When I woke up it was already evening, my clothes were cold and damp from sweat, and I was feeling dirty. I stood up and made my way home, my head still feeling like it was in a daze. The sounds in my ear were muffled, and my sight felt like I was in a haze.

I changed my clothes and washed myself with cold water after coming home, the chill finally waking me up. But soon I heard aggressive banging on the wood at the entrance, so I quickly threw on a fresh pair of clothes, took my weapon, and carefully opened the front door.

“Gerald? Oh, thank the gods!” It was Chity. I breathed out in relief. But for some reason, he also seemed extremely relieved to see me, making me immediately suspicious.

[What happened?] I asked.

“Oh, after you didn’t come back yesterday, I thought something might have happened to you! Especially after the incident at the Trading Hall…”

[Err… What? What incident?] I wasn’t back home yesterday? Did I sleep more than a full day?! Holy shit! That was dangerous. Sleeping in a forest for a day, all exposed, defenseless…

“Oh, you didn’t hear? Some guy went nuts in the Trading Hall, screaming someone stole from him or something. Apparently, the Law Enforcers had to drag him out and sedate him to prevent him from lashing out.” Chity calmly explained. “I regret missing such a spectacle… Oh well…” He sighed in the end.

[Wow… I had no idea.] That was too close for comfort. I really, really need to get this Soul-devouring ability under control. Perhaps now that I was at the first level of Nascent Soul Realm, I could finally control it more than just barely sopping it from devouring everything in my vicinity by using all my mental strength. I needed to take a few days off to figure out how these things worked.

“Well, I’m just glad you are okay!” Chity said. “Have you heard any news about Ban or Shi by the way?”

I shook my head, and Chity’s mood visibly dimmed, and he sighed. “I guess that is it then… Something must have happened to them. They still didn’t return… Well, I won’t bother you anymore, take care.”

[Goodnight.]

We split up, and I closed the door. Ban, Shi, those two guys… I wondered what happened to them. Was there really a Rogue Cultivator among us in the Sect? I seriously doubted it, but you never know…

I sat on the bed and focused my mind inward, to my Soul. I examined it more closely, the humanoid shape that represented me.

It was small, tiny in comparison to what it used to be. If before my Soul was my size, now it was the size of my palm. It shrunk so much, but it felt way stronger than ever before. Also, it felt dense. Unbreakable, indestructible.

If before the Hydra struggled to tear my Soul apart, now it would break its teeth without doing any damage. The difference in quality between the two was huge. Between my Soul and Hydra’s I mean.

Now, even though I was officially in the first level of Nascent Soul Realm, I didn’t yet feel complete. My Soul still had a layer of mist around it, like a small dark gray figurine smoldering. The back had a weird shape as well as two protrusions that were sticking out and up from the shoulder blades. It appeared to have a human form, but only if you didn’t look too closely.

I didn’t know what to think of it, since I wasn’t yet knowledgeable of all the intricacies of the Nascent Soul Realm. Maybe it was normal and the shape would completely stabilize after reaching the Golden Core Realm. Or maybe there went something wrong in the process. I wouldn’t be surprised if my entire being somehow shifted to be more monster-like with all the Souls I have absorbed.

Either way, I had no easy way of confirming. I couldn’t exactly go and ask an Elder what was going on, could I? What would I even say?

[Excuse me, Elder. I have Cultivated up to Nascent Soul in less than three months, could you please confirm I didn’t make any mistakes?] If I did that I would probably receive a slap to the face for lying. Or worse yet, they would dissect me to discover my secrets.

Nah, I needed to be low-key and stay out of trouble. If that meant slowly Cultivating my body for a few years while gathering bits and pieces of information, I would do it. I was in no hurry.

I took my notebook and wrote down another line in the long list of unknowns. Hopefully one day I would know it all, but that day was still far away.

***

[Stop. Jump. Sit. Do a barrel roll.]

I looked at the Giant Rat desperately trying to escape while giving it simple commands. The damn animal completely ignored me and madly chewed on the copper wire that was holding it in place.

I mentally sighed. An entire morning already went by without any results. I knew that at Nascent Soul Realm you could do mental attacks, but there was also a way to force your will onto another living being.

But, as it turned out, both were difficult to do. I was basically going in blind, only relying on what I had personally experienced in my previous life. Overall, I had experienced only two or three mental attacks, and those were as painful as they were brief. There was little to be learned from it.

All magic worked on intent and imagination, and I was guessing mental attacks would be the same. But while it was relatively easy to feel Qi and shape it into various spells, this thing didn’t even budge.

It didn’t help that the Giant Rat was completely terrified of me and tried to escape every second of our time together. I had to change its copper shackles every hour or so as it nearly chewed through it every time.

It was really, really annoying. I wanted to give up multiple times, especially after it pissed all over my hand, but I was determined.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I looked at the damn beast once more, and focused. I focused all my frustrations and anger on the rat as my Aura rose and I felt my Soul stir. My intent was absolute as I said a single word, with the force of my entire being behind it.

[STOP!]

To my surprise, the rat stopped. It stopped chewing on the wire, it stopped squealing in panic, it stopped doing gymnastics with the intent to escape, it stopped moving, it stopped doing… everything.

[Huh… It worked.]

I was genuinely surprised. I was trying to get it to do even the simplest thing for hours without success, but now it suddenly worked. I had to capitalize on the success and continue!

[Alright, turn around!] I ordered.

The rat didn’t move, so I repeated my order. [Turn aro- Ah, oh, fuck!]

I just felt its tiny Soul be devoured by mine. The Giant Rat stopped, that was true, but it stopped for good. It freaking died!

I rubbed my forehead in frustration. And just when I thought I got a breakthrough as well. It seemed that instead of giving an order, I attacked it with the force of my entire Soul, killing it in the process. Well, that was my guess at least. But then I had to find another volunteer for my experiments.

[Aya… So annoying.]

Back to the hunt, I went. An hour later I had two subjects captured. One of them was a Giant Rat, and the other was a squirrel. I tied them both to a young tree and focused my mind.

[Bow.] I ordered the rat. It squealed in response and tried to chew through the wire holding it in place. I wanted to facepalm. These things were so tiresome to work with. No respect for their superiors at all.

I tried the same with the squirrel. It stopped moving and immediately threw itself on the ground, hands, and feet spread wide. Well, it was prostrating itself more than bowing, but the sentiment was there.

After a while I noticed the squirrel struggling to move, and soon it was back to trying to escape. I ordered it to stop, and it stopped. But once again, about 30 seconds later, it was moving again. So it seemed my orders had limited duration, which was unfortunate.

I wondered if a more powerful order would last longer. I opened my Magic Eyes and tried it out.

[BOW!]

I could see it happen, clear as day. The hidden Aura of the squirrel was shaken, it expanded, and then shattered. It popped like an overinflated balloon. The little guy was dead.

[God damn it...]

More force didn’t seem to be the right move on tiny critters. Their Souls were just too fragile. I looked at the Giant Rat just as it was about to free itself. It slightly pissed me off.

[Stop struggling, you foolish creature, and obey!] My order was forceful, but not enough to kill it. I made sure to limit myself.

The rat froze and stared at me, almost expecting another order. Its nose twitched every few seconds, and its whiskers moved in the wind.

We stared at each other for a bit, but the beast was back to its own devices soon after.

[About 30 seconds again…] I definitely used more force than with the squirrel, but the timer seemed to be the same. However, all these Soul attacks were wearing me down, and I was getting tired. It was time to end it.

I looked at the rat and spoke a single word with all my power. [DIE!]

It was not difficult to figure out what happened next. The animal stiffened and stopped breathing. Quite an interesting ability this… Soul Smite. I decided to keep the name. I stretched my back and rolled my shoulders and neck a bit. I debated whether I should capture a few more Giant rats to exchange them for a Spirit Shard.

Eventually, I decided against it and instead converted the carcasses into Essence. There was pitifully little to be gained from these filthy beasts, and the Essence was black on top of it. Mortal-grade garbage.

I didn’t even want to consume the pathetic little thing, and instead just threw it in my pouch. Luckily the day wasn’t a complete waste. I now knew how to stop my Soul from absorbing others, though the ability was still quite crude and I had little control over it.

It was the same with Soul Smite. It was a crude attack with little in form of precision and could be used to kill weaker opponents’ Souls directly. It was kind of useless at the moment, but maybe I could use it to confuse or disrupt someone at the same level as me. That would be cool.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have anyone I could test my theories on without raising suspicions. It would also be quite dangerous if I accidentally killed a fellow Disciple.

And so I went back home with the intent of doing another session of body Cultivation. I did it only once since reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, and I finally understood what Senior Ren was talking about. When energizing my cells with Qi, I felt I could either condense or expand them.

Those were the two options that immediately came to mind, but I was sure there were other options that would lead the body to develop in different ways. I just didn’t know of any. But I knew they were there.

Anyway, I met Chity on the way back home, and he looked serious.

[What’s-]

“Gerald! Ken disappeared!” He immediately announced as soon as I came close enough. He appeared serious.

[Ken? Are you sure he-]

“Yes!” He didn’t even let me speak. “They found signs of struggle in his home! Someone is hunting us down, there is no doubt about it!”

I frowned. [Struggle? What about Pero and Blade, are they alright?] This entire situation stank. My mind went to the White Minks. They might have been the kidnappers, but it didn’t seem likely. And the story of a Rogue Cultivator also didn’t make much sense. There had to be something else.

“I don’t know… The last I heard of them was two days ago and they were still fine. You don’t think…?”

[Maybe we should stay together for a few days? And notify the Elders.]

“I already told the sentries what happened, but they said they weren’t responsible for whatever happened between Outer Disciples! Damn it, they are not going to help!” Chity’s words made me think deeply. We were on our own it seemed.

Was it just another test? If it was, that would be cruel… Thinking you were safe in the Sect and then suddenly poof, you are gone. I hated to admit it, but that’s exactly something I would do to keep the newcomers on their toes. Sadistic as fuck, but it worked.

[We should warn them at least. You go to find Blade and I’ll get Pero.]

“Right! That’s a good idea!”

[Wait, where does Pero live? I hadn’t been to his home yet.] Those guys were from the other side of the mountain and had their own beginner village somewhere on the mountain. I wasn’t sure where.

“Okay, listen…” Chity quickly explained where I could find my target, and I remembered it.

[Alright, let’s go!] We split up and each went in a different direction. As it turned out, there were many beginner villages all over the mountain, and I was using only the southwest side of it most of the time. Getting more familiar with the entirety of the Outer Sect would do me good.

Surprisingly, not long after I left my home, I saw Pero running frantically toward me. My first thought was, what the heck was he doing here? And then I noticed something else. He appeared worried, frightened even.

[Pero, hey! What are you doing here?]

“Where is Chity?!” He shouted, nearly out of breath.

[He just left to get Blade. Man, what happened to you?] The man was shaking and breathing rapidly, clearly, something was deeply wrong.

“Fuck!” That was all I got out of him. He cursed in anger and shook his head. “It’s too late then. I was too late! Damn it!”

[Dude, what’s happening?! Speak to me, man! What are you talking about?] I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. He wasn’t making any sense!

“Not here, not now! The walls have ears!”

[What walls?! We are in a forest!] The frustrations I was experiencing and his cryptic words started to build anxiety even in my cold heart. Luckily I didn’t have time to think, or I don’t know what I would do. Probably nothing good.

“I’ll explain everything later! But now you need to trust me, and get out of here! Quickly!” Pero pulled me by the sleeve, and even though I could have resisted, I didn’t. I simply ran after him as we veered off the main path and made our way through the dense undergrowth, away from the Sect.