"Lord Death, may these prays grant you strength and aid your eternal cause. May your champions prove worthy in name, honor, and deeds as they strive to overcome whatever adversaries your enemies throw at them. May your followers prove worthy as they strive to enter the rank of champions." This is my daily pray to my god. I believe one personal faith is all that is required to be one of his followers. I need no church or clergyman to follow my faith in Lord Death. I simply treat those who have the same faith as my brother and sisters in arms.
It's been a few months since I died, my new quest is to instruct a hundred groups of new souls about religeous structure of the Underworld. After a short break in answering some questions I continue with "whatever afterlife religeon you were brought up to believe in is but a small power. Because gods of these religeons are all terrified of these nine ruling gods. They were the first nine gods in existence, their power is simply overwhelming. Each god can trace their lineage to one of the ruling gods. Each new god maxium potential will always be average of their parents. Like how royalty insisted on marrying royalty to keep the royal bloodlines from weakening. However in this case the parent gods want to give their child the best possible potential.
The strongest clans among the gods realise this problem after a few generations and took steps to pair up with someone of equal power whether they like them or not, just to give their children the best possible future. The nine clans also happen to serve each of the nine gods. This happened because ruling gods knew this trend would be happening then when one of them ordered all the faithful among them to gather to form a new clan. When the other ruling gods heard this, they too gather their faithful and to do the same.
The third tier of gods were those who realize the problem after another two generations had passed. Gods borned much weaker than the third tier are consider demi gods. Of course there are the offsprings from gods who created a child between the three tiers. This rarely happens since the stronger parent would not want to produce such a weak child.
Each god chooses a planet in the multiverse to create their own religeon and make it their core planet of believers. In the Underworld, these world gods also control a fortress filled with their personal followers. However, in order to grow to their full potential they must defeat other world gods just to earn a bit of experience. Since Gods are fobidden to fight in the mortal realms, battles are non stop in the Underworld. Alright everyone, this is was my last lecture, good luck to all of you." Then I give a slight bow to my junior brothers and sisters and left the courtyard.
This is how the religeous multi-verse evolved into, it's the most basic explaination I can up come up with after searching though my past memories. It works, and fullfills the requirement of my lastest devotion quest. With each group comprehension rate higher than the requirement, completing this quest was easy but time consuming. In an instant I know my next avatar has gain a reincarnation point which makes me smile. Quest rewards appear instantly the moment after a quest is completed. Physical reward appear inside your personal void pouch while notification appear in your mind for other types of rewards.
With this quest reward, I am finally done with the Devoted Initiate requirements and now all that is left is the trial by combat. If I survive, I join the ranks of the devoted faithful of Lord Death. I give my daily prayer before leaving the boundary of my home. After my prayers I always feel a little more alert for the rest of the day as the connection to my god is strengthen. I'm walking in the Wilds that exist between the fortresses, this current zone in the Wilds is an endless marsh lit by two moons. My Trial by Combat test was to bring back a rank two soul, to become one you must be able to kill one. I honestly love the reason for this trial, it's straight to the point that reflects my beliefs very well.
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I been poison three times already dealing with the soulbeast that inhabit the Wilds. I throw away the disgusting vial that contained the cure poison potion then immediately gargles some spicy wine to wash that taste away. The most powerful alchemist trademark for his potions are that they are truly vile tasting and expensive. I have to keep drinking these vile potions or loose the 'drink my potions' buff. Every time I drink one of his potions I receive a little extra benefit.
I stop and peer at my surroundings, thanks to that disgusting liquid my eyes can see much better in the dark and instantly focus on my target. It's burning soul has the same strength of my senior brothers and sisters of the devoted rank. Some kind of beastfolk with lizard like appearance and it's obvious he spotted me first and already preparing for battle by tossing an empty vial away before grabbing another and charging at me.
With a thought to my void ring on my right middle finger and my sword appear in my hand. I see Crazyfoot charge awkward at me as one of his legs is crooked with a over large foot. He drank two potions without a disgusting expression, how lucky of him to drink normal potions. He is using a giant chopper for a weapon, not sure if it's an axe or an oversize kitchen knife. With his weird gait I can see openings for me to use.
He's a big guy, so he swings first, he's stupid and predictable and my instincts started my dodge before he started to swing. I dove under the swing and with a quick roll and turn on my knees, I slash the expose back of his right knee. I got the results I expected, he cries out and falls down clutching his knee. I got up and finished him off with a flurry of swings. Being faithful to Lord Death certainly has it's benefits, the wounds I cause feel more vivid that lingers for a few breaths of time after they have healed. My soulbody can regenerate normal wounds very rapidly, with the pain lingering until the wound closes in a breath of time.
My seniors all say it's kill or be killed in the Wilds, looks like what they said is true. I receive a copy of it's soul and then see it dissolve into it's mistform before streaking away towards it's shrine in an instant. With a thought I picked Crazyfoot's soul in my containment area in my soul body and instantly know it's every abilities and attributes. His stats about the same as mine, should've have been a fair fight, but he wasn't used to lingering pain. What about his clubfoot? With a thought, and know that he is under the influence of a flaw.
Feeling the first rank two soul in me makes me smile. Time to hunt again! I stalked the wilds north of the fortress. I knew if I go beyond a tenday travel I could encounter enemy champions. So I was planning to hunt a few days away from home. All the soulbeasts are all rank one souls and not much of a threat to me. I thought it strange to be given a copy of the souls you defeat in battle, but it turn out there is a better reason to collect souls since it's the currency of the afterlife. So I look forward practicing my combat skills with these unending soulbeasts attacks.
It's been a few hours I'm already tired of this endless marsh with the two moons that circles above me. From what a senior instructor said, this endless marsh zone should only last for another three days as I travel east. I can still see my home's boundary a few miles south of me. Fertile lands filled with nature's blessings and herds of spiritbeasts patrolling the borders.