"Feel the Àṣẹ within you," Afoláyan instructed, he is shocked at his fast rate of progress thinking on how hard it was for him to get started.
The technique the boy was cultivation is at least 10 times difficult, he could not help but sighed after all he was a once in a generation genius too, but here is a monster beating him thoroughly
Adéọlá closed his eyes.
Immediately—
He felt it.
A faint current.
Unstable.
Moving within him.
"Control it."
He tried.
The energy surged—
Then scattered.
Unruly.
Wild.
His breath hitched, coughing slightly due to the dispersed energy.
"I—can't—"
"Of course you cannot, the technique you are using has never been seen before. We created it using the best of our techniques honestly, we don't know if there are any effect...." Varkhul said flatly.
Adéọlá opened his eyes.
"…that was fast. Wait I'm a test subject for a new technique"
"shut it Varkhul. Don't worry we have perfected it all these while you are sleeping but You mistake access for mastery," Afoláyan said calmly. Inside his mind his thoughts were different
"There is 70% chances of cultivating it. He should be okay at least at worst i can rescue his soul."
"Your body has been perfected for cultivation," Varkhul added.
"But your mind has not."
Adéọlá frowned.
"…so I'm not talented?"
A pause.
Then—
"You are," Afoláyan said.
"On the border of being a monster, no he is a monster. If it is a normal people had their energy diffused during cultivation they should be bleeding from all orifices" Afoláyan thought.
"Just not yet," Varkhul finished.
Afoláyan continued, encouraging and excited. He wanted to see what happens if you combine the best human and demon cultivation techniques:
"True advantage manifests at the Eighth Stage and beyond. That why he can affect the physical world while they can't." pointing at the drifting souls
Adéọlá blinked.
"…eight?"
"You stand at nothing," Varkhul said bluntly.
"Less than nothing," Afoláyan corrected gently.
"…comforting," Adéọlá muttered.
Training began properly.
Days lost meaning.
Time blurred.
But progress did not.
Afoláyan taught structure.
Control.
Balance.
"How you breathe Ase determines how you live," he said repeatedly.
Varkhul taught instinct.
Force.
Dominance.
"If you hesitate, you lose (your Life)."
Adéọlá learned both.
Reluctantly at first.
Then completely.
He learned to feel Àṣẹ.
Not just within himself—
But around him.
He learned to sit still.
To endure.
To fail.
Repeatedly.
To recover from the extreme boredom of cultivation he started learning skills from other souls
He faced what all greedy men faced, eating too much. The souls were eager to impart all their life long knowledge
Then came the actual skills.
Not power—
But craft.
Artifact refining.
"How to give form to energy using a material conduit," Afoláyan explained.
He watched as fragments of broken materials were reshaped—not by tools alone, but by intent. Apparently he was not only a fearsome warrior but the greatest artifact refiner the world as ever seen and Varkhul a little below.
Alchemy.
Transformation.
Subtle.
Precise.
Varkhul demonstrated.
Gathering all the materials with a wave of a sleeve but he doesn't have one.
Ignite his Ase true fire burning fiercely
Within minutes the materials are compressed.
Altered.
Within moments— dozens of blunt weapons were created.
Varkhul felt satisfied with himself.
"... a little more before i beat that old bastard in his best game"
He laughed out loudly imagining his face.
Adeola thought he was happy with the result of the artifact refinning.
He saw a huge piece of ore just laying around the recently built artifact room
Gold.
Adéọlá stared.
"…that's?"
"That is gold, i thought you knew that already." Varkhul said.
"…so gold is worthless here?"
"Completely."
Adéọlá exhaled slowly.
"…that's disappointing."
Beast taming came next.
A demonic art.
Control through presence.
Through will.
Through dominance.
But he progress on this craft the least, he had no animals or demonic beasts to perfrom it on.
"You do not ask," Varkhul said.
"You take."
Adéọlá frowned.
"…I'll… work on that."
Completely ignoring it there after
Days passed.
Or weeks.
He did not know.
Then—
Something changed.
At first, it was subtle.
Barely noticeable.
A crack in the ground—
Closing.
A shattered stone—
Reforming.
Adéọlá paused mid-training.
"…did that just move?"
Afoláyan followed his gaze.
Silence.
Varkhul narrowed his eyes.
"…again."
They watched.
The ground shifted slightly.
Repairing.
Slowly.
But undeniably.
The souls began to gather.
Whispers spread.
"This… was not happening before…"
"The world is… healing?"
"No… that is impossible…"
As if on notice countless eyes if they could be call that swooped over to his location.
Adéọlá stepped back slightly.
"…I didn't do anything."
No one responded immediately.
Instead—
They continued looking at him as if something will magically pop out of him.
All of them.
Human.
Demon.
Suspicion lingered.
Heavy.
Unspoken.
Afoláyan spoke quietly.
"…this began when he arrived."
Varkhul did not disagree.
"…coincidence is unlikely."
Adéọlá's chest tightened.
"…I don't even know how I got here."
The child from before drifted closer.
"…but you did, big brother."
Silence followed.
Adéọlá looked at his hands.
Then at the land.
Then back at the souls.
"…if I did this…"
He exhaled slowly.
"…then I can use it."
The words came naturally.
Without hesitation.
Afoláyan's gaze sharpened.
Varkhul smiled faintly.
"…now you are thinking correctly."
Adéọlá lifted his head.
The ruined world stretched endlessly before him.
But now—
It did not look empty.
It looked unfinished.
And for the first time—
He did not feel like he had lost everything.
He felt like he had found something.
Something no one else had.
"…then let's begin properly."