Chapter 1

"(Now then, mortal child, sit down in a meditative position.)" Hircus told Phan and Phan complied instantly. "(Now that you're in the right position, I want you to focus on your heart beat, and nothing else.)"

Phan sat there in deep concentration, focused on his heart beat as told by Hircus. Eventually nothing could be heard, including his heart beat. It went dead silent, not a single wisp could be heard. Phan opened his eyes, only to see a black void around him. He got up from his meditative position, and began to wander around. He wandered for who knows how long, before he met a humanoid figure, with goat horns growing out from where it's eyes should be and a golden glow around a sort of whiteish skin. The figure smiled at Phan, then burst into laughter.

"Puwah hahaha," The figure went. "to think you could do this in a few hours."

"Er... Who are you?" asked Phan pointing at the figure. "THE HELL! My hand!" Phan said after seeing his hand. His skin was sort of similar to the figure, but also had a light blue tint to his glow as well as a golden one. Phan panicked and look at both his hands and the rest of his body.

"Well that hurt, not being able recognising the face of your benefactor." Said the figure, acting hurt.

"I've never had a benefactor, let alone family or friends" said Phan now calmed down and still checking out his body. "But if I have to guess who you are, you would either be Hircus or the other soul devouring mine." said Phan with his hand pinching his chin and the other crossing over his elbow.

"What how did you know?" Said the figure making a strange pose, that had his hands curl around his face.

"Why are you acting like that orange swirl mask wearing guy from that popular TV show about ninjas?" Phan said without realising what he said was strange.

"Huh?" The figure said not knowing what Phan meant. "That must be the soul devouring yours'."

"What did I say? The hell is a ninja? What's a TV show?"

"Well anyways, sit down and I'll explain things to you." He said as he was going to sit down. "Well as you probably know, I am Hircus, the Fallen God of Lust."

"Hmm! Hmm!" Phan went implying he understood.

"This place you're in right know is your core, or your sub-conscience, I can never remember which one it is. This place is currently empty but we will talk how to fill it up later. Those that cultivated this technique called the place in your heart an Inner realm."

"So this place is my heart and it is currently empty and well do that soon, so I assume this body of mine is actually my soul and yours' is your divine body that you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes. Any questions, before I continue?"

"Not really, just want to learn as much as I can."

"Okay. Now then, the place in your heart is split into three stages: Inner realm, Inner garden and Inner world. The inner realm is the first stage. The inner garden is the second stage. The inner world is the third stage."

"So how would I cultivate the to the inner realm stage?"

"Desire. Each stage requires you to create some form of desire in each realm. The Inner realm stage requires an unachievable desire. The Inner garden stage requires an achievable desire. The Inner world stage requires a pre-achieved desire."

"So, to start I need to think about something I can't achieve. hmm~..." Said Phan thinking what he wanted but could never get. "What about a family? like I never really had one to begin with."

"Connections are easy to make, you can make a family from scratch if you really wanted to. I'd say something more impossible, like something that goes against the basic knowledge of the world."

"Hmm~... What do I desire, but can't attain?" Phan thought to himself for a moment. "Endless knowledge? Or a place with that?"

At that moment, a seven floored tower was built before his very eyes, the tower had a similar structure to a Pagoda. Phan entered, the tower that was built upon an unknown culture to him. Though the tower was surrounded by darkness the inside was filled with lights beaming through the windows, but when you look out of them all phan saw was darkness. The inside was practically empty other than the endless amounts empty bookshelves, spiralling to the centre of the floor. The centre of the floor had a staircase leading to the next floor around the edge of the centre circle. The next floor had a similar design to the previous one but the staircase was on the opposite side of the one Phan had just climbed. This pattern repeated till the seventh floor.

"What a spectacular sight but... what is this place? It has a strange structure to it and seems very... foreign." Asked Hircus unsure what to make of Phan's Inner realm.

"Don't know. Never seen this structure before, even in pictures of the eastern continent I've seen in books. All I know is that, it came from my desire for endless knowledge." Phan replied to Hircus, in awe of his creation.

"So what will you name this place? It is your creation after all."

"I'll call it..." Phan mumbled to himself as he walked out. "The 'Endless soul library'. Why? Because it has a bunch of bookshelves, the amount seems endless, and it is in my Inner realm, which should reside in my soul, right?" Phan told Hircus, with a look of fulfilment and pride in his eyes.

"Yes. But why think of something so boring, like a library? Why not something more lustful."

"Why? cause I strive for knowledge. It can be a matter of life or death without it. With it, I can save many lives or take as many as I could save." Phan said questioning Hircus' train of thought. "So how dare you question my hunt for knowledge!"

"I guess you wont get offended unless someone questions the knowledge you attained then." Hircus said, still questioning Phan's drive for knowledge.