Undead Lord of Gluttonous Pride

Damien stared up at the ceiling of the cathedral before turning to the side to avoid seeing the art—he had just woken up from his soul place. The flames that transported him there were nowhere to be seen, and any sort of burn marks he thought would be evident of its existence weren't there either.

"Definitely not a dream. I wouldn't see much point in me sleeping."

Damien then looked beside him and saw the wrinkly and old face of his father/mentor just an inch away from his face—staring creepily at him.

"Must you be so close?" Damien asked.

Howrah chuckled after pulling away. He then said, "I was just making sure you have returned back to the physical world just fine. You did expend quite a bit of soul energy."

"I did? Did I even complete the task?"

"Indeed. Almost flawlessly, even if you didn't pass out."

Howrah said as his land landed upon Damien's skull and patted it like he was petting a dog. Damien brushed off his hand—irritated by it.

"Don't do that." He warned.

Howrah rolled his eyes to that. "Very well. Now then, do you feel any different?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"Different?"

Howrah motioned him to get up off the floor. Damien raised a brow but got up either way. "Hm?"

After getting up, he felt very different. He slowly moved his arms around and noted how the feeling was close to that of working out your muscles and the warm feeling following after that.

"What you are feeling right now is your physical and spiritual bodies being in tune. Being one, some might say."

"Was it not already in tune before?"

Howrah shook his head, "They're connected, yes, but not in the way that we want them to. Before, your soul could be described as a book about your life—a biography. All are connected to the soul core that every living entity has. We may be able to sense the soul energy subtly but can never use it unless we have entered our soul place.

"Once they have entered the soul realm and escaped there without any sort of issues, they would have transitioned to the next stage of Circler."

"And that would be?" Damien urged Howrah.

"The First Circle."

"Why is it called that?"

Damien scratched his head at the name. Why was it called such a thing? Is it the reason why Circler is called Circler? Thoughts like those arose in his mind. They were soon answered, of course.

"In every being's soul place, there is a thing called a Soul Circle." After saying that, a bright red light appeared from his hunched back. From what appeared from the light was a mystical red circle that hung in the air behind Howrah.

Damien gazed at the circle and then at its centre, which displayed a hologram of a red droplet that slushed around in the centre. If he focused further on it, he could make out a slight goldish tint to it. However, the longer he stared at it, the feeling of something inside him became more evident.

It was like his nonexistent heart was being tightly squeezed. His body began to shake slightly from this unknown pressure, "What is this?" He asked.

Howrah smirked before saying, "This is the first circle—the Circle of Foundation. The very first circle a circler would unlock in his journey. What you're currently seeing is my soul circle with the Modifier of the Sanguiscarab. It's an annoyance to win in an auction due to them being quite a rarity to find, especially since they're commonly found in harsh environments."

Howrah raised his arm, shrugging the side of his cloak off to the side and letting the sleeve of his dirty brown robe fall and reveal his frail and veiny arms.

Damien stared at them and noticed how the veins in his arms began to bloat slightly as if something was passing through them. Not only that, but whatever flowing through them seemed to be able to glow.

"Their blood has a higher viscosity compared to regular humans. Allowing it to secrete and form resin-like structures with them. However, since the first circle is all about stabilising one's technique, I was not able to acquire this ability from it."

Damien continued to watch the blood in Howrah's veins flow through him; it was quite a grotesque sight; perhaps if he had just a bit more muscles, it would've been more bearable to watch.

"Then what did you receive from it?"

"Since the first circle is about setting the foundations, all skills in it would lean towards the stabilisation of technique and such."

After saying that, Howrah pulled down his arm and covered it with his sleeve. Subsequently, the circle floating behind him transformed into a ball of light before shooting into his back—getting absorbed.

"I won't be showing you anymore since it puts quite a toll on my body to show. But I will be telling you the rest of them." He then raised his hands and two of his fingers.

"After the foundation, six others follow. The second is the Circle of Flow. The third is the Circle of Resonance. The fourth is the Circle of Protection. The fifth is the Circle of Precision. The sixth is the Circle of Mutation. And lastly, the seventh is the Circle of Apex."

He continued to raise each finger until it reached seven. Damien nodded along, "And how can I acquire more of these circles?"

"You don't need to know for now. We will get to that later on. Let's now focus on controlling your energy outside of your body since you're now capable of that."

"And how should I do that?" Damien asked.

"Well, first, you should..."