With the newly created symbol in my hand, I felt an intimate connection with it, like it's an extension of my body. Satisfied with this, I manipulated it into the air before slowly drifting towards the human population. If there was no limits, I'd have dropped it in the ocean outside and let it spread like a virus indefinitely.
Unfortunately, there's a limit to what the body can take. Too many and you'll explode from the essence. Too many and the connections will drive you insane, possibly turning you into a vegetable. There's also a limit for how many low leveled symbols a cultivator can use once they're at Saint God. Because once one reaches the saint realm, they form a sea of consciousness like in novels, based on the information given.
They use the saint realm as a basis for the number of low level symbols an average saint realm cultivator can use at most. So people using it under that realm can't reach the number unless they wanna break their mind.
The max amount a saint realm cultivator can use is up to ten billion. Apparently, the maximum amount is doubled for the next devour symbols.
But with my inward thinking done, I watched as the symbol lightly floated in the air before entering the human population. It slowly, and lightly floated down in a back alley. Landing on the ground, it stayed there and trembled lightly like a feather influenced by the smallest things.
Finally, a homeless man accidentally came into contact. It disappeared into his body before latching onto the soul. The homeless man seemingly not noticed anything and continued to move about in the alleys, searching for food.
Time went on slowly, for the next few hours. He didn't have much blood essence, but his soul made up for that partially. By then, his body had become emaciated and exhausted easily. He seemed to be confused about his situation. Finally, the symbol came into effect, before a seemingly similar symbol lightly floated out of his body, floated away into the public space, before being picked up by a random civilian.
The symbol in the beggars body floated out and left the alley slowly before being caught again. The blood essence from the beggar was negligible, to the point that I don't think I even felt it. But with the two healthy civilians, it worked way better.
With the owner of the symbols, I can input commands and adjust the functions.
I kept the requirements for creating new ones to a minimal, so they really wouldn't notice. Normal people would just feel a loss of something inside them and weakened. Cultivators had it worse the higher they were, as it drained faster.
I created a command that would keep anybody from being devoured, but enough that they can still walk. I don't believe this is evil.
The way I think, I don't think anything I do is evil when it comes to taking things. I mean, what use are the things you hold if they aren't used at all? Or not used to the best of your ability? I believe everything has a use, and that they should be used to the best of their ability.
It's like holding onto gold that's meant to purchase things. Even if you're spending it on some things, you're not always using it efficiently or to the best of your ability. What's the point of holding onto it then? Just give it to me, I'll use it the best way I can.
But of course, I can't kill without a justifiable reason, or that's just evil. I just use what is shown to me, and take it so I can use it fully to the best of my ability. If they don't like it? Who cares? If they can't use what is given to them to the best of their ability or at all, then can they justify my actions of stealing?
If everybody was working to the best of their ability like in a modern war zone, then it'd be a different story, and I would have left them alone regardless if it wasn't the most efficient way, since I can respect scenarios like that.
That's the problem with feudalism. All the commoners are discarded and not put to use to their fullest abilities based on beliefs and class. It's stupid and inefficient. If this wasn't a cultivation world but just a feudal world with no Qi, then I'd be attempting industrial revolutions even if my knowledge is crappy.
Exiting my rant, I watched two hours pass before the two duplicated into four, before spreading out again. The average civilians that were infected hardly noticed, since they have abundant blood essence. But their faces did turn more pale and they seemed more like they're in a trance. The symbols didn't leave as they silently devoured away.
It took less than eight hours for the entire population to be infected. With each duplication, the number increases exponentially. It's how a single bacterial cell can turn into trillions after a single day on a doorknob. Each time only took two hours to duplicate, so the population of around 65 thousand was infected quickly.
The first batches of excess symbols were brought back and piled up into a neat stack that sat in my stomach, sustained with the natural devour energy that permeates my stomach. After the whole population was infected, I stopped the duplication process and let the inflow of blood essence fill my body. The pure soul energy nurtured my soul and made it slowly grow.
By the next day, all the symbols returned to me. Everyone on the streets were emaciated and exhausted like they hadn't ate in days. But the essence in my body flowed vigorously. The amount of blood essence each person had was quite good, as they get it from the fish products most likely.
In total, the amount I got is equivalent to fifty drops of pure blood essence. I originally had a little more than a hundred drops of pure blood essence before the tribulation. Afterwards, I had burnt half to survive and travel to safety. This replenished my lost supply, allowing my vitality to soar even more as my cultivation benefited. The small amounts of Saint Qi my body is producing has sped up considerably. I were to wait, I'd reach the middle stages in a year now.
My soul tremendously benefited as well. With pure soul essence, my soul became more pure and brighter, with less impurities. The size of it has expanded a little more. My spirits and clarity of everything is much better, along with my mental capacity.
But being done, I silently retreated and left the vassal kingdom I don't know it's name. But this is far from being satisfactory. I'm far from reaching my body's capacity, and I want to advance more quickly.