Dead or Alive?

Harry opened his eyes, and the very first thing he saw was the system screen.

However, he was in a hurry to observe his surroundings in case he was in danger, so he turned it off without glancing at it.

He saw an uneven stone roof above him, instantly stood up, and looked around to see if any danger was lurking.

Underneath him was a circle with different engravings.

"It's a teleportation formation and it seems to be placed by a formation scroll," Krish said when he noticed the circle.

"What? A formation scroll?" Liam blurted in confusion.

"When you have high proficiency in your element, you can make such formations. However, most people buy pre-made formations and use them by infusing spiritual energy," Krish explained.

Harry nodded and observed his surroundings.

It was an empty cave, almost the size of a basketball court. There was nothing in the cave except for some lanterns hanging on the walls, and there was no place to hide.

Then he saw a man sitting on a platform, facing his side. Upon closer observation, Harry realized the person was not alive.

The dead body sent a chilling sensation.

A black sword was strapped to the dead body's back.

He could only see the man's skull, as other parts were covered in dirty clothes, indicating the person had been long dead.

Harry was frightened, if a mere skeleton made him feel this way, how powerful must the person have been, when alive?

Although curious, Harry didn't want to approach the body, suspecting it might be a trap.

His suspicion was affirmed when he saw several skeletons lying near the dead body.

He then looked at himself, remembering the beast's claws had made a hole in his body. But now, there wasn't even a scar, though he felt his body was strained, with a strange sensation of wanting to expand.

It wasn't prominent, so he decided to ignore it for now and figure it out later.

He sighed in relief, his current condition was better than he had feared.

He didn't want to approach the dead man's body unless necessary, so he started looking for an exit but couldn't find any.

He punched one of the walls in hopes of breaking it, but there wasn't much help.

Shaking his head, he sat back on the platform where he had woken up.

Seeing no immediate risk, he opened his system screen. He was sure there had been notification sounds when he confronted the beast, but the beast hadn't given him a chance to check.

[Quest: Survive]

[A beast far beyond your limit is attacking. Survival is the only choice.]

[Additional quest: Ensure the survival of every member of your party.]

Harry wasn't surprised that the system had given him a quest to survive instead to kill the beast, but now he was excited because he had completed a task the system deemed impossible.

He rubbed his hands against each other in anticipation.

[Quest completed]

[You have surpassed the system's expectations. Your reward has been upgraded.]

[Rewards: INSTANT LEVEL UP]

[Soul body has been granted]

Harry's face filled with shock. He continued reading about the additional quest, hoping it meant his friends were safe.

[Additional quest completed]

[You have proved your leadership.]

[Rewards: Soul contract has been unlocked.]

[Exp: 5300/25600]

With that, the notifications ended, and he was relieved to know his friends were safe. He didn't know how much time had passed since he nearly died, but he was happy to see the rewards.

All his efforts hadn't been in vain. He checked for explanations about the rewards.

[Soul body: There are different ways to cultivate. The first is Qi cultivation, which most people do. The second is pure body cultivation, and the third and last is soul cultivation.

While Qi and pure body cultivation can be pursued by anyone, soul cultivation requires a special soul body.]

Harry expected more information on how to cultivate his soul body, but the system concluded with this.

He knew he had asked about what a soul body was, and the system answered exactly that.

"Can't you give me more information about how to cultivate?" Harry cursed the system.

Although he could ask to Krish but what were the chances it would give out information that system didn't.

He then shifted his focus to the soul contract.

[Soul contract: Can be used as a promise.

When two persons come to a certain agreement, the host can seal their soul contract. Either party who breaks the contract will lose control of their soul, which can be controlled by the other person. The contract allows the holder to even kill the person by destroying their soul.

Forced soul contract: This can be used on a person weaker than the host or whose will has been destroyed. It can also be used on beasts suppressed by the host.]

He was a little sad when he first read about the contract, but seeing the forced soul contract, which could be used on weaker beings or beasts, he was thrilled.

He could potentially make an entire army of beasts obeying him.

'Well, if system didn't have a limit'

But then he realized a flaw in the forced soul contract, the beast needed basic intelligence to understand that its life was in danger. Unlike the 3-tailed beast, which lacked intelligence and thus hurt itself by crashing into the woods.

Higher-level beasts had some level of intelligence, with some matching human intelligence.

For now, he couldn't try the soul contract but had other problems to handle.

He again started looking for an exit but, after searching for a day, found none.

He wanted to approach the dead body and take the sword, but seeing the skeletons made him hold back. They must have tried the same thing.

He wasn't sure if this tomb was the one Liam had mentioned. He could survive a month or two without food, but after that, he would start to starve, so he had to do something to avoid dying.

Over the next three days, he learned more about his soul body.

He could leave his body, with his soul traveling through matter, and cultivate his soul outside his body. However, leaving his body for too long weakened the connection between body and soul.

He hypothesized that leaving one's body for too long could sever the connection permanently, preventing him from reentering his body, but he didn't dare to test this.

Although his soul could travel through matter, it couldn't bypass the cave walls. Whenever he approached it a formation got activated.

Giving up on it he then checked his status screen.

[Name: Harry Smith

Exp: 5300/25600

Stat points: 15

Qi cultivation: Foundation Building Level 8

Pure body cultivation: Foundation Building Level 6

Soul cultivation: Foundation Building Level 1

Battle techniques: None

Battle art: none

Special technique: Soul contract]

[Ongoing quest: Find the whereabouts of your father.

Rewards: ???]