Keith sat cross legged inside a room especially made for his secluded cultivation.
Infront of him were around 40 slaves whom he had bought from the market to make a sacrifice and enter the 4th layer of his warrior tactic.
Although this cultivation speed was astonishing to others, it was a different story for the sibling duo, especially Keith, it was frustrating to say the least.
He had a strong feeling that he could increase his strenght by leaps and bounds as long as he made a sacrifice big enough, but due to his situation, he couldn't.
Even the progress he had made till this point was the result of all the sacrifices he had made by killing his slaves and wild animals.
He had tried to gain some power by killing his opponents in battle, but that only gave him temperory boost in strength which he had to immediately use. Only by killing a considerable amount of beings could he gain any permanent increase in strength or cultivation.
He wanted more strength, more power so that he could complete all the tasks given by his lord and spread his name far and wide. And so, he wanted to break through to the fourth layer as soon as possible.
When one brokethrough to the 4th layer, one would finally reach the grand completion of the tactic and gain a body with almost indestrutible bones and tendons and the vital force in their bodies would be replaced by another energy called 'spiritual force' and have the lifespan of around 200 years. Not only that, they'd even gain something called a sea of consciousness and the ability to control some elemental particles to some extent.
Keith took a dagger threw it at one of the slaves, the slave didn't dodge and died on the spot.
He repeated this action 39 times and finally, all the slaves had died.
"Lord, this lowly servant has made this offering to you, please accept."
The blood on the floor started boiling and soon, a dark fog manifested itself around Keith.
He closed his eyes and started cultivating his warrior tactic, eagerly waiting for his lord's blessing.
He felt all of his vital force being condensed around his gut, and suddenly shooting up towards his brain.
*spat*
He spat a mouthful of blood and his condition started worsening, but the black mist was somehow able to control the violent vital force inside Keith.
After 40 minutes.
*Buzz*
Keith felt a mind nunbing situation and the sound of glass breaking soon followed.
'Is this...' He found himself inside a sea of some kind, it looked bounless to the eyes but Keith could feel how big it exactly was.
'Rank 4...' He sighed internally. Normally, even the ancestors of those low-level noble families may not be at the this realm.
He soon opened his eyes and observed his body.
His skin now had a metallic luster and every movement of his contained might enough to kill anyone below rank 3 with a punch.
He was revelling in his newfound strength, but soon he felt a headache painful enough to kill ordinary humans.
"A...task?" He murmured.
His lord had finally given him a task after so many years, and to complete the task, he had also been
the power to hypnotize anyone.
"Anything for my lord."
The task that his lord had given him was to create an organization of his own and then overthrow the king of this kingdom, and lead an army on a path of slaughter, death, and destruction.
If this was Keith from a few years ago, then he definetly would've hesitated, however, now the only thing he wanted to do was fulfill his lord's wishes.
...
Time passed in a blink of an eye and 5 years passed.
Keith and Nessa had left the mercenary guild and started making preparations to create their own cult.
They had both reached rank 4, there were very few people who could pose a threat to the duo even though they hid the fact that they had brokenthrough.
During these years, all of their focus was on establishing the cult, and so, they hadn't focused much on cultivation, making very little progress.
The members of their cult had to sign a contract before joining, with most of its members hypnotized to never reveal the information about the cult, just to be extra cautious.
Once they had become leaders, they had popularised the name of the 'Bringer of darkness' and had the members make offerings of slaughter on a monthly basis. The existance of 'Bringer of darkness' had become a subject of adoration for almost everyone as they could feel their power increasing at a speed that they had never experienced before.
This only made the members have stronger faith in the Bringer of Darkness, but the ones who got the most benefits were the sibling duo as they had both reached the peak of rank 4 within a month after the organization became a little popular.
Most warrior tactics had no mention of ranks after rank 4, and so, even those geniuses couldn't make progress after this point, but the sibling duo was different. They could grow stronger as long as they made enough sacrifices.