Astor Nelius's POV:

Astor explored the world and had abandoned his orphanage after a few years. He felt that it offered him a safe space to grow. But he had already pushed his powers to the limit and the souls and request he found were becoming increasingly hard to carry out.

The way his ability worked was that the soul had a chance of having something unique about it. He would inherit some of the memories of the dead. He would also get their dying wish. Sometimes this was something simple like bringing their ashes to a specific spot. Helping out their family. But sometimes it was outright nonsense like resurrecting them.

These types of request left him speechless as he wouldn't be able to keep the soul either way. So unlocking their 'potential' was useless. He traveled all around the world looking for unique and powerful souls.

What he didn't know was that this entire time. His every move was being observed by John Destinatus! John was using the 'Eyes of Time' on him alone.

He was currently on a continent considered to have few resources for wizards. Here, you couldn't even find an acolyte. Astor was currently 20 years old. He knew from his experience in the black cube that he would die in a couple decades.

His souls allowed him to heal and resurrect himself. But the powers were sort of passive. John had done an experiment on Astor's soul using energy particles. His consciousness had become independent from his body.

But there was a problem. He had to 'switch' the slots of his ability. The energy also wasn't infinite. The more he used a soul, the more it would dissipate. He could for example constantly use his 'healing factor' to extend his lifespan. But using it all the time... it would only last for a few hours before disappearing completely.

This was the same for all of his abilities. The strength of the soul determined how long he could use the ability. But if he left things 'off'. The soul wouldn't dissipate.

So there was a limit to the amount of times he could resurrect. He was hoping to find a ability that could 'recharge' the souls of his others.

It wasn't that these souls had abilities to start with at all. He didn't realize it. But the specialness originated from his transformed consciousness. The souls were like a battery put into a machine. It was the machine that converted this energy into an effect. But eventually... the battery will die, no matter how strong it is.

Astor figured that the souls of wizards would be stronger and last longer. Or might not dissipate at all!

But the wizards on his continent were deeply hidden and he was unable to find any gathering points, even using his abilities.

He was also worried about a 'dead end'. Because he knew he would roughly have a heart attack by the time he was 40. Due to that happening to his body in the black cube.

He needed to become a wizard and extend his lifespan. He also was curious about their souls. But he found no news regarding wizards no matter how hard he looked.

"Perhaps... I'll need to settle and become a knight for now."

Despite spending 30 years in a world where he was basically a god. He had little combat experience. He was only a child at the start and wasn't thinking about the future. If he had a chance to redo the experience. He would definitely work on improving his fighting power.

Now he was 20 years old and the lifespan in this world wasn't too high. He knew he didn't have long. He also knew almost nothing about knights.

He needed someone to be his teacher.

Thanks to the memories inherited from his souls, he had learned how to read and write. The world was a bit backward and wasn't too developed. Knowledge was hard to come by.

He didn't want a job because his time was precious. But without money... he wouldn't be able to pay a master to teach him.

He also wasn't talented in the arts.

Luckily, he saw a flyer on the wall at a bar. The working conditions were very good.

"Becoming a body guard for the princess?"

Most people couldn't read. So this flyer was useless. But there were perks to this job.

Stolen story; please report.

"Trained by a grandmaster?"

"Free food and living accommodations?"

He went to the screening location and found out something a bit horrible.

"I have to become a eunuch? What is that?"

Astor was castrated after signing up ignorantly. A metal pipe was inserted to allow him to use the bathroom. Most normal people decided to not have this operation done. This job was a bit extreme.

Astor had no idea what he was getting into. It was extremely painful. They used an extremely hot knife to cauterize the wound. Astor was even worried that this wouldn't be able to regenerate using his healing factor soul.

They planned on having the princess guarded 24/7. At the very least, someone would always be at her beck and call.

Half the people that had this 'operation' done and became eunuch's died from infections and other problems shortly afterwards.

Astor himself just using his healing factor to regenerate.

He sighed in relief knowing it wasn't permanent. The good thing was that he was documented and had witnesses that notarized him becoming an official eunuch.

He also passed the simple background check.

He didn't become a guard right away. He had to be trained first.

Unlike what Astor thought would happen. He wasn't trained in any sort of martial art. He instead learned the 'knight breathing method'.

He also learned techniques like 'grappling' and became skilled in unarmed combat after a few months.

The breathing method had nothing to do with energy particles and transformed the physique. It was only when one broke through their shackles and became a grandmaster that they could enhance the body with internal qi.

Then came the day he was going to become a guard. They told him he would have to go through one more inspection. Just to make sure.

"I have to get inspected again?"

"Yes. The princess must keep her purity!"

"I have to use the bathroom!"

He went to the bathroom in the castle and used intangibility to pass through the wall. As he was falling from the top of the castle. He switched abilities and started to fly away as quickly as possible.

"Fuck that!"

"I already have been trained in combat and the knight breathing method... there is no point in staying here."

Unfortunately, when he disappeared. The king got pissed and put out a wanted order on him. It however took time for the painting to be made and for it to get put up in any sort of information network.

By the time it could prove to be a problem. He was many kilometers away and at the coastline.

His time spent training under the kings knights wasn't in vain. He had acquired some secrets about nobility and he knew that this was indeed a desolate piece of land that had bad concentration of energy particles and no magical plants. It was a wasteland to wizards.

He had seen a map, and the continent he was on was almost a speck of dust in comparison to the world.

Unfortunately... he wasn't good at navigation. He bought a boat and a lot of dried meats. He spent months at the sea and survived off of rainwater and caught fish.

Every night he would sleep. He would leave his body and explore the surrounding area. Eventually, his boat started to fall apart and became essentially just a raft.

A water elemental destroyed his raft and almost drowned him to death. He luckily had flight and was able to escape its grasp.

"That is the first supernatural thing I've seen in the world besides myself. I must be getting closer to the wizards!"

Unfortunately. Now his raft was gone and he could only rely on his flight or swimming to travel. Due to the waves and possibility of drowning. He decided to just fly.

He used the supernatural creatures to calculate the path. He basically was using a hot and cold system to steer his direction. The more supernatural creatures he found. The more excited he became.

Soon... he saw land!

The soul that allowed him to fly was almost completely used up. He would only be able to use it for around 30 more minutes at best.

"That was close..."

He flew fairly close to the beach and fell into the water. His clothes had mostly been destroyed by now and were in tatters. He looked like a wet beggar.

He used his stealthed presence to avoid any attention.

He saw various boats at the dock. He put on hand on it and pulled himself out of the water. People subconsciously ignored him.

He was already disappointed.

"Just normal humans? Where are the wizards?"

Astor stole some clothes by phasing through a home. But there were no spare shoes, so he was barefoot at the moment. He walked around the town and collected information.

He had been paid a stipend during his training to become a guard for the princess. But he had used all that money to buy a boat and food. He was dirt poor now.

He only had a few coppers to his name. He used these to rent a room at an inn for a night. He just barely had enough for this.

Now that his body was in a safe spot. He went to 'sleep' and left his body in his bed. He began to explore this land just like he had explored before. He was far faster then in the past. He also felt stronger. It was as if this key ability of his was growing more powerful over the years.

He noticed something strange. After traveling some kilometers outside of the town. His spirit body ran into an invisible barrier.

"This must be the work of a wizard!"

He continued to fly around the barrier and noticed it formed a dome. In the center at the top. There was a massive tower.

This was a wizard tower.

Astor remembered this location and waited for it to be daytime before leaving the inn and starting his journey.

He encountered demonic beast and bandits. But thanks to his training. Also thanks to being dirt poor... the bandits left him alone. The demonic beast on the other hand weren't so kind.

He used this to brush up his skills. He also thought about converting them into money. But he didn't know how to skin or butcher an animal. He would likely just be wasting his time as he had no tools.

His feet became quite bloody from walking on rocks and roots. He didn't bother to heal them with his healing factor as he felt it was a waste of power.

"Shoes would've been nice..."

After a few days of walking. He was extremely thirsty and hungry. But he had reached the location of the invisible barrier.

But he was actually able to walk right through it! But for a moment. He felt as if someone was observing him.

But this feeling soon passed.

"It seems to be a town?"

He had finally found a wizard gathering point!