Chapter 4:

Since Xanders awaking, one year had already passed.

During this time, the steely old man who was responsible for his awakening had provided him with a letter of authenticity of his awakening, as well as somewhat pushing him to enrol in the local city academy.

The orphanage was situated near to Satou city which was in the Heaven spirit empire on the Doulou continent. Original there had been 2 continents, however the Doulou continent was no longer by itself as the Sun moon continent had collided with it a few hundred years prior making up the larger Douluo continent.

This super continent was the home of many kingdoms and empires as well as many different sects, schools, and clans or families. The most noteworthy are Shrek Academy, and the Tang Sect. It is home to a wide variety of spirit beasts and different natural environments like the extreme northern lands and the Star Dou Forest. It's because of this that the Douluo Continent has the greatest number of spirit masters.

This also alerted Xander that the timeline was far further than what transpired in the first soul land novel. In fact, it seems to coincide more with the 2nd novels timeline and the fact that the name Huo Yuhao the Ice Douluo was not known, it signified that it was before the 2nd novel though very close in timeline.

As far as Xanders present life went, all things considered it was very enjoyable. His ultimate martial spirit although of the support type provided him an ultimate attribute and he awakened with a soul level of 10.

This gave him many privileges in his school exempting him from labour in order to pay for tuition fees as well as providing him some type of scholarship where he was provided money monthly.

As a result, Xander had more time to spend cultivating to truly understand his martial soul. In fact, he had pushed back the time to get his spirit ring for over a year in order to better grasp his martial soul.

Spirit Rings where the part of the remains released by Spirit Beasts following their death, sacrifice, or contract with humans. Only the person who delivers the killing blow can absorb the Spirit Ring and is needed to break through the bottleneck of Rank 10, 20, 30, etc.

Spirit Beasts are animals or plants which releases their souls after they are killed, which can be absorbed by the person who killed them given that he has reached the promotion stage. Spirit Beasts are Classified based on their age and the colour of the Spirit Rings released after death depends on their age.

Currently Xander was at the Rank 10 bottle neck making him a Spirit Scholar and he needed a spirit ring in order to continue advancing.

As Xander once again sat in a meditative possession he stimulated his mental energy. This was one of the two types of energy soul masters used, and closing his eyes his consciousness was pulled deep into his mind till he came face to face with his martial soul.

Soul masters utilised two forms of energy. The first and most easily accessible was spirit energy. This could be most accurately described as fuel, which soul masters stored inside their body in order to use and power there martial souls and themselves. Spirit energy was taken from the surrounding and by cultivating the body through infusing it with spirit energy a soul master could increase in rank.

The greater the spiritual energy the body could use and store the higher the level of the soul master. This was also the reason Xander was provided with so many benefits despite being an orphan. He possessed a spirit rank of 10 which meant his soul and body naturally found it easier to store and use spirit energy.

However, there was a caveat. Having an ultimate martial soul meant he needed more spirt energy in order to increase in rank per level compared to normal spirit masters.

Mental energy however did not come from the outside but was produced from the mind. This was an energy very few lower-level soul master's could connect to and use. However, Xanders martial soul seemed to give him a higher affinity to mental energy as a result of its properties.

Gazing at the golden chalice carved with intricate line Xander couldn't help but smile. It wouldn't provide direct power in a fight but its support abilities where second to none. He doubted even the seven glazed pagoda, a peak support tool, would be as good as this.

The chalice was adorned with 9 resplendent jewels, 5 circling the top of the chalice with 4 around the base. It was none other than the Sephiroth Grail.

A golden grail that came in contact with the blood of God. It allowed Xander to come into contact with the principles of life and thus the soul and is what made it possible for Xander to descend into his mind space.

Whether this was the same god level artifact that came in contact with Jesuses blood, Xander was unsure of, but its healing and support abilities definitely indicated an ultimate lineage of some sort.

Its abilities were simple. It allowed him to easily access his mental space which currently was a vast expanse of nothing as his mental energy was not strong enough to create an inner area. The fact he was here at all was thanks to the grail.

Also, every week a single drop of red blood fell into the grail. This seemed to happen on every Sunday where the gems adorning the chalice would greedily steel his spiritual energy before forming a single drop. This also made Xander tired and lethargic for the rest of the day, making him waste the day in the soft comfort of his bed.

The single drop of blood carried a sacred healing aura unlike anything he had felt before. Xander refused to use it for himself in fear of wasting this precious liquid. Xanders reluctance to use the blood was also due to its other function. Not only would ingesting the blood heal the body and mind proving a strong boost of life energy, if the chalice was full which Xander estimated would need 200 drops, it would be able to bring back the dead providing they hadn't died for more than a few days.

Xander wasn't sure on the exact time after death just that the sooner a dead person was given this godly concoction the better the results would be.

However, Xanders revere was rudely interrupted by a dull aching feeling emanating from his real bodies side.

Opening his eyes Xander turned to stare at the individual, who had made a habit in recent times to annoy him and took Xanders attempts at ignoring him a sign of friendship?

"Don't you know it's dangerous to wake up someone when they're cultivating?"

Xander briskly spat out, accompanied with a stiff jab to push the annoying kid away.

(A.N - Hey guys don't forget to leave your stones.

If you want to support me or want to read 10 advanced chapters head on over to my P.a.t.r.e.o.n www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/MSChowder )