With the thunderbird collection task taken care off, it was high time to turn Rex's attention towards the few other scouting and advanced squads of tigermen that were roaming suspiciously close to the supposed border of the dragonkin territory. Rex had quite a few cosim ravens out and about on the floor at this point, with more than a few keeping an eye on even the horde itself. Though that did not seem quite ready to move out just yet, with more and more tigermen leaving the large gates leading underground, no doubt access to the next dungeon level. Still, it was a bit early to get Rex's hands bussy with them.

With his sights on the nearest group and the proper dirrections, it took no time whatsoever for his thunderbird mount to bring him over, allowing Rex to drop in the middle of the unfortunate group of the tigermen and unleash his potent and deadly mana constructs, as well as a few other new techs Rex had been theorycrafting and practising here and there. First, the tried and trusty maan construct razor chains swirled around him, dismembering any poor creature that was either too close or too slow to instinctively jump away the moment Rex handed and his mana stirred. Then, with the immediate surroundings cleared and secured, a few of the chains shot forward, beginning the thinning out of the rather sizable group.

With the first step taken care of, Rex had both the space and subjects to test out the other few techniques waiting in line. He first started with one of the more esoterical skills that he had been working on. His mana stirred, coalescing into a transparent extension from his right hand index and middle fingers as he placed his right hand by his left shoulder. Then, swiped the bent hand in front of him in a wide arc, the coalescing aura blade on the fingertips extending instantly, creating more than ten meter long ethereal blade that was swept in front of Rex, passing through all the tigermen it touched, as if it was not real blade.

"Soul slash." Rex murmured under his nose. He had no need to call out skill names or whatsoever, like an anime character, though it did help in the early stages of a skills development. It was much easier to create an association in ones mind related to a certain word combo- a name if you will. Once said reference was established, it was much easier to draw said mental image into the focus of ones mind with said technique name, speeding up its execution. In the same manner would some of the mages chant spell incantations to pull off spells much more powerfull than what they could normally cast, the chant working a temprary amplificator of the spell. Though such casting was much slower, as one would expect, as well as quite taxing on a mages mind, making it more of a desperate last dith effort skill or ones ultimate trump card, better not needed. Yet, from what Rex had read, most high level mages would have at least one such technique developed., though he could just as easily undertand why.

Rex reasoned that with enough practice, he could display not only the same level of power his sould slash had done just now, but multiply it quite a few times, glancing over the result of his move. Before him laid dozens of tigermen corpses, with not a single would apparent on their bodies, though all were slumpled on the ground, still and lifeless. The rest of their group was still desperatelly trying to reach Rex, each one of them hungrier for his blood than the last.

"Hmm?" Rex furrowed his brow at the result "It should not be nearly as powerfull as it was. Not by a long shot." he pondered out loud, trying to understand why it had been so incredibly effective. Judging by the amount of mana he invested in the skill, only the few closest tigermen should have collapsed dead, with the rest of the affected stumbling briefly, being weakened by the strike, making their movement much more sluggish and unresponsive. Intrigued, Rex performed the same technique once more in a slightly different dirrection, with quite similar result as well. Like the previous attack, most, if not all of the tigermen that touched the ethereal blade would fall to the ground, never to raise back up again.

"Could it be?" Rex wondered, having a slight suspicion emerge in the forefront of his mind. He would have to test his theory to ensure its validity, though at the moment it seemed to be the most likely case. Still there was no better proof than a practical test, thus he raised his hand, a few more mana chains shooting out of his location and dismembering a couple of unlucky tigermen in the process, while at the same time cauterizing said wounds, making the poor bastards that fell to his tools nothing more than meat bags ready for his tests. With the same chains said unlucky bodies were dragged back into the zone that was still protected by a group of rotating chains, spinning loudly around Rex, ensuring his position was still perfectly clean and safe, as well as undisturbed by the remaining libing tigermen, something that could not be said about the rest of the small battlefield.

With the few bodies stopping in front of Rex, he wasted no time, reaching out his hand towards the nearest, breathing blood bag, gripping its body with his vice like grip and activating drain on the still barelly alive captive. The creature was drained in mere moments, solidifying the theory Rex had just come up with. Firstly, the drain caused barely any cries of pain or despair from said test subject. Secondly, the speed with which said test subject was drained till nothing remained, was increadibly fastas well. Many times faster than what it should have been, based on Rex's previous drained targets and experience with the skill.

"So, it is true." Rex concluded, repeating the same test with the remaining limbless tigermen, reaching the same result each and every time he drained a tigerman. "They dont actually have proper souls. Fascinating." he mused, considering the implications and possible uses. "Though there is something akin to a pseudo soul. A remnant will perhaps?" He was quite intrigued by the prospect and the possibilities of such knowedge.

"The things I could achieve with high tier blood constructs that have some sort of autonomy. Hmm, the possibilities." He was struck in a moment of contemplation, though that did not mean that the battlefield around him came to the same halt as he did. luckaly for him, the tigermen were too simple when encountering a possible target, what little rational they possesed getting replaced by bloodlust and savage rage. Even the limbless ones had tried to bite Rex when he grabbed them to be drained, disregarding their own survival. The same thing happened with the remaining tigermen in the field. Regardles of the futility, they charged at Rex and his spinning razor chain 'fence', being shredded into pieces one and all. No matter how many of them jumped it, there was not even a moment where his spinning wortex of dismembering even slowed down, let alone stopped, resulting in a rather gruesome, yet expected scene once the last of the tigermen was shredded into pieces.

It was a few minutes later that Rex refocussed his attention on the field around him, the countless body parts, guts and gore lay before his eyes.

"Sigh" he sighed, a clear dissapointment in hsi voice "Thats a lot of wasted hearts. Good thing my alchemists are not here to see this. I would have been chewed out by them." He chuckled at the last sentence, the irony quite apparent. He was the supposed big bad in this plain, gods not included, for he was too sure they were still above him in raw might and most definetly technique as well. Though he was just as sure that even the gods did not have his unique 'drain' ability. It seemed too specific and exceptional. it must be a part of the reason his sponsor chose this body to house his soul, no doubt expecting some sort of a unique entertainment from this ascpect of his as well.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Still, he did not have too much time to dally around, quite a few more advanced parties expecting his presence. He also had a rather unique soul construct to examine during this little hunt session of his. And that was something he was more than just a little excited about.

"Boy, o boy, o boy o boy." Rex excitedly rubbed his hands as he mounted his thunderbird mount and gave it dirrections towards the next squad on his hit list. What followed was a rather similar sights wherever he landed, a group of tigermen surrounding him from all sides, then immediatly loosign all rationality and charging at him, each and every one of said tigermen more and more desperate to end his existance. The only difference was that he was not sunk in his own thoughts, allowing him to precisely and efficiently dispatch the rampaging groups of soulless monsters.

With each passing hour, and each dispatched group of tigermen, Rex gained an additional glimpse into the soul constructs that were hosued into tigermen. And with each morseld of knowledge that he gained, more and more understanding, as well as fascination and even glee was reflected on his facial features. By the time the night cycle was barely starting, he was just about done as well, untill he saw something rather important through the eyes of one of his scout ravens, left to watch over the large horde that was still being ammassed.

"Started moving, did they?" Rex hummed as he once again jumped on his thunderbird, instructing it to return back to Dragoncliff mansion. "Could it be because of my actions that they had been sent forward? Did the dungeon deemed the little old me such an important guest that it sent out the honour guards to welcome me? Ho, ho, ho, hoo. It would be rude of me not to recieve the gift with open arms, now would it." A shit eating grin spread across his face, his mind bussy with calculations and speculation on the amount of power he would gain after draining most the the horde.

Still, firts things first. Due to the mobilization of the horde, he would have to warn the dragonkin, the necessety to intercept them being too high. he could not wait till they reached here, his single body no doubt not enough to hold the entirety of the monsters at bay, should any of the dragonkin settlements be within the sighting range of the enraged and berserking tigermen horde. No, it was better to being the clash as close to the gate leading to the next floor as possible, forcing the entity behind the horde to focus on stopping Rex's advance.

With the plan laid out and quite clear, as well with his mount blazing across the sky with thunderous booms in its maximum speed, it took little to no time for the duo to reach Dragoncliff, his girls already having left for Elysion for the night. he did return to the city around midnight after all. Still, he did the responsible thing and found the nearest guard that was hastily chased towards the closest councilmans location, the information in Rex's hadn too important to wait the morning.

The speed with which the councilman, said guard led Rex to, woke from his half asleep state as Rex spoke of the hordes awakening was instantaneous, acompanied with a loud exclamanion and quite a bit of fear. Something Rex quickly suppressed, with a small flicker of his own aura over the panicking man.

"hey, I am here to solve that exact problem, am I not? My group will just have to start a bit sooner than innitially anticipated. Or in your case, much more sooner than anticipated. Still, I will need you to speed up that recruitment of the previously discussed parties." seeing the questioning look on the mans face Rex added "Dont worry, your college that was with me during the day will no doubt explain it all come morning. In any case, I am off to gather my groupd and intercept the horde, thus dont expect to se mee for the coming days, possibly even a week. Should My girls ask you about my location, no doubt annoyed I did not say bye, just inform I have gone to solve the little issue your people were dealing with."

With those words spoken, and a single nod from the flabergasted man, Rex left as quickly as he had arrived, leaving an even more dumbfounded guard not too far from the place he had spoken with the councilman. He had not even bothered to move away from said guard. Not like there was information he needed to remain hidden from the general public of the city. Sure, a panic might have arisen should they learn of the decade early horde, but there he was, ready and poised to solve said issue. The thunderbirds he had brought into the city had already been talked about in every place of gathering, no doubt the knowledge having already reached the councils of the other three cities as well. He was somewhat interested in teh faces the tamer noble family was making at the fact he had done something they had failed for who knows how long. And yet, he had just popped up and got his hands on a couple of young and strong specimen, entirely under his command.

He already had quite the beef with one of their branches, even if said branch did not know it themselves just yet. What was a little more fire added to that particular flaming forest. Still, it was not like said branch, where he had a slightly annoying bug he would need exercising, was at fault in its entirely, though such a case could as well have happened. Rex was more inclined there were a few people tops, he would have to deal with eventually. Though there was quite the likelyhood, that once he solves the horde, said individuals will be smart enough to just forget any and all ideas they have ever had regarding Xersia. Then again, there was always the possibility of stupidity running deep into their genes.

Whatever came next, he had a much larger fish to fry. And was that quite the understatement in the current situation. The horde reached a hundred thousand entities easily, and with the power ammased there, Rex could do nothing but lick his lips in anticipation, as If he was a dragon on his way to a sumptuous feast, all prepeared and laid out excusively for him. And to put a dessert with a cherry on top at the end of it all, there was the gate most likely leading to the heart of the dungeon.

He utilised the male thunderbird as his mount for a few dozen minutes, untill they were far enough away from any of the dragonkin patrolls and hunting squads, still out in the fields, opening a gate to Elysion and allowing his ussual mount to rest there, then calling through the other male that had been relaxing and resting for quite a while. Then, with the mounts exchanged and on the back of an entirely rested and fresh thunderbird, je was carried towards his destination- the now moving horde.

The flight took a few more hours, the thunderbird not being pushed to its absolute limits to reach the horde faster. He had enough things to both think over and go through once more before his arrival, as well a rather breathtaking sights that he was flown by every now and then. He could not complain one bit about the beautifull vistas this new home world of his had both shown, and was still filled with,just waiting for him to travel all over the world and its countless dungeons to bask in their beauty, either a tranquil or fiery one. he had heard Aina speak of quitea few magnificently beautifull places that she would love for them to visit and enjoy, and he quite vividly remembered just how easily he had promissed they would eventually get to it as well. Time was the one thing they all had in spades now after all. With the promise secured, Aina had been even more cheery tahn ussual, becoming quite the menace to his pet tigers with her constant petting and fawning over them.

Rex also paid quite a bit more attention to the sight his ravens in charge of observing the horde provided him with, taking note of any more important or rather peculiar sights or individuals within the horde. Like, for example, a group here and there, among the marching numbers, that were dressed in some robe like garments and wielded staffs. Quite clearly mages, though it was yet to be seen how these mages could perform whne encountering an enemy. Would they sink in the same feral rage, or were they more advanced, allowing for a much better decision making, bringing them ever more closer to the poinf of having an actual soul. For all the lives that Rex had reaped, it was still an unexplainable mystery as to how ones soul found its way towards a new body it would inhabit in its next cycle, as well as how new souls are actually born. Though he had earned quite the esoterical knowledge from the tigermen and the soul/will construct that served in in an actual souls place. It had to be noted that Rex had absolutely no desire to create new souls, his interest reaching the point where he could create proper automatons without the worry that he has bound an actual soul to a fate worse than death, at the very least in his humble opinion. And soon, he would reach the horde, once again immersing himself in the glorious and holy act of grinding.