It was yesterday when Luther committed a massacre; he was still covered in blood. He faced an ambush from thousands of mana beasts. His odds were worse than before. He had drained around 80 percent of his mana, which wasn’t even full to begin with due to him being imprisoned.
He looked at the ground covered in organs and blood from the mana beast ambush and tossed a white mana stone with a formation written on it. It had been given to him by an elder, through a disciple. It started to glow until it shot a white beam into the sky.
“Well, all I have to do now is wait,” Luther thought to himself as he saw almost non-visible shockwaves coming from the beam in front of him. Luther yawned and walked away.
He hadn't slept since yesterday; he knew he couldn’t with those voices in his head. How could he, when he was going to kill his best friend and the elders? He knew he was going to do it. He needs to settle his debt; the question is how and when. How do I go about killing a hundred thousand people while surviving? “It’s a suicidal mission,” Luther said out loud.
“Most of the elders are 1,000years old, most of them have accumulated power for their family. For me to kill all of them is to make an enemy of all their family. And without a doubt, they won’t just watch me kill them, which is why I need something powerful enough to destroy all of them without any resistance.”
Luther didn’t know what type of power he needed to kill them all at once where there isn’t a chance to escape, but he was going to find out. He needed something powerful enough so that any means of escape or shield would be useless.
“Should I create a virus, or should I drop a meteor on them?” He asked himself. There are many ways to kill, and he has thought about all of them, from a civil war to creating a group of assassins, or siding with other sects. Finally, if he was really desperate, he would attack them one by one. All would lead back right to him. If there was anything he was sure about, it was how people of this world would do anything to find the ones responsible for their family deaths.
"I guess I just have to take things slow until I have a plan, but one thing for sure is that I need something powerful enough to make all retaliation useless," Luther said, as he walked around in circles lost in thoughts.
“I’m haunted,” he said to himself. It was driving him crazy. Even though he agreed with himself that he needed to wait and find something powerful enough, he wouldn’t wait, not when the thought in his head drove him crazy. He needed an outlet.
But the monsters in the forest weren’t strong enough. Most monsters are attuned to essence, the usage of energy the body produces, more specifically the heart. Essence is quite useful and powerful if used wisely, but mana beasts don’t use it wisely; they have no technique. After all, most mana beasts try to become humanoid and then use elements, that’s why they are called mana beasts.
“Such a waste of potential. Maybe I could raise an army of mana beasts, no, that won’t work. It will just cause unnecessary sacrifices, and the elders would love that.”
Picking up Luther signal, two cultivators from the Beast Sect were traveling to Luther's location. They were both wearing military uniforms.
"Do you know what is in that message stone?" asked the curious cultivator, with a round face and brown eyes.
"No, I don't know, and I don't need to know," answered the tired cultivator with a frown on his face.
"You are no fun. How can you not know? You are in a higher rank and realm, and they don't even tell you something as simple as that," complained the curious cultivator. "You do have a point, but all I know is we are going to meet Luther and give him this message stone. Are you happy now?" answered the tired cultivator again. "Why do I have to be paired with a stupid rich brat who doesn't know when to shut up? For God's sake, we are in the forest of the lost."
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This cultivator was slim and tall. What was imposing about him was his eyes and his presence. His yellow eyes looked sleepy, but his presence gave off the feeling of a researcher, the way he analyzed the forest with interest.
"Oh, Luther, that guy. I hear he single-handedly held off a beast wave until backup arrived," said the curious cultivator out loud. "Listen, David, we are in the Forest of Death, so keep it down!" shouted the tired cultivator.
"I am sorry, loudmouth Clive," whispered Daniel. "We are almost there," said Clive.
As they slowed down, what they saw was inhuman. Every mana monster within 10 km was dead, ranging from wolves to vicious serpents with wings. Clive and David froze in fear; they had never experienced something so gruesome. It wasn’t just that, it was the presence of Luther. He was releasing his bloodlust; his intent to kill was unreal. Nobody should have such evil; they were standing in front of a demon, released from hell, and he was ready to bring forth destruction.
"Hey, how can I help you?" asked Luther, in a tired tone, while turning around and looking at them covered in fear.
David didn’t know what to do. He was looking at a monster covered in blood from head to toe, wearing the Beast Sect uniform.
David knew Luther was ready to kill them based on Instinct, he didn’t know why but one thing was for sure. Resistance was futile in Luther presence, as he stood there in fear.
Clive bowed quickly, understanding the urgency and said, "Sorry for disturbing your peace, Senior Luther, but we are here to deliver a message stone to you."
"Oh, interesting, were you following me?"Luther asked while taking the message stone from the two cultivators, still agitated.
Their chests tight, they didn’t know what to say but they gave had to say something “ No sir, we didn’t follow you, we were told to deliver this message stone to you yesterday” shouted David.
Luther then poured his mana into the stone. It started glowing pink, and then a voice appeared.
“Hello, hello, how are you? You must be wondering why I sent a message stone instead of a link stone. Well, it's because it can be intercepted and spied on, and for their safety, I used a message stone.
“Anyway, your mission was to kill everything within 10 km and establish a base for our new recruit. I believe you will have finished by now. We have about 3,000 members who were enlisted at our central location. The top 100 are currently traveling to your location. We only need the top 5; they will then participate in continental tournaments one year from now.
“You can do whatever you want. It doesn't matter even if half of them are dead. We need to win and show the world why we are called the BEAST SECT. And you will be rewarded nicely.
“Also, Rebeca and Henry are in the realm of no return by the way.
“Yours truly, Sect Elder.”
“Oh, I see. Now I know who’s pulling the strings, it’s fucking Nathan. Anyway I’m going to create a bunch of beast for the continent's tournament. But why would he give this to me, what is he pulling?” Luther said as the light in the mana stone dimmed.
“It looks like Rebeca and Henry have made their decision on which path to follow. It doesn't matter though. The mana in my core is much denser than theirs, and it’s in the solid form, and my mana veins are stronger. All I need is to heal, and then I can decide on which path to follow.”
Luther looked at the two inner disciples and said, “ At ease soldier, you're on clean up duty.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.
After giving out orders, Luther sat down in mid-air and pulled out a tier 3 pure white mana, absorbing it his core. There are three ways to absorb mana stones: one is to use your spiritual energy to guide it, or use the element in your core and pull it inward, and finally physical contact. Luther used physical contact. He believes that by using physical contact, his mana veins would spread throughout his body, optimizing mana usage.
Even though the air was filled with an abundance of mana, cultivators of kana cannot absorb mana from their surroundings. This was a major issue cultivators faced on a daily basis – running out of mana while fighting. Using external mana would corrupt cultivators making ascension impossible.