My mind raced to find an answer that wouldn't get us all killed. I couldn't just how powerful the king was but I knew we couldn't beat him. Not even if we worked together. Nor did I think we could escape. Before I could come up with something I felt his soul sense pass over us. It felt like my psyche, my body, my everything was within his hands. That he could crush me with barely a thought. Suddenly, there was a thrum in my chest. A beat that caused the whole world to stop. For a moment, I thought he had somehow popped my heart. When a familiar sensation spread out I realized I was very wrong. Golden lines spread across my skin as righteous indignation surged.

  Who was this ghost to talk to me like that? A forgotten memory that needed to remember its place. Fury surged as a golden splendor filled the chamber. I pushed back his spiritual sense and let my aura flood out. My Tao joined it a second later as I claimed this room and everyone in it. It was— Suddenly the light was gone replaced with darkness and cold stone. The pressure that had been a firm hand was now like a tyrannical fist. A fist that could and would smash me into nothing.

  "Kingling? I had thought you were all dead. Perhaps I should remedy that now?" The disinterest in his voice only fueled my fire. Spiritual energy flooded into Psionic Rain as I prepared to shatter this spirit only for it to freeze a second later. I screamed as foreign energy poured into my channels like liquid metal. I passed my mental gaze over the scene and wanted to rip the world apart. Spiritual energy flooded into my channels in reverse dashing away every ounce of power I tried to draw. I tried to resist but there was nothing I could do. His energy was stronger, purer than mine. For every drop of his, it took an entire level worth of mine.

  My greatest fear was avoided when the energy went toward my heart instead of my dantian.

  "Leave him Alone!" A voice that sounded like it was a world away called out. Followed by a fury that surged into my mind. I tried to send a wave of calm toward Xerxes but I couldn't be sure it worked. The energy arrived at the mark and began to form an array around it. The array was stronger and more beautiful than anything I had ever seen. It made the ones animating the statues look like a child's drawing. When it was done the energy from the mark stopped. I could see it railing against its new prison but it might as well have been a child fighting a tank.

  In the next moment, my focus was pulled to the rest of the world. My soul sense was restricted to less than a foot beyond my body but that was enough to tell what happened. I was face down nearly a foot into the stone. The golden lines were gone and with them the emotions that had taken over.

  "You are not ready." The king spoke again just before I was pulled up into the air. Warm blood dripped down my face but I could tell I wasn't too hurt.

  "Who are you?" I tried to project strength into my voice but what came out was closer to a mousy whisper than anything else.

  "I am, Kurom Patriarch of Clan Lothos." Kurom paused and a complex web of emotions passed over his face. "Or I was before we fell."

  "It is nice to meet you Kurom. My name is Amari and I am the ruler of Amara. I—we did not intend to disturb your rest. I would like to know the story of what happened here. If you are willing to share?"

  An uncomfortable silence fell onto us. I wondered if I had just made a mistake. If I had just doomed us by not asking to leave. I was about to try and blast the others toward the door when Kurom lowered us to the ground. After that, his soul sense withdrew completely and I was no longer restricted. I wasn't foolish enough to try and reexpand my senses so I just stood there. I wasn't sure how long we waited before he decided to speak.

  "We were one of the major titan clans. Devoted to the research and construction of arrays. We were attacked." Kurom closed his eyes as if reliving a painful memory. "The empire wasn't able to come to our aid and we did not last long."

  "Who attacked you? Were they after something inside or were they here to wipe you out?" I decided not to ask if they would still be looking for them since it seemed a bit callous and in truth I didn't want to know. If there was an enemy too strong for Kurom to deal with then there wasn't anything I could do about it.

  "I can't recall. The battle... my soul was damaged. I was only able to leave a small fragment behind. Do you know what year it is?"

  I shook my head. "No, idea the System arrived on this planet not even a year ago. I am not even sure there is a universal calendar."

  "Ah, you are a forebearer for your world. That explains some things. Though your strength is a bit unusual. That doesn't explain why you have that mark on your chest. Nor does it explain that Eye. To think that someone would be so blessed by fate."

  "What do you know about the mark? And the Eye?" I had to work to stop from bombarding the spirit with a dozen questions. Instead of answering me he turned and took a seat on his throne. He placed his axe in his lap and for a moment I thought he was about to kill us. Thankfully he didn't.

  "I don't know much about it. Nor do I remember much. It was a gift that could be bestowed by the Celestines. Though I don't know if they would do so for one that isn't theirs. It is halfway between a power and an inheritance. It was said that it was what allowed their power to stay relatively unchanged for millennia."

  "What do you mean? I am not going to be possessed or something am I?" I had to resist the urge to press against the mark, to search it for signs of some ghost or echo or whatever else.

  "I don't know. I can say that yours seems to be wrong. I didn't sense anything besides the power inside. No will of its own."

  I held up a hand to stop him and then started to pace. The prisoner seemed genuine about dying which was a further point against the possession theory. He also said that it could be taken from me. So was it forbidden? Or had he done something to it to make it weaker? Or maybe stronger? I considered the situation a bit longer before I gave up. The only way to gain anything in this world was through risk. Which meant I had to roll the dice. I slowly explained everything to Kurom. Not leaving out even the slightest detail. When I finished the giant's face had gone from shock to surprise to laughter.

  "Blessed indeed. I don't know much about the Celestine nor can I say if they are still alive. From what memories I have left they had been hunted by one of the forces. The mark you have should be the last one in existence."

  I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face. "Can you remove the array on it?"

  "No, I would not. I meant what I said earlier. The power inside the mark is too much for you. Your body, soul, and heart are all too weak. As it stands the mark will continue its work reforging your body but that is all."

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  The brief emotional roller coaster came to a screeching halt at the last thing he said. What was happening to my body? I passed my mental eye over my body twice but there were no changes that I could see. When I got tired of looking I opened my eyes and stared at the giant. I half expected and hoped to see a smile on his face. Something indicating he was messing with me but there was nothing. "What's it doing to my body?"

  "I can't say for sure. My assumption is that it removes the weaknesses in your body and makes it stronger. Purifying it in a way. I have made it so that it won't spread across your body though you would still be able to access its power on purpose if you truly tried."

  "Can I undo it? If it's just making me stronger that's one thing but if it's causing some other change I don't want it. I don't want to wake up with a third arm one day. Or some other crazy thing."

  "Says the man with three eyes," Trey murmured under his breath. I decided not to look back at him. I wasn't sure if Kurom had heard it and if he understood it. The last thing I wanted was to draw attention to them.

  "It does not matter. I am unable to remove the mark which means you will have to deal with it. Neither your knowledge of arrays nor your personal strength would allow you to slow down its advance."

  I nodded and asked a few more questions but the information was much the same. The array would fade over time and would only slow down the mark. If I broke the array on my own that would change. It would give me a boost in power along with the personality changes. The difference that the mark made wasn't insubstantial. It was enough to push me into the second realm. I wasn't truly past the threshold but my power would let me fight at that level for a time.

  I suggested letting the mark just take over to speed up the process but that was apparently unwise. Either my body, soul, or heart would collapse under the power of the mark. The way Kurom described it, the process would be like playing Jenga. If I let the mark remove too much too fast the tower would fall and I would die. If I do it just slow enough I would be stronger. I was willing to take the gamble until we got to what my heart crumbling would mean.

  The other emotion or I guess personality would take over. There was no way to know what would happen at that point. Best case I would turn into a maniacal king, worse I might wipe out all life on Earth. Kurom theorized that it would still be based on my emotions. Which meant I would be putting an unpleasant mirror in front of me. With that decided we moved on to other topics.

  "Are you able to teach me about arrays? I am working on a Tao for it but a proper teacher would be nice."

  Kurom stared at me a moment before his soul-sense washed over me. I shivered as it felt like I was naked before him. As if there was nothing I could hide. When he finished I had to remind myself that he was strong enough to kill me. "You have incredible affinities which should help your energy control. Based on your history your understanding of sigils lacks luster to put it nicely. Tell me the story of your eye. What does it allow you to do?" I recited those events though I left it the second fruit and what happened to it.

  "I see, I see the Eye of Heaven is interesting. Tell me can it evolve? Does it have a section on your heaven's screen?" I nodded and he stood up. "I can teach you a bit but you will have to develop on your own. The System won't allow me to exchange anything of value with you without naming you my disciple. So it's up to you."

  I raised an eyebrow and waited for something to happen. Some kind of notification or blinding light but there was nothing. After several seconds I looked up at the giant. "Uh, what do I do?"

  "I asked you a question. The appropriate response would be to offer me an answer."

  "If I accept what do I have to do? What exactly am I signing up for?"

  "Well, you would be accepting me as your teacher. I am a spirit so I can't exactly leave here. I will also add that you must revive me when you are strong enough."

  "That's all? No blood oaths? No giving my firstborn son to you?" I started to laugh only to realize that Kurom wasn't laughing.

  "The bond between teacher and apprentice is a serious one. Do not disrespect it with jokes. Cultivators often find teachers throughout their journey. I can not call myself a true master for you. For now, though I am all that you have. I will pass down what I can."

  I nodded and copied the pose I learned during the trial. I gave him as respectful a bow as I could manage. "I am thankful that you are willing to teach me. I would be thrilled to be your apprentice."

  "Good. Now you can raise your head. I am going to treat your performance within the castle as your trial for the first realm. Unfortunately, it won't be enough for me to give you credit. As you did have help. You also didn't defeat any of the spirits. Not that you could have."

  Before I could complain about his assessment a screen appeared. The screen was a slow scroll through a list of items. Each item had a barebones description which made it impossible to pick anything. "Wha—What is all this?"

  Korum retook his seat. "Did you think that the castle lacked impressive treasures? Or that they had all been taken away? The latter is true. Unfortunately, the majority was stolen. What little we were left with was taken when the System took the castle. Even now I only have access to a portion of it." The System has allowed me to award you points, a sort of currency that you can use to buy things. It's up to your judgment to decide what to get."

  I stared at the list of items and shrugged. The items sounded interesting. They were divided into a variety of categories from consumables to weapons to cultivation resources. I had no idea which ones to pick.

  "You have 18,000 points to spend. Feel free to ask for any clarifications."

  "Um, what should I get?"

  "Which part of it up to your judgment did you misunderstand? I can explain some if you don't understand them but that's all."

  I stared at him for several more seconds. I wanted to question if he was being serious or not. If this was some sort of additional test by the System I decided against it. The System definitely had the items and the last thing I needed was to lose out on this windfall. The question was what should I do? The weapons were useless to me but they could probably help some of the soldiers. Unfortunately, there weren't enough points to outfit an army. I stopped on an item called the Primordial Beast Drops from what I read the drops would help Xerxes break through and then help solidify his foundations afterwards. The item was pricey at 3,000 but it was hard to argue against it.

  I selected it and kept going. Now that I had made the first decision the next few were easy. I purchased an ice-based treasure called the Glacial Orchard. It was only middle quality but it should be enough for Trey to get a Tao in that direction. I wasn't sure what he would need to form his idea of fire and ice but it should help. The darkness one was more interesting. It was called Pearl of Erebos it could either help one advance darkness-related Tao or it could be added to a cultivation chamber.

  Both items came out to 5,500 points which hurt though it wasn't too bad. Eight and a half for three of my followers was more than fair. The next item that drew my attention was weird. It was called Warrior's Ascension, initially, I thought it was just for appearance but the price tag made me rethink. It was 5,000 points, which made it the most expensive thing so far. "What's the Warrior's Ascension?"

  "That is a prized artifact of our family. It speeds up one's comprehension of weapon-based Tao and it speeds up a warrior's weapon mastery."

  I cocked my head at the giant. Wasn't that too convenient? If I bought this and it did what he said it would then I would've gotten everything I needed. I could put it in the academy and our army would grow. Sure the price would hurt and would limit what I could get for myself but that would be worth it. My affinities made cultivation easier and I would still receive array training. "How big a change would it provide?"

  "It is hard to measure it but it should be more than enough for a beginner world. It will be less effective as people advance though. I imagine that by the time you are in the core formation realm, it won't help as much. Of course, at that stage, even a minute improvement could take centuries."

  I grinned and made the purchase. Not only would it make my people stronger but it would make people need me to advance. Which should solidify my control over the planet. With that, my companions and my country would be stronger. Now I had 4,500 points to play with for me. It was time to get down to business.