Alaster opened his eyes and saw the roof of the Dolis building. He was back in the Mortal Realm. Sitting up in the bed, where he had fallen upon having his soul dragged away, Alaster looked at his hands.

‘Becoming an actual God, huh.’ Alaster clenched his fist.

‘Screw that. Once I have my sister, I don’t care what happens to the rest.’

Alaster stood up and walked outside. The sky was bright blue. The sun shining down warmly. In the distance, a few white puffy clouds floated. On a day like this, it was difficult to remember that the city of Dolis was a ruin. At least until Alaster looked down and saw all the bloodstains that even last night’s storm had not been able to wash away.

Looking to the right, where the Iron Ruins Dungeon sat only a hundred meters away, Alaster saw Aila talking to a tall man. It didn’t seem tense, so Alaster decided not to interrupt.

‘Bel, you there?’

‘Obviously.’ Belgroth thought sarcastically.

‘Well, you didn’t talk when I woke up.’

‘I was busy.’

‘Doing what? Its not like you can actually go anywhere.’

‘I am not as limited as you might think, boy. In fact, I was busy securing someone who can help you.’

‘Really? How? You can’t go anywhere.’

‘Didn’t need to. He was bound to your Ring. I was just going to shred his soul apart. But thought better of it. Now, we have come to an agreement. He will provide you knowledge of the world, which I lack, and I will return his body to him.’

‘How? You don’t even have your body.’

‘Well, his body still exists, and is still alive. He is just trapped. I know where and how to free him.’

‘So, he made a deal with a Demon?’

‘He was kind of desperate. And a deal with me isn’t as bad as you Humans might make it out to be. Our deal certainly hasn’t done you any harm.’

‘Yeah, until one of the Gods discover you are hitching a ride in my body and destroys us both.’

‘Then it would be them, and not me, causing harm.’

‘Fair enough. So, this other soul has been within my Ring the entire time?’ Alaster looked curiously at his Ring of Holding.

‘Wrong ring fool. The Ring you could store your Minions in.’

‘That was given to me by a retiring adventurer.’

‘Not even you are stupid enough to think he was just that. Regardless, you had previously caught his attention, so he used this soul to spy on you.’

‘But he won’t do that anymore?’

‘Not if he has even the slightest intelligence. I can still destroy his soul. Besides, I have reason to believe the man who gave you the Ring is also the person who trapped the spirit’s body. The spirit isn’t exactly happy about that.’

‘Did you volunteer me to fight people past Expert?’

‘No. I made it very clear that once he was free, we would be through with each other. We would both be bound to not cause each other harm, you included, and to halt any similar actions made by others.’

‘So, when do I get to talk to him?’

‘Give it a day. He had some extensive bindings on his soul, both from the Ring, and his own prison. I had to remove some of those bindings to allow him to speak to you like I do. However, if I did it suddenly, it would damage his soul. I just undid the bindings, they are coming undone gradually.’

‘So by tomorrow?’

‘Tomorrow.’

Alaster looked up and saw Aila waving him over. Walking closer, Alaster was able to see the man better. Nearly as tall as himself, the man’s black hair would have covered half his eyes if he wasn’t brushed back. He wore expensive clothing, but not flashy. The feeling Alaster got from the man, was that he was bored.

“Alaster,” Aila spoke first, “This is Azemar. He will be your next and final teacher.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Alaster looked sharply at her, “I thought you would be training me.”

“No. Once you learn a few basic principles, Magic is mostly just trial and error and practice. You know the principles now. I even noticed you learned a new Spell, though strangely, I can’t see your Status anymore. Did you happen upon an Enchanted item perhaps?”

‘I’m preventing anyone from peering into your soul. If they saw you, they would see me. Just agree with her.’

“Yes. Though its only use is blocking any identification.”

“Rare, but useful.” Aila commented, “Oh! Before I forget. I promised you that I would collect information about Necromancy. So I went around to all the Necromancers, at least the ones that wouldn’t attack me on sight, and asked them a bunch of questions. It is all compiled into this book.”

Aila summoned the book, handing it over to Alaster. The young man looked at the heavy book but put it into his Ring. He would have time to read it later. But for now, he had a new Teacher that he should introduce himself to.

“Hello, I am Alaster. I guess I am in your care.”

The man scoffed, “First, never admit your own ignorance, but never be arrogant. Let the enemy discover how stupid you are, don’t tell them yourself.

Second, you are not in my care, you are at my mercy. And I am still unsure if you are worth my time.”

Alaster hesitated, but quickly recovered, “What should I do to prove my worth?”

The man held up three fingers, “I have countless people desperately begging to become my apprentice. My standards are the same for every one of them. Three tests. The tests differ between each one, you have already passed the first.”

“And that was?”

“Survive the Dungeon.”

“What’s the second test?”

“For that, you will have to follow me. Aila, you are dismissed.” He said, like he was waving away the help.

“You know, it might help to be nicer.” Alaster spoke up, knowing that Aila wouldn’t.

“Not for her.” He said, turning and walking away, “Come along then.”

Alaster looked towards Aila, but she simply waved him towards the man with a calm smile.

Alaster jogged to catch up, “What did you mean by that?”

“She and Richter, who I have been informed, was also your teacher, both fall into a tier of power that can easily be disregarded.”

“Stronger than Experts? So then you must be even stronger.” Alaster than noticed that Azemar was walking towards the main gate of the city. They were leaving the city.

“No. In fact, they are both much stronger.”

“Then what do you mean?”

He sighed, “After Experts, the title is Master. However, Aila and Richter, despite having the power to destroy even a hundred people of my strength, both fear me. For one simple reason, I’m more skilled than they are.”

“In what way?”

“No doubt, Richter told you power comes from Resistances. He certainly had to rely on them, and while they are useful, they are not power. Aila certainly told you that creative and strong Magic were power. And while it makes her a difficult foe, she is also wrong.

Both rose to become Masters by relying on their individual strength. That is all. One against one, they have a strong likelihood of ripping my head off. But we Summoners don’t fight duels. We fight wars.”

They had reached the broken gate. What lay beyond stunned him. Dozens, perhaps even a hundred, men and women stood in neat rows, each using a different weapon and style. But what caught his attention was the liberal amount of blood that painted their otherwise pristine weapons and armor, and the source was evident.

All around them, most laying in pieces, hundreds, maybe even thousands of monsters. Some weak enough for Novices, some strong enough to even threaten teams of Experts. The men and women must have been extremely powerful Experts, perhaps even reaching this new tier of power, Masters.

“How many serve you?” Alaster breathed, not quite believing his eyes.

“Don’t be fooled. These are not living creatures. They are just empty suits of armor. They are called Living Armors, and I can create and control them.”

“You made all this armor?” Alaster looked up in wonder.

“No. I have people to do that for me. But they simply made normal armor, high quality armor, made of equally high-quality materials, but still just plain armor. I gave them a semblance of life. Similar to your Undead. And as to your earlier questions, I can control several hundred such Armors.”

“No wonder Aila didn’t dare to argue with you.”

“Oh that’s not why. She could defeat all of my Armors. The reason she fears me is because of how well I can use them, nor am I a weak foe either. I am the City Defender of Galmore.”

“Galmore, the Independent City? No one has heard from that city in over a hundred years.”

“And no one shall for another five. All the Kingdoms will send their strongest to conquer the S Rank Dungeon, only then will they see us. They will act surprised that we have continued to survive against the constant hordes of Monsters bearing down on us. Then after the Dungeon is conquered, we will all go our separate ways and they won’t hear from us until the next Dungeon opening. Get in.” Azemar summoned a large carriage.

It was made out of wood and iron, but there were no wheels, no rigging for any creature to pull it. Regardless, Azemar opened the door and walked in, sitting down on one of the seats. Alaster entered right after, closing the door behind him.

The ceiling was high enough that even with his abnormal height, Alaster didn’t have to duck. The interior was surprisingly simple, yet comfortable. The two seats, at either end of the carriage and running the width of it, were soft and distant from one another. With plenty of legroom, it was certainly a comfortable place to sit.

“You carry around your own mobile room? I’ve done something similar, just it was just six walls made of bone.”

“Shut up and watch.” Azemar said, laying across his seat and closing his eyes.

Within moments, Alaster heard a faint humming, runes that had otherwise blended into the walls began to faintly glow. And then, the floor moved. Alaster moved aside the small curtain over an equally small window and saw the ground was a lot more distant than he was familiar with.

“Is this entire thing flying?”

Without looking up or opening his eyes, Azemar responded, “Yes.”

“What about your Living Armors?”

“I have them.”

Alaster certainly hadn’t seen him collect them, but he could do something similar with his [Soul Domain], so Alaster didn’t doubt the man.

“Where are we going?”

“It’ll take four days to reach our destination, get comfortable.”

“This thing will fly for four days?”

“It’ll fly for an entire week straight if I need it to do so. Now shut up and let me sleep.”

By now, the carriage was several hundred feet above the ground and moving through the air faster than any galloping horse. Alaster sat down and closed his eyes.

‘What day is it?’