Chapter 238 – Florida Man Beaten by His Father Because He Refused to "GIT GUD" in the Art of Sigma Male.
After getting the first 1,000 wins, Leo got to choose one of Aslan's skills to learn. He picked the Laws of Souls as it might give him clues about soul attacks and fundamental knowledge.
DING
<You have chosen to learn the Laws of Souls.>
<Unlocking the memory…>
A flood of memories flashed into Leo's mind. Countless texts appeared in front of Leo's eyes at entered his brain like a stream of water vanishing into a sinkhole.
Several hours in Leo's dantian universe passed. He slowly came back to his senses after digesting so much knowledge. He felt like he had read and memorized over a billion pages of scriptures.
"Was it that SIMPLE?!"
Leo was taken aback by the sudden enlightenment. He understood why he was so weak against Aslan's attacks that he wanted to smack his head into a wall in shame and frustration.
"I guess I never used the power of soul… or the basic power of sages at all! Man, this is why I shouldn't skip tutorials in games. I feel like I've jumped into a challenger-ranked game while my skill is only comparable to silver. What a mess."
From what Leo had learned, the power of Laws was an ability or an authority to enforce one or more of the universe's absolute laws upon their enemies. For example, an entity who comprehended the Laws of Sword could command any sword in the universe to cut down their enemies.
However, there was an interesting exception. When two or more entities comprehended the same laws and they fought, the entities would be restricted and banned from borrowing power from the universe. If they really needed to fight, they could only rely on their Qi and life force to fuel the power of laws. This exception existed to prevent multiple entities with the same laws from getting stuck in an endless battle while borrowing and depleting the primal Qi of the universe.
Again, this rule only applied to entities with the same power of laws. It didn't apply to karmic sovereigns, who could bend the laws of the universe at will.
"The laws of souls dictate that all souls must be connected to a vessel, aka a fleshly body, to exist in the universe outside of the karma river. Anybody who violates these laws is subjected to divine punishment. That's the general idea, but those motherducking minor sections are a headache. Dammit. I'm trying to cultivate here, but this whole thing is a fucking haven for lawyers!"
Leo recited the knowledge he just obtained to make sure that he correctly memorized them.
"Section 1, souls exist for the universe and the rivers of karma. Their existence solely belongs to the universe."
"Section 2, souls can only exist if one of the Karma Rivers contains one of their soul embryos or the soul's shells."
"Section 3, souls may reincarnate into a mortal. They cannot be reincarnated into immortals, deities, sages, entities, or superior entities."
"Section 4, souls who reincarnated must return to the karma river of their birth when they died…"
Leo's expression turned dark when he said the laws using his own words and understanding. He kept reciting until he reached a certain section.
"Section 5, every mortal, immortal, deity, and sage in this universe must stay connected to their karma the river of karma by maintaining their karma threads."
This section was related to the karma strings that Mao Miaomiao had tampered with. Leo believed that he hit the jackpot, but the following sections made him confused.
"Section 5.1, if any mortal, immortal, deity, or sage's karma thread is disconnected to the river of karma by accident, intentional, or by the third party's act, their soul will be considered as THE STRAY."
"Section 5.2, THE STRAY is subjected to reconnect to one of the karma rivers within one year after they lost connection with their origin karma river.
"Section 5.3, THE STRAY who fails to reconnect their soul to any karma river within one year will be permanently deleted by the universe… what?"
"Section 5.4, THE STRAY who returns to the karma river will automatically abandon their previous vessel and wait for their new reincarnation process… HEY!"
Leo stopped reciting the laws as he was concerned about Esen. Aslan taught him that Esen's karma thread was connected to him, but Leo was not the river of karma. He was confused about how this worked.
But as Leo fell into a deep thought and recited the rest of the laws in his mind, he found a loophole in the laws. It never stated WHOSE karma river that a soul had to be connected with.
'She connected to me. But when she lost her connection, she fell unconscious. So… I need to reconnect her to me, is that right?'
Leo gained a new hope. He was glad that he spent over a year in this universe fighting Aslan's shadow clones.
However, the knowledge of basic laws was not enough for Leo. He needed more, and he needed to learn how to utilize karma threads and karma laws better.
The answer to Leo's question was not Aslan's other skills. Instead, it had to do with the lower cultivation realms that Leo had skipped.
"To learn how to use karma threads, I need to learn the basics first. I know about dao domains, soul domains, and providence domains. But I haven't learned a sage's ability or domain yet."
Leo let out a long sigh while he searched for other people to fight in the simulation mode so that he could rob their skills. He filtered the search menu and showed only sages, whose cultivation base was one stage above the deity realm.
A new list appeared on the simulation system screen. The name of Overlord Max was on top of the list.
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Name: Max, the Overlord of Bulldogs
Race: Fenrir Werewolf
Age: 100,238
Cultivation Base: 4-Karmic Thread Sage
Skills: Authority of True Bite, Authority of Territory Marking, Authority of Scent, Authority of Intimidating Bark
Specials: Fenrir Bloodline
Favorite Weaponry: Soul Piercing Fangs
Potential Percentage: 1,000%
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The next tier of domains was the dao authority. However, in this case, Max had a bunch of useless authority as he practiced useless daos when he was a mortal.
Leo laughed at the skill list. Although he didn't need those authorities, he needed something to learn as a reference. Thus, he tried fighting Overlord Max's shadow a thousand times.
.
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Two days after Leo had gone into seclusion, he opened his eyes and returned to the real world. In total, he spent over 2,000 days or over 5 years in his dantian universe to train.
His gaze, his expressions, and his aura seemed softer than before. The domineering rainbow aura around Leo receded to his flesh as if he had learned how to conceal or suppress them.
Leo sat next to Esen, who was still unconscious. His eyes swept over the room and searched for a certain thread.
He didn't need to look far. The karma string that Leo had been looking for was still connected to Esen, but the other end was floating in the air.
Leo deeply sighed as this issue was too simple. He wished that he had known about this earlier.
"Man, I worked hard for this? Welp, talking about wasting my time."
Leo reached toward the invisible thread and grabbed it. Then, he pulled the loose line toward himself and searched for the severed part. When he found the end of the line, Leo injected his Qi into it.
RUMBLE
The karma thread reacted. It got longer and moved toward Leo.
The end of the thread entered Leo's chest even though he didn't order it to do so. Still, Leo didn't resist as he knew what and where the thread went to.
Inside Leo's dantian universe, the thread emerged and wiggled toward the stream of liquid, which orbited around the center of Leo's universe. It found one of the red karma crystals in the depth of the river and attached its end to the balls.
No system message warned him or informed him about the development. However, Leo could feel that his life force slowly flowed toward Esen.
After reconnecting the source of the lifestream with Esen's soul, Leo lay on his bed and complained.
"Yeah, it explains everything. I now know why some died and some survived after they touched me. I accidentally stole their karmic threads and karma embryos."
After the complaints, Leo turned his head and looked at the sleeping face of Esen. He snickered.
"You troublemaker. Now I know why your lifespan status always shows as NULL. Your lifespan is my lifespan, damn leecher. You resurrected your friends, and their karma threads link to me, too. Now, I'm their sugar daddy. You're lucky that the clock doesn't accelerate and deplete my lifespan."
Because of the past frustration, Leo came up with a silly idea. He flipped over and got on top of Esen's sleeping body.
"In ancient times, there was a unique way that a master could transfer their mana to their servants, who were the souls of heroes. I think we're in a similar situation. I'm your master, and your status is similar to a servant. Therefore, I'm gonna replenish your mana, okay?"
Leo giggled and cuddled with Esen in glee.
.
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On the third day's morning, Esen slowly opened her eyes and woke up from her long slumber.
"Umm…"
Esen stretched her arms and legs. They were so numb that she couldn't feel them for a while.
"WHAT?!"
Esen remembered the feeling. She looked left and right. Then, she found Leo, who was sleeping soundly next to her in the same bed.
"!!!"
Esen screeched as she realized what Leo had done. She slapped and punched him several times, but he didn't budge.
The lich empress panted and stopped hitting Leo. She dragged her feet to the bathroom to clean herself.
The elf walked past the face-washing basin's mirror. A second later, she took several steps back to look at her reflection.
"EH?!"
Something was no longer the same size as before. She looked down and widened her eyes.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CHEST?! AND WHY THE HELL IS THERE A BITE MARK ON MY… DAMMIT, GEEZER!!"
.
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While Esen threw a tantrum in the bathroom, Leo's consciousness was still in his dantian universe, battling Aslan's shadow clone for the 779,999th time.
"HAHAHAHA! GIDGUD, BITCH!"
Leo burst into laughter after he caught Aslan's karma thread. He yanked it and pulled Aslan's soul toward him.
But the soul was tricky. He used the trick that always killed Leo.
Soul Detonation!
The soul swelled and burst out the true power of an entity, whose dantian's energy volume was comparable to a karmic sovereign.
The blast created a supernova, instantly engulfing and devouring Leo's body and soul.
DING
<YOU DIED!>
<You have been defeated. GG!>
<Please note. GG's true abbreviation is GIT GUD, not GOOD GAME!>
Leo's body and artificial soul were reconstructed in the simulation mode. He reopened his eyes and stared at the mocking system message.
"DAMMIT!" Leo was annoyed. "I'M SUPPOSED TO BE STRONGER ALONE! HOW THE HELL ARE THE SHADOW'S STRENGTH INCREASE!?"
DING
<The simulation mode's highest difficulty reflects the ultimate form of the present fighter.>
<Fighter Aslan Kitten Ariel's original soul is an elemental spirit, whose strength and abilities are related to your strength in real life. As you get stronger, he also gets stronger. When he gets stronger in the real world, his shadow in the simulation mode also gets stronger.>
<Again, please GIT GUD.>
"…"
Leo wished that the system was a man or a person that he could punch in the face.
