of willpower and concentration, Fillan directed his mana out of the mana well and towards the engraving on his chest. There was a reason this spell was labeled by him as Divine, because mana didn¡¯t flow naturally through this. At every step, he would need to guide the multitude of different strings to alter their trajectory by minor degrees. It reached a point where hundreds of strings were in different parts of the maze, all while he was controlling their every move. After almost twenty minutes, which didn¡¯t give justice to the effort he put in, Fillan finally covered the entire engraving with mana, and by willing it, it circled once, allowing the mana to become transmuted. One single mistake would turn the different strands into the different spells in the maze, completely ruining his efforts. Luckily, it all went well. ¡°Brother Ming, are you ready to see why they call me the Fire-storm Psychic? Are you ready to see why even Garth¡¯s most powerful mage, a semi-Dominator, ran with his tail tucked between his legs when he saw me?¡± With no lack of awe and interest, Ming looked at his only brother with absolute trust. Despite Fillan¡¯s haggard appearance, despite the sweat oozing out of him, despite the clear exhaustion, Ming knew he would witness something truly amazing. ¡°Behold, Brother Ming, Divinity incarnate!¡± Fillan shouted with as much gusto he could. ¡°Divine spell, Plasmatic Annihilator!¡± A semi-translucent sphere appeared in front of the two boys. It was a divine white in color, while flares and lightning were constantly flickering on its surface. It didn¡¯t affect Fillan, but Ming Gu felt an intense pain just from staring at it. It felt like his brain was slowly, but surely, melting. Before that could happen, the sphere enlarged to it barely fit in the hallway, before disappearing. Ming wondered what the fuck just happened, only to realize something was very wrong. The sword that was blocking their path was nowhere to be seen! A heat so unfathomable it threatened to erase him from existence was just about to consume him, when Fillan appeared in front of him and cast a barrier. ¡°Fillan, what is happening!?¡± he shouted at the top of his lungs. ¡°Greatness, Brother Ming, greatness,¡± he answered with limitless pride. Fillan died almost seventy times just crafting this spell, and two more perfecting it. This was the manifestation of his years of hard work and suffering, and one of the only benefits of being stuck in a time loop. He himself had to admit he was a born mage, not by talent, but by twisted fate. Whenever he engraved something successfully on his soul, it carried over to his ¡°new¡± beginning. This allowed him to attempt things others could only dream off. But maybe just as monstrously, with certain conditions, all his dog water talent could become better after he dies. Whether it was body tempering talent, or his aptitudes, they all improved drastically depending on what he did and accomplished. His original broken fire aptitude turned into a solid fire aptitude after being burnt to death by dragon fire¡ªnot on purpose of course. When he broke mind pacts to try and cheat others by abusing his time loops, he woke up with a psychic aptitude. When he jumped into a person''s Lightning Tribulations and incurred heaven''s wrath, he woke up with a lightning aptitude. There was no limit. Of course, getting to higher aptitudes required more quantity or quality. Getting burned to death by minor dragons would no longer improve his fire aptitude. That was no longer required though, because just the sheer amount of spells in his repertoire, and the existence of two Divine spells¡ªstill only something he named the complexity type, not confirmed by the divine¡ªmade him an unfathomably powerful force to be reckoned with. And yet, there was something he was missing. Something he was destined never to have: cultivation. Fillan Strand was one of a recorded five in all of humanity¡¯s history who was born without both energy veins and an energy core, disallowing any form of cultivation. This also affected his body tempering. Since he couldn¡¯t sense qi naturally, he had to force it to improve his talent a smidge. It was simply unacceptable, and definitely unsustainable. Essentially, long story short, Fillan refused not to utilize the extent of his time-loop brokenness. That¡¯s the whole reason he came here. He heard this place sometimes rewarded Energy Reconstruction pills, which when used on someone without energy veins, constructs them instead. Fillan didn¡¯t really need those, one would be useful, but not necessary, since he already managed to construct his own, along with his mana veins. No, the real issue was his energy core. There are records of energy cores being repaired after shattering, but never someone who could get a new one. Except a single reference, one that could be completely fabricated. It stated that hundreds of thousands of years ago, a man by the name of Wilfred Gu went from being a pure magician, without a trace of qi, to becoming the greatest cultivator on Graaryll. How, no one knew, but Fillan quickly realized it must have something to do with this pocket-dimension. As such, four lives ago, he began trying to get in, to no avail. If you weren''t the legitimate child of a powerful Clan, you wouldn¡¯t get one of the allocated spots. If you weren¡¯t a citizen of Gum from birth, you couldn¡¯t compete in the tournament for a free spot. The only option left was the mage route. Mages were much rarer than cultivators, especially powerful ones. However, they could be incredibly useful inside the pocket-dimension. Whether it be in the form of healing, detecting traps, generating water, or whatever else, magicians were superior to lower tier cultivators. However, whenever he tried to get the spot as himself, the fat, dastardly creature Lewis always got it. He tried again by appearing more powerful and useful, but was never chosen, it was only after he began to appear like a complete degenerate he peaked Moore¡¯s interest, and was considered, but it was still not enough to beat Lewis. Fillan thus began to gather every piece of information about Ming Gu, who he surrounds himself with, and whatever else might be useful in buttering him up, leading him to where he was now, watching the potentially immortal construct, the Sword path, be engulfed in plasma traveling at half the speed of light. The sturdy pillars that he and Ming thought would never change, began to melt, while the darkness outside the windows disappeared from the pure radiance inside. Obviously, neither of the two boys could see anything other than divine white, but it happened all the same. This continued for over five minutes before an intangible force moved to cover the once magnificent hall, now only plasma soup. Within an instant, all the plasma disappeared, while any sign of damage was completely reverted. The darkness outside the windows also returned. Some truly petty guy must have made this place, since he refused to give Fillan the slightest sign it was actually damaged by his attack. With their eyes slowly recovering from the five minute star-like flashbang, the two boys looked straight ahead, only to see two things: 1. More infinite hallway. 2. A two meter tall black crack-like portal. This was both great and horrible. It was great because they both instinctively felt that this was what they¡¯d get upon reaching the end. It was horrible for two reasons. The first being that Fillan could probably have done this at the very start of the path, and produced the same result, something Ming also noticed as they shared an exasperated look. The second was that the path continued for a long time. Fillan knew his plasma was fabricated and operated on different laws than reality, and as such would always travel at a constant half the speed of light. The fact that the plasma took approximately six seconds to reach them meant the sphere only impacted with something¡ªpresumably the physical end of the path, or an unbeatable blade¡ªafter three seconds. Three seconds equals 4.5*10^8 meters, or in other words 450 000 kilometers. The sheer thought of that was harrowing. Flying that distance would probably shatter his mind halfway. Not to mention the implications this had for the other paths! ¡°Brother Ming, I don¡¯t want to be a burden, but can you please give me some time to recover? Both my mana and mental abilities are at an all time low,¡± Fillan forced out through exhausted lips. ¡°What are you even saying!? Of course, I wouldn¡¯t enter before you¡¯re well even if you told me to.¡± What tear shedding camaraderie between two men, huh? Time passed quickly for Fillan, and slowly for Ming. However, completely unlike his normal bipolar personality, he didn¡¯t seem to mind. He looked lost in thought, reminiscing about what he witnessed earlier. Thoughts of how such an attack could even be possible, how destructive it truly was, if he would be able to do something similar in the future, even with the rewards from this unfathomable pocket-dimension, all ran rampant in his head. Since Fillan didn¡¯t tell him about the attack in any detail, and since he only saw a burning plasma river that seemingly had no effect on them and the surroundings, it was difficult to comprehend how powerful the attack truly was. One thing that was for certain was only such a spell could be considered Divine. Whether it was the appearance, the effects, or the power, Ming held no doubt they, and only something of similar stature, could ever be called divine. He¡¯d make sure to slap anyone who said something tasted divine to death in the future, as it would be blasphemy towards his dear brother. After nearly seven whole hours had passed, and Ming woke up from a little nap, Fillan finally finished stabilizing his mental state, and his mana storage to an acceptable degree. ¡°It¡¯s time to see what all our hard work and suffering was for, Brother Ming,¡± Fillan said to Ming with a gesture towards the crack. ¡°You or me first? If you think it¡¯s dangerous, I¡¯ll go first, if not you can have the honors.¡± ¡°Wouldn''t really make sense for this thing to mean us harm after reaching the end, otherwise rewarding us with better items for later stages would be unreasonable.¡± With that, the fucking bastard actually took Fillan up on his offer and entered first. ¡®I. DID. EVERYTHING. I was just being nice; this fucking guy is too much!¡¯ Deciding keeping the mysterious crack waiting was probably not the greatest idea, Fillan ran through it. ¡­ Fillan appeared in a cozy office-like room. The room was a rectangle shape, with a window at the end, and a desk in front of it. The two parallel walls had multiple bookshelves linked up, all stacked with books. In the middle of the room, towards where Fillan was standing, an ordinary, but tall, wooden chair stood¡ªor sat? Regardless, it blurred his direct view of the desk, allowing for some old coot to get a good one in on him. ¡°BOOH,¡± exclaimed a gravely, but jovial voice from the desk. Despite being a powerful mage, Fillan wasn¡¯t emotionless or very tough, resulting in him doing a little jump backwards while adrenaline surged through his body. ¡°It finally worked!¡± the old man said after seeing Fillan¡¯s antics. ¡°I¡¯ve tried this on thousands of people over the course of millions of years, yet not a single one got scared. You¡¯re the first!¡± ¡°I-I didn¡¯t get scared!¡± Fillan stuttered. ¡°It was just the recoil from the crack!¡± ¡°Sure, sure, you mean the rift that feels like a common stroll, even to mortals?¡± the geezer mocked. ¡°Isn¡¯t that just worse? To further humiliate Fillan, he began to speak in a squeaky voice. ¡°Argh! Oh thank god, it was just a pebble! For a second I thought it was COBBLESTONE. HAHAHAHA.¡± Fillan was utterly ashamed. How was he supposed to know there was anyone behind the chair? He¡¯d been stuck in an infinite hallway for more than a week, give him a break. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve had plenty of fun thanks to you, so it¡¯s time we get to business. Please take a seat on the chair, young man.¡± Slowly doing as he was told, Fillan rounded the chair, only to see a completely standard looking grandpa sitting behind the desk, head in hands. He looked amused by the young man¡¯s careful walk. ¡°Since when have people been afraid of sitting down in a chair?¡± he thought to himself with glee. Slowly, very carefully, Fillan sat down on the unnecessarily tall chair. Finally taking his time on checking his surroundings, he discovered the window was no longer black shadowy mass, but rather a view of the marble castle they¡¯d seen upon entering. ¡°Does that mean we¡¯re in the tower at the end of the path?¡± Fillan asked the old man, trying to cover up is embarrassment. ¡°Sure does!¡± the old man confirmed. ¡°Stunning, right?¡± ¡°Better than that stupid, haunted hallway!¡± The old man didn¡¯t take any offense, he even gave a slight nod, giving Fillan the courage he needed to continue speaking his mind. He¡¯d been hardcore acting every waking moment for over eleven days straight, he needed some reprieve. ¡°Can you please tell me what the fuck was writhing outside the windows?¡± he asked without much politeness. ¡°I felt like we were being watched both from inside the hallway, and outside, but only the outside gaze gave me chills.¡± ¡°Those were soul amalgamations! I¡¯m impressed you could notice them, the windows usually do a good job shielding their presence,¡± the old man exclaimed. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you since you''re going to ask anyway; soul amalgamations are enormous clusters of souls that gather into semi-sentient creatures that eat souls, off the living or dead. When someone dies on the paths, their soul gets sucked into that darkness you saw, before either fusing into one of those amalgamations, or it gets eaten.¡± ¡®Simple enough, I guess? A little annoying I didn¡¯t have to be so on edge about it, but whatever.¡¯ ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be that guy, but¡­where¡¯s my rewards?¡± Fillan asked, barely trying to hide his avarice, hence the slight pause. ¡°Oh, your friend is getting them first, then it will be your turn,¡± the old man explained. ¡°I¡¯m essentially like a secretary to the owner of this tower, and I get to greet the newcomers so that she can get ready first. Or, at times like these, keep you occupied until it¡¯s your turn.¡± ¡°So, just between the two of us, again, not to be that guy, but I kind of did everything to clear the path. The other guy was essentially just baggage. No, he was baggage!¡± ¡°I¡¯m well aware, who do you think was watching you from ¡®inside¡¯?¡± the old man asked. ¡°And, just so you know, you are the second and third people to have cleared a path on the first try. Congratulations!¡± ¡°What do you mean first try?¡± Fillan pressed. ¡°You mean we could have left at any point? Then why the fuck did I fly for eleven days straight¡ª¡± ¡°Let me stop you right there,¡± the old man interrupted. ¡°Whenever you reach a new cycle, you can choose to leave or continue, but for that to happen, you need to be within range of the swords, something you never were, thus no leaving for you. Plus, the time you spend outside the path counts on your clear time, making your rewards worse.¡± ¡°Sigh, whatever. But how long could giving Ming Gu his rewards possibly take?¡± ¡°No clue, since your time was unfathomable, the rewards will naturally be supreme, even for that backpack. It has never happened that someone¡¯s helper ended up being the true combat force, so this will also change the calculations, thus increasing the time. Some of the resources might also need to be transported from a different location, requiring even more time. Luckily for you, I¡¯ve activated a time distortion formation, reducing your waiting time by a hundred times. And since both your calculations are being run simultaneously, you won¡¯t have to wait like Ming Gu does.¡± Just when Fillan was about to ask more questions to the surprisingly sociable geezer, the door behind his tall chair opened. He couldn''t see it, for obvious reasons, but heard the handle move. ¡°Our time¡¯s up, Fillan Strand,¡± the old man said while gesturing at the door. ¡°I wish you great rewards, mister ¡®Divine¡¯ magician. Word of advice, don¡¯t call your magic that outside the path, or you might get beat up.¡± Without explaining anything further, and without choice, the chair Fillan was on, turned, and he was sent flying through the door at breakneck speeds. ¡®What the fuck is happening!¡¯ ¡­ After a few minutes of continuous flying through a series of hallways and a staircase, Fillan landed on his feet outside an opulent double door. Without needing to knock or announce his arrival, the doors just opened on their own, revealing a needlessly vast, gray room. It was needless because the only things in there were a young woman, and the cultivation pillow she was seated on. ¡°Come in,¡± she said. Or commanded? Fillan wasn¡¯t sure. No matter what, he had to enter the room. ¡°Hello, Fillan Strand, your brother Ming Gu told me a lot about you¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry to do this, but take everything he said with fifteen grains of salt, at the very least. Please don¡¯t slander me because of that guy,¡± Fillan hurriedly interrupted what could easily become a crucible against his twisted morals and insanity, all of which were merely an act. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m very well aware of his mental state,¡± she responded, ignoring the fact he interrupted her. ¡°I even made sure one of the rewards he received would rectify his troubled mind.¡± ¡®Praise the heavens!¡¯ ¡°On the note of rewards, that¡¯s the entire reason you¡¯re here, right?¡± she asked, before continuing without his response. ¡°I¡¯ve noticed you don¡¯t have an energy core, and your energy veins all look artificial. They look more like your mana veins than anything else. So I assume you want something to fix that. Being unable to cultivate must¡¯ve been very challenging. ¡°You have no idea¡ª¡± Maybe as revenge, she interrupted Fillan. Which was the right call, as their short meeting was about to become a very, very long rant. ¡°Getting you an energy core and natural energy veins is incredibly easy. In fact, regardless of which path you would have chosen, you¡¯d get a pair of pills capable of doing so at level fifty, so you really went above and beyond by clearing the entire thing.¡± Fillan: ¡°...¡± ¡°Anyway, even with the best possible options we have of those pills, they only cover about 0.001% of your total reward. So before we let the formation decide the rest, you should give me a list of things you¡¯d like.¡± ¡°I assume you people are from the Immortal realm or something, since you can make these paths and speak of those heaven defying pills like they¡¯re nothing, so does that mean I can ask for anything?¡± Taking a second before responding, the woman slowly nodded her head. ¡°Yes, but everything has a cost, think wisely before choosing something that sounds good, but really isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°In my research, I¡¯ve found traces of special techniques so unfathomably overpowered they twist the very laws of reality when used,¡± Fillan explained. "Apparently, those techniques come about when a whole bunch of laws are comprehended to the limits of the Lower Realm, and then mangled into something unique. Is that true?¡± ¡°Do you want to purchase the information?¡± Fillan nodded avidly. ¡°That covers another 0.001% of your rewards,¡± she sighed, before giving him what he wanted. ¡°Yes, it is true.¡± ¡®I should have been more specific in my question. That cost as much as getting cultivation talent for fuck¡¯s sake!¡¯ The pain was evident on Fillan''s face, as it scrunched unnaturally, while also becoming red. If seated, people would have to assume he was trying to excrete something truly heinous. ¡°Haha,¡± she giggled. ¡°While you''re not under time constraints, It¡¯d be better for both of us to finish earlier rather than later.¡± ¡°Okay, listen well, I¡¯ve got a whole bunch of stuff I want,¡± he said, as he hurriedly thought of things he needs, or could have some use for in the future. ¡®I have too much money I have to spend! How is this an issue I need to deal with?¡¯ ¡°1. I want a truly neutral cultivation technique, meaning no elements or weird effects on the body, just pure, raw energy cultivation, at the peak of what is possible in the Lower Realm.
  1. Oh, and I want a similar body tempering technique!
  2. I want to purchase complete law comprehension¡ªwhich shouldn¡¯t be too hard for immortals¡ªfor fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, light, darkness, life, death, reincarnation, time, space, and karma. Obviously only to the peak of the Lower Realm¡¯s limit.
  3. I want to know why I shouldn''t call something I¡¯ve made ¡°Divine¡±.
  4. I want two techniques, one finger/palm technique, and one dominating technique¡ªwith which I mean it makes me look dominant and powerful using it¡ªobviously at the peak of the Lower Realm.
  5. I want the heart of a mature bottomless whale, the higher the realm, the better. If possible, if I have a lot of reward percentage left after everything else is considered, splurge a little on this.
  6. I want a technique that allows me to see my own, and others'' karma. It doesn¡¯t need to do more than that, but it shouldn¡¯t be easy to block it, preferably.
  7. I want a book that can give me relevant information about the Immortal Realm once every twenty four hours, it doesn¡¯t need to be too detailed, but enough to let me comprehend it properly.
Will all of that be possible? ¡°Why did it feel like he was simply thinking of things on the spot,¡± the lady mused to herself, before answering. ¡°Excluding point number three, and just purchasing a standard bottomless whale¡¯s heart, it comes to a whopping 23% of your rewards.¡± ¡°Why disregard point number three, though,¡± Fillan queried. ¡°Do you want to purchase that information?¡± He gave a slow nod, before the lady sighed again. ¡°That covers another 0.05% of your rewards. Because it¡¯s from a higher realm than ours, your rewards can¡¯t even afford a tenth of the cost.¡± ¡®What the fuck kind of nonsense multilayered universe do I live in?¡¯ ¡°You seem to think I¡¯m asking for menial things, so what do you recommend I get?¡± he asked the knowledgeable woman. ¡°Do you want to purchase¡ª¡± ¡°Holy, yes, yes, I want to purchase the information.¡± ¡°I¡¯d recommend you get a special talent, or unique physique. You can get a lot of really good ones for a low ¡°price¡±. Other than that, purchasing spell structures is imperative to mages, so you should get a few of those. I don¡¯t really know you well enough to give more advice. That was 0.0001% of your reward; we¡¯ll be here forever if you continue like this!¡± ¡°Hmmm, no,¡± Fillan said without any regard for the woman¡¯s advice. ¡°I like making my own spells, and don¡¯t want talent or physiques I don¡¯t deserve. Let¡¯s just disregard those two categories, and run the formation. Obviously, I don¡¯t think I have to mention this, but the energy core and veins are a must, they do not apply to what I said about talents, okay?¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine; I need to ask one more time for confirmation, are you sure¡ª¡±...he interrupted her again. ¡°I want a place where I can safely absorb and learn about all the things I''ll be getting, especially the techniques and law comprehension!¡± he shouted almost like it wouldn¡¯t reach the woman''s ears in time if he didn¡¯t. ¡°Sure, that will be another 0.5%. Do you want to start the reward selection formation?¡± she asked in exasperation. ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°I will send you to your room now, and the rewards will appear in a complementary spatial ring.¡± Without further pleasantries¡ªor unpleasantries¡ªthe woman flicked her wrist in Fillan¡¯s direction, causing him to shift through space. In the short instance he blinked, he disappeared from the big gray room, only to appear in a tiny room without any furniture. ¡®If I didn¡¯t have the requisite spells, would I have to pee-pee and poo-poo on the floor? Luckily, before he could envision those scenarios, a tiny iron-like ring dropped onto his head. ¡°Let¡¯s see what my years of arduous effort, and last few days of suffering will amount to. If I find out through some sick joke, that my cultivation talent won¡¯t carry over, then heaven shall burn.¡± Chapter 2: Future ¡°I knew this ¡®path¡¯ nonsense was too good to be true!¡± exclaimed a shocked, but strangely vindicated Fillan Strand. Though his appearance had changed little, Fillan now exuded a completely different energy. The subtle changes that did occur were marked by a powerful pressure, most notably the red, crystal-like object embedded between his eyes, just above the bridge of his nose. This so-called Karmic Eye, was the result of Fillan mastering the karma technique he requested for as a reward: Judge of Good and Evil. The concept behind it was simple, yet difficult to master due to the prerequisites needed. How it works is essentially by compressing a bunch of your qi/blood¡ªblood in Fillan¡¯s case¡ªinto a crystal between your eyes, or on your forehead. After which, you need to direct your high-level mastery of karma into it over a considerable period of time, until it finally becomes part of the crystal¡¯s essence. With this done, you need to create two unique and specialized energy veins with the new karmic essence, which you must connect to your actual eyes. This allows your eyes to inherit the ability of the crystal, without having to create an actual new eye. The crystal''s ability is extremely basic: it allows you to see people¡¯s karma¡ªincluding your own¡ªin the form of aura. A person¡¯s aura will have a possible three main colors, and various different shades of those colors. There¡¯s gray, which is considered a neutral karmic value, and indicates an equal amount of good and negative karma. The lighter the gray, the more positive the neutrality is, the darker, the more negative. Then there¡¯s green auras, which is representative of overwhelmingly good karma. Again, the lighter the shade, the better. And finally we have the red auras, which indicate insidious negative karma. The lighter the shade of red, the less negative karma, the darker, the more negative. It is important to note that red auras can turn so dark, they may appear black to even the most trained eye. The size of an aura is also important to consider, as the shades only change after certain quantitative levels have been reached. A person with an extremely thin dark-green aura is not necessarily a ¡°better person¡± than someone with a room-wide light-gray aura. Why did all of this matter, and how was it related to Fillan¡¯s outburst, you may ask. Well, it was because of what the technique showed him, of course. The technique was the last of the rewards he decided to consume inside this room, due to the uncertain time required to complete it. So, when he finally managed to do so after a grueling period of pure boredom, he wanted to test it out for fun, only to be blinded instantly. This had nothing to do with the technique malfunctioning or anything. No, rather it worked perfectly well. Maybe too well. All that greeted Fillan upon activating his karmic vision was pure darkness. It was so unfathomably dark and sinister in appearance, it sent shivers down his spine. He instinctively knew this was an aura, but first assumed it must be remnants left on the walls, or inside the room from the previous occupant, or something adjacent. Never would he expect the heavy blanket of pure-black aura that wanted to push itself outside the room because of its immeasurable volume, to be coming from him himself. Despite Fillan acting as a degenerate to gain entrance to this place, he never did anything to warrant a karmic aura worse than light red¡ªat most! Nothing he had ever done before, even if he was to assume karma carried over after he died¡ªwhich didn¡¯t make sense¡ªcould amount to this level of evil. The easiest way of obtaining karma is by killing. If you kill a person with a gray or green karmic aura, you incur a red one yourself, inversely proportional to your victim''s virtue. In the same way, if you kill someone with a negative karma, you gain positive karma for yourself. Thus, the only way for someone to reach the level of red Fillan has, was by slaughtering millions of highly virtuous creatures without mercy or reason. But he never did¡­ That¡¯s when he realized how elaborate of a trap the Sword path truly was. Those swords barely increased in strength every thousand kilometers or so, but they all ¡°evolved¡± after every ninety-nine kilometers, gaining more intelligence/sentience as they did. Only now did Fillan understand what that awe inducing sensation the swords radiated was: it was overwhelming virtue. They were far from being impressive weapons, but they had slain plenty of ¡°evil¡± beings before, resulting in a degree of awakening. And Fillan had slain millions upon millions of them, with only greed and avarice as justification. ¡°So, that¡¯s probably why the first tier allows for three people entering,¡± Fillan reflected. ¡°If we assume the helpers are half as capable as the leader, then they combined would incur a near equal amount of insidious aura as he does. Which means, if he kills them, his karmic aura will revert to what it was before entering the path. Since he would want all of the rewards for themselves, he¡¯s likely to do so even without knowing about this. It is an intricate system that prays on greed and selfishness¡­¡± Fillan continued to ponder while deactivating his karmic vision. It was clearly stated in the Judge of Good and Evil that karma affects luck, encounters, and heavenly punishment. The better a person is, the better the universe would treat them in their current and next lives. The opposite is also true for negative karma. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean I¡¯ll get accidentally slapped to death by some immortal being the second I set foot outside the pocket-dimension?¡± Fillan wondered. ¡°I should heed that old man¡¯s advice and not call my magic Divine anymore, since my luck would probably guarantee punishment.¡± The only positive Fillan could find to this situation was the possibility of his death washing the karma away. That would be perfect actually. To obtain incredible benefits from the path, without suffering any consequences sounded heavenly. He didn¡¯t even want to think about what would happen if he couldn¡¯t get rid of the karma through death. He¡¯d probably have to slaughter entire worlds worth of sinister beings to make the slightest dent. ¡°Now, the question is whether I should restart now, or if I want to continue a little longer, and attempt to maximize my gains. I still have thousands of pills of extraordinary quality that could probably push me to ascension, after all. Hmmm¡­ I¡¯ll continue if only to push my magic to a higher standard, and to use the Immortal Prompter to its limits.¡± Fillan didn¡¯t really want to go back to the path again in the future. Since it was near impossible to force his way in, he would have to continue acting for years every time he resets, which he refused to do. Sure the rewards were plentiful, but he refused to accept talents¡ªother than his energy core and veins¡ªhe didn¡¯t earn himself. That meant, since he already received a bunch of great techniques, law comprehensions, and managed to fuse with a bottomless whale¡¯s heart and improve his mana well, he didn''t really have anything of value to get from this place other than information. Sure the pills, weapons, formations, and talismans he received were incredible, but if he needed to rely on those in the lower realm, then that only proved that his talents were lackluster. Something he could rectify by just dying. External help was temporary, talent was forever. This is all without even taking the negative karma into consideration, which sealed the deal in Fillan¡¯s mind. ¡°But the Immortal Prompter is so good, though,¡± Fillan lamented. Once every twenty-four hours, Fillan would receive a varying amount of news related to the upper realm through the Immortal Prompter¡ªwhich was actually just a book. It could be about the appearance of a valuable treasure, the conflicts and deaths of powerful individuals, or something as mundane as the weather in certain places. It allowed valuable insight into a place he would need to go in the future, something that was vital to his well-being. If he ascended at the wrong time, he could randomly get killed by a massive battle or something. He could appear near a treasure and be mistaken as a competitor, and killed that way. He could appear inside someone¡¯s carriage or on top of their steeds and¡­essentially Fillan didn¡¯t want to die pitifully after finally ascending. Despite magic being incredibly powerful, and prevalent in the Immortal Realm as well, it didn¡¯t allow for the opportunity to ascend. That was something only a natural gateway, or cultivation/body tempering could do. Which means, Fillan would have to cultivate to the peak of the mortal realm every time to ascend. And that would take a considerable amount of time regardless of talent and resources. No way he was willing to become some cultivation addict only to be smacked to death over and over again. No siree. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°I¡¯ll stay alive for as long as possible to get a slightly comprehensive picture of the Immortal Realm, and then make future plans based on that,¡± he decided. Slowly standing up from his lotus position, Fillan brushed off the imaginary dust on his clothes, before steadying his gaze. ¡®I should have been in here for nearly an entire year, but since I used my time comprehension to accelerate the process, only about one and a half months should have passed outside.¡¯ With confidence, Fillan shouted into the empty room¡ªwithout furniture, windows, and doors: ¡±I¡¯m ready to leave now!¡± Within a fraction of a second, the scenery around Fillan changed to that of a shabby hut, with a lone arch standing in the middle of it; it was the portal out of the pocket-dimension. Taking this to mean he didn¡¯t need Ming Gu¡¯s presence or approval to leave, Fillan didn¡¯t even consider entering the other paths, and walked straight into the white liquid-like portal. ¡­ ¡°Halt!¡± Upon exiting the pocket-dimension, a series of voices shouted at him simultaneously. More importantly, however, was the fact the archway collapsed behind him. Like a fickle card-house, it crumbled without any elegance, reducing the Gu family¡¯s¡ªand the entirety of Graaryll¡¯s¡ªgreatest treasure to worthless stones. Assuming this had something to do with their clearing of a path, Fillan directed his attention to the dozens of old men and women standing in front of him. Their advanced ages did nothing to stop the suffocating pressures radiating from pressing down on him. Though, it didn¡¯t really have any effect, other than to give Fillan a good gauge of their prowess. ¡°What do you want, geezers?¡± he asked calmly, and without a modicum of respect or compliance. ¡°How dare you, brat!¡± bellowed an angry fossil from the right of the group. Without caring about decorum, face, or the room¡¯s tension, the old man launched a fist at Fillan¡¯s face. It didn¡¯t look very powerful, but the fist held a certain simpleness that made most of the other elders wary. Without elegance, just when the fist was about to connect with Fillan¡¯s right cheek, the old man simply collapsed to the ground. ¡°I think someone forgot to drink their milk growing up!¡± Fillan chided at the seemingly boneless corps at his feet. ¡°Did you guys see how he collapsed; it was like watching a puppet.¡± ¡°Fillan!¡± came a roar from behind the heap of wriggly skin and bones. A very familiar one. ¡°Oy, Ming,¡± he responded. ¡°How are you? You seem to have gotten a lot of benefits from ¡°clearing¡± the path.¡± ¡°Stay back, little Ming,¡± an old woman uttered. ¡°He was some weird, invisible power that targets minds or souls.¡± ¡°You¡¯re almost right,¡± Fillan corrected. ¡°What¡¯s more destructive than having your mind or soul destroyed? To have both of them completely erased, of course. You don¡¯t have to be too worried about that though, his mind was fickle like the wind. It would take much more effort to do the same to you.¡± Fillan was not the slightest bit afraid of these elders. Whether they feared him or not, whether they knew what or how he would attack them, none of it mattered to him. They were simply too weak. Only a single one of them was at the Soul Refinement realm, and he must have been awoken from his casket based on his appearance. None of them could harm a hair on his head, even if they sacrificed their lives for it. That applied to Ming Gu, as well. Just standing behind a few old skin suits naturally couldn¡¯t hide him from Fillan¡¯s normal eyes, much less the observation spell he was using. Ming Gu had clearly been working hard, and using every reward he received from the path to push himself beyond his limits. He only advanced to the peak of Golden Specter, but radiated the pressure of a mid-tier Soul Fusion expert. Fillan assumed he must have received an immortal cultivation technique, along with other attack techniques. Most likely, his pea sized brain would have chosen to splurge on immortal tiered weapons as well. Although this might seem dangerous and like the right decision for him to make, there was a reason Fillan didn¡¯t do the same. Immortal techniques are created to work in the Immortal Realm, and nowhere else. Sure, you could use them and they¡¯d still be incredibly powerful, but they would require an even steeper cost. Ming¡¯s immortal techniques might make him capable of fighting someone a few minor stages higher than himself, but they would require dozens¡ªif not hundreds¡ªof times the resources and time a peak Lower Realm technique would. The trade was simply not worth it. Not to mention that a single Immortal technique was most definitely much more reward percentage heavy than Lower Realms ones. Shortsightedness, foolishness, and youthful greed clouded Ming¡¯s decision making, resulting in the current situation. If Ming Gu decided on only mortal items and techniques, with the support of his repaired soul-body balance, Fillan estimated he could have gone far into the Earthly Pillars realm in the month they didn¡¯t see each other. At which point Fillan might truly be put in a tight spot, since his own power didn¡¯t really increase by much. ¡°I don¡¯t feel the chaotic energy coming from your soul problem anymore, so I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re having an outburst, Brother Ming.¡± Pushing the old woman trying to shield him away, Ming Gu forced his way to the front of the bingo club. In his eyes was only sadness and anger. Anger directed at the heavens for making him do this, and sadness directed towards his best friend. ¡°You are right, Fillan, the root of my instability has been corrected, and it has truly opened my eyes to how wretched of a person I am,¡± Ming admitted. ¡°I can never hope to atone for the things I have done, but I still have an excuse. You, however, do not. Your world views are spurred only by your delusion and sick sense of justice. You knew better than I did, yet you acted in accordance, and even encouraged, my behavior.¡± Not giving Fillan the chance to interrupt him, he continued his gratingly long speech. ¡°I know the rewards I received were not even half of what you got, and what I obtained is already countless tiers above heaven defying. That means you¡¯ll shortly become an unstoppable murdering machine, capable of erasing kingdoms, or even continents, over mere slights. I, as the future patriarch of the Gu Clan, and inheritor of the Royal Path¡¯s will, can not allow this to happen. I¡¯m sorry, Fillan¡­ I truly am.¡± With a snap of his fingers, runes appeared all around the cave-like room. They shifted and morphed in a myriad of ways, before settling into their respective places, after which a golden barrier appeared around Fillan. ¡°This is the Demon Subduing formation, an Immortal grade sealing formation designed to restrain even the most wicked of demons,¡± he revealed, shocking the elders behind him, and to a certain extent, even Fillan. ¡°I believe that with enough time to repent, and with the brotherhood we share, you¡¯ll eventually manage to recognize the error in your ways, and become a righteous individual!¡± With that, he turned around, hiding the tears forming in the corner of his eyes. He must remain steadfast and strong in front of his misguided brother. The elders, not fully comprehending what was actually happening, scurried after Ming Gu as quickly as their sickly bodies allowed them to, leaving Fillan completely alone within his golden dome. ¡°Who could guess Ming Gu would become even more unpredictable after fixing his mental issues?¡± Fillan thought in amusement. The Demon Sundering formation, or whatever it was called, was indeed very impressive. It kept any and all natural energy from reaching him, barring cultivation and mana gathering. Fillan recognized a few of the runes floating in the air, and discovered that qi could be let in at the discretion of the owner: Ming Gu. It was probably to keep the subjects alive for long periods of time, making sure they didn¡¯t die from qi starvation. ¡°Did he not even consider the fact I might have received formation dispelling talismans from my rewards?¡± Fillan wondered. ¡°I should have around twenty of them, and I can¡¯t bring them back with me after dying, so I might as well splurge one here.¡± To be completely honest, Fillan was certain one good hit by Plasmatic Annihilator would mess the formation up enough for him to escape even without the talismans. Hell, he could probably dispel the formation if given enough time to study the glaringly obvious formation pattern and runes. ¡°I don¡¯t think it came with a user manual; there¡¯s no way he¡¯d leave the formation¡¯s information out in the open like this if it did,¡± he thought. ¡°Hopefully it will be a good learning experience for him!¡± On that note, a golden paper appeared in Fillan¡¯s right hand. It didn¡¯t really look impressive, but he knew it was a classic ¡°wolf in sheep''s clothing¡± situation. With a light slap, Fillan plastered the golden paper onto his equally golden dome, and infused the little qi he possessed as a 1st level Qi Gathering cultivator into it. At once, without spectacle, the dome vanished and the surrounding runes dimmed, and eventually dissipated as well. ¡°Now how should I get out,¡± he wondered. Fillan was far from desperate. Rather it was the surplus of options that resulted in his conundrum. ¡°I think I should try to use my space law in tandem with Owner¡¯s Eye to find a good and safe location.¡± After activating his circuitry, dozens of runic circles jumped into existence all around him, all projecting imagery of vastly different areas¡ªall within his home kingdom, Garth, of course. Not really finding anything that fit his fancy, Fillan made the runes move in a clockwise motion, resulting in them showcasing new imagery. It took repeating this action five more times before he settled on a location. ¡°The Devouring Demon Sect it is!¡± Using the clear view he possessed of the desired terrain, and by using his spatial comprehension to the utmost, Fillan teleported out of the musty room, and into the great wide outdoors. Chapter 3: Sect Master ¡°This law comprehension thing is way too powerful,¡± Fillan thought to himself in wonder. ¡°And this is all without establishing a Law Palace; how much more egregious will it become when I do?¡± Even though he had used his comprehension of time to distort it in a ratio of 10:1 before, the fact he, a Qi Gathering cultivator, could teleport across an entire kingdom with a mere thought, shocked him to the core. Sure, if given enough time, attempts, and resources, he could probably devise a spell to do the same thing. But that¡¯s using his most potent power system, and the cheat that is his time-loop; it simply wasn¡¯t the same. ¡°Anyway, I just decided on coming to this place, without really having a plan,¡± he reflected. ¡°Do I join the sect through the normal channels, impersonate one of their sect members, or just seize the sect master position?¡± ¡°Joining through the normal channels won¡¯t work, since I¡¯ll become bottom feeding trash, unable to control my own movements and actions. Impersonating a member can work, but it would have to be a core person in the sect, which would require me to read all of his memories to take his place. Yeah¡­I don¡¯t think I want to taint my mind with such degeneracy. There is a difference between having negative karma and being evil, which I would have to become to fit in the role. That leaves only the sect master avenue.¡± Obviously, Fillan didn¡¯t have to join the sect at all. He could go and do whatever he wanted. The problem was his negative karma. Based on some elementary calculations assisted by a few simple spells, if he didn¡¯t find a way to hide his karma, then he¡¯d either be crippled or killed within a month. It could happen before, but definitely not after. This caused him to consider different ways of doing just that; hiding his karma. The world of Graaryll was in a state of balance between the orthodox/righteous factions and the unorthodox/evil factions. But how does that make sense? Surely since the righteous faction should have virtuous karma, and the evil factions negative, then the evil factions'' luck and fortune would result in their swift annihilation. Yet that was not the case. Fillan concluded that there must be a reason for this. The most obvious and likely he could think of was that Graaryll needed this balance to be maintained, and thus gave different privileges to the evil factions, like protecting them¡ªto a certain extent¡ªfrom the effects of their karma. This was further reaffirmed by Fillan¡¯s knowledge of evil vagabond cultivators. These people always ended up either dead, or joining an evil faction. There were no exceptions. Thus, since Fillan didn¡¯t really care about anything but staying alive and cultivating for the remainder of this life¡ªwhich was already ladened with ¡°evil¡± actions¡ªhe decided to join an evil faction. However, Garth had a surprisingly lacking number of them. Considering that Garth¡ªby law¡ªviewed strength as the only important thing, there should have been far more unscrupulous groups doing whatever they could to amass power. But from what Fillan could tell, the total number didn¡¯t surpass five. Of those five, three were incredibly weak, completely unfit for his stay. The other powerful sect was exclusive to females, so unless he wanted to go on an unprecedented undercover mission, that left only this Devouring Demon Sect. ¡°The sect is completely centered around cultivation; should I use magic to kill the sect leader, or my law comprehension?¡± Fillan wondered. There were benefits and downsides to both options. Magic, of course, was the easiest. Especially after he enhanced his mana well to Ultra-Hadal, which allowed for more than two advanced spells to be cast at once. Dealing with a garbage tier-one Earthly Pillar realm sect master would be a piece of cake. However, the members might not appreciate or accept a mage taking control of their sect. Although they couldn¡¯t physically do anything to him, they might cause trouble by announcing him to the world. If his enemies¡ªMing Gu included¡ªdiscovered he became the sect master of an evil faction, they¡¯d approach forces from outside of Garth to erase him from existence. His annihilation of a ¡°righteous faction¡±, the Triple Alliance, made him a whole bunch of enemies. The sole reason why they didn¡¯t hunt him actively, was because he didn¡¯t join any forces, kept to himself, and only completed harmless research. They couldn¡¯t find him, and didn¡¯t have sufficient justification to mobilize enough forces to get rid of him. That would change as an evil sect master. On the other hand, none of the problems of magic would happen if he used law comprehension. He¡¯d just appear as a Law Palace cultivator to the untrained eye, resulting in a smooth transfer of position and power in the sect. Yet, he¡¯d also struggle more to kill the sect master. Sure, laws were incredibly powerful and useful, but he had never used them in a fight before, not to mention his physical frailty. If the sect master lands a single blow on him, without magic, he¡¯d die instantly. Meaning, he would have to kill the sect master the second he appears. Something that wouldn¡¯t be easy without preparation. Or underhanded means¡­ ¡°Assassination it is!¡± ¡­ The Devouring Demon Sect¡¯s base was relatively small, only consisting of five mountain peaks. The biggest of which was centered between the other four. Deep within the central peak was an isolated room, filled to the brim with spiritual crystals. An old man was sitting in a lotus position, devouring the qi from the crystals in hope of advancing his cultivation. The old man didn¡¯t look very impressive, but he was still one of the most powerful, and most feared, people in Garth. Not necessarily due to his cultivation level, but rather the cultivation technique he practices: the Abyssal Devouring Technique. This technique, in simple terms, allows the user to devour the qi within almost all objects and mediums, including humans. If you¡¯re defeated by him in battle, you will undoubtedly turn into his nourishment. This in itself is not too abnormal amongst evil faction techniques, but him being able to devour the qi within an opponent''s attacks definitely is. He can easily cross stages and realms to fight beyond his caliber. The whole reason he could reach this level was not due to talent or comprehension, but the ample amount of resources he possesses. Whether they be humans, beasts, crystals, all have been supplied en masse by his father. As a matter of fact, if not for the ridiculous nature of his technique, he probably would never have reached the Golden Core realm, that¡¯s how poor his talent was. That¡¯s also why he finally encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation at the Earthly Pillar realm. He¡¯d been in seclusion for over twenty years, trying desperately to break through, only to fail over and over again. From what Fillan could gather during his brief reconnaissance, the other higher ups of the sect didn¡¯t expect him to come out of seclusion before another twenty years passed. Which would make replacing him very easy¡­ Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡®Whoever has the sect master¡¯s seal, becomes the sect master. That bastard better have it on him.¡¯ Fillan was currently studying the formation that covered the sect master¡¯s room, planning to enter and kill the guy without alerting anyone to the matter. He could easily destroy the formation, but then he¡¯d have to reconstruct it before anyone discovers it, something he isn¡¯t confident in doing. Plus, the sect master would notice him forcing his way in, making the assassination plan redundant. At that point, he could just publicly attack him. ¡®Luckily, it¡¯s a simple enough formation. Oh, and it has sound suppression. Guess I don¡¯t have to worry about people hearing me.¡¯ It didn¡¯t take more than half an hour to decipher the formation, and discover a way he could enter without the key or authorization. ¡®I¡¯ll prepare the spells before I enter to end this as quickly as possible.¡¯ Paralyze was a must, since he couldn¡¯t allow the sect master to attack him or deactivate the formation to alert others. The body of the sect master could be useful later, so he should avoid damaging it excessively, meaning no fire or lightning spells. ¡®Psychic Storm, Soul Needle, and Tether Decay should do the trick.¡¯ All three of those spells attack the psyche in different manners. Psychic Storm targets the mind of the person by ¡°blowing¡± its consciousness around. It effectively scrambles a person''s memories and functions. It has a bunch of limitations on its usage, despite being a simple spell. Soul Needle is a simple spell that targets a person''s soul by piercing through their mana well. The damage is limited, but is enough to weaken the connection between soul and body. Which is where Tether Decay comes in. It is an advanced spell that attacks the tether between body and soul. It¡¯s called ¡°decay¡± but it¡¯s more like stretching the tether to its limits, and thus lowering a person''s control over their body, or potentially killing them outright. Tether Decay is not very strong against fully functioning people, which is why the Soul Needle is needed beforehand. If the combo attack is successful, the target will most likely die, and if not, it will still be weakened. All of this combined with Paralyze is bound to reduce all of the sect master¡¯s defenses and protection to nothing. ¡®Mental and soul attacks take too much out of me, so I only have one shot at this. If I fail, I¡¯ll have to run the fuck away.¡¯ It is important to note that a person''s magical aptitude not only decides how many spells they can engrave on their souls, but also how many they can cast comfortably. The higher the aptitude, the more they can cast. At least at lower levels where the mage is required to transmute their mana with a spell''s information. Even though the process is instantaneous for Fillan with his circuits, they all run through the ¡°aptitude seeds¡±¡ªthe aptitude¡¯s physical manifestation¡ªto do this. Since he only has a solid psychic aptitude, he can only cast a limited amount of attacks without hurting himself. Spells like float are more lenient since they run over long periods of time, whereas attacks are quick and explosive. With a weird leaning posture, and a quick jab of his hand, a small opening appeared in the surprisingly low-leveled formation. Not one for wasting time, Fillan hurried inside, ready to cast his four spells at a moment''s notice. ¡®I should use a silencing talisman on the door, just in case it makes too much noise.¡¯ Since the path¡¯s reward system seemed to love giving away supplements like formations, pills, weapons, and talismans, Fillan¡¯s spatial ring was filled with a wide variety of them. Whether it was formation dispelling, attack, defense, or arbitrary talismans, he had an excess of them. Thus, he didn¡¯t mind using some on something as trivial as opening a door. With a soft smack, the white rune-painted talisman was plastered onto the mountain wall-like door. Slowly opening the door, Fillan spotted the heap of spirit crystals strewn across the room, all surrounding a haggard, evil-looking old man. Without hesitation, Fillan¡¯s transmuted mana was unbound from his suppression, releasing their effects instantly. The qi in the air and inside the old man began to vibrate at an odd frequency that seemed to incapacitate his body. His eyes that shot open turned cloudy, while a weird shadow seemed to emerge from his back. ¡®Success¡­ful enough.¡¯ With a wave of his hand, a chilling wind surged towards the shadow, dissipating it into the air. ¡®Luckily I asked for wind law comprehension, else I¡¯d have to blast him with a more devastating attack. His body still has a lot of ways of helping me out, it¡¯d be a shame to destroy it after all my effort.¡¯ With a sigh of relief, Fillan hurriedly closed the door behind him, and walked towards the soulless husk. With unnerving ease, Fillan retrieved the jade ring on the old man¡¯s right index finger, before placing the corpse in his spatial ring. The musty cultivation mat in front of Fillan suddenly combusted, before a new, fresher one took its place. With enthusiasm and eagerness, he sat down cross legged and ready to start his cultivation journey. He didn¡¯t cultivate even a second when he was in his ¡®¡°private reward¡± room. Not only because it wasn¡¯t as pressing as assimilating the techniques and laws, since they would follow him in death, but also because he was afraid he¡¯d be too immersed in cultivation, and thus never leave. If he didn¡¯t leave, he probably wouldn¡¯t pay attention to the Immortal Prompter, which would make the rest of this life near worthless. But now¡­ The only thing that stood in his way was the karma. ¡®Since the sect master was so weak, his spatial ring should be the compressed-type. But on the other hand, his father is rich as fuck, and he could have given him a tether-type. Hmmm¡­¡¯ There exists two types of spatial rings, namely compressed-types and tether-types. The first involves using certain materials and formations to compress a space into the ring. The spatial ring¡¯s storage is thus inside the ring itself, and upon its destruction, the things inside will all be released in the surrounding area. The second involves creating or finding a space in the void, and connecting a spatial tether to the spatial ring, allowing for the owner¡¯s access. If this type of ring is destroyed, the storage space will become inaccessible, leaving its contents lost to the void. If the sect master had the first type of spatial ring, there¡¯s naturally no problem for Fillan, but if it¡¯s the second¡­ ¡®Wait; I see the tether.¡¯ Fillan moved his hand towards the tether, and tried to touch it, only for a dark area filled with different objects to appear in his mind. ¡®Too. Fucking. Strong. Space comprehension shouldn¡¯t be allowed. I can literally rob anyone with these expensive rings as I please.¡¯ In a corner of the area, he saw a swirl-like token laying haphazardly. Without hesitation, he willed the token to appear in his hand, and it did. The second this happened, Fillan¡¯s Juge of Good and Evil activated on its own, showing his overwhelming abyss-like karma, seeping into the already sinister mountain. What happened beyond his immediate vision was unknown, but Fillan could tell his karma was diffusing, albeit temporarily. ¡®Well, it¡¯s better than nothing, I guess. The sect members will probably have to face some hard times in the future though.¡¯ Fillan¡¯s karma didn¡¯t disappear, but only temporarily merged into the karma of the sect. Although he didn¡¯t know how it would affect the sect, since his karma was so overwhelming, he felt assured that as long as he didn¡¯t leave the confines of the sect, he would be safe to a certain extent. If he did leave, then even with the sect master position, there would be nothing the sect¡¯s ¡°karmic veil¡± could do to help him. ¡®I feel everything is working out strangely well, despite my karma. Maybe it takes a while for the world to launch measures against karmic values?¡¯ Regardless of the reason, Fillan didn¡¯t really care too much. Especially since it would allow him to cultivate with more ease. ¡®Time to become invincible in the lower realm!¡¯ ¡­ ¡°That fucking bitch scammed me!¡± Not long after he began¡ªtried to begin¡ªhis cultivation journey, Fillan discovered a harrowing fact: the cultivation technique he was given didn¡¯t match with the energy veins and core he obtained! Chapter 4: I Won The items he received from the Path were mostly without a description past their names and functions. So when he saw the two ¡°cultivation establishment pills¡±, respectively the Layline Formation Pill and the World Pool Construction Pill, he just assumed they were high tier and eccentrically named. Like the talents would make you capable of establishing a world in the future, or something to that effect. He could not have been more wrong. Although he didn¡¯t know the extent of how wrong he was, the fact his new cultivation manual was entirely worthless to him told him there was something afoot. ¡°Why the hell would she give me a non-matching cultivation manual?!¡± he roared in fury. Years of his hard work and planning were slowly trickling down the drain. Never would he have expected this sort of development. What would even be the point of slighting him? He, Fillan Strand, was nothing in their eyes. They were beings from the Immortal realm, while he was just a little mage, without the slightest talent for cultivation. Him not being the target for their tests just didn¡¯t seem enough to warrant underhanded means. Normally, this situation would have meant nothing to Fillan. He¡¯d simply keep it in mind, and deal with it as he sees fit in the future. He was a time-looper after all. But this is significantly different. For some reason or the other, a unique function of the time-loop is him gaining ever increasing talents and prowess. So this cultivation talent he was hunting for wasn¡¯t simply a one and done deal, it was something he would be using for an uncertain amount of lives. Him receiving a potentially defunct, or at least highly uncommon set of talents would leave much deeper wounds than the Path could have predicted. ¡°Cutting off someone''s path to enlightenment is tantamount to killing someone¡¯s parents; I will never let this go,¡± he vowed with conviction. ¡°Whatever, I guess I¡¯ll have to focus on the body tempering path in this life. There¡¯s no way they fucked me with that manual as well, right?¡± They indeed didn¡¯t fuck him in that regard. The manual was fluent and coherent, while the powers and functions it provided were domineering and profound. Unfortunately, most of its extraordinariness meant nothing to Fillan, as his body tempering talent and level were too low. But that didn¡¯t affect him memorizing the technique well. As he gradually improves his talent, his understanding and comprehension will naturally be elevated to a level where the technique becomes like a common book. ¡°Seems like Blood Engraving will be my limit unless something special happens,¡± he mumbled with a frown. Despite being told his talent every time he restarts his time-loop, Fillan still hoped he could brute force his way to a higher level with sufficient time and dedication. But the fact that he could only read and memorize the words of the higher levels, yet have them be illegible and incoherent when he tried to focus on what they were actually saying, proved it was just not meant to be. ¡°The Blood Transmutation realm seems so easy with the ability to sense qi.¡± No more were the times where he would forcefully replace his own blood for that of slightly stronger¡ªto avoid exploding in the process¡ªbeasts. It was a method that was tried and tested and gave results not at all comparable to the time, effort, and risk the undertaking requires. In all his attempts, he only barely managed to improve his body tempering talent to Blood Engraving, and even still, it was one of the worst possible talents in the bracket. ¡°Let¡¯s begin,¡± Fillan thought, as he put his whole focus on the task at hand. Blood Transmutation, as the first realm of body tempering, was the most simplistic foundation for all that is to come later. It is a very relaxed¡ªwhen qi sense is involved¡ªprocess where you mainly need to do four things.
  1. Sense qi.
  2. Sense and get a good grasp of your blood and its flow.
  3. Through breathing, infuse the blood with qi until it transmutates into blood-qi.
  4. Repeat.
There are nine stages to the realm, where one to eight indicate how much of your blood is transmuted successfully, and the ninth requires the person to refine their marrow with qi until it begins producing blood-qi inherently. Only when this is achieved can the person begin to practice true Body Tempering. In his many lives, Fillan has become incredibly adept at sensing his blood and its flow, which combined with his new qi sense, allowed for an easy initialization process. Within an hour, he already fused his first batch of blood with qi. Two hours later, he transmuted his first percentage, and five hours later, he reached the second stage of Blood Transmutation. Each stage requires a further 11,11% of the person''s blood to be transmuted, which doesn¡¯t sound very impressive, but it allows for a comprehensive change in prowess. A person with blood-qi is already far superior to what an Inept could ever aspire to be, and every stage in the Blood Transmutation realm allows for a near doubling of strength. Fillan, who had been using a flawed and lackluster method to do this in the past, felt the surge of strength and energy in his body with awe and excitement. Sure, he was a powerful mage, but that power always felt ¡°borrowed¡±, almost like it didn¡¯t belong to him. It didn¡¯t give him this exhilarated sensation of ever advancing strength and internal evolution. It felt like he was transforming into something beyond humanity. ¡°This. This has to be why people are obsessed with cultivation and body tempering,¡± Fillan exclaimed. ¡°Just this tiny first step is already so rewarding; I can only imagine what the future realms will hold. In a giddy stupor, Fillan continued his body tempering. As mentioned, the Blood Transmutation realm is incredibly simple, meaning as the person becomes more adept at fusing blood and qi, their speed will increase. In just another twelve hours, Fillan finally broke through to the eighth stage peak, standing at the precipice of the ninth. ¡°It seems I just have to guide both qi and blood-qi into my bone marrow and it will refine itself¡­¡± And for the next ten hours, managed only with a few spells dispelling his need for sleep, he strenuously indulged in this refinement. While he didn¡¯t feel a surge of strength doing this as he did in previous stages, it brought a different sensation: vitality. It felt like his blood and body became more energetic, while his blood flow and production skyrocketed to levels countless times superior to before. Then, like turning from a child to man with a sudden boom, the final part of the marrow refinement was completed, hurdling Fillan into the Blood Engraving realm. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. For a normal person this would be the extent of the improvement and benefits of completing the first stage of body tempering, but Fillan was suddenly filled with a bizarre manner of understanding and comprehension. Things that seemed distant before, whether they be magical, law-related, or philosophical, all became so much more clear. Like a veil was lifted from before his eyes, the world turned crystal clear, and his mind reveled in enlightenment. He sensed a sort of resonance coming from different parts of the universe, guiding him on his path, complementing his improved strength. ¡°Who knew law comprehension could bring such unexpected benefits,¡± Fillan reflected. ¡°In all my research, I¡¯ve never once heard about something like this.¡± ¡°Although it would be incredibly fucking difficult and tedious for someone to reach this level of law comprehension before cultivating, the boons you get from it are definitely worth it. Hell, this might even be the proper way of cultivation, while what most people use is a flawed path.¡± Yet, despite being lent a helping hand by the fabric of reality, Fillan, like a punch in the face, was hit by a major bottleneck of insurmountable proportions. It felt almost like the flowing river of power that was continuously growing stronger within him rammed itself into a pure steel-mountain. ¡°Damn,¡± was all Fillan could say. Something that felt like it was going to be the essence of his life in the foreseeable future was ripped apart with impunity. It left a gaping hole in his heart, despite only living in euphoria for less than a day. ¡°Am I supposed to just practice my magic again?¡± he wondered. ¡°I¡¯m getting really tired of engraving over and over again; there¡¯s just no fun in it. It¡¯s so goddamn easy and slow, and those that are hard require risk. But I can¡¯t really afford to die right now either. This. Fucking. Sucks.¡± A powerful mage is very respected no matter where they go, not just for their power, but also the way they gain and use their power. The process of engraving a pattern on the soul, in most cases, carries no risk, and is incredibly straightforward. You just will mana through the aptitude seed your spell requires, like you do to cast a spell, and focus it into thin threads before weaving it in and out of the soul¡¯s fabric. There are rumors of particular mages being capable of engraving on the insides of the soul, rather than just the surface, but those are ancient myths always connected to unfathomably powerful figures, capable of creating and shattering worlds at a mere whim. This is not what people respect though. All spell patterns, no matter how simple or complex, regardless of affinity or power, are derived from the physical aspect of the universe. Not its laws or spirituality, but what they control and rule. While a cultivator tries to find answer to WHY stars function through the law¡¯s of yang and fire, a magician would take a look at HOW it functions, and capture it in enigmatic runes and ¡°drawings¡±. This affects how the two groups utilize power. Cultivators will need to achieve a certain level of attunement with their wished law, before utilizing its authority to launch an attack. This requires a long time for comprehension, and in the heat of battle, there is a delay between when you really would like to make a move, and when it happens. A mage simply manipulates the world on their own, bypassing everything a cultivator has to do. The down side is the sense fulfillment mentioned earlier. Fillan feels no joy discovering or, depending on how you look at it, creating spell patterns. He also finds engraving most spells to be tedious, boring, sloppy, and annoying, while using a spell feels like the world is just doing things, without him taking part. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t I have been a born cultivator? Sigh, I¡¯ll start on the Soul-Vein project then. It will probably have a multiplicative effect now that I¡¯ve got true body tempering prospects.¡± ¡­ 7 Years Later¡ª ¡°Hey, what the hell is that?¡± a devilish young man asked the people detailing behind him. ¡°Devil Seed, it appears to be a giant needle of sorts; there¡¯s likely some powerhouses fighting in the distance. If you continue to progress at the speed you have, casting and destroying such moves will be as simple as a flick of the wrist. Keep up the hard work.¡± ¡°Yeah, the Devil Seed is the most talented person in all of Garth, not even the heavens can stop his rise.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right¡ª¡± ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± the Devil Seed shouted without turning his head from the sky above. ¡°That needle is clearly heading straight towards us¡­RUN¡± With a massive cataclysmic tremor, the sky and earth of Graaryll cracked like a broken vase. Space and time turned turbulent, oceans and magma surged, the laws cried, and people died. Within seconds, this massive needle from beyond shattered every trace of Graaryll¡¯s prior existence, leaving only a few ascendants to mourn their bygone home. What used to be a prosperous world was now just a massive black hole, pierced by a needle, hungry for the blood of demons. Without wasting much time, it shifted its direction, and took off in search of its next target. Of course, it would never reach it, at least not this time around. When the needle left, the suppressed and banished laws of the universe rushed to fill the void in space with all their might, causing a tremor that could be felt across all of reality. In the very center of the impact, highly unfortunately, was a very simple-looking opaque sphere with a frustrated youth within. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare kill me before I finish this, or else¡­!¡± Knowing that death was unavoidable, Fillan did everything in his power to finish the last traces needed to complete his intricate soul engraving, something he had been planning for a couple years, and practicing for seven more. ¡°Three, two, one, YES! Hahaha, you stupid fucking bast¡ª¡± Before he could finish casting obscenities at the misfortunes targeting him, he, like everyone else on Graaryll, was decimated into fine dust. ¡­ With a familiar cold sensation running up from his arm to his spice, and then through his entire body, Fillan opened his eyes to a massive floating sphere hanging in front of him. It looked unassuming, simply hosting a single color: bleak turquoise. To the side stood an impatient old man with a frown of displeasure on his face, something Fillan was more than used to. The geezer only ever showed that look towards those with talents worse than pigs, which naturally referred to the ¡°original¡± Fillan. It¡¯s only after touching the measuring orb that his talents change accordingly. As quickly as it came, the cold sensation wormed its way out of Fillan¡¯s body, back into the measuring orb, before sending two small beams of light towards Fillan and the overseer. Not one to waste time with someone he deemed trash, the overseer began announcing the results aloud. ¡°Cultivation: Qi Gathering, talent: World. Body Tempering: Inept, talent: Blood Engraving. Magical talent: Solid fire aptitude, solid psychic aptitude, robust lightning aptitude, resilient¡­soul-blood aptitude¡ªwhat?¡± While the overseer didn¡¯t particularly care for the results and only payed them little mind, Fillan¡¯s cultivation talent caught his attention, but he quickly dismissed it as something nonsensical, especially since he had never heard of it before, and the measuring orb didn¡¯t give him a description, like it would for the significant things. But when he came to the final magical talent he could no longer hide his surprise. Along with the name ¡°soul-blood¡±, which he was totally unfamiliar with, came a description. It ¡°read¡±: The body is shaped according to the soul and its core, yet why does it not have blood and veins, organs or bones? Some people are innately shaped to become revolutionary magicians, and soul-blood aptitudes only appear in the best of them. With inherent control of their blood and soul, and the god-given ability to fuse the two along with mana to form an unfathomably powerful substance, these people are destined for limitless greatness through transcending the flesh enforced by a universe''s laws. With this kind of description, there was no way he could keep his cool. The worst part was that there was more information to be digested, indicating, according to his experiences, that Fillan Strand, someone worthless by every measure only moments ago, possessed an innate physique, bloodline, or trait. ¡°Karmic Reincarnation Eye: one¡¯s previous lives'' karma is accumulated and shielded in a third eye, giving them the ability to release a certain pressure from it (virtuous/sinister.) It provides the innate ability of gazing upon other¡¯s karmic aura, while showcasing causal lines. The Karmic Reincarnation Eye grows stronger along with the person''s cultivation, gradually giving them deeper insight and eventually control of Karma.¡± ¡°World Origin Body: The energy veins as ley lines, the core as the world¡¯s pool, individuals with this physique mimic the legendary Katesthio, an all devouring beast that uses the energy it gathers to establish and evolve its own innate world. It relies on destruction to create, because only through reformation will a shackled creation transcend imposed limits.¡± ¡°Universal Law Incarnation: Born with an innate comprehension of a universe''s most fundamental laws, which in time, will grant an all encompassing comprehension of reality¡¯s workings.¡± ¡°I won!¡± Fillan thought in ecstasy. ¡°What the fuck kind of talents are these? Who, on this entire planet, would dare compare their talents to mine, huh?¡± It truly is as they say: the beginning is the hardest part. Chapter 5: Im an Idiot? With a slight cough to recollect his bearings and bring Fillan¡¯s attention towards him, the overseer meeked out a bright-ish smile and said: ¡°Candidate Fillan Strand, you are a truly heaven-defying talent unseen by the world for thousands of years; as the right given to me by the Kingdom of Garth, I bestow upon you the title of Prince Talent. Congratulations on joining¡ª¡± Whatever the old man had to offer, it couldn¡¯t hold a candle to what Fillan could get on his own, so there was really no reason to entertain him. As such, with a leisurely gesture, Fillan simply teleported away from the gathering¡¯s view, stunning everyone present. ¡°How could someone without cultivation teleport,¡± the old overseer mumbled in shock. Whatever the reason, he would need to report the events here to King Graum, and bring back his share of candidates. Inside a derelict, clearly abandoned cave, Fillan¡¯s now sixteen year old body appeared with a minute flash. .... ¡°Home sweet home,¡± he uttered mockingly. ¡°God, I¡¯m always blown away by how much of a dump this place is. With a thought, the surprisingly thick mana in the cave surged into his body like air into a vacuum, before splitting into different strands each inheriting the information from their designated spell. The cave which looked more like a dusty moths¡¯ nest, nearly instantaneously, became spotless. The ground took on a shiny luster, while the walls regained their ocean blue color, and the tepid air turned fresh and breezy. Simultaneously, Fillan¡¯s body radiated a grotesque crimson light, as only squirming from within could be distinguished. After about five minutes, the light ceased, and a new individual emerged. Like a butterfly from its cocoon, an unfathomably handsome young man replaced the emancipated little boy. Dressed in opulent and flagrant black and red clothing adorned with jade and gold linings, he commanded a certain presence and aura only found in those of extraordinary origins. Although nothing more than his appearance had changed, Fillan still felt stronger than before, like he was further attuned to the world. ¡°I. Love. This. Spell. Now I don¡¯t have to run around like a scrawny rat, being looked down upon by weaklings until I grow up. This makes things a lot more convenient.¡± The spell he used to achieve this transformation was, creatively enough, Metamorphosis. From studying larvae in their evolution into butterflies, Fillan managed to derive more than a dozen runes that encapsulated and emulated the process. Which he then used to craft a unique, and more powerful, spell pattern. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why it counts as an advanced spell,¡± Fillan thought. ¡°Sure it transforms you, and it does so thoroughly, but it doesn¡¯t seem any better than a simple spell. There¡¯s no way this should be grouped together with Owner¡¯s Eye or Tether Decay.¡± ¡°I guess it doesn¡¯t really matter, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to be using it in the heat of battle; the limitation is fine.¡± Not one to worry about non-issues, Fillan directed his focus towards the actually important matters at hand; his new talents. ¡°I knew the Soul-Vein project would have great results, but never ever would I have expected this.¡± ¡°Now, the only problem is that I don¡¯t know if it reached this level when I finished it before dying, or if my time-loop evolved it to greater heights. I really don¡¯t understand this time-loop nonsense.¡± Fillan obviously hosted grand ambitions with the Soul-Vein project, but the result did not really match his expected prognosis. When he designed and pondered the fastest way to gain strength, he thought of various ways to combine the different power systems at play on Graaryll. Whether it was combining magic with cultivation and body tempering or potentially starting a new branch of cultivation directed towards the soul, he considered all of it. The result he found fit his situation the best was to combine body and soul, or at least turn their aspects similar. Upon reaching the Blood Engraving realm a person becomes free to use their blood-qi as ink and their body as the canvas, and similar to magic spells, engrave runes, techniques, formations, or laws on themselves. Their skin, bones, eyes, brain, whatever could be tailored to one¡¯s aspirant needs. A person who cultivates ocular techniques would often prefer, or be required to, engrave certain things on their eyeballs to strengthen them sufficiently, and bestow upon them the necessary attributes. You could pick and choose runes closely related to fire, integrate them into a formation, and engrave it onto your eyeballs, thus giving you the ability to ¡°innately¡± cast one or more fire spells. It was this similarity that piqued Fillan¡¯s interest. The soul was commonly limited to only surface engravings, despite hosting an inestimably deep interior. Even the mana well was only located on the very outer layer of the soul. Something he noticed though was that the mana well, albeit slightly, shifted its location around the soul. It was nothing more than a few millimeters per year, but this itself gave Fillan further insight. If the mana well, which in the physical body is perfectly set from birth to death, is moving around in the soul, no matter how insignificant the moves, a reasonable conclusion to reach is that the interior of the soul is formless. Wherever exists inside is like this pot of soup with different ingredients, thus making it impossible to interfere with. But what if this pot of soup was forced into different shapes and containers? Then there could be a possibility for interference. Not the soup itself, but the soup powered container. Which is exactly what the Soul-Vein project was about. Fillan simply turned to his own blood-veins and made an intricate drawing detailing its every minute detail. He then proceeded to weave, as well as could be done, in the ¡°shallow¡± areas of the soul. To do this, Fillan ¡°cut¡± the index finger of his soul¡¯s right arm, before turning it into very fine threads, which he proceeded to anchor to his mana well and ¡°skin¡±. Then, with exquisite precision and care, Fillan weaved the designated threads together, leaving only a very tiny gap inside for¡­whatever to pass through. Although they were far from his physical veins, they were pretty similar, with the only main clink being none of them went deep into his soul, just floating in place near the surface. Unfortunately, Fillan didn¡¯t get to experience the effects of this before dying, leaving him wondering now. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Normally he wouldn¡¯t, as the previous time-loop results were pretty straight forward. Struck to death by lightning? Congratulations, you have an improved lightning aptitude. That was clearly no longer the case. The best example of which was the Karmic Reincarnation Eye. It didn¡¯t require a turbo genius to understand this thing came about from his Judge of Good and Evil. The reason why, however, left him slightly stumped. ¡°It might be because the technique needed me to make specific energy veins for it, thus changing my body ¡°permanently¡±, and therefore carrying over. It¡¯s impossible to know, but that should be the case.¡± ¡°The problem¡ªwell, it¡¯s not a problem at all¡ªbut the weird thing is the new talent seems WAY more powerful than the original technique. Which is obviously good, but also might mean that my Soul-Vein project would have mediocre results without dying.¡± ¡°Again, it¡¯s not a problem, but it would suck if I have to die every time I want to improve myself significantly. Sigh, thinking about the unknown gets me fucking nowhere, let¡¯s think about what to do this time around¡± ¡°First, is the timeline for this life. I have exactly eight years worth of knowledge about events in the Immortal Realm, so I¡¯ll have to either ascend or die by then. There is no need to continue on borrowed time, since raising my talents is more important anyway.¡± ¡°My cultivation technique is still worthless, and from the description of World Origin Body, it seems there probably are none out there that suit my needs, so I¡¯ll have to figure something out on my own.¡± ¡°My body tempering talent is still dog water, but I can feel a significant improvement from before, so I should still put a significant amount of effort into it. Maybe it will even synergize with my soul-veins.¡± ¡°Then there¡¯s the soul veins. I¡¯ll need to see if I can actually engrave on them, and also try to find out why the index finger regrew. If I can do that, then I might never have to worry about running out of spell space.¡± ¡°The first and last one are time consuming ordeals, so I¡¯ll start with body tempering.¡± Fillan plans to raise his body tempering level to Blood Engraving again, since it doesn¡¯t take much time, and it has an evident strengthening effect on his talent. And it will allow for some more survivability before he comprehends his own cultivation technique. He can also get a good feel for how blood engraving functions and how it differs from magic, while he can see spell patterns could be engraved on the body. With no hesitation, Fillan sat down cross legged on the previously musty ground, and began to sense the qi in the air, and the blood in his veins. The reason Fillan uses this random cave is due to the unnaturally rich qi and mana found here. It is several dozen times better than the average density found on Graaryll, and only slightly worse than high-tier chambers belonging to major forces. This also meant that, with his acquired experience doing this, the time it took Fillan to finish the Blood Transmutation realm was nearly halved to a total of ten hours. However, unlike last time, there was no great surge in strength upon reaching perfection. There was no support from the universe¡¯s laws, there was only a feeling of incompleteness. ¡°What?¡± Fillan thought mystified. ¡°Why isn¡¯t it working? My talent is clearly way better; what the fuck kind of nonsense is this?¡± Since it refused to complete itself, Fillan decided to try and force a breakthrough. With unpracticed effort, he put his whole mind to the task of making his blood surge as quickly as possible around his body. Why? That¡¯s a damn good question. One that doesn¡¯t really matter, since it, of course, did not work. ¡°Did some of the fumes infiltrate my bloodstream? Because I don¡¯t know what kind of moron potion is brewing in my body, but I am damn sure there is nothing wrong with my body tempering, so why is this happening?¡± ¡°It¡¯s obviously not a bottleneck either¡­¡± Then, like a slap to the face, a strange notion hit him. ¡°Does it have to do with my soul veins?¡± he wondered. ¡°It did clearly state that it granted innate control of blood and soul, and the ability to fuse them with mana.¡± ¡°The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. I mean, it doesn¡¯t really, but it¡¯s all I¡¯ve got.¡± With haste, Fillan turned his focus towards the soul, which despite its changes, barely looked different. At certain areas you could spot vein-like protrusions on the soul¡¯s surface, but other than that and the radiant soul patterns, it looked ordinary. Fillan was not one to be fooled by appearances, especially since he was told to his face by an enigmatic and unfathomable measuring orb that something extraordinary had happened here. With a deep breath, Fillan switched his sense of perception from the physical realm to the spiritual, and attuned fully into his soul. What once felt like a lifeless husk riddled with tattoos, now had a breath of life to it. It possessed a kind of vigor and order that calmed the seething chaos within. Something that was impossible to even attempt sensing, became nearly detectable. Not fully, but it was still a great step in the right direction. Within the vigor, Fillan felt the familiar sensation of surging blood, but it was something unidentifiable to him. It was a gray, nearly gaseous liquid flowing with enormous speeds through his soul veins, circulating between the different parts of his soul¡¯s surface and the mana well. The amount was something to scoff at, not even enough to fill a single straw, but that did not diminish its presence. ¡°Hmmm¡­Maybe it¡¯s because I lack the proper depth on some of the veins, but the liquid feels really turbulent and unstable. Or maybe I need to continue with ¡°humanizing¡± the soul with organs, bones, and flesh? ¡°This liquid definitely does have a name, but I don¡¯t see any way I can get it, so I¡¯ll just call it soul-liquid¡­It will do for now. Hopefully the true name is more inspired than what I came up with.¡± ¡°How the hell would I go about fusing it with my blood though? That might not even be what I¡¯m supposed to do.¡± The biggest problem here is the tiny amount of soul liquid and its unstable nature. Fillan didn¡¯t doubt for a second that if that liquid left his veins, it would dissipate in a manner of seconds. ¡°Getting mana into the veins shouldn¡¯t be too difficult, but I don¡¯t have any control of the soul-liquid, so I don¡¯t see how I can fuse them. The biggest component of the Blood Transmutation realm is clearly having a decent grasp of both blood and qi; if either side is lacking, there will be no room for cooperation.¡± ¡°Plus, even IF I managed to do this, how would blood come into play here?¡± ¡°It should be theoretically possible to fuse it with the soul-mana-liquid, since it¡¯s a known thing, but my stupid ass already turned all my blood into blood-qi. Everyone knows fusing mana and qi is impossible.¡± According to legends, a grand immortal god descended upon Graaryll a few million years ago. He was not labeled as such do to the ignorance of the people there, it was a true powerhouse from a higher realm, and as such, he possessed great wisdom. One of the ancient elven mages asked the immortal god about why qi and mana were irreconcilable. Sure, they could exist in the same areas without conflict, but if anyone dared to fuse them, a cataclysmic reaction of unfathomable proportions would ensue. The immortal god answered that the common consensus in his realm was that both mana and qi were origin substances. They existed before in complete harmony, until for whatever reason, they were forced into fusion. The reaction then gave birth to the current universe and everything in it. It would then stand to reason that if mana and qi were fused again that it would result in a pocket dimension at the least, and another universe at most. But that is not the case. Apparently, the first fusion changed something intrinsically about both energies. Their harmony was broken, and could seemingly never be restored again. The immortal god proclaimed that all the universe''s laws kept the energies from returning to their true nature, and only the complete shattering and dissolvement of the universe will ever be able to change this standstill. Thus, eager to return to what they once were, mana and qi, when fused, will try its all to decimate as much as possible. It¡¯s easy to say no one on Graaryll ever dared attempt to fuse qi and mana after hearing that explanation. ¡°I definitely huffed something coming in here, or maybe it¡¯s Metamorphosis that¡¯s fucking with my brain; why would I ever finish the blood-qi fusion when I know I¡¯ll need blood for the soul vein fusion?¡± Chapter 6: Fiendish ¡°Should I just kill myself then? If there''s no way to progress and I don''t have a cultivation technique, then what the fuck am I supposed to do?¡± ¡°Sure, I can continue to devise magical spells but there''s no real point to it if I can''t use my newly acquired talent¡ªyeah let me just kill myself.¡± ¡°Let me go out with a bang. This new Karmic Reincarnation Eye revels in excessive amounts of karma, so if I end up causing a big explosion, inadvertently killing a lot of people, then that should contribute significantly to my repertoire of powers.¡± ¡°Might as well see what all the fuss around not fusing qi and mana is about.¡± Since the expected and desired result was the complete annihilation of himself and everything around him, there was no need to proceed with caution or apprehension. Since this roadblock appeared like this, he might as well try fusing his blood-qi with mana-soul-liquid. ¡°But is blood-qi still qi, and mana-soul-liquid still mana?¡± Fillan wondered at the last minute. ¡°I have never heard of anyone cultivating with blood-qi, even though it¡¯s theoretically a superior substance, while also being perfectly tailored to the practitioner.¡± ¡°God damnit, now I have doubts.¡± Doubtful or not, since he made up his mind, he¡¯d go through with the plan without hesitation. The first step in the plan was fusing mana into the turbulent soul-liquid, something that was bound to be more difficult than blood-qi fusion. Since the soul-liquid was, for all intents and purposes, just a free flowing independent liquid coming from an area of the soul where his conscious mind held no jurisdiction, gaining a good grasp of its flow was proving to be an arduous task. When Fillan finally found the rhythm of the soul-liquid, it would spontaneously change, growing either faster, slower, or a completely unpredictable combination of the two. It seemed incoherent, deprived of all sense and logic. Fillan, since he didn¡¯t really care if all the procedures were performed to perfection, as he was going to die and all, tried to forcefully shove mana into the soul-veins and induce fusion, whether it be on equal terms or not. Yet the only result that met him was an unfathomable tearing sensation erupting from every single morsel of his being. He overloaded the capacity of the thin soul-veins, nearly causing them to rupture. This allowed a small part of his already lacking soul-liquid to reenter the free-flowing soul-soup, leaving him with even less material, unprecedented pain, and no idea of how to proceed. ¡°Damn it. Damn it. Damn it! How could this be so fucking painful? You¡¯re telling me I can cut off the index finger of my soul and feel nothing, I can drive needles of mana in and out of my soul with no issue, but these veins, which don¡¯t have a semblance of nerve structures, can cause this kind of pain? Where is the logic? Where is the sense? Where is the sanity?¡± ¡°It also didn¡¯t fucking work!¡± Fillan exclaimed with vexation. ¡±Weren¡¯t I supposed to have an inherent control of ¡®blood and soul¡¯? It would sure be nice if that decided to show up.¡± ¡°God, I feel like I can¡¯t think straight!¡± he shouted in pure, unrestricted annoyance. ¡°It¡¯s like my mind is being pressed underneath a blanket of stupidity; I don¡¯t understand it!¡± ¡°If I¡¯m supposed to have an inherent control of my soul, then maybe this soul-liquid isn¡¯t considered part of me?¡± ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, then wouldn¡¯t the same apply to blood? Unless¡­it has to be produced by the body for it to be acknowledged.¡± ¡°That would mean I need soul-marrow to produce soul-liquid, and to do that I would need soul-bones. Just the ultra-thin soul-veins already required seven years of continuous work and effort before completion. If I were to make bones and marrow, I¡¯d be sitting in this cave for centuries.¡±'' With no options seeming very appealing or fitting, Fillan was left stuck at a crossroads: should he continue with ¡°humanizing¡± his soul, or just get this life over with and focus on his body tempering? ¡°The mages on Graaryll, at least the human ones, are so pathetic; there¡¯s no way they have something that can help me out, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already scoured most of the important books and scrolls in Garth, Tsunta, and Truhan, if Tella had anything to offer, it could definitely be found there. Searching high and low for random caves and pocket-spaces would be banal, which means I either have to go to Argoria or Pengyro¡­¡± The world of Graaryll very simply consists of five continents: Tella, where humans dominate. Pengyro, where dragons rule. Argoria, the land of light and dark elves. Brothril, home to dwarves. And Emithy, breeding ground for beasts. Of the five continents, the dragons and elves are considered superior in magic, while humans and dwarves are insufficient in talent and accomplishments. As such, if there is valuable magical knowledge to be gleaned from this barren planet, it would be found on Argoria or Pengyro. ¡°I can do pretty much whatever I want on Tella since most humans are focused on body tempering and cultivation, but if I show up wantonly and some Dominator fucks me in the face, then I just wasted a ¡®valuable¡¯ opportunity.¡± Fillan was confident that, even if he couldn¡¯t beat cultivators in a confrontation, they would¡ªconsidering only his magic¡ªnot be able to kill him, nor stop him from leaving. If he considers his various different law comprehensions, combined with his new law talent, he was certain none of them could even remotely hurt him. Dominators, however, were vastly different. They rule the world with an iron fist, disallowing non Dominators from utilizing spells, and rendering use of laws worthless. Only another Dominator, or an unfathomably powerful and talented cultivator would be able to fight against them. Fillan might be blessed by the universe¡¯s laws or whatever, but that matters dick when he still hasn¡¯t established his law palace. All of this is to say, Fillan would dare lord arrogantly above the masses, but become a sheep in front of a Dominator. While humans only had two Dominators currently alive, the dragons had a minimum of thirteen confirmed, and the elves another nine. And there is no way these powerhouses would be welcome to give their secrets to some random human. ¡°Metamorphosis could work since it¡¯s technically a permanent change, but I just don¡¯t know if someone so powerful can detect the use of a spell or not. If they can¡¯t, then great, if they can, then I¡¯m fucked.¡± After some further debating, Fillan quickly decided that since he was planning to die anyway, that it didn¡¯t matter how this turned out. It would be awesome if he gets access and finds something useful, but it wouldn¡¯t be a tragedy if he was discovered. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The aspect of accumulating more negative karma was also pretty easily discarded by him, since he could technically do that whenever, and however much, he pleased. ¡°I don¡¯t think I make for a very good dragon, so I¡¯ll visit Argoria,¡± he decided. ¡°Elves also actively perform research and develop their craft, while dragons are arrogant and stubborn; I¡¯d probably only get some spell patterns from them, which is not at all what I need.¡± Elves on Graaryll are divided into two camps: light and dark. While the only biological difference is hair color, their attributes and interests are wildly different. Light elves are pure yang in nature, even the women, while they tend to focus on radiant magic and the improvement of their bodies. The dark elves, on the other hand, are pure yin in nature, and tend to focus on darkness and improving their souls. Due to this, both sides also tend to loathe the other, causing countless conflicts over the ages. However, it¡¯s not all bad, as the rivalry has spurred a deep seated urge for improvement, to become better than the other. As such, Fillan¡¯s destination and transformation were pretty obvious. With a flick of his wrists, two blood red domes appeared over Fillan¡¯s ears as continuous shifting and wiggling could be discerned from within. Elves were anatomically similar to humans, with only their ears being different, taking on a pointy shape rather than round. And, since Fillan¡¯s hair was already pitch black, there was nothing more for him to change. ¡°It¡¯s said that elves tend to live simply, choosing to wear drab clothes and live in simple homes, but surely there must be some outliers who don¡¯t conform, right?¡± ¡°If I show up in this outfit, I think it can only strengthen the belief that I¡¯m a true and honest elf, only with an eccentric personality. Surely they would not expect humans to try and infiltrate them without doing their research¡­¡± With a slash of his wrist, a dark crack in space appeared before Fillan. Its insides were completely indecipherable, while its rim radiated a gray hue. It made for a pretty domineering image, which was exactly what he wanted. Fillan had to establish himself as powerful, but equally opulent. The elves, Dominators or not, had to decide with a glance that he was someone impressive, that way, entering their libraries and vaults would be easier. The elves supposedly are very frivolous with their sharing of knowledge amongst their group, with only the very fine details of certain spell patterns or discernments being hidden from the public to give themselves some trump cards. This would give Fillan an easy time with tons of leeway. Unless they require verification or documentation of any kind first, that is. ¡°Oh, wait! Maybe I should try out that ¡®karmic pressure¡¯ and get a sinister air to me¡­Yes, that¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m going to do.¡± Focusing on the area between his brows, Fillan, like he was waking up for the first time, revealed a slit that was slowly opening wider and wider, until it reached almost a third of a normal eye¡¯s volume. Calling it an eye was not really an apt description, as it was more like an amalgamous shadow that never ceased squirming. Yet, no matter how much it squirmed and seethed, it was unable to leave its confines. Almost as if resigned to its fate, the shadow slowly turned perfectly still, like a quiet lake underneath the moonlight. And the very second the last tiny river-like tendril settled down, an indescribable, unfathomable, incomprehensible pressure erupted into the surroundings. Everything within thousands of kilometers became blanketed by this pressure. Trees trembled, the earth cracked, the sky wept, the beasts howled, and the humans prostrated. No matter whether it was alive or not, all that was put underneath this pressure turned insignificant, like they were met by an undefeatable predator. Fillan himself, however, was completely unaware of the extent of the pressure. He knew for certain that it was radiating, but couldn¡¯t quite discern it. It was almost like his back. He knew it was there, but could only ever get a grasp of how it looks with the help of instruments or other means, never with his own two eyes. Unless he found someone or something to measure the pressure, he would never know how powerful it was. Of course, he guessed it would be pretty impactful considering the negative karma from his previous life singlehandedly got the entirety of Graaryll destroyed by a giant needle. But it didn¡¯t really matter to him, granted it helped him with his endeavors. With no more distractions or needs, Fillan set foot in the unnecessary and domineering spatial crack. ¡­ While the human continent of Tella stretched all the way from the north-east down to the south-east, the continent of Argaria was more like a giant island in comparison, sitting leisurely in the south-west. The distance between the two continents is considerable, something that has limited their exposure to each other, and therefore also helped cultivate cultural xenophobia. But other than culture and size, there were no real topographical differences between the two. When Fillan appeared over the raging waves of the ocean, he damn near thought he miscalculated the ¡°teleportation¡±. If not for sensing the considerable span of his journey, he¡¯d truly have been fooled. ¡°Note to self, if anyone uses spatial cracks to travel they¡¯re just doing it for appearances,¡± Fillan thought seriously. ¡°Maintaining that shit was several times more taxing and consuming than just teleporting.¡± ¡°But damn, I knew beforehand that Argaria looks similar to Tella, yet the way elves were referred to in books and by people made me expect something¡­more. Their settlements might be where the difference lies.¡± The side Fillan appeared on naturally belonged to the dark elves, and for fear of their defense systems blasting him to high heavens, he still decided to appear over the ocean rather than the middle of a city. Humans, in their hubris, naturally tried to attack the elven continent once. They sent an army consisting of powerful cultivators one million strong, yet they never even saw a single elf before being almost completely decimated. The elves, with the help of all their past and current Dominators, managed to turn a truly magnificent spell into a large functioning formation running purely on ambient mana. There is no need for anyone to operate it, nor does it need maintenance. The only time it is ever changed is when a new Dominator is born. They are then obligated to integrate their signature spell into the formation, thus strengthening it over time. Fillan would rather not be perceived as an enemy by that thing, and therefore decided to approach respectfully. ¡°Shit, why did the waves calm down!¡± Fillan thought as adrenaline spread throughout his basically mortal body. ¡°Noooooo¡­¡± Despite acting like an idiot, and bracing for swift death, nothing happened even after a full minute passed. ¡°Huh? Is it because I¡¯m an ¡®elf¡¯?¡± ¡°I can clearly see that the waves are completely still with me as the center point, so why is nothing happening?¡± Fillan quickly used Float to move away from Argaria, hoping putting a distance between them would relax the taught formation. However, the ocean waves behind him began to calm as he approached them. ¡°What the fuck is the point of locking on to me with the formation, making the ocean calm with me as the center, if it¡¯s not going to attack? This doesn¡¯t make any sense, and I don¡¯t feel any reduction in the ambient mana.¡± One of the few things humans know about the continental formation of the elves is that it sucks the ocean air dry of all its mana, no matter how minimal the use of the formation is. It makes up for this by spitting out the mana it didn¡¯t use after finishing its task, but never before. ¡°Is it not the formation targeting me? Is it someone else? Was it the spatial crack looking too cool? Is it my clothes? Is it a Dominator playing with me after seeing through my disguise?¡± Dozens of questions ran through Fillan¡¯s head at enormous speeds, all without answers. ¡°Maybe they don¡¯t appreciate the sinister pressure coming from my Karmic Reincarnation Eye¡­¡± Not willing to take any risks now that he was here, Fillan simply closed his third eye, making the almost boundless pressure disappear. With a swoosh, the ocean waves below reacted like water thrown into boiling oil, exploding in every which way. Waves taller than mountains appeared amongst massive geyser-like water jets. Fillan appeared like a tiny weed amongst giants, looking totally meek and helpless. Of course, this was just a matter of size, none of the waves could ever hurt him physically. ¡°So it was the sinister pressure! I don¡¯t know why the fuck it would react like that, but good riddance. My wanting to look intimidating nearly got me sent straight into half a day ago.¡± ¡°But did they upgrade their formation or something? Why didn¡¯t the mana density change at all?¡± There were too many aspects of the situation Fillan didn¡¯t comprehend, naturally because he was ignorant to the truth. The waves simply calmed down due to the karmic pressure he was flaunting everywhere. Of course, waves are not living creatures, nor do they have any form of spirituality, but the world does. It has a very rudimentary and rigid ¡°thought¡± process, and can, in times of need, exert control over itself. So, in the areas it was met with the fear of death and destruction, it simply tried to hide its presence and not to offend the source of danger. It is a natural survival mechanism that could be useful in situations where outsiders force their way from the upper realms to the lower realm. Those people are often very haughty and easy to antagonize, so learning to act prudently was a must for any infant worlds in the universe. ¡°It¡¯s water under the bridge anyway, let¡¯s go get this shit over and done with. I¡¯ll be happy if I can find even a sliver of a hint for what I need to do.¡± Chapter 7: Library of Knowledge Towering tree-like metal structures encompassed the word for as long as eyes could see. Intricate designed architecture surrounded by perfectly placed and planned roads upon which spell powered vehicles moved along in a hurry. The airspace was all but quiet, as different contraptions and beasts flew about with varying amounts of dark elves riding them. Everything in Alkrham, the city of knowledge, appeared millions of years ahead of the backwater Tella. Every single part of the city seemed to cater not only to the powerful mages, but also the common population, something humans felt incapable of. It truly was a staple of what could be achieved as a species in which every life mattered an equal amount. Disregarding the Dominators¡ªwho are worshiped as gods¡ªof course. Walking on the mysterious pavement were large swathes of dark haired individuals with pointy ears and fair complexions. Most were dressed in either simplistic cotton, linen, or hemp clothes. There were the occasional outlier with some higher tier outfits made from spiritual materials, but even they kept their conspicuousness to a minimum. Jewelry and adornments seemed foreign here, as neither could be spotted amongst the masses. Except for on one individual. ¡°I think they¡¯re staring at me¡­¡± Fillan thought with insecurity. He could feel some piercing gazes attacking him from every which way. They weren¡¯t malicious per say, but definitely were not welcoming. Fillan felt a bit uncomfortable under their scrutiny; he was an undercover human after all. ¡°I just don¡¯t know if they¡¯ve seen through my disguise or if it¡¯s the violently out-of-place outfit I¡¯m wearing.¡± ¡°This whole thing could have been avoided if I could just fly or teleport, but nooo, we can¡¯t do that. What kind of rule is it anyway that you need a permit to fly in the city? Do I look like I have a permit? Fucking ridiculous.¡± ¡°The city is also way too big; I¡¯ve been walking for over an hour and am still not half-way to the Library of Knowledge. This. Is. Miserable.¡± One of the problems of showing up unplanned and unprepared in a new nation is the lack of monetary means. Fillan, in simple words, was poor as hell. When he tried to get on the bus¡ªor whatever the fuck they called it¡ªthey told him it cost forty ¡°noctres¡±, the dark elves'' currency. Fillan had no clue how much a noctre was, but his image as a frivolous, arrogant, rich and powerful young master type nearly crumbled on the spot when he turned and walked away from the bus. Earning money was never complicated, especially not for someone with his skillset, but it takes time, and getting the money and then taking the bus would be longer than just walking, so¡­ ¡°Damn, I feel so emasculated,¡± he grumbled to himself. ¡°I was the sect master of a powerful sect in my last life, you know? Even if the sect wasn¡¯t aware, I¡¯m sure that carried considerable weight, not to mention the spatial ring on my finger was probably worth more than a thousand Graarylls. And yet, I can¡¯t get public transportation here.¡± This is basically what Fillan had been thinking about for the entire hour of walking¡ª reminiscing about lost grandeur and glory. ¡°Even if I don¡¯t find anything of value in that damn library, I still re-learned an old lesson today: never go anywhere without money.¡± As his dissatisfaction continued to ebb and flow, time passed like the wind. When Fillan finally broke out of his reverie, he came face to face with an indecently broad, and much too tall tree-like structure, placed in the center of an even larger square. Tens of thousands of dark elves were coming and going from the structure, whether by foot or by air, creating a scene similar to that of bees and their hive. The ¡°tree¡± was made of a rainbow-like alloy that radiated a seven-colored hue. It somehow made the clearly metal creation feel alive. ¡°Moment of truth. Based on the amount of people and what they''re saying, there¡¯s no way I¡¯d need a permit unless I¡¯m going to read about a Dominator¡¯s spell patterns, or if I¡¯m here to conduct research.¡± With mild apprehension brought on by instinct and experiences, Fillan continued to inch his way closer to the library. Despite being dubbed the Library of Knowledge, it was evidently much more than just a repository for books and information. Research, studies, lectures, battles, trades, and showcases of new technology are all common activities at this place. The reason why is obvious, as it creates a competitive environment where everyone is trying to better themselves as quickly as possible, often by creative or innovative means. If someone loses a battle, they might end up devising new spell patterns to counter those of their opponent, thus beating them the next time they fight. Then that guy does the same in an eternal cycle of progress and development. The same applies to technology showcases and research. The lectures help accelerate the time it takes for people to improve, while trades allow everyone a great repertoire of varying means. It truly was a haven for growth. Of course, there were some people who showed up only to further their ego¡ªpeople who look like Fillan. ¡°Whistle¡± A whistle came from Fillan¡¯s right, and since he was in an unprecedentedly big crowd, he naturally didn¡¯t pay it any heed. ¡°Are you fucking deaf!?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you can¡¯t hear me!¡± The incessant shouts of someone who was clearly deprived of attention and love came closer and closer to where Fillan was. ¡°I¡¯m talking to you, you wannabe rich bastard!¡± came another shout. ¡°How dare you waltz around in an outfit like that as a nobody?¡± ¡°Is that little brat talking to me,¡± Fillan wondered, as he turned to look towards the voice. ¡°Nah, why would someone fresh out of their mother¡¯s womb go around picking fights with strangers?¡± ¡°Ah ha!¡± the voice exclaimed. ¡°You can¡¯t pretend anymore! Take your clothes off right now, and I¡¯ll be merciful.¡± The person talking had the most haughty of expressions plastered on his face, and similarly to Fillan, he was dressed like a gaudy asshole. Despite Fillan seeing him as a newborn, the guy was probably no younger than eighteen, or at the very least, older than the current him. His mental age, however, was vastly superior to most of the people. Despite not counting how many years he had lived across the different time-loops, whether long or short, he was certainly more than fifty years old. Hell, just the last loop alone lasted eight years. And sure, the loops are most often spent devising or engraving spell patterns in complete isolation, reducing the amount of experiences he has drastically, but no one needs to know about that. ¡°Take your fucking clothes off right now, or else¡­¡± he demanded, as the crowd parted from the two. Well, three since there was an old man following the haughtmaster. ¡°Or else what?¡± Fillan asked with a heavy attitude. ¡°Did I give you permission to speak¡ª¡± ¡°Did I ask?¡± ¡°How dare¡ª¡± ¡°Run along kid, your breastmilk is getting cold.¡± ¡°Argh!¡± the guy roared. ¡°You, me, battle arena, right now!¡± ¡®I thought only cultivators and body temperors became unstable like this; guess I was wrong.¡¯ ¡°Why would I go to the battle arena with you?¡± Fillan asked, not ready to waste time on something unrelated to why he came here. Entertaining this loose cannon was already him being ¡°nice¡±. ¡°Why? Because I¡¯m going to kill you!¡± he proclaimed. ¡°Right.¡± Fillan rebuked. ¡°Let me tell you, just because everyone you have ever known acts timidly or fearful around you, doesn¡¯t mean you are powerful.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Let me guess, your father is someone impressive, he¡¯s never home and doesn¡¯t show much care for you. You have always been more powerful than your peers, and no one dares to offend you, so you¡¯ve developed this notion that you¡¯re someone incredibly gifted; a heavenly talent who everyone should adore.¡± ¡°Listen, I don¡¯t know you, but I know your type, and I know for a fact that if you were to show even the slightest sign of attacking me, then you¡¯d die on the spot.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you have that old bodyguard protecting you, it wouldn¡¯t even matter if your father is a damn Dominator. You. Would. Die. So, shut the fuck up and run along.¡± And just like that the character Fillan wanted to portray fell apart like a sand castle taken by the tides. Since no one could discern that he was human, Fillan didn¡¯t particularly care if he maintained his image or not. It was a disposable persona that would only enter the building, but never leave anyway. Whether the character died outside or inside was entirely irrelevant. Fillan also couldn¡¯t restrain himself around this Ming Gu-esq guy. It reminded him of all his years of struggle, and then being fucked in the face by the Path. Sure, everything they did to screw him over worked out great in the end, but the potential risks were substantial, and not something easily forgotten by him. Not only that, the obnoxious brat caught him in a relatively foul mood. Fillan already felt like a little bitch after not being able to afford the bus fare, having this clearly premature and weak kid thinking he was more powerful than himself was like a slap to the face. ¡°I¡¯d watch my words, young man,¡± the old bodyguard warned with an ice-cold expression. ¡°Insulting me or Little Jason is one thing, but to denounce Dominators is the greatest blasphemy. ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of episode you¡¯re having over there, geezer, because I never denounced Dominators, nor did I speak of them in a derogatory way,¡± Fillan responded without turning to look back. ¡°You said that even a Dominator wouldn¡¯t be able to protect his son in front of you, a nobody; how is that not denouncing their infinite might?¡± the bodyguard proclaimed. ¡°Brother, of course I couldn''t hurt Little Jackson¡ªor whatever¡ªif the Dominator was here, but he¡¯s not. Stop trying to get me in trouble just because your senility is rotting your brain.¡± Again, Fillan never fucks around with Dominators. Especially not when he was about to enter one of the dark elves'' ¡°secret¡± troves of knowledge. It''s similar to spitting in the owner of the library¡¯s face the second he showed up; there¡¯s no way he¡¯d be allowed access after that. ¡°He just blasphemed the gods!¡± Little Jason shouted with poorly acted shock. ¡°Uncle Peter, you must slay this evildoer in accordance with the law: only Dominators, or those of near or similar might can speak negatively of other Dominators. Any outliers are to be killed in the name of ancestral respect.¡± Fillan, when he heard this, nearly choked on air. ¡®Maybe there¡¯s something in the air today that¡¯s making everyone on Graaryll stupid, cause it¡¯s clearly not just me. Does he think that lousy excuse would work in a place like this, not to mention Uncle Peter is seconds away from growing inseparable from his coffin, he could probably not even break through the most basic Water Shield spell. Killing me? What a joke!¡¯ ¡°I will, but all non-battle arena fighting is prohibited in Enlightenment Plaza, even those in the name of justice,¡± Uncle Peter answered calmly, assured of his own prowess. ¡°I¡¯ll go request an official duel to the death with this individual.¡± ¡°Okay, Uncle Peter,¡± Little Jason answered with glee. ¡°I¡¯ll follow him and make sure he doesn¡¯t run away.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± With a decent pace, but calm and steady steps, Uncle Peter disappeared into the library, while Little Jason followed Fillan without trying to hide his presence at all. Fillan, of course, had already tuned out and was studying the convoluted map of the building. ¡°Okay, there are three hundred and twenty different library halls, where three of them have books on the soul and improving it.¡± ¡°The first one is centered around different spell engraving techniques¡ªwhich I didn¡¯t even realize was a thing¡ªand constructing formations with different spell patterns. This might be useful, but it doesn¡¯t sound like something I can¡¯t easily discover on my own.¡± ¡°The second hall is all about proven and experimental techniques to temper the soul, and different research on the matter. This sounds promising¡­¡± ¡°And the third hall is all theory about the soul. It¡¯s origins, it¡¯s effects, it¡¯s true nature, reincarnation and its effects, how the soul changes when immortalized and much more.¡± ¡°The first hall is worthless right now, so it¡¯s either number two or three. Realistically, I¡¯m looking for theories related to the true nature and origins of the soul, but it¡¯s to improve my soul.¡± ¡°Hmmm, there should be a lot of theory used in creating the techniques, so hall two should be like hitting two birds with one stone.¡± With no further dilly dallying, Fillan moved towards the massive tube-like construction to the right of the massive map. ¡°This is a pretty powerful spatial spell they¡¯re using here, but why bother building an entire tube for it?¡± A simple question with a simple answer: appearance. The architects thought the tube looked cool, so they decided to build it. And it must be said, it truly did add to the atmosphere of the place, giving it a more refined but unrestricted look. Stepping into the tube and a virtual keyboard projection appeared in front of him. Every place in the Library of Knowledge has its own unique code depending on its contents and area. For example, Fillan was going to library hall seventy-five, which was in the northern part of the twelfth floor. As such, the code he would need to be teleported there is LIB75N12. There is also no other way of maneuvering around the building, so if you type the wrong code, you¡¯ll end up in the wrong place, have to return to the lobby, re-learn the code, and only then can you get to your destination. It doesn¡¯t sound like much of a hassle, until you realize that a return to the lobby takes a minimum of five minutes, and a maximum of two hours due to the massive traffic it experiences. Needless to say, Fillan took that warning seriously, making sure to read the codes listed on the map. Even if Fillan wasn¡¯t a cultivator whose brain was evolving to greater stratums, he still had a myriad of spells that could help with storing information, with the most convenient one being Memory Monitor. It¡¯s an advanced spell that allows you to, in less than an instant, re-experience your memories like they happened, only with your new knowledge. In other words, it¡¯s almost like traveling back to the past, only it happens instantly and carries no danger. Of course, Fillan can¡¯t change anything that occurs there, since they¡¯re just memories, not the actual physical past. Now, if he ever needed to go somewhere in the building, he¡¯d just activate the spell, read the code, and go, saving himself a lot of trouble. Not wanting to loiter around in the tube that was constantly being filled by new people, Fillan typed the requisite code, and disappeared. ¡­ ¡°Good God!¡± he exclaimed when he appeared on the ¡°other end¡± of the tube. ¡°The spell might be powerful and complex, but it definitely does not prioritize the traveler¡¯s comfort; I felt like a big boulder rolling down a mountain.¡± ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for my comprehension of space I¡¯d be rolling on the ground right now, so how come all of these elves are walking about like it was nothing?¡± ¡°Are all elves naturally resilient when it comes to spatial transportation, or is it because they have spells or artifacts to protect themselves?¡± Despite being slightly intrigued why he appeared to be the only one remotely affected by the teleportation, Fillan never once stopped moving towards the dozens of three story tall bookshelves located in the center of the enormous hall. The shelves didn¡¯t have any indication of what type of books and scrolls could be found on them, only a single label that said either ¡°verified¡± or ¡°experimental.¡± Knowing that what he was looking for probably wouldn¡¯t be ¡°verified¡±, as everyone here would be at home practicing it right now, Fillan approached the first of four ¡°experimental¡± shelves. Despite housing thousands of books, and even more scrolls, there were no more than ten people picking and choosing material for them to read there. Whenever they found something they liked, they would simply put some of their mana into the bookshelf and they were free to do whatever they wanted with the item. Except bring it out of the library, you need authorization from a powerful elven mage to do something like that. However, this type of system would be pretty flawed considering how many people visited this library at all times. As such, in the place where the literature used to be, a new copy would appear. It was a genius way to track and manage who read what, and also giving everyone the ability to read the same thing simultaneously. One of the elven defense formation¡¯s functions that is continuously powered, is their ¡°mana radar.¡± In simple terms, this is an omniscient search spell effective on anyone who possesses mana flowing in and out of their bodies. It manages to discern individuality in the mana that emerges from a person''s mana well, and can then give your exact location to the elven law enforcement. When a person borrows a book, that individuality is also being processed by the spell on the bookshelf, which sends the information to a record. This record will have all the information of what you¡¯ve done through mana verification, and is integral in maintaining a civilized elven society. It¡¯s the reason why there is a general lack of crime on Argaria; catching villains is super simple. Despite not knowing any of this, Fillan could haphazardly guess some of the uses of the bookshelf¡¯s formation. ¡°I saw similar formations all over the city on the way here, and it seems like a person identification system. Will the system flag me as an intruder since I don¡¯t have a registered identity?¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t really matter anyway. I can just speed up time here while reading however many books I can before someone or something I can¡¯t handle shows up. My guess is the library, and the whole building really, is deathly secure against any and all mages below Dominators, but I¡¯m not sure if the same applies to cultivators.¡± ¡°There are definitely precautions in place, but I think they trust their continental formation enough not to plan against minor ¡®what ifs¡¯.¡± With confidence in his deduction, Fillan decided to find works with promising titles so that if, and only if, things went tits up, he¡¯d know what to grab. ¡°Furnace Refinement, no. Beastal Soul Fusion, no. Intricate Detailing of How Planting Stars In the Soul Could Elevate It to New Heights, is not what I want, but god damn does it sound interesting,¡± The excruciating search for knowledge began at last. Chapter 8: Cataclysmic Lightning God ¡°What can I do for you today, Mr. Passlaw?¡± a tubby dark elf asked Uncle Peter. They were seated in an office-like room decorated with different beasts¡¯ skulls. The room had two tables, one for work, and one for company and leisure, where the second one was filled to the brim with different cuisines. It was evident this dark elf didn¡¯t get to his stature by accident. ¡°That spoiled brat Jason got into a tiff with this guy by the entrance,¡± Uncle Peter responded with annoyance. ¡°It would have been fine if the guy didn¡¯t start speaking about Dominators since Jason could only let it go, but alas¡­¡± ¡°So, you want to arrange a death match between Jason and this guy¡ª¡± ¡°No, between him and me,¡± Peter interrupted. ¡°Since his father told me to protect him, there¡¯s no way I could let him fight by himself.¡± ¡°Oh, how is that old guy anyway; I never see him anymore?¡± the tubby queried. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The last time I saw him was Jason¡¯s birthday nearly a year ago, where he told me he was entering seclusion and wouldn¡¯t come out for a while.¡± ¡°All I know is that he¡¯s still alive.¡± ¡°Is that so,¡± the big dark elf sighed despondently. ¡°He¡¯s the only elf I know that enters long seclusions like this, not to devise new spells or conduct research, but to cultivate.¡± ¡°Can you blame him?¡± Peter commented with melancholy. ¡°Unless you ascend or cultivate, a mage¡¯s lifespan is bound to be less than five hundred years; who can stomach facing death when the time comes?¡± ¡°Sigh.¡± ¡°Sigh.¡± ¡°I can make the death match take place on the first sub-arena in ten minutes,¡± the tubby proclaimed. ¡°Do you have his mana identification? ¡°There¡¯s no need, Jason¡¯s following him. Just send the enforcers to his location and look for someone dressed similarly to him.¡± ¡°Alright, I hope to see your brilliant success later then, Mr. Passlaw.¡± ¡­ ¡°Out of the tens of thousands of books and scrolls on these four shelves, how the fuck are there only two that have titles I¡¯m looking for? Fillan wondered with gritted teeth. Despite spending the better part of an hour skimming over every piece of literature he could place his eyes upon, Fillan only found two that could potentially help him. There were a lot of interesting titles for sure, like How Mana Can Artificially Inflate the Soul or the Ten Thousand Steps of Magical Refinement: Engraving the Soul on Magic. Yet, they were of no use in the current situation. ¡°Did I really waste more than three hours on this shit, all for nothing?¡± ¡°And why is that kid following me everywhere? It¡¯s pissing me off. If he doesn¡¯t disappear soon, I¡¯ll make him.¡± Standing, quite conspicuously, just a dozen meters away was Jason. His face held a natural contempt for everyone around him, but it seemed especially heavy towards Fillan. Like he loathed the fact he wasn¡¯t kissing his feet at every single moment. Fillan had done his damn best to just ignore him, but it was getting harder and harder as his frustrations grew. ¡°God, how I wish I could slap that silly expression right off his mongrel face,¡± Fillan thought as his imagination ran wild with the idea. ¡°Maybe I should show off my Karmic Reincarnation Eye? Sure, the continental formation doesn¡¯t like it, but it probably won¡¯t attack me, right?¡± Just as Fillan was getting ready to grab the two books he found, read them, and then scare the shit out of, or outright kill, Jason, hundreds of armor wearing, staff wielding dark elves appeared en masse from the tube-teleporter. ¡°Was I discovered already?¡± Fillan thought in shock. ¡°First of all, how? Second, there¡¯s no way they think those guys are enough to handle me.¡± ¡°What am I, a rogue sheep? Even if all of them are Soul Casters they wouldn¡¯t be able to touch a hair on my head.¡± His suspicions were proved correct, though, as all the enforcers made their way towards him with slow and heavy steps. While a normal person would be terrified, or at least slightly nervous, Fillan was furious. These elves kept slapping his face. First he couldn¡¯t afford his buss fare so he had to walk like a pig for two hours, then there was this mentally unstable stalker kid who told him to take his clothes off ¡°or else,¡± followed by an old guy trying to frame him, after which he didn¡¯t find anything useful in this damn library, and now a bunch of babies were sent to apprehend him. It was like the world was spitting on him! ¡°You know what? This worked out just fine; I was getting really fed up with this whole escapade anyway.¡± ¡°Time for payback¡ª¡± ¡°In accordance with Enlightenment Plaza¡¯s regulations, you have been challenged to a death match for transgressions against our elven gods; you are to follow us to the first sub-arena at once, or be struck dead where you stand.¡± Fillan, already in the process of choosing what spells to barrage them with, was surprised at the turn of events. ¡°So it was just that old guy from earlier causing a ruckus,¡± Fillan realized. ¡°Hahaha, you¡¯re done for now you fucking bastard,¡± Jason shouted at the top of his lungs with a maniacal expression. ¡°Let¡¯s see how cocky you can be when Uncle Peter makes minced meat out of you! ¡°Hey, enforcer guy, who am I fighting against?¡± Fillan asked despite knowing the answer. ¡®No way that fossil from earlier wants to fight me himself.¡¯ ¡°You¡¯ll be facing Grand Magus Peter Passlaw in four minutes,¡± the ¡°enforcer guy¡± responded with a mocking expression. ¡°Giving him an impressive sounding title doesn¡¯t make that scrawny old man any more powerful,¡± Fillan retorted. ¡°Also, what the fuck is in it for me? ¡°Hmph, you should be grateful for the chance to keep your life; how dare you ask for more?¡± the enforcer sneered. ¡°Hahaha, I don¡¯t know what kind of cave you just crawled out of, you worm, but let me just make one thing very clear: if you spent just two seconds longer walking towards me, you¡¯d already be specks of dust right now. So, watch. Your. Tone.¡± With nothing more to say and a brewing ire, Fillan made his way towards the tube-teleporter, without caring about whether the idiot guards followed him or not. ¡°¡®You should be grateful for the chance to keep your life¡¯,¡± Fillan mockingly repeated to himself as he typed in SAR1C2¡ªwhich he quickly retrieved with Memory Monitor¡ªon the keyboard. ¡°This entire trip has been worthless, but maybe something can happen after the ¡®battle¡¯,¡± Fillan dreamed with delusion. ¡°Seeing me decimate that old guy might make bigger fish show up, fish who can potentially know something about what I need. Worst case scenario, I use that spell to glean whatever information I can; I refuse to go back with nothing but blood on my hands.¡± ¡­ The Library of Knowledge possesses a great deal of arenas divided into main and sub. The main arenas are where massive tournaments, free for alls, or duals of great importance take place. The sub-arenas, on the other hand, are for handling menial duels and squabbles, events of lesser importance, or death matches. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. However, since the main arenas are usually out of use, there are still thousands of spectators at every single sub-arena in the building. It doesn¡¯t matter what their interests are, if they wait long enough there¡¯s bound to be an enjoyable spectacle put on. Not to mention the bustling gambling scene there. Whether it be money, research, technology, unique or new spell patterns, or favors, everything could be lost and gained in this den of iniquity. When Fillan emerged from the tumultuous teleportation, he was met with tons of shouts and cheers directed towards the arena. There, two dark elves were fighting intensely through the use of different spells and weaponry. Items Fillan had never even seen before, like a small metal contraption that fired concentrated balls of mana and qi at the opponent, or strings that morphed into various different instruments all capable of casting their own audible spells. It was no surprise the crowd was so jubilant. ¡°I¡¯d have thought putting a time limit on the match would limit the fighters since they can¡¯t fight freely, but it appears the two are trying to do whatever they can to win as quickly as possible, making for quite the watch.¡± Not long after, when countdown neared zero, the mage with the string instruments barely achieved a feeble victory. Both of them were heavily injured, to a level way beyond what a mage should be comfortable with. But neither of them looked concerned about that; they were both hobbling their way out of the arena while carefully studying their weapons, with the occasional rune circle appearing around them. ¡°Although they were both miserably weak, their weapons still impressed me,¡± Fillan mused as the gunslinger walked past him. ¡°Especially those musical strings; I have a feeling that their potential for improvement is huge.¡± ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, next up on the first sub-arena is a death match!¡± an anonymous announcer exclaimed. ¡°Infuriated by blasphemous comments made by his opponent, the fighter from the north vows to slay the heretic in the name of justice, something he has always succeeded in before. Please welcome the honorable Demon Vanquisher, Grand Magus Peter Passlaw!¡± An uproarious cheer erupted from the boisterous crowd. ¡°What the fuck!? It¡¯s the Demon Vanquisher!¡± ¡°I heard he retired because he was close to breaking through to the Dominator realm!¡± ¡°No way we¡¯re going to get to see a half-step Dominator fight today.¡± ¡°Quick, put all your money on the Demon Vanquisher!¡± ¡­ ¡®God these people are stupid. What half-step Dominator? Where is he? Why can¡¯t I see him? Trying to become a dominator at his age would kill him outright; what complete and utter nonsense.¡¯ The announcer, after waiting for the crowd to calm down slightly, continued his monologue: ¡°Through poor reasoning and an inflated ego, the fighter from the south wishes to seek repentance from the gods by death. Please welcome the Nameless Fool!¡± The loud shouts of admiration quickly turned to snides, snickers, and boos directed towards the Nameless Fool, Fillan Strand. ¡®Is this why the announcer is nowhere to be seen? A safety precaution? Damn it!¡¯ Fillan vowed to get his revenge on this announcer if he ever dared show his face in front of him. Despite seething with even more fury than before, Fillan still calmly walked out from the southern gate, finally showing himself to the hate-mobish crowd. Peter Passlaw was standing erect in the center of the arena, adorned in a baggy robe and carrying a cane. Despite not thinking Fillan to be very powerful, Peter still had a reputation and look to maintain, so he went all out with the attire. Fillan, of course, was dressed in stylish young master-like clothes. Unlike what Peter was wearing though, Fillan¡¯s clothes had no other function than being aesthetically pleasing. To Peter, and the crowd, it seemed like he was trying to inflate his status and worth through clothes that looked impressive, but were far from it. Not wanting his public image to be ruined, Peter used a whispering spell to speak with Fillan covertly: ¡°You should have just taken off the clothes when that brat asked you to do so; they¡¯re not worth anything anyway. Now, you¡¯ll have to die for something so trivial. It truly is such a shame¡­¡± ¡°Someone as old and decrepit as you should know not to count your chickens before they hatch; if you genuinely believe you¡¯re going to win this, then maybe this will be a mercy.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t lump me in with idiots like the guy you were babysitting, okay?¡± Fillan continued. ¡°I might be stupid today, or I wouldn¡¯t be here, but I always make a thorough assessment of whether I can offend someone or not. And you, old man, are free game.¡± ¡°The ignorance of youth is truly staggering,¡± Peter sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to compensate your parents fairly for this.¡± Fillan didn¡¯t bother more with the Demon Voyeur, or whatever they called him, but rather turned his attention towards what spells to use. ¡®I have something to prove here, and don¡¯t want to be framed for cheating or something, so none of the quick and easy psychic or soul spells. It has to be something powerful, something loud, something intimidating. Hmm¡­¡¯ As Fillan continued to think about what spells would make for the most shocking slap to the crowd¡¯s face, the announcer began counting down til match start. ¡°Ten, nine, eight¡­three, two, one, fight!¡± ¡°Say your final prayers, Nameless Fool, and hope your next life will be better than this one.¡± With some additional theatrics for the crowd, Peter flailed his cane around in the air before several spell engravings were manifested into the air, drawing in the thick ambient mana. In nothing short of an instant, the spell patterns were successfully filled to the brim before launching the spells with a loud boom. Seven soul engravings produced seven bolts of different colored lightning that zigged their way towards Fillan at a speed too fast for anyone without spells or technology to see. Despite the rainbow lightning show taking place in front of him, Fillan was still caught up in what spells he was going to use. ¡®I don¡¯t want to embarrass myself like this old guy, so no simple spells. It¡¯ll have to be either Cosmic Barrage, Cataclysmic Lightning God, or Netherworldly Soul-Reaping Volcano.¡¯ ¡®I still haven¡¯t tested the Netherworldly Soul-Reaping Volcano, and Cosmic Barrage only really works in large open areas, unless I want to destroy everything here. I guess I¡¯m left with one choice: to fight lightning with lightning.¡¯ Despite thinking for a long time, not even the teeniest fraction of a second had passed, all thanks to Memory Monitor. The moment Fillan saw the tiniest sliver of a soul engraving appearing in the air, he decided to ¡°jump back¡± to a few minutes ago, giving himself ample time to plan and plot. Before he could launch his attack, though, Fillan first had to erect a defense; he was a scrawny Blood Transmutation realm, after all. By slightly nudging his soul, the circuitry for Psychic Barrier sprung into action, not wasting any time in transmuting the mana it required. With practiced movements, Fillan guided the transmuted mana out from his mana well, and into the air, where the stored information of the soul engraving was momentarily imprinted in the universe, which caused it to activate the spell. Not all spells, but most powerful or comprehensive ones, function through tweaking the universe¡¯s workings. Psychic Barrier for example, works through impairing the universe''s ability to distinguish reality from illusion, with the exception being the caster. Since the universe is uncertain about whether anything is real except for Fillan, it doesn¡¯t want to risk harm coming to him, and therefore erase the attacks being hurled towards him. Of course, this is just a simple spell. It is powerful, but only for attacks at or below its level. It¡¯s also worthless if the attack is thrown by a higher tiered existence than the caster, since it would break the universe out of its reverie and lose its effect. That¡¯s to say, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator or a Blood Engraving body temperor would break through the defense no problem. Amongst mages, however, only a ¡°divine¡± spell or Dominator could succeed in doing so, making it infallible against Peter. Just as the lightning bolts were about to strike Fillan, they dissipated into fine nothing, leaving the entire arena in silence. Despite being just a casual move from the Demon Vanquisher, he was still a Soul Caster, second only to Dominators. The crowd was left wondering how someone no older than twenty years old could possibly defend himself against such a person? Peter himself was also a little surprised, but after all his years of experience, few things could rattle him in the midst of ¡°battle¡±. ¡°You do have some skills after all, kid, which makes this even more of a shame¡ª¡± ¡°Cataclysmic Lightning God,¡± Fillan interrupted. ¡°That¡¯s what killed you today, and the audience would do well to remember it for as long as it¡¯s possible for them to do so.¡± The only reason Peter could even launch an attack was because Fillan didn¡¯t bother to attack him first. It was fair to say Peter was on borrowed time the second the announcer finished his countdown, yet he still had the audacity to proclaim he had ¡°some skill¡±. ¡®Bitch, I have a lot of skill.¡¯ Fillan, just like with Psychic Barrier, simply activated the much more advanced and detailed circuit belonging to Cataclysmic Lightning God, before releasing the transmuted mana into the world. With a terrible tremble that shook the very sky of Graaryll to the point of nearly shattering, a massive lightning bolt-like tear appeared behind Fillan¡¯s back. The insides, unlike Fillan¡¯s spatial crack, was filled with an infinite sea of lightning of countless different colors, but the main ones being blue, gold, white, and black. Suddenly, without anyone knowing where it came from or what it was, a massive world-size palm, holding a sword the length of a stellar system, manifested within. Both the palm and sword were constructed from purely blue lightning, creating a domineering image that would forever be burned into the memories of all those present. A sickening sizzling sound echoed in everyone''s ears, making them feel like the world, qi, and mana around them was being electrocuted to death, and before anyone could even react, the massive sword tilted about one degree downwards. At first it seemed like nothing happened, until suddenly, after ten seconds of grueling silence and fearful anticipation, everyone present felt their eyes start burning from the intense flash of light that consumed the entire first sub-arena. A thunderclap so loud it threatened to sunder the universe in two shattered their ears, and the deathly prickles of death occasionally singed them irreparably. Peter, who was the focal point of the attack, unbeknownst to everyone except Fillan, died the second the lightning sword slightly moved. What they were experiencing right now was nothing but the after effects of the actual damage dealer. ¡®How fucking powerful would this be if I my lightning aptitude was higher, and I didn¡¯t fail in turning it into a divine spell?¡¯ Chapter 9: Old Man Morph ¡®Well, I guess it¡¯s enough for now. After all, if that Dominator didn¡¯t help them, all the spectators would have ceased to exist just from gazing into the Tribulation Realm, much less face the after effects of the attack.¡¯ Seated in a private invisible booth built into the very walls of the arena was a tubby dark elf with a saddened expression. ¡°There goes another one,¡± he mumbled with a look of reminiscence. ¡°That leaves only the two of us, and the aspiring cultivator¡­¡± ¡°No matter how much he tries to extend his lifespan through cultivation, he¡¯ll still end up dying before either of us, you know?¡± a kind-looking old man with white hair, something rare even for the oldest of dark elves, asked rhetorically. ¡°Maybe if he began cultivating when he was young and vigorous he¡¯d still have a shot, but alas, old age is a curse impossible to beat,¡± he continued. ¡°He should just stay content with the fact he became a Dominator in his lifetime and die in peace; why must he cling to phantom straws?¡± The tubby had a thoughtful look in his eyes listening to the kind-looking old man: ¡°If only the ascension gate wasn¡¯t broken¡ª¡± ¡°Idiot!¡± the old man interrupted. ¡°We live as gods here, yet you want to become some force¡¯s war-beast, for what? Extending your lifespan? What kind of life is that anyway? Fighting day and night for thousands, tens of thousands, even millions of years for a cause you don¡¯t believe in nor care for. That, to me, sounds like hell. I¡¯m more than content just staying at the peak here, for however long I can, and so should you.¡± ¡°That was just two groups!¡± the tubby retorted. ¡°With the way our ancestors described them, there¡¯s a good chance they¡¯ve both gone extinct by now; it¡¯s been more than ten million years since they started their conquests. Remember, it wasn¡¯t just our ascension gate that was destroyed. Without a continuous supply of slave Dominators, odds are they were swallowed up by other groups.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a risk I¡¯m willing to take, not only for me or our species, but the entire world,¡± the old man proclaimed with conviction. ¡°If that ascension gate is repaired, every able bodied group in the Immortal Realm would detect our position instantly, before sending out powerhouses to colonize us.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if we¡¯re Dominators or not in the face of Immortals,¡± he elaborated. ¡°If we don¡¯t reform our connection to the universe through immortal mana, then we are just slightly more powerful ants to them; there¡¯s no fighting back against them.¡± ¡°How does it matter what people they send to Graaryll when we would already be in the Immortal Realm?¡± the tubby asked with a ruthless glint in his eyes. ¡°Hmph!¡± the old man snorted. ¡°It seems age is really getting to you, Grolf. Even if you don¡¯t care about our species, you¡¯d do well to remember how you became a Dominator. If it was Passlaw who said this, it¡¯d be fine since he accomplished everything he has on his own, but you¡­if more than a hundred million of our brethren were to die, so would you.¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re thinking that when you become an Immortal Dominator, those limitations will disappear, but that¡¯s far from the case.¡± Tubby Grolf simply frowned at the old man with dissatisfaction and mistrust. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that, you old bag,¡± the old man voiced his annoyance. ¡°I¡¯m done talking to you; come find me when you sort out this dementia of yours. I¡¯ll go have a conversation with the, what was it? The Nameless Fool?¡± With a whoosh, the old man disappeared from the room, leaving only a seething tubby to marinate in his anger. Anger at the old man, and at the cruel nature of the world. ¡­ ¡°Oh, hell no!¡± Fillan thought in annoyance. ¡°Just when I relieved my pent up anger, one of those damn Dominators¡ªof course¡ªjust had to interfere.¡± One moment Fillan was enjoying the looks of pain, shock, and most importantly, shock on the crowd¡¯s faces, the next, he found the world around him shifting until it settled on a wooden mountain cottage. Fillan was very familiar with teleportation, and this was not it. Rather than him being transported across space, it was more like space was transported to him. It was an incomprehensible sensation that felt like the world wanted him to be somewhere, so he appeared there. The cottage was sparsely decorated with a table, two dining chairs, two rocking chairs, a bookshelf, and a very tacky carpet. Leisurely curled up on one of the rocking chairs was a grandfather-like figure reading a book, pretending like he didn¡¯t see the near-tantrum throwing Fillan stood there, like an idiot, in the middle of the room. ¡°Who is this guy kidding?¡± Fillan wondered. ¡°Like I don¡¯t know he left the sub-arena with me in ¡®toll¡¯; damn old man is trying to act cool!¡± ¡°But damn it, I¡¯ve come too far to throw it all away now! Even if I don¡¯t find something that helps me ¡®humanize¡¯ my soul quickly, I¡¯ll still go back for that star-planting technique and reverse soul engraving technique; no way in hell this I¡¯m letting grandpa here fuck this up for me.¡± And so, Fillan stood there in complete silence as the old man kept reading at an agonizingly slow pace. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. An hour. Two hours. Three, excruciating hours. ¡°I¡¯m losing it!¡± Fillan shouted to himself for the umpteenth time. It¡¯s one thing to spend a long time doing something he enjoys, or at least something that will benefit him in the future, but this¡­this was truly worthless. Even if Fillan killed himself, came back to Argaria, and repeated the two hour long walk to the library, it would still have been faster than this. But when the realization struck him, it was already too late for. Whenever Fillan got ¡°trigger happy¡±, the thought of the old man finishing with his book soon kept him from going through with it. After all, it would be an even greater waste of time to go through that sluggish walk after waiting this long, and so, he stayed. It was only after another hour that the old man finally put down that dreaded book. ¡°I swear, if that book doesn¡¯t hold the answers to the universe, then this guy is going to be in for a world of hurt in the future. No one but me gets to waste my time!¡± ¡°You truly are a patient young man, aren''t you? The old man asked with admiration. ¡°When I was your age, I would have snapped after the first five minutes, much less four hours¡ª Nocturn¡¯s future truly lies in good hands.¡± ¡°If my old comrades were as patient as you, they¡¯d never have fallen like they did, but¡­sigh.¡± After sighing, the old man took a tiny breather, before continuing further: ¡°I must say, young man, that your spell truly surprised me to the very core. What was it called, Cataclysmic Lightning God? Cataclysmic indeed; if me or Grolf didn¡¯t step in, the entire library might have been electrocuted into nothing, hahaha.¡± Like a river, words just kept pouring out of the old man¡¯s mouth like he¡¯d never run dry, leaving Fillan to only listen, but never respond. ¡°Even more surprising was your magical realm: Conduit. Never in my long life could I have expected such an attack to be launched by someone below the Dominator realm, much less two realms lower.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I can only imagine the destruction a Dominator could exert with such an attack. Not only am I certain they could destroy Graaryll with ease, but they could probably cause significant damage to the Realm Barrier as well. Which is why I¡¯m certain this spell has never been seen before on this tiny little planet of ours.¡± Despite not asking a question, it was clear what the old man wanted: an explanation. ¡°Of course it hasn¡¯t,¡± Fillan proclaimed with pride. ¡°Because I made it myself.¡± Since it seemed like the old man wasn¡¯t out to get him or anything, despite hating him to the core now, Fillan decided not to put on an act of subservience. If the old coot wanted to know where the spell came from, he¡¯d tell him. If he wanted him to use it again, he¡¯d use it again. If he wanted him to give up the spell pattern, he¡¯d give it up, not because of ¡°respect¡±, but because it wouldn¡¯t matter when time was going to reset soon anyway. There was no need for fear or deceit on his part, since it wouldn¡¯t really matter as long as the old guy didn¡¯t kill him before getting what he wanted. ¡°You made it yourself, huh?¡± the old man mumbled. ¡°Then may I ask, what did you derive it from? The spell gave me a familiar sensation, but even I couldn¡¯t define what changes you made to the universe for such a thing to occur.¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite simple, I just studied the lightning tribulation cultivators and body temperors go through from time to time,¡± Fillan replied. ¡°I found great inspiration from how, despite them being made to look naturally produced by clouds, the lightning within actually came from a different universal plane.¡± ¡°I then managed to find a spell pattern that would trigger the descent of such a tribulation, tweaked it with a bunch of different lightning, but also psychic spells, to fool the universe into creating a ¡°god¡± who controls the Tribulation Realm, as I called it.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, my lightning aptitude was insufficient to accomplish what I truly wished for, and the final soul engraving became flawed.¡± ¡°You¡¯re telling me that was a flawed product?¡± the old man asked in disbelief. ¡°Of course!¡± Fillan responded. ¡°There¡¯s a reason I named it Cataclysmic Lightning God, not Giant Lightning Hand and Sword, or something in that vein.¡± ¡°Truly spectacular¡ª¡± ¡°I originally wanted the ¡®Lightning God¡¯ to manifest physically, but the degree of manipulation required for that to happen would directly dissolve all the universal laws that make up Graaryll.¡± ¡°So, not only was it a matter of my own inadequate talent, but also the immense complexity of temporarily substituting all of the universe¡¯s laws in the area while a being, who¡¯s very presence was continuously degrading our physical dimension, would be launching attacks.¡± ¡°No mortal would ever be capable of something like that, and as such, I came up with a way to still get some use out of my spell¡ªwhich I worked hard to create: the entity would have to exist purely in the Tribulation Realm, while I open a tiny crack between dimensions so that it can attack from there.¡± ¡°This, of course, came with great limitations on both the amount of attacks, and their power,¡± Fillan concluded. ¡°But granted the opponent isn¡¯t a Dominator, Law Palace, or Earthly Palace expert, very few would be able to survive in the face of my spell.¡± Being petty towards the chatterbox, Fillan decided to not let him interrupt his monologue, vocalizing everything, in vague detail, of how the current Cataclysmic Lightning God came into existence. Old man Morph, who realized what Fillan was doing, was too engrossed in his thoughts to care. ¡°Could this be a rumored advanced spell?¡± he thought in horror. ¡°How could a little brat like him possibly create an advanced spell, and then have the gall to make it seem simple?¡± Unknown to Fillan, it wasn¡¯t just humans who lacked advanced spells like he thought, but also the elves. Potentially only the most ancient and noble of dragons on Graaryll might possess advanced spell patterns. Not even with their arrogance would they dare engrave something like that on their souls without proper justification. The difference between simple, advanced, and even ¡°divine¡± spells is the number of runes and spell patterns they are integrated with, and their state. A simple spell can be just a single rune or spell pattern consisting of runes, but could also be something like a semi-formation made up by several different simple spells. And, more often than not, the more patterns involved, the greater the spell. An advanced spell, however, takes this to an entirely different level. Not only does it consist of a great number of simple spells, but they also need to form a certain synergy that allows them to enter a state of semi-fusion. In other words, the patterns form something superior to a formation, by turning all the spell patterns into different parts of something greater. The catch to this though is that when spells enter this state of fusion¡ªwhich is unstoppable¡ªif the synergy is lacking, or if the engravings are sub-optimal, then the mana they were engraved with will turn unstable and explode. This would leave a person severely crippled at best, with most of their soul missing, or at worst, straight up dead, without much hope for reincarnation. So, there is this unstable balance of great benefits if successful, and terrible losses if not. The victors get a tremendously powerful spell, built up by individual spells which are all being boosted due to the fusion, that they can use whenever they please. While the losers get fucked for at least three reincarnations as the soul repairs itself, or they cease to exist entirely. This is also disregarding how difficult devising advanced spells are in the first place. ¡°May I ask, young man, what level of spell is this?¡± Old man Morph asked with a near undetectable tremble in his voice. ¡°Do you mean like simple or advanced?¡± Fillan asked for clarification. ¡°Exactly,¡± Morph awkwardly chuckled with a little embarrassment. ¡°It¡¯s an advanced spell, but it should have been higher,¡± Fillan sighed. ¡®I should have waited for my lightning aptitude to improve before attempting to engrave the spell; damn it. Engraving Plasmatic Annihilator and that made me too arrogant.¡¯ The that he was referring to was the divine spell engraved on the back of his soul. However, unlike Plasmatic Annihilator, the spell on his back is much more enigmatic and profound in nature, to the extent that Fillan couldn¡¯t decide on a decent name for it. ¡°You darned brat,¡± Morph growled. ¡°Do you understand what you¡¯re saying? Even looking at every elven Dominator from the moment we were introduced to Graaryll till now, not a single one managed to even create an advanced spell pattern, and yet you¡¯re sighing over it not being of a higher tier? What kind of dream am I having? This isn¡¯t good for my frail old hearth! Not good I tell you!¡± ¡®It was definitely a pipe dream to imagine the elves could help me if this is how one of their Dominators reacts to a mere advanced spell. Just that alone consists of more than a thousand individual simple spells, and fourteen advanced ones¡­¡¯ ¡°Sigh.¡± It took a bit of time before Morph calmed down from his conniption, after which he just sighed helplessly. ¡°Why would you even bother going to the Library of Knowledge when you¡¯ve surpassed everything inside it?¡± he asked despondently. ¡°Well, it¡¯s actually a long story,¡± Fillan replied, not wanting to start another thing with Morph. ¡°But, I got interested in the soul-improvement techniques stored there.¡± ¡°Soul-improvement techniques?¡± Morph wondered out loud. ¡°The entire point of soul-improvement techniques is to either extend lifespan or improve defenses; it¡¯s worthless to someone as young and powerful as you.¡± ¡°Are you sure,¡± Fillan doubted. ¡°I found some techniques that sounded like they had much greater aspirations than that.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°How Planting Stars In the Soul Could Elevate It to New Heights, Ten Thousand Steps of Magical Refinement: Engraving the Soul on Magic, and Sacrificing the Body to Become an Innate Dominator, all really impressed me. Just reading the titles alone has given me some ideas.¡± ¡°And these are verified techniques?¡± Morph asked. ¡°No¡­But that doesn¡¯t mean they don¡¯t have potential!¡± ¡°Did they have potential?¡± ¡°When I was about to read them, some of your enforcers demanded I go fight the Demon Voyeur to the death¡ª¡± ¡°Vanquisher; Demon Vanquisher,¡± Morph chided. ¡°Whatever, the point is I didn¡¯t get the time to read them.¡± ¡°Well, you see, young man, ninety-nine percent of all ¡®experimental¡¯ techniques are untested, ungrounded, works of total and undeniable fiction. You¡¯d have a better chance of finding working techniques by visiting a pig¡¯s dreams than through what is stored on those shelves.¡± ¡°There¡¯s something to be gleaned from every aspect of reality, no matter how ridiculous, impractical, or impossible it sounds,¡± Fillan voiced. ¡°One man¡¯s fantasy could be another¡¯s reality, and one man¡¯s joke directed towards a crowd could enlighten the right person; it¡¯s all about perspective.¡± ¡°Do you think a mortal man unknowing of higher lifeforms and magic couldn¡¯t dream about a way to make fire with his mind, or chop wood without his hands?¡± Fillan continued. ¡°Even if the technique is bogus, I can still take inspiration from it!¡± ¡°Brat, don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m more than four hundred years older than you,¡± Morph reprimanded. ¡°Do you think I don¡¯t know? Even still, my opinion remains steadfast.¡± ¡°However, our conversation today has given me a lot to think about, so go read what you came for; just don¡¯t ruin yourself chasing a madman''s delusional ramblings.¡± When Morph finished his piece, similar to how he arrived at the cottage, the world in Fillan¡¯s eyes suddenly began changing rapidly, and before he knew it, he was standing back in LIB75N12. ¡°Damn Dominator voodoo!¡± Fillan grumbled. ¡°It doesn¡¯t compute in my little brain how he even did that.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just go get the books; there¡¯s no way they¡¯re going to flag me in the system after that old guy was fine letting me back here.¡± Chapter 10: Unexpected Destination ¡°What the fuck was that old man talking about? Maybe it¡¯s because of their narrow minds and prejudice that the elves have yet to produce an advanced spell.¡± Fillan had just finished reading How Planting Stars In the Soul Could Elevate It to New Heights, and was shocked to realize how intricate the technique actually was. It was neither haphazardly thrown together, nor unrealistic. It contained great detail for nine different stages of refinement, with enormous theoretical knowledge behind every single one. Fillan would even go far enough to say this ¡°experimental¡± technique was superior to most cultivation techniques in terms of potential and results. ¡°If the dark elves put some effort into this technique, then there would be nothing that could ever threaten them on Graaryll,¡± Fillan thought with surprise and mockery. ¡°I can¡¯t believe they would discard it just because verifying it could prove slightly dangerous; utterly wasted potential.¡± In essence, the technique centered around the concept of how starlight, while emitted by blazing stars of pure yang energy, shifts into yin during its long journey towards Graaryll. This gives it a one-of-a-kind uniqueness not found anywhere else in the universe, and it must therefore contain certain properties not yet explored. Since the body is generally yang and the soul yin, with only a few minor exceptions, the author of How Planting Stars In the Soul Could Elevate It to New Heights reasoned that starlight would allow the soul to enter a harmony of yin and yang given enough time, refinement, and resources. You slowly start working your way up from introducing starlight into your soul through a unique spell pattern, all the way to ¡°planting¡±, which is more like creating your own, soul-stars, that forever produce both yang energy and yin light. Unfortunately the technique was all that could be reasonably concluded by the author. What effects it would have, or how it would revolutionize magic was beyond his reach. Fillan, however, already had some ideas about what would happen if someone practiced it to completion. ¡°The way these soul-stars are explained makes it seem like the yin-yang duality of the soul will bring it into balance. Which, if I¡¯m not totally off my rocker, sounds like it would stabilize the tumultuous inner areas of the soul.¡± ¡°Not only that, the author also suspected that there would be a limit to how many soul-stars one could hold at once, and that a specific orientation of theirs would bring out optimal benefits; this sure sounds a lot like a body¡¯s acupuncture points.¡± ¡°If so, then this technique would be an integral, and extraordinarily powerful asset for those who want to ¡®humanize¡¯ their souls.¡± It¡¯s recognized that the human body consists of three major layers of acupuncture points, all of which are the basis for a functioning energy vein system. It¡¯s important to note that the acupuncture points themselves are not important, only their position and effect as energy vein anchors are. Some speculated that energy veins are devolved and inadequate versions of the natural acupoints, but since no one has ever possessed ¡°functioning¡± acupoints, this has just become an unsubstantiated rumor. Those that believe in the rumor, however, often consider the energy core as an independent fourth layer, Regardless, the first layer consists of 365 acupoints, the second 52, and the third 12. ¡°It would be incredibly fitting if I¡¯m right about this, since it coincides with the amount of days, weeks, and months in a year.¡± ¡°This trip ended up being worthwhile after all! It¡¯s a shame the other two works I had an interest in ended up being just theoretical possibilities without anything concrete¡­¡± Despite not being farfetched, Ten Thousand Steps of Magical Refinement: Engraving the Soul on Magic, and Sacrificing the Body to Become an Innate Dominator, were something Fillan would have to spend a long, long time creating himself, and the benefits seemed quite lackluster. Fillan knew becoming an innate Dominator would be great, especially with the potential benefit from his time-loops, but the time spent on creating a feasible technique and then refining it would take probably ten times longer than him reaching the Dominator normally. It also came with massive restrictions on the person, like them being unable to leave their domains¡ªareas Dominators hold jurisdiction over. All in all, it wasn¡¯t worth the hassle or limitations it imposed. Engraving the Soul on Magic, however, was just speculating on how one could create multiple domains through the fragmentation and splitting of the soul to different parts of the universe. Hence, it too was worthless to him. ¡°There¡¯s still around ten minutes before nighttime; I would like to be in an optimal location by then¡­It could only be Brothril. Even the smallest mountain there is twice as the tallest one on Tella.¡± ¡°Now, the question is whether the formations on Argaria will react to me teleporting away.¡± Fillan was more than aware of how someone teleporting unauthorized in the city would be treated, but similarly wouldn¡¯t want to walk all the way back to the city gates. ¡°What if something ¡®went wrong¡¯ with the library¡¯s teleportation spell, and it ends up sending me far, far away into the lands of angry dwarfs? Logically, it wouldn¡¯t react, right? It would be a massive oversight if a faulty formation results in people getting killed for nothing¡­¡± ¡°But then again, these people don¡¯t even have advanced spells; can I really trust their formations?¡± ¡°You know what, it doesn¡¯t matter. Hell, something interesting might even happen if I die inside the spatial turbulence.¡± Die in lightning, get or improve his lightning aptitude. Die in fire, get or improve his fire aptitude. Logically, if he were to die in or of spatial turbulence, then he should receive a spatial aptitude. Of course, correlation does not necessarily equate causation. However, even so, Fillan would be fine getting closer to discovering the parameters of the time-loop. He still hadn¡¯t forgotten that the entire reason he actually came to Argaria in the first place was to stabilize his soul-liquid, so that he could try and fuse it with mana and qi. Or in other words, kill himself and everything around him. Since death was always the objective, Fillan wouldn''t worry too much after obtaining some decent benefits. With quick and swift steps towards the tube-teleporter, Fillan made some simple calculations on his chances of success through a spell of his. ¡°The fuck!?¡± Fillan accidentally shouted out loud. ¡°What kind of psychotic episode is Risk Evaluator going through? Either ninety-nine percent chance of success, or five percent, or twenty, or thirty¡­which one is it? It¡¯s impossible for the success rate to be every single number between zero and one.¡± ¡°Even if the risk was continuously changing with the person''s position in space, there should still be a limit to the uncertainty.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand how this could even happen. Risk Evaluator is fused with thirteen simple spells and one advanced one, the synergy should have made it capable of calculating the risk of anything happening during the teleportation, and make an educated estimate.¡± ¡°It, albeit barely, directly taps into fate to get a read on the situation, yet it can¡¯t reach a conclusion? The only way that could happen is if fate doesn¡¯t extend to the spatial pathway the spell establishes¡­but that should be impossible!¡± ¡°If fate doesn''t exist there, then no one who enters will ever end up where they wanted to go; they¡¯d just appear in randomized locations, if they even get to leave at all.¡± ¡°The spell is also far from powerful enough to permanently affect both space and fate and not be crushed¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± Despite standing around in deep thought like an idiot for over three minutes, Fillan still couldn''t make heads or tails of the situation. ¡°This is so damn frustrating!¡± ¡°Fuck it, I¡¯m going in!¡± Fillan decided. ¡°If the answers don¡¯t want to show themselves, then I¡¯ll make them, damn it.¡± Seeing as the destination didn¡¯t matter much, Fillan just typed in some random combination of letters and numbers, and braced for teleportation. With the sound of air moving into his prior position, he disappeared. ¡­ ¡°Urgh!¡± A loud groan echoed across a derelict dungeon-like location. The walls were made of coarse black bricks all of which radiated a terrifying suppressive sensation directed towards, body, mind, and soul. The floor was covered in barely fluorescent moss-like growth, and the ceiling hosted dangling mystery mushrooms in various colors accentuated by the weird light. There was no apparent way in or out of the room, yet there was an ever present breeze ruffling the life forms within. ¡°What the hell happened,¡± mumbled one of twelve indiscernible figures leaning up against the dungeon''s walls. ¡°Shut the fuck up, newbie,¡± snarled another. ¡°You¡¯ve been here less than two days longer than him, you shut the fuck up;¡± derided someone else. ¡°How about all of you keep quiet?¡± came a serene voice from a darkened corner where the moss¡¯ light seemed unable to reach. ¡°Only me and that vixen have the right to tell others what to do here.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I¡¯ve been here two years longer than you, ascetic,¡± the vixen rebutted. ¡°Don¡¯t lump the two of us together.¡± ¡°You know I¡¯m stronger than the both of you combined, so it doesn¡¯t matter how long the two of you have been here; it doesn¡¯t give you the right to tell me what to do,¡± uttered a grizzly voice. ¡°Oh, please be merciful towards us, Bull Head,¡± the vixen exaggeratedly gasped. ¡°I beg of you not to circumvent the suppression to deal with us!¡± ¡°Hahaha, you can be as sarcastic as you want, but when you¡¯ve turned to dust, I¡¯ll still be here, waiting,¡± Bull Head responded. ¡°Wow, I¡¯m so envious that you¡¯ll be trapped here forever while I¡¯ll be free in a few centuries,¡± she mocked again, only to empty ears this time. ¡®Where am I? What kind of place is this? What is going on here? Who are these people?¡¯ Fillan felt close to an aneurysm just listening to the nonsense being spewed across the room. The incomprehension, combined with his blaring confusion, left Fillan feeling like a newborn. It was a truly unsettling sensation. Not to mention there was this strange power settling over him like a blanket that disallowed him from moving more than his eyes and mouth. The tiny power he had built up from reaching the peak of Blood Transmutation also felt out of his reach, like someone was keeping it away from him. Similarly, the trace amounts of free flowing qi in his energy veins came to a complete stop, almost as if frozen in time, while his connection to the universe¡¯s laws was severed. Oddly enough though, his mana was flowing normally. In fact, the environment was especially abundant in mana, making his soul and mana well feel invigorated. ¡®This can¡¯t be Brothril, right? There¡¯s no way I miscalculated arriving thousands of meters above sea level into arriving deep underground. Even I¡¯m not that incompetent.¡¯ ¡®Damn it; the last thing I remember is using my spatial comprehension to teleport after being tossed like a stick around in that teleportation spell.¡¯ Finally, more lucid than he was right after waking up, Fillan decided to wring some answers from the circus crowd he was surrounded by: ¡°Where are we?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to shut up, newbie?¡± ¡°Didn''t I tell you to shut up?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell all of you to keep quiet?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I say weaklings don¡¯t have the right to tell me what to do?¡± Fillan: ¡°...¡± ¡®What kind of nut jobs are these people? Especially that first guy; he sounds like a little boy, yet he¡¯s got such an attitude. I guess insanity doesn¡¯t really differentiate between age.¡¯ ¡°Okay, okay, okay,¡± Fillan shouted. ¡°I don¡¯t care who wants who to shut up, but someone better tell me what is going on and where we are, or I. Will. Lose. It.¡± ¡°That¡¯s going to be difficult, brother,¡± answered one of the other figures who previously remained silent. ¡°We don¡¯t really know either. Only senior Bull Head and the vixen have any idea of what his place is, but they refuse to tell us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, those selfish egoists can¡¯t even tell us where we are, or why we¡¯re here.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been here for more than ten years, yet they still refused to tell me anything.¡± ¡°Ten? I¡¯ve been here for over fifty, way before Bull Head arrived, yet even I¡¯m still clueless!¡± ¡°I knew the vixen personally before ending up here, yet she hasn¡¯t told me anything!¡± someone cried with indignance. ¡°We went through life and death battles together, and she even attended my sister¡¯s marriage ceremony.¡± ¡°I¡¯m quite new, so I just thought no one knew. Never would I have expected to be surrounded by such pitiful people and rotten beasts!¡± ¡®How the hell does that help me? I don¡¯t care about your sob stories, just tell me where I am, and I¡¯ll get the fuck out of here.¡¯ ¡°You, vixen, you better tell me everything you know,¡± Fillan demanded. ¡°If I told you everything I know, I¡¯d have to talk for years; I can¡¯t be bothered to do that,¡± she responded coyly. ¡°Funny, you¡¯re a funny girl,¡± Fillan responded without emotion. ¡°I think I might be dying of laughter over here. Ha. Ha. Ha.¡± ¡°Now, listen here you old bag, if you don¡¯t start acting your age soon I¡¯ll smack you! Now that¡¯s a promise. And here¡¯s another, if you don¡¯t start throwing out the answers I want, I''ll blow you straight into reincarnation.¡± ¡°It seems you hit your head on the way in, or maybe you¡¯ve always been like this, but you should learn your place, and do so quickly, or this won¡¯t be a very gracious place for you,¡± the vixen responded. ¡°None of us can move, not even that arrogant immortal bull, so show me how you¡¯re going to ¡®smack¡¯ me, a helpless ¡®old bag¡¯.¡± ¡°Smack!¡± ¡°Smack!¡± ¡°Smack!¡± ¡°I threw in another two for good measure,¡± Fillan commented as the crisp slapping sound ricocheted between the walls. ¡®It seems like everything related to cultivation and body tempering is suppressed by this place, while magic functions perfectly. Sucks to suck I guess.¡¯ ¡°H-how did you do that?¡± the vixen asked in disbelief. ¡°It¡¯s rude to ask someone questions when you haven¡¯t answered theirs; get to it!¡± Fillan reprimanded. ¡°Do you have any idea who I am!?¡± the vixen shouted towards the clearly gloating Fillan. ¡°I promise that when I reform my body I¡¯ll destroy everything related to you! Your home, your family, your friends, your accomplishments¡ª¡± ¡°You have not the slightest clue who I am, so stop with the nonsense. Also, what part of ¡®send you straight into reincarnation¡¯ didn¡¯t you understand?¡± Since Fillan clearly chose the wrong target for questioning, he redirected his attention towards the towering shadow across the room. ¡°Bull Head, right?¡± Fillan asked. ¡°An esteemed immortal like yourself wouldn¡¯t need to withhold information from us plebeians like that witch did, would you?¡± Of course, Fillan didn¡¯t believe for a second that the guy was an actual immortal. It¡¯s impossible for Fillan to have traversed the Realm Barrier at his level, and it was even more impossible for an immortal to descend onto Graaryll without the whole world knowing instantly. The only conclusion he could reach was that these people came from an isolated place on Graaryll, separate from common knowledge and power, so they didn¡¯t understand what the title ¡°immortal¡± actually signified. It was like how commoners would often call cultivators immortal, no matter how weak, just because they didn¡¯t know any better. ¡°Hahaha, of course not!¡± he responded pridefully. ¡°While she is trying to stop the others from leaving this place, I couldn''t care less about what you guys do. I¡¯m not leaving until I get what I came for regardless.¡± ¡°Senior Bull Head, are you serious?¡± asked the one who answered Fillan¡¯s initial query. ¡°I never lie! This place is¡ª¡± ¡°No!¡± the vixen interrupted with fury.¡± Who gave you the right to tell them!? We had an agree¡ª¡± ¡°Boom!¡± Before she could even finish her sentence, a strange ripple appeared in the air, before shrapnel-like debris shot out at incomprehensible speeds, quickly turning her vaguely visible figure into minced meat, before that was degraded further into blood and dust. Only after every trace of her prior existence was erased did the shrapnel spewing ripples disappear. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, senior Bull Head, she won¡¯t interrupt you anymore; please continue,¡± Fillan said calmly. ¡°Impressive, young man,¡± Bull Head complimented. ¡°Despite being suppressed, she was still a Law Palace, Earthly Palace dual-cultivator. To use magic to kill her with such ease shows how powerful you are. ¡®Okay, so it¡¯s not that they don¡¯t know what an immortal is, it¡¯s just that Bull Head enjoys pretending like he is one. What Law and Earthly Palace dual-cultivator? That clearly showed that she was only at the Golden and Sanguine Specter realms. If it wasn¡¯t because getting knowledge from dead people is insurmountably more difficult, I¡¯d have killed this pretentious asshole already.¡¯ ¡°You praise me too much, senior Bull Head, it¡¯s nothing compared to you.¡± ¡°Hahaha,¡± Bull Head laughed. ¡°Hahaha,¡± Fillan reciprocated. ¡°Okay, enough laughing, back to what I was saying before I got so rudely interrupted by that flesh puppet, ¡° Bull Head continued after the humorous bout. ¡°This place is an ancient zoo and graveyard, where only the most powerful of creatures in the universe could stay.¡± ¡°It has long since been abandoned by the owner whose fate is unknown, but all the beasts buried here still remain. Not only that, the zoo, even when the owner was around, was a place where only the fortuitous could enter for trial.¡± ¡°If you passed the trial, you could obtain the inheritance of the living beasts in the zoo, often along with their bloodlines. It¡¯s said that the Ascended Dragon Emperor was just a common carp until he accidentally entered this place and obtained a transcendent bloodline and all its inherent memories.¡± ¡°Now, of course, there are no more living creatures remaining, but the cemetery is still ripe with treasure.¡± ¡°Phoenixes, dragons, qilins, vermillion birds, rocs, kun-pengs, hydras, griffins, almost every renowned and powerful species has at least one representative buried here. I even heard there are certain legendary beasts, that the universe could only ever birth one of, resting in peace here.¡± ¡°What creatures,¡± Fillan asked with suspicion. ¡®How powerful would a creature have to be for the universe not to create more of it?¡¯ ¡°Like the Brazen Divine Eye, the Shapeless Thief, and¡­the Katesthio,¡± Bull Head answered with reverence, ladened with anticipation and greed. ¡®Katesthio? Am I truly this lucky? I just go out for an elaborate way to commit suicide and return with a way to improve not only my soul, but potentially also my cultivation? Does the Karmic Eye of Reincarnation turn negative karma into luck or something?¡¯ ¡°Unfortunately, since the owner left, the only way to enter is ending up here by pure luck and happenstance, before waiting until a trial that suits you is generated.¡± ¡°Back in the day, this would have been instantaneous, but now it is run entirely by the remnant intent left behind by the expert, and can take anywhere between one to ten thousand years.¡± ¡°And the only way to leave this place is either through death, passing the trial, or sufficiently powerful magic. Of course, if you do manage to leave, you have still obtained the qualifications to enter the trial, and whenever it¡¯s ready, you¡¯ll be whisked back here to participate in it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why that puppet was acting so arrogant; her real body is somewhere else, while only a part of her soul wormed its way in here through possessing someone with staggeringly high luck. Since she obtained her qualifications, she couldn¡¯t care less about staying here.¡± ¡°However, she knows that I have the power to send people out of here, so she tried to make sure I wouldn¡¯t spread the news and have her killed through underhanded means.¡± ¡°To me, though, it doesn¡¯t matter if she lives or dies, passes or fails the trial, nor whether any of you do; I¡¯m confident I¡¯ll walk away with the most benefits regardless. It also makes no difference to me whether I wait in here or out there, since my lifespan is endless.¡± ¡°Are you sure that was only part of her soul?¡± Fillan asked Bull Head with suspicion. ¡°One hundred percent!¡± ¡®Maybe it was the original soul of that body then, ¡®cause I know for a fact that I attacked a complete soul, and that it entered reincarnation¡­whatever.¡¯ ¡°Senior Bull Head, does the cemetery only produce one trial at a time, or does it do multiple at once?¡± Fillan asked for clarification. ¡°How would I know?¡± Fillan: ¡°...¡± ¡®Why is he pretending like he didn¡¯t just spend like five whole minutes spewing non-stop information about this place?¡¯ ¡°However, I can feel that the next trial is about to open,¡± he revealed. ¡°That breeze is one of the first signs, the thick mana is another¡ªsince all the qi is being used for the final touches of the trial¡ªand the sudden addition of multiple candidates is the greatest tell. My guess is someone will get whisked away in the next two days or so¡­¡± Just when Fillan was about to ask Chatty McChatterbox for more details regarding the trials themselves, he discovered with amazement that the moss underneath his ass and feet began squirming intently, before violently throwing him directly towards the mushroom-filled ceiling. With a poof, only the echoing sound and some free falling spores showed any trace of Fillan Strand ever being in that room. ¡°Not even half an hour; he wasn¡¯t here for more than half an hour before a trial was ready for him¡­the world is so unfair,¡± grumbled Bull Head. Chapter 11: Katesthio and Balfus ¡°Did you hear?¡± ¡°About the third princess, you mean?¡± ¡°I heard she mysteriously died during the emperor¡¯s birthday feast; apparently they¡¯re blaming the Kun Sect for it¡­¡± ¡°How could the Kun Sect be audacious enough to attack the daughter of a Universal Fusion Realm expert? Right before his eyes as well.¡± ¡°My cousin¡¯s best friend¡¯s brother¡¯s master¡¯s husband¡¯s uncle¡¯s son is the palace librarian¡¯s disciple, and he told me the princess died after finding a long lost treasure land.¡± ¡°I heard that too, only my source isn¡¯t as good; she told me the princess found some manner of graveyard containing ancient beasts¡¯ corpses, but died before she could get anything.¡± ¡°If the daughter of someone close to reaching the Transcendent Immortal realm is interested in that place, then it truly must be extraordinary¡­¡± ¡­ ¡°Why are there no instructions!?¡± Fillan shouted at the sky with resentment and confusion. ¡°Why!?¡± ¡°First I get abducted into some primeval dungeon trying to suppress my powers, then you forcefully pull me into this¡ªthis thing¡ªwithout telling me what the fuck I¡¯m supposed to do; have you no shame, you rotten zoo-cemetery-trialground-will!? I curse you!¡± Fillan originally thought the universe was going ballistic, giving him great opportunities at his every turn, but over the span of two days, that thought vanished along with his patience. When Fillan was booted out of the dungeon, he appeared in a barren desert-like wasteland without an end in sight, even after he used Owner¡¯s Eye. That was to say, this trial had a size equal to, or bigger than, the entirety of Garth. Pfft, so what? Fillan has shown he can teleport across continents in the span of seconds, this distance means nothing to him. Well¡­turns out not only is there nothing living here, the universe¡¯s laws also don¡¯t seem to reach this place. Meaning, Fillan is left with his trusty old legs, or Float, to get around. However, as it would have it, the mana which was mortifyingly high in the dungeon is barely existent here. If Fillan were to use up all the mana he was currently storing in his Ultra-Hadal mana well, it would take him a total of thirty minutes to gather enough mana for a kilometer long Float trip. This forced him to be frugal with his reserves. After all, if he ran out of mana it would take him years to gather enough mana to kill himself with. Fillan was not open to the thought of wandering around this place until he died of old age. No matter what benefits he could get, he refused to suffer for an extended period of time since he could always just improve on his own terms. Despite all of this, he still tried to find some positives about his situation, only to end up empty handed. There was no sunlight in this place, much less refined starlight, only a staggeringly bright light-sky, so that crossed improving his soul off the list. As mentioned, there were no laws there, meaning he couldn¡¯t try to use the time at hand to comprehend more of them. The qi, however, was incredibly rich and virile. Unfortunately for Fiilan, his body tempering path was cut off and he hoped the reward from the trial would help him start his cultivation journey, thus turning it unhelpful. Fillan was left without anything to pass his time in this supposed trial of unknown character. To say he was vexed would be an understatement. ¡°Damn, damn it. Damn it all, ¡°he barked to himself. ¡°Who the hell would ever believe someone who goes by the name Bull Head? I brought this upon myself, goddammit!.¡± Fillan had convinced himself slowly but surely that Bull Head set him up for failure from the start. One of the people said he¡¯d been there for over fifty years, long before Bull Head entered, yet he wasn¡¯t informed of anything. If he truly didn¡¯t care about keeping things secret, then this wouldn¡¯t be the case. Fillan reasoned there must have been some manner of hidden mechanism that feeds on people in the dungeon every so often, and Bull Head just didn¡¯t want him to leave before that happened. ¡°I¡¯ll remember that bastard; I¡¯ll remember him well¡­ I should have known when he started spouting nonsense about how powerful the vixen was, or her being a ¡®flesh puppet¡¯ for someone else.¡± ¡°That clearly disproved what he was saying, yet I still went along with it. Hubris! Damn hubris!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been here for two days; that¡¯s two days I could have been refining my soul or improving my body tempering talent, or creating new spell patterns, or anything else than standing around like a fucking moron.¡± ¡°But¡­I will give it five more days,¡° he decided. ¡°If nothing happens by then, good or bad, pleasant or malicious, I¡¯ll take the quick way out, go back to the Library of Knowledge, do exactly what I did to enter this place, kill Bull Head like the cattle he is, and then tear down whatever I can of this dungeon.¡± And so the wait continued. ¡­ ¡°Katesthio. Katesthio. Katesthio, ¡° Fillan mumbled to himself, lying in a dune of sand. ¡°Despite not having seen or met you before, I hate you with a burning passion! ¡®Individuals with this physique mimic the legendary Katesthio, an all-devouring beast that uses the energy it gathers to establish and evolve its own innate world,¡¯ my ass.¡± ¡°I only now realize this physique probably isn¡¯t intended or even a possibility for humans to possess.¡± ¡°If my time-loop shatters the laws and logic of reality, then why the fuck couldn¡¯t it just throw in some way for me to cultivate, huh?¡± ¡°Damn cheap enigmatic bastard.¡± ¡°This is really making me wonder what would happen if I become chronically poisoned¡­sure, my injuries heal after dying, but since the outside-introduced energy veins and core stayed, so might poison.¡± ¡°It would suck hard cock if I started every time-loop deathly poisoned; how could I function or progress in such a state?¡± ¡°Note to self, either don¡¯t mingle with poison users, or develop a resistance to every poison imaginable. Maybe it would carry over as a talent¡­¡± ¡°If waiting idly is considered a poison, then I think I¡¯m about to fucking die!¡± Fillan was losing it. Despite being an acclaimed magician, his physique was barely better than the common man, which means he needs to eat and sleep, and¡­defecate. Of course, these are annoying trivialities he developed spells to counteract long ago, but this place was proving a nightmare. Or daymare¡­It was proving bad. Whatever water Fillan conjured, inside his body or not, instantly disappeared. His sleep replacement spell that essentially tricks his brain into thinking it¡¯s sleeping when it needs to was also malfunctioning due to the brightly light sky: It possessed some bizarre effect that forced his brain to never rest. Whatever food he created would maintain its appearance, but the second he bit into it, it would turn to sand. That¡¯s to say, he¡¯s going off no sleep, with a diet consisting of blood-qi¡ªto quench his thirst and sustenance¡ªand sand. Odds are that if Fillan¡¯s body didn¡¯t produce blood-qi automatically, and mainly through the absorption of qi, he¡¯d have already died ¡°Why did I have to say five more days?¡± he wondered in delirium. Despite not caring about much, Fillan was a man of his word¡ªeven when no one was around to hold him to it. It was currently day three of his extended vacation; heat was high, and both morale and sanity were low. Yet there was not a single change to the desert¡ªexcept for gaining some food-sand. ¡°How long could it possibly take for Bull Head¡¯s plan to wrap up?¡± ¡°Sigh.¡± ¡­ Two hours later¡ª ¡°I wonder if my Karmic Eye of Reincarnation would still work here¡­¡± ¡°I guess it¡¯s impossible for me to know¡­unless I use that on the surroundings¡­maybe¡­why didn¡¯t I do that before going to Argaria?¡± ¡°I swear to god I¡¯m way dumber this time-loop than I have ever been; why the fucking hell would I just wonder how to feel it when I have a spell tailor made for situations like that?¡± ¡°It has to be Metamorphosis! There¡¯s clearly something I don¡¯t know about that spell. Again I should have put more effort into it rather than just wonder why it became an advanced spell.¡± ¡°This is a decent lesson learned, but it¡¯s still pissing me off.¡± Caught up in his remembering how stupid he is, Fillan opened his Karmic Reincarnation Eye absentmindedly. Fillan¡¯s thoughts on the result of this were varied. On the one hand, laws didn¡¯t exist in this place; it was like a separate reality from the universe he knew. As such, Fillan didn¡¯t know whether his karmic pressure, aptly produced by his karma, would have any effect here. On the other hand, his karmic pressure was produced by the unfathomable negative karma stored in his Karmic Reincarnation Eye, meaning that the world¡¯s outside circumstances really shouldn¡¯t impair his ability. ¡°I guess there¡¯s only one way to know for certain,¡± he thought, sensing the slight twitch from between his brows. ¡°I need to make sure not to use too much mana on that, or my death will be a terribly slow and awful one.¡± However, as his third eye opened completely and the amalgamous shadow within settled, before he could even begin manually casting that, the never-changing desert suddenly quaked. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Not just the desert, even the pure-light sky began to tremble. ¡°What is happening?¡± Fillan thought in amazement and shock. Amazement because the correlation here was blindingly obvious, and shock because the dune of sand he¡¯d been laying on parted from the middle, sending him free-falling into an unexplored abyss. ¡°Fuck no!¡± he shouted before nudging his Float circuitry. However, to his chagrin, no matter what he tried, his mana would not react. Activating a circuit didn''t work. Manipulating it himself didn¡¯t work. Absorbing the teeny tiny bits of mana in the air didn¡¯t work. Fillan was left completely without his magical means, quickly turning him into a sitting¡ªfalling¡ªduck. ¡°DAMN MY CULTIVATION TALENT¡ª¡± he roared, disappearing into a darkness not even the sky could illuminate. ¡­ Three hours later, Fillan was still falling. ¡­ Seven hours later, nothing changed. ¡­ Twelve hours later, still the same. ¡­ Finally, eighteen grueling, nauseating, and frankly disgusting hours later: ¡°My mana is working, and I can feel the laws again!¡± With experienced movements, Fillan didn¡¯t even consider the use of float before casting a massive ring of fire around himself, burning all of the debris that mysteriously appeared around him on his magic-less fall. Only when there was no remaining trace of the debris did Fillan dare activate Float, finally stopping his descent. ¡°Never, ever, no matter the circumstance, no matter the reality, not even right before I die, can I talk about what happened on this trip,¡± he vowed with never before seriousness. Maintaining his stoic pose¡ªwhich he only did symbolically¡ªFillan conjured a huge stream of water which he directed straight into his mouth, and through the use of a digestion spell, absorbed what he needed quickly, while the waste disappeared. Forced to drink his own blood for almost six days turned him gluttonous for some clean, fresh water. Not much further down on the list of wants was proper food, which he promptly conjured as well, before scarfing it down. ¡°Ah, finally a respite from my nightmarish life,¡± he voiced in content, which was shortly ruined as he thought about what he¡¯d just gone through. ¡°BULL HEAD, that disgusting, wretched whore¡¯s son will have to suffer far more than death for what he¡¯s done to me!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make him wish for death like he did me, not only once, nor twice, but until I¡¯ve paid off this debt in full.¡± ¡°Also, where the fuck is this!?¡± he wondered. ¡°It looks the exact same as every other part of the hole, so what changed?¡± ¡°Fuck it, I don¡¯t care; let me get the fuck out of here. I¡¯ll see if I can find a way of getting to Bull Head before I die this time round.¡± Finally, like a fish in water, Fillan used his comprehension and connection with space to teleport as far down as he could. Disappearing and appearing instantly, Fillan had crossed a distance several dozen times longer than that of his fall, yet there was still no visible difference from before. He teleported again. And again. And again. Finally, on the fourth teleportation, Fillan ended up inadvertently being forced out of his teleportation way before he was supposed to. Like a fish onto a chopping board, Fillan slammed straight into a reality bendingly big door laying at the very bottom of the hole. There were few discernible things about the door other than its apparent size, but it did contain a few minor engravings, each the size of a normal man. ¡°I¡¯m not even going to pretend like I know what language this is, but art is universal; it¡¯s beautifully carved. I feel a majestic sensation tingle my very soul just looking at it.¡± ¡°Also, what kind of creature is this? I¡¯ve never seen or heard of a creature that is half octopus, half human with wings, horns, seven eyes, and three mouths.¡± ¡°When in doubt, use that. I didn¡¯t get to use it earlier and it¡¯s rearing to get into action.¡± Despite being, technically and practically, more advanced than Plasmatic Annihilator simply due to the sheer amount of spells involved, that¡ªwhich really needs to get a name¡ªrequired far less time to activate. This had two reasons: 1. That was Fillan¡¯s second divine spell, giving him more experience in crafting and engraving it, therefore solving a lot of inadequacies that Plasmatic Annihilator has. 2. That has countless different abilities, most of which Fillan has yet to discover; it only partially activates whenever he currently uses it, meaning it circumvents having to remedy the damage to law and universal structure. Plasmatic Annihilator is a greatly destructive piece of magic that requires a continuous manipulation of the universe¡¯s workings, while it also destroys the order induced and maintained by laws. That, however, at least to his current insight, does not do this. After just shy of a minute guiding his mana carefully, it suddenly transmuted successfully, causing Fillan to guide it through his mana well and into the world. However, rather than disperse it like he normally would, he strenuously forced the mana to remain transmuted as he directed it towards the different engravings. ¡°Divine Ability: Time as My Teacher,¡± he thought in excitement. This was the exact reason Fillan had such a hard time naming the spell; it had too many ¡°divine¡± abilities, not to mention all the thousands of other normal spells and abilities it possesses. With a bizarre buzzing sound, the near incomprehensible and barely discernible image of a long silver river stretching from nothing into infinity appeared. This was the river of time, the source of all development and change. It, however, was not really the focal point of the spell. If Fillan really tried, he could summon a similar image with his time comprehension, so it wasn¡¯t as impressive as it looked. The river of time, suddenly, began to split into thousands, millions, then billions of tributaries, all slowly inching towards the engravings they were summoned in front of. It was not until every trace of words or imagery on the door was covered in silver tentacle-like strands that they stopped moving. The river which was originally raging turned calm as Fillan could feel the universe around him come to a complete freeze, including his physical body. Only his mind was active, seeing the outside world from an odd out-of-body perspective. If he wasn¡¯t careful, he might start hugging trees when he returns. The very instant the river of time calmed down, the exact opposite happened to the tributaries. With an uproarious spectacle of splashing and clashing water, the billions of tributaries¡ªstill covering the engravings¡ªquickly fought and vanquished each other, before assimilating them. Even in the frozen time, it was not long before the billions of tiny tendrils turned into thirty major fragments of the river of time. One fragment for each engraving, language and figure both. ¡°Here we go,¡± Fillan thought giddily. ¡°I wonder what it will show me this time.¡± Under Fillan¡¯s expectant eyes, the river of time began to fade, leaving only the fragments connecting to where its phantom previously was. Then, like they were straws, the silver liquid inside the fragments began to flow backwards at insurmountable, illogical, unfathomable speeds. In doing so, it caused a similar change in the world around Fillan. Just as quickly as they came, both Fillan and the hole he fell down disappeared. Sand now covered the immaculate door, but did nothing to erode it. Despite being ¡°covered¡± in the sand, it was like it had become incapable of disrupting his vision, still allowing Fillan a full view of the door¡¯s engravings. The silver liquid in the rivers was slowly but surely almost totally emptied, and only when this happened, did the scene in front of Fillan change once again. ¡°Billions,¡± Fillan shuddered in horror. Every second experienced during the retreat of river water equals a million years, no matter whether he¡¯s researching something from two minutes or two million years ago. Fillan had been intently counting, but slowly lost track when he reached the fifteenth minute mark. He was certain, though, that more than twenty minutes but less than half an hour passed, indicating that what he was about to watch happened at least 1.2 billion years ago. ¡®I guess this place wasn¡¯t always a sandy nightmare.¡¯ The sand Fillan knew and hated fully disappeared when the scene stopped changing. Instead, a sturdy rock-like channel leading straight to an azure glow, took its place. Fillan knew for certain that it was the same hole he fell in earlier, but he¡¯d be damned if it didn¡¯t almost fool him with how different it was. Equally obvious was the lack of engravings on the huge metal slab in front of him. Suddenly, with a startle, Fillan directed his ¡°vision¡± upwards, only to see two creatures appear at a leisurely pace. One was a respectable looking middle-aged man dressed in plain white robes, the other a creature with an octopus bottom, and human top. ¡®Thank god I can¡¯t be affected by anything here; the very universe seems to be shaking just from their walking. I¡¯d probably be turned into mush by looking at them.¡¯ The two individuals slowly approached the metal slap without saying a word. It was important to note that the old man had a saddened expression, while the other one looked at peace. Then, in a language he had never ever even thought possible, seemingly with each word resonating with the universe itself, the middle-aged man began to talk. Despite not having any reason or right to know what he was saying, Fillan obtained a clear understanding nonetheless. It was like someone added an automatic translation cipher straight into his brain. ¡°Are you truly certain, old friend?¡± he queried. ¡°There¡¯s no need for this.¡± ¡°My time has come, Balfus,¡± the hybrid responded. ¡°You might not feel or believe it, but my death is certain; I might as well die on my own terms.¡± ¡°There is no such thing as certainty for beings at our level; fate has long since lost its hold on us,¡± Balfus rebutted. ¡°Never has my intuition been wrong,¡± the hybrid continued, undisturbed by Balfus¡¯ arguments. ¡°The moment I failed to evolve my inner world into a universe, a looming sense of destruction, decay, and certain death has lingered around me. There is no reason to pretend, Balfus, I know you of all people can not be blind to such matters.¡± ¡°What are you suggesting!?¡± Balfus exclaimed, dropping his calm and saddened fa?ade. ¡°We stand at the apex of the universe, Katesthio, only if we want to die can it happen. No matter the attack, no matter the injury, if we do not want to be affected by it, then we will not.¡± ¡®That¡¯s Katesthio? That¡¯s the thing my physique is trying to imitate? I won¡¯t have to look like that to cultivate right? Would it even be worth it at that point? Also, did he say he was trying to evolve his inner world into a universe? They can¡¯t die unless they want to? What kind of entities are these men?¡¯ Lots of questions, not a lot of answers. ¡°Isn¡¯t what I¡¯m suggesting obvious?¡± Katesthio asked. ¡°What exactly do you think I would have become if I truly established my own universe? What knowledge would the creatures born there have of me, their creator? There is always a bigger fish, Balfus, always.¡± ¡°It is impossible for this universe to have a creator; I have verified the mana-qi origin theory myself,¡± Balfus proclaimed with certainty. ¡°I will not yield on this.¡± ¡°If my world can turn into a universe, then what is stopping a universe from evolving further?¡± Katesthio asked rhetorically. ¡°I know changing your mind is not plausible, so I will not bother trying; just remember never to become complacent. Because, if you do, you will end up dead without even knowing how.¡± Clearly done with this conversation which, although not verbatim, had been had countless times before, Katesthio landed on the door with grace. Each of his eight tentacles made grabs into thin air, creating ripples from which eight chisels appeared. With his two human hands, he made a grasping gesture towards the lower abdomen¡ªwhere the energy core is found in humans¡ªbefore pulling violently. Instantly, the nice rocks Fillan had finally gotten used to began to crumble into crude grains of sand. The azure glow from higher up in the hole slowly started shifting towards a much brighter tone, before turning fully white. All the while Katesthio¡¯s tentacles never stopped chiseling the door. Intermittently, he¡¯d flail his seemingly empty hands towards the in progress engravings, totaling three flails per one. Despite not changing outwardly, Fillan, still remaining unaffected, could barely comprehend an intrinsic evolution taking place wherever and whenever Katesthio flailed his hands. ¡®Is this place Katesthio¡¯s inner world, and did he just use its origins or something to spruce up his final art piece? I was clearly wrong about Bull Head lying about what kind of place this is, but didn¡¯t he promise inheritances and great treasures? Then why the fuck is this bumbling octopus throwing it all away right before my eyes!? Fillan was close to having a mental breakdown. At once, he was experiencing both the beauty of a master craftsman at work, but also unbearable heartache at the wasted opportunity. Since they shared the same, or at least had similar, physiques, Fillan could probably directly inherit Katesthio world, and to see it being wasted like this was like lining up for someone to spit in his face. ¡®I would rather not have known! There¡¯s no damn justice in this world! I mingled in iron-stained-poop and urine only to have the thing¡ªno, something much better than the thing I hoped I could get from here¡ªdiscarded like stale water. Only now do I realize this is far from being a lucky encounter, it¡¯s universal retribution!¡¯ ¡°You have truly outdone yourself this time, Katesthio,¡± Balfus commented with respect shining through his dissatisfaction. ¡°Never has a Cosmic used their entire cultivation to birth a perfect piece of art before, and I doubt anyone ever will again.¡± ¡°Haha, I¡¯m glad you like it,¡± Katesthio chuckled. ¡°Despite failing in the end, I still want my tombstone to radiate with the majesty and might I possessed going against the natural order. Plus, how could I willingly pass on knowing a tombstone better than mine could one day appear in your cemetery?¡± ¡®For the benefit of future generations, you selfish, ignorant, petty loser! Just die in modesty, damn it. How in ever-loving tarnation does a tombstone matter to a dead man¡ªoctopus-man?¡¯ Chapter 12: Katesthios Reimagination Fillan had tears in his eyes as he watched his dearest and deepest desire fade away. As the scene before him gradually reached its conclusion, a sudden influx of information entered Fillan¡¯s mind. The eighteen engravings on the door burned themselves into his psyche before unraveling into a language he understood. It read: ¡°I, Katesthio, am truly unique in the world, possessing near infinite might and the ability to found and transcend a universe. I lie here not due to weakness, but acceptance. Acceptance that there is always something greater than yourself, no matter how much you try to ignore it.¡± ¡®Me! That someone greater could have been born if you didn¡¯t decide to screw me over! I. Am. So. Upset¡ª¡¯ Before he could finish his worthless thoughts of lost grandeur, the final engraving suddenly appeared ¡°before¡± him. The intricate, and scarily accurate, engraving of Katesthio began to, just like the words, unravel. Yet, rather than turning into words he could understand, they turned into bizarre, irregular, and seemingly uncontrollable threads flailing across his imagination. Whatever they ¡°touched¡± would slowly be absorbed by them. Whether they be memories, thoughts or impulses, they were all consumed at a rapid pace. ¡°What the hell?¡± he tried to think, only for it to be devoured. With every instant that passed, more and more of what made Fillan himself was disappearing. First was his niche knowledge and comprehensions within magic and laws, the followed his understanding of the world, then his relations, until only a few vestiges of himself remained. His personality was still the same, yet everything that personality was founded upon was gone, potentially forever; devoured by these threads stemming from an ancient powerhouse. Steadily, the remaining truly vigorous, nearly cemented memories he was left with were encroached upon. His hometown, his father, his own name. This left an empty husk carrying a lost soul, without direction or knowledge; forever lost in nothingness. The only thing it could remember was one single fact: it was in a time-loop. The threads, however, appeared unsatisfied with doing a job half-done. With unmistakable precision, all at once, every thread lunged towards the memory, the very core of Fillan. It appeared, however, that the memory was too big to be devoured in a short amount of time. Whilst everything else merely needed a second or two at most, this time it took the cumulative effort of thousands of threads thirty minutes to consume less than half of the memory. And what they did manage to absorb were not really related to the core of the memory, but rather abstract or just outright wrong theories of what the time-loop was; it was devouring the worthless thoughts Fillan had about the time-loop, not anything significant. However, time is insurmountable, and after a sufficient persistence, the threads reached what they were truly looking for. With eagerness and glee, the threads began their final feast. With gluttonous devouring they slurped it up like yesterday¡¯s soup. Just two minutes later, the threads succeeded. With insane coordination, the threads began to weave themselves into fifteen individual rope-like creations. Despite being weaved by finger-sized threads¡ªthe size they grew to after devouring Fillan¡¯s memories¡ªthe ropes they combinedly formed were no thicker than a strand of hair. If Fillan could comprehend what was happening to himself, he''d probably become catatonic just from seeing the blatant ignoring of all logic the threads were exhibiting. There were no spells or techniques used, it truly just appeared like the ropes were weaved by barely visible threads. Despite being a universe of countless marvels, everyone knew that if laws or their functions are not manipulated, that reality had certain unbreakable rules not even the mightiest of experts could break. For example, a solid cannot be combined with another solid into a smaller solid. As such, even in this occult situation, the ropes¡¯ creation might surpass the proceedings general weirdness. Anyway, the fifteen ropes whose lengths were obvious, yet somehow indeterminate, as if they passed through different parts of space, began to tangle themselves. One rope would be tied with five other ones for certain areas, nine in others, sometimes it would be alone for a stretch of time, before being tied to another rope. This insurmountably incomprehensible entanglement continued for hours. After certain knots were tied, the ropes would appear unsatisfied and undo their work, before starting again. It was unknown what they wanted to form, but it must be something pretty significant for them to obsess so compulsively over it. Time continued to pass like river water, until suddenly, four years later, the ropes which had been continuously squirming, instantly became still; they settled into their final form The rainbow-colored threads spent nearly half a decade to create themselves into a masterpiece of art, much like Katesthio did for his engraving, only much slower due to the lacking material. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Stood in the center of Fillan¡¯s imagination stood a towering creature of shocking proportion. It consisted of two halves, much like Katesthio himself, but also different. The bottom was octopoid, with each of the eight tentacles standing upright in the air, matching the height of the figure''s arms. Most of them were empty, but three were holding different art pieces of varying complexity, and frankly, quality. One was half-way broken, like a shattered vase hastily reconfigured. Another was beautiful, but still crude and brutish. The final one, however, was like the most beautiful image one can imagine. Its every line¡ªrope¡ªwas immaculately placed, bringing out countless images depending on from where you look at it. Mysteriously, they all looked wildly similar to the ¡°divine¡± engravings you¡¯d see on Fillan¡¯s soul. Looking past the tentacles standing like seaweed, you¡¯d see a human figure with four arms, each carefully surrounding a marble-looking amalgamation. Unlike Katesthio, this figure did not have wings nor seven eyes, but rather a second figure emerging from his back, and three eyes. The three eyes were closed for simplistic reasons, but there was a sinister feel to the one placed between the figure¡¯s perfect brows. The figure emerging from his back was in the shape of a human, but lacked every distinctive feature of one. There was no nose, mouth, eyes, ears or hair, only a head, torso, arms, and legs. The figure''s right arm was bizarre however. It looked like it suffered from severe gangrene, as the entirety of it was pure black, a stark contrast to the otherwise rainbow-colored art-work. If you looked closely, you could also barely make out veiny rope-protrusions on the surface of the figure. To say the shape of this creature was grotesque would be an understatement, yet the colors and intricate design would dazzle anyone who ever laid their eyes on it. There was a certain beauty in the contrast between shape, color and detail. However, just as this seemed like it would be Fillan¡¯s fate, at least until a potential reset, the color of the ropes constituting the figure began to fluctuate. Whether it be the black or rainbow colored ropes, they all slowly shifted towards a white color, before suddenly morphing into a radiant silver color stained with specs of both gold and purple, perceivably rotating with different patterns. One clockwise, the other counterclockwise. The purple was predominant in the back-figure, while the gold was thickest in the main body, each forming their own systemic rotations. With a terrible fluctuation that shook not only Fillan¡¯s imagination, but also the time-frozen world around him, the familiar image of a giant silver river appeared unbeknownst to anyone. Almost as if in apprehension, the river slowly inched closer to where Fillan¡¯s ¡°lifeless¡± body stood, before attempting to pull him into it. Yet no matter how it seethed or surged, wiggled or twisted, Fillan remained untouched by its waters. With no other options left, the river attempted to enter Fillan¡¯s body instead. With mysterious movements, one half of the viewable river of time disappeared from view, before sharply shooting out from empty space like a needle, ready to penetrate Fillan¡¯s innocent chest. ¡°Pierce!¡± The river went right through his chest, but only a few drops remained within him. The drops, mystifyingly, disappeared from the physical realm, and appeared before the silver Katesthio-esq figure. As if drawn towards the silver radiance, the drops quickly assimilated with the ropes. However, in doing so, it appeared a great taboo had been committed. A terrible and ancient power erupted from every single fiber of the universe¡¯s being, before quickly¡ªat a speed millions of times faster than light¡ªgathering around the transgressor. The pressure from the power emerging from a single cubic meter of space was enough to erase a mortal from existence, which also means that no matter what manner of creature provokes this power, no matter how powerful it is, it will have to face the might of an infinite universe. It¡¯s unknown if there is anyone capable of such a thing in Fillan¡¯s universe, but one thing is for damn certain, Little Fillan Strand is not one of them. Just the pressure coming from a hundred cubic meters of space would turn him to unrecognizable dust, much less the countless vigintillion cubic meters worth of pressure that hit him instantaneously. Which of course means that Fillan died, again. ¡­ Fillan opened his eyes to a massive floating sphere floating in front of him. Too dazed to even care about the chilling sensation spreading across his body, Fillan almost screamed out in fear. If not for his immense sense of shame and self pride, he would have done so. ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!¡± he thought with instability. ¡°What the fuck just happened? What kind of nightmare was that?¡± Fillan began to shiver uncontrollably, much to the derision of the overseer. Little did he know Fillan not only experienced being devoured by mysterious threads, but also being the very threads. Despite Fillan¡¯s memories being fully engulfed they had mysteriously returned along with a recollection of the entire ordeal, as well as unfamiliar notions and knowledge. In a few seconds he had to fully process and assimilate with over four years of information spurred by both body and mind, but mostly the ropes forming their figure. The reasoning behind everything they formed, their uses and more consumed his little brain. Worst yet, or truly the best, was the enormous ocean of information related to the workings of devouring, creation, and cultivation; a mysterious cultivation technique centered around destruction and reconstruction: Katesthio¡¯s Reimagination. Katesthio¡¯s Reimagination was not necessarily a cultivation technique, but the effects and functions of both are identical. It is like a massive encyclopedia of Katesthio¡¯s experiences, thoughts, and comprehensions. It¡¯s something that should have been unique only to the innate Katesthio, so even if it entered someone¡¯s hands the worth would have been minimal, but that was not the case with Fillan, due to his physique. Despite there being no instructions or even clear main path, Fillan could make great deductions from all the information he was being force-fed. ¡°I guess I got what I wanted, somehow¡­?¡± he wondered uncertainty in the short respite where the information he received was more general. ¡°I might not have the cultivation of Katesthio, but the cultivation technique is more than good enough.¡± As usual, exactly ten seconds after the chilly sensation invades Fillan¡¯s body, the measuring orb sent out to rays of light, one for him and one for the grumpy overseer. Fillan, who was too caught up in digesting the actual millions of years worth of cultivation knowledge didn¡¯t even bother to attempt looking at what it said, but simply nudged a circuit of his to launch a spell that could store outside information for him. The problem with his current situation was the fact that all of this information appeared like old memories resurfacing, not something being sent to him from a divine entity. As such there was nothing he could do to remedy the situation. The old man, oblivious to Fillan¡¯s occupied mind, didn¡¯t have any worries about announcing his results though. ¡°Cultivation: Qi Gathering, talent: Origin World. Body Tempering: Inept, talent: Blood Engraving. Magical talent: Solid fire aptitude, solid psychic aptitude, robust lightning aptitude, resilient¡­soul-blood aptitude, resilient time¡­aptitude, ¡­¡­broken origin attribute¡ªwhat the fuck?¡± Chapter 13: Illogical Evolution Despite being stunned, and appearing so outwardly, it didn¡¯t stop the overseer from ¡°perusing¡± the rest of the information. Overseer: ¡°...¡± The overseer felt like explosions were going off in his head ¡°reading¡± every single word the measuring orb provided him. ¡°What manner of evil talents are these?¡± he wondered out loud, deceiving his movements. With a flash, both the overseer¡¯s hands joined together to form nine different hand seals in rapid succession. The air vibrated intensely as nine brightly colored pillars manifested imposingly behind him: three blue, three brown, and three red. ¡°Tri-Elemental Prison,¡± the overseer commanded, as the pillars shifted themselves into a seemingly common arrangement. To the unknowing person, the pillars looked no different now from before, only those with a deep grasp of formations and laws could sense the bizarre connection they formed not only with themselves, but also the world. The Tri-Elemental Prison comes in near endless variations, but one of the most powerful ones establishes an independent domain deliberately separate from the other two elements, whatever they may be. This causes the world or realm to react by sending a surplus of the missing elements, which the prison then uses as fuel in a semi-Penta-Elemental-Prison. This essentially allows those with lacking comprehension to use the five elements despite their innate disadvantages. And while none of the spectators, whether they be testees or their guides, could fathom the intricacies, none were oblivious to the small opaque sphere that formed around the scrawny Fillan Strand. ¡°The evaluation is officially done for today, but it will resume as usual tomorrow,¡± the overseer uttered with his qi amplified voice. With a ¡°swoosh,¡± the overseer, the measuring orb, and Fillan Strand vanished from the city square. No one¡ªexcept for the one it concerned¡ªeven noticed the fact that the overseer didn¡¯t bring away the Martial Pillar realm talent he had his eyes on. ¡­ What Fillan expected to see when he ¡°woke up¡± from his near catatonic state was¡ªwell, it was not whatever he was looking at. Walls covered in dirt, grime, and gods know what else. Rusty qi-enforced metal bars, a minimum of ten guards moving past his view every single minute, and chains covering his limbs and neck, while his chest was literally nailed to the unholy wall behind him. He was clearly in prison. ¡°What the fuck is happening?¡± Despite not being more powerful than the peak Earthly Pillar realm overseer, Fillan could easily escape no matter what he threw at him. Yet, when Fillan was casually trying to make sense of the enormous amount of information surging into him every single second, that silly little move the overseer made caused him to enter an untimely trance. ¡°I feel both groggy and clear headed at the same time,¡± he mumbled in confusion. ¡°Such a low tier technique performed by such a lacking individual should definitely not have had any significant effect on my mind; maybe it was the combination of information and the overseer that immobilized me.¡± ¡°I guess I¡¯ll never know for certain.¡± As Fillan betrayed his words by continuing to mull over the issue, the sounds of hurried footsteps approached his cell. You¡¯d think that when someone gets incarcerated for their potentially world-ending talent that they would be kept isolated from others in a super secure location, but they apparently do things differently in Garth. Exactly twenty three guards stopped outside Fillan¡¯s cell, arranged themselves in a specific pattern, and started making inane sounds directed towards a rectangular item located on the ceiling. Fillan: ¡°...¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me this is the way to open the cells in this place? Also, where is this place; I know¡ªthought I knew¡ªevery single important location on Tella, but I have no recollection of this place at all.¡± Fillan is by no means omniscient, but the fact of the matter is that even if he can¡¯t fully discern what happens inside heavily guarded and reinforced locations like this prison or the Library of Knowledge, he at least knows they exist. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°There has to be a high tier Immortal formation hiding it, or a very special minor realm, or a gargantuan pocket of space in the void, or a treasure, or¡ª¡± The possible explanations were numerous, numerous to the point that Fillan needed to reevaluate the profoundness of Graaryll. There might be hundreds of locations and secrets Fillan missed due to taking everything at face value. After a shockingly long display by the guards, the three center most rusty prison bars retracted into the ground, at which point a well-dressed young man was slung towards Fillan. ¡°You two keep each other company; don¡¯t let him eat you, kid!¡± the foremost guard in the twenty-three formation derided. ¡°I heard he likes to devour pretty boys like you.¡± ¡°What!?¡± Fillan and his new cell mate shouted simultaneously. ¡°What kind of fucking rumour is that?¡± Fillan prodded with fury. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t walk away while I¡¯m talking to you! Hey! Why am I even here? Hello? Fuck!¡± It was unknown whether the guards were just ignoring Fillan or if¡ªfor whatever reason¡ªthe cells only allowed sounds in, not out. ¡°You little brat, why aren¡¯t you in chains?¡± Fillan asked the boy who hastily scurried away from his lap. ¡°They¡¯ve got me chained to this wall of filth while you can move freely. How is that fair?¡± ¡°I-I don¡¯t know,¡± he stuttered. ¡°You¡¯re not really going to devour me, right? I¡¯m just an innocent little weakling, not even a cultivator or anything. Hell, I don¡¯t even have any talent! After I touched a big turquoise orb, my uncle told me I was utter garbage. Please spare me! Please! I can give you whatever you want; I¡¯m rich. Just ask and¡ª¡± ¡°Kid?¡± Fillan asked mildly. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± the boy trembled. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to offend you, great immortal master. Or martial master. Or mage¡ª¡± Deciding that his cell mate would not shut up anytime soon, Fillan decided to review his talents. ¡°There had to be something special for that old bag of bones to attack me; Dutiful Student.¡± Dutiful student is a simple spell that, like a good student, pays attention to whatever information is given to him and then ¡°writes it down¡±. This allows for something similar to Memory Monitor, but for external stimuli that Fillan never internalized. The spell has limited uses, but in a situation like this, it¡¯s perfect. Measuring Orb Information Burst, log thirty-two: Progenitor Katesthio Body: One of the universe¡¯s unique creations destined to reign as an Ancestral God and spread their progeny to forever propagate the expanding chaos bubble¡ªKatesthio¡ªwields the incarnated power of creation, dominance, defiance, life, death, and destruction. However, unlike its other brethren who rely on their connection to the universe to manifest and improve their overlord powers, Katesthio rather needs to steal, usurp, and assimilate worlds, realms, and the laws of the universe to transcend its inherent shackles. Thus becoming a highly feared, antagonistic persona amongst all living, and intrinsic creatures. WARNING! Individuals with this physique must be apprehended with utmost haste upon discovery, lest terrible misfortune were to befall the measuring orb and its possessors. Innate Beshadowed Engraver: The ever enigmatic Beshadowed Engravers are a secretive, hardly known ¡°species¡± of individuals, who, due to talent and fortune, eventually change their very nature. These individuals are commonly referred to as Divine Wizards, due to their grasp of and accomplishments within the field of what they call ¡°Sorcery.¡± This evolved form of magic, based on testing limits and boundaries, possesses great might and dominance, brought forth by their spells¡¯ immense complexity and their ¡°Beshadowed Souls.¡± Engraving, understanding, developing, and evolving spells is no more difficult to these individuals than raising their hands. Ancient Historical Carp Bloodline: A forgotten species lost on their voyage to become dragons of time. Proposed to possess a connection and control of the river of time, yet not even the most ancient and primitive of creatures grasp their nature or abilities. Ancestral Baptism Survivor: To truly sit upon the Ancestral Thrones of the universe one must survive its baptisms. Upon facing the wrath of ever increasing waves of origin, one must survive, temper oneself, and prevail in a domineering fashion to become an existence above all, second only to the universe. This is the mark of true powerhouses, granting an ineffable pressure onto lower lifeforms of the same path. ¡°Karmic Reincarnation Eye: one¡¯s previous lives'' karma is accumulated and shielded in a third eye, giving them the ability to release a certain pressure from it (virtuous/sinister.) It provides the innate ability of gazing upon other¡¯s karmic aura, while showcasing causal lines. The Karmic Reincarnation Eye grows stronger along with the person''s cultivation, gradually giving them deeper insight and eventually control of Karma.¡± ¡°Universal Law Incarnation: Born with an innate comprehension of a universe''s most fundamental laws, which in time, will grant an all encompassing comprehension of reality¡¯s workings.¡± ¡°Well now, this is just ridiculous,¡± Fillan thought. ¡°That little event not only evolved my body into that of a weakened Katesthio¡ªan innate ¡®Originator¡¯¡ªit also changed my soul and gave me a bloodline? Even if I disregard everything else, how exactly did that event have anything to do with magic?¡± ¡°I could potentially, maybe if I tried really hard, understand how I got the Ancient Historical Carp Bloodline after absorbing a droplet from the river of time, but for me to become an Innate Beshadowed Engraver, a Divine Wizard? I don¡¯t even know what that is!¡± ¡°This time loops shit keeps making less and less sense, not that I¡¯m complaining though. But you¡¯d expect some sense of cohesion and logic in this type of thing.¡± Meanwhile, huddled in the corner of the cell, the well-dressed young man became more and more convinced he was sent to this cell to die. ¡°Why does his expression keep changing like that; it¡¯s freaking me out,¡± he thought in trepidation. ¡°Maybe he¡¯s one of those nuts who doesn¡¯t know he¡¯s doing something wrong, like he¡¯s got multiple personalities or persistent psychosis.¡± ¡°Damn it all! I am not resigned to dying here, and definitely not by devouring. I can also think of like ten different meanings that can have in this context.¡± ¡°Damn quirky system¡­¡± he unintentionally mumbled, barely audibly, out loud. Chapter 14: Niytus Feast ¡°Your Majesty, are you sure this is a good idea?¡± An old man asked, kneeling on the jade-tiles of a grandiose, pillared, and ornately decorated palace hall. The question was directed towards the only other ¡°person¡± in the room, the king of Garth: Graum. Graum was seated on a throne of blood. Yes, blood. Despite being famously liquid, the blood constituting this great chair was more sturdy than the most solid of Heaven-grade materials. ¡°Do you think that talent of his could really allow him to devour Graaryll?¡± Graum asked in return. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know,¡± the old man hesitated. ¡°I have never heard of a measuring orb being wrong, but it seems too ¡®good¡¯ to be true. Not to mention all the other traits; how could one individual, especially in a lower realm, have such talents?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, and I don¡¯t need to know,¡± Graum responded. ¡°I need war, he will bring war. No matter what, if we spread the news of his talents around, some will want to control him, others would want him dead. The war would shatter all prior conventions and rules, and it will set the course for the realm¡¯s future developments.¡± ¡°But what if he devours the world before you succeed?¡± the old man pressed. ¡°He won¡¯t.¡± ¡°But what if he does¡ª¡± ¡°Talent is just talent,¡± Graum interrupted. ¡°Means, ability, and strength are all that matter; even uninterrupted growth would take time, but now¡­even if he wanted to, he¡¯d be unable to progress in the slightest.¡± ¡°Then what of the boy they threw into his cell?¡± ¡°Oh, him?¡± the king chuckled. ¡°His talents are so unremarkable there has to be something special about him.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°So let him stay with his direct counterpart and see what happens.¡± ¡°As you wish, Your Majesty.¡± ¡­ ¡°Why are you looking at me like that, you little piece of shit,¡± Fillan questioned the self-hugging young man in his cell. ¡°We are the exact same age, yet you¡¯re acting like I¡¯m some old demon. I mean, technically I am older than I look, but not outrageously so.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t cultivators live for thousands of years?¡± the young man retorted. ¡°How am I supposed to know if you¡¯re sixteen, twenty, or twenty thousand years old?¡± ¡°Twenty thousand?¡± Fillan couldn''t believe his ears. There are parts of Graaryll that are very disconnected from the world of cultivation and magic, but they all have one thing in common: they¡¯re outside of Garth. Every single person in Garth, whether they live in a big city or in a remote mountain village, are educated from young on the different cultivation, body tempering, and magic realms, as well as some of their traits. First and foremost of them is lifespan. This is done to engrave the hope of immortality in the citizens to ignite an eagerness for power, and for the means not to die. So this young man who, despite appearing very delicate, was clearly older than sixteen¡ªdue to his measuring orb evaluation¡ªspouting such an outrageous number shocked Fillan silly. Anyone at the Qi Gathering realm are only barely different from mortals and live for a hundred years. Someone at the Foundation Establishment realm can live for one hundred and fifty years. Those at the Golden Core realm can live for three hundred. The Golden Specter realm bumps this up drastically to one thousand years. The Soul Fusion realm actually reduces a person¡¯s lifespan down to five hundred years. The Soul Refinement realm then rekindles the flame of vitality, restoring the individual¡¯s lifespan to a thousand years. The Earthly Pillar realm then doubles that to two thousand, which remains the same throughout the Law Palace realm all the way until ascension. Even if someone is both a cultivator and body temperor¡ªwhich have similar lifespans¡ªand reach both the Earthly and Heavenly Law Palace realms, they would at most have four thousand years of lifespan. Twenty thousand was something only Immortals could dream of. Fillan was also sure the kid was from Garth as he didn¡¯t possess any form of power, nor the stomach to be a mortal spy. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you, hmm?¡± Fillan inquired. ¡°You end up in a cell with me, a supposed world ending figure¡ª¡± ¡°What!?¡± the young man shouted. ¡°It¡¯s all just hearsay,¡± Fillan responded, mildly annoyed at being interrupted in his cool-guy-monologue. ¡°You say you don¡¯t have talent, or at least your uncle said so. You also don¡¯t know how long cultivators live, something even these disgusting, repulsive, purity deprived, grace abandoned, walls of putrid filth know. So, what is wrong with you?¡± ¡°I-there''s nothing wrong with me; I¡¯m just unlucky!¡± the young man deflected. ¡°Being unlucky shouldn¡¯t get you thrown into¡ªwhat I can only imagine¡ªis a maximum security prison for the most dangerous of individuals. And beasts. And demons. And plants. And spirits¡ªI don¡¯t know what the fuck they keep here.¡± ¡°Point is, I think you¡¯re a liar,¡± Fillan concluded. ¡°I think you¡¯re probably very special, or that power hungry evolved human Graum wouldn¡¯t have put you here.¡± ¡°Evolved human? Graum? What the hell are you even talking about,¡± he erupted. ¡°I-I mean, could you please explain more, great master?¡± If Fillan was suspicious of this guy before, he was certain now. How can anyone, not even just in Garth, on Tella as a whole, not know who Graum is. Born to a poor witch¡ªfemale magician¡ªof no renown, Graum was different from young. His body was more robust, his hair was longer and coarser, his eyes red and fierce, and his personality unyielding and violent. He lived a difficult, confrontation ridden life of organized crime, doing whatever he needed to get by. This continued until the day of his sixteenth birthday. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Upon touching a measuring orb, he was revealed to possess the bloodline of a venerated Immortal creature¡ªthe Gaolhound, said to guard the entrance to Kakos, a dimension of pure evil. What most don¡¯t realize since they don¡¯t possess such talents, is that measuring orbs do more than reveal your prospects; they awaken those still dormant. The more powerful the talent or trait¡ªnot in terms of raw cultivation or body tempering potential¡ªthe more difficult it is to manifest successfully. This applies not only to the lower realms, but is even more prevalent there. The Gaolhound bloodline is one of the highest tier, completely impossible to kindle on such a barren planet. So, when he got evaluated, his bloodline surged. It is said that he grew from a near two meter tall boy, into a dozen meter tall giant of pure rage. His fury and newfound power colored the skies of what was once Truhan, pure red. The overseer tried to restrain Graum, but despite facing an actual mortal, he could not defeat him, nor keep him from running away. As time passed Graum would appear intermittently to fight for opportunities and treasures, significantly stronger every time, all the way until he reached the peak of the Earthly Palace realm. Upon becoming an apex existence below the realm of immortality, Graum faced off against the immortal Truhan Empire¡ªfounded and secured by those from the Immortal Realm¡ªand not only won, but also managed to usurp half of their territory for himself, turning it into the Kingdom of Power, Garth. Ever since accomplishing the not-accomplishable, Graum seemed to have disappeared from the world. Some even suspect he¡¯s long ascended, but the fact still remains that his tale is stunning. No hot-blooded young man¡ªor whatever this flower boy was¡ªcould be ignorant of such a dominant figure. Even Fillan, who doesn¡¯t really admire people, found some level of respect for this king. Although he knew for a fact that old beast has not ascended yet; just thinking of it sent chills down his spine. One of his most violent deaths, and the reason Fillan doesn¡¯t like to fight, actually fight like most others do, was that one encounter. ¡°Okay, you¡¯re clearly not from Garth,¡± Fillan acknowledged. ¡°I also have a hunch that you¡¯re not from Tella as a whole. Although there¡¯s no real basis for this, and though it should be impossible, I have a feeling you¡¯ve come from outside of Graaryll, haven¡¯t you?¡± The young man kept quiet, not even daring to look towards Fillan¡¯s figure. ¡°Ah, so you¡¯re either a very, very unlucky person who has encountered a once-in-an-eon event where someone from a higher realm is cast into a lower one. Or, you¡¯re some manner of reincarnation, who, despite it not being possible, retains their memories.¡± The Destructive Harmony Universe possesses a greatly intricate system for the birth, destruction, and rebirth of souls. It can create souls from scratch after accumulating enough origin, which is something that happens over time¡ªno one knows why. It can destroy them by depriving them of origin, and thus creating more new souls. But what happens most of the time is reincarnation. A person within the Destructive Harmony Universe¡ªDHV¡ªis the result of a soul in connection with the body. The soul, while technically being responsible for thought and memories and any form of cognition, can only do so with the assistance of a brain. Souls are bizarre creations that exist in two different ¡°dimensional planes¡±. They have their own dimensions where the ¡°physical¡± soul is located, and then they half-project half-manifest in the material dimension. They do this by tethering to a brain, magic well, mind palace, and blood gate¡ªthe two latter being a result of cultivation and body tempering respectively. When a person dies, the tethers connecting it to the body disappear, effectively sealing it within the soul dimension. Technically, since the soul has been molded, has memories, and is mature, it could just connect to a different fetus, but that would lead to stagnation¡ªapparently. So what happens is that every single minute a giant vortex appears in the center of the dimension, and whatever souls don¡¯t have the tethers to ¡°ground¡± them will be sucked into it. This vortex is the result of a lot of different laws working in perfect harmony to seal, suppress, and if necessary, destroy any individuality within these souls. So the souls themselves are not destroyed, but the people they once were, are. When they are spat out the other end of the vortex, they¡¯ll be pure and ready to re-experience life. It has been known, however, to have failed once or twice before. No one knows why, but a very well known figure in the Immortal Realm who fell in battle, was later discovered to be alive and well, cultivating anew. People were shocked to learn of this, especially since his body and every trace of his spirituality had clearly been destroyed. They justified it by claiming he cultivated a powerful cloning technique, but that wasn¡¯t the truth. Upon reaching his former peak, the individual revealed the fact that he had in fact died, and came back to life. As the words left his mouth, however, rather than hearing gasps and questions, he heard a tremendous rumble¡ªhe was instantly struck dead by origin. No one is supposed to be able to retain their memories, and if they are discovered by the universe, they will be dealt with through soul-destruction. Fillan naturally was not afraid of invoking any of this; he was just killed by origin a few ¡°hours¡± ago, after all. ¡°Re-reincarnation,¡± the young man finally uttered. ¡°What even- I don¡¯t even know what that is! Hehe¡­hehe. He.¡± ¡°I knew it!¡± Fillan celebrated. ¡°I¡¯m so damn smart. Random ass untalented kid with no prospects and only a suspicious location and I nail it spot on. People should refer to me as Lord of Intelligence¡ªwait a minute. Wait just a fucking minute; I¡¯ve got it!¡± ¡°That piece of shit spell really did mess with my intelligence! This is tremendous, I might even have a whole new prospected divine spell on my hands here. I need to plan this properly, I don¡¯t have the patience, and definitely not the room to mess up.¡± Fillan¡¯s soul¡¯s entire right arm, chest, and back were fully covered in spells; there was no more room left. That left him with only his three remaining limbs, abdomen, and head to engrave on. At least until the ¡°humanization¡± of his soul progresses further. ¡°You little brat, even though the only thing you did was act suspiciously, you allowed me to realize something I was going to realize anyway, but sooner, so thank you,¡± Fillan was clearly great at acknowledging contributions. ¡°What are you talking about, great master?¡± the young man meeked out. ¡°I¡¯m not a ¡®reincarnator¡¯ or whatever you said¡­¡± ¡°Of course not!¡± Fillan said as he winked heavily with his right eye. ¡°Admitting to something like that would cause your swift and instant annihilation¡ªtrust me.¡± The young man¡¯s eyes widened in fear: ¡°The system never said anything about that!¡± ¡°The what?¡± It was now Fillan¡¯s turn to be confused. ¡°Nothing, I misspoke,¡± he answered, barely keeping himself from covering his mouth. ¡°Right, right, because there¡¯s nothing special about¡ªwhat the fuck is that!?¡± Fillan screamed in fright. ¡°What? What¡¯s what?¡± ¡°That thing, that damned spider-like thing covering your face.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a spider on my face?¡± the young man shrieked. ¡°Where? Where!?¡± ¡°On the face of your soul; it¡¯s like you¡¯re wearing it as a mask,¡± Fillan hissed. ¡°It¡¯s repulsive. Repugnant. Devilish. No good. It¡¯s for sure not good. I have never seen anything like that, ever. To be fair I don¡¯t spend a lot of time soul-gazing, but from my understanding, only qi, mana, and laws can interact with a soul. And that thing is none of the above, I can guarantee it.¡± ¡°On my soul?¡± he asked with indignation. ¡°Why would you even scare me like that? There¡¯s no way you can see my soul; I thought you were some hotshot devil, but you¡¯re just a charlatan. If this is a high security prison, how could they allow you to use your cultivation?¡± ¡°I¡¯m using magic¡ª¡± ¡°Stop fucking lying,¡± the kid shouted. ¡°Magic needs like big glowing runic circles or something, yet I don¡¯t see any of them around. Where are they, huh? Where are they?¡± ¡°This is such a shame, but I can see you¡¯re not going to tell me what I want to know, so this has to happen,¡± Fillan began. ¡°I don¡¯t know if this helps or makes it worse, but just know that this won¡¯t technically happen to you, seeing as you¡¯re not actually a real person. Doesn¡¯t mean it won¡¯t hurt though.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a complete fucking nut¡ª¡± ¡°I have only used this spell once before because it¡¯s too cruel, but whatever: Niytus¡¯ Feast.¡± ¡°ARGH!¡± The young man began screaming incessantly, never once ceasing as tiny creatures of pure evil devoured his memories, and deposited them in Fillan¡¯s Dutiful Student spell. This went on for at least a dozen hours, before the young man finally slumped lifeless on the floor, and his soul untethered. ¡°This better be worth it,¡± Fillan mumbled, not feeling great about what he just did. The only thing that allows him to get over doing shit like this is the fact that since everything resets upon his death, then the people he interacts with are nothing more than illusions, or at most, parts of a grand dream. At least that¡¯s what he¡¯s decided to think. ¡°Dutiful Student,¡± he uttered, despite there being no requirement to name the spell you¡¯re about to cast. Niytus¡¯ Feast Information Deposit, log 2: Rather than information displaying itself to him, his vision went black. He was about to watch a long, long movie.