by Ivory Scott
'Cosmo!'
With a thought, the [Cosmos Revolving Grimoire] was summoned, and it appeared in front of him in a flash of violet light. The grimoire currently had only five pages available. The first page allowed Jodye to check his own status or overall condition. Everything about himself was within the mysterious runes of the first page, and he needed only to sink his perception inside the page, and the runes would dance and form hieroglyphs.
The second and third page hosted illustrations and data about his two guardians. The fourth and fifth pages were blank. Currently, Jodye's heavenly grimoire only gave him access to the first ability: Summoner. Summoner had eight seals, and he had unlocked just the beginning seal.
Through this ability, Jodye Trill was able to use his [Cosmos Revolving Grimoire] to force a contract with any beast who's soul was in a vulnerable state. With a mental command from Jodye Trill, the grimoire opened and flipped automatically to the blank fourth page. Then, different thoughts begin to flood Jodye's mind, as if they were his own.
[No mental defenses detected.]
[Would host like to enslave captured infant level god beast?]
"Enslave?" Jodye was startled as he held the purring little Twilight Sphinx cub. Who could ruthlessly enslave something so cute?
"The benefit from letting the grimoire refine its soul is far more then what you've imagined. This is a true Origin God Beast, and you could assimilate its bloodline. How mighty would you be then? Don't be soft," came the emotionless and cold voice of Sylvester Tricko via telepathy. He sounded like a devil seducing Jodye with evil thoughts.
"I seem to remember that I am able to form a contract without refining its soul?" asked Jodye Trill, and he heard a disdainful snort in his mind immediately after.
[Initiate a standard beast contract rather than a slave contract.]
[If the contract beast's strength surpasses the host, the contract can be forcibly broken.]
[As a result, the host will then suffer severe soul damage.]
[This is not recommended.]
[Continue?]
"What do you think X?" Jodye Trill asked Xavier Tricko via telepathy. Xavier may be a bit of a character, but he was often the most level headed among the present minds. Jodye had already started treating these two guardians of his as partners in this strange new world. He would, of course, seek Xavier's opinion. Especially in matters related to the grimoire.
"There are benefits to be obtained with either course of action. You won't suffer a loss either way," Said Xavier Tricko via telepathy. Xavier seems to know far more about the capabilities of a grimoire than Sylvester. Although Xavier didn't say it directly, Jodye caught his hidden meaning: there was no real reason to kill the beast and enslave its soul, and there could even be some hidden benefits if he didn't. However, ultimately the choice was his own.
"Continue," Jodye gave the grimoire the green light. The next instant, the fourth page lit up in mysterious fate runes that flew out of the page and surrounded the Twilight Sphinx, Eureka.
The runes chained together as they wrapped all around Eureka, sinking into her body. Eureka was shaking and letting out contented purrs. On her the forehead of her face, which oddly resembled a little girl's, a strange rune was glowing in the center. The rune flew out and landed on Jodye's glabella, before melting within.
Then the page emitted a purple glow and Eureka disappeared. Once the light faded, there was a picture of a majestic looking adult Twilight Sphinx, surrounded by a misty nimbus cloud, a crimson colored third eye shining on its forehead. The clouds in the picture weren't stationary, and the page felt alive. It's vibrant pelt, which was typically gold in color, would sometimes shift to different colors. Sometimes baby blue, sometimes crimson, but there was a hint of bright gold in each color.
'Summon Eureka!'
Jodye Trill felt the origin energy in his body empty by more than half as the Grimoire lit up and Eureka jumped out the fourth page and hopped right into his embrace. She rubbed her face against his as she purred.
[Summon Status: Infant Stage - Spirit Bound]
[Summon Time: undefined]
The current status of Jodye's contract beast appeared in his mind. Also, Jodye Trill felt indescribably close with Eureka, now. Almost as if they were blood kin.
'Summon all Guardians!'
The Cosmos Revolving Grimoire flipped back to the second and third pages which glowed brightly with violet light. This time Jodye Trill felt his remaining Origin energy deplete by one third, as beautiful green and black flames danced into the air, and a majestic sword whistled as it slashed out through the smoke, landing directly in front of Jodye Trill. Jodye's eyes brightened looking at the glorious heavy sword.
It was plain and unadorned but still looked majestic and overbearing. The sword had a fiercely sharp blade that was so bright red it seemed to be made of scorching hot metal. There was a red gem in the center of the guard, and inside the gem, one could see a little puppy boy sitting in the lotus position with his eyes closed. Behind the sword, the flames receded into the small body of a sky wolf pup. Summoning his own Guardians was apparently far easier than summoning other creatures, as the energy expended was far less.
[Guardian Summon Status: Infant Stage]
[Guardian 1 Compatibility Rating: 62%]
[Guardian 2 Compatibility Rating: 17%]
[No Skills Unlocked]
[Summon Time: 5 minutes]
"The summoning time is still so short," grumbled Jodye Trill.
"This is because you are weak," said Sylvester indifferently, as he casually defied gravity.
"Oh, pretty lucky, she made a spirit bound contract with you." Xavier Tricko said via telepathy. His voice sounded happily surprised. However, Jodye was frowning. Using the summon function for anything but his guardians took far too much of his origin energy, it was over half! This was rather impractical.
"She's an origin god beast, do you think it would be easy to summon her? It will only get harder. However, since she's spirit bound it means once she's summoned she can stay by your side as long as you want. That you don't have to worry." Xavier Tricko reassured him, "Unlike us, who are soul's bound by fate, you must grow stronger before we can truly help you. As your strength increases our compatibility rating will also improve. You're simply too weak for now. Even if you can summon us with the grimoire, what can we do? You can't even lift Fenrir yet."
"Maybe if you took your Sage cultivation seriously enough, you wouldn't have this problem." Sylvester Tricko snorted at Xavier, then used his words to kick Jodye Trill while he was down.
It wasn't that Jodye had been intentionally slacking on his Sage cultivation, he was worried: at the speed in which he cultivates energy, wouldn't Jodye draw endless suspicions if he did it openly? His experience as a spy resulted in him being excessively cautious towards certain things. Not to mention his mother's constant warnings lately.
How could it be okay to show off so much while he was still so weak? How could he be blind to the enemies his mother had at home, or the unstable state of affairs within the House? Merely, since Jodye Trill was currently a child, there was nothing he could do for these adult problems. He was presently weak and irrelevant.
Worst of all, soon he wouldn't be cute anymore. How tragic was this? It was fun while it lasted, of course. All he could do now was raise his strength discreetly. For this reason, Jodye had not practiced the Bright Star: Battle Book since he had returned to Saint Anubis City with his mother. He didn't want to cause another commotion like before.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Chapter nineteen
The teacher’s promise and the student’s weapon
Jodye shook his head and smiled wryly after remembering those events. Though the end result was thrilling, it nonetheless proved that relying on Sylvester's currently unstable ability was dangerous, and shouldn't be done lightly.
"It's too dangerous, Sly. I'd ra
ther gather a bit more power first. I feel like I'm close to comprehending the Nascent level of Titanic Rage force!" exclaimed Jodye Trill in excitement.
"Titanic rage force? Are you some barbarian war god? Quit being such a pussy. How will you ever get stronger if you're so scary?” snapped the voice of Sylvester Tricko as he landed on Jodye's head.
"I feel rather strong at this moment," Jodye’s face was complacent. He felt like he had the right to brag a little. Last week he had broken through to the seventh level of the Wimpy Man Realm, the peak first stage of the Titanic Rage Law. By the Titan clan's standards, he was already at the height of the realm, ready to take steps towards the next stage. So far he had refined astral points in both his hands, wrist, and ankles, as well as in his neck. Next would be his feet, and then his spine. A total of seven astral passages were currently full of astral might. His physique had also been further refined and perfected.
Now, without using any superpower at all, he was capable of lifting 3,250 pounds in one hand. How crazy was that? Each of his astral points could now increase his strength by 3.5 bp! With seven astral points active Jodye's overall strength would skyrocket by 24.5! That meant the current weight of his strength was 5,700 pounds, or in other words, he possessed the equivalent of 57 points of battle power or 57 bp! This meant anyone with bp under 57 bp wouldn't be a match for this mighty five-year-old! Of course, this was only while his astral might lasted.
Currently, Jodye Trill probably only could keep his astral points open for two hours, or use 10 Fists of Might, before his Astral Might would completely be depleted, his body strained and exhausted. He could, perhaps, prolong the time by not using all of his strength, but to comprehend Titanic Rage force he had to rage! He would never grasp it if he held back when fighting.
He had to go full throttle in every battle! Otherwise, it just wasn't worth it. For this reason, Jodye chose to only rely on his body's natural strength, without using his astral might. The astral might would have to become his trump card since the amount of time he could be in that state was limited. At any rate, he had never felt so damn powerful in his last life, despite his varied skills and techniques.
His five-year-old self was already capable of squishing his previous 21-year-old self into meat paste. Such power was insane! He barely knew how to remain calm. He was addicted to having more strength. However, he seemed to have reached a bottleneck, and could no longer progress as quickly. The remaining essence in the saint force grass that his Grandpa Geb had left for him in his space ring was no longer as effective at improving his physique.
Initially, he had thought the old man was stingy by only giving him 250 stalks. However, to reach his current level he had just used up 80 of them. He had absorbed essence from 12 stalks of saint force grass since his last breakthrough, but he still hadn't cleared his next spirit point. The bodies of the hero race and the bodies of the heaven slaughter race were fundamentally different. Due to this, he assumed he would be able to achieve greater heights, as the hero race was proven to have the most potential.
Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned. Of course, if Grandpa Geb knew that Jodye had already absorbed the medicinal essence of 80 stalks of saint force grass, then he would surely call this kid a monster! Most Fledgling Saint Realm and Scholar Realm dao practitioners wouldn't be able to absorb that much saint force grass if you gave them an entire year!
"Seriously guys, magic is cool and all, but you know what the classic problem with magic users is? Speed!" shouted Jodye Trill to the two sky wolves. "No matter what, casting spells takes time! During that time the spell caster will surely be in danger, unable to fend for himself, the optimal moment to strike!"
Jodye still remembered very clearly how he felt four years ago watching the two nobles Rondo and Edward battle each other in the sky, while his mother carried him. Though the handsome brown-skinned noble, Rondo, won the battle through the use of magic, it was only because he was a rank higher than his opponent! At the same level, he wouldn't have had the time to chant those incantations which powered his devastating final blow.
"This is not a class one should enter before having the means to counter this fact. Both my mother and father have Saint cultivation bases too help with this issue, but what do I have? Just think about it, if I have a powerful physique then what will suffering from a few attacks amount too? Will those blows even matter? I think not, and then zap! A thunderbolt hits them in the face!" Jodye acted out his words in an animated way.
Xavier clapped his hands in awe, his little eyes shining. Sylvester merely stared at Jodye. The expression on his canine face appeared to be one of mild intrigue. This was Jodye's first time seeing this look on the wolf.
"It seems you are smarter than you pretend to be," said Sylvester, still staring at Jodye in his jewel-like blue eyes. "What you say is not without merit. After all, your mother was likely an expert-level Saint before she broke through the Scholar Realm. As was your father, once all is said and done. It's impressive that they've reached such heights as both Sage and Saints. Especially at their age, and on this pitiful planet."
"My mom is a Sage too?" Jodye Trill was caught off guard by this critical fact that Sylvester casually presented.
"Indeed, you fool. Though what your mother demonstrated most recently was her prowess as a great Heaven's Master, she must use Origin Energy to condense her Serenity Force," said Sylvester Tricko impatiently, as if he was talking to a monkey. As in his opinion, only a dumb monkey wouldn't notice the difference between essence and energy, "Let's not forget the time we saw her release her combat soul. Well, perhaps you were distracted at that time, but I was there and saw it very clearly."
"Ah! That's right, she does use origin energy pretty often. In fact, before that day I had never even seen anyone use true essence force," Jodye Trill was still marveling over how strong his mother and that expert were. He could always remember the suffocating pressure of the latter when he had them cornered. Of course, his mother had still cleaned that goon up as if he were terrible air. There was also the time when his mother was teaching him the basics about Sages before he even refined his source artifacts. This had already slipped his mind, as it was so long ago.
"Despite this, it is imperative that you increase your rank. At your current rank, we can not even help you even if we are summoned. After all, Freshman Rank Sage's typically can't even summon their combat souls at all. You must at the very least achieve the Sophomore Rank before the competition next month, or what will you amount to at that time?" Sylvester Tricko was speaking in a shockingly gentle way as he lay on Jodye's head. "You must stop underestimating the power of a Sage at once! The Sage you killed used less than 40% of his true strength to attack you, he simply completely underestimated you, he didn't even summon up any heavenly force momentum. This is why he was foolish enough to perish at your fists! Do not expect to get so lucky again in the future. Even if you have a little bit of extra muscle compared to most mortals, it means nothing to the truly adept experts. Those who understand the forces of nature are truly terrifying."
"Well, if I didn't find a serenity crystal I wouldn't get tonight's training! This should be our priority every day. You can do this, still, yes?" Jodye asked Sylvester.
"Why do you think I lead you to the Twilight Sphinx? Did you not see how many crystals littered the walls of that cave? You simply won't need any more serenity crystals. Watch and learn, boy," Sylvester then floated over to Eureka and spoke to her in an ancient sounding language that seemed to resonate with Jodye's soul. Jodye felt strange as if he could almost understand them. Just as the feeling became more intense, Sylvester floated back over to him saying, "Twilight Sphinx's can corrode origin stones and beast cores into serenity crystals. Give her an origin stone."
Jodye frowned. Origin Stones were stones formed naturally by condensed origin energy. Apart from being helpful to cultivate with, they were often used as currency. One C-grade origin stone was worth 50 gold crystal notes. That was 50,000 silv
er crystal notes! Origin stones were divided into grades by the quality plus quantity of the energy inside. Jodye only had 10 mid-grade origin stones, the size of fists. Five were given by Grandpa Geb, two by his father, and three by his mother. His mother had told him that this was his capital to reach the next rank within two months! Yet, this damn wolf wanted him to squander it! Though admittedly, he hadn't practiced Sage cultivation at all this month.
There was only one month left.
"If you give the origin stone to the Twilight Sphinx, won't the new serenity crystal still be yours? Are you not in need of higher quality serenity crystals? Do you believe your task is to find them simply because your mother likes them? Do you even know how valuable serenity crystals are? You bumpkin." Sylvester Tricko's harsh way of speaking had suddenly returned. "You have absolutely no need to use origin stones to cultivate as long as I'm here. Not to mention you have an origin gem, this is already a cheat code. That's the same as having 10 high-grade origin stones! Where exactly are you losing here?"
"I can't rely on you, or there's bound to be another huge commotion every time I cultivate! You're the biggest problem here!" berated Jodye Trill. Sylvester was actually speechless for the moment. This was true, after all.
"I can't control my abilities properly because you are still too weak. I honestly shouldn't be able to use them at all, like X, whom can't even transform properly," Sylvester Tricko sighed before continuing, "Our compatibility rating is high, which is why I can sometimes use more of my power. However, if I do so in excess, our rating will drop, due to the soul strain."
Hearing this, Jodye calmed down a lot. He was aware that Sly had to strain his soul every time he assisted because Jodye was currently just too weak to support it. This made Jodye somewhat uncomfortable. Strength, ah, if only he had more power!
"Fine." Jodye touched his space ring with his right hand, and a single origin stone, the size of a fist, appeared in his hand.
As if fearing he would change his own mind, Jodye immediately tossed it to the hovering wolf pup, who caught it in his mouth. Sylvester Tricko then landed next to Eureka and briefly spoke to her again in that ancient language.
