Hours passed since the Dark Temple incident occurred and the Empire could not seem to find Erebus anywhere on Dromund Kaas-leading to quite a few Sith Lords and Darths getting enraged. Their technology couldn't detect his Voidship looming over the planet's orbit unless Erebus wanted them to, but this was only the response of the Empire's efforts to find him.
Not even the Jedi or SIS agents could detect the Voidship anyway.
Going back into the Voidship for a moment, Erebus laid up in a chamber devoid of anything "distracting" and full of an odorless, colorless, and tasteless energy called "Primordial Qi." This Qi would be especially useful to enhance his cultivation and begin the long road to mending his soul-which is where we resume our story.
Erebus laid in a lotus position within this chamber and began to exercise breathing techniques along with using the Force to soothe the damage done to his mind. He had learned from his System as soon as he woke up that utilizing the rage state-at his current level-was especially damaging to his mental state and could lead to him being consumed by the Shadow affinity he has.
He learned that having an affinity for Shadow Magic was due to his unresolved trauma and couldn't be cleansed away even after the trauma mended. It was something that was now a part of him now-down to his very soul-and required him to wield it with great caution.
For Shadow Magic-like in the world of the Spiral-was the magic which can touch upon the very fabric of Reality itself and be catastrophic. Sadly, this also means that all of his magical and Force abilities will contain traces of this powerful yet unstable magic. The only particular upside to having the ability to utilize Shadow Magic was that the Dark Side of the Force was unable to corrupt him.
Erebus had woken up about six hours ago inside of this chamber and unconsciously put himself into the lotus position as he felt this strange energy flood his meridians and dantian with nourishing spiritual energy. Even his System announced that he was in a place with 99% or higher purity of Qi and that his recovery speed has increased by 400% while the purity and saturation levels remained above a certain threshold.
This meant that for the last six or so hours, Erebus has been cultivating within this chamber in seclusion. It also means that cultivating has been giving him some expected benefits.
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[You have killed: Imperial (x10) for a total experience of 100.]
[You have killed: Sith Acolyte (x10) for a total experience of 10.]
[You have killed: Sith Master (x9) for a total experience of 90.]
[Quest Completed: A Safe Haven]
[You have been awarded +200 EXP. You now have 600/400 EXP.]
[You are now level 4. You have been awarded +3 Free AP.]
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
[EXP: 200/1000]
[As you have neared a Benchmark Level, the experience needed to level up has doubled. This will happen every five levels until you reach level 100.]
[...]
[You are in a region where Qi is highly abundant in a 99% or higher concentration. Your recovery speed has increased by 400% for the next six hours.]
[You have comprehended the secrets of the Dark Side to a sufficient level of Acolyte. You now understand that your emotions can give you strength and power, but victory often comes with a high cost attached to it.]
[You have comprehended the secrets of the Light Side to a sufficient level of Padawan. From your battle-weary state and subsequent seclusion into cultivation, you have understood that reflecting upon your own actions may lead into a greater enlightenment.]
[You do not meet the level requirement to leave this world.]
===+===
Erebus had been reflecting on what happened hours ago during his cultivation with his mind less muddled from the stress and chaotic mess it was before. Just like what the System had notified him of before, he did understand that there were other ways he could have dealt with that situation beforehand. Instead, he allowed his already damaged emotional state to cloud his judgement and dangerous abilities to wreak havoc upon those sent to capture or kill him.
This gave him a clear enough insight to breach through a few minor realms and a couple major realms of [Mortal Refinement] within those six hours. He was now a Middle-Stage Iron tier cultivator.
(A/N: it is listed as [Mortal Refinement (Iron - Middle)] on his status.)
'I can feel a twinge of what I was reawaken inside of my soul,' Erebus thought to himself as he realized what level of cultivation he was in. 'So, this is how I can mend my soul, huh? Just cultivate to a high enough tier?'
[Ding!]
===+===
[You have uncovered a Hidden Quest!]
{Hidden Quest (Mythical): Ascending the Heavens}
[You have discovered that the way to mend your soul from the trauma of your death is to cultivate and ascend the heavens themselves-triggering a Spiritual Rebirth. This will allow you to re-enter your original universe and accomplish your goal of saving Terra (or its inhabitants) from the extinction-level event which ended many lives.]
- Reach [Ascension Realm (Realm God - Early)]: 0/1
- Returning to Terra (Earth C-127).
- 1x [Spiritual Rebirth]
- Access to ???
- Continuation of your Legacy
===+===
'What are the cultivation realms?' Erebus thought to himself.
The System immediately answered...
<===+===>
(Meanwhile...)
It became quite prevalent to Darth Marr and Vowrawn that their Outworlder was not easily found. Imperial Intelligence had indeed found him just as he was leaving the Dark Temple, but his action of slaughtering Sith and Imperials alike caught the attention of all the Sith in the Empire.
Cipher Nine-one of their latest agents-had managed to capture a holo image of Erebus and sent it off to Keeper who then sent it off to the two Darths who got a good look at the man himself. Both of them managed to feel-just from the holo image alone-the sheer trauma his soul endured as if it was far more than what normal people (let alone Force Users) could handle.
This made both of them feel shivers down their spines as if death just touched them.
'What could have made even an image of him contain such primal fear?' both of them thought to each other.
<===+===>
(Wizarding World, 1891)
Professor Fig had been teaching Alex Forest over the summer how to do his wandwork and just left London in a flying carriage-unaware that Victor Rookwood had departed just as they did. They were both joined by George Osric-one of the Ministry's officials-and began to talk more about the events preceding to the start of this chaotic school year.
All of them unaware of who would be coming just as things were about to get heated.
<===+===>