"System, you call that SIMPLE?!" Ken yelled out in anger and frustration. The others were surprised since they had not been privy to the conversation Ken just had with his System, to them it just seemed as if he had started screaming out of nowhere.
"Apologies, everyone, I was talking to my System." He explained massaging his temples to calm down, thinking to himself that this System really must have been designed by a sadistic person.
'Are you trying to play me to death? How do you expect someone like me to gather the essence of a Divine Being?!'
# Host, there's no need for you to become angry. I would also like to ask you to refrain from interrupting me each and every time I'm explaining things to you. If you had let me finish, I had been just about to tell you that it DIDN'T have to be the essence of a LIVING Divine Being #
# As luck would have it, the remnant essence of a Divine Being that had long since passed is within 5 km of your current location. Just ask your friend to lead you to the treasury of the Thunder-eagle Clan #
'... fine, I apologize for being rude, but this still seems like you're asking the impossible of me. I may be an Eternal Emperor Seedling, but will that really make them hand me over the essence of a Divine Being? Judging by the name alone, I'm sure it has to be quite valuable, and the fact that it's in their treasury just assures me that it is.'
# You're correct, Host, yet they have no use for it. Simply ask your eagle friend if they have a strange statue in their treasury that gives him an uncomfortable vibe that even an Imperial Lord Stage cultivator can't give him #
Ken took a deep breath before turning to the giant eagle who still looked at Ken in confusion after his earlier outburst. Since the communication between him and the System had been in his mind, barely any time had passed: "Galatris, by any chance, is there a very strange statue in your treasury that gives you an uncomfortable vibe… one that even an Imperial Lord can't give you? My System tells me that it can help me unlock a Supreme Cultivation Method if I absorb it."
Galatris' confusion rose, now because the System, which the giant eagle assumed to be just another name or manifestation of the 'gift' that each Seedling would be granted, happened to know about the statue. In his head he was calculating the potential risks and benefits that would come from letting the human near that 'thing'. He ultimately concluded that it would be far too dangerous for Ken who currently lacked any cultivation base whatsoever.
"Yes, there is such a thing." Galatris answered slowly. "Coincidentally I also happen to have the authority to give it to you but what are the benefits that you will gain from this Cultivation Method that requires such a spooky item? I have plenty of Supreme Cultivation Methods for you to learn."
# Host, please repeat after me:
'Gods descend to the call of the Emperor but to be worthy you have to first prove yourself as one of them.
Only the worthy are worthy and only the one destined to become the Emperor shall become the Emperor.
The Seedlings are just stepping stones, a staircase for the Emperor to descend into the Heavenly Realm to reign supreme for the era to come.
Hardships and suffering are nothing that can not be surpassed by fate.
Fate and Fate alone is it that makes the Emperor the Emperor and if the world is blind Doomsday will rise and the Dark Emperor will reign supreme.' #
This time, Ken didn't even bother questioning the System about its reasoning this time. He just repeated word for word, verse for verse as he was told, with each line making the giant eagle open his maw a bit wider.
"Where did you learn this?" Galatris asked in total bafflement.
"My System told me," Ken answered truthfully.
"Where did your System learn this ?"
'System where did you learn this?'
# Apologies, Host, but you're not privy to that information just yet. Perhaps once you reach a the Emperor Realm will I be allowed to tell you, perhaps you will have to reach even greater heights. Just know that as long as you survive and improve, there should come a day when you learn the full prophecy #
"I'm sorry, it told me I wasn't worthy to know about it at the moment." Ken let out a sigh as he answered. "Could you tell me what exactly it was? It sounded quite ominous."
"It was this prophecy that called upon the first Eternal Emperor, millions of years ago." Galatris answered.
"It can't be common sense if you react like this. Is it restricted knowledge that only Immortals or those at the peak of power are allowed to know? I once read a book about the benefits of limiting information to a handful of people…" Ken started to talk.
"Not quite, though it is something that I believed only Guardians would know." Galatris interrupted him, not willing to listen to the content of a book that had more mistakes than words multiplied by his feather count.
"Where did you get the knowledge from?" Ken asked, not at all bothered, that he got interrupted.
"You could say it was from the Eternal Emperor himself. All those who were chosen to become Guardians received something like a vision where the Eternal Emperor appeared and instructed us on our duties." Galatris answered, though from his tone Ken felt like the giant eagle didn't wish to go into more details, or perhaps he wasn't allowed to.
"Alright, but now that you know that my System apparently also knows that prophecy, can I have it, this strange spooky statue, I mean?" Ken asked, not quite sure if hearing it would make Galatris reconsider.
"Well, Master I can give it to you but it is very powerful and extremely spooky so I think you shouldn't absorb it without any cultivation base at all." Galatris answered, clear concern in his voice, not denying the request but not really accepting it at all.
# Host, tell him that the Cultivation Method will be most powerful when practiced from scratch #
"Galatris, my System insists that it will lose in power if I don't begin my cultivation journey with its Cultivation Method alone." Ken relayed, slowly getting tired of being the in-between man for his System and Galatris.
"... alright, Master, in that case I will get the statue for you. Wait here!" Galatris instructed and the next moment he vanished into thin air.
'I wonder which Cultivation Realm I'll have to reach to be able to do the same.'
# It isn't anything fancy, Host. Your feathery friend just moves too fast for your mortal brain with no cultivation to follow. Once you reach the Mortal Overlord Stage you should be able to see him leave at what should be his casual walking speed #
"What about you guys, did your Systems grant you any special Cultivation Methods, or do you also have to jump through hoops like me?" Ken asked his friends, who had so far just watched Ken's interaction with Galatris from the side.
"In my case, my Golden System of Slaughter granted me a base Cultivation Method called 'Supreme Scripture of Blood and Eternal Slaughter'. From what it told me, it grants me EXP for almost everything I do, but given the name I'm sure I will only get the most if I use it to fight. Still, I should be able to level up quickly in the beginning doing some simple tasks, before I can start making full use of it." Kerum revealed with a sly smile.
"You lucky bastard!" David cursed at Kerum, before explaining his own circumstances. "My Human Emperor System gave me a Cultivation Method called 'Supreme Scripture of Human Supremacy', but in order to progress I will have to gather loyal subordinates, then train them to their maximum potential. Argh, just thinking how much time this will take me is giving me a headache!"
"There's no need to overthink it, Brother, it will simply be impossible for you. My husband's Summoners System can just summon people, which will make it super dooper ultra hard to find even a begger that would follow your comand even if you pay him, feed him and give him something to fuck." Shyla teased which resulted in echoing laughter from all but David who just gave Ken a defeated look.
"Don't let it bother you, David, you're still lucky in comparison to me. My Bestial Overlord System didn't give me any special Cultivation Method. In fact, it's unwilling to tell me more about its functions until I prove myself worthy by taming my first Beast." Richard let out a deep sigh.
"Oh, I believe that makes me the luckiest then, excluding Kerum with his EXP-based System, as his Eternal Empress I can seemingly link my cultivation progress to Ken's, so I won't have to cultivate at all. My main objective is to gain Wisdom-Points to unlock knowledge of this world." Shyla explained giddily.
They continued to laugh and joke around, David and Richard being the two butt of the jokes. Everyone who ever read a novel with an EXP-based or a summoning type System knew that these were the goddamned overlords of System hierarchy. The latter was riding a bullet train in a marathon and the former is like using a warp-engine in a sprint.
After Galatris returned to the palace he held a strange statue in his hands. It looked like a Glaive that separated Heaven and Earth with small bolts of Lightning circling around it.
# Essence of a Divine Being detected #
# Do you wish to absorb it to unlock the Supreme Cultivation Art of Summoning (Divine Scripture) #
'Yes please.'
# Absorbing, please wait #
After accepting the absorption the statue transformed into a ray of light and pierced into Ken's forehead.
# 30% ... 50% ... 75% ... 95% ... 99% #
# Absorption completed, implanting knowledge about the Supreme Cultivation Art of Summoning (Divine Scripture) directly into the Host's consciousness #
With these words, Kens' vision blacked out and he fainted, shocking everyone in the room.