Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!

The only reason he had stopped was that the masking formation had almost failed to contain the Earth Pulse fluctuations when lighting his 9th Life Foci, and he could also feel that his body was reaching it"s limit, at least for now.

Lars carefully moved his body about and examined the explosive strength that was difficult to contain. He wasn"t at liberty to test out his still-increasing strength, but he could probably take on a Devil Lord or two barehanded... For now, he would have to carefully conceal his strength, familiarise himself with his newly strengthened body"s condition and wait until his physique acclimatised enough with Earth Pulse before he continued cultivating.

"My strength now is more or less the same as when I was on Yiluo planet, except that I haven"t mastered any Pulse-line arts yet, nor have I bonded with a Beast Spirit. Now that I"m confident that Earth Pulse is safe, I won"t have to worry about damage to my soul. I"ll follow Gatyon"s instructions later and acquire one. In the worst case, I"ll just split off a portion of my soul for the bonding. If anything goes wrong, I"ll just cut that part off and destroy it…"

He decided to continue only later. Besides, he had to make sure his masking formation was effective enough to keep his cultivation level under wraps, lest the homestead suspect him of being a monster in human skin…

Also, he had an appointment with Saint Ren to study Divine Light, as such, he began to walk briskly, returning to Elder Mash"noth"s abode.

"It would be good if it it"s as easy to cultivate as Earth Pulse. If it"s similarly based on formations, I should be able to ascend to Saint level in a day… That should be enough for me to defeat that crawler in the cave and return through the portal."

Gatyon had not practiced Divinity at all, however, he did share some of the basics, the strength levels and how they mapped against Earth Pulse levels.

-Acolyte (Earth Pulse pract.i.tioner level): As an accompanying phenomenon, when a Wings of light begin to bud from the acolyte"s back.

-Wors.h.i.+pper (Sand to Soil level): White wings of light form fully which can be used in battle as sharp swords of fire.

-Pet.i.tioner (Stone level): 4 wings of light manifest, greatly increasing absorption and emission of Divine power.

-Saint (Hill level): At this level, a user has 6 wings of light, is able to fly and also launch feathers of light as a sharp explosive ranged attack.

-Elder (Mountain level): The 6 wings of light now turn golden like the rays of a true sun. The nature of one"s Divinity changes qualitatively and can devour any form of impurity or darkness. A true powerhouse of Divinity, few are able to ascend to this point.

-Spirit (Land level): The Spirit level Divinity is also called a Throne, an incarnation of Divine Light and it"s authority in the world. It is said that a halo of light would surround a Throne at all times, even when the wings of light are withdrawn. This halo of light would bring many to fall to their knees in wors.h.i.+p of the incarnations of the Divine Light.

"Hmm… It"s also said that those at the Spirit level have the opportunity to ascend to heaven and become an Angel of Divine Light... Sounds like a standard religious system, but somehow there"s something fishy about it…"

Since his Soul-imprint of Insight had advanced, he had begun to occasionally have both watershed moments of understanding previously complex items or uneasy feelings about others, something close to a sense of premonition.

And the sense he had towards Divine Light was a bad omen. A very bad feeling, as if needles were p.r.i.c.king his eyes...

"I"ll take it one step at a time for Divine Light… I don"t want to run afoul of a Divine realm being in my hurry to return…" Lars reminded himself to be cautious in this other world; after all, not everyone would be so accepting of alien sojourners from another planet.

* * * * *

"You"ve already become a… Pract.i.tioner of Earth Pulse?"

Lars nodded.

"That was… Fast. Perhaps you really are a fated one… Come, let"s not waste the little time we have. I believe Gatyon has already told you much about Divinity. He may not look like it, but he talks a lot."

Saint Ren, the butler that Lars had earlier thought was just a house steward, had brought him to the back yard of Elder Mash"noth"s home. In the back yard, there was a wide clearing under the shade of many tall trees spread around in a rough circle. And in the middle of the clearing, there was a simple stone altar.

The moment Lars laid his eyes on the altar, he sensed a niggling feeling at the back of his mind. He felt like he should notice something, remember something important, but he couldn"t quite place his finger on it. At the same time, he felt pin p.r.i.c.ks in his eyes – clearly there was more to the altar than met the eye.

As he walked behind Saint Ren towards the altar, without showing it on the surface, Lars immediately split off a tiny sliver of his consciousness and soul, one that would be commensurate with a teenage boy at the Earth Pulse pract.i.tioner level. After that, he suppressed his Mythical-soul"s fluctuations as much as possible, then, not yet satisfied, he even intentionally sealed most of his memories away temporarily, leaving himself with a pounding headache.

"Sh*t… I hope this is worth it… But I"d rather be wrong and nothing happen than for something bad to occur… Better safe than sorry, right…?" He asked no-one in particular.

Stopping in front of the altar, Saint Ren motioned for Lars to kneel before it. Lars looked down and saw two depressions where obvious someone had knelt many a time and settled his knees down on the dry soil.

"In the book I gave you, you"ll find the songs of the Sacraments. The First Sacrament is the most important – this is when you"ll meet the Divine Lord and receive his favour… I"ll lead you in the song; you can follow my voice on the second round once you"ve caught a hang of it…"

Then Saint Ren began his song of wors.h.i.+p; the First Sacrament of the Divine Lord. The words of the song sounded half like gibberish and half like something that he thought he recognised, but was sure he had never heard before in his life. The melody was haunting, calling to mind images of loss, of sadness and of devastation but also of the hope of new life. The song seemed to carry with it a story of sorrow and the desire to see justice served.

Despite not understanding what Saint Ren sang about, Lars was strongly moved, his heart strings tugged at. He felt a rising sense of valour, a determination to seek out the source of the loss and the desire to serve this righteous cause…

"Wait, what…? What is this…?" Lars" main mind felt a chill even as his split off consciousness was captured in the mesmerising song and spell. He could tell that the song was weaving a formation, but it was not just the believer who powered the formation – there was clearly another party intervening.

However, it didn"t seem like a focused consciousness, but rather more like a conditioned response… Almost like a programmed intervention that was triggered by the song…

"Interesting… And this is even when I"m just listening to the song… What about when I actually perform the song…? Looks like I can"t afford to be careless, there"ll be no short-cuts. I"ll have to actually cultivate according to the rules of this world lest I be found out…

Lars listened intently, feeling both relieved and nervous. His intuition had proved correct – Divine Light was not so simple as just harnessing cosmic powers. He prepared for the worst in the event the G.o.d behind Divine Light caught whiff of something wrong. However, he was also not too worried – after all, why would a Divine realm being pay much attention to a puny believer at the lowest stages…? That is, as long as the believer didn"t stand out too much by continuous breaking through…

He"d need to wait and see how this encounter transpired before he made his plans. He couldn"t afford to be caught by a Divine realm being, but he also didn"t have the luxury of time.

During this time, his secondary consciousness was in a trance-like state, listening in awe of the man and the supernatural imagery conveyed, while his main mind coldly observed everything that was happening.

"Looks like he"s reaching the end… My turn to follow." Lars quickly hid his main mind deep within his soul and continued to watch discreetly.

Saint Ren"s song came to an end with a grand chorus, one that also left the heart with longing. He stayed still for some time, savouring the sense of Divinity that suffused them both before his eyes opened and he turned to his younger companion.

"Lars… Would you wish to join me in praising the Divine Lord…?"

Lars (secondary mind) nodded, half cognisant and half in a trance. He raised the song book in his hands before himself and began to join Saint Ren in his renewed song.

"Divine Lord"s consciousness… Let"s see if your system can see through my masking !"