Sitting in the cave, Lute retained a lotus position. Now in the material plane, and no longer within his inner self, all he could do was exasperatedly sigh. Isla appeared before him in a transparent form, clearly visible and yet she was fading in and out of his sight. However she wasn’t all that Lute was looking at either. It was finally time, time to begin his new life. And it all would begin with this droplet of blood.

Isla who was happily humming at the fact she could see the outside world, even if it was in a dreary cave, suddenly narrowed her eyes. Being connected to Lute on a fundamental level, she could see that he was slowly getting excited, even if he tried to hide it. After all, this blood would certainly be fought over by the top powerhouses of the Divine Realm, being able to obtain it was truly pure luck on her part.

"Even I don’t know what will happen when you merge with the blood. All I can tell you is that this will be extremely painful as you are a mortal, not even at the very first level of the nine Mortal Realms of cultivation," Said Isla.

Lute narrowed his eyes, steeled his nerves, and forced the slight trembling of his body to stop. Clearly he was a mess. There was a needle now inside his dantian, he shared a body with a Divine and deep gashes were all over his chest, back, and shoulders. They were clearly going to scar, and yet, he felt no pain.

A cold smile slowly made itself apparent upon Lute. He looked as if he would go insane at any moment as he made a guttural noise that couldn’t quite be considered laughing or growling.

"What is there to fear? If it is pain, I can bear it. Now that I have my lifeline, nothing shall stop me from using it. We made a contract; do you think something as trivial as pain will be enough to stop me from fulfilling it?" Spoke Lute in an ice cold mannerism.

Silence pervaded the cavern, yet all of a sudden, laughter resounded about. Isla was floating around Lute and chuckling until she finally calmed herself down. Her black eyes pierced through Lute. Her evaluation of him rose through a level after hearing his response.

"I never would have thought I’d say this ever in the entirety of my life. But, you know what?"

Isla paused and looked directly into Lute’s eyes, and with a smirk, she raised her hand and pointed it at him.

"I dare say that you are going to be a very entertaining individual to be around. Even in the Divine Realm, no one casually says that pain is trivial. This planet is a place that I would ruin on a passing whim if I had my body. Who would’ve thought that there was such a crazy person with a strange charm?"

Isla shook her head as if she was contemplating the conundrum that was Lute’s existence. First, he was a mortal who was somehow living despite the near fatal wounds he had, and he didn’t even seem to be in pain. Then he somehow became the master of the Origin Soul Needle and merged with it, which she hadn’t been able to even do. But to top it all off, he was a crazy bastard that somehow made her interested!

"Are all mortals like this? No, perhaps he is unique?"

Isla kept muttering in dismay. Lute himself was beginning to think that she herself went insane after being inside of the needle for who knows how long? But, a contract was a contract, there wasn’t a way out, so Lute decided to deal with any problems that arose when the time came.

"So Isla, are we going to do this, or are we waiting until I get a foundation, or what….?" Lute asked.

Isla snapped back to reality, looking at Lute she had her typical devilish glint; a pressure that was becoming heavier by the second began to envelop Lute.

"Don’t think for even a second that we are on equal footing. I may not have my body, but I am still your senior in every way. As of right now, if I had my body, I would rain destruction on this shitty planet; I’ve been here for far too long. You are the only Mortal Realm individual that is just the bare minimum level of trash where I could, with alot of effort, make you into an actual human worthy of respect from anyone but me. I would bring you up to the Divine Realm simply to entertain me, if even a little with your crazy thought processes. As for any other mortal, if they so much as even tried to look at me with anything other than fear and submissiveness, I would cripple them. They wouldn’t even be worth the effort to kill."

Lute simply looked at Isla with a bewildered look. Were all Divine Realm practitioners of the same standing as her? If so, why hadn’t the Mortal Realm been destroyed?

"Lute"

"Y…Yes"

"You are to call me Master, or Teacher, and nothing else. If you don’t understand, I am going to beat it into you until you learn…."

Lute almost choked on his own saliva at her words, she was starting to show violent traits. He didn’t even have the ability to regret. He was stuck, at least until he constructed her body.

"Well then, let’s begin the process. Since you are so confident, then we shall test your mettle. The Spiritual God Blood shall be inherited here and now." Spoke Isla in a sudden voice that resembled a master teaching their disciple.

"I’m ready"

"I know you are did you already forget that we are connected…" Spoke Isla while sighing.

"I am going to insert the blood through the largest wound on your chest, don’t move at all, focus on absorbing it into your body and learning of all the capabilities it has. With most inheritances, there should be information transmitted, so pay attention." Isla said.

Without giving Lute a chance to make another ignorant remark, the blood shot forth. The moment it connected to the wound on Lute’s chest, a burning sensation invaded his body.

"Ah!"

After the initial yelp of pain, Lute forcefully shut his mouth. It felt like molten lava was traveling through his body as well as weapons ripping apart his muscles and tendons, the bones felt like burning puddles of mush. However, Lute persisted upon sheer willpower alone.

I don’t need to have an all-powerful ability, the power gained can even be a worse than others; all I need is the ability to catch up to the people of my age group who have cultivated since childhood. A solid foundation, yes, that’s all I need.

With such thoughts, time passed on. One minute turned to ten, and ten turned into an hour. Finally after nearly six hours, the constant feeling of his body falling apart and being built back up began to lessen. The pain eased and Lute slowly opened his eyes.

Examining his body, Lute stared at himself, he begain to feel happiness, something he hadn't felt in a long time. Somehow the small remnants of fur that he made a make-shift loincloth out of ripped apart. His body had mostly healed, but it seemed that as a memory of the past, he’d retain the scars across his body. Standing up, Lute didn’t look much different from his past self. He was now at least six feet and two inches tall compared to a mere five feet. His mass of red hair turned into a deep crimson, however the eyes had become the clearest of blue compared to the dull gray that he’d inherited from his mother. But the most dramatic change was that the previously scrawny thirteen year old had to have gained nearly eighty pounds, and all of that was muscle.

Clearly toned and muscular, with more refined features, Lute looked closer to someone that was sixteen or older, compared to the mere age of thirteen. Looking at his hand, and balling it into a fist, he could clearly feel the difference in his body. Without even starting to cultivate, Lute could already feel it. His body was ten; no it had to be at the least twenty times stronger and sturdier than in the past.

It certainly felt euphoric, without a doubt based on body strength alone, he felt as if he could run his previous forms full sprint casually for quite a long time. Had he not experienced it first-hand, Lute would’ve thought this was all a dream. But there was no way that amount of pain could be felt within a dream.

"This… To think I would change this much from a single drop of blood. The power of the fallen gods truly lives up to the stories of Master." Lute said in a satisfied voice. His body trembled in anticipation with the hardships and also the hope of a new future to come.

"This is nothing; you aren’t even at the start line. Do you think this much is all there is to a gods blood inheritance? It’s only natural that for you, who is only a mortal would receive significant changes, since you can’t be any worse than you already are! If it were someone that was already of the Divine level, their appearance would hardly change." Isla sternly said in a reprimanding voice.

Clearly she wanted to keep Lute from thinking that every small change was momentous. It was of utmost importance that he realized sooner rather than later that he was an infinitely small figure in the vast cosmos. A seed of arrogance must not be sowed, especially because it was her soul at risk!

Sighing upon the realization of just how much work had to be done to groom Lute; Isla could only trudge forward with his training.

"This isn’t without its benefits though; the price for someone obtaining this is their cultivation. However, I am almost certain that the Spiritual God had intended for the inheritor to already be in the Divine Realm, so it probably would’ve had them begin at the start of the Divine Realm again. Even so, it wouldn’t easily change them because they already have some strength, even if it’s miniscule."

Sitting back down, Lute listened to Isla in earnest. Any information, no matter how small, was important. Based on her words, someone from the Divine Realm had an advantage because they already had some amount of strength. But, they had to start from the beginning of the Divine Realms again. But, what was this benefit she was speaking of? It went without saying that this inheritance was an enormous boon to anyone with sufficient strength and resources to quickly return to their original power.

"Master, I don’t understand, what is the point of me using this blood then? Wouldn’t it be for the better that I use it when I successfully enter the Divine Realm?" Lute said

"No, I had originally planned on using the blood myself. But I am the only one that actually knows that it will reset your cultivation. When I found this out, naturally I thought that if I for certain would be safe then it’d be worth it. But clearly you see how that turned out for me. I am only a soul now." Isla said in a depressed tone

"Then are you saying that is better for the long term that I used the blood now compared to when I am an initial Divine?" Lute asked

Isla smiled her student who clearly wasn’t one that could catch on easily finally caught on to what she was implying, even if it was ever so slightly.

"Naturally, if this blood is able to only change a person for the price of their cultivation which has already permeated their very being and became their foundation. It won’t be as effective. However, you are much different, you haven’t even started to cultivate, and yet look at you. Without having any foundation, you merged with that blood. Think of yourself as an empty vessel. If you were already a Divine, changing an already filled vessel would be difficult because it has already changed and built up itself to support your power." Isla said sternly

"So, in short, because I am not storing any strength I can more easily resonate with the strength of the blood?"

"Bingo! That is precisely it, since you are an empty shell; the Spiritual God’s Blood was able to successfully merge with you in its entirety. Not a single sliver of the remnants of the Spiritual Gods last remaining power was wasted in the synthesis. This means that although you have to build up your cultivation from the very beginning, your foundation will be so incomparably stable that it makes even me jealous. Your foundation will originate from what was arguably one of the most powerful existences from the Age of Immortals."

To think that was the case! Lute actually cast aside his cold atmosphere for a moment to revel in the joy that he was able to obtain what he wanted. If he didn’t have anything else from the Divine Realm or even the Origin Soul Needle, he would still be content.

Thanks to this one chance I was given and most of all, Isla. I needed was a strong starting point, and now I have it. There is no excuse for me not to catch up to the cultivators of my generation. If I fail, then it is my own fault. The journey into the future starts now!