Darkness…Deep and all-consuming darkness…After I slowly regained my consciousness that is what I felt around me…And in that darkness a rhythmic beat of thumps resounded. They gave me a feeling of security that everything in the world will be alright as long as I listen to those beats. I slowly entered the land f dreams while listening to that soft and comfortable rhythm.

I don’t know how much time I slept in that world of darkness, but suddenly my body felt as if it’s being pressured from all directions. And at the same time I felt a small light at the end of tunnel, and I started moving myself towards that light, that kept getting brighter and brighter.

Finally after what I felt as a soul-crushing pain, I opened my hazy eyes to try to look around my surroundings. I heard someone speaking to my right and I try to turn my head, but no matter how much I try, I couldn’t. It was as if a stampede ran over me. I couldn’t even muster any strength to even open my eyes completely. Then I felt a hard slap to my side, to which I couldn’t help but cry out. That was the incident which confirmed my position, which I felt as both horrifying and amusing at the same time…

******Mother’s POV*****

My baby…Finally my baby is born…From this day onward I will be a Mother…But wait, Why? According to what my mother told me, the baby should cry the first time, but why is he not crying? No,no,no,no…That mid-wife who came for my delivery is flipping my baby and gave a hard slap on his back….My heart swelled with rage instantly…and then he cried loudly…Ah, that’s right…So it was like that huh? My Son…

The doors to the room suddenly opened and a man came rushing to my side. He held me closely and we looked at our son who was sleeping, and we felt content with all of us together.

“Hahaha, I am a father from today. HAHAHA…I promise you, Adalina, I will be a great father for our son.” Lorvak Dragus, my husband proclaimed loudly while laughing happily.

“I know dear. That’s right. We haven’t decided on his name yet”.

“Hmmm…Right, how about Azalon, Azalon Dragus?”

“***********************

The World I was born into is one where Spiritual Energy is given importance. Where strong are worshipped and weak ones having no choice but be bullied. It was a world where Spirits and Spiritual energy differentiate between normal people and cultivators who the people call “Spirit Houses”.

Levels of Spiritual Energy cultivation are divided into 9 Realms and each Realm is further divided into 10 levels. The Realms are

First --- Spirit Sense

Second --- Spirit Condensation

Third --- Spirit Core

Fourth --- Spirit Manifestation

Fifth --- Spirit Integration

Sixth --- Spirit Ascension

Seventh --- Spirit Tribulation

Eighth --- Spirit Immersion

Ninth --- Spirit Transcendence.

Every living thing possesses a spirit which was born along with it. This 【Spirit】is said to be the manifestation of the soul which is the basis for Spiritual Energy Cultivation. Generally we cannot see the 【Spirit】, but if one can reach the Spirit Core stage, and then the spirit transfers from the Sea of Consciousness to reside in the Spirit Core.

After the Spirit Core stage, the next stage allows the Manifestation of one’s Spirit outside of the body, through which we can control various techniques and abilities unique to the Spirit, or even bind the Spirit to a Spiritual Treasure which provides incredible battle strength.

Based on the type of 【Spirit】, Elements can be manipulated to a certain degree and they are called 【Elemental Spirits】. Generally only 1 in 100000 will possess an Elemental, and they are treated as National Treasures, as one Elementalist is generally equal to 10 normal Spiritualist.

The last stage, Transcendence is the stage which is present only in legends and fairy tales. Currently no one in the present time has achieved that stage. It is said that once that stage is achieved, it will be like the existence of Human Soul in a Spirit Body. The boundaries between Spirit and Human will be completely erased and one achieves a state of “Being One With The Spirit”, where Everything is Possible and Nothing is Impossible.

Each Realm is divides into 10 stages, which are classified as Initial, Middle, Late and Peak. 1-3 stages are called as Initial, 3-6 as Middle, 7-9 as Late and 10th stage is called Peak. And each stage is generally called with different names. The first 3 Realms are Beginner, Disciple and Core Master. Since from the 4th stage Spirits are involved, they are known as Spirit Lord, Spirit King and Spirit Emperor. The 6th stage represents the true immersion into the Spirit World. Hence from they are known as Spirit Deity, Spirit God and finally the highest Realm, The Spirit Legend.

Elementals are of 7 basic elements, 2 Hybrid elements and 2 Divine elements. They are

Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning. Light and Darkness as Basic Elements, Wood and Metal as Hybrid Elements and finally Void and Nature as Divine Elements.

Generally humans are born with a single Spirit with a single attribute, but once in a while a person may be born with multiple Spirits. They possess an overwhelming Soul-Force and monstrous strength because of the advantage of Spirits over their opponents. These people rose to prominence many times, so any child with multiple Spirits is generally very generously by the Kings and Emperors of different kingdoms so as to rope them into their factions and expand their rule by relying on their strengths.

But most of the people are not fortunate enough to enter the cultivation ranks because of various circumstances, so they generally progress using Body Cultivation Martial Arts, which possess the same ranks as Spirit Cultivation. They are known as 【Knights】and are ranked on color of the Aura they emit as they progress on their path of cultivation.

First --- Red

Second --- Orange

Third --- White

Fourth --- Silver

Fifth --- Gold

Sixth --- Black Gold

Seventh --- Black

Eighth --- Grey

Ninth --- Colorless.

While Spirit Cultivators use Spirit Energy as nourishment for Soul and Spirit, Body Refiners absorb Spirit Energy to refine their muscles and bones to transcend Realms. But generally a Knight will not be equal to Spiritualist of the same Realm. This difference will be more pronounced from Core level Spiritualists as they step into the world of Spirits which more than doubles their battle proficiency when compared to Knights.

Not only humans are capable of cultivating Spirit Energy. Even before humans have started their journey into the Spirit World, beasts naturally evolved so as to incorporate Spirit Energy into their bodies. But as they lack the comprehension to completely assimilate their abilities with the Spirits, their usage can be called Instinct based. But the major deciding factor is that they refine their bodies with the excess energy, so even though they the beast may not possess strong martial arts; they boast highly resilient bodies and aggressive nature.

After a beast dies, the spirit dies along with it, but the assimilated energy core in their bodies provides a good cultivation resource or to be used as base materials for divine weapons. Some of the cores even have Elemental affinities which give the weapon it is made into the same Elemental attack abilities.

And the last of the professions are the Auxiliary Masters. There are 3 of them namely Alchemists, a Spiritualist with dual-affinity of Wood and Fire, Spirit Blacksmith, a Spiritualist with dual-affinity of Metal and Fire and Rune Master, who uses Spirit Energy to form Runes.

This is the world which I was born into, [Shandra]. , a chaotic mess of a world but which provides countless treasures, adventures as well as number of battles and killings. A place where Law of the Jungle “Kill or Be Killed” is practiced in its very basic form…