As John exited the gate he felt the skeleton knight get drawn back into his body forcefully and then remembered how he had got there. He braced himself and reinforced his mind to the best of his abilities.
Then he was standing back in the barracks with his mind rumbling and had to brace him self against the bed. He felt nauseous as a wave of mental pain assaulted him, apparently he had over stressed the center of power. When he observed his mind he noticed a small crack on the surface, every few seconds he was hit hard by the pulsation of the mental sea as it splashed toward the wound slightly opening it each time.
At that moment he felt desperation beyond anything he had ever felt. The runes on the sphere reacted to his desperation and sent intricate instructions into his mind.
John sat into a meditative stance as his aura began to fluctuate, the laws in his spiritual realm glowed. They then lended their combined strength to John as he manipulated his mental energy to open a portal into the realm as the laws influence spread over into his mind. The mental sea changed color turning into a red brown shade that flowed between the two different colors in an undulating pattern. John then willed the energy to amass and fuse with his sphere, he felt a mind splitting pain as the energy shattered more of the sphere around the crack. The shards moved and were evenly spread covering the hole with a new layer of energy. The second layer compressed the shards and energy combo, fusing them and patching the hole.
After several minutes he had finally recovered enough to start moving again, he stumbled to the window at the far end of the hall attached to the barrack building. He looked out side and felt a heavy burden lift from his chest, as far as he knew the whole process had taken less than an hour even though he was sure he was in that god forsaken battle field for days.
"I guess there's some time dilation due to the gods influence or something of the sort". John shook his head and finally felt the last vestige of that place had disappeared from his mind and body returning them to their normal functioning.
'Well, I guess I'll go to the training the guard from before told me to be at'. John was annoyed by having to see the guard, but he doubted that without his training if he would have made it in the other dimension.
Right before he left to go torment himself willingly he felt inspiration strike him, he then insured no one was near him before the ring on his finger glowed. The bodies of every creature he had killed up until he had gotten that ring exploded out.
The red and bloodthirsty mental energy was expended as John's hand shot forward. Word formulated in the air in the form of a formation as John infused wills into the mental energy he had teleported from his mental sphere. The bodies melted down into a singular mass of liquid, right as that process had ended a trail of black smoke emoted from his heart and materialized the skeletal knight before him. The red liquified corpses lifter from the ground and infused them selves into the knight.
The knight stood his armor looked as if it was coated in a thick layer of blood and it's sword had turned completely red the description of his new creation appeared before him.
['Blood crazed death knight']
Level: 1
Exp:0
Strength: Initial tier two
Description: A true monstrosity created by combining the corpses of beasts and men with a necrotic summon causing it to become sentient. This beast uses its living sword to drain the life force(blood or energy) in order to become stronger, the more it fights the stronger it grows. The creature morphed before it's enemy into the perfect killing machine, if you are unlucky enough to get on the opposite side of it sword, pray as you will be with your creator soon after.
John had wondered why it's status hadn't shown up earlier, but now understood that prior to now it wasn't a worthy underling and hadn't even been recognized by the system.
He had only just made it into a worth creature and he felt the pressure of the creatures mind within his, he felt his mental sphere thickening and the bloodthirsty sea begin to expand.
'I guess that I won't be needing to create a method of training my mind after this. I only need to figure out my dantian up until now it had been working with the old method, but as soon as I advance realms it slowed tremendously. It had surpassed the limitations it had due to being powered by my laws and mental energy, but it can't be improved any further with my current laws'. He now had added another item to the need to do list, but that would have to wait for later.
He sighed and started to walk down the halls toward the training hall. It was time to get stronger.
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And just like that he was back into the routine, gradually increasing his forging abilities and his combat style. Day in and day out, he did enjoy it even though it had become monotonous after so many days. Even so as you progressed through the realms you would progressively gain more years to live. After the first realm the life span of an average cultivator would almost double, so even if he had to waste some time he would still become free at some point he hoped at least.
He had to gain enough trust to allow for him to begin with newer tasks and higher priority missions. During this time he even managed to comprehend two new laws, the tier one law of sharpness and the tier one law of hardness. He had no idea how close he was to the guards law, but he could tell it was far away. He hadn't been able to comprehend a singe law of it so far, nevertheless he was still benefiting from those excursions. He strengthened his prowess and got more and more aquatinted with his skills and their numerous combinations. He had even managed to draw blood from the guard, even if it was just a few drops.
The day had finally arrived when he had received the only thing he truly had began to wish for. They decided it was time for him and the other two newer guards and go for the first mission or their careers as royal guards.
They were being sent to clear out a pack of stone crested horned snakes that were nesting near one of the law comprehension zones belonging to the empire. It was just a rank one law comprehension zone so it didn't have strong guards. They decided to test the new guards using this opportunity, resulting in the current scenario.
John was told to go to a court yard on one specific day and to wait there until his transport arrived. He was temporarily relieved of his other duties to focus on training and to fully prepared.
Sadly he was still far from advancing and instead focused on forging and experimenting with his abilities. Finally the sun raised on the fateful day, John equip his bags, armor, and a few of his better weapons that still remained in the second realm.
As he waited the two other new guards arrived, he could tell that they were riddled with anxiety. They're eyes darting at every sound from the hall next to them, hours passed slowly as presumably the mission preparations were underway. Finally a servant was sent to receive them, bringing them outside of the compound and too a carriage that seemingly had no creatures to pull it. Even still the front of the carriage wasn't touching the ground.
They were told to wait by the floating carriage while the rest of the team gathered. It wasn't until the sun began to slowly dip behind the surrounding mountains that everyone had gathered. There was a mid rank three soldier and nine lower rank three soldiers, while him and the other two new guards were still in the second rank close to the peak.
After double checking the supplies and equipment they filed into the carriage. Once everyone was in a man completely covered in a cloak with several magical arrays began his preparations. Pulling out a massive crystal that radiated power the man began chanting, the air twisted and formed into a magical array.
The carriage began to glow as it lifted from the ground the man controlled the array with white tendrils of energy that pulsed from his fingers. Just like that they had left the empire in a flash, at this point the mid tier three guard began to brief the group.
"The pack was believed to have mostly peak rank two snakes among its ranks, and several initial rank three snakes. Your mission is too defeat the underlings and keep them from attacking us during our subjugation of the leader and the other strong creatures".
Everyone was briefed on the formations they would be in and how the mission would be accomplished, then the rest of the trip was mostly the other guards playing some card games and meditation.
John continue his training and began to expand his dantian once more. He felt that as he continued being suppressed by the aura of those stronger than him that his existence and laws were slowly being reinforced and refined.
This in turn made his comprehension and battle prowess start to exceed his realm and unknowingly helped increase the levels of his centers as they strived to be in harmony with his comprehension.
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Days passed rapidly and they finally had made it to the comprehension zone. It took them a long time to locate the pack after the arrived due to their innate abilities of camouflage and their smaller size in comparison to other beasts in their realm.
Having already been briefed everyone knew their tasks and went about them. A small troop of the main fighting party that consisted of the leader and a few of his stronger soldiers, charged ahead and cleared a path for the rest of the party.
John stayed to the back and got a few clean kills as they sunk deeper into the pack. It was a one sided massacre as they began reaching towards the center of the pack.
Sadly though there momentum would be thrown off as one of the rank three's attacked their left flank, disrupting the entire party. In an instant just over a dozen guards had been shredded into a fine meat paste.
With guts, blood, and the tattered remains of skin and bone adorned the beast as it serpentine eyes flicked back and forth over its prey. Just as it coiled back for another lunge, it's flesh was suddenly rendered leaving a large gaping wound stretching along its mid-section.
It seemed that the raid captain had finally made his move. John hadn't even seen him, but by the time he was able to lay his eyes on the man, he was already at the end of his slash. For the briefest of moments John was able to see tendrils of flames coat the serrated edge of the man's sword. Then just like that he was gone again, sadly the first attack was able to hit home due to the suddenness of the attack.
The man's blade descended once more in an attempt to cleanly sever though its body, he attacked its spine. That time was different though as John and everyone else would find out quite soon after.
The man was met with an immediate and shocking counter. An enormous force hit his back as the man was shot to the ground and finding himself imbedded in a newly formed pit.
The man ripped his sword from the ground next to him. This time though he didn't charge in recklessly, rather a magic circle began forming at the tip of his sword as veins of fire crawled along its surface.
He was finally ready to turn the fight in his favor, he slashed towards the snake and immersed himself In the conflict once more.