Thirty-six times.

Thirty-six times, I had to suffer through matter making its way out of my mouth, burning all the while. This wasn't the first time I had puked my guts out, but it had never been so violent, and so...thorough.

Bile mixed with the remnants of my previous meals into a disgusting slurry, and I quickly washed the affected area before collecting the contents in a water bubble, compressing the whole thing, and encasing it in layers of earth and blood. If necessary, it could serve as a makeshift stink bomb. It was certainly pungent enough, the acidic stench lingering thanks to the lack of wind...which I promptly reminded myself I was capable of doing something about, and summoned a few gusts to air the place out, before setting the stink bomb aside to put in my space later.

"Have you noticed anything different about yourself, whelp?" Elder River considered me, his eyes roving over my entirety even after asking.

"I'm not sure..." I did feel a bit more alert than usual, but that didn't seem like something that would warrant the elder's attention. Oddly enough, I felt practically the same to how I was before. With a bit of focus, I could feel my heart beating, the reliable thump-thump, thump-thumps of my...core organ? Organ core? Well, whatever the term, it was working as intended, just like the core. It had the aura of blood around it, simultaneously capable of delivering life and death as it remained frozen, surrounding my heart like a little red force field.

"When you were creating your core, how bad was the pain?" The elder questioned, pulling my attention back to him.

"Almost unbearable," I replied after a moment's hesitation. Mentioning my trance-like state and my instinctive mesmerizing to negate the pain would only be detrimental for me, but it was true that before doing so, the pain I felt was approaching the boundary of the soul pain I had felt previously.

"Well, that is good news for you. That pain you underwent was the consequence of strengthening the connection between your body and soul. The higher the pain, the stronger the connection. And now that the connection is strong enough, it can withstand the presence of a core." I hadn't noticed it before, but it seemed to be true. Hadn't I just used water, earth, and air magic almost reflexively? And with the same level of control that I had with my blood magic? That represented a massive boost to my combat potential, not to mention my general survivability.

"Your core not only connects your body and soul more tightly, it also acts as your source of power, storing essence and allowing for greater power and control. Additionally, you will find that restoring essence will come easier to you. Try it out for a bit, and then we can proceed with your lesson."

The dragon's words were filled with nothing but truths, as I quickly verified them through a couple minor tests. Blood and nature spells performed better than they ever had. The basic four of water, earth, fire, and air were just as responsive as my other affinities, to say nothing of my recent and unintentional lightning affinity. In the moment, I had the fleeting thought that a lightning affinity might be nice as it might enhance my thinking speed and memory, and perhaps even my reflexes and dynamic vision, but sadly none of those seemed to have been enhanced. Regardless, it was another avenue for me to pursue, so I created a few sparks between my thumb and index fingers, changing the white color to purple, and inadvertently making me smile at fulfilling a childish fantasy.

"Now, then, if you're done playing around, we can resume our lesson." Despite my physical state being in top condition, my mind felt overwhelmed with the new changes and wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep. Sadly, Elder River's time was more valuable than mine, so I listened to him speak about the soul, and the connection between it and the body, and why my body needed to be borderline oversaturated with essence so it could tolerate having a core inside it, as well as the additional factor of compatibility.

Thanks to the essence, my body would be able to perform better physically from now on, though it wasn't a massive change, roughly around one-fourth. While I was curious about how they arrived at such a specific number, I was more curious about the fact that somehow, despite being a clearly magical energy, essence only improved existing functions of the body.

In other words, it couldn't extend my lifespan, nor provide a convenient yet gradual upgrade to my soul or my mental capacities. Needless to say, I was disappointed. Thank God I know mana exists. There was some information about mana in the Trove, and the few articles I had looked over implied that mana was capable of doing all that and more, making me wonder once more where the hell essence came from, and why mana was absent on this world, as it was apparently supposed to be literally everywhere. The lesson came to an end when both our stomachs grumbled simultaneously, though the sound of mine was utterly dwarfed by the elder's, which was reminiscent of thunder, as I could feel its vibrations in my bones.

"Oh, and before I forget, you owe me a favor, whelp." The elder said right as I reached the threshold of his cave. As I turned to look at him in confusion, he continued. "Don't give me that look. Do you think all that essence you used to make your core is easy to get? If I have to work to get it, then so do you. We can do this again when I'm bored. Alright, no need to linger anymore. And tell Dusk that you can use the illusion field for training from now on."

And just like that, he flapped his wings, creating a gale that swept me off my feet and sent me tumbling through the air...only to pass through a portal that hadn't been there a moment before, as I rolled onto soft grass and small flowers.

"I take it your time with Elder River was fruitful?" Elder Dusk's amused voice rang out in my mind, as I saw his dragonkin form a few feet away, sipping tea besides a marble slab that acted as a table, replete with snacks and sweets, some of which were completely natural, and others that had clearly been made in the human world.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"I can't exactly deny that, but does he have to be so...abrupt? I mean, would it kill him to just let me walk out on my own? And what was with him telling me I owe him a favor? He can do anything I can, and I'm guessing a lot more beyond that." I slowly got up, brushing off the dirt and grass that clung to my clothes from my impromptu tumble, and made my way to the chair next the elder.

"Ah, you're actually mistaken on that front," Elder Dusk said, the side of his lips slightly curling up. "If he truly disliked you, he wouldn't have bothered suggesting more lessons, would he?" He paused to take another sip of his tea, leaving me to ponder that statement before resuming. "As for the matter of the favor...well, River wouldn't like me saying this, but trading favors is how he determines which students are worth teaching. He must have seen something in you that interested him. As for his...personality...well, I did warn you that not every elder would be as polite as I am."

An entire plate of snacks flew towards him and tilted in mid-air as food tumbled down his gullet without stopping for him to chew, as I let his words distract me from the unusual method of eating I was witnessing. My first instinct was that it wasn't good news that an accomplished soul mage was taking an interest in me, but it could turn out to be good news. From what I could infer, Elder River didn't have many students, so perhaps he was interested in making me something of his successor? Then again, I'm sure that if another dragon curious or even compatible with soul magic showed up in the future, he wouldn't hesitate to discard me. Draconic pride and all that.

"Oh, and he said to tell you I can use the illusion field for training?" I added, remembering his last words before my unsightly tumble through the dirt. At that, Elder Dusk momentarily stopped chewing before swallowing everything in his mouth and wiping his mouth with a napkin, oddly mindful of human etiquette before getting up.

"Well, at least you'll have something to do in your free time. Come on, then, let's go take a look at it. And you'd best put your veil up, Rhaaj. I don't have to be adept in reading souls to feel your curiosity blanketing you."

Immediately after I had the veil surrounding my mind up, I was whisked away, the background changing to a forest, though this particular location was devoid of trees, as I took a glance around and noticed we stood on the lip of an enormous crater, with a radius of at least a mile. At the bottom were dozens of dragons and dragonoids lying stationary on the ground, though three dragonkin stood by on the side, watching an illusory light screen that I couldn't help compare to a computer screen.

Elder Dusk walked forward and spoke to them, the hierarchy of dragons on clear display as there was a lot of bowing and nervous twitching from the other party, before he turned to me and beckoned me forward with a claw. I only heard the tail end of their conversation as I approached, the beacon implanted in me allowing me to hear and speak to anyone in range, as summarized by Reela.

"Two hours, no more. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Elder Dusk!" They both said in unison, clearly apprehensive about interacting with an elder. Maybe it was being an outsider, or the unorthodox way I had entered their society, but I just didn't respect the elders the way the other dragons did. Sure, they were strong and could kill me before I could even think of resisting, but I didn't really revere them that way. If anything, I resented them for how they treated me. Then again, they had been alive for who knows how long, it was probably a small miracle that they even remembered that I was worth paying the slightest sliver of attention towards.

"Well Rhaaj, now that you have a core, and more importantly permission from Elder River, you're eligible to use the illusion field for combat training, seeing as how you have more practical experience with it than the other whelps. Given that this is your first experience with it, I've instructed the monitors to limit your time to a few hours, but if your soul seems capable of enduring the strain then you can stay longer if you wish to during future visits."

"This way...please," one of the so-called monitors said, the shorter of the two dragonkin that Elder Dusk was speaking with, as she gestured with a tilt of the head, leading me to a small yet sizable empty clearing that looked just like any other patch of land around, although it was clear this wasn't for an adult dragon to use, as each of the ones I had seen on the short walk were in enormous spaces that could fit their entire bodies. Once we reached the empty space, she stared at me for a second. "Right, you're a newcomer! All you need to do is lie down and relax your mind. You'll start feeling sleepy soon, so don't resist that feeling, then you just need to make your choice and start fighting!"

I followed her instructions, lying down in the empty space and immediately feeling a wave of drowsiness hit me, though in more of a head-pounding way rather than a 'I will literally die if I don't close my eyes and sleep' kind of way. I didn't resist it all, despite my unease, but it still took another three waves of rising intensity before finally succumbed to whatever was happening and blacked out. When I woke up, I quickly realized that I actually hadn't woken up. In fact, my surroundings seemed eerily similar to my soul realm and my body was replaced with a transparent outline, all of the tiny sensory input from the real world absent in the pale blue world I found myself in. I would have suspected I was in someone else's soul realm if I hadn't heard it referred to as an illusion field before.

My pondering was short-lived, as a disembodied female voice said, "Choose your terrain." leaving me without any further explanation. Elder Dusk did say this was for combat training...

"Jungle," I said into the ether, a hot and humid jungle materializing around me just as my senses returned to me and I felt the temperature rocket up to unbearable levels matching that of the desert. Within moments, sweat began dripping down my face, and I saw that the outline that had replaced my body was slowly filling in, once again providing me with the normal sensations I would expect to find around me in a jungle.

"Choose your enemy," the voice continued. God, what is this, Smash Bros? There wasn't even a list of options to choose from!

"Human." A squad of faceless human soldiers, armed and armored, showed up in front of me, their weapons at the ready as they marched in place.

"Beastfolk." I continued, the human soldiers disappearing and a wolf tribe I hadn't seen before popping up, mounted on their beasts and ready to fight. Just to see if it worked, I said the names of a few different tribes, and each one was displayed briefly until I moved on to the next. If I wanted to face singular or multiple enemies, I had to specify how many. Honestly, it was pretty detailed, if not exactly user-friendly.

"Elves." I said, the giant beastfolk army before me vanishing and being replaced by a group of elves. Tall, pale, long hair, wearing naturally sourced clothes and weapons, the elves were androgynous and objectively attractive.

"Dragons." I tried saying, and to my surprise, a group of adult dragons towered over me, their sizes enough to send a shiver down my spine, even if they lacked that aura of dread that real dragons possessed. I was curious about this whole 'illusion field', when it had to be utilizing some type of soul magic rather than any illusion, but the issue of the time limit brought me back to my senses, and I decided to take it a bit more seriously.

"Voranders." I said, only for a prompt and unexpected response to pop up.

"Select tier."

...Shit.

Of course the voranders had different tiers. Why wouldn't they? "Tier 1," I dejectedly said, with an outline of a group of voranders that I hadn't seen before appearing in front of me for a few seconds. After a confirmation prompt, the announcer declared the beginning of the training, and the jungle sprung to life all around me, insects buzzing, birds chirping and screeching, unidentified animals hooting and adding to the cacophony of noise that surrounded me. My body looked as I expected it to, even if there was a slight hint of transparency to denote the unreality of the situation. Without any weapons, I tried casting all the magics I was capable of, finding them just as responsive as they would be in the real world. And before I could think of tracking down the voranders, a tremor in the ground made me shuffle backwards as a hideous purple-black mouth chomped in the place where I had just been, a vorander head burrowing out of the ground and shrieking in my face.

And thus marked the beginning of my experiences with the dragon version of virtual reality.