The very next day, a huge number of phantoms of wisp rank and up arrived and flooded the domain and were extremely happy to see another new home for spirits and they headed to the altar.

Mark followed the chief constructor and walked out with the foundation blueprints for them.

“Here are the foundation blueprints which were basically just finished. I’m not sure how you guys do it but please don’t fuck it up because I had to pay several million for a foundation of this size.” He said.

The chief laughed, “Don’t worry, the blue prints are plenty for us to see the structure. These tend to be made for things like this since domains are already built to house large complexes so there are no problems.” He said and checked it out and nodded.

“Great, the central complex planning will expand this foundation by another kilometer but most of the space here is training area and housing for you… how much was it, 1,500 fighters?” he asked.

“Almost 2,000” Mark replied.

“Right, dormitories, altars, training areas with special moving targets. All this stuff has been set up as a City Lord complex. It will only get larger as you grow stronger and your domain follows.” He said with a smile and turned to the construction crew and began to divide the work and many ghosts took to the air and started to map out the entire sight.

Mark sighed at the unending amount of construction in his home but he sensed around and felt the much larger presence that had arrived alongside the crew and he flew towards them and eventually found several stiff corpse elders and among them was Elder Conway.

All of these older men were stiff corpses who were friendly with Billy and they were all just looking around with happy expressions.

“Hello elders, sorry that i could not guide you in but i needed to get the construction Soul Society requested going.” he said.

“No need.” Elder Conway said and turned to the others, “This is the boy Billy found. I had the luck of the draw and got him coming my way.” He said.

The others laughed and introduced themselves.

“So, what are you all planning by visiting?” he asked.

“To move here of course.” Elder Conway said.

“Huh? But what about the bar?” He asked.

“Child, do you honestly think that we have no way to remove our domains? If we can destroy dark specter ones or complete ones like the reborn dead’s over Elizabeth town, do you think our small house bound domains will be any harder?” one of them said.

“Wait… are all domains outside of those on vents being withdrawn?” he asked.

They all smiled and nodded, “It is better and less stressful for us. Our domains were condensed into Domain crystals that have been helping in the construction and expansion of the entire structure.” Elder Conway said.

“Wait, are domains being moved under cities to help monitor?” He asked.

“Oh no, why would it? Only massive metropolises that cover huge expanses of land cover some vents which nature spirits are placing themselves on. The rest just have to be close. We are barely 20 minutes from Elizabethtown and still within your designated zone.” He said.

“Yeah… but aren’t you all Louisville spirits?”

They all laughed, “None of us are bound to buildings. Half of us are already close to releasing what items bind us and become earthbound spirits at that.” One of them said.

Elder Conway explained, “We are here both to establish community order and to act as defense against dark spirits that try to invade. Oh right.” he said and took out a small box and tossed it over.

Mark caught it and opened it, he found several domain crystals and frowned.

“You should still have space to grow. How many pure ones did you use?” Elder Conway asked

“One was used for the space rules and four directly into the domain.”

“Yeah, we’ve confirmed that by discounting the element ones, domains can handle 10 of these pure ones.” Conway said.

Mark took it in his hand but the crystal was naturally dull. There were seven crystals of course meaning they prepared a sacrifice.

Mark sighed, “Seems I need to hunt another dark specter with a half formed domain.” He said.

“Don’t worry child, we will go with you and just bliz the place.” One of them said laughing.

“Do you already know a place?” He asked.

“Yeah, we’ve confirmed quite a few of them, I think Billy told you.” another elder said.

Mark nodded remembering it was said.

“We should go quickly before construction starts and it could cause distortions in the construction.” one of them said.

“Well you all are really excited.” He said.

“We are the ones testing crop growth in the domain and were very happy to find that no crop used in ale production produced negative effects meaning we will have a very great career as brewers and bar keepers here. We are still in the process of seeing how much the domain can support the spiritual feedback but until now, besides activating the seeds, the domain has been supplying the energy requirements in full, this is quite a blessing.” Elder Conway said.

Mark smiled, happy at the news but after that the group of old men wanted to get the domain quickly fixed up and dragged him out and flew him at speeds he could not achieve himself.

They arrived at Elizabethtown and it was the first time in almost a year that he came here. There were still vague signs and the negative energy in the air was quite stifling.

“Didn’t you guys and IEO clean out the dark force?” He asked.

“The hole that the reborn dead lived in was being used for hundreds of years, after he was purged, that energy has been diluting out even when we do weekly cleanings.” Elder Conway said. “Naturally we figured that part of this was due to other spirits and have confirmed quite a number of dark specters and have all but killed every evil spirit in the city because they are too dangerous. Now the specters and vengeful spirits are all that is left constantly being discovered. It is honestly a pretty harsh place to work from.”

Even though he said that, the elders all saw how the dark force avoided Mark with a clear circle away from him.

“Alright, let’s get that fragment.” Mark said and they nodded, not being exactly happy to be in this place. They headed through and eventually reached a warehouse deposit and shockingly opened a hatch at the far back. When it was opened, dark force literally bloomed out like smoke from a chimney.

“Damn.” Mark said before the elders jumped down and he followed.

When he landed, his eyes glowed and pierced the dark mist as did the other elders and they saw all around them, black eyes and deformed bodies looking at them with ripped mouths and sharp distorted fangs just drooling. Many had monstrous tongues licking their lips.

“It’s like jumping into a sewer filled with rats.” He said.

“Yes.” Elder Conway said and each of the men did the same movement and with a swing of their hand and a snap of their finger they just said, “Burn.”

BOOM!

With a barrier around themselves and Mark, the entire underground instantly became a burning hell like a rocket had just released its flame and that fire rushed through the tunnel and burned all the spirits and after a minute, it ended and all they found were burned souls.

“Not purging?” he asked.

“We don’t know how to purge but we know combat spells to destroy souls.” elder Conway said and turned to him, “You are the one trained in exorcism.” he said.

It suddenly made sense why there was a combat division but it wasn’t these people that went to clear the specters. “So… there are fighters but you choose to send only people who can fully send them on.” he said.

“It is better to properly give a soul rest than to destroy a soul. Even if we just break it down into pieces that is more than enough because if the soul is old enough, it will fully scatter and be reborn in different beings.” one of the elders said and they started to move forward.

Every time huge numbers of spirits appeared, they would repeat the process and totally incinerate all of them.

Mark just made sure to count them by pulling on each of their heads and keeping track.

When they reached the last door, they had already crossed the shocking thousand mark and they just kicked the door open and didn’t wait as the entire place exploded from the dark specter.

It didn’t even have time as it’s body exploded time and again until it just collapsed where it sat.

“That… is quite a cruel method to deal with it.” He said.

“Honestly more efficient though.” one of the old men said.

He walked over and chopped the body to make sure it didn’t suddenly start moving and began the Purge of Evil.

Just like the first one, vengeful spirits were pulled from the tunnel like black locus going down a whirlpool and the Karma formed in the air but it split among the people present and in Mark’s hand, the crystal from the domain had formed.

“I’ve been wondering, what is that dangerous feeling on the other side?” Mark asked.

“It’s called a Sin eater, a dangerous creature that lives in its own dimension. It desires to come to earth but the barrier with its dimension was strongly sealed long ago. However, it is sentient and as powerful or even more so than spirit lords. Some call it a god but who is to say. Because of its power, it was able to talk with the spirit lords and so they came to an agreement with the creation of this spell. Honestly, if sin wasn’t a vital part of the mortal soul, it wouldn’t have been a bad thing for it to just eat everything away but the world needs both light and dark to survive.” Elder Conway said.

Mark was silent for a while and they just backtracked until they finally got out.

He sat in the sun and took out the crystals and broke the extra one into pieces while being absorbed by his own and snapped before he had each fragment absorb the others.

“So what exactly are your plans besides some farming and being bartenders?” He asked as they took to the skies at a calmer speed.

“Just that, we are just supplying a manner to keep our old souls from getting bored. Making sure the young ghosts keep moving instead of letting them just stay stagnant is an important job you know.” an elder said.

Mark was in thought and looked down, “What other things besides TV and internet and maybe ale, would be a good idea for them?” He asked.

“Sports.”

“Board games.”

“A jog through beautiful scenery.”

“Card games.” the elders quickly said.

“So basically anything you do when you are living.” Mark said and they just nod. “Right… that’s right, although there are plants, why haven’t I noticed bugs, rodents, birds or any kind of animal? Even if they are souls there should still be such things in nature right?” He asked.

“Indeed but most of them move about following their natural instincts because they are already so small. Do you want to gather animal souls? It is a little annoying but there are means to summon forth these souls, they tend to be more intune to nature if they don't move on.” one of the elders said.

Mark thought and frowned and thought about the domain and shook his head, “It was just a thought. Although it might be interesting to get fish souls or actual fish and put them in streams and ponds to allow fishing as a pass time, however I think I need enough space and sufficient development.” he said.

When they heard that, all of their eyes shined at the thought of a relaxing day just finishing with only the sounds of the wind and the trees.

Back in the domain he went near the altar and took out the crystals. They reacted and after filling them with spiritual power, they each shot out and found new areas they could fit which had been the area the first four crystals entered. The rules of the domain appeared and they melted and filled those places before finally expanding and going all the way to the barrier and quickly the size expanded a bit more and reached 35 km but no more.

Mark did feel some ‘knots’ and with the elders they headed to them all. Some were actual irritations this time compared to the formation of the domain and the elders took out coins like the earthbound spirit had done and they fixed these areas while other areas were just like a hose that got twisted so much that the water got trapped. After a bit of working, the small knot would loosen and eventually it straightened out.

They didn’t notice but this actually revealed different errors and just thought it was a new one and they spent almost two days going through the entire land and when they noticed, the size of the domain had increased as the perfect flow on both the ‘ceiling’ and floor was flowing to perfection and the domain had reached 40 kms.

“Almost as big as the base size of some of the lords impressive.” Elder Conway said.

“That was exhausting.” Mark said finally able to relax and not feel some new break in the flow appear. It had been most stressful on him.

“Good job child, you should head off to the altar and take a nice rest and be ready because now that we’ve dealt with the structural portion of the domain, your first soldiers are going to come and let me tell you that you will be getting quite the strong headed fools.” Elder Conway said, making Mark groan as he went back to his altar and with a sigh he just pulled himself into a soul orb and just let himself float and actually sleep peacefully for once to relax from the stress.

***

Mark felt his face twitch while standing in the plains of his domain outside the foundation parameters.

Standing in front of him was much more than a few drill sergeants and some studied librarians.

Mark turned to Billy and grabbed him by the collar, “What the hell man! Didn’t you say you were bringing no more than a dozen of either!” He said with a cold low voice while he pointed at the literal army unit with upwards of 200 men plus close to 20 older men in decorated clothing.

Billy pulled his hand off and fixed his shirt and coat before doing the same with his messed up hat. “Well… that was what ‘we’ agreed on and planned on but it seems soul society didn’t think it was the ‘apt’ speed for establishment.” He said.

“What do they think, that I have a complete military camp in my domain with food, water, clothing and lodging?! They haven’t even finished the planning phase yet and need to do the pipes first!” Mark shouted. “I’m not paying extra for the food these guys eat. We agreed on roughly twenty men to establish a strong hierarchy and get them used to the power of a wisp and the skills. Now what?!” He said.

“I know kid, I know! You think I didn't tell them the same thing but there are too many soldiers excited to regain their fighting capacity.” Billy said.

“Soldiers?! Half of these are old corpses walking in broad daylight! How are they even going to fight, you think I didn't see them struggling to even stand while getting in line?” He said.

“Now that part you don’t need to worry. Just like you were a fat bastard early on, they will regain their vigor of their mid 50s like all the elders.”

Mark facepalmed and looked at the roughly 200 soldiers and even worse was the nearly 50 nerdier and lanky librarians. Some of them were as old as the old soldiers and were clearly people who died of natural death.

The librarians were a lot more casual and they were feeling their bodies and even showing each other lifting rocks and other things.

“Why are these guys all phantoms?!” He asked, unable to hold at least this curiosity.

“Who knows, I heard of people going 20 or 30 years without changing from phantom to wisp but people who reach that long tend to also naturally move on to the afterlife in moments they go to sleep. Those here…” Billy said and rubbing the stubbles on his chin, “Colonel, what is the age range since death that most of the soldiers have?” he asked.

The leading one that looked like the most decorated soldier as well as one of the oldest walked up with a cane. “Most of those here are between 15 to 20 years without becoming anything better and have not been able to break the cycle of inadequacy or able to move on due to regrets.” he said.

“What kind of regrets?” Mark asked.

“Things we honestly can’t accomplish anymore. Some of us wanted to see our loved one but they had died soon after and properly passed on, others saw them but discovered less than favorable truths and formed new regrets that have been unable to be resolved.” he said.

Mark listened but then a buzzing suddenly made him think of something and he suddenly turned to Billy, “Did you just say Colonel! As in an official Colonel of the US army!” he said.

“Yep, an official O-6.” Billy said.

“Ah…” Mark facepalmed so hard and looked up at the sky wondering what the hell Soul society was thinking of giving him an official colonel as the leading officer among the people.

“What about the rest?” He asked and each of the elders turned and presented their ranks and naturally they were far higher than just a staff sergeant.

“What… is going on here?!” Mark said.

“Eh… well… considering how you don’t know how military or police forces work… uh, the brass thought it would be better to send you intelligent and skilled men to properly organize your armed forces.” Bill replied.

“Billy, there is one problem with all this. I can’t hold a candle to the fame and honor these men hold! Do you honestly think soldiers are going to give a rat’s ass about my commands? Just knowing that they now have ranks as high as O-6 just tells me they want to use me to break the barrier blocking them gaining power! I will have no control!” He said.

“Then just destroy them.” Billy said.

Instantly all of them flinched and the librarians frozen and looked at Billy’s blunt and cold declaration.

“Realize this Mark… they ‘were’ decorated officers. They have their honor before death but just like you and I, they are souls left in this world. The pretty sash and those badges on their clothing, that is just a projection they assumed when they died. Just like those clothes you wear in your ghost form, that is the same they wear here. Do you think they will have the same appearance once they reform a mortal shell? Nope, they are just going to have their bare ass while all the rest will just be washed out through the constant pressure.” Billy said and narrowed his eyes, “Phantoms who can’t ascend to wisp are even less in ‘quality’ of ghosts because it means that they are even less likely to be able to produce spiritual energy naturally to do anything useful with it. This is why what was presented to you was people with high skill, they have very pathetic potential and are here to help you organize the hierarchy and training. In the future, you are likely to recruit loyal phantoms living in your domain with much greater potential and capacity to awaken their own spiritual energy. After all, ghosts will only get the most basic altars for living and a small hut in the domain. What comes after is their own hard work.” He said.

At this point Mark suddenly realized what Billy said and found that they all seemed to tremble at the words.

“What is going on?” He whispered.

“Later.” he muttered back.

Mark slightly nodded and looked at the librarians. “And them?” He asked.

“They are your government staff, teachers and so on. The old ones are knowledgeable and dedicated studies. Similar to the soldiers, even though they have access to training methods, and even their own altars, they’ve had no success awakening spiritual energy. Even spirit tea leaks from them. The reason we brought them is because we tested on similar phantoms, other books, and it seems to possess the capacity of ‘fixing’ this aspect in their souls but their potential is even lower than the soldiers. Instead they would work to manage the internal affairs of the domain, teach the soldiers and later, future recruits as well as acting as the first in a research and support tool division. They are going to be the ones to prepare talismans, charms and such tools for the soldiers as well as research your domain’s herbs and flora.” Billy said.

“How deep is said knowledge?” he asked.

“Just wisp deep but since you are the one with the source you would naturally supply your source depending on how much you obtain. They were all just office boys even at their age at best.” He said.

“Right, it makes sense that Soul Society would not send someone with more knowledge than what I have.” Mark said.

He didn’t have much to say about the librarians. They were what he expected honestly.

With a sigh, he waved his hand and the book appeared and he took out a pen.

“Might as well get to it then. We will go down the rows, state your complete name, no titles. Preferably first, middle and last name.” he said.

He walked to the soldiers and like that, one by one he wrote the names down. The names started to pile up and each page surface held three names with their basic details but now it also included their spiritual rank which was at Wisp.

Each name caused a child book to enter each soul and they would all cry in pain as their souls were absorbed to their core and the book would release a lot of spiritual power and make each of them a weak wisp before reforming.

After going through the soldiers, he went through the librarians which, shockingly, faced a lot of resistance from their souls until Mark added more spiritual power and they heard some kind of chain break in each phantom, like a limit, and they finally got absorbed.

They reformed and instantly collapsed, unconscious, after the ordeal.

It was the same for every librarian and when he was done, Mark looked at Billy for an answer but he just shook his head.

“What do you ‘think’ it might be?” He asked.

“Let me see…” he said, closing his eyes in thought, “The regrets of the oldest ones are… never having been able to learn from the hidden archives of the government. Most of them stem from similar things, there were even a few who regretted not seeing the end of some stories and when they did read it they regretted several other books and it became a cycle of regret.” he said.

“So they were chained by regret?” Mark asked .

“Apparently..” he said.

Mark looked at the soldiers who were moving a bit more freely.

With a snort he asked, “Do they have ‘any’ training method?” he asked.

“Nope, they are expected to train the exorcist method since the spiritual energy is said to advance to that point.” He said.

Mark nodded and looked but frowned, “Why are they releasing dark force?” Mark said while looking at them and finding their bodies slowly releasing a thin black mist.

Billy could also see it and he went to examine one, “It’s not dark force. Your holy force is literally counteracting their sin and a part of it is coming out.” He said.

Mark slowly nodded.

“Did these guys prepare a temporary altar to train on at least?” He asked.

“Nope, they are expected to train with the spiritual energy they are receiving. They may be wisps but the essence of their souls is still phantom. Training without it is still partially safer for them until they properly match their rank.” Billy explained.

Mark sighed and walked to the librarians and turned one face up and gave him a firm slap and it shocked his system.

Yep, in the domain, all their human senses actually activated. From touch, taste and naturally pain.

They woke up quite quickly because the hit was quite hard and he had them all awake.

When they were up Mark asked, “Do you guys know the exorcist wisp training manual?” he asked.

While rubbing their faces the librarians nodded, “Yes sir.” The eldest of them said.

“Good, do you need an example or paper to write it down for them or can you teach them by talking?” he asked.

They groaned, “It would help to at least have it in writing.” the lead librarian said.

Mark nodded and took out a pile of paper and asked them to start writing while taking his exorcist book and opening to the wisp segment and making it levitate.

“Just to make sure you don’t screw up, my book has all the information you will need for the wisp segment. Copy it exactly.” He said.

They looked at it and started to divide up the paper and they each took out a small table and cloth to sit down and to Mark’s surprise, their hands moved with shocking agility and dexterity as they took glances and began to make copies and each of the 50 or so librarians made four copies and than started on the next while the pages dried and after an hour they had everything copied.

“Damn, no wonder they were sent to manage the domain.” Mark said as they each divided the four copies into stacks and delivered each stack to one soldier and were complete. They all had more than enough time to memorize it while making the copies and they had much better memory than Billy gave them credit despite their stupid addiction to regret.

They walked to the central altar and all of them gasped as they felt the air get harder to breathe after entering the foundation which had a much denser spiritual pressure.

“So this is why phantoms can’t be near vents.” Mark said, looking at the ghosts breath heavily but still followed until they were near.

“Alright, find a seat and properly execute that technique. The ambient energy is more than enough so let’s stop this joke that soul society started and get serious because you all are going to be the future police force and at least need to be able to do basic jobs like fighting vengeful spirits.” He said, having lost his humor.

They were more than happy to find a seat and with the papers out, the old soldiers sat there reading and the librarians had to take the effort to properly tutor them and articulate the chanting. Thankfully it was all in english and not some chinese chanting.

This took much longer until they could finally start to finish but once they did, they started to fall into a trance and started to chant in series.

When their form broke down and returned into the orb, it turned the area into a small field of wisps. They began to burn and the spiritual pressure began to drop on top of them but the flames that should have been golden were purple and released dense sin into the air and the Virtuous heart began to pulse and suck that energy before processing and eliminating it.

The librarians started soon after and were no different.

“Damn, your holy power is quite something. It is literally purifying their sin and it seems their souls are being forged with the holy power and starting to blend.” Billy said as he watched from the door of the altar.

“It would be great if this caused them to inherit my soul eyes since they have my spiritual energy running through them.” he said and felt the energy flowing from the mother book and walked to the central vent and put it in there and it instantly began to absorb pure holy power from the heart and instantly the flame on the spirits doubled in strength while the purple flame began to form visible golden flames but the trance kept any of them from crying in pain.

It just continued for upwards of 6 hours and the two just chatted about it and watched. During that process they witnessed the sin almost completely come out and when it did, the flames went full golden and began to blend slightly with the soul and a light touch of karma replaced the sin on their souls.

“Amazing… I never knew karma could replace sin. Even more impressive is how they were forced to go through the entire thing in one go and even start to infuse karma into their souls.” He said.

Mark thought for a while, “I wonder the effect on their personalities more. I’m sure their sin was a mental burden. Most veterans have nightmares so maybe their intense sin has that effect on them.” Mark said.

Billy shrugged.

The process continued on after that until it finally ended and the flames finally died out and all of them reformed, transparent and unconscious but there was a visible improvement in many of them. Hunched old men were all ‘seemingly’ pulled straight while their frail thin limbs had increased in thickness.

Walking through them, Billy chuckled, “This is among the best improvement after the first training I’ve seen. The density of energy here and your holy power caused a lot of extra change to them. Maybe they will obtain even more strength because of your own.” he said.

Mark shrugged, “If they do then they are lucky and so am I. Honestly, the best outcome is if they eventually form virtuous souls and contain holy power. It would make them much better for fighting dark spirits.” Mark said.

Billy laughed, “Well, I’ll be heading off, the elders need a lot of things tested and I’m working as transport. They are still working out the regions for the county sized towns in here, you’ve got your work cut out but don’t forget that if all else doesn’t work, strong arm it. It’s worked quite well over the last few thousand years when some phantoms didn’t know their place.” He said.

With a tip of his hat, he flew off towards the outer area of the domain.

Mark looked at the collapsed phantoms and thought about what to do and the empty space around him. “They could have at least waited until I had a place to house them.” he said and sighed but could do nothing more about it and just left them there since he didn’t have any place to put them. He took the book out of the altar and started training on his own and started to feel the ripples on his bones as he was hit with the effect of his own training.