The next year of Aaradhya's life was spent rather straightforwardly. He spent time juggling private lessons with his father in advanced biology and viewing practical combat skills with the little tomb guards Anila and Kanjan. He did not directly engage or entangle himself with the two children since they were legitimate soldiers that knew how to take someone's life with the least amount of effort. Instead, he merely observed them as they did their morning practices. His goal was to commit their fighting style to memory. He hoped that he could copy their moves once he gained better motor control of his body.
In his off time, every night, after an 18 hour day, he consulted the mental library that he had amassed over the past year.
Thanks to the search and help function of the system, he managed to understand a portion of the
It was like this, if his body were a house whose heating worked by burning wood,
Thus, Aaradhya made a plan. He would push his body to its absolute limit with an inexhaustible source before he bought a Vitae Network. There was also the matter of him not having enough points to even think about purchasing what he wanted or even needed.
One thing that he did not need to worry about or plan for was the gradual impact of his
He attributed the increase to the odd moss that grew along the walls in the depths of the underground complex that they all lived in above. In the almost two years that he had been on the island, the moss had grown so wild that it spread to the surface of the island. It was a noticeable thing since it was a Vibrant green or blue depending on the density of the Verdant in the environment.
In addition to the moss that was spiritually charged, there was another change that Aaradhya thought was concerning. There was hardly anyone on the island who was not spiritually awakened aside from babies and young children. Anila and Kanjan, as Tomb Guard, were not counted amongst that majority as they both awakened a few months into the new year. That day caused quite a stir as their souls lit up as if they were on fire and for hours rather than for minutes like what occurred with Voltaire Gespario Di Beckham and the rest of the people on the islands that had awakened. The moment actually closely resembled Praths and Vasumans awakening in that it occurred after they were suddenly knocked out one day and couldn't explain what happened.
The second effect was that the increased Verdant had on the souls that Aaradhya had collected over the last two years. He had maxed out his soul count and had to figure out how to let go of the animal souls that he had collected. In addition, almost all of the human souls that he had for longer than a few months left him even though they always returned broken and gaunt. The oldest of his souls were like zombies with pieces of their bodies missing just like that one lost soul that had vanished. In other words, the thickened Verdant chewed at the souls at an increased rate while the effects of his sanctuary couldn't have become more clear as it protected the souls that did stay with him from degradation.
The third effect that the thickened Verdant had was that it allowed him to actually practice
The only issue that Aaradhya had with remaining on the island was that whenever he was not busy with his self improvement regiment, he had to attend the rituals and services that his father had to run as the High Priest. He couldn't even use the guillotine to gain points.
Meaning, Aaradhya was busy adding one to as many as three human souls to his roster every month. Masih Sr, being privy to his son's ability and the workings of his Lord, had been beyond busy lobbying the Grand Elders to stop hosting the rituals every single month. Even after all of this, the middle aged man always found an hour or two every day to study with his lordly son. Aaradhya thought that his fathers wealth of medical knowledge on bodies was just too impressive to be put into words.
The rituals, that were still held every month and would continue to be into the very for seeable future, were the most difficult times for the young Lord. His innate hemo and thanataphobia left him rattled on the first of every month, every single time.
To avoid feeling negative, Aaradhya put his full attention on mastering the mind and soul calming techniques that came with being a Spirit Guide. As it turned out, there was a method to clear the mind of fears and hesitation and always think logically and fairly. When he found it, he could only breathe a sigh of relief since it could be started without any pre-requisites.
Other than the struggles that came with restructuring a religion, his father started to make some interesting deals. Aaradhya found out a few days before his second birthday that his dad, the high priest, was essentially tasked with raising his replacement. It was the grandson of the second elder. The boy, Mokshi was his name, was destined to fill the role of the future High Priest and assist the deity in mind, body, and spirit whenever was needed. The boy was currently 5 years old. It was relevant to say this since the boy was currently standing right beside Aaradhya as his second birthday celebration was underway.
'Damn, I thought I could handle it. I guess it's still too much...', Aaradhya thought as his hands trembled. For the second year in a row, blood splattered onto the stage as he pressed the button for the guillotine. For the second time, he received points for killing someone that stared up at him with nothing but fervor. Mokshi grasped his hands and held on tight. The boy flashed a bright and misplaced smile of joy towards him. Aaradhya did not notice the boy's happiness, or he pretended not to notice as he delved into his mind and heart to stabilize himself.
The third year was a repetition of the one before it except it tested the patience, respect, and independence of the cult members. The flock settled down and participated in sermon and discussion rather than religious fairytales, myths, and murderous babble. They conversed about things that blindly fanatic members of a psychotic cult would not dare to think about as the monthly ritual of death was abolished and replaced by a quarterly exchange of stories and wealth. The only exception was the birthday rituals which were promised to remain bloody.
Some questioned their High Priest or the validity of their god while others shed some light on their dissatisfaction with the religion itself but not many left the island. As per Masih Sr's arrangements, everyone was allowed a chance to leave, to abandon the faith whole sail or spread word of the Shepherds like missionaries. When that was brought up, many chose to leave and spread the good word. Others who showed a staunch faith, were enlightened and were allowed to meet their lord personally. The meetings were always fleeting but it was enough to see Aaradhya in his Verdant regalia with the wheel of death spinning behind him. Most of them only saw the shadows of spirituality but others were blessed to see their luminescent lord.
The function of this third year was to find out who could think for themselves and chose to stay because they believed, not because they had no choice. It was then that he and his father's real plan for the Shepherds started.
It was a plan that hinged on Aaradhya being able to legitimately save people's souls. And for this grand experiment he needed someone with absolute trust and faith in him since the end result would be just like the bird and some of his other animals that he had not let go of just yet. Undead.
By his fourth birthday, a scrawny and thin haired homeless person found himself chosen as the sacrifice. Who he was didn't matter since everyone on the island was either a current member or a potential member of the Shepherds. Day of, the homeless person laid, cleaned and decorated in the sacrificial markings and refineries of a ritual offering. He drank a deep red liquid, a spiked wine before he laid down. Today was a bit different as the ritual was being held by blade, not guillotine due to the potential members that had been brought into the faith from outside. Masih Sr brought the dagger up and for a whole ten seconds, held it there. Everyone's hearts beat in unison, for some odd reason they all had the same thought, "Why is our lord's hand taking that man's life personally?"
They were hesitant after a year of no ritual sacrificed, the following that was. Aaradhya and his father made sure, through the power of rumors, that the flock all had doubts about killing people ritualistically.
"I will not allow anyone to kill this man today...", Aaradhya stimulated the thick Verdant and spoke in a booming and deep voice as he walked down from his platform and reached the stage.
"Instead, I will give this man a second chance," all of the followers gasped. They were surprised but not angry with their god. For some reason, they all felt relieved by that show of mercy.
"He deserves a proper death so his soul can serve me in the afterlife....", Aaradhya spoke into the mic as soon as the chaos reached a crescendo. It was at that moment that he used his spirit threads on the sickly homeless man that had drunk a cocktail of something before he laid himself down.
To the followers blue, green, and gold lights entwined and wrapped around the homeless man for a few moments, before like a flower in bloom, the light unfurled into the shape of a body above the man's torso. Minutes later, the man woke up from a drug cocktail as Aaradhya's spiritual energy filled his form.
Aaradhya smiled at the kneeling old man and said, "Stand, In life and in death, you shall accompany me as a a member of my Death Guard," his hand glittered with silver blue light as green spiritual energy particles condensed into an array of strings that dazzled the audience. All of the followers gasped at the power, light, and the manly voice that their god produced and spoke with. He was doing something very risky. He was using his blessing to prevent someone's death by forcing their soul to stay in their body after they had died. He wanted to see if he could skip a step in the process of collecting souls.
"This should make you a very good sparring partner. As soon as your disguise is removed we will be using my private grounds to train. Do you understand," Aaradhya spoke to the homeless man that had followed him off stage.
"I understand my lord. I will learn what you have given me as quickly as possible to provide you with a good opponent," the man removed his disguise and revealed that he was Prath, the oldest of Aaradhya's Tomb guards. The old man no longer needed to eat, sleep, or rest as his body ran on Spiritual Energy.
'I want to be prepared for the first trial. I don't know how that is going to change but considering the cast change, things are going to be messy. I should focus on speed and prepare for the survival trial since I don't know what changes are coming,' Aaradhya thought to himself as he noticed that Prath stuck to being within forty meters of him just as he previously warned. The range of his Sanctuary had increased by yet another ten meters without him trying to improve his spirituality. He then saw the distant look in Mokshi's eyes. Whenever the boy wasn't with the current high priest, he was with Aaradhya or his grandfather the second elder.
"Mokshi...", Aaradhya whispered. He promised the boy to let him into the Death Guard if and when his time as the next high Priest was over.
The new year worked out fine for the father and son since Aaradhya only needed one hour every few days to discuss medical issues with his father as he became more confident in his knowledge. He also spent less time in his own head as he found himself more comfortable with blood and death by the end of his fourth year. The time he devoted to actual combat proficiency drastically increased as the months went by. By that, he spent a large portion of his time exercising and creating a foundational platform for future fighting skills.
As an aside, he also fell in love with the abundance of odd souls that just fluttered around the compound without a care now that his range increased to nearly fifty meters. The ambient spiritual particles also quintupled in recent years so his progress as a guide improved by leaps and bounds. And that's without even choosing a real practice method from the handbook.
And back to the souls…
Some were dangerous after they deteriorated but they were like clawless and fangless tigers since their food was easy to acquire. They easily supplemented their bodies with the ejections that came off of those that were awakened. None of them had to fight for sustenance like the lost souls out in the wider world and those that did, Aaradhya managed to calm them down by pulling on their strings. Not to mention, there was nothing hunting them. At worst, the souls turned out to be pranksters at worst as they interacted with the awakened staff of crystal peak.
"...You are pulling too hard Prath. Ease into it. Also, stop looking at me and figure out where I will go, and stop using your eyes. See the flow of energy all around you, there are markers in the Verdant that give away where I am going..." Aaradhya spoke to undead Prath who was trying to learn
Prath used 300 arrows in a few minutes and was drenched in sweat from doing so. His fingers bled and his arms trembled with five hours of this repetitive work, everyday. Practice with his lord had started and continued for an entire year and proceeded at a rate which would have killed any mortal man out of exhaustion.
"Very good. Rest for a few hours...", The very last arrow actually got within a meter of Aaradhya's feet.
"Thank you my lord...", Prath silently bowed and left the arena. Mokshi ran past him and offered Aaradhya a bottle of water. While he drank Mokshi used a dry cloth to wipe away the light sheen of sweat on his forehead.
"Mokshi. Tell my father that I am leaving for some time. At the very least, it will be three days. At most it will take a year. Or longer perhaps. Remind him to practice
An unkillable yet stupid immortal that maxed out his level one blessing (at best). Or he had to deal with the same immortal that had access to the store unlike the original hero (at worst).
Then there was a person who was too lazy to utilize the full benefits of their plot armor while they had a fluid step by step guide to achieving victory (at best). Or the same champion that possessed ambition and the same benefits (at worst).
And finally, there was the most dangerous person of the bunch, the author. Someone who invented the cheat codes, mapped out the best farming methods, and wrote the world they lived in despite subtle differences.
"
SOUL SANCTUARY lvl.1
*RESOURCE: Bank (Simple Creatures: 100/ 100 Advanced Creatures [Average intelligence]: 1/ 1 Superior Creatures [Similar Intelligence]: 0/0).
'Prath is my creature of average intelligence. I wonder why I can only have one,' Aaradhya frowned at his status but continued reading.
*ACTIVE/PASSIVE: Soul capture (10 meters [10 Meter Max]) Capture the souls of anything within a range of any soul string or tether. Store the captured souls in the
*PASSIVE: String master (10x Buff Multiplier limit ) Multiplies the physical, mental, and spiritual strength of a personally controlled undead by the proportional amount of investment.
*ACTIVE: Eternal Rest (78x Base Regeneration [100x Max Regen]) A hibernative state where the body, mind, and part of the soul enter a regenerative sleep. Perma Death is also impossible in this state.
*ACTIVE/PASSIVE: Tether (1 Tethered Subject [1 Total Subjects]) Force a connection to any lesser in soul and control it like a marionette OR connect to the souls of another living being to form a binding and symbiotic connection of thought, emotion, and power.
*ACTIVE: Soul Splinter (~100.00% Increase to power [1x Activations]) Split a soul and reinforce existing soul strings. Can be used to forcibly empower the hold over any creature, living or dead. OR expand the number of soul strings available for use at the cost of the users soul stability. Reactivating the skill more than advised on your own results in a forced
[Classes]:
Soul sense (Early Apprentice): Sense, store, and mold Spiritual energy
[Equipment]
[Skills]:
"It will have to do. I can only hope that the other two did not slack off. I also hope that the author hasn't left us too far behind. But most importantly, I don't want to attract the attention of the other Gods if I'm too far behind..." Just as stated in Death's notes and in the original novel, the world around him became a mess.
"Here I go..." The floor beneath him split open and a large skeletal hand gently forced Mokshi away. The hands then wrapped around the expressionless Aaradyha and dragged him into the darkness.