John forced a contract over the soul of Death. He made sure to use his own method versus using the weird method of another existence governing in the wizard world.

John had no need for a middle man when it came to a soul contract. He was proficient in alternative soul magic.

Death couldn't even feel the changes to his soul and doubted whether he was truly bound by the restrictions John had told him about.

But he wasn't foolish enough to test it!

John also found something quite interesting about Death!

Perhaps it was because he was a rank 4 in the past. But his comprehension wasn't too bad. It was nothing compared to him of course.

But Death picked up the mental magic system as if it was made for him.

Within a few weeks he had reached tier 7!

This surprised even John...

"Perhaps, I was just an idiot back then."

This was mostly thanks to 'Greater Absolute Generation'. Death was able to increase his phantom energy bank far faster then John had been able to using 'Absolute Generation'.

John didn't even realize Death was such a genius until Death came to him like a drug addict looking for his next fix.

"My phantom energy bank has stopped progressing."

John was quite shocked it was so fast.

"What tier are you at now?"

"I'm at tier 7. But it seems the path forward is cut off. How do I go beyond?"

"You can't. Even I'm stuck at tier 7."

John lied quite easily.

Death seemed disappointed at these limitations. He was having a lot of fun breaking through to new tiers.

John had studied the structure of the astral stone he had acquired.

He had originally wanted to create 'Conjure Astral Stone'.

But when he calculated the cost of this spell. He found out it was tier 9!

He destroyed his last source from casting a tier 8 spell...

He wasn't willing to risk destroying his new upgraded source just for a mere astral stone.

Although... when he reached tier 9. He wouldn't be so reserved!

John taught Death most of the spells he knew. Even teleportation and Blackhole.

Death had become the perfect guardian for the stronghold.

Unfortunately, although Death reached rank 4 in his last life. It wasn't as a regular mage but as a warlock. So not only was he not a source of spells. He didn't have the right set of skills to create his own spells.

So John had to design the spells himself for Death to use.

John designed a tier 5 spell called 'Conjure Deathless Uniform'

As for the design. There were two different ones.

The symbol for Deathless was yin and yang. So each robe had this pattern on the left side of the chest.

There were then two different uniforms.

The twenty people that were the foundation of Deathless had a white uniform.

This was given to those that had a title.

As for the future members?

They wouldn't wear daoist robes in combat.

They would instead be completely covered head to toe. They would look like ninjas.

Cloaked in black, without any symbols.

They would of course also have black daoist robes they could wear when in the stronghold. To show their identity.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

It would be a bit silly if his base somehow got infiltrated and he didn't realize simply due to someone stealing the combat uniforms.

So when not out on missions. They would wear the black daoist robes.

But when in combat... they would be cloaked in darkness.

John planned to give those that contributed enough, titles.

They would then be allowed to wear the white robes.

Everyone in Deathless was happy to already be at the 'top' of the organization.

John allowed everyone to give him their opinions freely. He had created a group chat in the deathless network.

It was through a suggestion from Inspiration that a construction project to modify the stronghold began. As for what was being added? A coliseum with an arena.

Obviously, construction was quite easy since with mental magic you could spawn in structures.

John designed the spell and created a tier 7 spell called 'Conjure Arena'.

John didn't use this spell though... it wasn't his job!

He let Death conjure the arena. It was placed at the top of the stronghold, so that it was exposed to the 'sky'. This was so those in Deathless wouldn't have to worry about burying people from their fights.

Although, good luck finding enough people to fill the seats for this.

John didn't plan to have more then 150 people in this first base. Perhaps in the future, he would have multiple bases? Then perhaps have those with a title in charge of each base.

But that was likely to be the far future. For now, his hands were already full with managing this one!

Luckily, Death was in charge of trivial matters.

Once the Death situation was settled. Everyone in The Deathless Network requested to have John meet them in the throne room.

John was able to communicate to those in Deathless through their souls. They were also able to message him as well.

"You guys... you could of told me through the network."

Blasphemy spoke:

"It has been a few weeks since we have adjusted to the network. We requested an audience for a special purpose."

"Special purpose?"

"We are ready to become mages!"

"I see... are you truly ready?"

John was experimenting using Deathless. He was able to custom design his magic core. So why couldn't he do the same for them?

There was a huge problem with this plan.

His immortality was entirely different from theirs.

In order to construct a perfect magic core. One that would loop through the soulverse wasting no energy. He would also need them to have his focus.

The one with seven chambers.

That's right! He planned for the 19 foundational members of Deathless to have the same insane magic core as him.

He would let them acquire the spells to fill these slots themselves though. But they could share spells among one another. So a meta was sure to form in the future.

The group chat had levels of security to it as well. So future members wouldn't be aware of the main chat.

So how did John actually plan to construct this magic core for them?

Possession!

John had experienced in the past being possessed by a supreme being. He believed he could do one better. Although, this was only possible due to his control over their souls.

Just like he was able to disconnect his private consciousness from his other bodies.

He was capable of cutting the connection they had with their own bodies!

This was completely new territory for him. He didn't know what they would experience from this. So he had told them to prepare themselves mentally.

A mistake here could destroy their soul.

"So who has agreed to be first?"

Blasphemy spoke:

"Me! These old bones might as well be useful."

"Old? Your still quite young!"

"Thanks to the master!"

"Alright."

John brought Blasphemy into a private lab.

He then used his skeletal body in the Infinite Maze.

He cut off the connection Blasphemy had with his body. The intelligence in #2's eyes disappeared. He had become completely braindead.

John then pushed his soul out of this body using his nascent soul as the controller.

He took over Blasphemy's body. There was no resistance!

"What an odd sensation..."

He then constructed a perfect magic core.

The magic core he constructed had all the settings of the one he used. This included the ability to activate phantom mode and the special focus.

Once things seemed stable.

John shot out of Blasphemy's body.

He entered his own body again.

He felt as if he had been alone in space.

But now, he had returned home.

Possessing someone else was extremely unpleasant.

John looked at Blasphemy's body. He was just lying there motionless.

John then cut off his head.

A new head grew in place.

But the original head that he chopped had the perfect magic core in it.

John dug through the cut off head and pulled out the magic core.

He then transported it to the Infinite Maze dimension.

He placed it right under the soul of Blasphemy.

He then restored the connection of Blasphemy's soul.

The intelligence returned to his eyes.

He looked in shock at his cut off head.

"What the hell..."

"Normal reaction. You seem alright. What did you experience?"

"I was here one moment, then all of a sudden I see you by my decapitated head?"

"It seems that without a nascent soul. Your soul lacks perception without a body."

"Nascent soul?"

"Perhaps in the future, with enough contributions. You too, can form a nascent soul."

From this experiment, such an idea had become possible.

"Focus! Can you feel your magic core?"

John observed Blasphemy's magic core in the Infinite Maze.

"I don't feel anything..."

"I see... they haven't been linked."

John began to manipulate #2's soul.

Linking it to the proper perfect magic core.

Blasphemy's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Wait... I feel something!"

He instantly broke through to rank 1!

Not to mention, he broke the rules! He didn't even have a spell model or have to use a reactive elixir.

His soul was also linked to the magic matrix of the soulverse connected to the entire network.

John noted this.

"Perhaps it is possible to have multiple magic cores?"

Blasphemy was told how to activate phantom mode.

His magic core began to vibrate so only internal issues could show up.

He also looked in wonder at his focus. It had seven chambers.

One of them was blank. The rest could be filled with spells.

He immediately posted his success in the group chat of the deathless network.

"+1"

Everyone liked the post and wanted immediately to be next!

John found that his 'private' lab was suddenly filled with everyone in Deathless.

They were looking at him like he was a god.

"One at a time please..."