Chapter 2-

Astler was ecstatic. He didn’t even notice that all the gems embedded in the walls had disappeared and immediately tried to investigate his core, located inside of his dantian, below his naval.

His core was currently shining with different colours of the rainbow, appearing to be surging with energy. Astler was overjoyed.

It was then that he felt a pulsing wave coming from inside his very being. It seemed to actually suppress his core, as the surging energy greatly diminished. Astler was panicking, what was that?

He poured all of his senses into investigating his core. The single pulse of unknown origin hadn’t suppressed his core, but rather condensed it. His core, which was once the size of a baseball, was the now the size of a fingernail and completely black. It was apparent that the core was now far denser than it had been before.

“Hey, brat”

Astler looked around, panicked. Where did that voice come from?

“In here, you idiot”

In where? Who’s talking to him?

“This is really depressing. How the hell did I get trapped inside such an idiot?”

Astler started examining his core again, for traces of this unknown voice. The only new thing that had happened was the forming of the core. If he’s right, this voice should have something to do with that.

“No, no, no. Your soul, brat, look inside your soul”

My soul? Where would that even be?

“This is annoying, I’ll just pull you in here”

Astler didn’t have time to react as his mind shifted and suddenly appeared in an endless white plain.

“Over here, dumbass”

Astler turned around and faced a giant castle. He went inside to discover a strange box lying in the middle of the entrance way. The castle itself was incredibly lavish, but only the immediate entrance appeared to be available to him. The surrounding area was covered by a black veil, much like a force field.

“Are you going to let me out of here kid?”

The voice from earlier came out of the box.

“What are you?” Astler asked curiously.

“Hey kid, that’s very rude. Do you even know who I am?” The voice said smugly.

“No. That’s why I asked” Astler replied flatly.

“This…..Alright Kid, I’ll tell you. Don’t be too in awe of me okay?” The voice paused for what Astler assumed was dramatic effect.

“My name is…….DREVEN THE BEAST KING”

He said the last part loudly as if Astler was supposed to start cowering in fear. Is he an idiot?

“…” Astler isn’t sure whether to laugh or cry, was he supposed to recognize that name?

“HAHAHA, are you scared? Of course you would be, but if you let me out of here…” Dreven gets cut off by Astler.

“Never heard of you”

”…..” The voice goes silent.

“If there’s nothing else, I’m going to leave” Astler turns to leave, the castle was interesting, but there was nowhere to go yet. Maybe he’d come back in the future and be able to explore further in.

“Wait! Wait!” Dreven becomes frantic.

“What is it?” Astler replies coolly.

“Can you let me out of here?” Dreven asks meekly.

“No. If that’s all then.” Astler turns to leave.

“You punk! Why not?” Dreven appears enraged.

“I don’t know who or what you are. What I do know is that you’re trapped and can’t harm me as long as I don’t do anything. So that’s what I’ll do” Astler explains.

”Look kid, let me tell you something. I’ve been trapped in here since you were born. Everything you’ve ever done, I’ve been here experiencing it with you. What’s more, I couldn’t harm you even if I wanted to, whatever your parents did to trap me in your soul realm is far beyond what I’m capable of breaking” Dreven explains carefully.

Astler listens but is confused by quite a few things Dreven just said.

“I don’t have any parents. Also, how would I possibly believe you?” Astler is quite curious now.

“HAHAHA, even if you’re adopted, you still have two birth parents. Two exceptionally powerful people, far more powerful than even I, at the peak of the Legend realm” Dreven sighs as if recalling a mistake.

The peak of the legend realm? How incredibly powerful were his parents for someone at the peak of the legend realm to say that about them? It must be understood, the two peak powers of the continent, the two clan leaders, were only in the 1st stage of the legend realm. It’s also said that the higher in cultivation you get, the harder it becomes to advance and the bigger the difference between levels.

Truthfully, the difference between the 1st stage of the core realm isn’t very different from the 4th and 5th stages and only marginally different to the 6th and 7th stages. The power structure alone show that the difference between the profound realm and the legend realm was the difference between the heavens and the earth. Even after decades of cultivating, both clan leaders were unable to advance from the 1st stage to the 2nd stage of the legend realm. From this, the peak of the legend realm becomes far more impressive.

For such an expert to say his parents were far more powerful than him. Were there realms beyond even the legend realm?

“The seals placed on me by your parents tie my life to yours. If you die, I die.” Dreven confidently states, as if letting him go is only a matter of course.

“That only means that you can’t kill me, there’s no benefit to me letting you out. What’s more I can’t verify such seals, you could be lying about them” Astler picks apart Dreven’s carefully laid out argument.

“Are you even human? How could you leave me trapped like this? What do I have to do to prove myself and get out of here?” Dreven asks, exasperated by Astler’s unwillingness.

“Easy” Astler smiles cunningly.

“Perform a master-servant contract with me”