“WHAT! You… YOU SHAME OUR TRIBE!” A roar came.
A group of trembling warriors with a stoic bulky man stood in front of a very savage looking chief. The man had many accessories made of claws and hide of powerful creatures.
As for the stoic man, he was the one that had gone to the deva tribe and retreated.
Although the others trembled in fear, this man didn’t because he was a Raksha with two marks. Different from Deva who discovered it recently, these people were very experienced since birth and their bloodline is rather strong and never once was someone born below a complete asura mark. Their marks, however, took the form of five stripes on each of their arms or legs and represent the five reservoirs. This man in particular was a warchief and was a very skilled man.
“Chief, I am a man who respects and fears the strong. Since I was a child, you have been the source of greatest respect and fear. However, I cannot lie to myself to say that the fear I felt from that Deva filled me to the depth of my soul. Although i am unsure how they learned of their Innate ability, the Deva now are our equals and this being…” He said and trembled involuntarily.
PA!
“You! YOU FEAR HIM!” the chief roared.
“Chief, that man activated two deva marks yet unlike you or I, he reached the size of nearly 3 common men standing on each other. The moment he placed his hand upon my shoulder, it felt like the sky had fallen upon my back and my blood felt like it was about to run in reverse if he held it for a moment later.” the warchief said.
His fist was balled up to hold the trembling and to the shock of everyone, they saw him grab his own hand that was trembling. “He said that if we want to fight, the chief must go. After that he simply moved past us.” He said.
Even the chief looked at him strangely.
Raksha are trained from a young age through brutal methods so that they do not feel fear in the face of odds but the reaction of one of the warchief was too strange. It surmounted their entire teaching.
“If he wishes for me to gut him then I shall.” The chief said before releasing a growl of discontent but they did not leave as the night had come and the danger of night was not something even they dared to challenge.
***
Asur returned home before the sun was even partially gone, it had been a quick round trip but he told everyone that he was going to train and was not to be disturbed unless something serious like the Raksha arrived.
He reached his old room, however it was no longer so small and instead it had been expanded without even asking and the ceiling could even hold his activated asura mark.
He closed the 2nd mark but just relaxed the first one since he needed to focus and began to go through the first. He found that it was very energetic and saw that bits of energy was gathering to form another energy orb.
After going through both, he felt through the second and opened them. Since he was sitting, there was no problem.
After perfectly seeing everything through that he finally began to channel the energy from the 2nd mark.
As soon as the energy hit the third mark, the barrier appeared but like a gate it opened. The next second, however, his entire mind was pulled into the mark.
He found himself before a very strange object but as he looked around he noticed a swirling of energy around his point of view and looked down only to be shocked by how all the bloodline energy had gathered into a physical form.
It was blood red like the energy but it took his perfect 2nd asura mark form. That said, over his right hand was a burning white flame that he soon realized was the divine spark.
“How did i form a physical form?” he muttered but there was no information for him.
Instead, he turned towards the object he was floating before. It looked like a massive but bare block. There were four corners and he didn’t understand what it was. After going once around it he eventually approached the side that had been the first one he appeared in front of.
As soon as he got near, he felt the spark pull him and to his awe a segment shined and formed a very simple doorway that opened. An immense dark and mysterious wind blew in as if it was a vacuum before. After looking, he realized that this dark wind was the energy he obtained from the air.
The opened door seemed to have opened the 3rd mark to the world but he didn’t feel any different.
Looking around for any changes, but not finding any, he finally entered.
There was almost nothing, it was an immense room with nothing except a small undecorated pedestal with a dull orb.
A strong pull from the spark was drawing him to the orb. He knew that it must be the location where he would put the spark so without delay he walked over and after being confused a bit, he just put the arm with the spark on it over the orb.
The flame instantly detached from his arm and surrounded the orb.
He instantly felt an immediate change as if his heart had been lit on fire.
He couldn’t remove his arm and the spark began to grow and buried itself into the orb until it became clear like a crystal ball but at once the spark became an immense flame surrounding him.
“AHHH!” he roared in pain as his mind and his body were roasted.
A burning smell instantly came and slowly his form began to shrink under the cooking of the divine spark like it was testing him.
His other hand, after a moment of pain, instantly clenched and suddenly a flood of bloodline power surged into the 3rd mark and filled him. At once his size increased to over 10 meters but in response the spark burned even more.
This war of attrition went on for over an hour and when he was close to fainting, the orb finally let go.
His form was a very solid form of his original shape when he rose. He looked no smaller or bigger than his most healthy shape in this form.
The red hand turned into greyish skin and silver hair.
“Finally.” he muttered.
“Hehe.” A laugh came startling him and he jumped up as he looked at the orb only to find a hollowed image of a 5 meter tall woman who was sitting cross legged in the air. Her appearance was beautiful like an immortal but she was equally strange as she had four arms and blue skin with a pearl stuck on her forehead. “Such a handsome fellow. Huh? No way!” She exclaimed after a moment and with a wave Asur was suddenly pulled up into the air as she looked at his glowing marks. “NO WAY! It is true! King bloodline!” She exclaimed and suddenly let him go before rolling about in the air cheering.
“W-what is going on? Why and how are you here?” Asur asked.
“Ah! Oh sorry. Ahaha! I got kind of excited when a gatekeeper suddenly told me that she had picked me as a replacement for a stolen divine spark from Jyestha. Honestly, you are the first person to get my spark.” she said.
“Huh? Um, what is your name?” He asked.
“Oh, I am a pretty new goddess of the 6th realm, I am nothing compared to people like Jyestha but thanks to the protection of my faction I can safely swallow her divine spark without my fate being heavily affected.” She said.
“Fate?” Asur asked.
“Less is better.” She said instantly.
“Fate… I assume it has something to do with karma but whatever. Who exactly are you and why did you appear… I guess inside me?” He asked.
“My name is Etune, I greatly favor the cultivation of culture, craft and learning. I don’t have a great deal of followers though since it has only been 200 years since I entered the 6th realm and communication with the lower realms is kinda hard if you don’t have divine sparks being spread. Doesn’t help that I can only do this much because you have a strong karma and bloodline to help bridge the gap.” She said.
Asur thought a while with a nod, “What are your thoughts on combat?” He asked.
“Not against it, it is necessary to remain safe after all. I prefer using my wits to avoid it so I generally possess a neutral stance but I am not weak, mind you. If you cross me, with some planning, i can make someone the world's enemy if i put my back into it.” She said coldly.
Asur instantly smiled as he heard her description. “Okay, I am Asur Linstar, I come from a newly opened 1st realm plane.” He said.
“I know, the gatekeeper said you were a gatekey keeper as well. You have no idea how exciting it is to know someone like you! It has such amazing feedback to me.” She said excitedly.
“Right… so mind explaining why you are here?” he asked.
“Oh right, well i am able to appear here because, like i said, your bloodline and karma are large enough to support a piece of my mind here so that i can help you learn how to advance the third asura mark. This is a very important step after all as it can decide your future as a sovereign among your kind but also in the later realms.” She said. “Alright, now let's get down to business. The place we are in is the 3rd mark but more specifically, unlike the 1st and 2nd that functions on pure accumulation of bloodline power, this is a different system. This simple block is the basic foundation for a divine temple. To open and activate it you need a divine spark, obviously, however this place is required so that you can gather and create Spiritual Force.” She said.
“Why does it sound so different from Bloodline power?” he asked.
“Bloodline power comes from your body and your blood, especially the blood that you accumulated in your two previous marks. That actual power is basically the free energy in our surroundings that have blended with the blood to produce an energy that enhances your body. Spiritual force is when this energy is concentrated to the extreme. Specifically, they are what I see you refer to as Energy nodes.” She said.
Asur instantly understood when she said that. “Oh those!”
“Yes, the true name is Spirit energy and because your body has no way of storing it, they generally are compressed into small points of energy which are capable of filling specific roles in your body. Like opening the entrance and exit of the 2nd mark. However, even after going through all the first and second asura marks they are only spirit energy. The final part is to bring them here where their greatest use comes in. The first thing is that they have to undergo a cleansing in the divine spark, this will remove impurities from the blood that comes from assimilating other creatures' blood. Even after energizing and breaking all their regrets, there are always tiny leftovers. The divine spark cleanses these regrets and slowly transforms the energy into a new quality. Once that is done…” She stopped and turned to the only thing off about this room beyond the orb. It was a massive pillar that had been behind the orb but had mostly blended in due to the lack of light.
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“What is that?” Asur asked.
“This is your own divine idol. It will contain all your unique power as well as take the base form you will eventually assume as you go up the realms. Naturally, part of this form is also how your body changes during the activation of the 3rd asura mark as long as you have trained enough and there is enough energy to activate the form. As you see me, I am a four armed asura deity. Many people tend to assume all of our branches are 3 faced and six armed but it is different. Some of our kind, the really bizarre and powerful, could even grow dozens of arms during the true activation of their power drawing out and controlling the forces of nature in the process while others pick lesser arms but obtain immeasurable physical power that rivals the forces of nature itself.” she explained. “Do not worry about the full form, that is for the 4th asura mark this is basically your future base form and is the first thing to make in the temple. After that…” She made him come over towards the walls where he noticed a number of circular holes. “These openings all must be filled with spiritual force. Do realize something, this stone is called Divine Karma stone. The more righteous you are during your ascension and building of the building, the more white the stone gets, the more evil you are the more black. You had best be careful of your actions as it will heavily affect your future.” She said.
“If there is one thing I have always been cautious of is my karma. Even the smallest actions I am aware of their risks and benefits. This I know from living my life with the gatekey.” Asur said.
“Good.”
Asur looked around, “I feel I shall aim for a neutral good. That has always been my mentality since I obtained the gatekey. Three good actions for every bad one.” he said.
When he said that, the eyes of the goddess widened but she suddenly trembled as if she suddenly felt danger just as she was about to speak. It was a danger coming from her true being and not the surroundings. She realized that this was some kind of major taboo that could not be spoken of at this moment. When she realized this, she suddenly looked at the young man before her differently but she could not ask anything.
“That is pretty good, it is the path similar to the one I myself took. It makes sense you would as the gatekeeper is very good at picking compatible people. Do remember that only you can so easily trade the divine spark. As the keeper of the gatekey, that is one of your unique rights as one of the representatives of an entire race and realm.” She said.
Asur smiled, “I knew something was strange by how easy that trade had been. So how do I get divine sparks for my followers once they begin to form 3rd asura marks?” he asked.
“I am your patron, I will impart and imprint you the visage of my divine idol. I assume you plan to settle around the gate of evolution so once you start doing that, build it as close to true representation and then follow the gatekeeper's instructions as to where it must be placed. The idol will form a divine torch. I will send a divine spark to it and the gatekeeper and the idol will nurture the spark into a divine flame. It will represent your nation basically. Most god idols of gods you wish to represent your nation have to be placed around the gate of evolution and there are very few spots for that. Without the help of a gate of evolution, an idol is just that and it is difficult to obtain a spark beyond stealing it from the corpse of someone who has it.” She said.
“That is a complicated process but not too hard. I have some skill with sculpting so I am up for the challenge.” Asur said.
“Good, now go back and make a spirit force node so that we can quickly set the base for your form. After that you need to work on it more and more and that requires a lot of energy so be aware that you will be spending a great deal of time just absorbing the energy around you.” She said.
Asur nodded but stopped a moment before looking at the door.
Etune was confused and looked as well before smiling weakly as she realized what happened. Close to long forgotten memories came to her as she remembered that in this state, his body was automatic and efficient, especially after the avatar of the host formed in the 3rd mark. It would cause a wondrous amount of transformation in the efficiency for a while until his body adapted to the changed and purified energy in that form. When it scatters, it will eventually all be processed into several if not dozens of spirit force nodes. It happened to everyone, it was comparable to those whose growth resembled chinese immortals. A breakthrough causing spontaneous growth.
At that moment, a small orb of light came into the bare temple but its appearance garnered a reaction from all the nodes.
Asur appeared close to it very quickly as he felt it would be sucked up and he didn’t want that.
With it in hand he finally saw that it actually looked like a solid rough crystal releasing intense light.
“Come, you will soon see the complete form of spiritual force.” Etune said.
Asur was curious as well so he walked over and following the goddess’s instruction, he placed the energy crystal in his hand onto the crystal orb.
It was caught by the flame and made to float above and surrounded. The light encasing it was forced back inside as the flames penetrated and actually melted the rough crystal.
He was shocked when suddenly, the roars of agony and resentment were released along with a fog as the crystal was slowly melted.
The melted crystal in turn dripped down and stopped falling just below it but it was spinning rapidly and hardening into a perfect pearl shape.
After the first drop, the second encased it and it kept going as more and more was needed to encase the pearl until all of the crystal was processed.
The, roughly, hand sized crystal had been reduced to a pearl sized perfectly round diamond without a single blemish.
“Such a good pure pearl, seems we truly are very compatible. If my spark was not compatible with you, it would not have purified that energy so perfectly.” Etune said.
“What do i do now?” He asked.
“Bring it over.” She said.
Taking the warm transparent pearl, they went to the pillar and he felt a strong pull from it but Etune showed him the very bottom most opening.
“Now, you have to be careful, after putting it in, the spiritual force will be released like a powerful fire. You need to imagine and guide the fire to form the basic shape of your idol. Thankfully, this is not a difficult process as your mind will instantly enter a state of epiphany as all your worldly experience will be compressed to form the basis. If you are lucky, you might even gain something unique.” She laughed.
“Alright… how long does this process last?” he asked.
“Anywhere between half a day to a day. Even with how compressed the spiritual force is, the energy is limited after all.” She said.
With a nod, he finally placed it in.
Doing so, however, had an amazing effect as his mind was instantly rocked and his current form suddenly erupted before being sucked up into the pearl.
Etune smiled as she saw that, naturally this was kept from him so that he didn’t fear the process. It can be very scary to feel your body erupt so she naturally kept it from him.
However, the next moment, an intense blue fire burst out from under the pillar shocking even her but her face turned even more as the blue fire was snuffed and a powerful white and black fire erupted from the ground and surrounded the pillar. Her eyes bulged and her jaw dropped.
“T-the yin yang celestial fire!” she exclaimed.
By now, Asur wasn’t even conscious yet not unconscious, he was in a state of nothingness. Like a movie his life passed through his eyes in moments yet he seemed to relive it. Every skill he ever worked on in virtual games was revisited and engrained into his consciousness but when he used it bloodline power was in the place of mana, every massive choice he made he saw all the effects beyond his vision.
Beyond just a revisit of his life, it was a test to see if his mind could handle. Some things were even fake but Asur saw through the illusions. Hissing could be heard whenever he saw through it and destroyed the fake memory.
When his memories reached the gate, instead of finding the gate, he found himself, yet it was the current self instead of his past self.
Both were bare and still different. At that moment, the asura version changed and grew to his current size and a mountain like pressure descended but after just a moment of being pale, Asur no longer felt it, his mind accepted his own power, his own bloodline and everything he was.
The giant smiled before his skin turned grey, his two arms suddenly increased to four arms and on his right hand, black fog gathered and formed two black swords, on his left hand, white fog formed two white swords. Each hand contained one.
The giant took a step back and began to do a seemingly strange movement like martial arts.
After doing it once, Asur was mesmerized already and soon, his mind melded with the body and he felt himself doing that.
The power of karma seemed to do as he wished. His right hand controlled bad karma, or the power of yin, and his left hand controlled good karma, or the power of yang. Doing the martial dance, his body began to attune to the power, perfectly accepting it like a celestial inheritance from the world.
When the form finally became engraved into his being, Asur blinked and the previous location returned to the temple.
Blinking, he looked around and found the star struck goddess looking at him like he was a strange creature.
Thinking a bit, he realized that he must have done something strange so looking back, after noticing he had his back turned to the pillar, he looked at his statue and smiled.
The form resembles the shape before. The color of the rock had turned from a dull grey to a bright grey that seemed to be filled with vitality. The statue had four arms and he stood in the starting pose of the martial form he had taken in the epiphany state.
Finally, the four hands contained within them four dull blades. Two pure black and two pure white.
Asur felt great pride when he saw the form, “This looks formidable.” He said grinning and excluding pride.
“Don’t joke around, kid! In the last 2,000 years, you are the first person I have heard of to touch upon the ancient law of yin and yang. How did you do it?!” Etune asked, her tone far from as friendly as it was. This tone wasn’t of enmity but it was serious and contained hints of fear.
“Yin and Yang? Maybe it is a result of my life. I have always been careful of my actions except in some cases where I know my actions affect a great deal of lives. Those actions, some of them causing immense side effects that ruined many lives but the after effects of it bring out immense benefits for many if not all. Every action and subsequent action I have taken are done under a simple mantra of balance to produce prosperity. Not really sure if that is it. That is just a feeling I get when I think about my life choices.” He said.
Etune looked at him with awe before sighing, “Seems a storm is brewing. I think I should get ready for when it arrives. The after effects of what he does is definitely going to eventually reach the 6th realm and with his complete king bloodline, even the 8th realm isn’t a problem. Touching the Yin Yang origin might even push his fate and destiny to equal the ancient gods of creation. I can’t believe my fate is attached to someone so… horrifying.” she thought but dared not speak a word.
“Kid, you really are a work of art.” She said.
“Huh? How so?” he asked.
“Do you honestly not notice the swords? You are a 2nd realm asura who has already formed the basis of a divine weapon.” She said looking at the swords.
“The swords? But they are just an internal image right?” He said.
“Actually no, this asura mark is created and contains its own internal space. Your bloodline power is condensed to form an avatar for you. The world is still inside you but it is also its own isolated space. These are actual solid objects condensed out of pure energy and they can be materialized, however, I honestly doubt you can even hold one of them at present.” She said.
Although her words fascinated him, he frowned at the last one. He turned and waved his hand, the hand of the idol actually opened a bit and a pair of black and white swords fell into his hands and remained perfectly still.
That said, he indeed felt the power and weight, they were immensely heavy and huge as well. The size looked normal for a giant like the statue and his 2nd asura mark form but his small human size made them seem giant.
His size soon grew to his asura form and he held it perfectly.
This honestly surprised Etune.
“These are heavy… and they also seem… incomplete. I can feel that I can hold them here but I can't summon them.” He said and let them go.
They flew back to the statue who gripped them.
“They are indeed incomplete, they absorbed close to 70% of the spiritual force while the rest was used to compress the stone into the shape of your base form.” Etune said.
“I see. Guess I have a lot of work to do.” he said and looked around. There were already changes to the place. He could feel that the perfect cube shape had shifted and now the space had opened more.
“The temple is adapting to the changes?” he asked.
“Yes, the basic shape is taking form, your memories affected both the temple and the statue but just barely. With time, it will show its true form.” Etune said.
“Okay… by the way, are you going to be here all the time or just this once?” he asked.
“For you, i can come more easily but it isn’t like i can come when i please. You are in the 2nd realm while I am in the 6th, there are 4 planes my mind needs to pass through to reach your temple. It takes a bit of energy to do that and I simply came now because I know that you wouldn’t have known how to work this. The gatekeeper informed me of this fact so I made sure to come meet you. You have been here for over half a day so you should go out. There is likely to be a lot to do.” She said.
Asur nodded and after a look around, his body dispersed. The body instantly became a massive grey fog that flooded out of the temple, which closed, before being sucked up in the bloodline power flow and falling into the reservoir and slowly started to crystallize.
Asur opened his eyes and instantly heard distressed shouting and knew that the Raksha had likely arrived.
Opening and closing his hand, he smiled as he reduced his size and left before getting his sword. One sword in hand suddenly felt strange to him. He paused before putting down the king bone sword and taking two large swords that were equal to long swords for himself. Two in hand felt comfortable and balanced to him.
Finally he turned to the exit to resolve the first step to the future nation he already had in mind to make.