Chapter 6: Chapter 06 – Stage two

“Considering we are at Scenario-3, how many scenarios did previous-me conceive of?” Mordred asked, before promptly dunking his head in a river. He was trying to clean himself of the dried blood flowing down his face from his eyes, a side effect of his efforts to grow stronger. 

“Unknown.” Astaroth’s telepathic message resounded in his mind. “Memory manipulation was written under our permanent employment contract of Lemegeton. Your Majesty’s layered contingencies were so convoluted that it isn’t comparable to even the devil king of lies and deception. As the Ancient Devil King of Death Tyrant, you’re the only one who’s eligible to control what we, your prisoners, know. The sealed memories require some triggers to activate, and we are unaware of what those triggers are.”

“Then, do you know about Scenario-1 or 2?” He had finished cleaning his body and began wearing his clothes.

This time, it was Asmodeus’ turn to reply .“Scenario-1 is where your memories are intact, having full rights and knowledge on how to escalate the highest state of combat readiness of Galatreon, even so far as authorizing the mobilization of all forces in Lemegeton including the nine demon kings. Scenario-2 is where you’ve lost a chunk of your memories after using a death-mitigation method, but not to the point like what you are now.” She added, “The conditions might be different, but we are prepared to assist you until you decide otherwise.”

‘It seems like my priority was the correct one. I need to regain my cultivation base to rank 4 before recovering all my memories in the northern continent. The elven Land of Eternal Springs… is quite a precarious place to visit.’ Mordred had started walking back towards the village while being occupied with his thoughts. “What about the other demon kings in Lemegeton? How have they developed?” 

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. When my main soul erased her memory, she also erased most of ours relating to the situation in Lemegeton. I am sure you know why.” Asmodeus offered an apology.

“Hmm, I understand. It’s a countermeasure against the karmic retaliation of the world and in case I get captured by the Sacred Alliance’s churches. The existence of Lemegeton is a secret that nobody in this world should be allowed to know, barring inviolably assured allies such as you two. Even if I contact your main soul once more and ask the same question, I’m sure I won’t be able to remember our conversation.”

…

Mordred arrived at the edge of Mira village, and just as he had expected, the square was filled with people. Most of them are young adults, but at the core, a group of adolescent teens gathered in an orderly manner. Looking at the amount of people significantly more than yesterday, it seems like Twin Helix’s appearance had attracted the warriors of Mira village who were previously stationed elsewhere to keep the periphery of the village safe.

Though, the cultivators of Mira village have less oppressive aura compared to the members of Twin Helix. They are much stronger compared to mortals, but they probably wouldn’t be able to hold a candle towards Twin Helix’ weakest member. This however, wasn’t because the warriors of Mira village are weak, no, they were rather average. On the contrary, Twin Helix is simply too high-class. It was like comparing the density of a copper wire to a steel plate, they were a league of their own.

Jugging towards the square, he was greeted by one of the Twin Helix members, the girl with fiery red hair.

“Hello there, you must be Satoru! I’m Akane Sakuya, the vice-captain has taken an interest in you…” She walked beside him, striking a conversation.

“Um, yes…?” Mordred took the ‘virgin teenage boy who had never spoken to a single woman besides his own mother’ approach.

“Sumire said that your spiritual talent is something rare in this part of the world…” She spoiled the result of the first test, confirming that he had indeed passed it. “I would’ve never thought that your mother was a whore…”

Mordred raised his eyebrows, reacting to her statement as if he was offended. “Excuse me?”

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” Sakuya clasped her hands apologetically. “You see, it’s rare to see a quasi-cultivator’s descendant that took after their cultivator parent’s traits because their genes are sometimes so potent that their quasi-cultivator parent’s body is unable to support it.”

Mordred understood what she meant, but played dumb. “I don’t understand?”

“Hmm, it’s like this.” She used her hand to elaborate, “Your mother is a quasi-cultivator, having an enhanced body that could endure the radiation of rank 1 cultivators, but not their genes. When there’s a difference of a major realm between cultivators, you should consider them as a different species. As an example, mortal humans are genetically closer to a banana than they are to rank 1 humans! Even without contraceptive methods, it’s extremely hard for a quasi-cultivator woman to be pregnant by a rank 1 cultivator of the same species!”

“So… am I lucky or am I unlucky for being born?”

“A little bit of both… There's been no official Mage in this village for a couple of generations, but you might be a case of atavism.” Sakuya shrugged nonchalantly. For all her praise, it seems as though she’s bored, as opposed to inquisitive. “I can’t wait to inspect the depth of your talent in the second stage of the Rite of Passage! Only then can you be my junior in the Academy! Do your best!”

“O- okay…” After hearing Mordred’s reply, the capricious woman waved her hands while separating, leaving him headed towards the square alone. ‘Now that I’ve inherited Astaroth’s bloodline, am I genetically closer to a demon, or a human?’ Mordred inquired towards the two demons in his phylactery, entertaining himself with the thought.

‘Your Majesty, you are closer to the Immortal Wardens of the Tartarus Penal World than any beings in Morgen World…’ Astaroth’s voice resounded as Asmodeus added. ‘I agree. You are no longer restricted by age nor biological limitations. It’s impossible for you to die of natural causes, and it’s a miracle that someone was actually able to ‘kill’ you… unless of course, you’re not using your primary combat system…’

Mordred held back his laughter as he reached the square. There was Kurogane accompanied by his silver-haired look-alike, moving around while giving instructions to the crowd. After waiting a bit until the villagers quieted down, it was time for Sumire to make an appearance.

She wore the same clothing like yesterday, the only difference being the considerable bags under her eyes. Cultivators, typically Hunters, can adapt to function without sleep should the need arise, though it takes its toll eventually.  Next to her was her wolf-beastman assistant, Alanis, who carried a metallic tablet.

“Good day, everyone…” Her voice was somewhat enchanting, attracting the attention of everyone present. “It is time to announce the result of the first test.” She clapped her hands, and Alanis acted under her cue.

The wolf-beastman interacted with the metal tablet as it produced holographic images of a list. This information-path artifact is a novelty amongst the villagers, so its presence and function was accompanied by the villager’s amazement, though, their amazement were quickly suppressed as they tried to find their names, or pictures, since most of them couldn’t read amongst the ones who passed the test.

The list of profiles has five attributes: names, pictures, and three words color coded in red or green. The three words are naturally body, spirit, and faith.

In total, only fifty percent of the youth passed the first stage of the test. While all the youth had their ‘faith’ written in red, those who passed the first stage had their ‘body’ written in green, with only a couple who passed the test with their ‘spirit’ in green. And of course, amongst the lucky couple, Mordred’s name was written.

This result was highly unexpected since those who had ‘spirit’ talent mean they have the chance to be a mage. However, it was merely a chance. Being a mage also requires something known as a Mana Pool. Without being born with it, a ‘spirit’ cultivator will have to find other, sometimes more difficult, ways to cast spells. Still, in Mira village, there had never been a mage for generations so the existence of teens with ‘spirit’ talent was a good surprise.

Mordred squinted his eyes, glancing at the other person who had a spirit talent in their veins. “Ah, who would’ve known… it was the village chief’s grandson…” He muttered, his voice drowned under the excitement of the villagers. ‘Some of these fools will prosecute me further due to my mother's relationship with the elders and probably the village chief’s son, I should probably kill her as soon as possible…’

In any case, having a 50% rate of talent is an auspicious moment for the whole village. It means that the new generation would be able to protect the village’s territory, allowing it to expand and reclaim some of the area dominated by beasts. In a few years, the village would experience rapid growth.

“Now, now, don’t be hasty…” Sumire’s voice resounded into the minds of everyone despite her low volume, as if she’s broadcasting a telepathic message. “The first stage is a shallow test to determine whether or not you have talent. The test results for ‘spirit’ and ‘faith’ are binary, only allowing a yes-or-no answer, while the ‘body’ test can only produce shallow generalization of bloodline or martial talent. In the second stage, we will determine how deep your talents are.”

“Those who have ‘body’ talent, please follow Kurogane and his sister, Shirogane, while Mino Satoru and Mira Hiroshi… you two should seek Sakuya.” With that as her last words, she left the square and headed for her own lodging somewhere around the center of the village.

While everyone was celebrating, Mordred simply walked towards the beauty with fiery red hair. The moment her eyes met Mordred’s, she smiled. “Heya! We met again.”

“...”

“Hey, don’t be like that. Having a spirit talent is something worth celebrating, you should be proud of yourself!” She nudged before she put her hands on his shoulder.

‘The fuck is wrong with her? Why are you getting so intimate with a kid?’ was Mordred’s thought, but his face revealed an expression of pain as if his skin was being pressed by a scalding iron. “Miss, your body… is making me hurt.”

“Oops…” Sakuya immediately suppressed her body’s radiation further, not allowing her touch to be detrimental towards Mordred. Her scalding body heat quickly returned to the level safe for mortals.

He appreciated the thought, but what he wanted was her hand to stop resting on his shoulder. “Missy, what are we going to do next?”

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“Wait a bit for this Hiroshi kid and I’ll explain.” She responds, sparing no pomps for the chief’s grandchild.

Mordred doesn’t mind the delay, but he sure wishes that the attention of the villagers would be taken from him. Everyone who laid their eyes on him would whisper amongst themselves. With his sensitivity, it wasn’t difficult to determine the content of their conversation. Not that it’ll affect him in any way once he gets out of this village, but he’d prefer if their one-sided opinion does not burden him in any way before his departure.

Enduring the gaze of universal rejection and envy for having Sakuya’s attention, Mordred patiently waited for Hiroshi to come.

Hiroshi is the village chief’s grandson, he had the typical Hartina Kingdom people’s features with black eyes and hair. Unlike most of the youths in the village who wore uncomfortable hemp clothing, his was made out of beast leather, designed for comfort and combat practicality. When he arrived, he tried his best to showcase some strange gesture of the high society to appeal towards Sakuya, but Mordred could only feel the cringe. 

Waving her arms, Sakuya stopped Hirosi in his tracks. “Stop it, I am here as a hunter, not a noble. Besides, open secrets are still secrets.”

Hiroshi scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to react. 

“Just be quiet and follow me.” She led the two somewhere else, but her hands never left Mordred’s shoulder. 

In the back, Hiroshi’s eyes glinted a murderous light. ‘’It should’ve been me, not him. It’s not fair!’ must be what he had in mind…’ Mordred suppressed the chuckle that almost left his mouth. ‘Your ego is too inflated to think that being the village chief’s grandson is enough to catch the attention of a rank 1 Hunter, especially one with a high standing like her… Damn, I'm resurrected in a shithole.’

While Mordred entertains himself at the thought of murdering Hiroshi sometime in the future, they arrive at a house reinforced with bricks. Inside, there’s a simple table with three seats. The lighting was bright, as the glass window allowed the sunlight to infiltrate the interior. Atop the table, there’s two large bowls filled with some sort of viscous transparent liquid.

“Sit.” She ordered while she began busying herself with liquid. She poured down some type of glittering dust towards the bowls and the water moved by itself as if a hand were to mix it.

Mordred glanced at Hiroshi who produced a near-inaudible sound of amazement. ‘Hahah. Which old fart’s idea was it to have a child who’s never seen a single telepathic refinement method in his entire life to court Sakuya? The people of this village are so fucking dumb.’ 

In the first test, the complicated-looking device’s function is to determine whether or not one had the talent to cultivate, giving a binary ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, this was because the inspection includes the private information of future hunters. To conserve resources and guard against intel leaks, the Association had to separate the ‘rite of passage’ into multiple stages. Otherwise, the Association wouldn’t be able to bear the expenditure of doing the rite of passage in remote places. 

Compared to noble families who had rites of passage for their clansmen or churches who require “donations”, be it in mind, body, or wallet, the Hunter Association is extremely generous.

“The second stage is different compared to the first. The process of talent inspection delves deeper, grading one’s talent into five grades from grade-E, all the way to grade-A.” Before Sakuya elaborated further, she inquired. “Do any of you have difficulties in recognizing alphabets?” 

Seeing Mordred raise his hand, Hiroshi scoffed. In response, Mordred ignored him as if his existence was no more than air.

“Well, the five grades of talent are E, D, C, B, A, with the latter better than the former. Grade-A talents usually require two to three years to advance from rank 0 to 1. Grade-B needs around three to five, whereas C needs around roughly ten years. As for Grade-D, they might become an official rank 1 after twenty years of diligent cultivation.” She sighed. “For Grade-E talents, it might be impossible for them to become rank 1 even if it took them a lifetime.”

“Nevertheless, the Hunter Academy won’t be like the divine churches or some clans that sacrificed the untalented to maximize resource expenditures. Due to the Great Archmage, recent advancement in cultivation methods allowed low-grade talents to cultivate albeit in different directions- as researchers or laborers, they will accept everyone of any grade of talents.” She paused. “In modern cultivation, talent does indeed play a role in how far you can go, but it wouldn’t confine you to a life of mediocrity as long as you have luck, determination and most importantly… if you know which path you are taking.”

“If I were to have a grade-E talent, would the academy still accept me?” Mordred asked.

“Without hesitation.” Sakuya instantly answered. “The dawn of modern cultivation is upon us. Occupations such as magic machinery operators, elemental sword-casters, gene-warriors, raw strategists, geo-engineers, specialized armed forces, with scientists such as biologists, chemists, physicists, and many others requiring less ‘talent’ yet allowing you to contribute to society by a scale comparable to ‘traditional’ cultivators. Even if you know nothing of combat, you still have many comrades that will fight for you. You can enter the cultivation world without the need to fight in your entire life.” 

Mordred’s face and body language do not react, but his eyes expressed excitement and anticipation. His reaction made Sakuya inwardly smile as it was rare to see someone so positive like this. The intended response.

Due to the danger inherent in this world or in any other world, it was common for cultivators to be revered due to their high combat strength. This idea, however, is slowly changing due to the modernity brought by the Great Archmage, especially in the southern continent where the Hartina Kingdom is located. The cause of this was the Hunter Association whose capital is in the Extreme South of Morgen World. Perhaps, due to its proximity to Galatreon, the capital of the Hunter Association, plays a significant role.

Naturally, there are oppositions as well, but that’s a story for another time.

“It’s always great to have someone with that view. Our world is slowly changing, and those who are infatuated with the old ways will slowly be weeded out in the face of competition. Though, it seems the divines of this world do not agree with the changes of times…” The last bit was barely audible even in the quiet room, more to herself than anything else. “Anyway, let’s start the second stage.”

She sprinkled some red dust from her hands, seemingly carried up by nothing as they telepathically floated and reformed into spell circles. Swoosh! The two mortals were unaware of what happened, but the transparent water in the bowl suddenly turned into a sphere after a flash of burning flames. It was perfectly round, having the size of a human head.

“This is a spirit prying crystal. It’s a rather expensive consumable artifact, but the cheapest one to date. It has a function to detect one’s depth of spiritual talent. I need you to place your hands on it and let the artifact do its work.”

Mordred and Hiroshi did what they were told, they let their palm touch the transparent sphere. While Hiroshi wondered how the artifact would work, Mordred let it inspect his sea of consciousness. 

‘The spirit prying crystal is a consumable artifact that works by drawing the latent spiritual force of its user. My original sea of consciousness has been forcefully widened by Astaroth’s method, it is now a grade-S: a level higher the highest level of talent. According to the classification I laid out, people with grade-S and above spirit talent possessed an ‘Extreme Spirit’: a special trait that allowed them to stand above the rest.’ 

Mordred squinted his eyes as he’s lost in thought. ‘I haven’t been able to ask Astaroth but considering her habit and capabilities as a warlock, her extreme spirit should be related to either magic, bloodline, or chaos… Then again, an extreme spirit will fully manifest its ability when I officially ascend into rank 1, so worrying about it now is too soon.’

Feeling a faint headache, he knew the crystal was working. Thud! He looked at the source of the sound, it was Hiroshi who's lost consciousness, his head having unceremoniously dropped onto the table.

“Grade-C talent, considerably above average, so it’s suitable…” Sakuya muttered absentmindedly, her eyes focused on Hiroshi’s crystal ball whose center was filled with a brown-ish cloud. The brown color occupies roughly half of the crystal. The volume indicates his talent was grade-c while the earthy brown color signifies his elemental affinity. She wrote some characters on a tablet that she took out of thin air before looking at Mordred’s.

Her expression changed from apathetic boredom to completely awestruck in an instant.

“What the fuck-” Sakuya gasped, her eyes widened. “This amount and colors… how is this possible…” She immediately took out a mobile device and telepathically interacted with it.

“I’m feeling faint…” Mordred acted innocent, but he felt lethargic and was about to faint. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, the door of the house was kicked open forcefully by Alanis, the wolf-beastman. 

“Are you sure he’s a grade-S with that color?” Alanish spoke as she quickly inspected Mordred’s crystal ball. “You aren’t lying… damn. We need to escalate this and tell the captain as soon as possible.”

Mordred massaged his temples after being allowed to retract his hand from the crystal ball. The drain of spiritual force took a toll on him, but after Astaroth’s bloodline inheritance has been passed on to him, his sea of consciousness is not only larger than the average man, but also more robust and durable. Even so, his spiritual force had almost been completely dried. Any other man would suffer the same fate as Hiroshi.

“It seems like we caught a jackpot…” Sumire made an appearance behind Alanis, and a smile decorated her fatigued face.