A Reaper's Philosophy-Chapter 74: That’s 10 Moves

(Crackle!)

(Crackle!)

Silver lightning crackled and danced all around the arena. Before the twerp could do anything, Grayson was already next to him. He then kicked the twerp on his right leg, sweeping him off his feet.

The twerp landed on his face, causing him to have a bloody nose. Grayson then touched the twerp’s shoulder. The twerp suddenly disappeared then reappeared on his seat.

"My name is Grayson and for the next 6 months you will know me as master." Grayson said confidently.

"I am Lucien Xander you cannot treat me like this! Do you know who my grandfather is?" The twerp shouted at Grayson, fuming with anger.

’Why does this sound so familiar?’ Grayson thought to himself.

"I don’t know and I don’t care. If he wants me to teach him a lesson as well he can come and find me." Grayson said to Lucien.

Lucien Xander was Theodore Xander’s older brother. Theodore had once challenged Grayson to a duel and ended up losing 100 years of his life. The grandfather they both mentioned with so much pride is one of the only 2 Heavenly Hosts in the entire Hardon Sect.

"What do you all know about Exousia and the Theós System?" Grayson asked the class, ignoring Lucien’s deathly stare.

Standing in the middle of the arena, he was in perfect view of everyone. A young and elegantly, beautiful young woman raised her hand up. I then signaled for her to speak.

She then stood up and began to speak. She gave off a cold atmosphere. Her entire aura was cold.

"Exousia is the life energy stored within Evnoia. It resides within every living thing on the planet. Although it is in every living thing, not everyone is compatible to wield this energy.

To be compatible, one must become exposed to a terrifyingly great amount of exousia. Although this is the most direct method, it is also the most dangerous. If one’s body cannot handle the process, they will die.

Other methods would be killing beasts or absorbing enough beast cores till your body becomes compatible. Once compatible, one’s entire bloodline will also be compatible. However, there are rare cases where people with compatible parents are born incompatible.

Exousia is too wild and powerful. Naturally, we Evnoians do not have the necessary means of controlling such a power, and that’s where the Theós System comes along. The Theós System was placed, by Theós, as a simple guide to control this power." The cold young woman spoke out loud.

Everyone listened attentively and nodded in agreement as she spoke. She was clearly someone they all admired.

This cold young woman was also the grandchild of one of the Heavenly Hosts of the Hardon Sect. She had beautiful long black hair and a pair of icy blue eyes. Her skin was like that of a newly born child, but did not give off the impression of a fragile infant.

Out of everyone from her generation, she had shown the most potential and had the most impressive talent, taking her only 3 hours to absorb a beast core. No one was her match or her equal within her generation. Being at the top, she was eventually nicknamed Queen by the younger generation of the sect.

"You are almost correct. Yes, Exousia is life energy, but it does not come from Evnoia. It comes from a separate dimension. This dimension is infinitely expanding and contains nothing but Exousia within it.

A rift leading to this dimenision appeared here even before Evnoia was created. Evnoia acts as a shield to filter the energy that’s leaking out. If not for Evnoia, everything in the universe would be destroyed.

After some time, life began to grow and flourish in Evnoia. Animals and Evnoians alike all came from exousia.

Exousia, however, was too powerful. Eventually, more rifts began to appear. This leaked in more exousia than Evnoia could restrict. This had affected not only the planet, but the people and creatures born here as well. It turned the creatures into beasts and most of it’s people into grimmes.

Exousia wasn’t supposed to affect our dimension the way it has and not even Theós had control over this energy. The only thing connecting us to this dimension is Evnoia.

The grimmes, also known as the original inhabitants of Evnoia, were once Evnoians too. That is what happened to Evnoians who were exposed to too much exousia before the Theós System was kept in place.

Exousia isn’t just life energy; it is living energy. It is conscious of where it is and how it is being used. There is a reason the grimmes’ sole purpose is to close the rifts within Evnoia. However, hosts have been getting in the way of that objective for hundreds of years.

The number of grimmes, however, will never reduce nor increase so long as the rifts remain as they are. It is the perfect amount of grimmes needed to seal off all the rifts. Ever since Theós implemented the system, there havent been any more rifts.

The only way that grimmes can close the rifts is by using their own bodies to seal the rifts. One of the biggest rifts in Evnoia is located in the royal palace and runs through all of Madsus City, which is why grimmes have been attacking the city in The Bartender’s absence. As you all know, if it weren’t for the Bartender, this city would have been destroyed long ago.

That aside, hosts have the potential to break through Theós’ system and rule over everything in this universe. However, the Theós system is designed to prevent just that. As an Ordinary Host, you were told that in order to go to the next level you were to kill 10 of 5 different kinds of beasts each.

Have you ever asked yourself why the count still goes up even after killing more than 10? That’s because 10 is not the true limit of your potential. There was actually never a limit. The system tells you to fill your paths with exousia in order to push through to the next level once you hit the 10 mark.

Although going to the next level is hard, it is not supposed to be so difficult that you would spend over 100 years trying to break through. This is the result of following the system.

With each level, it will become more and more difficult for you to break through than usual if you follow the system." Grayson spoke calmly to the class and before anyone knew it, everybody was listening attentively to his words.

"Uhm, sir?" A shy looking host spoke up as he raised his hand.

"Yes?" Grayson responded.

"If we aren’t supposed to be using the system, then what’s the right way to to grow stronger?" The shy host asked with his head down.

Everyone had this question in mind. They couldn’t help but entertain the thought, ’What if he’s right?’

"Good question. The right way to grow would be to disregard the limits that the system has placed on you and no longer focus on absorbing Beast Cores. Do so only with the first 10 kills. Beast Cores help you have a higher affinity with the path you’ve chosen. This means the type of Beast Core you absorb also matters.

If you have focused on the path of ice, but have been absorbing Beast Cores with an affinity for fire, it will only weaken the force of your exousia. Only follow the system’s limit when it comes to Beast Cores and increase the affinity of your path. Absorbing more than the limit will not increase the affinity of your path. It will increase the exousia in your path by a miniscule amount, but not the force.

Killing more beasts increases the amount of your exousia significantly and eating the flesh will increase it’s force. Upon taking a beast’s life, it’s exousia, or life essence gets transferred straight into you. It doesn’t matter what affinity the beast had, the amount of your exousia will increase because this exousia is much more pure than the ones in Beast Cores. This makes breaking through much easier.

I would actually suggest restarting your progress and no longer relying on beast cores like you have been. However, I only have 6 months with you lot and do not have the time for that.

Exousia is all around us. Once you reach the Mythical Realm, you will be able to absorb exousia all around you. With enough practice it will come to you as easily as it is to breathe.

Within your stomach is a core, all paths run through this core. Everytime you use a technique, exousia is expended from this core. Your realm determines how much exousia you can use within the core and your paths determine the kind of power you use and the amount of force behind it. Many people get that wrong. Some paths naturally have more force than others. The path of healing cannot have same amount of force as the path of lightning.

Beasts Cores also have paths running through them. So, naturally, they contain a lot of energy. However, keep in mind, that Beast Cores are a cheat that limit your potential. The exousia within them is impure. Kill at least 3 times the required amount of beasts and breaking through will become much easier. Your foundation would also be more solid and you will have better control of the exousia inside and outside your body." Grayson said to the class. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"How do we know what you are saying is true? All our lives we were taught otherwise. Even Elder Mai herself has told us it would be foolish to kill more than the required amount of beasts. Who are you to say otherwise?" Lucien Xander spoke up.

"I am the guy that your Elder Mai said you should listen to. Any more stupid questions?" Grayson asked the class. Everybody sat in silence except for one girl who stood up.

"Not a question..." Queen stood up and said. She then began to walk towards Grayson and stood across him in the arena.

"Fight me." Queen said to Grayson.

"Why?" Grayson asked her.

"I cannot believe empty words. If what you say is true then you, as a newly Ascended Host, should be able to last at least 10 moves against me. Despite me being a realm higher, you won’t turn me down right?" Queen said radiating a cold aura.

’This girl is very confident in her abilities. What would she think of me then if I told her I lasted a minute against Elder Mai.’ Grayson thought to himself.

"Sure, just don’t-..." Grayson was about to say, but was cut off by an icy sword being swung at his waistline.

He quickly leaped back, however, a layer of ice appeared on his on his clothes and skin and began to spread. From this attack alone, it was clear to see how talented the Queen was. She showed perfect control of the power outside her body and even managed to allow it to take the shape of a sword and have a freezing effect after. This was not something an ordinary host could achieve at such a young age.

’I could have sworn I dodged that.’ Grayson thought.

He then flexed his muscles and the ice shattered off of his skin.

Queen now looked like an icy goddess of death swinging her ice sword towards Grayson.

"Is dodging all you can do?" Queen shouted at Grayson.

Suddenly, the floor began to get colder. Immediately after, 6-foot long ice spikes then grew straight out the floor where Grayson stood.

Grayson was quick to react and jumped up into the air. However, Queen anticipated this. The entire arena became blanketed with ice and snow. It was like a blizzard suddenly passed through in an instant.

Dozens of ice spikes, as thick as a branch, appeared from almost every direction and charged at Grayson. The arena had a protective array around it so none of the snow and ice touched any of the other hosts in the room.

Gasps could be heard from everyone as the spikes rushed Grayson.

"Is he-?" A host asked out loud in horror.

At the same moment, Grayson appeared behind Queen and chopped the back of her head with his hand, leaving her unconscious.

"Alright, that’s 10 moves...I think." Grayson said out loud.