47 Giants

I could take over the Graklak's body if I wanted to. I had complete control of his spirit and could bless him with my power. The only problem is if his strength surpasses me then he'll be free. But my willpower surpassed his by leaps and bounds so I could easily control him.

"Rise," I said in a cold authoritative voice

He rose slowly at my command but he didn't show the slightest disrespect. A horned black serpent slithered along his body, making him my slave.

"You shall spread my power," I said with a smile

Graklak's body shook and trembled for a moment in resistance, but my power forced down all of his resistance. Until he accepted my commands with a quiet nod and a few tears. I examined Graklak's body and the true qi, I realized that it was decaying even faster than normal. From the current speed, it would collapse in a 1 year.

'Probably a consequence of forcing it on him. But that isn't a problem for me, I don't even need that much time.' I said coldly in my mind

I had Graklak move with the goblins back to the village. At a later point, Graklak could bedevil his other warriors and bring them to me. But for now they are dead, and that was necessary. I went into my guest room and relaxed for a moment. The anger in my heart had calmed, and my rationality had returned. So now it was time to investigate other things of importance.

It seems to calm the chaotic nature of my shadow force, I have to engage in my darker impulses. I had Drrak remove the death Qi samples we had taken, I manipulated and played with the strand of death for a while. I wouldn't normally mess with it, in the school out of fear of attracting attention. But in the formation, only the gods could watch, and they weren't even interested in the formation I was safe to do as I pleased.

"They call it death Qi, but it's apter to call it life and death Qi," I said as I injected magic power into the strand, it would then take on the form of a blessing, it would stop the accumulation of further death Qi. It wasn't strictly the power of life, but it could be used to sustain life in a way.

But it also had a deathly quality to it, it could accelerate death similar to time. It would wither away at a person's vitality until they were left with nothing left. It was also a tracker and a monitor for the demons and Lodite himself. There were quite a lot of uses for death Qi, but I only had one usage.

As I leveled up my magic eyes could further analyze the structures of magic. So I activated my magic eyes, as the elemental brandings burned onto my face. I had Drrak alter my vision so I could further examine the death Qi. The problem previously of finding death Qi was I was looking for the branches. I never looked for the source, or rather I couldn't find the source.

But I could compare the patterns of energy on my samples, to the one I saw on the formation. Then make deductions to find the traces of the source. I remembered the structure of the first and compared it to my samples. There were 6 points of difference from the origin, but for the other samples, those points differed. So I overlapped the points and found only 2 points of difference left.

'The next source should be in the inner forest then.'

I almost wanted to bring my followers with me for my investigation. But I haven't trained them in stealth, I was skilled but they weren't. So I held back and quietly left the village on my own. I got onto the tree branches and accelerated across the outer forest. Then I reached a sort of boundary, where the light was almost missing and it reeked of blood.

Where eyes were everywhere and the predators outnumbered the prey. Worse was the sheer size of the forest, some areas the trees were ridiculously over-sized. I could even feel terrifying presences abound, things reaching the peak of inner reformation. I couldn't even hope to handle beings in the peak of inner reformation.

I restrained my aura and took on a mortal appearance. I was nothing short of a regular little boy at this point, it was strange reverting to this point again. Nothing more I hate than restraining myself, but at times I have to hold back. Otherwise, I risk things far more important than momentary pleasure.

'It really is interesting to see magic, Drrak. It is like seeing the stuff of dreams.' I said in wonder as I followed the traces of death Qi into the inner forest.

'You are right about that, but it isn't necessarily a blessing.' Drrak said with a sigh

I could feel his sadness rushing into me, as we are connected telepathically. I was sensitive to his mental state, as he was sensitive to mine.

'The only line between a blessing and a curse is one's use of the item. I could say I was cursed by these brandings, or I could say I was blessed. For the moment I feel blessed to have this vision.' I said back to Drrak full of emotion

If anything I would even thank Remmie, he granted me a path to independence. But in doing so I was deprived of my will, and I lost myself. It worked out that even though I was grateful, I would still kill him. As I moved into the forest, occasional small monsters would get in my way. I didn't even bother to swing my sword, I just let my swirling intent cut at their will.

They would often retreat on their own to avoid the risk I presented. But I kept the use concentrated and short so I didn't alert the stronger existences in the forest. Although I came in here prepared and to an extent expecting to die. I don't want to die without gaining any worthwhile information at all.

So I kept watch as I followed the traces deeper into the inner forest, and the monsters were no longer scared by just my intent. Instead, my intent created greed in their hearts and they were prepared to cut me apart. I would quickly deal with them using a few sword swings. But I started to grow wary, so I slowed my pace and kept to conceal my presence.

My shadow affinity showed its advantages, as I moved through the shadows fluidly. Hidden and undetectable to all the various creatures. But I was slow far too slow for my original designs, luckily time in the formation passed faster than outside. So I moved slowly and analyzed the patterns of magic power in the forest. Then I found a footstep in the ground, it was dark but the footprint was extremely obvious.

On the ground, it looked like a crater but from these high trees, it was definitely a footprint. It was gigantic, and pressed deep into the earth; there were various small corpses in the hole. I looked at it in concern and my heart gripped because I looked forward and saw it.

A gigantic humanoid creature with immense vitality and gigantic fists. It had a pike on its back and a loincloth for its lower body. What made my heart grip though was the traces of death Qi on the giant. I gripped my fist and teeth all at once I cursed in my mind.

'Fucking giants, are you serious?' I said to Drrak

Drrak didn't respond but I heard a light chuckle transmit into my mind.

'Do you think this is funny?' I said in anger

The laughing just kept going on and on, as I remained angry and stone-faced.

'Son of a bitch, why does it have to be a giant.' I couldn't help but curse

'Maybe it's karma.' Drrak said in laughter

This time I didn't stay stone-faced, I just started to laugh with him. I chuckled a little, as my laughter intensified.

'Well, then without a challenge it wouldn't be fun would it?' I said with a bright smile.