Chapter 23
'What are those runes and symbols?' Ron thought to himself.
He had never seen such complicated complex runes before but he did have some ideas about why they appeared.
"Grandpa Phoenix, are these runes and symbols formed because of my exalted stage cultivation in the Body tempering realm?"
Ron asked with a spark of doubt in his eyes.
"Yes, this is the reward bestowed by the Heaven and this would increase your battle prowess which I believe you could already feel."
Phoenix replied in a calm and relaxed manner but if Ron could take a look into the eyes of Phoenix at the moment, then he would have seen tears of happiness brimming Phoenix's eyes.
How could a master not be happy with his disciple's great achievement in cultivation?
After wiping the tears in his eyes, Grandpa Phoenix spoke in a serious manner.
"Kiddo, I need to remind you that this is only the Early grade runes that surround your dantian. Early grade runes are actually the lowest bestowal runes and there are totally six grades each representing a realm of cultivation."
Ron listened to each and every word with complete attention.
"As there are six realms of cultivation below the Godhood, you obtain a rune bestowal from the Heaven in the exalted stage of each realm of cultivation. When a person obtains the exalted stage in two realms, the two runes combine to provide an improved stronger Mid grade runes."
"As more runes are bestowed, the higher the quality of rune becomes. The six grades of runes are Early grade, Mid grade, Late/top grade, Peak grade, Perfection grade and Supreme grade. When you obtain Exalted stages in all realm below godhood, then you are bestowed with a Supreme Rune."
Ron asked "Any other use other than improving battle prowess?"
"Of course kiddo, this is the heavenly bestowal Exalted runes we are talking about. It is very useful during the formation of the Godhead divine spark and to improve its quality" Phoenix sneered.
Ron inquired " When I looked at my dantian, it was ten times the size of dantian at the Body tempering realm. Usually, a normal cultivator upon breakthrough experiences the expansion of dantian as it becomes twice the size but mine was ten times. Is this also caused by the Exalted stage?"
Grandpa Phoenix who was engrossed in his own thought replied with a wry smile.
"Nop.... Not at all... Do you think you are the son of Heaven? Even the Heaven bestowal has limits. A Heavenly bestowal Exalted runes cause a dantian to expand five times only once for each person no matter what grade of bestowal runes he has but your condition is extremely special. Even I have no idea why it expanded ten times."
But what Ron does not know is that Grandpa Phoenix knows what may have caused the expansion ten times.
It was only a conjecture of Phoenix but he still believed what he saw was true, still he did not want to tell Ron about it at the moment.
Back during the moment of Ron's break through to the Energy condensation realm and when the Bestowal Exalted runes were being formed, Phoenix saw a dazzling glow from the powerful seal which covered Ron's soul.
As Ron was not powerful enough, he could not sense it.
Ron gave a silly laugh "Heheheee.... Even the heaven is blessing me so that I can become a supreme cultivator. Just like those fantasy novels I read, I am the main protagonist in this case."
Grandpa Phoenix's mouth twitched and he smacked his own forehead.
"Kiddo, I think you are acting more and more childish. You were an experienced and mature assassin but now you speak like a child. You are having some mental issues."
"What??? What do you mean? Wait.... I... I think you are right. I am being influenced" Ron remarked.
Ron took a deep breath and then pondered.
"It is the emotional sentience left behind by the true owner of the body. The soul was that of a kid and thus those emotions blended with my soul and popped out my childish emotions and feelings. Grandpa Phoenix, is it dangerous?"
"Not at all as your mature side of conscience will slowly take over as time passes."Phoenix shrugged his shoulders and lightly said.
Ron breathed a sigh of relief.
Ron left the cave and continued his training.
He also collected the demon beast bodies as well as medicinal plants along the way.
Days passed by and around one month remained for the Clan's Youth contest.
Ron then thought 'Now that I have reached the first stage of the Energy condensation realm, I can begin my plans.'
Ron decided to end his training as he started moving in the Green plum city direction.
Looking at Ron's actions, Grandpa Phoenix asked "Are you planning to leave the forest and go back to the clan? If I am not wrong, there is still a month remaining for the youth contest to kick off. Why do you still want to return so early?"
Phoenix was really curious to know why Ron wanted to return to the clan where he did not belong to.
Ron replied with seriousness.
"Grandpa Phoenix, I have no intent to return to the clan for the time being but instead I am going to the city to begin my plans. I know my grandfather and he would never kill his clan mates but I am not like him. The father-son Boris pair must die and in order to do that I need strength."
"But do you think they won't make other attempts to kill me? If not them, what about the future enemies? How can I deal with them all without strength? The answer is power and influence."
"I am going to make my own secret force along with a spy network. I will have my own force which includes assassins and all the information within the region and beyond would be known to my info-spy network."
"I... will.. rule.. the.. world..."
Grandpa Phoenix was breathing coarsely and he faltered not knowing how to react to it.
"So, what do you plan to do now?"
"I found a Soul seed technique from the god soul memories which I absorbed with which I can control the life and death of my subordinates and slaves with the soul seeds."
"It would not affect them in their life but I can detect them as well as know their feelings towards me. If they show disobedience or betrayal towards me, I can easily detect it and do the needful."
"I will cultivate them all and develop them into a strong force under my command. The most eligible would be those in the military but I should recruit some others from outside the military too who have good talent."
Ron soon left the forest while they spoke with one another.
He asked Phoenix "Do you know any technique to change my appearance and shape of the body, Grandpa. It would be useful to me. I could not find any such technique in the memories of that god."
Grandpa Phoenix nodded and then transmitted the knowledge of a shape shifting technique to Ron without a second thought.
Phoenix replied nonchalantly "This technique is called 'Body shaping technique' and no person can find the fault of change in you in this world."
Ron practised while travelling and by the time he saw the gate and city walls, he learned the technique fluently and took a different appearance.
Ron did not want his clan to know about his where beings.
There are many spies of the clan present in the city other than the clan members. So as a safety measure, he took a different appearance.
After entering the city, he directly went to the shops belonging to the other main clans to sell all the material he obtained from the forest.
Ron did not want to sell it to the shops belonging to the Boris clan as he did not want them to earn money with his materials.
Even though these materials were not rare, since some of the materials were in large quantity, Ron earned about 40 gold coins in total. He earned so much since the quantity of materials covered up for its lack of quality.
Then he bought a high grade one-star artifact mask that can ward off the soul perceptions of others having cultivation below the Core formation stage just to make them feel that he is rich and mysterious.
He also bought a large size black coloured robe.
Ron then used the 'Body shifting technique' to change his appearance and body size to that of a mature man, wore the robe but did not use the mask.
He visited the bars and other similar places to gain information so as to understand the situation in the city.
As Ron moved from one place to another within the city, he gained a lot of information related to the clan, power struggle, knowledge of their businesses, the gangs in the city and more.
Ron was passing through the market engrossed in his own thoughts and as he woke up from his thoughts, he was standing in the slave market.
'Yes, why didn't I think about it earlier? I can buy some slaves and use them too and develop them.' Ron thought while looking at the slaves one after the other.
But suddenly he was stunned as if he was struck by a lightning.
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1. One of my readers Shady41 mentioned the childishness of MC in chapter 22 whereas the MC used to be an assassin in the previous life. I appreciate his effort and noted it down. Thus I changed my plot in chapter 23 a bit to adjust it and create a reason for it.
2. I would also like to thank Dark_Reaper for the grimoire gift.
Thank you
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