From the outside, the shop looks old but wonderful. It has been built with brownstones and has red brick decorations. Small, rectangular windows add to the overall look of the shop and have been added to the shop in a fairly asymmetrical pattern.

The building was equipped with a compact kitchen and two modern bathrooms, it also has a warm display room, three bedrooms, a s.p.a.cious work area, and a snug storage room.

The building is rectangular shaped. The shop is fully surrounded by a garden path.

The second floor is the same size as the first, but part of it hangs over the edge of the floor below, creating an overhang on one side and a balcony on the other. This floor follows the same style as the floor below.

The roof is low and triangular and is covered with black ceramic tiles. One small chimney pokes out the center of the roof. Large skylight windows let in plenty of light to the rooms below the roof.

I could tell they used this building for alchemy. The building itself is surrounded by a modest garden covered mostly in gra.s.s. The valuable plants were long dead.

I would call this place home for many years to come.

"Meow, this room"s mine! Fix us something to eat chef, we are starving," said the cat Jurrath.

"Listen, we haven"t eaten in weeks!" said the pixie Sybil.

The cat had already staked his claim to a room as he exited the Codex of Souls. I ignored the mischievous cat. When I find time I will learn the Illusion Dao to put that stupid cat in its place. Until then, I am a chef.

I wiped up a delightful meal for me and the Codex Aspects as I started looking over my new shop. To make this place viable for blacksmithing, it needed a bit of remodeling. This business needed a study stream of clients, so the first thing I did was clean up the outside.

Sybil was helpfully a.s.sisting me in cleaning. The fat cat just slept after claiming his room. He was such a useless Aspect. After a few hours, the outside no longer looked abandoned. I tossed up a sign saying "Soulless Blacksmith Shop" on the front door.

My property was on Main Street, the busiest street in town so the customers would come. I was not worried about advertising. There was no need since I was the only blacksmith in town. Where else would these pitiful halflings go for armaments?

The next day I remodeled the interior. It took me all day to get the inside in working order. Now I was ready to greet customers. Sadly, I had no wares to display.

Thinking about it, the only thing I had forged were cursed weapons. Maybe I should put those on display. These lowly halflings won"t know the difference. Yeah, those will make me a good sum.

I put my earliest Esquire cursed weapons on display. They made their users suffer from minor ailments while being empowered. I put a sign that said "defective products 20% off" near the display. That would stop anyone from complaining, that or a u003cFireballu003e.

Soon I met my first customer. He wanted to buy a birthday present. I showed him a golden ring I had forged. It granted minor invisibility but made the user overvalue the ring when they held it.

I figured this trash would sell fast. As simply holding it would overturn this puny halfling"s common sense. It worked like a charm.

"My precious," said the halfling Smeagol as he headed off with his new ring.

Maybe one day that halfling will call himself the Lord of the Ring. I had nothing to do with that though; I sold it at twice it"s market value! This Devil Smith had made his first profit! My precious profits were all I cared about.

After manning the shop for a day, I found manual labor was not for me. Sitting and waiting all day for customers to come in, that was for commoners. I told Sybil to man the shop front while I forged.

"Hey! I won"t let you down host," Sybil said.

She was glad to finally be of use to her host. Sybil was a skilled healer. Since Soulless had only been injured once, she had never showcased her skills. She was glad to be of some use though, manning the shop.

The cat decided it was his job to man the shop. He demanded a salary and more meals for his service. I simply ignored him. This young lord could not wait on a cat hand and foot.

The cat ignored me and manhandled the shop front away from Sybil.

"Cat has wears if you have shards," became the stupid cat"s slogan. He even started peddling something he called "Skaama" on the side.

I spent my time forging and practicing my devilry. Weeks pa.s.sed by swiftly, my Baron realm had begun to stabilize.

"Codex, what"s my status?"

[Host: Soulless (James Hudson)

Race: Devil

Job: Chef

Age: 20

Cultivation: Tier-3 (1/4)

Cultivation Arts: Soul Forging Art (Tier-3)

Battle Skills: Hollow Aura

Minor Daos: Devil(30%), Soul (29%), Fire(31%), Slaughter (28%), Curse (29%), Electric (24%)

Inborn Ability: Soul Eyes

Auxiliary Arts: Blacksmithing (Tier-3), Soul Reading (Tier-3), Contracts (Tier-3)]

Improving at the Baron level is difficult. Just sitting around learning Daos has not moved me forward at all.

"Meow, devils must beguile mortal souls to see improvement at the Baron level," said the cat.

"Listen! You should see much progress with the souls beguiled by Curse Bound weapons such as Destiny," said Sybil.

"That"s right, those Curse Bound weapons beguile souls. However, the bar for them to beguile a soul is very high," I said.

"I want to rule that world, but I still feel I am too weak for a solo expedition."

"Listen, start a religion," said Sybil.

"A religion?"

"Meow, All devil"s create religions when they reach the Baron realm. What better way to beguile mortal souls than to have them believe wholeheartedly in you?" said the cat.

"This makes sense, should I have the residents in the Tutan World wors.h.i.+p me?" I said.

"Hey, they are already your slaves and followers, it would have no use. The core of a religion"s faith is believing in a "higher power"," said Sybil.

"So my target should be the Earthen World. I"ll send down a proclamation to Destiny to spread my faith. But what do I want my religion to teach?" I said.

"Your religion can be anything, as long as it makes mortals stray from their world beliefs. You want to reap the souls from the reincarnation cycle of their world."

"I would not suggest the Earthen World, you already have a base camp with the Curse Bound there. You should scry a fresh world!"

"How do I scry?"

"Use the Codex. It can serve as a powerful medium for you to scry for worlds. All the souls you capture will become part of the Codex of Souls."

[Quest Issued: "Start a Religion"]

[For the host to improve his devilry at the Baron realm host needs fresh mortal souls not contaminated by the Abyss! Scry a new world and enlighten the ma.s.ses on your grand image.]

"Meow, there are several types of religions you could create, one beloved by the ma.s.ses. Or one with a select few devout followers. It"s easier to create a cult with devout followers when you are weak," said the cat.

"Meow and you are a weakling. Barely fit to be my chef."

"Listen! Mortals desire power, the more you can give them the more your faith will grow. A weak devil can not offer much power through prayer to mortals. Having a select few pray to you and you can support them with gifts of prayer," said Sybil.

"We do not have religions in the Xertzul Abyss, why is that?" I said.

"Meow, You are from an Abyss realm, all devils start understanding the power of faith when they reach the Baron realm. It would be impossible to get devils to follow a religion," said the cat.

"This young lord shall have faithful followers! Having my followers wors.h.i.+p me for the Devil, Soul, Curse, or Slaughter Dao will have my religion quickly persecuted," I said.

"I need to learn the four elements to be wors.h.i.+ped by the ma.s.ses. For now, my religion will focus on Fire Dao. The Templars of Flame shall wors.h.i.+p Flame G.o.d Soulless!"