Under the Red Dragon

Far above the sky, a massive red dragon stretched its immense wings, like a draconic volcano, spewing an endless stream of molten lava from its mouth. The vast shadow cast under the moonlight stretched across the desolate sandy earth.

The entire perimeter around the encampment was already engulfed in raging, destructive dragon fire. The moment those skeletal undead came into contact with even a trace of the flames, the yin energy within them would erupt into an even more intense blaze.

Countless wailing souls were released from the bones, uttering their last cries in this world, before being burned into nothingness by the all-consuming dragon fire.

In the sky, the dragon rained down destructive fire, while on the ground, its minions wielded blades of death, liberating these souls that should have long been at rest.

The dragon fire, covering the heavens and earth and spreading through the surrounding void, was so intense that both the mages guarding the small town and the dragon's minion legions felt as if they were inside a giant furnace.

The surrounding air grew thin, and the already depleted magic became impossible to sense.

The mages and gnoll spellcasters in the town could only stimulate their own magic, raising a magical barrier shield above the entire small city to isolate it from the high temperatures emitted by the fiery hellscape.

The skeletal undead, originally surrounding the innermost layer of the camp, were temporarily spared because the red dragon chose to maximize its damage by starting from the outer perimeter. Relying on their numerical advantage, several times greater than the dragon legion, they launched a fierce offensive.

They hoped to defeat these 'tin cans' encased in iron armor and retreat into the city untouched by the flames.

The violent dragon fire, capable of easily destroying souls untouched by ordinary forces, and the extremely terrifying high temperatures sweeping in from all sides and behind, gave these skeletal undead a deadly sense of threat and urgency—emotions they hadn't felt in countless years of沉沦.

But this rare experience drove these long-numb souls mad. The eerie green flames flickering in their empty eye sockets blazed fiercely, and they actually let out sharp roars from their skeletal bodies.

Led by a dozen particularly powerful skeletal undead, countless skeletal undead continued their assault, engulfing the dragon's legion.

Boom! A giant with a long, bony horn growing from its skull slammed down its great blade, creating a whistling sound.

"Looking for death!"

Gnoll leader Yugu roared, his blood-red eyes burning with flames similar to the red dragon's. Unwilling to be outdone, the blood-colored mane on his neck stood up like needles. His muscular left arm, wrapped in thick iron armor, was thrust out like a shield.

Clang!

The two collided, sparks flying. But the next moment, the spear held tightly in the gnoll's right hand pierced the skull of the skeletal giant. The gnoll's power, transmitted through the spear, shattered the skeletal giant's head, along with the two eerie green ghost fires, into dust.

Whoosh! Just then, a great wind came from the side of the gnoll Yugu. A powerful undead with three pairs of bone wings reached out its sharp claws, grabbing towards Yugu's head.

The claws burned with a strange white ghost fire. This strike would have been enough to pierce iron armor and tear five bloody holes in the gnoll's head.

But an even more violent gale descended from the distant sky at this moment. A terrifying shadow covered the chaotic battlefield. A pair of thick, long, huge, and sharp dragon claws, shimmering with a faint cold light, fell from the sky, instantly tearing the powerful skeletal undead, strong enough to fight the gnoll leader, to pieces.

The three pairs of huge bone wings were broken into fragments, falling to dust, and the particularly vigorous soul was also trampled into several pieces by the red dragon's descending claw.

The red dragon's descending air current directly blew away many surrounding skeletal undead.

With Kalon's addition, this final battlefield quickly became a one-sided slaughter.

Those dozen or so most powerful skeletal undead were singled out and killed by Kalon one by one, leaving only the last one, like a giant skeletal snake, pinned under Kalon's foot, unable to struggle.

The remaining skeletons could not turn and escape into the endless sea of fire still burning around them, and could only fall one by one under the encirclement of the mages and the dragon legion.

This battle did not last long. In just half an hour, the overall situation was decided, and the remaining time was used for cleanup.

The dragon legion warriors collected the shattered bones and piled them together, then burned them to ashes.

Kalon wanted to interrogate the skeletal undead under his feet, but even with the soul strength of this skeletal undead, which was already more resilient than those high-level mages, its wisdom and everything else had been worn away in endless time.

Only some instinctive reactions remained. Kalon could only stomp it into fragments and then spit out dragon fire to burn it to ashes.

However, Kalon made an unexpected discovery. This strange skeletal undead was different from many humanoid skeletal undead. The soul of this skeletal undead seemed to be rooted in its own bones and flesh.

After death, unlike other creatures in the world, its soul would not leave its body and go to the place where all souls in the world return, the legendary River Styx flowing with the souls of the departed.

"Interesting. The world is full of wonders," Kalon's dragon claw faintly glowed with white light, imprisoning a scattered fragment of soul within it for careful observation.

"These skeletal undead are different from most skeletal undead. Perhaps they are not primitive creatures born in this plane," mage Hughes, with his squinting eyes, also came up and said.

But the mage's face now carried a respect that even he hadn't noticed.

The dragon fire slowly extinguished after burning the skeletal undead, but the once barren sandy land had now become a shimmering ground radiating high temperatures.

The sand and soil were melted by the red dragon's flames, and now the entire land was like a shallow lake, with flowing, translucent magma everywhere, resembling a giant mirror under the moonlight.

Even some saint-level powerhouses who were skilled in destructive spells and attack power would find it difficult to create such a scene. Ordinary people always have their limits, but the power contained within this red dragon seemed to have no limit.

"Very likely. It seems that before us, this plane had more than one group of visitors, and unwelcome ones at that," Kalon nodded, his massive body squatting down.

The mage at his feet now had to jump to reach the red dragon's knee.

"Although these large numbers of undead were burned to ashes by your dragon fire, they also left behind some valuable things," the squinting mage said, opening his palm. A transparent crystal, the size of a sesame seed, lay in the mage's slender, pale hand.

"This is... a soul crystal?" Kalon lowered his wide head, staring at the sesame-sized transparent crystal in the mage's palm. These soul crystals were only born in some very special places, from resilient and pure souls.

Soul crystals had the same uses as magic crystals, which were condensed from pure magic, but soul crystals were more often used for matters of the soul and spirit.

However, although soul crystals were pure enough, they couldn't be directly absorbed. The soul was one of the most wondrous creations in the world, and every creature's soul was unique.

Even the demons transformed from abyss worms, their appearance changes and the races they evolved into later were determined by their unique soul characteristics.

Once a soul crystal was absorbed casually, although it could directly strengthen the soul's power, it would also be affected by these souls.

Even so, soul crystals were still a rare treasure. Many creatures whose souls were not strong enough, in order to enhance their soul strength, would create various methods of using soul crystals to minimize the impact they received.

After all, a strong soul meant a threshold to becoming a legend. A strong soul and spiritual will might not necessarily lead to becoming a legend, but a soul and spiritual will that were not strong enough would definitely not lead to becoming a legend.

This was the common understanding of all creatures striving to become legends.

Of course, for those creatures who wanted to transform into liches, these soul crystals were the best sacred objects, the top-grade supplements.

After transforming into a lich, most of one's strength depended on the original soul strength of the creature. If Kalon sold these soul crystals to those dragons who found it difficult to get through the ancient dragon stage and wanted to transform into dragon liches, a soul crystal of this size could be exchanged for at least 20,000 gold coins.

20,000 gold coins in the eyes of a dragon.

Moreover, soul crystals were a hard currency in the abyss and hell, more popular than ordinary souls. Kalon could even use soul crystals to hire those chaotic devils and demons to work for him, if he collected enough soul crystals.

"Yes, soul crystals. Kalon, you can have your minions collect this kind of thing on the battlefield. This kind of thing is quite precious even in the hands of those legends, or rather, only in the hands of those legends can it exert its greatest value."

The squinting mage Hughes spoke out some of the knowledge he knew.

"Legends construct their own cognitive system about the world, and then touch the laws of the real world based on their understanding. A strong soul is an indispensable foundation."

"And once they can successfully construct and perfect their cognitive system and inject the laws they have comprehended and mastered, they will form a unique domain. Some powerful domains are even comparable to the divine kingdoms of weak gods,"

Mage Hughes's small eyes revealed a trace of envy. The prototype of the domain that the red dragon now possessed had already given this dragon a ticket to step into that threshold.

Many legendary powerhouses explore the endless astral plane, study the rules and mysteries of various worlds, and construct and perfect their cognitive system in order to condense a domain and become a god on earth with their own divine kingdom domain.

Unfortunately, even with the lifespan and strength of legendary powerhouses, very few people can take this step in their entire lives.

Just like many great creatures trying to ascend to godhood, only a very few lucky ones can succeed.

The two similar but different paths are almost equally difficult, with the former being even more difficult.

"I saw in a magic book that in ancient times, a powerful mage was able to use the soul power burned by magic crystals to help himself study the laws and mysteries of the world. Unfortunately, that method was not recorded in the book."

The squinting mage's eyes revealed a look of regret and regret. If he knew this method, perhaps Hughes could also use the soul crystals in his hand to help himself get closer to the door of legend in the future.

Kalon didn't feel any regret. His secondary brain cluster was prepared for this, and the goal had been determined in the initial strengthening, not aimlessly.

However, he remembered the power of faith needed by the gods, which also seemed to be extremely important and related to the soul. Those seemingly powerful and omnipotent gods of faith, once they do not get enough nourishment from the power of faith, will also fall into sleep on the astral plane.

"Perhaps these soul crystals are more precious than I thought," Kalon pondered. In his impression, this kind of thing was also a very expensive currency in the abyss and hell.

It could even make those chaotic and evil devils and demons obey the orders of a paladin, as long as the paladin could pay enough soul crystals.

The red dragon then ordered all the minions to disperse and enter the battlefield, which had gradually cooled down and solidified into a crystalline surface, to search for these soul crystals.

The moon sank, and the sun rose in the east.

At this moment, the earth had changed its appearance, and it looked a bit dazzling in the morning sun.

Kalon and his party continued to move towards their destination. His magic space bag already contained forty-two soul crystals, the result of the dragon minions' hard work for half a night.

Kalon did not pretend to be generous and distribute some of the soul crystals to the mage. He and his minions had contributed most of the effort in this battle, so it was rightfully his loot.

Not confiscating the soul crystal in the squinting mage's hand was already considered extremely generous by Kalon, especially for a dragon.

Along the way, the dragon minions shattered all the bones they saw into powder, but when it was time to rest at night, many skeletal undead would still appear one after another from afar, constantly harassing the party, as if hindering their progress.

However, with the experience of the first night, now everyone would only walk for most of the day and then set up camp to rest. Every night when setting up camp, Kalon would use his power to condense the sand and soil into a city, and then let the mages defend based on the small city.

He himself would slaughter the invading skeletal undead with his minion warriors.

Just like that, they continued to walk, and after several battles, the seemingly endless skeletal undead became fewer and fewer. The bone undead tides that came at night became visibly sparse and scattered.

The mages were very happy, finally about to reach their exploration goal. The minion warriors were also very happy. Their nature was to love killing and fighting. Being well-behaved in the dragon's territory had already made their bones rust.

Kalon was also very happy watching the soul crystals in his magic space bag increase day by day. The only ones injured were those skeletal undead and the person in charge behind them.

On the tenth day of stepping into the barren sand, the mages finally saw their target. Kalon also looked forward with a slightly solemn expression. Even at noon, when the sun was high, that area was still shrouded in a faint black mist.

The black mist was layered, and the center was even like a deep night. Even Kalon's gaze could only barely penetrate the barrier of the black mist and see a looming scene.

A huge golden divine spear pinned a corpse into the earth. That golden divine spear emitted a vast sea-like life energy and an extremely contradictory destructive power that made the red dragon feel a little palpitated. These two forces coexisted on this divine spear, contradictory yet harmonious.

Karon's expression was somewhat grave, his massive body blocking the mages who wanted to cast spells to test the waters. "Be careful, don't act rashly. This place is a bit dangerous."

One of the mages quickly dispelled the magic gathering on his staff. Throughout the battles they'd faced, these mages had developed immense trust in the red dragon's abilities. If even the red dragon felt danger, then this was definitely no simple place.

"Caution is a good habit, wise dragon," a faint human figure formed within the black mist, like a transparent soul, cutting through the mist's obstruction to reveal a path towards the golden divine spear.

Only then did the others see the scene inside, and they couldn't help but gasp.

The thick golden divine spear was about the size of an adult's thigh, its long shaft embedded in the enormous corpse on the ground, with over ten meters of the spear's length exposed.

And the corpse on the ground was even more gigantic, like a dragon lying down, with six wings, six arms, and three heads. Each head looked different, lacking the characteristics of ordinary creatures, like some kind of primal bestiality and divinity from the beginning of the world, fused together.

Even after being dead for endless years, this corpse still exuded terrifying pressure and aura, clashing with the aura of the massive golden spear, overwhelming everyone and making it difficult to breathe.

The aura from this corpse was what Karon had sensed as the mastermind, but now it seemed that this wasn't a small mouse, but an elephant.

"Legendary!" Mage Hughes blurted out in shock. The unintentional majesty emanating from the two entities put more mental pressure on everyone than even a dragon's might, even from a considerable distance.

Hughes had sensed this kind of pressure from his teacher, the Saint-ranked mage Rapus, but it wasn't as oppressive and penetrating as the corpse before him.

"Indeed, you mages, who are disliked by other creatures, are always knowledgeable and possess a great deal of information," the transparent soul said calmly.

"Who are you? An elf?" Karon asked solemnly, already preparing to retreat.

At this moment, the flames around him condensed into a thin layer of flame domain, formed from his own domain. The oppressive force had no effect on him, and the mental pressure was completely blocked by the domain.

The transparent soul looked very much like a male elf, with pointed ears and a body with elven features, but its appearance within the eerie black mist made Karon uncertain.

"An elf? That's just one of my avatars," the male elf's soul chuckled softly, then pointed to the massive golden divine spear and said, "That is my true form!"

"You are the soul born from this divine spear?" Karon frowned. He had never heard of a weapon being able to give birth to its own soul. Perhaps some powerful magical alchemical weapons could possess some simple spirituality, but it was never a complete, vivid soul.

Perhaps only artifacts held by gods could give birth to perfect souls. But although the golden divine spear before him had a powerful aura, it was far from being a divine artifact.

The male elf shook his head. His calm tone suddenly wavered slightly. "That divine spear was created from the heartwood of the World Tree, and I am the soul accidentally born from the World Tree."

"Those mages felled the World Tree, using it for research, and the World Tree's heartwood was refined into a magical creation capable of transforming between life and destruction."