Akata was sitting within the middle of a yellow field of grass looking up at a giant red rune in the black sky. The rune looked as if it could be a giant sun if you didn’t pay much attention to it. But Akata did and found that it was a giant rune that gathered and guided the energy of souls. What surprised him even more was that this soul energy actually felt a bit stronger than the energy of Heaven and Earth.

He wanted to study and gain enlightenment of the Outer Element of Souls so that he would be able to wield it in combat. This was an Outer Element after all, and even though he didn’t know much about, he knew that they held absolute power over other elements. They were elements that were blessed with the energy of Heaven.

‘Inner Elements can guide the energy of Earth and Outer Elements can guide the energy of Heaven. This is the main difference between the two that sets them worlds apart in strength. Yet, the Outer Element of Souls actually feels as if it is stronger than the energy of Heaven. How is this possible if it uses the energy of Heaven to strengthen itself?

Could it be that it has a way to use the energy of Heaven to its fullest potential and strengthen it, or maybe it uses a different kind of energy,  or probably something totally different. The Outer Element of Chaos is supposed to be its equal, does that mean that the chaos element is also stronger than the energy of Heaven?’

These thoughts flashed through Akata’s mind but he was at too low of a level to truly begin to understand what any of this meant. Only until he experienced more of the universe would he begin to unravel the mysteries of it.

Continuing to sit there, Akata focused on the ways the soul element moved, what patterns it displayed, how dense it was, the path it used to guide the energy of Heaven. He closely observed every little thing about that giant red rune in the sky. Since it was so big it made it easier to see its mysteries within it. Even if it was easier though, Akata still had trouble gaining enlightenment of it.

Time passed by. Days went by, weeks, months, even years. Yet Akata was still sitting in that same place observing that same red rune. Akata had observed it for so long that he actually found the rune to be a specific kind of red, crimson, the color of blood. That crimson rune hung in the air constantly absorbing souls.

‘This rune is always absorbing souls, but it never gets any bigger. Is it also destroying souls? Or is it changing the souls into something else? Also, it has lasted for a long time yet it is still here and shows no signs of breaking apart. Usually, runes would dissipate after a certain amount of time but this one doesn’t seem to do that, almost as if it is eternal.

Then the next question is, what is keeping it from being destroyed? Is the the energy of Heaven? Can all Outer Elements do this? Or is it the soul element itself? Then does that mean the chaos element can also do this? Agh. I’ll only know once I observe more and learn its secrets.’

Akata continued to look in depth at the crimson rune in the sky. More years passed by. Akata began to grow old. His former long black spiky hair was now a washed white with some gray. His dull crimson eyes were still the same as ever. His skin was now wrinkled and his clothes had long since been torn due to wear and age. He looked like an old mortal person.

But even still he continued to look up at the crimson rune in the black sky. It seemed as if he wasn’t even aware of the passage of time. As if only a few minutes had gone by. After more years went by, Akata suddenly found himself struggling to breathe, as if it had become a challenge just to inhale and exhale. This was due to extreme old age.

‘When did I get this old?!’ Akata was astounded to see himself, after countless years Akata finally looked away from the crimson rune to observe himself and what he found shocked him. He was an extremely old man, all of his muscle was gone and he looked like a decrepit skeleton. His cultivation base was about fully withered along with his body. But Akata became even more shocked when he looked in his soul region.

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‘My soul isn’t affected at all. It still looks the same as it did before. It’s as strong as ever, in fact it may have even gotten stronger since the last time I’ve looked at it.’ Akata was amazed by this discovery. Even when his body and cultivation base were withered to extreme degrees, his soul was still well as if time couldn’t harm it.

‘So that means that the soul truly is eternal. It can’t be affected by time at all. As long as nothing physically destroys it, it will forever be there.’ Akata’s eyes gleamed as he came to this realization.

Suddenly, the whole place started to tremble. The ground, the air, the sky, everything trembled with increasing ferocity. “What’s going on?” Akata couldn’t help but say aloud. This hadn’t happened before in all the years that he had been here.

The crimson rune started to emit a droning sound and then rotate very very slowly. It was so slow that Akata didn’t even notice that it was turning. The crimson rune lit up to become as bright as a real sun. Akata had to shield his eyes from it and look away.

If he could see though he would notice the crimson rune trembling as a strand of crimson light flew off of it and was absorbed into Akata’s body. Akata suddenly jolted and his badly withered body began to look younger. But what was surprising was that it didn’t revert back to its old state but seemed to progress through life faster until he was… reborn anew!

Akata had died just now and was reborn in order for him to get back to his former age of 13 years. However, it happened so fast that he didn’t even notice it just then. What he did notice was that his soul was now much more stronger than before, stronger by at least two times! This was a soul comparable to a Second Rank cultivator. Although he didn’t know why he needed a strong soul, Akata happily accepted it.

But before he could fully inspect his body for more changes he heard a strange voice. It seemed as if the voice was from distant ancient times, yet it also felt as if it came from modern times as well.

“Master the Outer Element of Souls, master the energy of Souls, and uncover the true mysteries and potential of soul energy. That’s the first step to reaching the pinnacle!” The voice was calm and reserved until it reached the last sentence. When it spoke about reaching the pinnacle it seemed to resonate with Akata’s entire being.

Reach the pinnacle of what? He didn’t know that answer but based on the intent behind those words he could guess at what that pinnacle was. That pinnacle of everything! What greater pinnacle could there be? Would there be doubt of the strongest person if they were the best and strongest at everything? No! So that voice intended for Akata to reach the pinnacle of everything he could, simple.

The voice didn’t seem like a legacy or a will. No, it seemed like a goal for Akata to achieve. Something to set his mind to in his life. He didn’t want glory, he didn’t really have anybody to protect either. In fact, he still didn’t know why he wanted to be strong and reach the pinnacle. But if he did, he would be able to say that he had achieved his goal. And that was a start for him, even if it was pretty basic.

Once the voice was finished speaking Akata found himself fading away. He had no way to stop himself from fading either. “What? Noo! I still have much more to learn.” Akata just couldn’t accept it, he didn’t want to accept it.

The voice rang out once again. “When you have truly stepped on the path to cultivation then you can come back here for two lives!” After that, Akata was completely taken away.

He suddenly opened his eyes to find himself inside of a very dark place. It was pitch black and he couldn’t see anything at all. He looked around and saw that nothing had changed… he was still blind. He cast his nature sense out and found that his surroundings were still the same and nothing had moved anywhere.

He inspected his body and found that his soul had surprisingly become much more stronger than before. “So all of those things really did happen then.” Akata couldn’t help but say. He was astounded because even though he had spent many years in the yellow field it felt like a dream to him now. But he could remember every detail of what he had experienced there.

“What happened to you?!” A worrisome voice resounded throughout Akata’s body, originating from his dantion region. It was Noluck who had just yelled out in a somewhat frightened manner.

“What do you mean?” Akata could sense the worry within Nolucks voice. He could even sense the hidden fear that dwelled in his voice. ‘It seems like I can sense the emotions of people. Is it because of my stronger soul?’ Akata was semi surprised. The only reason he wasn’t fully surprised was because he was still focused on Noluck.

“What do I mean?! You died just a moment ago! That’s what I mean! And it happened so suddenly and unexpectedly that I may have missed it if I wasn’t paying attention. But not only that you were brought right back to life as if nothing had happened to you. I couldn’t even inspect what had happened because some red light that covered you as soon as you had gone to sleep ended up keeping me confined here. And now I find that I can’t go anywhere at all right now.” Noluck said quite flustered.

Akata’s mouth gaped opened and all he could say was, “Huh?”