Alex was having his dinner when Renald, the bishop at the local Church of hegemon had approached him. Richard was a short man but well built, His salt and pepper hair was neatly trimmed and maintained daily.
"You did not join the attack?" Alex asked him
"The churches usually keep out of the attack, but you can join it. Ketovan's father is one of the most influential adventurers on this planet, it natural that his son takes up his father's sense of adventuring." Renald answered.
"Good, I have a load of training items but no trainer to train me." Alex sulked.
"I can help, but my specialty is ritual magic, which at sometimes be the most useful but the most severe mistake of need," Renald said.
"Any warped spaces opened?" Alex asked, recollecting the idea of his training in a warped space for his progress.
"Not that I know of, but I am sure ketovan had planned something for it." Renald answered.
"What about those golems you summon? They could have been of some help." Alex said
"That is why they are accompanying the forces that are protecting the church district. It is hard to gain the blessing of the gods once again if a church is demolished." Renald said.
"More important than the lives of millions of people?" Alex asked, frowning.
"yes" Renald answered. A cold and emotionless voice that is unheard from him in the past week Alex had known him.
***************
Alex slipped into his bed and closed his eyes. As expected, he appeared in his soul space, which held the throne room and the temple of the ancient.
"Had your food, boy?" emperor asked, appearing beside him.
"yes" Alex answered.
"You took my cutlass to bed?" emperor asked again, looking at his hand.
"It's in my inventory." Alex answered.
"Next time you are holding it while sleeping," emperor said in an icy voice.
"What wrong with your lot? Renald was cold while having dinner, and now you." Alex said voice filled with irritation and self-hatred.
"What happened with the bishop?" emperor asked, trying to divert the anger towards the hegemon's clergy.
"The facts hurt him." Alex said
"You talked about your atheist beliefs again?"
"yes" Alex said.
"You don't go on and tell a 500-year-old noble ranker that his beliefs were not real, not when you are still normal rank."
"Yeah, I know."
"Now, about the cutlass, equip it." Emperor said.
Alex equipped the cutlass, and a screen appeared before it.
ITEM - EMPEROR'S WILL
SKILL - MORTAL HUNGER
LEVEL - NOUBLE LV 50
Alex was clearly shocked at the description. Before the cutlass consumed his skill, the voice of the world, it was just a normal Lv 1. But now it was 3 ranks above him, but still he could wield it.
"You it, that's because it ate your skill. Once it reached divine rank, all the skills it ever consumed will be installed into the owner. Not only yours but the thousands of warriors that held this weapon in the countless dimensions I had sent it to." Emperor said. He gently stroked the edge of the blade, and a new screen appeared before it.
ITEM - EMPEOR'S WILL, HAD BEEN SUBDUED BY THE BLESSING OF THE EMPEROR. IT OFFERES YOU THE SKILL VOICE OF THE WORLD. BUT YOU CAN USE IT ONLY IN YOUR SOUL SPACE. OCE YOUR BODY REACH DIVINE RNK AND MERGES WITH THE SOUL YOU WILL BE GIVEN ACCESS TO ALL OF THE SKILL THE WEAPON HAD CONSUMED TILL DATE.
ACCEPT / REJECT.
"Take the offer kid, you are entering a dungeon where information is survival." Emperor said.
Alex accepted the offer and felt no threads enter his body from the sword. Not deep enough to reach his soul, but enough to reach his mind. A voice came into his head.
"DIVINE RANK SKILL VOICE OF THE WORLD IS GIVEN ACCESS TO THE INDIVIDUAL ALEXANDER SOBREVIVIENTE. THE SKILL VOICE OF THE WORLD IS SCANING THE SURROUNDING."
An aura wave came from his body, scanning the space all-around him. Emperor just stared into his new students' faces as the wave moved across the throne room, slowly moving towards the temple.
"SCANNING COMPLETE. THE AREA OF THE CURRENT SPACE IS UNDEFINED. IT IS A SOUL SPACE BELONGING TO THE INDIVIDUAL, ALEXANDER SOBREVIVIENTE. THERE ARE CURRNTLY 3 STRUCTURES IN THE SOUL SPACE. THE SOUL THRONE. THE TEMPLE OF THE ANCIENT. THE GATE TO THE BETWEEN LANDS."
"The Between Lands?" Alex read the new word out.
"The place where beings like me wander around. Incorporeal beings, spirits and sentenced souls wander all over the place. It is the place where all the aura beasts come from." Emperor said
"Then why between lands? Why not soul realm or something?" Alex asked
"Because it runs between different dimensions," emperor said.
"Dimensions?" Alex questioned.
"Tell me what you know about grouping in space?" emperor said.
"Planets group to form solar systems. Solar systems form galaxies. Galaxies form clusters. Clusters form superclusters and so on until they all form universe and, if possible, a multiverse." Alex spitted the paragraph that he studied few years ago out.
"Till universe or even multiverse in some cases only the laws of physics are applicable but once you move further away you find multiversal clusters that were held together not by physics but magic. They bind together in pairs of 2,3,4 or even 6, where they are joined based on magic. Imagine elements in chemistry, few give out and few take. For what?" emperor asked like a teacher.
"To balance." Alex answered.
"Exactly! To balance their own physical states, they merge with their counterparts. The multiverses with higher magic capacity pair up with ones with low magic capacity." Emperor said.
"Okay, I understand the stand of magic, but what about these dimensions?" Alex reminded him of his doubt.
"All the multiverse of have specific dimensions in which they can exist. Yours, for example, has 3, but there are infinite number of dimensions with unknown names. The world you got reincarnated in, the throne world of Eternia lies in the center dimension where all and none of the dimensions exist. A world of pure magic and technology. Be grateful you are not reincarnated in one of the barbaric dimensions Where magic is either seen as heresy or complete livelihood. The between lands work as a foundation for the dimensions to repel all the other and a source of magic and primal laws. Understood?"
"Not completely, but I am a slow learner," Alex said
"That's the reason we are here. A day in a soul space is equal to 30 minutes in the physical world. So, you can train up to 16 days every night as you sleep. Now show me the best slash you can muster with my cutlass." Emperor said
Alex moved his hand up and pulled the sword down. His movements are crude, uneven movements, along with uncertainty of landing a hit made it a spell for self-doom. Emperor pinched the brim of his nose as he stared at Alex with disbelief.
"You don't even know how to wield it. Crude, uneven breathing while slashing. I can't even count the number of rules you broke in swordsmanship with a single slash." Emperor said. Pulling the cutlass away from his hands.
"I never held a pocketknife in 10 years, and you expect me to wield this with experience." Alex practically shouted.
Emperor took the same stance, but his hand was slightly tilted. He made a slash that rippled through the air as the blade came down. It was elegant, experienced, even and precise.
"10,000 times," emperor said, returning the cutlass.
"What?" Alex questioned.
"Practice this slash 10,000 times. And remember one thing, everyone including you must not be able to tell where your hand ended, and your weapon started."
"You are a cruel bastard. I am leaving the space right now," Alex said before trying to exit the soul space, he was denied exit.
"15,000 times," emperor said, his voice cold and stern.
"Let me go" Alex leaped onto the incorporeal figure but was quickly met with a punch to the guts.
"25,000 times," emperor said to Alex, who was now laying on the ground gasping for air. He vanished, leaving Alex in the throne room alone.
**************
Alex was laying on the white marble floor of the throne room. His hands still held the cutlass, but his body was clearly tired from his training. His hands were swollen, and shoulder pits were covered in a rash. He did not know how much time has passed.
"a day? Two days? Fuck this. Why can't I just die a peaceful death?"
Emperor appeared out of no wear sitting in the throne room. He was wearing more free clothes, the earth style. A sleeveless t-shirt and boxer short. His face was still blurred, and his hands were now wearing some kind of gloves that resembled gauntlets.
"completed?" he asked Alex.
"23,689." answered Alex, his voice tired but still showed his anger.
"enough for tonigth. Lucky you, because if not for this soul realm, you would have spent an entire week just swinging the cutlass. An entire month in recovery." Emperor said.
"Can I ask a question?" Alex asked
"Go on"
"If my soul is doing the work, then why is my physical body leveling up?" Alex asked
"Because after you consumed a core, your body will be linked to your soul. As your body levels up, it slowly turns into a physical version of your soul. There were instances where a core user changed gender once they ranked up as their souls had more of the feminine nature. That is the reason that species that take birth with cores have little to no change in their appearance as they level up. Look at yourself, you may be lean and well-built now, but as you reach noble rank or royal rank, you could turn into a beautiful woman or a bulky man." Emperor said, lifting Alex up.
"That explains a lot why Ketovan's kid photos did not resembled him." Alex said, standing with the help of the emperor.
"You still have 5 hours of sleep left. Your body will be as free as ever, but the thing you want to take care of is your metal stability. This kind of soul training is exhausting even for royal rankers, and you did not even cross the tresh hold level of the normal rank," said emperor
"Which is?" Alex asked
"59" answered emperor.
Ale moved out of the room and looked at the temple of the ancients. A screen appeared before him, and a voice rang in his mind.
"MONUMENT – THE TEMPLE OF THE ANCIENTS. A TEMPLE BUILT FROM THE ASHES OF THE FALLEN RACE OF BEINGS CALLED THE ANCIENTS. THESE BEINGS ARE CONSIDERED THE TRU ANCESTOR OF ALL OF HUMANKIND AND ITS KIN. THE ONLY LIVING ANCIENT IS EMPEROR DEODAS CLAMORE DEVANTI SKATI, WORLD TITLE – THE ACENDED RULER."
"Emperor Deodas Clamore Devanti Skati — it rings a bell." Alex read the name out.
"a sick, psychotic bastard. Ever heard the song 'WEAPERS REVENGE'?" Emperor asked.
"No," Alex said
"Read it once." emperir said.
**************