In a place where time and existence had no control over –
Chaos was currently looking at the Heavens with an unfriendly expression, although he wasn't truly angry at the Heavens, no, he was angry with the entity that the Heaven's was guarding. Behind the Heavens was the main part of Fate's consciousness. If either of them had a body one would look like a older sibling who was quite frankly fed up, while the other one looked like they had just emptied the cookie jar while the other two weren't looking.
Completely unrepentant Fate's presence shifted in the cosmic energy displaying its smugness, seeing this Chaos nearly flipped the universe over. No words were spoken as their auras nearly shattered the current timeline and rearranged this newborn universe.
The Heavens seemed to have deflated, it had to restore the balance, Fate had quite literally rearranged, well, Fate, so that ten major powers just so happened to look at Gu Erin at the same time. The coincidence was enough to give the leaders of these major powers pause, and they took their time to examine Gu Erin, and they could easily see through him. As such they were in this current predicament.
The Heavens was going to have to pick up their mess… again. It was already trying to stabilize this timeline after Chaos's last stunt. Now it had to deal with the current imbalance with Chaos's chosen. Although the Heavens wouldn't have allowed Gu Erin to remain in peace. Afterall he had too much potential and talent to go unchecked without trial or tribulation. However, Fate had overstepped its bounds by drawing attention to the mortal and now he had enough targets on his back to make him the center of attention.
The only blessing was that as Chaos's chosen he is outside the web of Fate and thus cannot be divined, he can only be tracked manually with divine sense. Those around him would naturally share this perk as long as they stay within his chaotic halo. However, the damage was done, to these powers who had the patients and lifespan, they could justify staring at a wall for ten years and they would suffer no setback or distraction. To try and escape their sight now would be like trying to tear down a brick wall with a basket of eggs.
The Heavens ran countless calculations as it ran through what could balance this situation. Although the scales were previously tipped in Gu Erin's favor, they had shifted completely the other way. So, the Heavens compromised as it made its decision out loud to the still bickering duo.
Silence befell the two of them as Chaos smiled, and Fate metaphorically stomped in frustration like an insolent child. Fate's main consciousness stormed away, no doubt going to find a way that fairly gets Gu Erin killed, so that Chaos, or the Heavens can't interfere without breaking their Dao.
***
Heaven's Mercy, Haymire
Gu Erin was trying his best to start screaming, desperately looking for an outlet for the pain, but found as soon as he expelled his lung full of air he could not breathe in. The amount of pressure felt like a mountain slowly crushing him to death. Gu Erin's head was pressed down on the ground in his own bile, the worst part of the situation Gu Erin could not feel any aura, or any type of force making him suffer. The only possibility that could explain this situation made Gu Erin wish he had waited to do this errand; this force was natural suppression.
However, in the end ,it was important to get this done now, as other Earth cultivators weren't around to take notice of his talents and innate qualities. Meeting a branching consciousness of the Heavens themselves was not within his expectations. If only this damn Heavens would simply evaluate him and get it over with. But, instead the Heavens in the form of the evaluator just stared at him intently.
It wasn't till five minutes later, and Gu Erin was about to die from lack of breath that the Evaluator spoke again. The voice and presence of the Heaven's had disappeared, and with the disappearance, Gu Erin took in gasping , almost wheezing breaths as his consciousness slowly started to return to him.
The Evaluator spoke, not caring about Gu Erin's plight, "Your evaluation is finished, unfortunately my superior unintentionally harmed you during this process. As such the Temple of the Heavens will give you just compensation." With a wave of the Evaluator's hand two things appeared in front of Gu Erin. One was a jade tablet, and another was a large bag.
When Gu Erin felt the ambient qi start to strengthen and gather he froze before shakily checking the bag's contents.
He opened the bag, blinked, looked up, looked back down and then started nodding to himself. He kept nodding as if he was a broken man before a wide, almost lewd smile grew on his face. If a parent were to see Gu Erin make this smile on Earth they would have quickly escorted their child away.
Gu Erin in fact, looked at the contents of the mortal grade spatial bag like he was looking at his long-lost love. In the spirit bag was over five hundred low grade spirit stones. Unlike spatial rings that had a separate space and perfectly preserved what went in them, low grade spatial bags were often created by novices as their quality was at the absolute lowest. However, that did not mean that they weren't useful. For goods that did not deteriorate, or were considered lesser value and only worth something in higher quantities the spatial bag was worth every copper.
Unlike the standard currency like copper, silver, and gold, spirit stones were the currency of true cultivators. Spirit stones is solidified qi, cultivators can absorb this crystalized qi easily and it can speed up one's cultivation. For those who wish to save time and build their foundation faster and with more depth, spirit stones were needed in large quantities. This was not the only use; they were needed in almost every practice.
A blacksmith? Throw spirit stones in the fire and add powdered spirit stone to your creation to strengthen it and purify the materials. An alchemist? Break spirit stones around you to increase the ambient qi to improve your focus and the amount of qi the concoction can draw upon. Formation master? Nothing within the formation master could be done without spirit stone.
This was the absolute currency within Heaven's Mercy, Gu Erin nearly hugged the Evaluator's thigh to bring back his superior to suffer a bit more. However, just as Gu Erin was about to pounce towards the Evaluator he caught something at the corner of his eye. This jade tablet, wasn't there a bit more than there should be?
Calming down, Gu Erin picked up the jade tablet, with each line furrows formed on his brow as his face formed an indeterminate frown.
Gu Erin - Human Clan - Origin World: Earth
Bone Age – 20 Years
Cultivation Realm – Mortal
Spirit Root – Divine Origin Defying Root
Physique – Divine Chaotic Body
Bloodline – Immortal War Tyrant
Divine Soul Stage – SEALED
Fate – 0
Dao Heart – General Grade
Laws and Concepts – None
Cultivation Method – None
Martial Arts – None
"What the fuck." Those were the words that unconsciously came out of Gu Erin's mouth. However, instead of building upon that apt profanity, those same words echoed in his mind like a broken record.
To say that his confusion and inability to understand the current information to the point of feeling dyslexic would be true. Gu Erin read over the tablet once again, and then again, and for a third time. Just as Gu Erin was about to repeat this for the fourth time he stopped and put it away.
He could not understand some of the aspects, so he simply ignored that problem for later, he already knew that he had become an existence that defied logic so he accepted that somethings wouldn't match. However, he didn't expect it be to this extent.
Gu Erin had neither bloodline nor physique, his divine soul should be unweakened, and why does he have zero fate? Every living being has fate, even an insect has a fate. It was part of the natural order. It was also a weapon. Karmic sects could use fate to lead a clan or faction to its downfall as long as their sect had a higher fate. Some even said that killing individuals with a higher fate than your own would cause bad karma to accumulate, do it enough and it might kill you. He was not surprised about the grade of his Dao heart as it had come over with his soul, but was unsealed.
The Dao heart followed the seven grades: Warrior, Adept, General, Grandmaster, Monarch, Emperor, and finally the last two options depending on one's personal Dao. The Divine Heart or the Devil Heart, each is said to be the last step to the highest realm.
However, what made Gu Erin confused the most was of course the three changes in his innate talent. He had never heard of any of these before. Normally word spread because in the beginning the cultivators of Earth foolishly bragged about their talent. This allowed Gu Erin some basic knowledge of some of the variety of the innate talents. Yet he had never heard of someone having all three.
Spirit roots and bloodlines could be stolen, but physiques were apart of you and could not be taken away or mimicked. Unless one took over your body it's something that is, and forever will be yours. However, Gu Erin wasn't sure about what these talents meant or what they were capable of. One wrong move with any of them could quickly spell his death. While utilizing them correctly could mean harnessing power to cross realms to fight on equal footings.
Gu Erin then grimaced, he now knew what the spirit stones were for, such information could only be found in one place. That was the Temple of the Heavens, which he currently stood atop of. No doubt this information would be pricy enough to nearly bankrupt him. His current joy directed at the Evaluator quickly turned into wanting to spit fire at him. What a hateful Heavens.