《Soul War: Journey to a new life》 1 Grandpa "L" "Grandpa L, can you please tell us the story!?" yelled little Alice while squirming on the bench. "Yes grandpa L, we really want to know about grandma Irene", her older brother John added. They tried many times to convince their grandfather to open up about their grandmother, but he was a hard nut to crack. Given the place they were at right now, they thought that this was the perfect opportunity to inquire one more time. Leon, or "Grandpa L" slowly raised his head and glanced at the gravestone. ''Irene Swain 1949-1990 beloved wife and mother, forever in our hearts''. Silently sighing, he took a candle from his jacket pocket, lit it up and placed it on the grave. As if following a routine, he then took a bottle of Japanese sake and two ceramic flasks from the bag he was carrying. After checking that everything is prepared correctly, he poured the sake in one of the ceramic flasks and placed it on the grave, next to the candle. Remembering Irene''s usual speech about "proper etiquette", he smirked and poured one flask for himself. Only after all of that did he return to the bench where his grandchildren were closely watching his every move, took a sip from the flask and slowly said: "Your grandmother really loved to drink this.", surprising both Alice and John. They expected that their grandfather would switch the subject, as he did many times before, so they remained silent. Satisfied with their demeanor, Leon continued: "I guess I never told you about her. It is not because I don''t want you to know, it is just too painful for me to remember and talk about everything. However, since today is a special occasion, I will answer a few questions you have." As if they couldn''t wait, Alice and John started bombarding him with questions. "What was she like!?" "What did she do!?" "How did you meet!?" "Can we see her picture!?" "Enough! One question at a time, do not be impatient, that is not how your parents and I taught you to behave." Leon stated, and then took out a silver pocket watch from his coat. "We''re sorry grandpa L" Children exclaimed, as if afraid that they ruined their chances of ever hearing the story. Leon really loved that nickname, and their puppy eyes only made it harder for him to get angry so he continued: "My dear Irene was a kind woman, with a strong moral upbringing. The way she moved, the way she spoke, the way she held herself... It was captivating. Anyone that even gazed at her couldn''t just as easily look away. It was the same for me, on that faithful night in Tokyo, many, many years ago. A devastating earthquake had just happened, and there she was, helping people out of rubble despite her own injuries. I heard her mention that she was a pediatrician, and approached her carrying a distressed boy, asking for her help. I still remember the smile that she gave me, and the way she reassured the boy that everything was going to be just fine..." Leon then opened the silver pocket watch and a small picture of a couple saw the light of day after who knows how long. "This is the only picture I have left of her. Actually, the only memento that still exists, since she gave it to me only a few hours before her death." He gave the pocket watch to John and Alice to look at, while the painful memories of his 13th anniversary started to creep in his mind. If only he gave in to their demands, if only he didn''t try to be a hero, if only.... maybe she would still be alive, maybe she would get to know her cute grandchildren the way he did. That same regret has been haunting him for 29 years, and was still able to bring him to tears. "Grandpa L, how did... how did grandma Irene die?" Alice asked, while trying to hide her tears from their grandfather. Leon could never lie to his grandchildren so he told them the truth, at least the short version of it: "She jumped in front of a bullet that was meant for me. She saved my life that day, at the cost of hers." Leon just didn''t want the burglars to take away Irene''s engagement ring, but instead of just a ring he lost Irene and his whole house in a fire that his decision to act has caused. The picture in the pocket watch was the only thing, other than himself, that endured the flames. "Grandma Irene was so brave." John revealed his thoughts after a brief silence. "Thank you for telling us about her grandpa L" Alice uttered. "Yeah gramps, cool story" A voice that did not belong to his grandchildren startled Leon. He turned around and saw a man in a hood pointing what seemed to be a gun at them. "Now, I don''t want to seem rude or anything, but fork over your wallet and valuables or your precious grandchildren wont be as lucky as you were in your cute little story" Leon was more than familiar with this situation so he grabbed his wallet as fast as he could and tossed it over: "Here, take it and leave us alone" The man picked up the wallet and casually added: "Oh, and the pocket watch too, I bet it is worth quite a bit of quids". What followed was a grin so wide it revealed his golden tooth. "Nooo!!!" John yelled, still squeezing the pocket watch in his hand. "Zip it kid, and toss it over, or I''ll take it from you cold bloody hands!" the man declared, almost losing his patience "John just give it to him, it is not worth your life" Leon proclaimed. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "No grandpa, it is your only keepsake of grandma Irene" John stubbornly murmured. "Fine kid, have it your way", the man said while aiming his gun. "No, don''t!" Leon yelled. *Bang* "Grandpaa!" "Police! Stop!" "Shit" Those were the last words Leon heard. Even though he was in his late seventies his body moved incredibly fast. He jumped in front of the gun, the same way Irene did on that night 29 years ago. The last thought that went trough his mind was ''Irene, I am on my way''. 2 Assistant Overseer In a completely white room, that resembled an office more than anything else, a figure cloaked with a white mantle was sitting near an office desk and it looked like it was reading from a transparent screen that was hanging above it in the air. It''s face wasn''t visible but Leon was staring at that cloaked figure from a chair in front of the desk as if waiting for something to happen. Finally, after what seemed to be ages to Leon, the cloaked figure spoke: "Well this is interesting. I haven''t had a case as difficult as this since the Great wars..." Then it scrolled up and down on the screen once again and added: "To indirectly cause the death of your wife over a material possession, and on the other hand heroically self-sacrifice for the life of your grandchildren, again over a material possession, yet there was no greed involved in both actions... difficult" At that point Leon finally regained his ability to speak so he immediately sought some information: Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Who are you, and where am I!? What is all of this!?" The cloaked figure lifted its head, and a border of a face could barely be noticed. "Ah, yes... Well let me try to explain. I am an Assistant Overseer in charge of the Earth realm. Usually you wouldn''t be able to meet me but one of the receptionists got confused with where to put you. Annoying as it may be, he called his manager or, *khm*, me" The cloaked figure then continued to contemplate over its decision, but soon it was again interrupted by Leon. "Assistant Overseer!? What in the world is that!? I need some information here!" Leon said, almost losing his bearing. "All in good time Mr. Swain, just recently you taught your grandchildren patience, didn''t you? And before you ask, yes they are fine and the police managed to arrest your assailant" ''At least they are safe, or else Irene would never forgive me'' Leon thought, letting a sigh of relief. His thoughts were quickly interrupted. "I can''t really let you move on to a higher plane, based on you previous transgressions, but you don''t really qualify for a cleansing either given the recent circumstances" cloaked figure announced. "Higher plane? Cleansing? What are those?" Leon inquired. "In Earth realm terms, those are Heaven and Hell. You''ve heard about those? The receptionist that should have sorted you is something similar to an angel, and you can consider me an archangel. Even though we hate that comparison as it is based on ancient work conditions we struggled to free ourselves from, it is still the easiest way to explain to humans what is going on..." "Then what about God!?" Leon felt puzzled. "No, a Supreme Overseer, and a pretentious shmuck, I begged for a promotion for an eon and that bastard is still not satisfied with my work ethic. Well who would have a proper work ethic if they had to deal with a bunch of whining office clerks and humans all the time!? Dragons and Elves are much more affable, and they speak only when there is an important matter to discuss." The assistant overseer then turned its back to Leon and lingered: "Well at least I don''t need to work with those Goblins, they give me the chills whenever I see them. Or those Trolls, the noise, the smell *ugh*" Leon felt that this was his fault so he tried to mediate "I offer my apologies, it was not my intention to upset you Mr. Assistant Overseer" The Assistant Overseer snapped out of his rambling, turned to face Leon again and snorted: "Mr. Swain due to your circumstances, and my disdain for bureaucracy and paperwork, I can offer to personally cleanse your soul and return you to the cycle of life and death. That way you won''t have to endure "Hell". Would that be acceptable?" "I just wanted to see my dear Irene again" Leon stated without a second thought. The Assistant Overseer then checked the transparent screen again: "Ah, yes, Irene Swain, a truly pure soul. She had amassed a plethora of karmic points, receptionists didn''t even need to check the second time, she was sent straight to the higher plane. I am afraid your karmic points are abysmal compared to hers, and you won''t be able to follow her there" "Karmic points!? Isn''t that a Buddhist thing? How do I get those!?" Leon was devastated. "What did you expect? Just because I compared us to angels and mentioned Heaven and Hell, that there are no other elements from different world religions? How do you think those came to be? That pretentious shmuck of a "Supreme" Overseer was just messing around for his own amusement. I mean, a 40 day long flood? He just got drunk and pissed on Earth without even looking, then I had to clean that up with an over that top myth! Do you know how many memories I had to alter? It took me ages and he didn''t even bother to congratulate me on a job well done, no he just created more tedious work. Don''t even get me started on what he did on Xeonus realm, Demons still curse him every day. Fortunately even he has a wife to keep him in check or else the whole universe would be destroyed. Just look at his latest pet project ..." The Assistant Overseer stopped there. It was one of those moments when the light bulb lights up above your head just like in cartoons. "Mr. Swain, I can actually offer you a way to gather more karmic points, and even have your wish granted if not more. You will be able to reunite with your beloved wife but I have to warn you upfront, it will not be easy, actually it is bordering impossible. Leon quickly demanded to know: "I will do whatever it takes, just give me a path, thorny as it may be my scarred feet will know no rest!" "That was unnecessarily poetic but don''t get your hopes up before you hear about it. That being said, my offer is a recent project which that bastard created under the guise of "Fair chance for everyone" so it slipped my mind previously, in fact it was created just a few centuries ago." The Assistant Overseer then smirked and proclaimed: "Its name is Soul war!" 3 The letter Leon was once again puzzled. In his mind the vivid conversation he had with his grandchildren happened just a few moments ago, and now he received an offer to fight for love? As romantic as it sounded it didn''t seem like a proper way to solve his predicament. He was just about to inquire more about the so called "Soul war" when the Assistant Overseer began his explanation: "Soul war was Supreme Overseer''s way of helping souls that have endured cleansing in "Hell" achieve "enlightenment", and move on to a higher plane without going through a gruesome process of life and death again. Before it was renamed and rebranded it was equivalent to the "Purgatory" you probably heard of in many of the Earth''s religions". Leon wasn''t really satisfied with that explanation so he sought further information. "But still? Soul war? It is a war isn''t it, doesn''t all of the God''s preaching demand love and peace!? "That is because peace and love wasn''t even his idea, but my own way of cutting my work hours in half since more order means less work for me. Out of all the laws in the universe, entropy grinds my gears the most! That is why I am really proud of the "peace and love" concept, *haha* it still gives me chuckles... oh and once again it is a SUPREME OVERSEER not a God! "God" is a concept you humans came up with for who knows what reason. Many of those so called Gods were just overseers in charge of fixing a mess he created in some part of the universe. It was so chaotic back then, everything was everywhere and we even worked overtime! That reminds me I still haven''t received my payment for the "Dark Ages"! You know what, I really hope his wife cheats on him!" It was hard for Leon to get used to this eccentric personality the Assistant Overseer displayed but he needed to understand more about the Soul war: "How does it work? The Soul war I mean!?" he asked carefully in order to avoid another off topic rambling. "Hmm, actually the concept of the Soul war is not that complicated. You receive the system that displays your stats and skills, just like in those video games you played with your grandson and fight other souls for their karmic points. Once you "kill" someone their soul is sent to "Hell" in their own realm and has to endure the whole cleansing process once again. The real kicker is the fact that you have to fight souls from many different realms with different kind of abilities and skills. You can even use magic, so it''s actually a lot of fun if you disregard the torture in case of a failure" The Assistant Overseer actually provided a proper information for Leon this time. "And how does one acquire magic and other kind of abilities and skills?" "You buy them of course! Everything is available if you have enough karmic points!" You can buy everything that you may think of through the system that everyone receives at the entrance gate. From weapon mastery to legendary items and additional stats. There is even a chance that your, *Ehm*, victims drop some "extra" rewards upon their termination. "But don''t I need karmic points in order to have my wish granted, and isn''t this "game" Supreme Overseer came up with completely unfair to the newcomers?" Leon further inquired. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "And that is why I said that it is almost impossible for you to succeed in this endeavor. You''ll have to spend karmic points in order to earn more karmic points. The only mitigating circumstance for you will be the fact that every second, thousands of new souls from all over the universe join the war, and thousands leave, in one way or another. Many different mythical creatures you heard of or haven''t yet had the pleasure of hearing of will be present, making this the harshest competition in the universe! In fact many weak souls don''t even get the chance to participate." He took a brief pause to check something that resembled a smart phone, frowned and continued. "Wisdom and deception, loyalty and betrayal, friends and enemies, skills and tactics! You will have to use everything at your disposal in order to get your wish granted, and let me tell you, it is an expensive one. You don''t have to "win the war" because it doesn''t have an end, but accomplishing what you hope for will test your willpower like nothing before. In fact many of the successful previous participants only managed to get enough points in order to buy benefits for their next rebirth, like keeping their memories. That, I believe, speaks volumes about the Soul war." Leon clenched his fist as if to gather courage and solemnly proclaimed: "I will do whatever it takes to meet her, so please send me there, the longer I wait, the more difficulties I will have to overcome" "That is the spirit Mr. Swain, I will now send you to the entrance, and you will receive further instructions there" The Assistant Overseer moved towards Leon in order to send him on his way, when a different figure cloaked with a red mantle appeared between them interrupting the process. "Sir, there has been an urgent message for you from the middle management, apparently Mr. Swain here received a letter from the higher plane" it shouted, as if it was scared for its life. "Middle management!? Seriously?" The Assistant Overseer was briefly surprised and then snorted "Well what are you waiting for, give it to him" Then what Leon thought was one of the receptionists handed him a blank screen, which started filling up with words as soon as he touched it. These words would have given him a heart attack if he was still in his human body. *''My dearest Leon, I missed you and the children. I need you to accept that what happened back then, was not your fault, and that I would do it again in a heartbeat. Please stop drowning yourself in regrets. Knowing you, and the choices you will make despite the danger, I got you a little present to help you on your journey. See you soon, Irene.''* Even though Leon''s eyes were full of tears, he couldn''t help but smile. The screen soon turned blank again and slowly disappeared as if it was never there. ''You always looked positively upon every situation'' He concluded. As if waiting for him to finish, the Assistant Overseer added: "Well now I don''t see any more problems, and you can be on your way. You will also receive a short debrief from the gatekeeper." and then started the teleportation array below Leon''s feet. As soon as the teleportation has ended, he turned towards the red mantled figure and bawled "Middle freaking management!? Who the hell has the power to get those lazyasses to work! Not to mention enough points to send a message from a higher plane!?" He exclaimed, but soon calmed down, and a smile could be seen forming on his face. ''I hope that this mortal messes up your project in some way you bastard. I guess I''ll owe him a drink. And I better start asking for that overdue "Dark Ages" payment'' He thought, leaving his office in an unknown direction. 4 The gatekeeper As soon as Leon emerged from a teleportation array he saw a magnificent scene. Huge white gate at the center of a sturdy and flat transparent surface it was placed on. Two Giants equipped with plated armor were standing guard right next to it, and a green mantled figure that was in charge of the proceedings. In front of them was a group of a few hundred human souls gathered waiting for the green mantled figure to address them. Leon then looked closer and saw two guards, apparently also of human origins, near his teleportation array. One of the guards then urged him to join the said group and be quiet. The other one went to the green mantled figure and whispered something so only it could hear. Few moments later the green mantled figure started its speech. "Alright, now that today''s group is completed I can explain to you a few rules regarding the Soul war. The first thing you need to know, is that Soul war is not only an individual battle for karmic points. It is also a realm war. Every realm is at war with the other ones. This is important because the better Earth realm, or basically, human souls do as a whole compared to a different realm beings, the better and stronger your realm perk gets, and let me tell you, those realm perks can be really beneficial to your cause. The second important thing I want to mention is that every realm has its own fortified settlement. Killing your fellow human souls there, even though not prohibited, won''t grant you any karmic points. This was created in order to discourage an all-out civil war. It is a completely different thing on an open battlefield. There are no rules there." The green mantled figure took a small pause, in order to determine if its words were properly received, and when it was satisfied, continued with its speech. "Once you pass through this gate, you will once again receive a physical body, its shape determined by your soul''s peek physical potential. You will also receive a system with which you can track your stats, skills, talents, karmic points and access the store, as well as other things. That would be all for now, you will understand more once you pass through the gate" Its speech ended there. Everyone looked around themselves. You could still see some confused faces but more or less they grasped the situation. What Leon noticed was that there were many different souls around him, young and old, male and female, but what intrigued him the most was the fact that everyone had the same bluish ethereal glow around them, which made it harder to distinguish ethnicity. The guards soon told them to form a line and orderly walk through the gate. Leon kept to himself while walking but he could still hear other people striking up conversations with each other. "Damn that cleansing was excruciating, and it lasted for 80 years! As soon as I enter the Soul war plane I am wiping my memories of that clean. I don''t want to remember even a second of it." One of the younger looking souls murmured. "I wouldn''t do that if I were you. I heard from someone that was terminated in a Soul war before, that every karmic point matters in there, and should not be wasted. Her soul was then tortured once again during the cleansing process. It was not a pretty sight." A female soul responded. "You won''t be able to wipe your memories that easily even if you wanted to. All the karmic points you had were removed by the cleansing remember. You will start from scratch in there." Some other person joined in the conversation. "I don''t know about you people, but I am getting to that higher plane for sure, I had it with those hellish conditions they so cutely call "cleansing". It is Hell, pure and simple and I am finally out of there" Another disgruntled person shouted. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "True, everything is better than that. But unlike you my feet are kept firmly on the ground. I am aware of the difficulty of moving to a higher plane through this. Gathering karmic points on Earth is far less difficult and since I miss the joys of a mortal life, I wish to buy myself some luxuries in my next rebirth and hope for the best." An older looking male soul retorted. "That is a cowardly way of doing things old man, we are going to war, not a geriatric home for you to reminisce about your past. Get a grip on the situation or you won''t last that long. Actually I don''t think that Earth realm even needs someone like you." An obviously annoyed female soul yelled at him. "That is enough, let''s not start the fighting before you even get there. Everyone has a reason for going through this ordeal. Keep your strength for the battlefield" One of the guards mediated the situation. What amazed Leon wasn''t only the information he picked up, but the fact that regardless of who talked, he could understand everyone perfectly, as if everyone was equipped with some kind of a universal translator. The rest of the walk was spent in silence. Everyone had to go through the gate one by one so it took some time. Buzzing and squirming could be heard here or there, but nothing major happened. Soon it was Leon''s turn as he slowly approached the red mantled gatekeeper. It noticed him and immediately stopped him. "Mr. Swain, can you wait a moment, there seems to be some error with your ..." But before it could explain a notification appeared on its screen. "What seems to be the problem sir or madam?" Leon asked as politely as possible. After the gatekeeper read the message, it frowned but still grudgingly responded. "Apparently nothing at all, you may proceed" Leon was puzzled but he didn''t let it bother him too much. ''Let''s do this" He thought and went through the gate. Watching Leon''s back walk through the gate the gatekeeper whispered to itself ''I hope the Assistant Overseer knows what he is doing'' and proceeded on to the next soul in line. 5 The perks of having a system As soon as Leon walked out of the gate, he once again felt the need to breathe. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Surprised by something so common, he proceeded to check out his body and was instantly overwhelmed. He had a white shirt, brown pants and something that could barely pass for boots on his feet. He looked like a peasant from the Middle Ages. The most astonishing were in fact the muscles his new body had. The wrinkles on his skin were gone as well! It felt like he was in his early twenties once again. ''Man if I had these muscles back then, I would have won that competition for sure! But if that happened, I probably wouldn''t have met Irene that day'' Leon was still reminiscing about the past when his thoughts were interrupted by a nearby shout. "A hundred karmic points!? Seriously? All they are giving us at the beginning are a measly hundred karmic points!? That is barely enough to buy a kitchen knife! And what am I supposed to do with it anyway? Chop onions in order to piss of a dragon while it swallows me! This is insane!" "As if you could afford onions! Look at the price of food items! This must be a bug! Call the system administrator!" "Why the hell am I this fat!? How is this my soul''s peak potential? But seriously, only a pan of bread and a bottle of water in the inventory? Why make us go to war when we can just starve to death!" Leon soon recognized some of the faces around him. They were the people from the group of a few hundred souls that went through the gate before him. The major difference was that the bluish ethereal glow was gone, and their ethnicity, hair and skin color could once again be differentiated. Only then did he notice his surroundings. He was in a huge square with what seemed to be thousands of other people. Most of them were dressed in the same way as him, but in the distance, near the enormous skyscrapers and other types of buildings, Leon spotted a few people with modern outfits. Soon after his gaze fell on to the buildings. The architectural diversity was so vast. From late Gothic and Renaissance styles of Europe, through Ottoman, Chinese and Japanese styles, all the way to modern and postmodern architecture and those were only the ones Leon could recognize! It was as if all of the Earth''s culture from the last few centuries was brought together in one place and displayed for everyone to admire. Leon''s reverence of his surroundings was then abruptly interrupted by a loud ping in his head. Immediately after a transparent screen popped up in front of him and started filling up with words in the same way the message from Irene did. -System upload completed- pending... -Connection with the soul established- pending... -Checking soul parameters- 15% completed 47% completed 72% completed 93% completed -Checking soul parameters successfully completed- pending... -Establishing connection with the universal store- pending... -All necessary protocols successfully completed- Welcome to the Soul War, Mr. Leon Swain After the welcome message was displayed, the screen went blank for a moment, and then a menu popped up. -Profile -Inventory -Store Leon has already seen this type of menus in many of the video games he played with his grandson, so he wasn''t that surprised. He tried "clicking" on the screen but his hand just went through it. Realizing that it might be more advanced than that, he just thought about ''Profile'' in his mind and soon enough the screen changed once again. -Name: Leon Swain -Affiliation: Earth realm (Realm perk: Versatile) -Title: None -Job proficiency: None -Attributes Health: 100/100 Stamina: 100/100 Mana: N/A Strength: 5 Vitality: 5 Agility: 6 Intelligence: 5 Willpower: 7 -Weapon proficiency Guns (Basic proficiency: 16/100) Knife (Advanced proficiency: 687/1000) Sword (Advanced proficiency: 73/1000) -Talents and skills Cooking (Advanced proficiency: 589/1000) Swordsmanship (Basic proficiency: 84/100) -Bonus perks Irene''s gift (Unique) -Karmic points: 84.358 As soon as he read his profile, Leon''s jaw dropped. How did he have so many karmic points? He clearly heard that everyone started with only a hundred points, yet his were over eighty thousand!? Leon immediately started to analyse his situation. ''It must have something to do with the Assistant Overseer? He must have done something. But why would he help me?'' Leon contemplated, and soon it occurred to him ''Did he forget to cleanse my soul? But that''s ridiculous...'' Leon recalled how everyone else had come from "Hell", while he arrived via teleportation array before he joined the group that was waiting in front of the gate. The gatekeeper even stopped him because of some error. Was that it? Immediately after he thought of a ''Store'' and following that ''Ascension to a higher plane''. What was shown on the screen almost made him cough out blood. -Store Ascension to a higher plane Karmic point cost: 10 billion No wonder everyone in that square was screaming and shouting. The prices in the store were exorbitant. As if someone was playing a huge joke on them. ''The Assistant Overseer was right, my karmic points really are abysmal. You will have to wait a little bit more Irene'' Even though he felt distressed, Leon quickly tried to lift up his spirit because there was something else in his profile that required his attention, and soon the details were displayed on the screen. -Irene''s gift (Unique) (Every time you spend 10.000 Karmic points, your willpower permanently increases by 1) -Description A generous gift for her husband in order to help him endure the harsh journey back in to her arms. ''She could always do that'' Leon thought while wiping his watery eyes , ''She could always find a way to give me hope, even in the most desperate of situations''. While Leon was strengthening his resolve to fight for his cause, earth below him started to tremor. A tall podium, only wide enough to fit one person rose from the ground grabbing everyone''s attention. Then a blond woman, dressed in a red military patterned outfit, jumped on to it from the crowd, and let out a shout loud enough to wake up the dead, so basically everyone on the square heard it. "All right maggots, I am about to give a sense of purpose to your measly existences!" 6 What kind of a recruitment is this? Most of the arguing and shouting stopped in an instant. Everyone was surprised to see a woman screaming insults at them from what could only be described as a column reaching high above the ground. Not to mention how striking her military outfit was. It was hard not to stare at her. She then started her rumbling: "Good, now that I''ve your attention I can finally begin changing your destinies. Listen up, I am Vera Vetrov, captain in the army of the great general Zverev the Dragon Slayer, here to educate you about your current predicament." She looked at everyone as if they were supposed to already know who she was and unsatisfied with what she saw, frowned and continued "As you may have already noticed, with those measly karmic points, you won''t be able to achieve much or in fact buy anything useful, but there is still a way for you to advance in this enormous world. We of the Earth realm have been blessed with an amazing realm perk called "Versatile" , which allows us to better ourselves in every way through hard work! That means that through training or working, you can increase your attributes and proficiency without spending karmic points. No being from other realm is capable of that! And if you newbies join our great army you will receive the best training there is, allowing you to fight on greatest of battlefields and amass karmic points and not to mention glory and respe..!" Vera couldn''t finish her sentence when another shout interrupted her: "Vera you little weasel, how do you always get here before me!" A man, dressed in a robe was flying in the air towards them, holding a black staff with a red gem on one of the ends. He then addressed everyone other than her "Instead of joining an army, where you will only live up to be a sacrifice on the front lines, how about joining a Magic Academy! Then you can use your spells to fight from the back and not put yourself in danger!" "Hmpf, you useless wizard!" Vera wasn''t having it: " Why don''t you tell them how much magic spells cost in the store!? Not to mention the mana cost, they will be considered lucky if they could cast a single fireball!" "Instead of joining either of them, join the best Adventurers guild in all the "Soul war" world , "The Wardens", and we will provide you with both training and equipment, you will not have to worry about karmic points if you fight with us."Another person that looked like a forest ranger, joined the conversation. "Hahaha, listen you guys, there is no need to fight and risk your lives and karmic points on some random battlefield. Join our Auxiliary Association where you can get a job as a blacksmith, gunsmith, pharmacist or even a chef, and earn karmic points through both production or selling the equipment. Let me tell you, those Wizards, soldiers, and adventurers can''t go to any battlefield without a proper equipment!" A sturdy man, most likely a blacksmith commented. "Damn it!" Vera finally lost her patience "Why are all of you omitting important information! How many of your Adventurers guild parties never returned from the exploration. And just how abysmal are the karmic points you get from crafting equipment compared to killing enemies! The glory is on the battlefield, where millions fight, where armies upon armies clash, where you get to experience the adrenaline rush!" She excitedly yelled, getting back into her element. "Pfft, how long did it take you to come up with that Vera, it even rhymes!" A man, clad in black, appeared behind her, and lightly smacked her on the head, surprising everyone. "Curse you Maxwell, how many times have I told you not to do that", she tried to punch him back, but even though those punches were incredibly fast, dropping everyone''s jaw on the floor, he dodged her attempts with a grin, as if they were a child''s play, all of that while making silly faces and taunting her. After a few more unsuccessful tries she finally gave up and grunted "Why are you even here? None of these newbies are worthy of joining your precious little elite squad" She murmured, still upset from her shameful display. "Orders from the HQ, apparently your recent recruitment attempts leave much to be desired" He answered, his face turning serious all of a sudden. "What!?, I have the highest numbers out of everyone that came before me, how can this ..."She started screaming defensively but then saw his face twitching, unable to contain the laughter. "Just kidding, you are needed in the war room, there is a big event coming in the next few days, hurry up" He said and motioned with his hand for her to go. She left grudgingly cursing his existence just loudly enough that he could hear, but Maxwell decided to ignore her and turned towards the newcomers. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The pressure suddenly dropped on them, and they were affected by a strong aura. "And you people, listen up. No matter what you chose to do, who you join, if anyone, remember that you are not fighting only for your benefits, but for the Earth realm as well. We are in a constant war with all the other realms. Every second there is a human taking, or losing a life somewhere on this enormous plane. Our Earth realm isn''t weak by any means, but is far from being the strongest, so that you could think of this as a cruise to a higher plane. Unlike on Earth, there is no good or bad karma here, everything you do, every decision, will give you a certain amount of karmic points. It is how you spend them that matters." He announced, and turned around to leave, lifting up his oppressive aura. Then with his back turned towards them he added: "Contrary to what you may have heard, Soul war is not meant for just killing and slaughter, your main objective should be survival" And then his figure disappeared out of thin air. Vera, Maxwell, and the rest of these recruiters left a deep impression on Leon. Just what was this place he found himself in. Despite the huge cultural and ethnic diversity of everyone present, despite the personal greed and ambitions, despite the constant gloom of war, everyone here worked towards the same goal, towards survival. They even had time for jokes and banter. How was this place, so similar, yet so different to the Earth in the mortal plane? From their conversation Leon understood that in order to gather karmic points, and ascend to the higher plane, he first had to survive. And that was not something he could achieve on his own. He had to work with others, something he hasn''t done in years. He had to adapt to this place and learn about life here, as well as adversaries from other realms. He had to overcome his weaknesses and become strong, at least strong enough to defend himself. With that in mind he once again opened up the "profile" in the system. 7 The way forward Leon had a decision to make. He knew next to nothing about this world, and the city he was in. He couldn''t just go out and look for trouble, unprepared for the dangers that will definitely occur. How should he spend his karmic points and how many of them? That was the main problem he had to solve, and he had to do it fast. He then checked his stats one more time: -Name: Leon Swain -Affiliation: Earth realm (Realm perk: Versatile) -Title: None -Job proficiency: None -Attributes Health: 100/100 Stamina: 100/100 Mana: N/A Strength: 5 Vitality: 5 Agility: 6 Intelligence: 5 Willpower: 7 -Weapon proficiency Guns (Basic proficiency: 16/100) Knife (Advanced proficiency: 687/1000) Sword (Advanced proficiency: 73/1000) -Talents and skills Cooking (Advanced proficiency: 589/1000) Swordsmanship (Basic proficiency: 84/100) -Bonus perks Irene''s gift (Unique) -Karmic points: 84.358 The first thing Leon checked were his attributes. Every one of them had its own description -Strength Description Important for causing and enduring physical damage. Affects all physical actions. Cost: 10.000 karmic points per 1 attribute point. -Vitality Description Important for Health and stamina regeneration. Gives a slight boost to poison and disease resistances Cost: 10.000 karmic points per 1 attribute point. -Agility Description Important for attack and movement speed. Affects reflexes and reaction time. Cost: 10.000 karmic points per 1 attribute point. -Intelligence Description Important for learning, understanding and using skills and magic. Affects Mana capacity and regeneration. Cost: 10.000 karmic points per 1 attribute point. -Willpower Description Important for mental and soul attacks and resistances. Affects the ability to control Mana, spells and skills in an efficient way Cost: 10.000 karmic points per 1 attribute point. ''The cost for improving my attributes is insane. I wonder if there is a way to increase them through training of some sort, because I have no idea how much does 1 attribute point improve my ability to fight'' Leon contemplated, feeling bummed out. He then changed his focus on to the proficiencies. ''The proficiency in Guns is probably due to that mandatory military training'' He thought. ''Which means that Knife and Cooking proficiencies come from my job as a chef back on Earth. And damn, other than for cleaning and restoration I haven''t touched a sword in almost 40 years. No wonder my skills are rusty'' In his youth, Leon''s hobby was Kendo, or Japanese swordsmanship. As an army brat, his father being an officer of the BCOF, Leon spent his childhood days all over Japan. There, he was secretly introduced to Kendo, and other martial arts which were forbidden during the occupation. Years after the occupation of Japan was lifted, and Kendo became an international sport, Leon traveled there many times, mostly as a participant in local Kendo competitions. It was during one of his last competitions that he had met Irene. She was obsessed with Eastern culture and tradition and spent most of her vacations traveling all over East Asia. After that faithful encounter because of an earthquake, they soon started dating, and later married in 1977. For their one year anniversary, other than the news that she was pregnant, she gifted Leon a real Japanese katana that he cared for until his death. ''I will have to retrain myself before using a sword in battle'' He thought. It was then that another stat caught his eye, because it was grayed out. -Mana: N/A Intrigued, Leon searched the store for ''Mana'' and the system soon displayed this: -Mana- Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. -Description Magical energy needed for casting spells, activating arrays, runes and devices. Can be imbued into objects. Mana capacity and ability to control it are determined by the intelligence and willpower attributes -Costs -Ability to wield Mana: Cost: 10.000 karmic points -Mana control proficiency Cost: 100 karmic points per 1 proficiency point. ''Mana seems to be quite important in this world, but I should wait before unlocking it, at least until I gather more information'' Leon concluded, once again astonished by the cost. He then checked weapons and talents, but the cost of proficiency was the same all over. Then he decided to research items and skills in the store. The system showed him an endless list of all types of weapons, ranging from low quality common ones to the legendary and unique ones. He even saw the freaking Excalibur, a unique weapon on the list, though it was grayed out, meaning that someone currently owned it. After a few minutes of checking the store, he understood that there were 5 types of items: common, rare, magical, legendary and unique, the cost for them rose exponentially for each tier. When it came to skills he definitely found some useful ones, like stealth, that he set his eyes on for a later date. Many of the skills were related to a certain weapon and required mana or stamina to be used. Magic spells were the same, each spell had its own proficiency and mana cost. The choices Leon had were immense. The problem he faced was that the store didn''t provide information about the world. How could he know what was actually effective on the battlefield, or useful in one on one combat with mythical creatures such as the Dragons? Just what kind of skill set one needed in order to fight the Demons? What other creatures existed in this world that he never even heard of? Leon recognized his weaknesses. His slightly higher number of starting karmic points meant absolutely nothing compared to the bigger picture. He needed to be cautious, and not jump into danger right away or any chance of meeting Irene again would disappear forever. That is why he decided to start from the bottom, or from the safest place he could. He closed his system, and walked towards a small group of people that were listening to one sturdy man''s speech. He was just in time to hear a small part of it. "...and that is why our Earth realm''s fortified city of Artelien is relatively safe. It takes an incredible army to breach defenses of ones fortified city, so no realm dares to try and send so many forces because the risk of being attacked by someone else at the same time is too great to ignore. It happened many times in the past, and many armies went on conquering spree, only to find their own city in ruins after returning. That is why now every realm focuses on the defenses of their fortified city the most. " The sturdy man explained. "Then what are we fighting for?" Someone from the group in front of him questioned. "Well the biggest incentive are the resources. As you may have noticed, even though you can buy everything in the store, the prices are not affordable for the 99% of beings in the whole of Soul war plane. Unfortunately agriculture is impossible in the fortified city, so every realm has to create colonies or villages outside of it in order to gather food, and materials such as ores to create equipment, items and artifacts. This is where our Auxiliary Association comes into light. We are an important part of the system that makes it possible for our soldiers, adventurers and mages to fight on the front lines and either guard our villages or plunder theirs or simply discover new and unexploited resources. The downside, as you may have heard from that loudmouth woman just recently, is that you won''t be able to gather a lot of karmic points, if any, for a very long time, which may affect your personal agenda". The sturdy man then ended his answer with a question "Is there anyone among you that wants to join the Auxiliary Association? Depending on the job you chose, you will receive adequate training from our experts that is not easily affordable in the store, of course for a little bit of fee on your part" He blurted out. It was then that Leon walked out in front of the group with his question: "Can you tell me more about the profession of a chef?" 8 A beef stew with a pinch of nostalgia "Can you tell me more about the profession of a chef?" This question surprised the Auxiliary Association''s recruiter. Usually, when people approached him, they were interested in becoming a blacksmith or a gunsmith. He quickly picked up his pace and began his explanation "Well, not even a hundred years ago, when some of the early adventurers killed a bunch of elves, they found out that the food those elves had on themselves temporarily boosted their health and stamina recovery. Apparently, the ingredients the elves used were rich in Mana. Since then we tried incorporating magical ingredients in our own cuisine with varied success and that is how the profession of a chef was born. In the Soul war plane, if you do something long enough with a proper goal in mind, the system can recognize it as job, and give you benefits based on your proficiency. We never figured out why that happens, but the main theory is that the system is extremely greedy for karmic points and will look for any means to rip us off" He chuckled, examined Leon once again and then added: "Don''t think of this as an easy job, because you will have to help feed the armies! Thousands upon thousands of soldiers and adventurers require food every day. And from the complains I hear, you won''t be getting that many karmic points for your efforts" He then took out a map from his system inventory and showed it to Leon pointing to a certain location "If you are still interested, go along this street, it is a modern looking building not far from here, with a big Auxiliary Association sign above the entrance, you won''t be able to miss it. There you will find someone that will give you further instructions" Leon thanked him for the information and went on his way. ''Magical ingredients, well this takes cooking to a whole new level. I will have to learn about a bunch of new stuff about this world. I just didn''t expect that one of them would even be cooking and new ingredients.'' Leon contemplated. He was a great chef before his retirement. After Irene''s death, he spent a lot of time buried in his work, in order to cope with the loss. Only when his grandson John was born in 2008. did he decide to retire in order to spend time with him. On his way to the Auxiliary Association, Leon noticed many stalls on the street. People were either selling their items or trying to strike a bargain. "Modern weaponry, get yourself guns with Mana imbued bullets. Really useful against those pesky Goblins!" ... "Magic artifacts that defend you from mental attacks. You can''t fight Demons without them!"... Those were just some of the shouts that could be heard from the stall owners. Behind them, be it random houses, or stores, all kind of different structures could be seen. If the architectural design existed somewhere on Earth, it could be found here. ''Just how vast is this city'' Leon wondered, when the building he was searching for appeared in his sight. Many people were either entering or leaving through the main entrance, and while it took some time, Leon walked through it unobstructed, appearing in a grand hallway. In front of him was a sizable stairwell that led to the higher floors, and on the sides were counters with signs that explained their purpose. It was as if he walked in to a bank. He soon found the counter that he needed and approached the person that was working behind it. "I am here to apply for a chef''s position" He blurted confidently. The guy behind the counter lifted his head and after assessing Leon for a few seconds informed him: "You must be a newcomer. You can''t apply to be a chef without receiving a proper training. Head out to the fifth floor, and find Mackenzie there, she''ll show you the ropes." Feeling a little annoyed, Leon proceed to climb the stairs towards his destination. He noticed that no matter how many people were walking on the stairs, there were no irritating sounds of pounding, as if they were magically silenced. It was a whole different thing when he finally arrived on the fifth floor, where loud shouts could be heard. "How many times have I told you idiots not to mix magical ingredients randomly!? You can blow this building up if you are not careful or worse, poison someone! Oh, for crying out loud, get your heads out of your asses and pay attention. Why, oh why did I sign up for this?" A woman dressed in a white chef''s outfit yelled out towards five other people that were in front of her. Right next to them, black smoke was coming out of the room that was most likely a kitchen. into the hallway. It was then that Leon approached from behind and inquired Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Hello, I am looking for a woman named Mackenzie regarding the chef''s position" even though he suspected that she was right in front of him. The woman turned around and immediately noticed Leon''s appearance. Frowning her eyebrows she blurted: "Oh, another one of you newbies, go and join these idiots in cleaning the kitchen while I get back. It will take me a few hours so try not to destroy the kitchen while I''m gone." and then left the fifth floor hallway. Feeling the tension among the other five people Leon introduced himself "Hello, I am Leon Swain, are you training for the chef''s position as well?" He questioned. "Hah, training my ass, that woman is a complete nightmare, all she does is yell and criticize, And lets not even mention the constant insulting. You know what I just had enough of it" One guy said turning around to leave. "Me too, I''ll go look for a better job, maybe I can still be accepted as a hunter" Another one of them added. "Nice to meet you Leon, I am Jane, but if you are staying here, I doubt that we will be seeing each other soon" A woman named Jane concluded. "Yeah mate, see ya." Soon Leon was left alone in the hallway of the fifth floor while everyone else left in a different direction. ''She couldn''t be that bad, could she?'' he thought and entered the kitchen from which the black smoke was still rising. There, he saw five kitchen counters, one in front clearly used for demonstration, facing the other four. On one of the other four counters, a pan was placed on what Leon could barely distinguish to be a range because everything around it was charred out. Having spent half of his life in the kitchen, he soon found cleaning supplies he needed and started scrubbing. What he discovered really amazed him. Apparently this was not an electric range he was familiar with, but one most likely powered by Mana, because after cleaning it for 15 minutes, he discovered magic runes drawn on top where the switches usually were. Just like a mischievous child would, Leon started pressing on the runes in order to figure out how they worked. It really wasn''t that difficult since the runes followed a clear pattern: the more lines the rune that he pressed had - the higher the temperature of the stove got. Intrigued, Leon checked around the kitchen and found out that none of the familiar looking equipment used electricity. It was at that point that the smoke cleared out and Leon saw a handwritten note with the ingredient''s names on it. He recognized every one of them, It was basically a recipe of a beef stew, almost the same one he made every other Sunday when his grandchildren came to visit. Having nothing better to do while waiting for Mackenzie to return, and feeling a little bit nostalgic as well, Leon started gathering the ingredients from the recipe around the kitchen. 9 Magical ingredients When the preparation was done, and Leon''s beef stew was simmering on medium heat, he didn''t have much to do other than wait, so he took some time to snoop around the kitchen. He found utensils from different cuisines, as well as famous recipe books from renown authors back on Earth but nothing too advanced. There were a lot of cooking instruction manuals present as well so Leon believed this to be just like a cooking school for beginners. It was then that he found what he has been searching for all along. A book with a list of magical ingredients and spices. He instantly immersed himself into it. ''So, unlike usual vegetables, quality of magical ingredients is determined by their age, and the older one is, the better? Also the right order of adding magical ingredients to a meal is determined by how much Mana the ingredient possesses, because adding one with more Mana after, might cause detrimental effects such as explosions. I guess that without the costly ability to wield and feel Mana, it is impossible to determine which goes first, and how much of it. The balance of all the ingredients is really important, so recipes need to be followed to the exact detail, or else it won''t work. I wonder how much harder the alchemists have it then?'' Leon revised his reading up to this point, when he noticed a marked out paragraph: *Magical ingredients have two types of opposite nature parameters - fire and water, as well as two opposite alignments - good and evil. Only ingredients with good alignment can be used for cooking, unless you are making a poison. Nature parameters need to be balanced out just like Mana does or one ingredient will prevail over the other, likely ruining the dish at best, or causing an explosion at worst. The nature parameters are determined according to where they are grown but the alignment is predetermined and can not be changed. While you can have the same ingredient with both fire and water natures, you can not have the same ingredient with both good and evil alignment* Leon was amazed by the complexity of cooking in the Soul war plane. It was unlike anything he experienced on Earth, where the hardest thing was properly dissecting the Fugu fish. He then raised his head and stared at his pot of beef stew that was about done, and shivered for a moment. ''Good thing I double checked everything I used'' He relaxed and proceeded to remove the pot from the stove. After lifting the cover, in order to add final spices, the aromatic smell of an old fashioned beef stew quickly filled the room, and even slipped out into the hallway. While Leon was occupied with his finishing touches, Mackenzie returned to the fifth floor. ''I hope these idiots cleaned the kitchen properly this time'' She thought, still pissed off by the mess that was created earlier today. ''Wait, something actually smells nice for a change...FU*K!'' she ran into the kitchen Leon was in yelling: "How many times have I told you idiots not to cook without supervision! You can blow this whole ..." - catching Leon in pouring the beef stew into a bowl - "... building up". She gasped for a second not really sure of what was happening and after picking her self up continued: "Just what the hell do you think you are doing? If this is some sort of a prank I swear I''ll break all of your necks! Just where the hell are those idiots?" She questioned threateningly. Unfortunately, Leon was just blankly staring at her. Well, not really her but something else entirely: - *ping* System notification You have created an *advanced* meal: *Beef stew* Meal quality: B+ -You have been granted 2 points of proficiency New value: Cooking (Advanced proficiency: 591/1000) Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. -You have been granted 2 karmic points New value: Karmic points: 84.360 - *ping* ''So this is how the system grants karmic points'' Leon thought, but was soon abruptly interrupted by Mackenzie grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him silly. "Speak to me damn it, what the hell is going on!?" She yelled! "I apologize, the people that were here before me, probably quit this training program not long after you left. And as soon as I was done with cleaning the kitchen, I had nothing better to do so I cooked this Beef stew according to the recipe I found on your counter. I was just checking the system notification about proficiency when you came in, and that is pretty much everything" Leon naively told the truth, and immediately regretted it. "As if you really expect me to believe that! That is a recipe of an advanced dish! In order to receive proficiency points you need a ''Meal quality'' of at least B and even seasoned chefs get that score once in 6 or 7 tries. And you want me to think that a newbie straight out of cleansing created this? As if! Now tell me, who cooked the dish? Was it Jane? All right, fun''s over, come out you idiots!" She looked around the kitchen, obviously searching for the 5 people. Leon felt a little sorry for her so he tried to bring her the news carefully. "I am sorry miss Mackenzie, but they really have left to look for other jobs. And I scored a Meal quality of B+ most likely because I already have advanced proficiency in cooking. Here, have a taste and you will understand" He whispered, poured a bowl, and handed it to her. She glared at the bowl suspiciously, and then at Leon, but could not find any signs of deception, so against her usual character, took half spoon of it and gave it a taste frowning her eyebrows a little as if fully concentrating. Not long after she blurted out: "This really is a B+ quality meal, and according to the system it even grants me bonus stamina regeneration for the next 3 hours! But how did you make this? How can you have Advanced proficiency when you are obviously just out of the cleansing? If you are playing a joke on me dressed like newcomer, then know that it is not funny at all!" Leon wasn''t sure how he should respond, but seeing her distressed like that, and as show of good will because she tried his dish against her better judgment, he decided not to hide anything. "It is true that I have come into the Soul war plane just a few hours ago, but for some reason still not completely known to me I met directly with the Assistant Overseer, and haven''t undergone the cleansing. I don''t know how much time actually passed, but in my perception I was still talking to my grandchildren back on Earth only half a day ago. Now I am here, listening about military and magic, and reading about magical ingredients. Everything is still so overwhelming for me, and it is hard to grasp the situation I am in right now. I need to understand this world first, and because I was a chef before, coming here for training and learning seemed as an obvious choice. Would you mind helping me?" Leon divulged, still afraid that he revealed too much, but seeing how she approached cooking with care and special attention to safety of others, just like he used to back on Earth, he took a leap of faith. "If what you are saying is true, and you really haven''t gone through cleansing, then you are the first human ever that has come here despite the dangers! Just what made you do that!? What made you risk so much instead of going through the cycle of life and death?" Mackenzie asked, still shocked by the information she just heard. "Well..", Leon chuckled "My wife is waiting for me in the higher plane" 10 The resolve As soon as she heard that, Mackenzie went silent as painful memories, buried long ago, hit her hard once again. The same ones about the time when she just entered the Soul war plane, the desperation after learning about karmic points, then joining adventurers guild, the struggle, making friends, and then losing them, either to adversaries or betrayal, all that in order to move on to a higher plane because of love, yet not succeeding time and time again, and finally accepting the inability and her own weaknesses. She remembered her decision to stay here instead of rejoining the cycle of life and death, and use her skills for the betterment of Earth realm despite of everything she experienced, or because of it, she wasn''t sure. She gave up on adventuring and killing and switched to a different position, something she believed to be almost as important for Earth realm, notwithstanding that this decision delayed her personal wish indefinitely. She worked hard, and at some point finally broke through a normal human limit, and achieved Expert proficiency in cooking. Then the new problems appeared. Since her meals could now help recover Mana, the special effect that appeared after breaking though from Advanced proficiency, the demand for her high quality meals grew and she couldn''t keep up with it. Not many people invested their time, effort and karmic points on cooking, so even though there were a lot of chefs with Advanced proficiency, there were barely a few hundred chefs with the Expert proficiency. Master level proficiency chefs could be counted on one hand and anything higher was never achieved by a human. That is why Mackenzie decided to start training other chefs and help them reach the Expert proficiency in cooking as well as high job proficiency for a chef. This proved to be extremely hard for her because it clashed with her personality and obsessive attention to details that trainees couldn''t easily keep up with and would usually quit after a while. And then came Leon. A person with the same wish as hers, but a different starting point. All this time it was her that wanted to help others, to help the Earth realm, and now, for the first time, someone wanted her help. She could refuse, knowing exactly what hardships awaited him, but it felt wrong to her, she couldn''t destroy the same dream again, it was like failing twice. "Why? Just why did you tell me all of this? Why did you decide to trust me so soon? Why did you chose me to help you!?" She finally asked Leon, her voice slightly trembling. "Because of this." Leon said and lifted the book on magical ingredients he was reading. "I believe you wrote this, and your attention to details and safety was the reason I decided to put my trust in you. Only someone that knew a lot about this world and loved cooking could write it, and I needed a person like this." He answered with confidence. "It is true, I did write that, but just how did you know!?" She questioned, a trace of bewilderment flashed on her face. "Every other recipe book here had a name of its author, unlike this one so I took a guess. A shot in the dark, but a good one" He chuckled. "I see..." She composed herself, stood up, and continued: "Listen well, In order for you to succeed in your endeavor, and fulfill your wish, you can not become a chef. Cooking proficiency and job proficiency are two different things, that complement one another. If you picked a chef as your job, you would get a higher chance to produce better quality meals. It is a good choice for a novice, but not for you, who already have Advanced proficiency in cooking and can occasionally produce high quality meals without it. Basically you don''t need the job proficiency, which resets if you quit a job in order to find a new one. Don''t look at me like that, yes, the system is stingy with its points." She explained at last. "Then if I don''t become a chef, what should I do?" Leon hopefully inquired. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Unfortunately the only way for someone to get enough karmic points for ascension is through killing. And you will have to kill armies, thousands upon thousands of different types of beings. But in order for you to even get a chance to do that, you need to become something we call an Elite. If you ever heard a phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none" then what Elites are can simply be described with "Masters of all trades". What that means is that you will have to cover every aspect of combat imaginable. Hand to hand combat, ranged combat, assassination & stealth, magic, and recovery but most importantly knowing your adversaries. Not a single one of these aspects can be ignored." She paused there, contemplating how to deliver the harshest news of all, and soon decided to be as direct as possible. "There is one more thing, and that is your resolve. You can never falter on your path, you can never show mercy as you will not be given one, you can never be compassionate and you must be extremely ruthless on the battlefield. For someone that is fighting for their loved one, that is the hardest thing to grasp. Remember this, that even if you succeed, the man you are now, will not be the same man that will ascend, and finally, you will not be the same man your wife knew and loved. That was the hurdle that I couldn''t jump over, just how ready are you to take that leap? How ready are you to fight for your heart''s desire, regardless of the outcome?" With that she informed him of everything she faced, and of every struggle that he will have to face. That was when Leon''s previous confidence showed signs of wavering. When Assistant Overseer explained Soul war to him, he believed that he could do it without any problems, that his heart was strengthened enough, but now he wasn''t so sure. Could he really do it? Could he bleed on the thorny path as he swore he would just a few hours ago? He only knew one thing. "I would rather try and fail many times, than give up. I have to get to her, I have to because she begged me not to drown in my own regrets, the same regrets I sill carry with me for almost thirty years, and working towards this goal, no matter how small the steps, is the only way forward for me. If I have to lose my humanity, and become an emotionless slaughterer, then so be it. It is just another thing that I will have to apologize to her for when I finally get to see her again, and hope that she will forgive me." He vowed, making all the wavering of his consciousness immediately stop. "That is far from good enough, but I can work with it." She uttered, and added an official tone to her voice "Mr. Leon Swain, I , Mackenzie Mortimer have decided to help you. Your real training starts tomorrow" Mackenzie declared, and opened her system, as if searching for something. 11 The world and the "light" Leon felt exhausted when he woke up the next day. The fact that time passed differently in the Soul war plane, and humans didn''t need as much sleep here, didn''t really help him. After she agreed to help him, Leon spent the rest of the day absorbing new information from Mackenzie about the Soul war plane and its inhabitants. This place was enormous, but it still resembled a planet that revolves around the star. It was estimated that the size was at least 20 times bigger than Earth. Depending on the situation on many battlefields, there were around 5 to 10 billion people here and that is just from the Earth realm. The most astonishing fact was that despite all the destruction that occurred, and all the collateral damage, this place had the ability to regenerate itself or even change only in a few weeks. Other than fortified cities, maps of every other place had to be constantly updated because something that was a mountain today could easily be a flat surface tomorrow. The existence of wildlife gave Leon a slight surprise. Apparently different realms had different wildlife around their fortified city, mostly coming from their own mortal world. Around Earth realm''s fortified city of Artelien, there were many animals that came from Earth, and most of them humans used for food. There was a restriction on killing them though, only those humans that had "hunter" as their job could get karmic points, but the numbers were extremely low that very few bothered to acquire it. It was an important job in the early stages of the Soul war, when humans that were present at that time came from the Middle ages, now with the introduction of animal farms and modern technology it became obsolete. Animals were affected by Mana as well, most of them just became sturdier and healthier, but some of them developed sharper instincts and bloodthirsty nature, making them a nuisance for unsuspecting passengers. Leon was also intrigued by the city of Artelien. This city was as huge as a country back on Earth, and could house over 1 billion people comfortably behind the barrier that fortified it. The transparent barrier that surrounded Artelien could withstand an incredible amount of damage and had the ability to regenerate itself. To put it into perspective Mackenzie compared the city to a snow globe. The infrastructure was a completely different story. The city consisted of 3 districts. First was the Main district, the same one Leon was currently at. It was the place where all the shops and important buildings such as the headquarters of different associations, adventurer guilds, armies, and magic academies were located. The gate that transported him to Soul war plane was also in this district. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Next was the Combat district, a place where the "War room" stood. The "War room" as it was called, was in fact an enormous skyscraper, and it was the place where all of the army generals and officers, guild and association leaders, basically all the big shots discussed war tactics for different battlefields and defense of the outside villages and fortifications. It was also the place where training facilities of all the organizations were located. The last district, even though the largest of them, was in fact the least important one, the Housing district. The reason for that laid in the fact that it was almost barren of human life. Barely anyone came here after the big emigration outside the city. The houses and buildings are mostly dated and the only people who use them are the newcomers and those without a foothold in the Main district. The only way that they would have a proper use once again would be in case of a siege by an enemy army that destroyed every other line of the defense around the Artelien, the feat that hadn''t happen for almost a hundred years. All of the districts were connected by the teleportation arrays, which made traveling around the city a lot easier, as it was the only thing that could be used without paying any karmic points. These arrays proved incredibly useful when defending the city, otherwise transporting the army from one end to the other would take a lot of time. While Leon was still lying in his bed recapping yesterday''s general information, he realized that Mackenzie didn''t mention anything about his potential adversaries and enemies on the battlefield. She only took out a small transparent screen with the size of a common smart phone from her inventory, and handed it to Leon, explaining its use as a communication device. She then gave him a key card to one of the rooms in the Auxiliary Association''s building, that her previous trainees used and told him to meet her in that same kitchen they were in, the next morning. He got up, and went to the bathroom in order to get ready for the meeting. It was then that he first saw his youthful appearance in the mirror and proceeded to wash his face in bewilderment, as if to check whether it was real or not. His gaze then fell onto the rest of his body. It was hard for him to get used to this change, because only yesterday he was an old man in his late seventies. ''I need to get some new clothes'' Was the next thought that came to his mind. Leon then took out the communication screen and sent a message to Mackenzie indicating that he was on his way. Mackenzie never told him what type of training was coming his way, so basically he didn''t know what to expect. He didn''t get the chance to reveal any of his stats to her other than his cooking proficiency, and wasn''t really sure whether he should just yet. Over the course of his life, he learned that trusting people brought a lot of risks, but something about Mackenzie seemed different to him, as if she genuinely wanted to help, and not just him, but everyone that came to her for any sort of advice. When he finally entered the kitchen on the fifth floor of the Auxiliary Association building, Mackenzie was already there, sorting though a bunch of ingredients on the main kitchen counter. The only difference from yesterday, was that there was another woman next to her, dressed in what you''d usually call magician robes, suspiciously staring at him. She then turned her gaze towards Mackenzie and inquired "Mack, you said that he was a chef looking to advance his cooking proficiency to Expert, so why does he look like a newbie that walked into the kitchen for the first time. When you said that you were cashing in the favor I owed you, I was not expecting this." "I''m sorry Les, but he is paranoid for some reason and walks around dressed like that in order to avoid whoever he thinks is after him, but don''t let his appearance fool you, he is a genuine Advanced chef, who could make a B+ quality meal without using Mana, and you know that even Rein struggled with that." Mackenzie mediated. "Are you kidding me? You are comparing this guy to Reinhardt!? Then I can''t wait to see what he is made of" The woman nicknamed Les exclaimed in surprise "Ah, Leon, this delicate little flower here is Lesedi, we used to adventure together, and I trust her with my life. In fact she saved it on many occasions" Mack started introducing her to Leon when, "76 occasions to be precise!" Lesedi interrupted her with a proud look plastered all over her face, She was a little bit annoyed by the "delicate little flower" comparison but didn''t address it. "Ok, fine, she saved my life on 76 previous occasions. But that is not the point here, what is important, is that I trust her." Mackenzie playfully corrected herself and added: "I called her here in order to help you learn how to wield Mana" 12 The artifac Leon was surprised to hear that. He was not expecting that Mackenzie would share his problem to her friends, or cash in a favor for that matter, but most of all he was surprised by Lesedi''s purpose for coming. That is why he quickly tried to gather more information. "She can help me learn to wield Mana? How is that possible, I thought that it was an ability that you had to buy from the system!" He questioned. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "And for many years it was, until we discovered that our Realm perk affected it in a same way as everything else, what I mean is that you can train yourself to wield Mana just like everything else. Other realms are not as lucky in this department, but their perks are not a laughing matter either." Lesedi explained, and gave a frowning gaze towards Mackenzie shortly after. "So how does that help me right now, I thought I was about to improve my Cooking proficiency or something?" Leon questioned. He didn''t know about Mackenzie''s adventuring background, since all they talked about yesterday was general information about the Soul war plane. "In order for you to achieve Expert proficiency in cooking, you must have the ability to wield Mana because you have to handle magical ingredients.The main difference between Expert quality dishes and Advanced quality dishes is that Expert quality dishes can restore Mana, and not just saturate you, or restore Stamina. " Mackenzie explained, and by the look on Lesedi''s face understood that the gig was up. So she turned towards her: "I am sorry Les, I wasn''t sure that you would agree to help him If I told you that he was a newcomer." "He is paranoid? I mean seriously Mack, even a five year old me wouldn''t believe that and I was really naive back then! You are right, I wouldn''t waste my precious time on him. But you cashed in that favor and even compared him to Reinhardt and that got me intrigued."Lesedi blurted, and continued to verbalize her thoughts: "I don''t appreciate the dishonesty, but because it is you who asked, I will give him a bit of my valuable time." Leon wasn''t quite sure what was going on, but he felt that it was best not to meddle in their argument or things might turn really ugly really fast. It was then that Lesedi turned towards him "I don''t know how you convinced Mack to help you, but that is not important right now. What is important for you to know is that if you deceived her in anyway, I promise that I will terminate you." Leon was about to defend his honesty when he noticed Mackenzie signaling him to stay silent. Living alone and barely socializing for almost thirty years made him forget about the little subtleties such as ''Don''t argue with an angry woman with a cause'' and closed his mouth before any damage could be done. Lesedi then took out an oval shaped polished jade stone, with a tiny silver chain attached to it from her inventory and gave it to Leon "Here take this artifact. put it around your neck and sit over there in a meditating position. Mana is universal in this world, and what that means is that every being here experiences it in the same way. How you shape it and control it , as well as how much of it you can handle is what is different for every individual. Now, try to feel it" She ordered. When Leon received the jade necklace he immediately heard a ping -System notification You have acquired an artifact Item quality: Magical Stats: Mana regeneration per second: +10 Description An artifact that improves Mana regeneration per second Status Unavailable While admiring the jade necklace he just received, Leon heard Lesedi''s explanation: "I got that from some Elvish tinkerer''s dead body. Although its primary use is Mana regeneration, the way that they are made helps gather Mana in the vicinity. It won''t regenerate your Mana since you don''t have any, but it will gather enough of it around you which will help you feel it." Leon then walked towards the designated spot Lesedi pointed out and saw what seemed to be magical runes drawn on the floor that weren''t there yesterday. He realized that Lesedi must have drawn them and that they probably had something to do with Mana gathering, so he didn''t question anything and sat there in a meditating position. Back on Earth, after Irene''s death, Leon used to meditate a lot in order to calm his nerves and cope with the loss. It was Irene that taught him how do it so he basically repeated what he already knew. ''Breath in'' ''Breathe out'' ''Breath in'' ''Breathe out'' ''Relax your body'' ''Become one with nature'' ... ''Damn it what freaking nature, I am in a kitchen siting on a concrete ... ok, stop, focus'' ''Breath in'' ''Breathe out'' ''Breath in'' ''Breathe out'' ... ''Be in the moment''... Leon stayed in that position for thirty minutes. Just like back on Earth he quickly zoned out everything around him and tried to stop distracting thoughts from emerging. While he was doing that, Lesedi and Mackenzie had exchanged a few whispers. "Mack, we know each other really well, and I trust your judgment, but this guy? How can you be sure he is not deceiving you? I mean, you met him just yesterday, and today you are helping him achieve impossible? How can you believe that he hasn''t gone through cleansing?" Lesedi inquired "Les, I am not sure, but I feel that he is just like me before, someone without personal greed and yet someone that would do everything they could to achieve their goal. I don''t know how but when he mentioned his wife, it is as if I saw it in his eyes, and he reminded me of my own failure." Mackenzie tried to explain, but Lesedi just wasn''t having it "You are just a suck up for romantic stories Mack, I don''t think he even has a wife" Lesedi blurted out "I seriously doubt that, If he was a greedy idiot he would have already gone to the front lines, shouting obscenities from inside a Dragon''s stomach. I don''t think that is the case here, I mean, he started from the place where people usually come when they had enough of fighting" Mackenzie replied, adding a personal tone to that last sentence. "Or he is just scared of fighting" Lesedi whispered. "Not many people, no, what I want to say is, not many beings are capable of killing for what they believe in, and this place is testing just how far are you willing to go. Soul war is a cruel place, but you already know that. And I think he figured out that part as well." She added. "But Mack, you just keep defending him. Ever since that betrayal a few years ago, you haven''t trusted anyone, and now, at the very least you have to acknowledge that there are still some facts about himself that he hasn''t shared with you." Lesedi expressed her doubts. "I know that, it is just, I don''t want him to fail at the same hurdle that got me and I will do what I think is right, despite the risk of deception. I will trust my gut when it comes to Leon" Mackenzie confidently announced. "I just don''t want to see you get hurt again Mack, so I will keep my eyes open for anything suspicious." Lesedi proclaimed, and then noticed Mackenzie turning her head towards Leon with a dumbfounded look on her face. "Yeah, when you are at it" Mackenzie uttered, her mouth barely moving "Tell me how suspicious is that?"and pointed at Leon with her eyebrows. When Lesedi turned towards Leon, she saw his whole body surrounded by a bluish glow. 13 Complications arise When she saw him, Lesedi almost coughed out blood. The sight before her was unprecedented. No one in the history of Soul war plane could gather Mana in the first thirty minutes of trying to just feel it! It took at least a few days to get a glimpse, and then a week or so to feel it, and that is with the outside help such as magical artifacts, arrays or runes. But Leon wasn''t just feeling Mana, the bluish glow around his body was a clear sign of gathering it! Usually it would take months before someone in contact with Mana, understood enough in order to gather it. According to Lesedi, there were two possibilities: Leon was either an era defining genius or a liar that used Mana before. And Lesedi was convinced that he was not a genius. "You are as good as terminated..."She was about to beat the living daylights out of him for deceiving them, when Mackenzie stopped her fist just a few millimeters from his face. She then put a finger on Lesedi''s mouth, shushing her. After that she slowly indicated to her to pay attention to Mana. It was then that Lesedi noticed something strange. Leon was not in fact gathering Mana, nor storing it in his body in anyway like someone with experience would do. It was in fact the opposite, Mana was just lingering around him on its own in a large quantity. That was not an effect of the artifact that she gave him, nor a magic rune circle that was drawn around Leon on the floor. It took Lesedi and Mackenzie a few seconds to finally realize what was happening. "Mack, he..." Lesedi stammered for a second. Mackenzie used that chance too pull her away from Leon out in the hallway. "He is completely denying Mana, it just surrounds him like that due to the artifact you gave him, without entering his body. Basically he is doing the exact opposite of what he is supposed to." Mackenzie completed her sentence. "But how...? I mean, why...? He, he achieved such an incredible feat that... basically serves no purpose" Lesedi was still flabbergasted. She used Mana every day and wanted, better yet, needed more of it gathered and ready for any sort of occasion. To her knowledge nobody could completely isolate themselves from Mana nor would they want to. But her comment provoked an unexpected reaction out of Mackenzie. "That is not necessarily true Les, remember how we always got ambushed by the Demons in the Southern Forest? They tracked us down no matter what we did, until we figured out that they used our own Mana against us? Well what if you could combine what Leon is doing right now, with the stealth ability from the system store? You could..." "You would achieve the Perfect Stealth!!!" Lesedi interrupted her, while feelings of excitement hastily appeared on her face. She then immediately continued to reveal her obvious conclusions: "Mack, that would probably make him one of the best Assassins of the Earth realm!" She exclaimed, causing Mackenzie to immediately facepalm: "Provided that it is possible to deny access to Mana in an efficient way without meditating or whatever he is doing right now. You always jump to conclusions too early without thinking. You almost killed him a minute ago for crying out loud. Don''t forget what happened last time you assumed stuff without thinking!" Mackenzie uttered, while expressing her seriousness with a frown. "Sorry, Mack, I just thought that he was manipulating us and got mad for apparently no reason." Lesedi apologized and cautiously added: "But just how is he doing that? How can he prevent Mana from entering his body, if he can''t even feel it, just how does he distinguish what Mana is?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "That is exactly the thing that we need to figure out! And before we do, you can''t tell him anything about the Perfect Stealth or he will end up terminated on some random battlefield" Mackenzie replied. "I will keep my mouth shut, so lets just observe for now" While Lesedi and Mackenzie were whispering in the kitchen, and later in the hallway, Leon was in a world of his own. After a few minutes of meditating he managed to calm himself down and isolate external distractions. He did this countless of times back on Earth. He would cut off the world, clear his mind of any thoughts and live in the moment, completely focused on the breathing. Achieving that state of mind now only took a couple of minutes longer than usual due to the environment he was in. But it was then that the new problems emerged. He started feeling some warm pressure around himself. It was similar to the way he felt yesterday when that guy named Maxwell gave them a speech in the square by the Gate. And this pressure was growing, little by little. Associating it with a negative feeling from yesterday he struggled against it. He never expected that Mana would appear like this so it hadn''t even occurred to him that he was fighting to keep it at bay. He even changed his breathing technique and used the one taught to him by his Kendo teacher to alleviate the pain during a competition, in order to reduce the pressure that he was feeling right now. There were a few things that Leon didn''t know. First of all, Mana was an omnipresent concept. The magic runes that were drawn on the floor in a circular shape around him, had a purpose of letting Mana in, and, more or less, keep it from leaking. Combined with the magical artifact, a lot of Mana was supposed to surround him allowing him to feel it and in time learn to manipulate and store it, provided he received a proper guidance. Due to his enormous experience in meditation, Leon skipped a couple of steps and felt Mana after just a few minutes without even knowing it. Second, after enough Mana was gathered from the vicinity by the artifact, it covered every nook and cranny of Leon''s body. Since Leon resisted it, it just lingered around him causing the bluish glow that startled Lesedi and Mackenzie since it produced a similar effect that people displayed while gathering large amounts of Mana in order to use it for spells. And finally, even though Leon switched his breathing technique allowing himself to resist the pressure longer, Mana continued to gather which produced another effect - it started to overheat. Right now he was sitting inside a barrier of circular magic runes with constant Mana inflow. It was as if he was trapped in an oven, basically being cooked by concentrated Mana. So first he started to sweat excessively then his breath became heavier, and soon enough his skin began to redden. He was about to call it quits when he felt the first burning sensation on his skin and question Lesedi and Mackenzie about his circumstances, when a familiar ping snapped him out of his meditation, if you could still call it that: -System notification -Due to extreme conditions you have endured, your willpower has been increased by 1 New Value: Willpower: 8 He opened his eyes, only to be greeted by two blank faces staring at him expressionlessly. The bluish glow caused by Mana, still lingered around him, the only difference was that the feeling of pressure and heat were completely gone even though he was still inside the magic rune circle. 14 Mana Core Realizing that this bluish glow around him that was slowly dissipating was most likely Mana, Leon felt completely astounded. His skin was still red and he had a feeling that something just passed through him, but it was so fast that he barely noticed it. Verifying that other than that, there was nothing else wrong with him, he turned to Lesedi and Mackenzie, in order to ascertain the facts about the situation. Unfortunately his hope was short lived, since all they did was stare at him without initiating the conversation, which made him feel a little bit awkward. Not really used to striking up a conversation he opted for a comic relief: "Girls, if you could stop staring at me as if I was an exhibit in a museum and instead explain to me what is going on, I would really appreciate it." He muttered, displaying an awkward smile on his face. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Well, as soon as we figure out why you look more like a red lobster than a human we''ll be glad to tell you" Lesedi was the first to snap out of her surprised state. "Les, behave ... " Mackenzie joined in, frowning at the previous comment "And Leon, we are not sure what happened to you, so can you share the experience you had during the meditation?" She questioned him worriedly. Seeing how worried she seemed, he decided not to hide anything, and slowly retold everything that happened, from experiencing the pressure and his resistance towards it, to the increase of heat and burning sensation. Both Lesedi and Mackenzie kept a serious demeanor while listening to his explanation. Lesedi barely managed to restrain herself from interrupting him on many occasions. "... And then the message from the system snapped me out from it, and just as it did, the pressure was gone." Leon finished his elaboration. "What message!?" Both Mackenzie and Lesedi screamed at the same time, obviously surprised, startling him in the process. "Well, you know, the one about my Willpower increasing due to some extreme conditions or something" He replied, not really sure what the fuss was all about. None of his previous comments provoked such a reaction out of them so he assumed that everything was normal up to that point. Well, normal for the Soul war world''s standards at least. "Bloody hell Mack, he figured out another way to train Willpower" Lesedi was astonished. "The more important fact is that he could feel Mana on his first try, nobody has ever done that before" Mackenzie added while a shiver of excitement ran trough her. "Wait, what do you mean I could feel Mana? When in my explanation have I mentioned that I felt Mana!?" Leon inquired, obviously confused. He had some assumptions based on the bluish afterglow but no way to be sure. "It was the warm pressure you described. It usually takes people weeks or months in some cases to feel what you felt" Lesedi was the one to answer, patiently for some reason, which was uncharacteristic of her. Even though it took quite some time, after Mackenzie joined in the conversation, they managed to explain to him how he skipped a couple of steps in his training and why it was so surprising for them. Apparently, he was supposed to feel just a slight tingle at first, and after a couple of hours or maybe even days, how something enters trough his skin into his body. Because Lesedi and Mackenzie expected a deeper learning curve they didn''t explain everything to him from the get go, leading to the situation they were in right now. "So what I struggled to keep away was in fact Mana that I should have let in and ''stored'' inside of my body!?" Leon question, just to make sure that he understood everything "We are still not sure how you''ve been able to keep Mana from entering your body though. No one has ever tried to do that before as far as we know". Lesedi brought up one of her observations. "You see Leon, Mana is present everywhere, and it can pass trough all of the objects without any obstructions. Living beings are the same, Mana would just pass right through them, unless they possess a Mana Core." Mackenzie calmly explained. She was not usually this patient with any of her trainees and would often curse and yell at them, but Leon had yet to experience that side of her. "Before you ask..." She prevented him from interrupting her, " Mana Core is a special sphere formed out of highly concentrated Mana and your blood. Contrary to the magical runes and array, that can contain Mana temporarily, Mana Core is the only way of storing Mana completely in your body for further use. The way you create it is quite complicated and most of the people decide to buy their own Mana Core from the system store, which as you might have seen is quite costly. After you acquire it, you can use the stored Mana and manipulate it in many different ways." When she was done with her brief explanation, Leon had a feeling that something just didn''t add up. Once someone explained something to him, he would usually grasp it very quickly and form his own opinion about it, and in order to do that he would question about all of the details: "If Mana Core completely stores Mana in it, how would I be able to take it out and use it then? Wouldn''t it just be stuck there, unable to get out?" He questioned, causing both Lesedi and Mackenzie to burst out laughing. "Wow, you really are a weird one newbie, you almost brought me to tears." Lesedi said cheerily, trying to calm herself down. "You learn how to control Mana, way before you are able to create your own Mana Core, and after a lot of practice it becomes a second nature to you. The higher your willpower and intelligence attributes are, the easier and faster it gets to store it and take it out. On the other hand if you buy the ability to wield Mana from the system store, you immediately ''know'' how to control it and what to do with it. Weird I know, but that''s how it is." She managed to explain, taking a pause here and there, in order to contain her laughter. Feeling a little embarrassed, Leon finally found the time to take a little break. Having spent a big part of his life in seclusion and grieving , he wasn''t used to these types of situations. Most of the time, he was the one that people sought out for advice or guidance on various subjects. He remembered how his grandchildren would seek him out, asking about all sorts of stuff and he would have the answer to their problems. Now he was put in a situation where he knew next to nothing about the whole world, and even if he didn''t find it that amusing, he had to suffer through embarrassment in order to learn, and eventually achieve his goals. He understood that the road to the Higher plane will bring him trough all kinds of unpleasant emotions, and this was just one of many. He''ll handle others as they come along. "I think I understand the gist of it, and that leads me to a very important question. What happens now!?" He requested to know, straightening his face in order to convey seriousness as much as possible. "Well, now we just accelerate your training a little bit" Mackenzie replied, shifting her gaze as if she knew what was coming. "Yes, but before that, there is another important thing that we need to do" Lesedi added, still giggling. "And what is that!?" Leon had a bad premonition. "We need to get you a into a shower and find you a new pair of clothes, because you smell like you''ve been roasted." 15 The "tower" "Hey, watch where you are going!" "No, you move out of the way and stop pushing me!" "Man have you seen those prices!? Bloody hell! Every time I come here they go up. I swear that someone has a grudge against me!" "If you don''t like it you can always use the system store." "As if! that is only for the emergencies!" "You are just a poor bastard, that is all there is to it." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Leon could hear all kinds of yells and screams around him. He was now at the entrance of a crowded ''mega'' store as Mackenzie described it, feeling a little bit agoraphobic. This place was an enormous modern looking tower right next to the Auxiliary Association''s main building, and was used for selling all the products that the association made. It was specially constructed in a circular shape, with a giant spiral stairwell in the middle leading from the ground up to the roof and that stairwell had an exit on each floor. The stores were located around the stairwell separated by a sizable ravishingly decorated hallway in between, allowing for an easier access. The top floor was a little bit more exclusive, reserved only for high-paying customers and special auctions on extremely rare artifacts. Different kinds of products were sold on different floors. The important fact was that all these products were man-made and a lot more affordable than the system ones. Unlike with the system bought products, these ones wouldn''t disappear after the termination on the battlefield so everyone preferred them, and relied on the system only in emergencies. "Leon, the clothing stores are on the first floor, follow me and try not to get lost in the crowd." Mackenzie spoke loudly into his ear, in order to snap him back from his overwhelmed state. After they finally reached the first floor, it was in fact Lesedi that got excited first. She just glanced at one of the more prominent stores that sold magic enchanted clothes, then back at Leon and Mackenzie, and with a conflicted look on her face just yelled "I''ll be right back". Before they could even respond she was out of their sight. The stores on the first floor sold different types of clothes, and their products were sorted out by their purpose. If you wanted to explore the Northern Ice caves and fight the Trolls, you''d have to buy clothes with a cold resistance enchanted into them, so you would look for a store that sold those particularly. Many of these stores had deals with certain guilds or an army and produced clothes that adhered to their current missions. Leon and Mackenzie were looking for clothes that he''d use during his Mana and cooking training, so they only needed common clothes. There were many stores that sold those, so Leon randomly selected one and they entered. The first thing that he noticed when they got in other than the aisles full of clothes was the lack of security. This was quite surprising for him since it was different back on Earth, so he questioned Mackenzie about it. "Oh don''t worry about that, it is impossible to steal items in this world, at least without killing the current owner or their creator first. They know when someone else are using them, and can just recall them back into their inventory. Nobody really bothers with common items anyway, but there is a little bit more security regarding the items with a higher value." She explained to him gently. "Then how does the sale work here?" Leon further questioned, seemingly confused. "Through the system of course. You can trade items for items or items for karmic points. The only limitation is that you need to be in the close proximity with the other party in order to initiate the trade or there wouldn''t even be a need for stores. Once the terms are agreed by both participants, system completes the trade, and transfers ownership of the items to the designated parties." Mackenzie once again happily answered his questions. She found it funny every time Leon made a confused face about common things. "Now, go ahead and pick something you like, and think would be comfortable for meditation, and I''ll go and find something for myself. Lets meet at the checkout." She added and moved ahead of him. Leon then went trough the aisles looking around left and right and avoiding other customers. He almost forgot that he now had a different body, and needed to find clothes that would have the appropriate size for him. The problem was, all of the clothes had the same size! Be it western pants, blouses and sweaters from any century, traditional Muslim clothing or even a Japanese yukata, no matter where he looked or the type of clothes he selected, none of them would fit him. It was then when he heard a loud grunt from behind: "Oy, newbie stop running around, picking up everything and buying nothing!" It was a voice of an annoyed clerk. "But the size..." Leon started but wasn''t allowed to continue. "The size will ''magically'' refit to suit you once you buy the clothes, now stop blocking the aisles and annoying other customers" He commanded, showing his obvious irritation with newcomers. ''At least the costumer service is the same as back on Earth'' Leon quickly calmed down, happy that he didn''t have to bother Mackenzie with this. He relied on her for everything and felt kind of guilty for that. He thought that he was annoying her with trivial stuff already and wanted to keep it to a bare minimum. So he picked a sweatsuit and sneakers for training and meditation in one aisle, and a chef''s outfit for cooking in a different aisle. He then proceeded to find pants, blouses and t-shirts and even a sweater for every day use. He wanted to get himself a suit and tie as well but quickly decided against it as he didn''t see any real purpose for it in this world. Once he was satisfied with everything he got, he headed towards the checkout where Mackenzie was patiently waiting for him. Once she saw him, and the clothes he was carrying, she immediately put on a frown on her face and asked: "Are you sure that those are the clothes that you want?" The interesting thing about Leon''s selection was that all of the clothing articles he got were in fact black. He got used to the color since he wore it for so long after Irene''s passing, and it hadn''t even occurred to him that he had to change up and mix something else in. "Well, yeah, I think I got everything that I need for foreseeable future. Why, did I forget something?" Leon asked, still not realizing what she meant. Seeing how he was completely oblivious to her question''s true meaning she sighed and changed the subject: "Well, fine then ninja, if you think you have everything you need then hand it over, and I''ll get them for you" She said, thinking how even subtle hints wouldn''t make a difference. "Why?" Leon was once again confused. "What do you mean why? They cost a few hundred karmic points at least! I''ll get them for you now, and you will pay me back at a later date" It was now Mackenzie''s turn to get confused. She always planned on buying the clothes for him, as she did for all of her trainees, well at least those that were newcomers and didn''t have any means of buying stuff by themselves. They would usually pay her back in a month or two and she didn''t have any problems up to this point. She regarded this as her way of helping the Earth realm. Other people did similar things when they recruited newcomers and it was considered as a common custom. "Ah that..." It finally dawned on Leon "...that won''t be necessary, I have a whole lot of karmic points, you needn''t bother" He added feeling grateful for her offer. "WHAT!?" 16 The Doubt! Mackenzie yelled so loud almost everyone in the store could hear her. Causing a commotion was the last thing on her mind but his words were the same as a stab in the back for her. ''Was he lying to me the whole time? But that is impossible, I would have spotted the signs of deception! Why though? Why would he pretend that he was a newcomer? There was nothing to gain! Wait, did he know about the...?'' Her mind was working incredibly fast trying to connect the dots. Unfortunately, her impulsive personality finally got the better of her as she jumped to conclusions just like Lesedi did earlier. "How could you lie to me like that!" She yelled at him without caring who would hear her, as her eyes started to well up with tears. She assumed that he was not a newcomer but someone with a different goal in mind. She felt betrayed, and she couldn''t handle another betrayal regardless of its scale, not again. Even though she told Lesedi that she trusted her gut when it came to Leon, the same emotions she had built up over the years quickly overwhelmed her once again. Leon knew that he made a mistake, and judging by her teary eyes, it was no small matter. He had to fix it immediately. He didn''t know how sensitive Mackenzie was to betrayal so he thought that all of this was caused by his own actions and words. He quickly analyzed what he said previously in order to find a solution. He was a problem solver all of his life, even more so after Irene''s passing. And here that characteristic of his came to fruition. People would usually try to defend themselves after being accused of lying, especially in a public setting, but he kept his calm and tried to ascertain the facts. He had an uncanny ability to disregard his surroundings when it mattered. "Mackenzie, why do you think that I lied to you?" He asked calmly, with a serious and emotionless look on his face. She expected a defensive attitude or even a tantrum and this question threw her off a little. She was prepared to argue and accuse further but the only words that she could muster were: "Why did you pretend to be a newcomer? What did you expect to gain from me that I didn''t already offer when we first talked?" This time her voice was a lot quieter, even Leon that was closest to her could barely hear it. He finally understood that this was a misunderstanding that occurred because of his negligence. And that was enough for him to peace everything together, or at least he thought it was. "I am sorry. I have omitted the number of my karmic points from you, I wasn''t sure that I could trust you with everything just yet" He said calmly once again, thinking that this was the core of the problem, only to realize how wrong he was after his words provoked an angry reaction from her. "I don''t care about your stupid karmic points! I want to know whether anything that you said was in fact true, about your wife, about cleansing..." Mackenzie started to fume, but abruptly stopped there. She finally remembered about the cleansing that Leon hadn''t gone trough. She was sure that Leon passed her lie-detection skill when he first mentioned it and only someone who was extremely proficient in lying could bypass that. Or someone that was truthful. So if that was true and he retained his skill proficiencies, then why not retain his karmic points? ''Did I jump to conclusions too early?'' A frightening thought passed through her mind. She was now torn between trusting her skills which meant trusting Leon and her deeply rooted fear of betrayal. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. This was not the same as with her previous trainees, they were just assigned to her by the Association. She formed connections with them, but none of those were based on trust and a plea for help. That is why she didn''t care when everyone left. It was way different with Leon, no matter how fast her connection with him was formed, it was deep enough to trigger her fears in this situation. She couldn''t handle it anymore, and just stared at him, finally letting tears roll down her face. It was then that Leon finally realized that this sort of a panic attack couldn''t be just his fault. Something else was going on that he was not aware of and he was just a trigger. Unfortunately he could only take a guess for now and hope for the best. "Mack..." It was the first time he called her by that nickname, "I''m aware of my mistake, I was not completely honest, as I should have been from the start. I hope that you can forgive me" He told her slowly, as if trying to make sure that his every word portrayed his genuine feelings. This might not have been his fault, but he felt like it was, and that was enough for him to ask for forgiveness. Leon basically told her what she needed to hear in order to calm down, and it worked. "No, Leon, this ... I ... I don''t know what to believe anymore." Her voice was so hesitant it sounded like she was stuttering. "I have omitted some facts, but everything I said was the truth. I never lied to you." Leon thought that this was the right time to explain himself. He then leaned closer to her ear, and whispered so that only she could hear him: "I came into the Soul war world not only with my cooking skill proficiency but with karmic points and other skills as well." His words caused another shock for her which her distressed mind showed on her face right away. He thought that she already believed the story he told her yesterday, but apparently it was not the case. At least not entirely. He didn''t blame her for it though, it was a stretch at best, and given the circumstances he would have had his doubts as well. He didn''t know about the existence of a lie-detection skill so Mackenzie''s next words slightly confused him: "Leon ... I am sorry. I jumped to conclusions and accused you of lying." She paused for a second in order to wipe her tears with her arm and clear her throat, "I just felt betrayed because of..." but her explanations was interrupted by another nearby voice: "Mack, whatever it was, you two can talk about it later at your discretion when there are no hundreds of people listening to you." Lesedi was the one that showed up, carrying the clothes Leon dropped on the floor when he went after Mackenzie. She pulled Leon aside, and gave him the clothes telling him to return to the Auxiliary Association after he''s done with the shopping. Then she grabbed Mackenzie''s hand and stormed out of the shop pulling her away leaving Leon alone. It was then that the consequences of their previous actions kicked Leon. He just became aware of all the people that he ignored, staring at him. Most of them did not look favorably upon him. He scratched his head, and returned to the line in front of the cashier. It was time to figure out how the ''trade'' function of the system worked, which was not easy under scrutiny. When it was his turn, the cashier that was kind towards the previous customers only blankly told him: "Your bill is 482 karmic points." Leon entered the correct amount and agreed to the trade. In just a few seconds the clothes appeared in his inventory, with system confirming the trade and logging it in. After he was done, he left the shop, heading straight back. The entire time, despite all the stares, nobody said a word to him.