Identity (4) - Cultivating Subordinates

Veil had set multiple trap formations surrounding the tent layering it in complex patterns and functions, and none could be destroyed unless it was all done at once. She wasn't the type to venture freely without preparing herself with trump cards or she would greatly regret it.

The trap that was activated was meant as a signal when intruder are drawing near, except the traps before it weren't activated, so it only meant the one who entered were familiar with her custom made traps or they knew where they were set beforehand.

It was still afternoon and Veil was aware of two presence were drawing near, she knows only a few people knew about her skills in trapping, so she did not panic and waited for them to come closer.

"Welcome home! How did it go?" Like always she greets with a smile and waved to a man carrying three large bags on his shoulder and a woman dragging two bags with a large grin.

"Greet! I'm gonna win big tomorrow! Just you wait!"

The voice that replied to Veil was full of glee as if the faint smell coming from her body didn't affect her in the slightest. The water only washed of the blood on her face and body but not the scent, if one stood next to her there would a familiar metallic smell coming from her clothes, but the woman didn't care and ran into her with an embrace.

"I understand, I wish you the best of luck." Veil stoked the head of her leader, like a mother proud that her children came him safe.

While the girls were bonding, Han looked around then noticed some formations had activated and trapped four groups in total. He already knew where to as look as he helped his sister in setting them all, there were a total over twenty five trap formation surrounding tent, so Han was not surprised in seeing a group target them as they were one of the groups with the least threatening atmosphere up close.

"Elder Sister, did you already dispose of the intruders?"

"Not yet, I spent too much time interrogating and didn't notice three more were captured. It was the usual ransom motive and they would dispose of us after getting their loot, apparently they were eying little Stigma's loot when he was too busy with admiring his prize horn to notice them despite being a cultivator. My, he still needs to learn to be vigilant even in public areas, I suppose living in the wild is different when to many people are used as a cover."

Veil sighed then placed her hand on her face while maintaining her smile, but her eyes carried a dark intentions when she remembered the men she interrogated, in her eyes they were nothing but lowlifes who abandon people for personal gain.

"Poor bastards, so any valuables on them?" The leader was aware of Veils 'personal vendetta' against those type of people in the past, so she didn't try to justify her actions and only cared about the present, such as the loot she gained.

"No valuable were notable with them only the sharp knives, apparently there were part a small group of nobodies that wanted easy money, so I 'reminded' them about consequences."

"Where's Stigma? .....Inside the tent sleeping huh, well he is still young and the event must have tired him out. So what should we do about the other three?"

The traps activated were capable in trapping any intruder in a state of hypnosis in a material plane like a mirror world, time in that world could be manipulated to a certain degree like an hour in that world would be a thirty minutes in the present.

The five sense however can still be felt like pain, so they use that as a means to torture their captives and hide the bodies while their work was still progress, Veil had taken her position very seriously and made sure to have general knowledge about traps of different elements.

Unless Veil cancels the formations or was tampered by another expert, none would know where the bodies were as the formation prevents smell and sound to escape.

"Split up and find out what we can, Stigma mentioned before he wanted to find out the recent murderers from the forest. It looks like the Top are really trying to hide the information from spreading to prevent mass panic, so we'll give our support and see his future actions in secret. Whether these men may have connections or not is up to Stigma to decide, if he succeeds good for his first hunt it will be good as a first impression, fails then we can only watch as he tries to understand his mistakes. That is the way to cultivate a capable subordinate."

Though she gave a serious expression befitting her position, it was short lived when Veil started patting her head and gave an out of context remark while pulling out a piece sugary treat shaped like a piece of diamond due to her leader's joy for valuables.

"My, my, your so kind Princess! You would put much effort to someone younger than you like an older sister for once! I, your mother, am so proud of your growth, here is a piece of sugar molded into a crystal! "

"Who the hell is my mother! Just get to work so we can go get some sleep, we found the target in the private tents spectating a while ago, but he was surrounded by his guards and left the scene. We tracked him for over an hour and found his residence and tagged him!"

The leader replied with a red face and grabbed the treat as swatted away the hand over head because of the age difference. Was it being praised or being teased again, only Han could guess in silent.

"So where is he? Is he nearby?"

"Not even close, by the Top's residence in the inner market, as expected of being part of the largest clan in the area they get the most privileges we only have until the auction for our mission, so...."

They were about to continue their discussion when someone started clapping to catch their attention, Han's pointed out that they were losing daylight if they started their briefing now, so they had to save it for later. Reluctantly they agreed, but Han's only sighed from successfully convincing his strong willed Seniors.

After the leader stored all the bags filled with gold coins inside her space ring, she picked the farthest one in the back, while the siblings made their way to the left and right side respectively towards the ripples in midair.

Without a second thought, they each entered and disappeared leaving no trace behind. None of the passing patrons noticed three people disappearing into thin air and went on with their lives like nothing happened as it did not matter to them.

****

While the Assassins were busy with preparations and work, Stigma was currently inside a grim world facing a black 'imp' that was showing off a wider grin than usual. Even without guessing what it was thinking, Stigma could tell it knew everything what he had experienced in the real world and is somehow connected to him.

Before he could say anything else, he looked around and saw a familiar hour glass above the ceiling, unlike the last time the one he saw was made entirely of glass and saw blue liquid dripping slowly as seconds past.

"You seem to have something in your mind Sir, but in any case I am astounded that you have made progress since the last time we met. I am in awe from your great talent, as expected of someone who is my Master! If it were anyone else, they would be a far cry to..."

"Spare me the praises, it's too overbearing. Now tell me what you know..." Stigma didn't want to waste time with the Demons and wanted information about the new spirit, if Hilda didn't knew about it, then his last option would be the Demons living inside him.

Though he hated to admit it, the Demon was the only one he can really on to get stronger in the future. Training aside, it knew more than Stigma about information that was beyond him.

"Fuffuffuffuffu, the horn of Ancient Predator Spider, my my where did you find such a treasure Sir..."

"Wait a minute, that's why I don't get it, the skill told me that the horn was from a Armored spider. So why was the spirit's contained different, when the item had a another name?"

The demon imp stood up and rubbed his chin, it then looked at him and told a theory he came up with.

"Fuffuffuffuffu, it appears though it may be more simpler than it seems Dear Sir. A spirit can only change in personality or loss memories of its past, but the body rarely keeps its form completely intact, correct. I assume the Heavenly Beast was indeed powerful before it was slain, but it must have used its instincts and transferred large reserves along with what's left of it's dying spirit into some of its body parts like the horn to prevent it self to completely perishing."

"Like a corpse decomposing in time, having the horn separated from the main body must have gone a similar process of decomposing or more likely regressing from its previous evolution, hence a different item was formed over the years. Another plausible way, was that the horn was a significant part of the beast's origin and had been cut explaining a weak spirit was residing inside, in turn the reserves inside it were used to make a protective layer, that is why you cannot pear through the soul's origins as it does not know correct."

It then told Stigma about his skill Essence Reader, the skill only peers through the soul because it knows about its origins, it does not matter if the item or person is aware or does not remember as the soul would not lie and reveal everything to him.

For example, when Stigma sees a cultivator, the Zen reserves are shown to him because the cultivator is aware of his level of strength from within his being. While an items would be made from the riches of earth or body parts of powerful beast, so it subconsciously shows information about its nature.

If an item has a stored spirit, then it would be possible to show its stored reserves like Hilda.

The spirit inside the horn is but a lingering spirit, so it being unaware about its reserves is not strange. When Stigma saw and touched the horn nothing happened, but after using his skill to absorb it a tidal wave of energy overcame him, that would mean he could freely absorb the large reserves without retaliation of the spirit was due to it being weak.

Stigma found the theory plausible, but on the other hand, why sell such a powerful treasure if it had that much value as material for cultivation to a small time merchant. It made no sense to him...

"...The origin of the horn does not matter, it belongs to me now. Where is the half formed spirits, I want to know what I can find out by absorbing them as is, as an experiment." Stigma made way to the stairs and walked to one of the doors on the hallway, believing that one of them would hold the souls of the beast.

Since he had passed out from fighting, the location of the complete souls of the Heavenly Beast had remained secret, whether the demon kept it a secret from the memory for personal amusement or did not want to risk losing defences could only be replied by the Demon in silence.

Stigma knows that fully formed souls will remake the beast allowing him to gain power in the process and experience if he fought it, but he wanted to find out if he can still use half formed souls anyway. The effects may lessen or have no effect he wasn't sure, but that is a risk Stigma was willing to make for him to get stronger.

"I advise you not to do that Sir, after all, it would be....a waste."

The Demon was squinting its eyes while it looked at Stigma with a hint of excitement, as if it was implying something to draw out his curiosity about what secret it was hiding.

The imp maybe loyal to Stigma for survival sake, but that did not mean the Demon could not have a will of its own to trick his master for amusement or other means.

"...What are you on about, if you have something say then just say it."

If Stigma allowed the Demon to speak, who knows how much of the truth had already been twisted by then. The Demon has obligations as he is honor bound to his duties to aid his master, while Stigma could only accept the reality that he need the Demon to get stronger and survive with his suggestions.

He would only describe his interaction with the Imp as a give and take relation, rather than a subordinate and superior as they can both voice out their concern without worry of position, for simple reasons they both have something gain from the other side and could feel the other side would not cross the line or they would suffer in the process.

Stigma keeps them both alive in the real world and gets stronger, while the Demon Imp manages the inner world and help's Stigma Cultivation training and breakthrough, while preventing his soul straying from his body as the cultivation requires him to removes his soul from his body.

From their respective point of view, keeping the other in their debt and having the freewill to chose was more effective than forcing their own decision, so they try their best as to keep the other from believing they have evil or radical intention.

Right now, Stigma could only hear out the Imp's suggestion, before he proceed to thinking about his plans, but its next words drove him into deep thought trying to wrap his mind on the subject, along with contemplate as to why he had not thought of that possibility.

'Would you like to use it, to cultivate a subordinate.' Were the words the Demon let out for him to hear.

Give me further details, is all that Stigma could say at the moment. Without trying, his face was trying to hide an emotion from appearing - excitement. If he can use more monsters like Dusk or even better strengthen his current group, then.....

The thought was just enough to cause Stigma's spine to shake with ever anticipation and future possibilities.

Dusk was a convenient summon, but Stigma was going to move on his own from now on as he might need more subordinates, so he can't always really on Dusk if it cannot keep up with his progress.

"Fuffuffuffuffu, please follow me Sir, this humble servant had always wanted to show you one of the greatest secrets of your world from the beginning.Fuffuffuffuffu." (imagine Doflamingo voice as he speaks and laughs in Japanese dub, it fits the interaction)

The Demon was trying to hide it's excitement and motioned Stigma to follow it to one the staircase leading downward, yet it didn't explain anything but Stigma could tell the imp wasn't going to tell him anything and wanted it to be a surprise.

As they ventured further downwards, the space around them started to shift as if it was alive. The very realm itself was bizarre, but the Demon had gained the knowledge and function of the world, so there was no delay on its moment and stride forwards with glee and confidence.

Stigma's mind and eyes wondered for a while, since he had only been seeing only a long but dark stairway turn into stones floating into mid-air as floating lantern passed by them and the white pillar of marble was beside the stone steps, nothing else changed after a few minutes so he got bored.

Soon, he noticed the lanterns disappeared one after another and a bright light appeared from end of the staircase, as Stigma peered into the light, he noticed a large body of water underneath that would be compared to an ocean.

Because of the high vantage point of view, Stigma was able to see how clear the water was, though he was fifty feet in the air from the staircase. Stigma could clearly see his own reflection with all his feature like a mirror, yet he could not fathom how deep the blue waters was or how large the space was capable in storing all the water when he could not see the walls.

Stigma had no idea what it meant, but he chose to admire the serene view of clean water first before he would asked the Demon, from above he could see floating crystal stalagmite big and small, giving of bright lights of different colors and causing the surface of the water below to reflect the lights and give a random but kaleidoscope like view.

Surrounding the floating stones were balls of lights floating around like fireflies, because of the distance Stigma could not reach out to light due to being out of reach.

What Stigma understood from looking around, the stalagmites had a different purpose rather than being a form light source as the rock were not bright enough, numerous nor large. Instead the entire body of water was illuminating the entire room instead like bioluminescent water.

From some areas, Stigma could see some strange blue plants sticking out of the water with parts of it branching out and forming like a small island, and saw that some of the lights were landing on the branch to prove it was safe to land and touch.

When Stigma looked around, confusion could only appear on his face. Stigma was trying to figure out as to how such a large body of water had appeared, but then again nothing could be explained in this realm.

The imp would tell him, but no doubt it would hide or bend some information or either try to avoid the subject altogether, so he dropped the thought of finding out until he was strong enough for him to know.

As they got closer to the bottom, Stigma could see a large platform underneath that appeared to be made of clear jade like stone, he even noticed that the air was starting to lower in temperature as if he was in a deep ocean.

Stigma's curiosity got the best of him and he eventually asked the Demons who replied with his playful grin as he laughed.

"What is this place?"

"Fuffuffuffuffu.This is the place where spirits who have fully formed and have yet to form reside, this space is connected to the tree you saw last time yet separated in a dimension, here the Human Cultivators and Heavenly Beast souls reside here as form of resting place if you will. Admire the vast and serene like view for know, Dear Sir, you will create wonderful forms of beauty as you progress in this place."

As Stigma listened he soon stepped on the stable platform that was illuminating green light yet it did not harm his eyesight even the slightest.

The platform was large with multiple formations overlapping one another, even if he tried to read the words it looked completely foreign to him, he soon noticed what he was stepping on was formed with multiple pieces rather than one whole piece of stone.

When he stepped towards the edge, Stigma could see from the mirror reflection that the platform had no form of support beams underneath, as though the center pillar of the staircase was keeping it from into the water despite the possible weight the platform had.

From what Stigma could guess it was ten feet away from the water, preventing any form of contact for the water to remain still from any contact of vibration.

In the corner of his eye, Stigma noticed a ball of lights appeared and fly upward, normally he wouldn't spare to look around but the light was special for a reason. He noticed the ball of light again when he turned his head around a few time and was surprised to see what made it catch his intentions.

The Demons didn't say anything, allowing Stigma to observed and understand what he was seeing before his eye. When he stretched out his and the ball of lights flew towards him and up close he found something 'mesmerizing'.

Inside the ball of lights was cub of small wolf like Kirin, as he admired the adorable creature the lights from above flew towards Stigma and started swarming in circles around him. One by one, he soon noticed and recognized each and everyone of them were all the Heavenly Beast he absorbed except the were in a child like form.

Unlike when they were guarding the tree as guard dogs, these Heavenly Beast appeared more approachable like pets and showed little hostility and showed great affection to Stigma, the baby like beast pranced around in the air and started nuzzling their faces at his face like he was their mother.

Each one was inside a ball of light, but when Stigma reach out he would feel their fur, warm as it they were alive. Each time he caressed one beast, one would try to squeeze in between his hand to draw his attention for affection.

Out of all of them the Bear cub, wolf cub and small rabbit were the ones he like the most, but he can't replace Kirin in his heart as it was still young to be left alone and had yet to grow. While he looked at the creature, he soon noticed some beast were not present, namely the unformed ones like the Tiger and the newly absorbed soul the 'Ancient Predator Spider'.

Stigma instinctively looked at the floor and saw a large circle in the center, with curiosity he circulated his Zen energy and the formations below his feet lit up and started forming in the air, creating a dynamic and complex movement that made him stare blankly before realizing the Imp was calling his attention.

But before he could say anything, Stigma saw a screen in front of him like a computer, but after reading the words the only emotion he could feel was excitement.

*Bing!*

[Soul Transmutation in Progress, possible candidates:

Current Souls Absorbed:

Soul of Impurity (I), Wolf Soul (II), Snake Soul (I), Stag Soul (I), Bear Soul (I), Eagle Soul (I), Bull Soul (I), Boar Soul (I), Monkey Soul (I), Cheetah Soul (I), Rabbit Soul (I), Rat Soul (I), Goat Soul (I), Bat Soul (I)

*

Pure Energy: 220%

Grudge Energy: 104%

Wrath Energy: 140%

Fire Energy: 330%

Earth Energy: 125%

Water Energy: 320%

Wind Energy: 120%

Light Energy: 80%

Lightning Energy: 30%

Metal Energy: 10%

***

Stock Piled Souls:

Soul of Wrath: (Complete - 100%)

Tiger Soul: 30%

Snake Soul: 80%

Ancient Predator Spider: 10%]

After looking at the familiar icons, a number of possibilities, but Stigma looked at the Demon for confirmation. Nevertheless, it only bowed forward and told him the function of the place and the jade floor with multiple formations.

"Fuffuffuffuffu. This platform, Dear Sir, is the Soul Transmutation Formation. It has a purposes to create a more powerful souls and energy by combining or separating the fully formed one you have. As mentioned before, this place is connected to the tree where the souls are rested and stored, by using this formation you can 'merge' and give birth to new and powerful spirit that have never been seen."

"By using this on Heavenly Beast souls, you may create soul bound familiars, those will try their very best to defend you as long as they live. As you may have guessed I believe there are no words are needed to the infinite possibilities of this knowledge when using this ability Dear Sir."

The Imp then placed it's right hand over his chest and made a bowing gesture while it was on one knee, producing an image of a servant performing his duties.

The progress of Stigma's growth is what always amused the Demon Imp since it can take part of the development, but compared to seeing his master acting reckless and gamble with his life, the Demons Imp wasn't going to allow such dangerous elements to harm him.

Thought the Demon Imp may have many secrets, it didn't have any intentions in harming his relation with Stigma, compared to repairing injuries or torn limbs, relations take far too long to mend especially when it was aware on how stubborn Stigma was when he makes a decision.

It could only hope to give it's perspective and give a more plausible approach and lessen the risk of danger.

....

"Show me how this works, then let me..." He was about to finish his sentence, when the Demon cut between his sentence.

"Unfortunately, unless given permission or until you are strong enough I cannot show you, you must tread carefully by yourself for now as I aid you....But master, do you really think I can contain that mind of yours when it come to knowledge about monsters called 'Yokai'."

That was true, Stigma wanted to tread carefully but in his heart he already had an idea in mind after hearing a voracious predator in a form of spider. Looking through the choices and with the Demon's explanation and confirmation, his imaged a certain yokai he wanted as a subordinate, the dirt spider, Tsuchigumo.