The screams and shouts were clearly from a war but Asur was not in the least rushing. Instead he walked slowly as his bloodline power moved strangely and reached his throat.
“Ah… Urg.” He groaned as he felt pain but he adjusted the flow, “Ah.” at once he smiled a little as the air bent to the sound of his voice.
Each step he slowly adjusted and soon the smallest sound seemed to travel as he pleased.
When he finished, he had reached the gate and was only in his 1st asura mark form.
There were dozens of weaker warriors guarding the gate.
“Chief!” they all exclaimed happy that he was awake.
“Is it the Raksha?” he asked.
“Yes chief! They came at first dawn and demanded that the ‘inferior being who shamed his tribe’ come forth. You were covered in a strange black and white fog when we went to call you so warchief Shira went to say that you would see them only when you were ready. It angered them and a massive battle broke out. Shira is holding off the chief because they both have 2 asura marks but he is on the back foot.” One of them explained.
“Alright… I will deal with this. All of you, cover your ears as tightly as possible.” he said.
They seemed confused but with his serious expression, they plugged their ears and the command even spread around those near the wall.
They plugged their ears as Asur assumed his full power form and breathed in deeply.
At once everyone felt an intense feeling of danger and they quickly ran away from him while those in battle felt an impending pressure. They only had time to turn towards the source and vaguely see Asur before a roar like the roar of a god came down upon them.
“SILENCE!” Asur roared.
At once, a cone shaped shockwave burst out from his lips and surged forward like a wave. The scary thing was that even the ground and rocks near him cracked. Those with only 1 asura mark instantly felt their conscious blur and collapsed even though they were in battle, those with 2 marks felt their legs go weak.
The only one who remained standing was the raksha chief who felt his head ringing but bit his tongue to wake up and keep his legs firm.
The shockwave resound over an entire kilometer and even half a kilometer away, birds and bugs collapsed dead.
Silence fell over the entire world with only the wind to bring sound to the ears of those awake.
Asur smiled at the effect, “Damn… those people from the realms above have too much time to go down to a sealed off world and make virtual reality and add real usable abilities to their games.” he thought.
What Asur did was as he just thought, as an avid gamer of virtual reality, he was the kind to focus on actually learning skills in the game worlds. Even those that used mana he learned how to cast them.
As for the skill he just used, after playing over 15 different games, over 10 of which he was a monarch, he had eventually made his own skill after training tens of different roar type skills which he called the King’s Shout. The effect caused his civilians to instantly feel reverence and fear while his enemies to feel fear and despair. The best part is that, if the power gap between him and those hearing it at its full power was above a certain level, it would make them fall unconscious while those close to or equal to him would feel faint and would feel restrained. In game terms, their stats drop by at least 15-20% their base amount. In real life… their fear inhibited their fighting ability.
Asur resumed the intimidating air as he looked around and finally upon Shira and the raksha chief.
Walking slowly through the deva tribe warriors, he soon reached the chief who felt fear from the pit of his stomach. He was 320 cm tall while asur was a full 4 meters tall. A full three and a half heads taller than him.
“I asked you to come in place of your warchief to fight me… you actually dare attack my villagers.” he said coldly.
The chief felt immense fear, now he understood the fear that his warchief had felt. It wasn’t some kind of fear of power, it was instinctive fear from his bloodline itself. From the center of his bone to the tip of his hairs, it was telling him to run or kneel to the superior being before him.
Asur narrowed his eyes and suddenly kicked him in the gut and sent him flying to the back of his army and landed while digging a trench in his wave.
Asur jumped over them and landed near the chief and grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back.
“Raksha Tribe! I am not an unfair person. With a king bloodline, I desire to make a land where all asura would flourish! With a new gate of evolution as our foundation, submit to me and you will have a future you could never have!” he roared.
Everyone trembled in fear of his words.
Only silence filled the land so Asur threw the chief down and asked him, “What is your choice, Chief?” he asked.
The chief was trembling but after looking up he turned his head and looked behind Asur.
Feeling an energy behind him, Asur turned and saw a man. With opened eyes, he possessed a familiar pair of white eyes.
“A seer, the seer of the raksha i assume?” he asked.
“Indeed, o great one. I came once I sensed through the flow of nature, your awakening of your 3rd mark. I had not expected you to be a 3 asura mark bloodline and even less a 4 asura mark king.” he said.
Asur looked at him with caution. “Are you like that bitch I killed? She only desired power from the divine spark, if you are like that, I will kill you right now.” He said.
“I am not, I was an exile who inherited my father's spark through birth. When i was 5 years of age, i was sent here as the Raksha Tribe among Asura kingdom did not desire me within their fold.” he said as two bright lights on his left leg and right arm lit up and his body swelled into a powerful Raksha but unlike the regular felines with black stripes and yellow or orange hair, he had white hair and silver stripes like a white tiger.
That said he walked up to Asur and bowed, “In the place of the chief, I hope you will accept our tribe under your fold to help build the foundation of the next great Asura kingdom.” he said.
Asur looked at him and turned to the chief, “Well?” he asked.
They were shocked that he asked them.
“I don’t care if he is your seer and speaks for you, I want your answer.” Asur said.
The chief looked at the prophet of his tribe and with a heavy heart he got up and bowed, “W-we accept you as our king.” he said.
A look at the other Raksha elites, they felt their heart tremble and they each bowed.
“Good… return to your tribe and inform them of what has happened. I cannot do much at this time, winter approaches so avoid conflict with other tribes, inform your affiliated sister tribes and be ready for the changes to come once winter is over. I shall visit your tribe and teach you many required things you will need to know and learn during the winter to be of help when spring comes. Seer, lead the men away and tend to your wounded.” Asur said and turned away and left the crowd.
Everyone watched his back as he slowly shrank and entered the walls of the village making them sigh.
The seer stood up, “Raksha, return to your homes and send messengers to our affiliated villages.” He ordered.
Shira gave the same order and an additional one to help the wounded.
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Like that, a major conflict was resolved with the power of one man.
After some time, the two tribes that were close to killing each other had all but cleared the space where the fight was happening.
Those with serious injuries were taken to treat their wounds while those with just minor injuries just had bandages and medicine put on.
Asur was seated on the main stage with the two swords and doing something strange.
He would concentrate a while and momentarily move the swords in flicks. Nine times out of ten he would frown or even scowl and wince but that one time that succeeded, strange things happened like gust would appear from the flick or an aura would cover the sword momentarily. There was even a time he took small pebbles, for his size, and flick them. In a similar sense, it barely had power but that one time it worked out of dozens would suddenly send it like a blur before it shatters against the wall.
Finally Adsila couldn’t handle it and came up to him. “Asur, what are you doing?” She asked.
He turned and smiled, “Nothing in particular, I learned something special from the information I got at the gate of evolution and am just trying it out.” He said.
She looked at the swords, “Is it the same as that roar that made almost everyone faint?” She asked.
“Yeah, it is something I am just figuring out. Don’t worry, it isn’t a bad thing.” he said, calming her down. However, he paused for a moment, “Oh, can you organize something for me? Gather up all the people who ascended from a world called earth whose calendar year is 2195. Tell them to gather at the ex chief’s home.”
Adsila nodded and he thanked her. Getting up he walked in that direction. The area in question was empty now. The chief himself left the rooms after clearing them out. Under Asur’s orders this area was being greatly expanded to be a collection of rooms including a war room and council room for higher ranked members of the tribe to discuss matters.
He dismissed the miners as he needed the area clear and soon enough dozens of people walked in.
“Did you call for us?” one of them asked in english.
“Yes, everyone here is from the same earth I am, correct?” he asked.
“Yes, year 2195, space age year 5.” one of the men of much older age said.
The year 5 is actually a collective calendar where 1 year is equal to a decade on earth.
Every ship, every watch and every last colony had a space year calendar and a planetary calendar.
“Good, now I have a question, how many of you are virtual reality players?” he asked. Without much thought, everyone raised their hands. Virtual reality was used for gaming, business and more with games being a huge source of many worlds' economies.
“Good, now how many of you were skill based gamers?” he asked.
This time they stopped and had to think. Skill based is a very vague term but most of the time it is a person who actually learns the skill to obtain real proficiency.
Slowly one by one raised their hands. This meant that they had at least one skill that they learned for real.
“Great. Any of you learned skill based craft skills or classes?” he asked this time around.
This one drew more hands and quicker replies.
“What is this about sir?” one of the earthlings asked.
“I recently came upon a massive discovery. The people who made virtual reality games were likely powerful gods of higher realms who sealed their bloodlines and powers to descend to our world early and instilled actual practical skills into those games. The shout I used was the signature skill I created after going through several games, King’s Shout.” He said.
Several people gasped, “Y-You are Karma!” One of the younger men exclaimed.
Asur smiled as he found people who recognized the skill and his own person. Indeed, his name in every game had been Karma and something he had kept from everyone was the fact that, somehow, the gatekey was capable of projecting and appearing inside the virtual world as long as he entered the game with that item in his hands. He was never once without that item in his life.
“I am, anyways, my words are real. You might have noticed what I had been doing outside. The flicks were weak shakes to figure out the flow of many skills I remembered. I want you all to try to remember and practice the skills you honestly learned and try to figure out the bloodline power flow for those skills. It is important as these can be very useful in the future for rearing powerful and skilled craftsmen, warriors, scouts and more.” He said.
At this moment the Gatekey appeared and opened into the general scan and Asur was inwardly shocked when he saw good karma skyrocketing while bad karma was rising but at nearly a tenth the speed.
“S-sir, what do we actually get out of it?” one man asked.
Asur smiled, “Naturally you will be leaders among the crafts, after remastering your skills, your futures will be more in your hand and will aid our budding ambition to make a nation more possible. I don’t know if virtual reality is unique to us but compared to many worlds that i heard about, it is rare for space age worlds to be opened up. We have an advantage of having these techniques and skills early compared to those who likely had a few more realms to be able to obtain this kind of mystical ability.” He said.
His words made all their ambition bud. Being a master of a craft is something everyone wants.
“Seems everyone is inspired, still don’t do it without consideration. This isn’t virtual reality, moving the flow improperly could cause a lot of pain and damage to your body. Try it weak and slowly work from there. We clearly have longer lifespans to common humans and likely bloodline affects our lifespan even more so you can train more and more. This is a huge opportunity to obtain and gain a lot of karma as well. Being the first of your craft is a huge opportunity that few get.” he said.
They instantly exclaimed as they wanted to advance. Many of them also wanted karma to advance their bloodlines. With most of them with single marks he knew that it would soon increase to 2 marks. He could feel a lot of karma gathering on him and after he checked he nodded as he saw it rising and soon breaking the 200 thousand for good karma and 100 thousand for bad.
He could only imagine the others but didn’t openly check.
He dismissed everyone and let the miners return to their work.
The next day, together with Shira and other warriors and craftsmen, they headed to the main Raksha village and were greeted by the depressed chief and the seer.
Walking into the village, the raksha were looking at them strangely but he stopped in the middle and looked around before seeing the cave.
“No matter how different the tribes, we basically live alike.” He said.
“It is how those without knowledge live.” The seer said.
“True. Tell me what god your divine spark comes from, don’t think of lying because I will find out.” Asur said.
“Our patron is Banka-Mundi, goddess of hunt and fertility. She gives us protection from wild animals removing our fears of them and promotes fertility in both our ability to mate but also that of our fruit produced and that of animal fertility which grants us great harvest and hunt.” He explained.
Asur nodded, impressed by how complete the information was compared to the seer of the Deva.
“Okay, do you all have rituals for bloodline purification?” He asked.
“Is there such a thing? Is it better then karma stones?” the seer asked.
Asur chuckled, “Ignore it then, it was a lie sent by the goddess who lied to the Deva seer claiming herself to be an Aditya.” He explained.
“What god would have the nerve?” The seer asked, confused.
“Jyestha, goddess of misfortune.” Asur said.
The seers face turned into a scowl, “You snuffed the divine spark of such a goddess… are we safe?” He asked.
“I didn’t snuff it. You should know that. I also didn’t use that specific flame for my 3rd mark.” He said.
The seer sighed in relief.
“Let’s get a move on, nature and time waits not even for gods.” He said and nodded to his men. “Raksha, we are here to teach you an art that will improve your hunting power.” He said.
They muttered and the seer helped call out those who were good at making weapons. They were much weaker then warriors but Asur didn’t mind and the men and the Raksha helped build the first furnace with the tools of the Deva and then they showed the tribe by taking some bones they used for construction and burned it and forged it.
After making a hammer, the chief was slackjaw. “This is metal.” He said
“Yes it is. Metal in this land does not exist in the soil to be mined but in the bones of living beings. This is how we will advance our nation and even civilization to prosperity. From a simple bone metal to machines and more, we will take a step to becoming a nation that no one, not even the old asura kingdom can ignore.” He said.
They all finally submitted to him but Asur didn’t leave and instead began to learn about the culture and religious practice of the Raksha. This included the cannibalism they are known for.
“I knew that this habit didn’t come from bloodline. We have many Raksha that ascended so it can’t possibly be that. I knew religion was part of it.” Asur said after listening to the Raksha chief and seer.
“You will prohibit it?” the Seer asked.
“I honestly don’t want that kind of thing because it makes us feel more savage if you cannibalize our own people. Imagine how that will go when two powerful Asura fight, the winner will eat the loser, how would our power rise then?” He asked.
The two nodded solemnly but suddenly the chief thought of something. “So you do not want cannibalism… can we still do this ritual with other races?” he asked.
“That is fine but don’t do it out in the open. If you must do it then build a ritual site where people who choose different gods to worship don’t have to see.” He said.
The two leaders smiled and were happy that the exocannibalism done by the tribe would still go on. The main reason why they still considered it cannibalism when thinking of other sentient races is because almost all 1st realm worlds have the same race, humans. They may evolve differently but they are of the same origins so many rituals that need the death of sacrifice might sometimes be done with members of different races.
With their most pressing concern dealt with the tribe started to accept the teachings and things taught by the Deva who were previously their biggest enemies.
After a week of work, the Raksha had several forges and several carpenters to process wood and more. At that time, Snow had started to fall so Asur decided that they would return so they would not get stuck due to snowfall.
They passed by the gate on the way and found several shivering men and women and took them with them so that they would not freeze.
Asur decided that it wasn’t safe so he would have to send someone daily to make sure no one is left freezing during the winter.
To make sure that they had a place to safely stay, they also built a few leather huts in the cave of the gate leaving blankets and furs to let them remain warm enough until they arrived.