Solitary Sword Sovereign

Hercules

Will was shocked, he was expecting a big fish, but this, this was no ordinary big fish! This was a whale!

'Whales aren't fish technically but who cares!'

Who on Earth did not know of the great Hercules and his 12 Great Labors? From killing the Nemean Lion to capturing The Horses of Diomedes, all his labors were stupendous! The man was a mythological legend! In Western Culture he was an icon with much influence, after all, just how many movies, shows, animations and comics were made about him or had him as a character? Countless!

'This guy is so popular, if my life was a story he would probably be important. Wait, what if my life is a story...would it have a comic adaptation?'

Will was confident that if Hercules was to claim himself second in terms of popularity when it came to Mount Olympus, only Narcissus would dare claim himself first.

'Now the only thing left is Thor. Man if he was there this would be perfect. Wait, does this mean Thor also exists?'

As Will started to get lost in his thoughts again, Hercules spoke out once more.

"Everyone in here is a State Lord stuck at level 99. Some of you might not realize this but there are 3 great watersheds in the Conquest System's levelling process.

The first is when you become a Nation Lord and reach Level 100. The second is when you understand the Laws of the Universe and are able to incorporate said Laws into your spells, skills and the like. If this goes well, your class will gain a qualitative evolution. The third watershed I won't even mention, since most of you won't even get to see someone with so much as a finger on it.

Besides, if you have enough points and are curious, you can purchase this knowledge and much more at any Information Bank or IB. For those who believe they have the potential to reach the strength of a Peak Sovereign of a middle world, then go ahead and purchase this knowledge ahead of time, so you can prepare."

Hercules waited a few seconds for his words to sink in. Even though everyone here was a State Lord, not everyone here was intelligent.

What was a Sovereign? The most talented user on that world as deemed by the System. Peak Sovereign means that Sovereign has reached the peak of their power...

That was the strength of someone approaching level 200!

'Does that mean level 200 is the watershed?'

The reason one had to be a Lord to go up certain levels was to force people to fight for positions of power. If you are a Lord, you gain experience taxed from those under your domain, but there is only one prerequisite. Power!

The Conquest System wanted to induce a structure that forced the strongest to be put into positions of leadership. It was obvious that they did not just want block heads.

"The realm of cultivation you are at, from level 1 to level 99, is called the Foundation Realm. It's called so because its main purpose is to decide your future path in cultivating. The greater the foundation of any structure, the more durable it is and the longer it lasts. But more importantly, using the metaphor of a structure, the better the foundation the more options you have and the more materials you have to work with.

The Mind, Soul and Body. These three make up the Three Vessels of cultivation. Most beings cultivate the Body, some the Soul and very few can cultivate the Mind. The more vessels you cultivate, the more important it is for you to have a good foundation in either one.

The Story Mode we are taking part in, 'Fafnir's' grave, is a Legacy Ground with plenty of rewards, especially for weapon cultivators. Either way, this is ground has a level restriction of level 99 and below. So only you lot and restricted avatars can follow you inside.

All of you are powerful in your own right, but what's important in this mission more than anything else is the ability to cause damage. I want the best of every type of warrior available. To do this I have set up the test into 3 stages. Stage one removes the riff raff that can't make the bare minimum.

In Stage 2, you will be forced to fight a restricted avatar who is the same type of fighter as you.

Stage three is a tournament to decide the squad rankings. Once 32 fighters are chosen for part 3, the tournament will begin."

There was much for Will process here. Will liked to play the fool, but he had much to consider. Before he had come here he had read up on a lot of details. He knew more about the system that he let off. Most of the gaps in his knowledge had been taken care off by his massive study session.

"Foundation huh."

Will had spent most of his time cultivating the Mind, Soul and Body.

During the first meeting between Modus and Will, there was a time were Modus expounded upon the Martial Way. Partway through their discussion, Modus started to talk about the Vessels of Cultivation

"We as cultivators like to use a lot of metaphors to explain matters. One I am sure you are aware of is of the cup and the water. The liquid represents the energies, forces and intent within the universe that our bodies contain. In other words, the liquid represents a heterogeneous mixture of three types of existences.

The cup is also complex in its own way. Instead of saying there is one cup; it's more accurate to say that there are three cups. Three cups in one. The Mind, t

The Soul and the Body.

The Mind hosts thoughts and operates through Intent affecting the Soul. The Soul hosts the Spirit and operates through Soul Force affecting The Body. The Body hosts Life Energy and operates through energy.

The Mind has a Thought, that Thought manifests into Intent. The Intent causes changes to the Soul and thus the Spirit. The Spirit is designed to 'want to pass this trait down' to the lower Vessel. In this case, that would be The Body. The Spirit within uses Soul Force to make changes to The Body by controlling energies such as World Energy, Qi, Mana and such. The energy causes permanent change within the flesh in a way that causes the Life Energy to give feedback. This results in either an improved body over time or degradation.

The Mind and Soul exist outside of Time, just like light, but The Body does not. The Body ages over time. Hence body cultivation is a fight over ageing. Life Energy is always being lost. Every moment of every second.

The stronger your Soul Cultivation the more Life Energy you lose rapidly. That's why it's important to have your Body keep up."

At the time Will couldn't understand the Words Modus spoke in their entirety but Modus knew what he was doing. Will remembered a vague feeling of knowledge seeping into his mind like spilt water leaving a room through the gap under a door.

"The second test has you battle a Restricted Avatar of your type. We won't use system information as some of you have...unique identities, so we have modified the first test to see what you can do."

The weightlifting Hercules pointed to a Greek pillar close to Will. In Will's vision it suddenly turned red

.....

AN:

I tagged this book, come and support me with a thumbs up!
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know. Thank you for reading my story!

-Onion