Like every other day, Auriel could be seen from afar, running around with weights on his limbs.
He had been running for more than 2 hours, but there was almost no sweat on his formerly fat, but now thin, slightly muscular body.
This had been his morning routine for the past two weeks, aimed at losing his extra weight and gaining some muscle, which had worked better than he expected. Devoting more than half of the day to exercise was definitely worth it.
However, at this moment, all he could think about was stopping and throwing himself on the ground, rubbing his back like a bear, due to the tingling sensation coursing through his entire body.
He was tired but not enough to throw himself to the dirt ground. This sensation was caused by his progress with his abilities.
He was close to ranking up, all he needed to do was increase his mental capacity and maybe the number of strings inside his body.
Increasing his mental capacity was easy. He just needed to meditate to strengthen his mind or experience a life-and-death situation. Meditation was a basic method but took longer.
However, this didn't mean he was going to risk his life to shorten the process; that would be plain stupid. After all, he wasn't a happy-go-lucky novel protagonist.
As for increasing his string capacity, Auriel didn't know if it was necessary for ranking up. The average Awakened usually didn't have an additional capacity like that. So all he could do was hope it wasn't a requirement and look for alternatives.
Despite making significant progress in just half a month, Auriel wasn't feeling joyous about it.
Today was the day he needed to go to the Afterlife Church and speak with an Archbishop. He wanted to be Master before the meeting but all he could do was to give in to his fate and hope for the best.
When the bishop saw his ability and tried to recruit him into the Afterlife Church, Auriel rejected the offer and sent the bishop away. However, he didn't expect the church to put pressure on the Weaver family based solely on the words of a bishop.
Auriel could more or less guess that they wanted him to join the church as a punishment for his crimes against the members of the Afterlife Church that the original Auriel had committed, and to use him as a 'blessed of the God of Afterlife' to spread the faith.
Auriel understood the church's intentions, but he found it unreasonable to pressure the Weaver family like this. When Clint received the news of the pressure, he became furious and was about to go to King Macien, demanding war for his precious little brother. However, Auriel managed to convince Clint to send him as a spy instead.
Going to war against the Afterlife Church was impossible for the Weaver family, as even Duke Weaver wasn't in the city.
For some reason, after Auriel became Awakened overnight, Duke Weaver left the mansion in a hurry and headed towards the East.
No one knew why a Transcendent powerhouse like Duke Weaver would run instead of using a drug-enchanted horse, a semi-tamed Fiend, or transforming into his mystical form.
However, Auriel had a guess about the reason. There was a forbidden zone in the east that borders both the Macien and Dalinnor kingdoms. In that forbidden zone, a colossal Glorious ranked gate, one rank higher than the Transcendent rank gate, was going to open in the future. Even mortal enemies like the Macien and Dalinnor kingdoms had to cooperate to eliminate the gate.
Though Auriel didn't have proper information about what was happening in that forbidden zone, he could still guess the reason for Duke Weaver's haste. It was likely that high-ranking individuals had sensed the signs of the gate opening and sent Duke Weaver to confirm its existence. After all, he specialized in stealth.
With these thoughts in mind, Auriel stopped running and released the weights from his limbs. He stretched his limbs as the heavy metals fell to the ground with a thud.
A sigh escaped him as he made his way back to his room, dragging his feet. He then entered the room, took a bath, and changed into fully dark-colored clothes.
Auriel believed that if he wanted to make a good impression on the church members, he needed to dress and act like them. So, he adopted the appearance of a complete loner.
As he looked at himself in the mirror, he found that he seemed a bit too energetic to pass as a member of the Afterlife Church. He lowered his eyelids halfway and erased the tiny smile that had appeared after seeing the results of his hard work.
He was genuinely pleased with his current body, which had significantly slimmed down. He wasn't exceptionally handsome, maybe slightly above average, but that didn't bother him.
As an Awakened individual, and potentially a future Grandmaster, Transcendent, or Glorious, he knew that his physical appearance would change with each rank up, for better or worse. Perhaps he would develop demonic horns on his head or sharp teeth in his mouth, but he was sure that he would possess an exotic appearance that would attract people.
He wasn't searching for a romantic partner, but he wanted allies and followers. To win people over to his side, he needed a decent appearance, charisma, and a good personality. So, he was giving importance to his looks.
After adjusting his expression, Auriel now appeared like a depressed teenager who had lost all joy in life and wished for death.
"That should do," Auriel whispered to himself, his voice too was like that of a suicidal person.
He turned to Elise, who was petting Loki. "Are you ready now?" he asked, and Elise nodded slowly.
"You know what you need to do in the church. If you make a mistake, I can't guarantee your safety."
And with that, Auriel was prepared to head to the Afterlife Church.