The Sins

by Pegaz A

“I don’t understand how you could possibly believe any of it was worth it.” He laughed cruelly. “And if you’re confused, the last two things are a parting gift from me.”

  As the words left his lips, John took out his nano sword and sliced Jeremy’s scalp open. While it could not kill a Rank 9, John put his black fingernails inside the exposed brain and pulled.

  What came out was Jeremy’s soul.

  It was the same size and shape as Jeremy’s brain, and John could feel it was millions of times stronger than Isake’s.

  John pushed the soul into his mouth and swallowed it.

  Chapter 14

  The Life of Jeremy

  As soon as John ate Jeremy’s soul, the vision of Jeremy’s first memory as a child spanned across half of his vision. Wanting to concentrate on the memories, John sat up in his chair.

  Jeremy was born to a young couple who were wearing the Rogue Sect’s robes. His first memory was their faces and the robes. As he grew, he learned what the Rogue Sect did and who his parents were. He wanted to become an assassin like his parents someday.

  But when he was thirteen, his parents died on a group mission. An investigation went on after the group had been wiped out, and the results showed someone misinformed them of the strength of their targets. Of course, Jeremy blamed the sect for not giving them the proper information that could have saved their lives. An entire group of fifteen people was lost due to sheer miscommunication. Nothing was done to console him, and he carried on through life full of bitterness and spite.

  The Rogue Sect took care of him until he turned twenty-one, which was when he became an immortal.

  During the same year he became an immortal, there was a sect meeting. It was in this meeting that he met Jamie, who was a year older than him. The two became friends and rivals. When one came back from a successful mission and the other was inside the sect, they would hear about it. Their friendship worked like this for years with no qualms. Jeremy had finally felt like he made peace with his life.

  But that soon came to an end. When Jamie turned fifty-eight years old, he was noticed by an elder and taken in as his disciple. Jeremy was completely left behind. He could no longer match the strength and technique of his former rival no matter how hard he trained. Without a proper teacher, he was flailing in the wind.

  Through the years that followed, Jeremy tried everything he could to catch up. He robbed his targets or charged the clients extra behind the sect’s back. The Rogue Sect took a 10% cut of all missions, so Jeremy tried to get around this in any way he could. His greed grew worse and worse. A few years further along the line, he accidentally saw the inside of the Rogue Sect’s vault and was stricken with envy and greed.

  After Jeremy reached Rank 5 at 1,105 years of age, things started going downhill.

  He was doing a long distance mission. His target was in the middle of the desert, hiding out in a well-placed cave. Jeremy found him after months of searching, and he beheaded his target swiftly and with ease. At that point, he was to return to the sect, but his greed lead him in another direction.

  He searched the target’s pockets but found nothing valuable. He turned over tables and ransacked the place, searching for anything of value. Frustrated at finding nothing, Jeremy cried out and hacked at a wall with his sword.

  The wall made a hollow sound.

  His interest piqued, Jeremy continued to hack at the wall. He could hear it now; a soft breeze of airflow on the other side. His curiosity drove him onward and he continued his excavation. When the wall had a hole big enough for him to fit through, he entered the hidden room. Inside, he found a book on a pedestal. Thinking nothing of traps or the reason it would be there, the driven man picked it up to read.

  It was the memory manipulation technique.

  After learning the technique, he realised the potential it had if he used it correctly. From that point on, he experimented with the manipulation technique on his targets during missions when it was possible. He found the drawback of the technique as he couldn’t alter a person’s thought process without them being infected for years. To reduce this time, it would take centuries of practice and effort.

  However, he knew how powerful he could become if he mastered this technique. He also knew how many resources he could get his hands on if the infected people of the sect were under his control. The fiery passion for revenge was lit anew deep within him. He could finally get back at the sect for his parents’ deaths. He could get back at his best friend for leaving him behind. His new course was set, and he had all the determination in the world to carry him through.

  But just under five hundred years later, Jamie’s master and lover died fighting a Sider who attacked the Rogue Sect.

  From that moment on, Jeremy held no jealousy or ill will towards Jamie. Instead, he pitied him for growing soft. He tried to find his old friend to console him, but found out that Jamie was away. Word was that he’d taken the Sider’s body and placed it somewhere, which confused him.

  Thousands of years later, Jeremy had gotten much better at controlling the technique. His victims now fell under his control within a year. He’d found a way to use Life Power in his voice at the same frequency to control the infected people, which was something the technique hadn’t mentioned. For the voice to work, however, his target must be completely under his control.

  At this point, he’d used the technique on only one person inside the Rogue Sect. His biggest fear was that his victim would find out and kill him for it. The person he targeted took over twenty years to become subdued; the amount of time needed compared to what it typically took shocked Jeremy to the core.

  But when the person was finally subdued, he gave 80% of his mission rewards to Jeremy, 10% to the sect, and kept 10% for himself to grow stronger. Jeremy’s first taste of free resources boosted his greed and determination to infect everybody in the sect, but he needed to practice much more to get the twenty years of required time down to as little as possible.

  Jeremy kept gaining strength as he got older, and his talent for cultivation was high. It was only his bad luck that stopped him from being recruited as a disciple in his early years.

  Jeremy reached Rank 6 when he turned 1,704 years old. He reached Rank 7 when he turned 2,691, and Rank 8 when he was 5,294. He finally became a Rank 9 powerhouse when he turned 9,824, which was rare. Becoming a Rank 9 before the 10,000-year mark was a sign of great talent.

  Thousands of years passed as he practiced the technique on anybody he could find. When Jeremy turned 33,500, he had used the technique on more than half of the people inside the sect. He noticed that the higher ranked the person was, the longer it took to control them. The people inside the Rogue Sect had strong minds, so they took much longer to conquer regardless of rank.

  A few years went by and Jamie became the sect master. On that day, Jeremy became angry once more. The thought of destroying the sect flashed through his mind, but he refrained. Jamie was a Rank 9 like he was, so it would take many years for the technique to control Jamie. He figured that he might as well get started as soon as possible.

  At the ceremony to give Jamie the sect master position, Jeremy walked over and congratulated him with a handshake. It was through this handshake that Jeremy used the technique with nobody suspecting a thing.

  Six hundred years later, news of another Sider joining the sect reached his ears. At first, Jeremy was excited. Maybe this Sider could become a demon and help him control the sect. However, the news carried out that Jamie had become his master soon after. That would complicate things.

  Jamie wasn’t completely under his control yet. Jeremy was getting worried about the length needed for the technique to work; the longer it went on, the higher the chance of somebody finding out. He also became worried about the Sider spoiling his plans since Siders were known to meddle. Somewhat pressed, he sent Michael to find out what mission he went on and meet him there.

  When Michael came back and reported what he learned about the Sider, Jamie became
even more worried. The Sider had some ability that allowed him to discover the identities of even his fellow Rogue Sect members—that was unheard of, yet this Sider had done exactly that with Michael.

  When the Sider went on a long distance mission, Jeremy could only sigh in relief. That gave him a few more years for his plan to work.

  Jamie fell under his control a few months after John left. Feeling the start of his victory, Jeremy turned all communications with the outside universe off. It was then that he took over the sect.

  The Sider returned, but Jeremy didn’t hear about it for some time. Michael sent a message to him about John’s return. John turned down his offer so Jeremy felt like he had no choice but to remove this threat.

  Pushing his plan into the final stages, Jeremy killed Jamie. He then took the sect master’s token off Jamie’s body before killing John and escaping the collapsing mission hub.

  Jeremy became the sect master within a span of three months after Jamie’s death.

  He found the vault empty and accidently destroyed it from the inside out. Years later, he put the sect master token inside a hidden compartment and carried on cultivating.

  On a silent night, his vision shot up and around like a rollercoaster. When it stopped spinning, he noticed a man standing next to his big, round body.

  He realised he’d been beheaded.

  When he found out it was the Sider, his only thought was to find out how.

  John opened his left eye. Judging by the state of the room and the clock in the system, he took a rough guess that a week had passed.

  Chapter 15

  Unique

  John thought about the memories he’d just absorbed.

  Though he didn’t see the whole life of his master, John saw Jamie when he was younger and how he grew up. He saw Jeremy’s targets from the missions over the thousands of years, and all the planets, locations and strange things. He also saw all the absorbing and breathing techniques Jeremy learned during his life.

  John had technically lived over 35,000 years with the memories of Jeremy now.

  But the memory of Jeremy finding the technique sitting there on a pedestal, waiting for somebody to pick it up made John sure his theory was correct.

  The Sider who created the technique must have gained strength because of the number of people that were controlled. There were no traps to stop people, and no test to see if they were right for the technique. There was nothing.

  Cultivators who left their techniques to the later generations would always make sure the person who received it was worthy. There was always a trial or a test for the person who found it.

  But the person who left it there couldn’t care less who found it.

  ‘Ding!’

  John’s eyebrows arched upwards in surprise upon hearing the system. He opened it up.

  Welcome to the Idle system 5.9.

  Memory Manipulation - Idlers 0/616, Instant - 0/1, Threads - 0/1, Voice - 0/1

  Atom Defence - Idlers 0/616, Atom Size - 0/1

  Sinners Shop - Idlers 0/616, Continuation - 0/1

  *UNIQUE* Creation - Idlers 0/616, Oxygen - 0/1, Combine - 0/1

  John noticed the *UNIQUE* in the skill’s name first and his eyes bulged out from surprise before he calmed down and read the description of each skill.

  *UNIQUE* Creation:

  Oxygen: Creates oxygen from carbon dioxide inside the lungs, you will never have to breathe to survive again. This skill will remove Organ Strength’s Lung Capacity skill.

  Combine: Able to combine the elements you can use to create new elements.

  Atom Defence:

  Atom Size: The atoms inside the skin combine when meeting force, causing molecules unable to pass through.

  Sinners Shop:

  Continuation: Add the breathing and absorbing techniques you’ve learnt to the unique technique you’ve created from the shop.

  Memory Manipulation:

  Instant: Reduce the time required to take control of the infected person to one second.

  Threads: Able to use the technique through your threads.

  Voice: Use your voice to control the person who’s under your control.

  Bonus for maxing all skill levels: Changes the frequency of the technique.

  As John read about all the skills, his mind was swirling.

  The system was at 5.9 now, but only four skills had shown up. The only difference between this time and all the other times was the unique skill, which very much intrigued him. The three normal skills still counted as 0.1 each, just like every other time. The two parts of the unique skill took 0.3 each.

  Is that why the skills didn’t show when the system got updated to 5.0? The unique skill takes more spots for each part of the skill, so it might take longer for the skill to update the system?

  But it was worth it, too. If John completed the skill, then he could go to space, under the sea, or even to the centre of the planet again with no need to be worried about survival.

  The ‘combine elements’ portion piqued his interest, too. He didn’t know any combinations at the moment, but he could experiment to find out.

  Are atoms smaller than molecules, then? I think so since the skill says the atoms can block molecules. That means the nano swords I’ve created for me and Sarah can no longer threaten us since we’re immune to the metal element and the molecule-sized blade can’t cut us.

  It still surprised John that the molecule-sized blade could overpower the metal immunity skill.

  The Sinners Shop skill is brilliant, too. I’m getting 100,000 Life Power every minute when using 3 parts of the mind now, but if I read more techniques, then that will go up after completing this skill.

  John couldn’t help but wonder how Jeremy would feel. The man had spent over 30,000 years honing the skill to perfection, but John would be able to use it almost instantaneously. He wouldn’t even have to touch his target for the skill to work; he could just use his threads once the other part of the skill was complete.

  Jeremy used his voice to control his victims like what he did to Jamie inside the mission hub. It was more than likely that he ordered Jamie to stop making vitality from Life Power and to give up his defences. That was the only way John could think of that a normal gun could have killed a Rank 9 immortal.

  And finally, the max bonus. While the other skills don’t have a maxed bonus, this one is brilliant. If ever the Sider who created this technique comes here, he can no longer take over the people I’ve infected since it’s a different frequency.

  The only thing I can do now, though, is to wait for the Idlers to complete the level.

  John turned the Continue setting off and checked the skill to see how long was left.

  Immortality List:

  Neuron Storage - Idlers 616/616, Compress 4/9, Time - 4mo 21d 22h 16m 50s

  Just under 5 months… That’s a long time when you’ve got a new skill and want to level it up! I’ve got to adjust my plans to include the Rogue Sect, then.

  John took Jeremy’s head and placed it inside the Storage Space. His fire wasn’t strong enough to burn a Rank 9’s corpse to ashes. Before he left, he remembered where Jeremy hid the sect master token and picked it up before walking back to his own house.

  Once in his home, he retrieved Jeremy’s body and placed it inside the Storage Space. He didn’t stick around long, though. Soon, he was walking towards the admin building in the centre of the sect.

  When he arrived inside the building, he checked everybody out with Life Vision and Immortal Eye. Everybody inside the building had the memory manipulation status, but because he hadn’t gotten the skill completed yet, he couldn’t order them about with the technique. He walked toward the biggest desk and climbed on top of it, reaching into his storage space. He pulled out the sect master token for all to see.

  “Sect Master Jeremy has given me his orders!” he called out in a military voice. “You are to contact every sect member in the universe and tell them to come back as soon as possible! They
have a maximum of twelve months to get here from today, and if they fail to get here in time, then they become a contract themselves!”

  Everybody in the room looked up at John speaking and saw the sect master token in his hands. The token was a black, octagon-shaped piece of metal with a 6-inch diameter. The sides and the back were plain while the front had a big, red R in the middle with two daggers to the side of the letter.

  The people saluted John and promptly followed the order.

  “The sect master said he was going to hold an important meeting,” he explained. “Every member in the sect must attend.”

  “Sir!” the person with the highest rank in the room called out. “We don’t have a place inside the sect large enough to hold every member of the sect all at once.”

  “Ah, yes.” John smiled. “That’s why there’s a second order to build a temporary meeting place. I do not know what the sect master is intending to speak about so please do not ask. The payment to build it is a stash of Grade 8 life stones. I suggest everyone hurry along, there are only twelve months.”

  John handed the promised life stones to the construction team that approached him thereafter. They told him that the work would be completed within six months.

  With his deeds set into motion, John walked out of the admin building and headed north. He wanted to see what had changed in the North Kingdom of the mortal area since he’d left.

  He had almost five months of time to kill.

  Chapter 16

  Repaying Amanda

  John came to the small building with the teleport rune leading to the immortal village where Amanda lived. Walking inside, he saw the same elder he met when he first came to this place. The man was sitting down on the same chair above a small patch of grass that John didn’t notice last time. He had the same black beard and messy hair. John checked the man out with Immortal Eye.

  ???

  Rank: 5

  Level: 9

  Sin: 2

  Status: Memory manipulated