Xavier soon joined the rest of the members in raiding other academies. The momentum was ramping up as they got better and more efficient.

He couldn't help but marvel at the design of the return ring and its insane features.

Once people found out that members of Deathless not only were immortal. But they also didn't have any contracts over their soul. More and more people wished to join Deathless.

One of those people was.

Lucas Aternaz.

Not the original. But the fake identity John had made for Ignis academy.

John decided to see what the initiation process looked like from a normal persons perspective.

John gave the green flag for himself and went through the process with that throwaway body.

Soon... Lucas Aternaz became #22.

John made sure to destroy the contract for servitude to the academy.

As for changing out his magic core?

He decided to leave it as it was. As he didn't want people to link this body back to himself. Even the 20 foundational members assumed this was just an interesting person.

The raids continued for years as Deathless became quite rich.

They also became quite powerful.

Soon. All of the members in Deathless had become rank 2.

Including John.

He had converted 100% of his mana into liquid. Not to mention he had long ago acquired the spell models to fill the chamber on his second layer of his focus.

Nothing fantastical happened during his breakthrough. Things were quite smooth.

A decade went by.

There were now 120 members in Deathless.

Most of Deathless had become rank 3.

John was still in the process of converting his liquid mana into crystalized mana.

He was still in rank 2.

As for the reason of the other members speed? It was likely due to the comprehension of the rank 8's avatar in the soulverse. Their consciousness was constantly nourished by this energy from that entity.

John hadn't been idle during this decade.

He had been casting 'Greater Conjure Magic Stone'.

A tier 6 spell.

He was capable of casting it about 15 times an hour. Over 360 times a day.

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He didn't spend every minute of his time conjuring magic stones.

But he had built up a reserve of 1,036,800 mid grade magic stones during this decade.

He eventually stopped as he had more wealth then he knew what to do with.

He also had a few dozen low grade astral stones.

As for his tier in mental magic?

He was still tier 7. But his mental energy bank had grown at a faster and faster rate.

It was currently at 3768.

He expected to breakthrough to tier 8 in a few more years.

John had spent quite a bit of his free time working on the barrier that protected his stronghold.

The location of his base was finally leaked. It was done so by a spell he actually had as his passive rank 2 spell.

The spell was called 'Soul Tracker'.

A rank 4 had intentionally founded an academy during this decade as a trap. When it was eventually raided by Deathless. He had cast the spell on them.

They were strong enough to put up a good fight. Until the rank 4 contacted his friends and the tables turned.

Using the return rings, they retreated back to the base.

But the location had been leaked.

The rank 4's on the surface had a sour look on their faces though.

Because the stronghold was in the subterranean world!

John had ordered Deathless to be law abiding citizens when in the subterranean world. But the same could not be said for the surface. On the surface, they pretty much did whatever they wanted.

If the rank 4's were to raid Deathless.

They would have to come down to a level far more dangerous then the surface.

Not to mention. There were now over 100 people in Deathless.

Some of them were rank 3.

There was even a person that was rank 4.

He wasn't one of the foundational members though. But it wasn't a warlock either.

Not to mention the formations John had set up that could tell the difference between the persons soul. If a wizard tried to break into his base. He would likely die to the formation!

John was a formations god after all.

His stronghold also held all of the accumulated knowledge of all libraries from the surface world.

The members of Deathless could also access to the network and acquire the accumulated spells which had grown considerably over the years.

Everyone in Deathless was immortal and had good escape techniques (the return ring).

But still, in some situations. Some of them had died.

But their souls were controlled by John. He was able to directly bring them back to life.

It was as if they could 'respawn' on death as long as John allowed it.

A portal to the lifeless planet in his universe was made.

Only members of Deathless were capable of surviving in such a hostile environment.

The lifeless planet was no longer lifeless. As a separate stronghold had been built on this planet to prepare for more members in the future.

The planet itself had become another base for Deathless.

The original base was however almost infiltrated a few times.

How was this?

Somebody had stolen the return rings of a killed member of Deathless.

The rings were infused with a phantom soul from John though. It had basic intelligence. It was able to tell a member apart from a non member.

So the ring was completely useless in outsiders hands.

Not to mention. The runes were uncrackable by anyone other then John.

John was quite glad he created Deathless.

As he would've likely had to wait many years to acquire just a single rank 2 spell model.

John felt it was time to explore another world.

He could go to the lower levels of the subterranean world.

But his force was still too weak.

He should wait a few years for everyone to progress more in strength.

Raiding another world could be fun!

Obviously. The 100 additional members weren't able to explore other worlds for long. As they were still blessed by Mer.

So they could only carry a limited supply of mana into another world. Where they would then be disconnected by the matrix.

Only someone like #78 could follow the 20 foundational members. As he was a rank 4.

The mana capacity at rank 4 was 3600 instead of a mere 360. Like it was for those rank 3 and lower.

Not to mention. A rank 4's mana was all crystalized.

So it was far more potent then a rank 1's for example. The mana could last for far longer. Even without the blessing of Mer in another world.

A rank 4 also had a domain and divine sense.

The point mass was almost like a nascent soul in that sense.

John's body was no longer a glass canon anymore either. His durability had increased greatly.

Why was this? It was due to him circulating the explosive Qi of his nascent soul through his body over the years.

His body was finally adjusting to his power.

He wouldn't have to worry about hurting himself through his own power now.