(Author: Hello all! The hiatus is over. Been working on some ideas for the next arc after the loss of the 10 planned chapters I had. As I mentioned, it is time for a new arc. The followers of Qingyu are making their move. One of the three known heroes and Caroline are transferring to Tyrannical Dragon Academy. My other stories won't have as many regular releases and this one should be every day or within every three days. It's summer now you know. Enjoy.)

------Chapter 23: Soul Realm-------------

Three months had passed since Elgar started his life in the academy. Elgar had many breakthroughs as he studied the Laws of Lightning and Water, his mastery over water and lightning improved as he learned from the magic books. Books contain knowledge and classes were applications and lessons to learn that knowledge. Elgar also sparred with Ulgor and Argolin in the training grounds, learning more about qi from them.

Magmar used to be seven different types of spirits before becoming his minion. Spirits were spirit energy that broke off and began to grow and become an entirely different being, but still connected to spirit energy. Elgar learned from Magmar that the special characteristics of his left arm had spread and that his body was slowly fusing his mana and qi were being absorbed into his soul energy and becoming one.

A realm of soul energy slowly formed in his body, similar to a realm of qi, but very different. Elgar was ecstatic as he had read about the power of souls in his necromancy books. Forming a realm of soul energy meant that he was at the bottleneck of the fifth rank and would break through. Magmar also said that both his warrior and mage rank were connected.

When necromancers reached the sixth rank, that was when they truly became necromancers. They could see souls and tear a piece of the soul and bind them. They could essentially control another living being. Soul binding was the true reason necromancers were as feared as blood mages. Not only was a necromancer able to seal someone's soul and obtain their absolute obedience, they could also glean knowledge, spells, and qi techniques to improve their own skills. Blood mages could control the bodies of their enemies, but the difference between controlling the soul and the body is the same as comparing heaven and earth!

Necromancers would no longer need to rely on mana or qi as both would be fused into soul energy. Necromancers naturally cultivated soul energy from the air and the dead, having near limitless energy to sustain themselves in battle. In terms of military assets, elementalists were a tank and necromancers were a tactical nuke. At rank six, necromancers could even absorb soul energy from the living. They were walking black holes of soul energy.

However, cultivating and reaching the next rank is the hardest compared to any other class, warrior or mage. Why? It was because necromancers had to control the soul energy they absorbed. Soul energy is spirit energy containing fragments of the soul. Necromancers forcefully cultivate those souls into their own. As they cultivate, they had to resist the minds of the souls. Endless screams of rage, pain, despair, and loss would scream from the soul energy inside the realm. In life and death, there is always a balance and a price for power. The price might not be immediately paid, but it cannot be avoided.

"Soon the resentment of the souls will echo," Magmar said as it observed its master on the bed, meditating in a cross-legged position with the back of his hands on his knees. "It will be easier for you to handle it as you are combining your qi and mana into your soul energy, strengthening it and empowering it. You will soon realize why it took so long for someone like Tristan to reach the eighth rank of Mage King."

"Master is strong. He will not fail," Void hissed as it glared at Magmar. "Master's mind isn't weak like that Ice Brood!"

"Enough," Elgar said silently. Void. I am sending you to the chasm. Eat the spirit cores there and become stronger. The tunnel my three lich found, I will be venturing in it soon with Argolin and Ulgor when I break through to the sixth rank. Magmar, it is no longer necessary for you to guard my room as Ulgor and Argolin signed a Blood Pact with me. You shall accompany me once more."

"Yes master," Void and Magmar said in unison, Void disappearing as it slithered atop the teleportation circle.

"I need you with me to absorb some of my soul energy in case it goes out of control. As my necromancer spirit minion, you have the ability to absorb soul energy. You must not fail me when it occurs," Elgar said.

"Of course not master," Magmar said as it shrunk to the size of a fist and rested on his shoulders. "Cultivate and develop the realm with ease. When you compress the soul energy and establish a stable realm of soul energy, we will all undergo some changes. Void, the Ice Brood, and I will evolve as we are bound to your soul and will transform as your soul energy reaches a new tier of power. I know not how it will affect us, but I believe the Ice Brood will regain its sanity. Evolution is possible, but there is no way to be sure."

Elgar closed his eyes and resumed meditating, no longer absorbing soul energy. He slowly lost focus of his surroundings and retreated deep inside himself. Combining his qi into his soul energy was easy as it was all concentrated in one limb. The lava tattoos traveled from his arm and settled on his back, slowly taking shape into a phoenix. His soul energy began to take shape as a molten ball of black earth and white molten lava.

He felt a warmth growing above his naval, the center of his chest, and in his head behind the gap of his eyes. His black mana was traveling along his meridians toward the center of his chest. The molten ball of black earth and white lava expanded as more and more of his mana fused with his soul energy and entered the molten ball. Then the molten ball began to flare and became a moon, a crimson glow emanating from it. Then, Elgar heard them. The screams.

Sweat poured down as his brow as the whispers started. Whispers of damnation, sorrow, hate, anger, and rage permeating from the small moon with a crimson glow. They called out to him, cursing him, telling him lies of temptation. They tried to persuade him to let them devour him, to give up his body to them. The dark purple blood in his body felt as if they were boiling, his wings involuntarily sprouting from his back, making holes on the back of his shirt while scratching the walls and bed sheets.

Black liquid began to leave his body and Elgar opened his eyes, the both eyes now a mixture of gold and jade. His body radiated fear and his skin seemed to become purer and appeared heavenly. Elgar was still deep in his thoughts as he continued shaping his realm of soul energy. Then, Elgar appeared standing in a large body of water, seeing the ground beneath him glow as if the earth beneath his feet were made of a blue green rock. He stared at the moon as a night sky appeared with several dazzling stars appearing.

Elgar stepped black in alarm as he skeletal arms burst from the ground. Up to half of a skeleton would emerge from the ground around him, grasping at him and calling his name and saying many things to him.

What have you done to us?

It hurts. Oh, it hurts so much.

Why are you made of flesh? Join us!

Join us!

Join us!

Give yourself to us!

Pay for your sins and give us your body!

"You will not take me!" Elgar roared as he began leaving his realm of soul energy.

Come back!

Come back!

We are lonely.

Suddenly the voices stopped and began speaking as one saying, "We are Legion and you will give us your body. You are a true necromancer now. We will always be watching, waiting for your soul to weaken. You will accept us. When you die, you have no choice to but to accept the Legion and we will become an Arch Lich. That is the price to pay for harvesting us. For using us to fuel your power. We are you and it is only a matter of time until we.......become one."

Elgar panted as he returned to reality, clutching his chest. As he looked at his realm of soul energy, he could hear their whispers of temptation. He knew that the more he increased his rank, the harder it was to resist them. He noticed Magmar leap off his shoulder and enter the teleportation circle. Curious, he quickly cleaned himself and changed before following his minion back to the Chasm of Chaos. He hadn't been able to break the bottleneck yet but he had already created the foundation of the soul energy realm.

He also realized something fundamentally important. It was true that he studied seven different fields of necromancy, but in reality, it was only seven different applications using the same energy source: mana and soul energy. Spells? They were just restrictions and attributes of mana applications. All spells used mana but the living put them in categories to simplify their understanding. All the elements were just pieces of one whole element. What is was, Elgar didn't understand. For dragons, magic was a part of them and came to them naturally like breathing.

"You nearly broke through but the bottleneck is more difficult than we expected master," Magmar sighed. "I know because I feel more powerful but I have not evolved. Becoming a necromancer of the sixth rank is the hardest bottleneck as it is the gateway to necromancy itself. To truly use the pain, anger, hate, and resentment of souls whose energy you cultivated to empower your spells and qi techniques."

"It's only a matter of time. I already established the soul realm," Elgar said. "The elements are just pieces of a whole aren't they?"

"How did you know master?" Magmar cried, shocked. "It seems you understand more about spirit energy and soul energy now. Yes, it is true. I was comprised of seven different elementals and they fused into me. Humans assume it is difficult fusing elements together. They just don't understand that spells are physical manifestations and augmentations using spirit energy, not the actual substances themselves in their entirety."

Elgar sighed as he walked to the baths and cleaned himself before changing into new clothes. Argolin and Ulgor stared at their friend as they felt an immense pressure coming from his body. It seemed unnatural and sent shivers down their spines. Elgar had broken through and become a rank 5 warrior but seemed on the verge on breaking into the sixth rank as both a mage and warrior. Not only that, they couldn't determine his strength as they could not detect mana or qi in his body. Rather, they sensed a weird energy they never felt before as well as an abundance of spirit energy.

"Dude? What happened?" Ulgor asked. "You're giving off this weird vibe of energy I never felt before."

"It's soul energy. It's similar to spirit energy, but only necromancers can differentiate it and separate it from spirit energy," Elgar said. "I'm on the bottleneck to become a Magus and a Warrior Mage, but it's more difficult than I expected. I probably need to gain an insight to the sixth rank in order to break the bottleneck."

"The sixth rank? Already?" Argolin gasped. "Actually, it's not that surprising as you're one of the five heroes. I heard the hero who transferred in is a pure human called Bartholomew Deuce. He is a rank 7 warrior and rank 6 mage. The other two have similar ranks according to the rumors. A Blade King and a Magus. You think he's Doom, the one who frees Qingyu? How about the hero who becomes Her Champion? Champions are usually warriors."

"We should kill him," Ulgor said as he munched on a piece of magical beast steak. "He could be one of them or both. Besides, he's not important enough to start the War of Days. Just kill the guy and be done with it."

"We don't know that for certain," Argolin argued. "Best to observe him and determine his background and personality. If he is a threat, I can contact my father and have his assassins kill him."

"Let's do that for now," Elgar chuckled. "Did you find out the location of the tomb?"

"Not yet. Rumors spread that the teachers might all be dead or trapped within," Argolin answered.

"Then let's ditch class!" Ulgor laughed. "It's voluntary anyway. We should explore the tunnel big brother's lich have discovered. We're strong enough by now and have killed a lot of magical beasts during our three months of training under that lunatic."

"I can also check on the status of my Ice Brood. It should have calmed down by now," Elgar agreed. "Alright. Ulgor, go to the cafeteria and pack lots of food for us. Argolin, head to the pharmaceutical office on campus and get a bunch of potions and elixirs we might need while we're in the tunnel. We don't know where it will lead. Best to be as prepared as possible."

"Alright!" Ulgor roared and the ground shook a little as Ulgor ran out the room.

"Is it just me, or is that half-orc gotten fat?" Argolin asked.

"Nah. He's somehow turned all that fat into muscle. Must be his genetic trait or something. I've never seen a fat orc," Elgar grinned. "Be sure to bring some scented elixirs too. Who knows what we'll smell down there. I don't mind the smell of blood, but you never know if the smell will get to you once you've killed so many magical beasts that it looked like you bathed in their blood on purpose."

"Are you sure you even have human blood in you?" Argolin asked.

"Dunno. My dad is only quarter demon and my mother was a pure dragon," Elgar shrugged. "Being human? I don't really act like one do I? Hasn't bothered me before. Anyway, we have much to prepare. Get to it."

Argolin nodded and left. Elgar didn't dare cultivate further as he knew he hit a bottleneck and didn't want to expose his mind further in the soul realm. The Legion, as the souls called themselves, were at their strongest in probing his mind when he entered the soul realm.

We're not scary. We're you.

We're a part of you. You stripped us from ourselves.

You made us your power. It is too late to regret.

Too late. Too late.

Just give in. Give in to the Legion.

Give in to us.

"And who is us? There must be one of you controlling the Legion," Elgar smirked as he noticed the souls grow restless when they heard his words and began silent.

"The voices, master?" Magmar asked as it was connected to him through necromancy. "They are no threat to you. You are their master. When you reach the sixth rank, you can show them your control over them."

"I will make them beg for forgiveness for trying to control me. They think they can defeat my soul? I have the soul of a Dragon King ranked magical beast dragon! Once I become a Magus, I will feast on their souls and empower my own. The soul realm is the embodiment of my own soul. They'll realize their helplessness than and serve me with absolute obedience or risk the end of their pathetic existence," Elgar laughed, his voice power shaking the room.

"What of the hero? That half orc was right. He could be a threat as he is one of the two pure humans," Magmar warned.

"Leave him. I have other plans for him," Elgar said. "That Lady Caroline of House Dune arrived and tried to get closer to him and me, succeeding more with the gullible hero. She is just a pawn of her clan. She is talented, that much is certain, but no one makes me their pawn. I was only played once, by someone I considered a brother and came from the same brood mother. I will not suffer and be toyed with again."

"Master, the prophecy is proof that you are playing someone's game," Magmar reminded him. "You can't defy the Fates."

"I was never meant to be the hero," Elgar grinned as he stared at Magmar. "Some pathetic human slave was supposed to be born in my place. I took it. I already defied the Fates once. I'm not even sure if they are real. Everything has been moving in the palm of my hands so far. Only now did no benefit come from a trial with the Legion annoying me. Even then, I still benefit as I feed on any defiant soul and easily replace the soul energy I lost as a necromancer."

Magmar remained silent as its master began practicing his spells on the training ground. It was a spirit and cared little for laws and regulations. It left its master's side and ventured into the campus in its tiny form. It very much wanted to snap the little necks of the humans, but its master had plans for them. Instead, it would devour the humans following its master like a pest. Its master didn't care for weaklings, but Magmar did. Any threat to its master must be eliminated.

It waited for the cover of darkness before expanding to its horse-sized , double-stinger true form of a snad colored scorpion with white lava runes all over its carapace. It cared little for the screams as it wrenched the spies apart and killed the witnesses. It carefully put all spatial rings and storage bags in its mouth before leaving. Crumbled buildings and blood littered the campus, the screams of shocked students rung loudly as they found mutilated corpses everywhere. The site sent shivers down their spines and all the people who saw the bodies breathed heavily. Some couldn't stomach the site and threw up their dinner onto the floor.

"You really enjoyed yourself today," Elgar noted as Magmar appeared from his open window and spit all its trophies. "Are you gonna clean that or shall I?"

"You're not going to punish me master?" Magmar asked.

"We both know I cared little for the spies. They already sent their precious heir here. They know I won't kill her. They have no need to send for more spies, but they will....trouble me.....more now than before," Elgar sighed. "There's no evidence I'm sure, but they'll believe that I killed them or ordered their death. Sort out the belongings and send the items that are useless to me to the lich to aid them."

"Yes master," Magmar said and began sorting the treasures, pausing to snack on some spirit beads and grass it found as they were useless to its master anyway. Elgar would smile a little as he imagined the loot from the tunnel. It was deep within the Chasm of Chaos. It was bound to have treasures within.

"Soon, I will attain a new level of existence. Maybe then, I can interpret the fragments of memories I obtained from my supposed dragon grandfather," Elgar sighed as he laid back on his white, comfy bed. "With the demon magic and necromancy I am learning now, I will be invincible once more. The four other heroes? Heh. They won't be able to get in my way. I'll repay the debt to the Demon King and killed Madorax when I ascend. I have no time to care for Mortal Realm matters."

((Author: Thanks for reading and again, sorry for the short hiatus. The chapters might get longer in the future if I feel that it will flow well. Feel free to post comments and suggestions. You can hate me if you want but I will continue to write the story as I see it and will add constructive suggestions if I feel it helps the story. Thanks again for your patience.))