The *Church of Greed* was a powerful religious cult in the continent of Banderas. They had already existed for tens of thousands of years and braved many disasters, man-made natural and even supernatural. Their main temple was thus both an enormous castle as well as a formidable military fort. The church sometimes allowed its followers to bring their family into the outskirts of the castle and live there. But to be allowed to do so you must either be a zealous believer and fanatic, or someone who has made considerable contributions to the church. Coming back to present day, the sun was setting and life was going on as usual in the church. Chen Mo was the captain of all outer ground guards and right now he was lying down on a couch in his office thinking about the whores he was going to fuck tonight. Chen used to be a powerful enforcer of the church, having reached the peak of mortality once, but his rise to glory had come to an end when during out on a mission he met with a powerful rogue beast and sustained severe injuries. Since then he took up the job as the captain of the outer ground guards and started living his life in bitterness.
"knock, knock", Chen's thoughts of sex was brought to an end by the knocking on his door. Chen straightened up, adjusted his cock so it wasn't easily noticed and shouted "come on in".
A young guard entered the room and saluted Chen. "We found a baby just outside the gates during our rounds sir. What do you want us to do, sir?" he continued.
Chen looked at the guard, sighed and grumbled mentally "what a naive little fella' ". Chen knew that if it had been one of the more experienced guards who had found the child, they would not have bothered to take a second look at it. Chen put on a serious face and said "take the child to the acolytes. They'll know what to do. Now leave me" and waved his hand to show the guard was dismissed.
Acolytes were the lowest ranked within the church but they were still superior to the guards, so the guard did not dare to casually disturb one. He brought the child wrapped in a blanket to the acolytes' courtyard of leisure.
"Respected sirs, we found this child outside the gates. Seems like t'was abandoned. What would you have us do?" he spoke respectfully with his head bowed down.
"Bring that child here" one of the acolytes standing near commanded. The guard took the baby to the acolyte and let him inspect the child.
The acolyte looked at the sleeping child and mentally commented 'weird'. The child only looked to be around a few months old, with hair as black as the night. Black hair was not common in the continent of Banderas, in fact it was the first time the acolyte had seen someone with black hair. He closed his eyes and started chanting something in a low voice. As soon as the chanting began a flickering light appeared around the acolytes' thumb.
The guard was visibly shaken by this display of supernatural and if not for the baby in his arms he would have already kowtowed. The acolyte brought his thumb to the child's forehead and intensified his chanting. But after almost a minute of this, there was no particular reaction and the acolyte stopped. He looked relieved and took the baby into his arms "seems like there is nothing strange about you". But the baby soon opened its eyes and started squirming in his hands. Bright silver eyes looked around curiously. The acolyte smiled at this and said "henceforth, you shall be known as Noctis and welcome to the Church of Greed".
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_9 years later_
The morning sunlight crept into the children's dormitory and they began to ruse from their sleep one by one. Noctis slowly opened eyes and got up from his bed. He just sat on his bed and observed the dormitory and everyone else in it. It was nearly 4 years back he started living here and soon it would be time to move on. He directed his silver eyes towards the other kids when this thought crept into his mind. Almost all of them were younger than him and he had even taken care of some of them during these 4 years. But now he too was approaching his age limit.
Every child taken in by the church would be taught their beliefs and traditions till they were 10 years old. On their 10th birthday they would undergo a test to see if their bodies were compatible with the power of greed.
The Church of Greed believed in a deity who was the very personification of the emotional aspect 'greed'. This deity did not have a given name and was simply known as *The Governor of Greed*. All the priest and religious leaders of the church wielded power bestowed upon them by this deity. This particular power was known as the power of greed. Ofcourse what they wielded was a miniscule amount of the deities true power.
The reason the children were tested for their compatibility on their 10th birthday is because only then would any child start exhibiting their potential and any _innate physique_ if any. But Noctis was an orphan and no one was aware of his exact birthday. So each morning he had to go see his assigned mentor to check if his body had finally crossed the threshold. Noctis got out his bed and moved to take a bath. Afterwards he wore faded but clean clothes and went to find his evaluator, the acolyte 'Mady'. Noctis reached Mady's room and knocked on it. He tried to adjust his dark, black hair so it would not appear too messy. When there was no response from the door he knocked again, this time louder.
"Who the fuck is it" Mady hollered from inside his room. "Its me Noctis sire, I'm here for the checkup" Noctis replied. He could hear sounds of movement from inside the room and then suddenly the door was violently opened. Mady was a tall, slender, brown haired man in his late twenties. Right now Mady had a dark circles under his eyes, disheveled hair and nothing other than a sheet wrapped around his body.
As soon as Mady saw Noctis he hollered " for fuck's sake, why is it you again. Can't you just grow up and get it over with, Fuck". But when he saw no response from Noctis he turned around and sighed "come in" he said.
"thank you, sir" Noctis replied carefully and followed him into the room. It was a very messy and disorderd room. Mady started searching for something in the room. It was then a woman walked into the room from the inside. She was barely clothed and still had traces of makeup on her face. She was a local whore who went by the name 'Candy'. "Where's my pay acolyte?" she demanded as soon as she came in.
"Wait a fucking moment, will you? I'm in the middle of something" Noctis shouted back.
Noctis may have only been 10 years old but a semi clothed older women was more stimulating than he could account for. His face grew red and his body grew hot but he was afraid of Mady's reaction so he started looking all around the room in search of something distracting to help him cool off. It was then he heard Mady say "finally got it" . He turned to see mady holding a rod with a glass sphere attached on each end.
Mady gave the rod to Noctis and simply said "concentrate". Noctis took the rod into his hands and started concentrating on it. He knew what had to be done as he had been doing it for some time now. But as always there was no reaction from the rod. After a couple of minutes mady suddenly snatched the rod from his hands and said " what a huge waste of time. Now get outta here".
Noctis gave Mady a bow, took another look at the sultry Candy and took off. Since he had not come of age, he had to be with the other kids for another day. Noctis didn't truly understand what he felt. He didn't know if what he felt was relief or dissapointment. He was now truly confused. It was in this mindset he met up with the other younger kids. As soon as he met up with them his friend Ron came up and said " so it seems we'll be hanging out today too" Both the kids laughed at that. Ron was the only other child as old as Noctis in the group. But unlike Noctis, Ron was not an orphan and his test was coming up in three weeks. Having been in contact with each other for four years they were pretty good friends. Soon Noctis pushed his uneasiness into the back of his head and started conversing with Ron.
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The day had passed and night had arrived. The children were all in the dormitory talking among their friends. Noctis too was talking with Ron when they heard a bell. It signified that it was time for bed. None of the children were allowed out of the bed after the bell. Noctis soon climbed into his bed and watched as the lights in dormitory were extinguished but he could not fall asleep. He was lying in his bed and trying to come to terms with his feelings. It was obvious he felt some attachment to this batch of kids but he knew it would not last forever. Moreover his test results determined his future. It would determine what path he would walk in the future and where his limits would be. He was too deep in his thoughts that he didn't feel the passage of time. It was halfway through the night when suddenly he received a message in his mind. This scared the shit out of him as this message just popped into his brain directly
THRESHOLD REACHED....
SYNCHRONISING WITH HOST ORIGIN......
ADJUSTING AND ASSIMILATING WITH LOCAL LAWS......
Noctis didn't understand what these words meant. He was stunned and didn't know what to do. But the message continued:
WELCOME HOST,
PLAYING PREVIOUSLY SAVED MESSAGE
_"Hey there kid. You must obviously be wondering what the hell is going on"_ , an ancient voice began. Noctis started nodding his head but then remembered it was a saved message.
_"Now you'll come to understand everything in the future but for now, just know that the system exists to help you. Under no circumstances will it harm you. So you must always trust the system, follow its instructions and execute its missions."_ . The ancient voice continued _" I want to explain more but I don't know if you'll understand what I speak of, so for now this is it. Don't worry, everything will become clear in the future. Have patience"_.
MESSAGE ENDED
Noctis was still terrified and without a clue as to what was happening. He had hoped the saved message would provide him with some answers but it had literally not given any information. That was when a monotonous, genderless voice sounded in his head
_"Congratulations host for activating the system"_
"Who are you?" Noctis whispered
_"I am the system. I exist to help you and to assist you in life."_
Noctis was still pretty shaken up and thought "what the hell does assist my life mean?"
_"I have a wide variety of functions and abilities, most of which are inacessable right now. But you can unlock them in the future.These features will allow me assist you."_ the system's voice sounded in his head once again.
"how the hell...what...you can read my mind?" Noctis stammered
_"Yes host, you only need to think to communicate with the system."_
"Alright then" Noctis shuddered slightly "perhaps we can talk in the morning?". He didn't want to think of this anymore tonight. He wasn't even sure if this was nothing more than a nightmare.
_"Right now, you are in danger host. You have reached the body threshold and the people surrounding you will come to realize it too. You need to make sure that you are not forced to use the power of greed."_ the system's emotionless voice sounded.
Only then did Noctis realize "its my birthday". But then he concentrated on the finer points and thought "whats wrong with the power of greed? I mean all the acolytes and priests seem fine".
_"If the followers of the Governor of Greed find you compatible with his power, you will be trained to channel his power. This has certain implications towards your origin which you are not authorized to know right now.
The consequences of such actions may be severe."_
"Alright then, what do you want me to do? And if I have no talent then I'm useless. They'll kick me outta here. How am I gonna survive?" Noctis was beginning to get restless.
_"The only fact which must be hidden is the host's compatibility with the power of greed. The system can activate a variant physique for you."_
"What do you mean by that?" Noctis asked surprised. Innate physiques were rare and random. Does this mean he had an innate physique?.
_"Host does not currently have a variant physique. But you can buy one from the system if you have sufficient contribution coins(CC)."_
"Well how do I know if I have enough?" Noctis asked excitedly. This was the first time he heard of acquiring a variant physique.
_"Just think about yourself and all you need to know will come to you"_ the system replied mysteriously.
Noctis didn't truly understand what the system meant but he closed and eyes and concentrated on himself just like during the tests.
Suddenly he became aware of certain fact as they just popped into his head.
NAME: NOCTIS
RACE: HUMAN
AGE: 10
GENDER: MALE
STRENGHT: 0.65
AGILITY: 0.5
VITALITY: 0.7
CONSTITUTION: NONE
BLOODLINES: NONE
INNATE SKILLS: NONE
CC: 0
But all of Noctis' excitement soon turned to disappoinment. None of his body attributes even had a value of 1, there was nothing special in his body and worst of all his CC count was zero. " I don't have any CC. How am I supposed to activate a variant physique?!". But just then another message popped up.
MAIN MISSION 1: ACTIVATE THE SYSTEM
STATUS: COMPLETED
REWARDS: 50CC, GRADE 1 ANALYSIS TOOL
NAME: NOCTIS
RACE: HUMAN
AGE: 10
GENDER: MALE
STRENGHT: 0.65
AGILITY: 0.5
VITALITY: 0.7
CONSTITUTION: NONE
BLOODLINES: NONE
INNATE SKILLS: NONE
CC: 50
_"Would host like to see the list of physiques available to you?"_ the systems voice soon sounded in his mind.
"Of course yeah", Noctis could barely contain his excitement but then asked "and what do you mean by available?"
_"Only certain constitutions are available to the host right now. Certain physiques are too overbearing and tyrannical for you, and certain others require various conditions to be fulfilled before they can be accessed."_ the system explained. "Oh so thats it. Anyway show me whats available." Noctis replied.
But Noctis was not prepared for the amount of information forced into his brain. He winced and almost shouted "stop, stop, you're hurting me."
_"Sorry for the inconvenience host, it was an unintended side-effect"_ system emotionlessly spoke.
Noctis winced and said " well wait till I go through this information before continuing the transfer of list.". But Noctis was stunned as soon as he started going through the list. This was a pretty big list and most of these were physiques with mind blowing effects and powers but all of his excitement soon turned into hopelessness when he saw the amount of CC required for them. All he had was a measly 50CC and most of the physiques required a CC count in thousands. He even saw something called *WORLD DEVOURER PHYSIQUE* worth 1,500,000CC and this was not even the complete list.
Noctis soon stopped looking at the list and sighed. He mentally commanded "system, show me the list of physiques I can actually activate". The system responded immediately and started pushing the information into his brain. This was a very small list with just 4 variants.
_IRON TYRANT PHYSIQUE_
40CC. Strenghthen flesh and bones. Increased affinity with metal element. Max growth: grade 4.
_HUMAN KING PHYSIQUE_
45CC. Acquire _Kings Aura_ ability. 40 percent chance to allegiance from a deceased Human King's soul. Max growth: grade 5.
_HUNDRED POISONS BODY_
45CC. Acquire control over all grade 1 poisons. Immune against all grade 1 poisons. Max growth: grade 5
_RED WOOD BODY_
40CC. Increased vitality. Increased affinity with nature element. Max growth: grade 4
Noctis looked over the list and frowned, after all he was just a 10 year old boy and he wasn't sure on the choices. "Hey system, do you think you could give me some advice on what to select...I mean I don't really understand everything in here." he asked sheepishly.
_"System would recommend HUMAN KING PHYSIQUE or HUNDRED POISON BODY as they have better future prospects."_ he received an answer almost immediately.
Noctis thought for a while and made up his mind "ok then system, I choose the HUMAN KING PHYSIQUE". He wasn't sure if it was the correct choice but he balled his fists and was waited.
_"Host has selected HUMAN KING PHYSIQUE....activating constitution....."_
0%.....1%.....13%...22%.....
Noctis was aware of the progress being made but he could no longer suppress his sleep. He fell asleep before the process was completed, in fact he didn't even get to check out the other reward he received.