After convincing Elisha to side with him, Magnus left the house. He left the task of convincing Zack to Jordan and Elisha. They promised that Zack would join his side. While Magnus didn't need the three of them, having a large number of expendable agents is good in the long run. After all, Magnus can't always use his powerful servants to do the task that minions could do. Most importantly, if Magnus were to lose Gregory, Humilem, or Sanria, it would be a huge blow to his overall power.

While Zack is weak... he has good character. I will accept him as a soldier.

Traversing the forest, Magnus slowly undid his transformation and his body started to regain its draconic aspects. His soft baby-like skin slowly transforms into peach-like scales. His peach scales then start to shine with Magnus' usual golden sheen. As he continues to transform, Magnus leans forward as he supports his growing body with his front limbs. His body starts to quickly grow in size and the scales on his back start to undulate then stretch, creating his golden wings. On top of his head, Magnus' hair was slowly reabsorbed by his body and in its place, two powerful horns grow. Magnus' face then extends, creating the familiar draconic visage that strikes fear in all those that see it.

Finally, Magnus completes his transformation. Now inside a familiar body, Magnus stealthily traverses the forest, taking everything in using his draconic senses. With the senses of a true dragon, Magnus could see, feel, sense, and smell more things. It was an enjoyable experience after staying in a human body.

Magnus closes his eyes in pleasure as he enjoys his true form.

I truly feel more comfortable in this state.

Using his senses, Magnus takes notice of the many creatures in the forest. Despite being far away, Magnus hears the cursing of a very unfortunate individual. He recognizes him.

The mage is doing his best to learn the spell. It will take time as he is not talented in magic. How unfortunate.

Magnus continued. Despite his supernatural senses, someone "almost" evaded him.

"Sanria, I told you to stay put and keep an eye on them."

There was no reply.

Magnus stayed quiet.

Then he spoke again.

"Sanria."

Magnus hears the sound of rustling leaves and Sanria drops down from a nearby tree. She looked sheepish as Magnus glared at her.

"Explain yourself."

Magnus' voice emanates power. Sanria felt scared but excited at the same time. Doing her best to control her breathing, Sanria explains.

"Well... while you did tell me to stay, I felt that the two of them were already firmly on your side Prince. So... I decided to follow you instead and guard your person. Hehe."

Sanria gave Magnus a goofy smile that didn't detract from her grace and beauty.

She didn't care. She liked being in Magnus' presence.

Understanding Sanria, Magnus slowly nodded.

He knew that what she said was true. After his offer, Magnus could feel that Elisha and Jordan were fully hooked by his promise of power.

And the two of them were very desperate for power.

But.

He didn't like that Sanria disobeyed a direct order.

While Magnus didn't want to deprive his servants of their freedom, he did not want them to ignore his orders as doing so can cause problems in the future. Infusing his voice with power, Magnus speaks with the dignity of a leader.

No, even better, a dragon.

"Sanria."

Magnus' empowered voice seems to stun Sanria into submission. Taking advantage of the suddenly silent Sanria, Magnus takes a step forward. Unable to move, Sanria could only watch in excited horror as Magnus approaches her with heavy steps.

Oh no... he's going to punish me... HE'S GOING TO PUNISH ME!

Fear turned to excitement and Sanria started to heavily pant.

Magnus suddenly stops which causes Sanria to startle. Magnus' face showed an expression that Sanria didn't understand since she didn't have much experience with dragons.

It was an emotion similar to disgust.

I don't recall having dragonborns in the past... but were they all deviants?

Realizing that shouting or scolding Sanria was futile, Magnus starts to rack his head on how to show his authority.

Ah... I forgot that she is the type that wants attention...

Giving Sanria one last look, Magnus turns around. Sanria, who was waiting to hear her master's powerful voice, felt deflated.

Wait... what? I thought he was going to shout at me?

Seeing Magnus walk away, Sanria quietly calls out.

"Prince?"

But Magnus doesn't stop.

Sanria wanted to call out again but she knew she overstepped her bounds. Speaking out now would be blatantly going against Magnus' orders. Sanria opens her mouth but she immediately closes it.

While she wanted her master's attention, Sanria didn't want him to hate her.

She watches Magnus slowly recede from sight.

But her master was merciful.

Before Magnus was fully out of sight, he lightly spoke.

"Return to your home Sanria, I expect it to be guarded the next time I visit."

Hearing her master's calm voice, Sanria quickly replies.

"Yes, Prince! I will keep it safe!"

Magnus then confidently walks out of the village's outer perimeter and enters the area where his current lair is situated.

It wasn't long when Magnus sees the entrance to his lair. It was still very well-hidden but Magnus could discern certain characteristics.

Despite being well-hidden, Magnus did not like the current state of his lair.

The lair's entrance was small, something Magnus will have issues with when he grows bigger as he ages. It was also lacking any of the grandeur a dragon deserves. Despite his sensibilities, Magnus was a dragon both in body and mind. He had the innate desire to hoard valuable objects. And valuable objects deserved to be stored in an equally valuable lair.

But he knew that what he wanted right now was impossible so Magnus quashed those desires within him.

Hmmm... while I can't afford to decorate my lair, I must secure it. So far, it is camouflaged but I have no security, and anyone that enters it can have access to my treasures... I can't have that... I need guards... Humilem can do it but I'd rather not leave him in here alone for a long period of time.

Magnus' blood boils as he imagines a few thieves enter his lair.

Calming himself, Magnus enters his home.

Once inside the cave, darkness surrounds Magnus. Fortunately, dragon senses are second to none and Magnus could easily navigate the large cave. Eventually, Magnus sees a faint light as he goes deeper into his lair.

The crystals are spreading?

To his surprise, Magnus noticed that a few small and almost imperceptible amount of crystals start to grow in previously empty areas. This meant that Magnus' food supply was growing but also the value of his lair.

I must keep this place hidden and secured no matter what. I don't have enough servants. I need more.

Going deeper in his lair, Magnus eventually reaches the deepest part, the place where he woke up.

Looking around, he noticed that the crystal he used to age faster was healing at a noticeably fast rate.

Magnus approved. In his current situation, anything that helped was good enough for him, even if it meant taking in a few weak individuals.

Remembering how much effort and power he expended to use creation magic not just once but twice, the young dragon searches for a large crystal.

He finds a suitably large enough magic crystal that exuded an enormous amount of magical power. Even a small fragment of these ogre-sized crystals had more power than both Elisha and Melinoe's combined power multiplied by 10.

And Magnus treated them as food and a recharging resource. Opening his maw, Magnus sinks his extremely sharp teeth into the magic crystal. Immediately, Magnus feels the extremely pure magic flow into him, replenishing his lost power.

Fatigue, exhaustion, and mental stress quickly fade away, as Magnus chews on the chunk of magic crystal.

Magnus makes sure not to waste any of the crystal chunks. His body quickly processes the swallowed material turning everything into useable mana.

Sighing in satisfaction, Magnus turns his attention to a corner in the main room.

It was the place where Magnus intended to put his horde.

Currently, it only had 2 valuable items. Magnus didn't deign to put worthless items, such as swords or spears, in his horde.

First is the dark book that Melinoe possessed. While it only contained introductory dark magic, Magnus knew its true value.

A sealed Necronomicon that responds to the strength of its user. Vourina was not able to go past the first few chapters due to a lack of power but... it would not be a problem for me.

Touching the dark book, Magnus floods the seals with his true magic, the most potent form of magic there is. Immediately, the seals, that were created by ordered magic, shattered under Magnus' power. After removing the seal, Magnus felt tired and winded.

Tiring but not a wasted effort.

Gently opening the book with his claws, Magnus reads a few passages in the following chapters. While true magic was potent, Magnus currently does not have the ability to use it for long periods of time. And he was restricted to the weaker forms of true magic. If he had more power, he could command the power of true magic to create legendary artifacts.

A fully unsealed Necronomicon has enough knowledge to create a nascent death lord. If one is not careful... their soul will be corrupted and they will no longer be able to enjoy mortal pleasures or moral choices.

But that wasn't a problem for Magnus. A dragon's soul is extremely resistant to corruption. It would take the darkest of magic for Magnus' soul to become tainted similar to what happened to Melinoe.

Returning the unsealed Necronomicon on the ground, Magnus turns his attention to the 2nd item in his horde.

It was the shield transformed by Magnus' true magic.

Touching the shield, Magnus was contacted by the shield. Due to Magnus' true magic, the shield gained an unbelievable amount of power, so much so that it gained what is commonly known as an artifact soul.

It was still a young artifact soul but because of its existence, the shield had a name.

"Carmaje. It seems that you've recently awoken. When I first created you, your soul was still asleep."

The shield did not respond to Magnus. While it could understand the dragon's words, it didn't have the power to communicate, at least for now. Magnus knew this and spoke anyway.

"Now that you are awake."

Magnus touches Carmaje and marks it, forever bonding the shield to him, a ritual that dragons do with their hordes. This was to ensure that no thief could escape a dragon's lair without consequences.

"There. You are mine."

The powerful shield did not decline or show refusal. It silently acknowledged Magnus' power and allowed the dragon to mark it.

Once marked, Magnus returns the shield to the horde.

After quickly marking the two items, Magnus' thoughts return to security.

I cannot post anyone here and posting them by shifts would garner suspicion. Even if the villagers are just normal humans, some nosey individuals will eventually bring me a disaster.

Thinking of a possible solution, Magnus remembers his apprentice jester.

While he was weak, he used the Necronomicon to summon the undead. They're not dangerous or strong but that's when they're compared to me. Against normal individuals, skeletons might pose a threat or at least make them hesitate. But, it will not stop someone like Jordan.

Contemplating the pros and cons of dark magic, Magnus picks up the unsealed Necronomicon. He then walks towards the center of the room.

Magnus sits on the crystal floor and once he's comfortable, he looks at the Necronomicon's cover.

There must be creatures stronger than those that Vourina summoned. Maybe, I can create more powerful creatures.

After a few seconds of imagination, Magnus opens the book.

When he turns to the first chapter, the unsealed Necronomicon immediately releases a spell meant to dominate. The spell targets Magnus.

Magnus snorts in annoyance, releasing his power that causes the spell to quickly dissipate. He frowns.

A silent spell. It lowers an individual's inhibitions and increases their satisfaction when doing depraved acts. Vourina must have been ensnared by this spell...

Magnus frowned. Whoever created this Necronomicon was not to be trifled with. If the book is so dangerous, Magnus had a thought.

But why did it fall into the hands of Vourina? I'm sure that whatever force placed the book where it was found, it must have been intended for someone else. It must have been an unlucky coincidence. Why else would anyone give such an untalented individual such a dangerous item?

Reading the first chapter, Magnus was introduced to the topics of necromancy, specifically ordered necromancy.

Ordered magic has advanced very far.

Magnus reminisces the time when ordered magic was at its infancy stage. Dragons, beings of pure power, had access to a type of magic called true magic, the ability to warp reality to suit their needs. To use true magic, an entity needed to have a primordial soul or at least have some fragments of a primordial soul. A dragonborn could theoretically use true magic due to the nature of their soul. This ability to use true magic is what sets dragons apart from every other creature in the multiverse.

With true magic, a dragon could do anything it wanted to, provided it had the power to do so.

But the other races of the world did not have access to the glorious power that is true magic. Instead, the ancient mages created what is now known as ordered magic, the type of magic that mages, of the present, use.

Unlike true magic which is a 'true' manipulation of reality, ordered magic is interference within reality causing it to create some specific effects.

If a dragon used true magic to create a fireball, reality would conform to the dragon's will and the fireball would come into existence as if it was part of the universe itself. But ordered magic instead creates loopholes to trick reality, thus creating a fireball out of nothing but at the cost of being less flexible. The same fireball created by the dragon can be used for so much more. Its shape, size, and form could be changed with a single thought but a fireball created by ordered magic is dictated by the formula used to cast the ordered spell. The effects of ordered magic cannot change once it has been cast.

While these were all important to consider, there was also one thing that made true magic much more special than ordered magic.

True magic was vastly more powerful than ordered magic.

The same amount of power needed to create true magic would completely overwhelm anything created by ordered magic with an equal amount of power. To equate the strength of a fireball created by true magic, a mage using ordered magic would need to use up to quadruple the mana just to match it.

This is why the dragons were able to rule the majority of the world. Coupled with their infinitely strong bodies, dragons used true magic to dominate the world, reshaping it to their image.

But, the dragons lost.

And now, Magnus was alone, something he wished to change.

Chapter 1: Servants of the damned. Step 1: The Constant Need for Corpses.