Then after staring at me for a few minutes he floats his way over towards me. The battle is still going on behind him, but his attention is completely focused on me. He lands and then slowly walks over to me, stopping about ten feet away.

Mage says "What have we here? You look like the soul of a beast, but this realm has no native beasts. You smell like a dragonkin, but not one I have ever seen before. How did you come here? What is your interest in our training?"

"I am simply exploring. Training? I thought this was a war?"

Mage says "War? No, this is simply a training exercise to increase our troops' mental strength."

"So, they are not destroying each other's souls?"

Mage says "Of course not! That would be wasteful. The artifact we use to send them here protects them. The most they suffer is a bit of pain, and those that defeat others get stronger."

"That is an interesting training method. So, you are not native to here either?"

Mage says "No, we are from a material world. We just come here in spiritual form. As far as we know this realm is completely uninhabited."

"You seem very willing to share information."

Mage says "You are the first being from another realm that we have encountered. I am hoping that if I am open and honest that you will share information as well."

"Alright, that is fair. I am also from a material world. I have learned how to leave my body and explore other realms using just my soul."

Mage says "That sounds similar to how we come into this realm. Those who achieve a certain level of power can come here without using the artifact."

"I leave my body behind through meditation. Is it the same for you?"

Mage says "Yes, but it is useless for those who have not reached the Heaven's Realm."

"What is that? Is it a place?"

Mage says "No, it is the name of a power level. It also marks the point when a person's lifespan passes a thousand years."

"Oh, impressive! Is this power level common?"

Mage says "Of course not. Out of all those who try only one in twenty thousand succeed. How many realms have you visited besides this one?"

"Under a dozen, but as far as I know the realms are infinite."

Mage says "How do you move between realms?"

"Once I leave my body behind, I visualize it as a hallway of doors and each door leads to a realm."

Mage says "How about the process of leaving your body behind?"

"Once I enter a meditative state I visualize a room within my mind. Then I create a door leading out of the room and that takes me to the hall."

Mage says "Thank you. That is enough of a hint for us to try to figure it out."

"So, once they are done fighting, do you clean up the battlefield?"

Mage says "No, there is no need. The healing crystals are normally all used during the contest."

"So, you don't mind if I take a look once it is over?"

Mage says "Be my guest."

By this point there are only a few dozen warriors left and there are more white than red. It looks like there are going to be a few survivors on the white side after all. However, to my surprise once the red warriors are all defeated the white warriors start fighting amongst themselves.

The fighting continues until there is only one man left standing and only then does the mage move. While the mage goes over to talk to the last warrior I start running around the battlefield. The mage only mentioned the crystals, but there are plenty of coins lying around and a few other things.

Since everything is absorbed as soon as I touch it, the fastest way to collect everything is by rolling around. While I am sure this looks odd to the mage, it is very efficient so I don't care. By the time I have finally collected everything the mage is standing alone.

Gained 1,392 Soul Coins.

Gained 5 Healing Crystals.

Gained 1 Soul Armor Piece - Helmet (+5 Defense).

Surprisingly, the crystals don't just vanish like they used to, they appear around my waste. It seems that now that I am fully healed they won't waste themselves trying to repair the damage. Not to mention that I now have a defensive item for my soul, which is completely new.

It is a white helmet and it appears on my head as soon as I touch it, fitting perfectly. It worries me a little bit since I can't take it off, but there are no negative effects that I can see. I am guessing that the plus five means it will reduce the soul damage I take by five.

If that is how it works then it is definitely a good thing for me to have while exploring. Although, it does make me wonder if this armor dropped because they were humans. Either that or it is because they were higher level, but I can't be sure of that since I didn't kill any of them.

Mage says "Was there a point to all that rolling around just for five crystals?"

"You seriously didn't see all the coins lying around?"

Mage says "Coins? No, I didn't see any coins."

"I have encountered them on several realms, but haven't found a use for them yet. Until now I have only gotten them after killing beasts. The fact that you can't see them makes me think the method you use to come here is different from mine."

Mage says "In all of the texts that I studied before reaching this stage, our method was always described as sending out spirit out of our bodies. Not once did any of them talk about the soul."

"That is probably the difference. When you come here do you start as a blob of energy and have to build a body?"

Mage says "No, I arrive exactly as you see me."

"Then you are definitely not here as a soul. That explains why you can't see the coins, but doesn't explain why you can see the crystals. Wait, how frequently do you have these competitions?"

Mage says "Once a month normally. Why?"

"Is it always in the same place? Or are there other areas with coins just laying around?"

Mage says "The warriors come first, they are sent in by the artifact to a random location. Those of us who come in to observe simply locate the warriors. So, I guess there would be battle sites scattered around somewhere."

"Great, then I will take a look around later and see if I can find them."

Mage says "If you don't know what they are for, why bother?"

"Because they are coins. Coins are meant to be spent, I just have to find where to spend them."

Mage says "That makes sense. Even if we could collect them we would have no way of using them. So, by all means, collect any you find."

"Thank you. I will return to look around later. Right now I need to get back to my body."