Prologue

Astral arts. Will be the deciding factor in a moment of life and death situation. The strong prey the weak, while the weak are humiliated by the strong.

Astral Spirit. The innate talent of the people in the continent and can be considered as their soul's power. It decides their fate, whether they are meant to do great things or just be a mediocre person.

No one had any idea where this Astral Spirits came from and when they first appeared, but all they knew is that its appearance had changed the world's fate.

There are many kinds of Astral Spirits that it is very hard to determine each and every one of them. The most well-known Astral Spirits are the Beast Spirits, Elemental Spirits, Nature Spirits, and Weapon Spirits.

There are other kinds of spirits as well, but the most mysterious ones are the Variant Spirits, which are hard to understand, unpredictable and still a mystery to all Astal cultivators.

***

In the world called, Exousia, Astral cultivators are known as legendary beings who can traverse the sky, split the sea, and flatten the mountains. Every mortal revered the Astral cultivators for these abilities they possessed which allowed them to pave the path of cultivation.

Billion of years had passed already, at the Ancient Era, where Astral cultivation had just started. The first person to have ever cultivated had become the strongest person ever and he even possessed the greatest talent in his generation.

Astral cultivators, even though they are not immortals, possessed a long life span enough to live for thousands of years. This person who had ever first cultivated was named Prota and was later on known as the Cultivation God.

For he had lived the longest life in the history which no one had ever managed to reach even at the present time. This had become a legend and at the same time a mystery and a dream to Astral cultivators.

Living for about millions of years, Prota had lived enough to know the foundation of cultivation and even create different cultivation techniques which were later on used by others to also cultivate. Even though there are other people who had created new cultivation techniques.

Out of the many cultivation techniques that Prota had created, only 25% have been found while the other 75% are missing. But that 25% had helped the cultivation of the future generations to progress to unimaginable heights.

The next legend to appear was the Refining God, Defteros, who is known for his amazing skills in refining.

Weapons, pills, and treasures need refinement and Defteros is the expert in that field or can be considered as the first person to have ever managed to reach heights unattainable by others. He might have not been the first refinement master, but he is without a doubt, the best.

He had created countless Divine level weapons, pills, and have refined numerous divine treasures. There are even rumors saying that he had created God level weapons but because no one had the courage to ask him if that was true, the truth was never known.

Defteros lived a slightly longer life than most Astral cultivators but not as long as Prota.

Over the next few million years, there will always be a cultivator who would rise to become one of the Gods. At present, there are nine Gods known to everyone while a countless number of Celestials.

The latest God to have ever been born was about a hundred million years ago and was said to have lived the shortest among the nine known Gods with the difference of about a few dozen years.

He was Enatos, the Mystique Arts God. Proficient in every mystical art such as talismans, runes, arrays, and even music. No one really knew how useful talismans can be until he showed them how powerful they can be at his hands.

Founding one of the Nine God Halls in the world, the Mystique Art Hall.

***

Acora Continent, Vethen Kingdom, Lofield city.

The Ignis family, one of the five major families in the Lofield city. Are known for their strength even way back the Cosmic Wars against the foreign races.

The Ignis Patriarch and is also known as the 'Blue Devil' had lived for a hundred years already, his Astral spirit which is high-level Royal grade, the Bue Inferno Spirit.

The Blue Inferno Spirit is an Elemental Spirit, which is a type of fire that is cold yet very hot at the same time. With this spirit, the Patriarch was able to found a strong and influential family in just a few dozen years.

Astral Spirit Awakening Chamber, Ignis Family Courtyard.

Inside a room, several people are inside gathering around a small circular platform. On top of that circular platform, there is a glowing blue orb placed on a metal stand.

This glowing orb is called the Empyrean Orb, an item that is used to manifest the Astral Spirit of someone below the Stellar Birth Stage. This helps them in identifying whether that person deserves to be nurtured or not.

Standing on top of the circular platform was Lionel Percival, the son of one of the elders in the family who had died during the war, in short, an orphan.

But even though he is an orphan, as someone who is able to reach the Sixth layer of the Physique Foundation Stage at the age of 15, it was a remarkable achievement already worthy of respect.

So because of that, in the Ignis family, even though he has no family already, he is still treated fairly because of his future prospects.

Lionel is a handsome young man, with an extraordinary charm that made him really popular among the girls in the city. His devilishly handsome looks had caused him trouble in many unconventional ways, thus named as the "Handsome Devil" a parody of Patriarch Ignis' title the "Blue Devil".

He was feeling really excited as he looks at the Empyrean Orb in front of him, his heart is beating so fast and loud that he could even hear it pretty clear.

"Put your right hand on top of the orb Lionel." The elder who was in charge of the evaluation smiled at Lionel seeing him really nervous.

And who wouldn't be nervous, a person's Astral Spirit will decide what kind of person he or she will become in the future. Either he will be someone legendary or someone unknown, it all depends on the Astral Spirit.

Lionel puts his hand on top of the Empyrean Orb, as his hand came in contact with the orb, instead of the usual bright light that would appear, nothing happened for a few seconds before it started showing them what kind of Astral Spirit he would have.

"Look! What kind of Astral Spirit is that?!"

"I heard the Elder Percival, when he was still alive his Astral Spirit was the Magnetic Dust which is a Variant Spirit."

"Yeah! Even the Patriarch had to admit that Elder Percival's Astral Spirit is even equal to his."

The murmurs of the onlookers died down immediately as a brilliant shine of light illuminated the dimly lit chamber. They all looked in anticipation at Lionel, all hoping to see a Variant Spirit the same as his deceased father.

With the help of the Empyrean Orb, Lionel's Astral Spirit slowly manifested itself behind him. A dark cloud of dust appeared behind him as it appears to be extremely malicious.

But no one inside knew what it was, so they all turn their heads towards the elder in charge of the evaluation waiting for him to tell them what it was.

Unfortunately for them, the elder was also having a problem as even him, who is known to be the most knowledgeable in regards to Astral Spirit in the family cannot identify this Dark Dust-like Astral Spirit.

Lionel was also looking back at his Astral Spirit with confusion, as he had seen his father's Astral Spirit before, he knows that his Astral Spirit is different. So the same as the onlookers, he also looked at the elder in charge of the evaluation.

Patriarch Ignis looking at Lionel's Astral Spirit had also knitted his eyebrows, he looks at Lionel as if he was just some sort of tool, which he really is for him.

The only reason why Patriarch Ignis treats Lionel kindly is because of the possibility of him also having the same Astral Spirit as his parent. The Magnetic Dust was actually much stronger than his Blue Inferno and can be even considered to be several levels high.

"Elder Loogen, please tell us what is that Astral Spirit!"

"Yeah!"

"Tell us what it is!"

Several inpatient family members started yelling, asking for answers. For these musclehead idiots, that only knew how to fight, they are the most direct ones that don't like to beat around the bush but are also very annoying at the same time.

Elder Loogen looked at the direction where Patriarch Ignis was sitting and also saw that he was hurrying him to say the answer. He then frantically started thinking of something to say, he looked at the Astral Spirit behind Lionel.

It was dark, hard to see through, gives off a mysterious vibe. But it doesn't emit any type of aura that can be compared to the Blue Inferno of the Patriarch or the Magnetic Dust of Elder Percival.

So in the end, Elder Loogen could only make something up.

"Lionel's Astral Spirit is a Black Dust Spirit, which is only a low-level Common Grade spirit, it has no battle strength or supportive strength. In short, it is a useless Astral Spirit."

Hearing what Elder Loogen said, Lionel's world suddenly stop spinning as he stared blankly in front f him. Others may think that he is living a good life, but he knows that he is on a tight rope almost every day.

He had to do something that could contribute to the family in order for him to live, even though he is treated kindly by the others, he knows that it is only false kindness and sooner or later, when they have no used of him anymore, he will be thrown like garbage.

Lionel did not even know when or how he got back to his room as he is still staring blankly in front of him. He didn't even notice that there is already someone behind him.

"Father, what should I do know?" Lionel asked as he stared at the above.

"You just need to stay quiet." A cold voice sounded behind his back, and before he could even turn around, he was knocked unconscious.

Another person appeared beside the person who had hit Lionel, he looked at the person and asked, "What now?"

"Master said to throw this boy in a cliff and to make sure that no one finds out about it."

"Okay then. Let me throw him, he will not surely survive a fall from the Twilight Cliff."

"Just be sure that no one will see you."

"Yes."