1 Chapter 1 - Altar of Beginnings

'I never thought a place like this existed just below the castle,'

Carl's mind was impressed. He was standing on the most imposing altar he had ever seen in his entire life. The sheer size of the place was completely ridiculous, measuring over the size of a football field!

The entire place was covered in black and grey and mist hovered on top of the floor. It looked like the gateway to somewhere eerie!

Carl continued walking, each of his steps echoing against the floor.

'Am I really the only one here?'

Carl tried looking for the presence of other living beings, but he sensed no soul.

Carl looked to the center, and could not help but turn his head up to face a 10-meter wide and 5-meter towering creepy statue which had an eerie and intricate design. It has an ancient face that produced roots and arms that seemed to be crawling at its skin. It was a disgusting artwork.

'Whoever made this is certainly not right in the head.'

Wearing a long black coat, Carl then grabbed something from his pocket.

It was a scroll with ancient writing on it. The words on it lit up for a second and he said something incoherent, which immediately got lost in the silence.

The scroll then vibrated and slowly disappeared into thin air.

After looking at the statue as if a being of respect and faith, Carl then closed his eyes.

"..."

Cold heavy stillness brimmed around him. Silence occupied his ears and gaudy faint darkness waved through the air like a calm dangerous lake.

_Shoo, Shoo_

The air suddenly morphed.

And every bit of his animosity merged with the big statue, bringing it a couple of notches, and waking something that was not supposed to be awakened.

Carl still had his eyes closed and some strange sensation crawled on his skin akin to a wet tongue and in the next second seemed to be trying to rip his cells apart.

This feeling reminded him of the first time he visited a spatial dimension. The air rips and cuts the air simultaneously. Soon, Carl felt cuts on his skin, and blood was drawn.

But he did not react. This was necessary.

The next five seconds, the aura of the place abruptly turned heavier and more imposing. Each second felt like standing with razor-sharp blades of his neck.

Slowly. Creepily. The place started to give the feeling that it was a…living creature.

It was at this moment, Carl clasped his palms together as if offering a prayer.

The movements of his hands and fingers were like that of a thousand year old-saint in the ancient age. With each second, he could hear resounding sounds which seem to echo across thousands of lands. He had no idea if he's the sole being to hear it or if it was actually loud as he could hear, but he embraced the feeling.

_Click, clicks, Clack_

He gradually opened his eyes.

Suddenly, an assembly of ancient looking figures, statues, faceless and immobile appeared behind him in a very clean order like that of a squad of assassins summoned by their master. The statues all wore otherworldly garments, which resembled a shady cult from a forgotten era.

"ajk'a'lsja'h'si"

Carl opened his mouth again, speaking the unknown language, and without looking back, he inhaled the violent air which had morphed with the atmosphere.

_Wooosh_

Then he immediately released it in loud exhale. Gallons of mana rushed out of his body and danced through the space in complicated waves. This didn't go well for him. His bones were screaming. His sanity started to break, creating cracks on his mental sphere.

Carl however kept his calm.

It was all right. He already expected this series of reactions.

"**9'*)('*A()'*S"

Carl spoke again, somehow more forced, and it was not fruitless.

As if to respond, the faceless statues suddenly moved their limbs, and they creaked like the creepy doors of a horror movie. They also started to develop eyes, and immediately looked at the young human in front of them.

The human was just a boy. He stood at exactly 172 centimeters. He had slightly long raven hair, big round eyes, thick eyebrows, prominent cheekbones, a small nose, and a piercing glare that occasionally screamed insanity.

The assembly stood there, as if they were audience to some kind of crowning ceremony. It was like a dark mass, they had to wait.

No one knew when it started, but after some time, the pupils of the statues' eyes suddenly turned to a whirlpool of black matter. It shone like that of ghosts that glowed eerily at the deepest of the darkest chasms.

Carl's tongue started speaking in the unknown language again. It did not cease for a moment, until his eyes resembled that of the statues'. This was not all. All of a sudden, a golden cup materialized and floated in front of him!

Seeing this, Carl smiled.

Immediately after, his mind seemed to have let go of something massive at his back, putting him onto rest mode. His muscles however did not react too kindly and immediately screamed in pain.

'GIIHHHHH!'

Carl clasped his teeth together and resisted the pain, until it became bearable.

But the moment it stopped, he felt his pores opened and beads of sweat formed on his skin.

At the very same time, the golden cup magically started to fill itself with a strange looking liquid. It released a steam that resembled an eerie grey gas that hovered on top of the liquid moving along the intricate edges of the cup as if it was a creature discovering the ability to breath.

Carl consciously inhaled the gas onto his mouth.

The smoke-like matter immediately reacted and started moving as if it was being absorbed like a vacuum!

Once the liquid touched his tongue, it was absorbed like there was no tomorrow!

It continued for a dozen of seconds accompanied by an ominous roar that originated from his stomach. That was the sound of hunger. It resembled the time he was imprisoned in the belly of the whale.

Carl chuckled in his head.

With each stroke and rush, Carl felt each of his veins tremble like drums and his mouth drooling with greed.

It was as if thousands of devils were raging inside his heart. His throat then opened large and wide, almost inhuman, as it started to imbibe the energy in his body--beginning from his throat--distributing it all to his brain, stomach, heart, and blood vessels.

Carl felt like an iron being forged into an anvil. It was painful but also sweet. He was being pushed to death, but also reformed to a sharper and stronger material.

At the same time, the liquid in the golden cup started to disappear bit by bit as if a burning plastic in the incinerator. Until not even a drip of it was left…

The moment it was all gone, he fell to his knees, breathless. He had never been this tired in his life.

Yet it was weird that he never felt so refreshed and powerful than before.

Carl swiped his thumb across his lips and wiped the moisture that had remained near his mouth before licking it with his tongue. Almost all of his energy had been sucked. Anymore and he might pass out: this was his reason talking as his body apparently had other thoughts.

Apparently unsatisfied, Carl's tongue came out and licked his lips once more as if he had just tasted the fruit of a thousand men's labor.

Carl looked possessed, until he suddenly noticed that nothing more of the liquid was left. His eyebrows unconsciously got animated and arched in disappointment.

"…"

He then felt drowsy and felt like a floating balloon in the sky. He was high, and after some time, he slowly escaped out of his reverie.

The whirlpool design on his pupils noticeably started to diminish as well. Both of his eyes slowly turned to their normal deep blue color and started to resemble the deep black ocean.

When that happened, the assembly of figures – starting from the back row to the first row – raised their head before turning into soft formation of grey smokes which vanished into thin air like burning incenses.

As if he did not notice, or cared about them, Carl slowly closed his eyes as if an antagonist savoring the most dramatic of dramatic scenes. Now that he had met the said conditions, it was time to get his reward.

He turned his body around for the first time.

There were no changes in his surroundings except that most of the statues were gone. Only one remained. This statue was bigger and seemed more animated than the rest. Akin to the giant statue on the center of the altar, this statue also emanated an ancient aura that resembled the biggest threats in the cultivation world.

It appeared behind him in an instant and bowed at his figure like that of a knight to his lord…or more like a ninja? Its eyes were listless, blank, and cold. Carl had no doubt it only possessed loyalty and lethality.

With this in mind, Carl's eyes roamed at the statue's body and smiled. There, he felt a sense of pride and undoubted competence.

"*d'aas's'ffefefAs'askj'a'hsjk*

When Carl was finished talking, the statue started to develop human-like facial features, and even formed garments to cover his stark naked body. It remained still, as Carl slowly started to fade, into specks of light.

The next moment, Carl was but a mere mass of light, floating into space. He stayed into space for a while until he saw a blue planet with very clear skies, healthy green landmass, and crystalline blue water.

Right as he saw that, his sight blurred, headed straight onto it, where his soul occupied the body of a boy laying on the ground.

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Author's Note:

The start of the plot is slow like it starts at about Chap 12 onwards so please don't drop the book quickly.