[Heed mine bid, mortal one.  Seek the seven statues of I, the God of Lost Souls, Vol.  Be mine vessel and rule over the dead and the living.]

The voice rang deeply within his soul, making his blood boil. Images appeared in his mind of a ruler sitting on a throne carried by thousands of souls.

‘It’s a Gods’ Vessels Selection.’ Nikolai realized after hearing the voice, even if he had never experienced it. He had only heard stories about these Selections from the Lords’ followers, those who got to witness the powers bestowed by these Gods firsthand.

The war will bring with it another world-changing revelation, the existence of Celestia. A higher dimension ruled by beings that oversaw the human world. This fact was only revealed at the end of the world when the powers of the gods were used against the Elves.

‘I heard your call, God of Lost Souls, Val.’ Nikolai answered within his mind. ‘For the matter of being your vessel, I humbly accept the trial.’

A piece of advice that was given to him by a friend once was to never lie to a god. If you break a word you gave to a god, they can send their vessels after you or intervene themselves, the latter being a lot worse.

[Thou chose wisely, mortal one.  The first trial shall commence in five months, prepare well.  There shall be six other mortals to compete with thou, may thou emerge victoriously.]

The light disappeared and the world resumed as if nothing happened. Nikolai smiled excitedly at this unexpected reward. He hadn’t thought that this church would belong to one of the incarnated gods.

‘However, Val didn’t exist in my past life. It’s either that or… no one passed the trial.’ His heart was filled with apprehension. If he wanted the powers granted to the Lords, he would need to prepare well in five months.

“Cease your hands!”

A roar came and Nikolai identified it as Conan’s voice. He smiled in contentment as he tightened his grasp on his spoils before running in a different direction. He threw his body through a window and the glass broke apart.

As he landed on the floor and felt the shards riddle his body with injuries, he felt the presence of someone not too far away.

“You!” As fate would have it, Julian was the person to see his escape. He hurried to slash with his sword but a bullet flew to deflect it before it could reach Nikolai’s body.

“I said, cease.” Conan was aiming with his rifle toward Julian threateningly. He glanced at Nikolai and seemed to recognize his identity despite Nikolai covering his face and head. “What are you doing here? This area is surrounded! Leave!” Conan acted oblivious of the glass beneath Nikolai’s feet.

“He was the one to destroy the building!” Julian roared in anger. “Don’t you know my identity?! I’m from the Mackay Family!”

“I saw what I saw.” Conan narrowed his eyes and Nikolai felt grateful. It has been a wise decision to call out for Conan, but he knew this would come after him later.

Picking up his body, Nikolai ran away under the hateful eyes of Julian and Scarman. After he had fled the scene, the gunman grinned at the remaining people.

“Now, now. I retain the right to investigate the scene since a signal was sent from here. If you want to protest, I would be happy to shoot you down.” Conan grinned.

***

He left a trail of blood as he ran with the loot. The Ancient Trail felt suddenly long, stretching the more he ran. Nikolai had to hide in the city before the gang can wriggle free from Conan’s grasp.

The tall walls of the city, black and dusted, looked like a beacon of hope for the bleeding Nikolai. He decided to use the two white mana crystals now to help in his healing. He consumed 4 Fate Point out of the remaining 8 he had. However, the reward couldn’t become sweeter.

[2 Mana Stats Points have been absorbed.]

[2 Mana Stats Points have been absorbed.]

He longed for the day that he made big changes to the world and watched as Fate Points rained on him. At that time, each crystal would reward him with three points instead of two, a 50% increase in his growth speed!

As his mana tripled, becoming 6 points, his body began recovering faster. His regeneration was determined by his Vitality and Mana stat combined.

Nikolai made a detour to a stream nearby and cleaned his wounds. He used the bandage he had to wrap them up before wearing his shirt flipped backward. He did this so that the torn parts wouldn’t reveal his wounds but just flesh.

“What happened to you?” The City’s Guards asked with a frown at his tattered appearance. He had revealed his face since they would be more suspicious if he hides it.

“I was chased by frozen boars, but I managed to flee in time.”

“Well, you better eat some hot soup when you go back. Proceed.” The guard allowed him but Nikolai didn’t go back to the academy, but Hunters Street.

He needed to process the skull before it lost its properties. In his past life, he had a friend that he could consider to be a close one. They met when Nikolai helped him gather some rare materials after he had been picked up by ‘her.’

At this time, that genius would still be an undiscovered gem that struggled to make a living. Nikolai went to a clothing shop on hunting street and discarded his clothes before heading toward the rundown workshop at the end of the street.

It was called the Fine Price workshop, but it was nothing of such. There has been a scandal in the past including the workshop’s owner that involved overpricing customers and fraud.

After being heavily fined and punished by the King, the owner opted to keep his workshop for low-quality potions and desperate brewers and consumers.

‘It’s time to lift this curse.’ Nikolai opened the workshop’s door as fumes hurried to escape it.