Aalam
As Aalam woke up, the first thing he did was open his eyes and quickly check that all his extremities were still attached, which they thankfully were. Then he scanned the tent, noticing Mila, Isaiah, and his sister were all standing around his bed, Diana not seeming to have undergone any noticeable physical changes since the start of Earth’s integration.
“That was not fun.” He sat up and looked at Mila. “Did it work?”
“Yeah.” Mila handed him the Left Hand of the Runescribe and he immediately began to put it on. “The elf left with none of his trial points, or his money.”
Aalam began to quickly look through Mila’s System messages. “But we have quite a few more points than I would have expected.” He stood up from the bed and raised his right hand toward Mila. “You managed to win another round. How did that happen?”
Mila, looking slightly surprised, gave him a high five. Then she started to explain. “The trial was one on one arena combat and I came up with the idea of trying to sell your plague.”
“Ha.” Aalam looked at Diana as he pointed at Mila. “Don’t ever make a contract with her, Di. She’s killed so many people that way.”
Aalam then started looking through a different System window, the rewards list from the Trial Tower. “Now, what did we get.” He started to read the descriptions of the really, really expensive items obviously targeted toward him and Mila. “This is so cool. Mila, you’re amazing. This—
“That evil poop daughter!” Having gotten to the listing for the Twelve Element Primal Code, Aalam started to feel rage. “I don’t even know how to get to the Forest Cauldron’s main planet.”
“Yeah, you’re not going there.” Mila quickly interjected and Aalam looked at her, starting to calm down. “Diana’s going to become Sovereign of Earth in just a few weeks. Then I’ll travel out into the universe to get you access to a different copy of the Twelve Element Primal Code. We can’t risk exposing ourselves to an A rank force with our current level of power, especially not one backed by gods Nana Xara was not on good terms with.”
“Nana Xara wasn’t on good terms with the dung beetles?” Aalam was quite interested in their patron’s history, especially after what he’d learned during the tutorial.
“The Heavenly Scarabs are followers of the Divine Child. Nana Xara doesn’t have any particular problems with them or their overgod, but she had quite a few issues with a couple of the other of the Divine Child’s followers.”
“Oh.” Aalam used one of his minds to start looking through System messages again. “How long have I been out?”
“A little over a month.” Mila smiled slightly. “About half the time you were in the Id state.”
“Hmm.” Aalam took a few seconds to think. “Still not enough data. With the increase in Territory my effective Soul stat has gone up enough to almost certainly affect the results.
“Do you have much confidence in getting another copy of the Twelve Element Primal Code?”
Mila nodded. “I’ve talked it over with Nana Xara. There are quite a few copies out there, some even owned by C rank forces, but the main problem is we don’t know who owns them. So, my idea is to approach the one D rank following the path of 12 elements I know of who is stuck at the peak, unable to advance to C rank on his own, the creator of that bastard sword you’ve been training with. I was able to confirm his status for 144 trial points and he’s still alive, though he only has a couple thousand more years to live. He should have been searching for the Twelve Element Primal Code for years, so he’ll hopefully have at least a few leads I can follow.”
“Got it.” Aalam then turned to look at Isaiah, having checked the man’s status and noticing far less growth than he would have expected. “Isaiah, I noticed you haven’t grown as much as I’d expect. Is there something blocking you?”
Isaiah looked a bit confused and Mila answered instead. “Isaiah has been spending all his time guarding you, Aalam, and, even with his bloodline allowing him to cultivate at about the same speed as us, he doesn’t have multiple minds, so he couldn’t cultivate and fight monsters at the same time.”
“Oh.” Aalam walked up to Isaiah and lightly punched the larger man’s shoulder. “Thanks for protecting me.”
Isaiah smiled, his aura showing a quite high level of happiness. “No problem.”
“So, what does blood taste like?” Aalam’s other mind had taken a look at Diana’s status and her race and bloodline were both quite surprising, with some really happy implications. “I’ve been eating souls for about a year now and there’s no real taste, more of an emotion, like a muted attraction feeling. It’s a bit weird. But I imagine drinking my sister’s blood would feel kind of like your body slowly transforming, and that must be interesting.”
“What?” Diana, whose aura had been a bit odd for a while, suddenly appeared angry and she turned to Mila, who almost seemed to be laughing. “Mila, what is he talking about?”
“Why are you asking me instead of him?” There was obvious mirth in Mila’s eyes and Aalam felt like he was missing something.
“Because you’ll answer more concisely and I’m pissed off at my idiot brother.”
“Wait.” Aalam felt confused. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” Diana snapped, but, at the same time, Mila calmly nodded and said, “Yes.”
Aalam looked at Mila. “What did I do?”
“You woke up on Earth, saw your sister for the first time in over a year—after you committed suicide, likely giving her a lot of emotional pain—and then you immediately started talking shop instead of expressing how happy you are to see her.”
It was at this point a couple of Aalam’s other minds, which had been contemplating on his Law Larvae of Fusion and Fission after being inspired by the elf’s lightning, succeeded, both his Law Larvae advancing to middle grade at almost the same time.
“Diana, I’m very happy to see you.” It having been explained to him what he’d done wrong, he said the words, but Diana just looked at him and didn’t say anything, still apparently angry.
Then she looked back at Mila. “What about that blood thing?”
Mila looked from Diana, to Aalam, and then back, looking contemplative. Then she seemingly decided to just answer the question. “Isaiah has the Ideal Human bloodline and it resulted in a cool racial ability called Human Blood Adaptation. It enhances the effects of his bloodline and allows him to advance his bloodline to one of a higher grade if he drinks 1 liter of blood every three days for thirty-six days from someone with a race advanced from the race represented by his bloodline, such as yourself.
“Nana Xara suggested he take it.”
“Why did no one tell me about this before?” Diana asked Mila while, at the same time, Isaiah asked, “Ms. Diana was a natural born Ideal Human?”
Then, while Mila looked like she was about to answer Diana first, Aalam remembered that most people didn’t skip grades when upgrading their race and that bloodlines of the grade of Diana’s would never be offered from a tutorial. “Wait. If Di was a natural born Ideal Human, does that mean I was as well? And I would have had that bloodline?” He looked from Mila to Diana, then back to Mila. “I thought natural born Legendary grade races were very rare outside of products of rape like Isaiah, only found in extremely powerful forces. Sure, Nana Xara killed gods, but they were weak ones. I thought the highest grade race on Earth would be Epic and the highest grade bloodline would be Fabled.”
“Alright.” After taking a second and looking at the three of them, Mila nodded, seemingly mostly to herself. “Let’s go by order of simplicity.”
First she turned to Isaiah. “Yes, Diana was born an Ideal Human and she has now advanced her race to Chaos Human. She also has a bloodline your ability might be able to absorb some of the power of as well.”
Next she turned to Diana. “I didn’t tell you because the timing wasn’t right. You’ve been busy and draining your blood would weaken you. I also thought it would be better if Aalam asked than if I did.”
Then, finally, she turned to Aalam. “Aalam, everything you said was correct, only your mother seems to have been someone not native to Earth. She somehow came to the planet before the integration, had two children, and then disappeared. Nana Xara thinks your father might have known more, but he actually did die in a car crash.
“Nana Xara doesn’t have a good guess who your mother might have been.”
Aalam felt his emotions start to rise. Growing up in foster care hadn’t been much fun, but he’d never blamed his parents. They’d died in two separate accidents, so he’d always just thought he and Diana had been unlucky.
But, actually, their mother had abandoned them and, not only that, given her obvious power, she’d known the apocalypse style integration was coming and she hadn’t even prepared them a little.
Hell, had she explained at all, Aalam wouldn’t have thought Diana was going to die and he wouldn’t have killed himself.
He’d be a Chaos Human too, or maybe a Strong Soul Chaos Human, instead of a Strong Soul Incubus Prince. He’d still be able to enjoy food instead of that weird taste of souls.
“Aalam.” Diana’s voice was soft, obviously trying to be comforting. “Are you okay?”
“I miss burgers.” Aalam sat down on his bed again and put his face in his hands.
Through his aura and detection skills, he could see everyone turn to look at each other, but he didn’t really care.
“Aalam, you do realize you can eat normally even though it doesn’t give you any energy, right?” Mila asked tentatively and Aalam felt his soul shake. “There are some various food items in the Left Hand of the Runescribe if you want them.”
Aalam quickly checked. Then he pulled out a bag of chips, tore it open, and took a bite. “Ah, this must be what heaven feels like.” He even started to cry a little.
Please only read at https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/48991/shadow-of-the-soul-king and https://www.scribblehub.com/series/461729/shadow-of-the-soul-king/. It is free and anywhere else this story has been stolen.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thirteenlifelegion
Vote for Shadow of the Soul King on TopWebFiction! http://topwebfiction.com/listings/shadow-of-the-soul-king/
A special thank you to Shadow of the Soul King's patrons:
[Patron list pulled the night before posting]
Trolling Mentor:
ManguKing
Insane Crafter:
SpoilerJordan joyce , NeonRaven94 , Louisthau , Turtle , William , zeads_dead , Abhi Yedugondla , Thaco4 , Wunder , Alessan , Delpha , Rachel Entezari , Random Guy , Eric Spence , Nanooki12 , Joseph , Matthew Mitchell , MightyMac , Mamick , Konno Yumi , Lazerus56 , kelland harrison , Conradt Moore , Simon Preiß , Etia , FuriousDee , CHoobler , Dakenrool , Nicholas Thomas , Alexander Gleeson , Winson Chan , zachary gafken , Timothy Burago , Oliver Wolfe , Converted , Andrew Knox , archkeas , H.A.L. Tiebosch , Cirex123 , cm123 , Aracnos , SideraX , BigRock23 , Gabriel Boudreau , Tre Everett , paygoo gift , Arblegarbtheninth , Banchee , David Schleimer , mutu , Kirk Morgan , patrick seim , Orion Fritz , MiggzLadapo . , Brecht Joncheere , Marcel Eugene , Lonny , Ryan Landry , Benjamin Nuyens , BilboBagosz , Michael Castelli , gingerbeard , Alexis Keane , Lyrad Fer , Poldarn , Pierre Come , Icha , Eguonoghene Efekemo , Guilherme Castro , Christophe Schmitz , Leif Nejst , Silberwolf325 , Georgi Gamzakov , Alex R , steve , Phillip Schneider , Olivier Edery , James Short , Bronk , Mikkel , Kallor , Frogspoison , Robin Richards , Caleb Zimmerman , Eivind , Clément Fournet , Alex Hammond , Trihards , John McDaniel , Niraada , Katarak , Kordie 1 , jose miguel labao lopez , Mārcis , Lonly Alex , sata , Nagrael , Felix Chin , Thomasaurus Rex , JB Smoove , Abdiaziz Ali , Hellnhavoc , James Dean , Anonymonous , Andrew Webb , Elsie Nnaji , AchroniaXenia , Kaiedi , Paxi , Archie , Philldoran , Christian Sving , Sebin Paul , Alexander Aitken , Thadeus . , BtBurns , Alzein , Dameon Cornish , Gavin Turlock , ppbrro , Devon Bolwaire , Justin Firestone , Derrick McDowell , Christian Mordal , Alex Foster , Jesse Maggard , willydasilva , "BOWERS , BRIAN" , Death2moo , Michael Presley , Garasou , Brian Barrett , Alexander , Sam Rusch , Mikael , Tuqueque , Henry Braeske , Odunski , Matthew McRoyall , K G , GreyMalken , Jacob , Benoît Dufort , Lemon , Nathan Camussi , Hamilton , nugitoBambino , confusion , Redacted , Stephan , Bret , Hampus Carlsson , kyle ryan , Håkan Olofsson , Starter_guy , Joshua , Starfall20 , Darcy Lessard-Patola , Yrom , LastinLine , Harrison Brown , Armand Sellier , Jon Jackson , Kai , Posta Csanád , Chris , Inzuris , Finn Schröder , Vincent Emil , Roman Obrenovic , Alexander Zeheter , Chris M , Cardean Nasdre , Siphor , SpaceGoddess76 , WithoutContext , Joseph Catanzaro , Kemizle
[collapse]Contract Lawyer:
SpoilerAnonymous , terrence L mccall , Talespinner Lore
[collapse]Logical Summoner:
SpoilerPawaidan , BadgerBarrage , Jason Roper , Ruffz , Nevinna , Spencer Solit , Bradley C
[collapse]
Aalam
As Aalam woke up, the first thing he did was open his eyes and quickly check that all his extremities were still attached, which they thankfully were. Then he scanned the tent, noticing Mila, Isaiah, and his sister were all standing around his bed, Diana not seeming to have undergone any noticeable physical changes since the start of Earth’s integration.
“That was not fun.” He sat up and looked at Mila. “Did it work?”
“Yeah.” Mila handed him the Left Hand of the Runescribe and he immediately began to put it on. “The elf left with none of his trial points, or his money.”
Aalam began to quickly look through Mila’s System messages. “But we have quite a few more points than I would have expected.” He stood up from the bed and raised his right hand toward Mila. “You managed to win another round. How did that happen?”
Mila, looking slightly surprised, gave him a high five. Then she started to explain. “The trial was one on one arena combat and I came up with the idea of trying to sell your plague.”
“Ha.” Aalam looked at Diana as he pointed at Mila. “Don’t ever make a contract with her, Di. She’s killed so many people that way.”
Aalam then started looking through a different System window, the rewards list from the Trial Tower. “Now, what did we get.” He started to read the descriptions of the really, really expensive items obviously targeted toward him and Mila. “This is so cool. Mila, you’re amazing. This—
“That evil poop daughter!” Having gotten to the listing for the Twelve Element Primal Code, Aalam started to feel rage. “I don’t even know how to get to the Forest Cauldron’s main planet.”
“Yeah, you’re not going there.” Mila quickly interjected and Aalam looked at her, starting to calm down. “Diana’s going to become Sovereign of Earth in just a few weeks. Then I’ll travel out into the universe to get you access to a different copy of the Twelve Element Primal Code. We can’t risk exposing ourselves to an A rank force with our current level of power, especially not one backed by gods Nana Xara was not on good terms with.”
“Nana Xara wasn’t on good terms with the dung beetles?” Aalam was quite interested in their patron’s history, especially after what he’d learned during the tutorial.
“The Heavenly Scarabs are followers of the Divine Child. Nana Xara doesn’t have any particular problems with them or their overgod, but she had quite a few issues with a couple of the other of the Divine Child’s followers.”
“Oh.” Aalam used one of his minds to start looking through System messages again. “How long have I been out?”
“A little over a month.” Mila smiled slightly. “About half the time you were in the Id state.”
“Hmm.” Aalam took a few seconds to think. “Still not enough data. With the increase in Territory my effective Soul stat has gone up enough to almost certainly affect the results.
“Do you have much confidence in getting another copy of the Twelve Element Primal Code?”
Mila nodded. “I’ve talked it over with Nana Xara. There are quite a few copies out there, some even owned by C rank forces, but the main problem is we don’t know who owns them. So, my idea is to approach the one D rank following the path of 12 elements I know of who is stuck at the peak, unable to advance to C rank on his own, the creator of that bastard sword you’ve been training with. I was able to confirm his status for 144 trial points and he’s still alive, though he only has a couple thousand more years to live. He should have been searching for the Twelve Element Primal Code for years, so he’ll hopefully have at least a few leads I can follow.”
“Got it.” Aalam then turned to look at Isaiah, having checked the man’s status and noticing far less growth than he would have expected. “Isaiah, I noticed you haven’t grown as much as I’d expect. Is there something blocking you?”
Isaiah looked a bit confused and Mila answered instead. “Isaiah has been spending all his time guarding you, Aalam, and, even with his bloodline allowing him to cultivate at about the same speed as us, he doesn’t have multiple minds, so he couldn’t cultivate and fight monsters at the same time.”
“Oh.” Aalam walked up to Isaiah and lightly punched the larger man’s shoulder. “Thanks for protecting me.”
Isaiah smiled, his aura showing a quite high level of happiness. “No problem.”
“So, what does blood taste like?” Aalam’s other mind had taken a look at Diana’s status and her race and bloodline were both quite surprising, with some really happy implications. “I’ve been eating souls for about a year now and there’s no real taste, more of an emotion, like a muted attraction feeling. It’s a bit weird. But I imagine drinking my sister’s blood would feel kind of like your body slowly transforming, and that must be interesting.”
“What?” Diana, whose aura had been a bit odd for a while, suddenly appeared angry and she turned to Mila, who almost seemed to be laughing. “Mila, what is he talking about?”
“Why are you asking me instead of him?” There was obvious mirth in Mila’s eyes and Aalam felt like he was missing something.
“Because you’ll answer more concisely and I’m pissed off at my idiot brother.”
“Wait.” Aalam felt confused. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” Diana snapped, but, at the same time, Mila calmly nodded and said, “Yes.”
Aalam looked at Mila. “What did I do?”
“You woke up on Earth, saw your sister for the first time in over a year—after you committed suicide, likely giving her a lot of emotional pain—and then you immediately started talking shop instead of expressing how happy you are to see her.”
It was at this point a couple of Aalam’s other minds, which had been contemplating on his Law Larvae of Fusion and Fission after being inspired by the elf’s lightning, succeeded, both his Law Larvae advancing to middle grade at almost the same time.
“Diana, I’m very happy to see you.” It having been explained to him what he’d done wrong, he said the words, but Diana just looked at him and didn’t say anything, still apparently angry.
Then she looked back at Mila. “What about that blood thing?”
Mila looked from Diana, to Aalam, and then back, looking contemplative. Then she seemingly decided to just answer the question. “Isaiah has the Ideal Human bloodline and it resulted in a cool racial ability called Human Blood Adaptation. It enhances the effects of his bloodline and allows him to advance his bloodline to one of a higher grade if he drinks 1 liter of blood every three days for thirty-six days from someone with a race advanced from the race represented by his bloodline, such as yourself.
“Nana Xara suggested he take it.”
“Why did no one tell me about this before?” Diana asked Mila while, at the same time, Isaiah asked, “Ms. Diana was a natural born Ideal Human?”
Then, while Mila looked like she was about to answer Diana first, Aalam remembered that most people didn’t skip grades when upgrading their race and that bloodlines of the grade of Diana’s would never be offered from a tutorial. “Wait. If Di was a natural born Ideal Human, does that mean I was as well? And I would have had that bloodline?” He looked from Mila to Diana, then back to Mila. “I thought natural born Legendary grade races were very rare outside of products of rape like Isaiah, only found in extremely powerful forces. Sure, Nana Xara killed gods, but they were weak ones. I thought the highest grade race on Earth would be Epic and the highest grade bloodline would be Fabled.”
“Alright.” After taking a second and looking at the three of them, Mila nodded, seemingly mostly to herself. “Let’s go by order of simplicity.”
First she turned to Isaiah. “Yes, Diana was born an Ideal Human and she has now advanced her race to Chaos Human. She also has a bloodline your ability might be able to absorb some of the power of as well.”
Next she turned to Diana. “I didn’t tell you because the timing wasn’t right. You’ve been busy and draining your blood would weaken you. I also thought it would be better if Aalam asked than if I did.”
Then, finally, she turned to Aalam. “Aalam, everything you said was correct, only your mother seems to have been someone not native to Earth. She somehow came to the planet before the integration, had two children, and then disappeared. Nana Xara thinks your father might have known more, but he actually did die in a car crash.
“Nana Xara doesn’t have a good guess who your mother might have been.”
Aalam felt his emotions start to rise. Growing up in foster care hadn’t been much fun, but he’d never blamed his parents. They’d died in two separate accidents, so he’d always just thought he and Diana had been unlucky.
But, actually, their mother had abandoned them and, not only that, given her obvious power, she’d known the apocalypse style integration was coming and she hadn’t even prepared them a little.
Hell, had she explained at all, Aalam wouldn’t have thought Diana was going to die and he wouldn’t have killed himself.
He’d be a Chaos Human too, or maybe a Strong Soul Chaos Human, instead of a Strong Soul Incubus Prince. He’d still be able to enjoy food instead of that weird taste of souls.
“Aalam.” Diana’s voice was soft, obviously trying to be comforting. “Are you okay?”
“I miss burgers.” Aalam sat down on his bed again and put his face in his hands.
Through his aura and detection skills, he could see everyone turn to look at each other, but he didn’t really care.
“Aalam, you do realize you can eat normally even though it doesn’t give you any energy, right?” Mila asked tentatively and Aalam felt his soul shake. “There are some various food items in the Left Hand of the Runescribe if you want them.”
Aalam quickly checked. Then he pulled out a bag of chips, tore it open, and took a bite. “Ah, this must be what heaven feels like.” He even started to cry a little.
Please only read at https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/48991/shadow-of-the-soul-king and https://www.scribblehub.com/series/461729/shadow-of-the-soul-king/. It is free and anywhere else this story has been stolen.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thirteenlifelegion
Vote for Shadow of the Soul King on TopWebFiction! http://topwebfiction.com/listings/shadow-of-the-soul-king/
A special thank you to Shadow of the Soul King's patrons:
[Patron list pulled the night before posting]
Trolling Mentor:
ManguKing
Insane Crafter:
SpoilerJordan joyce , NeonRaven94 , Louisthau , Turtle , William , zeads_dead , Abhi Yedugondla , Thaco4 , Wunder , Alessan , Delpha , Rachel Entezari , Random Guy , Eric Spence , Nanooki12 , Joseph , Matthew Mitchell , MightyMac , Mamick , Konno Yumi , Lazerus56 , kelland harrison , Conradt Moore , Simon Preiß , Etia , FuriousDee , CHoobler , Dakenrool , Nicholas Thomas , Alexander Gleeson , Winson Chan , zachary gafken , Timothy Burago , Oliver Wolfe , Converted , Andrew Knox , archkeas , H.A.L. Tiebosch , Cirex123 , cm123 , Aracnos , SideraX , BigRock23 , Gabriel Boudreau , Tre Everett , paygoo gift , Arblegarbtheninth , Banchee , David Schleimer , mutu , Kirk Morgan , patrick seim , Orion Fritz , MiggzLadapo . , Brecht Joncheere , Marcel Eugene , Lonny , Ryan Landry , Benjamin Nuyens , BilboBagosz , Michael Castelli , gingerbeard , Alexis Keane , Lyrad Fer , Poldarn , Pierre Come , Icha , Eguonoghene Efekemo , Guilherme Castro , Christophe Schmitz , Leif Nejst , Silberwolf325 , Georgi Gamzakov , Alex R , steve , Phillip Schneider , Olivier Edery , James Short , Bronk , Mikkel , Kallor , Frogspoison , Robin Richards , Caleb Zimmerman , Eivind , Clément Fournet , Alex Hammond , Trihards , John McDaniel , Niraada , Katarak , Kordie 1 , jose miguel labao lopez , Mārcis , Lonly Alex , sata , Nagrael , Felix Chin , Thomasaurus Rex , JB Smoove , Abdiaziz Ali , Hellnhavoc , James Dean , Anonymonous , Andrew Webb , Elsie Nnaji , AchroniaXenia , Kaiedi , Paxi , Archie , Philldoran , Christian Sving , Sebin Paul , Alexander Aitken , Thadeus . , BtBurns , Alzein , Dameon Cornish , Gavin Turlock , ppbrro , Devon Bolwaire , Justin Firestone , Derrick McDowell , Christian Mordal , Alex Foster , Jesse Maggard , willydasilva , "BOWERS , BRIAN" , Death2moo , Michael Presley , Garasou , Brian Barrett , Alexander , Sam Rusch , Mikael , Tuqueque , Henry Braeske , Odunski , Matthew McRoyall , K G , GreyMalken , Jacob , Benoît Dufort , Lemon , Nathan Camussi , Hamilton , nugitoBambino , confusion , Redacted , Stephan , Bret , Hampus Carlsson , kyle ryan , Håkan Olofsson , Starter_guy , Joshua , Starfall20 , Darcy Lessard-Patola , Yrom , LastinLine , Harrison Brown , Armand Sellier , Jon Jackson , Kai , Posta Csanád , Chris , Inzuris , Finn Schröder , Vincent Emil , Roman Obrenovic , Alexander Zeheter , Chris M , Cardean Nasdre , Siphor , SpaceGoddess76 , WithoutContext , Joseph Catanzaro , Kemizle
[collapse]Contract Lawyer:
SpoilerAnonymous , terrence L mccall , Talespinner Lore
[collapse]Logical Summoner:
SpoilerPawaidan , BadgerBarrage , Jason Roper , Ruffz , Nevinna , Spencer Solit , Bradley C
[collapse]