(Author: Hello all! Elgar and the spies have bought the right to take the entrance exams to enter the most dangerous academy, second most powerful under the Blood Rain Academy. In the world of spirit energy and those who use them, the strong do whatever they want and the weak can only endure and swear in revenge. You'll know what the title of this chapter means when you read it. Enjoy.

Chapter 10: Letting Loose

Elgar, the three spies, and the rest of the applicants wait in front of a large clear, a large black door in front of them on a stage.. Elgar can sense dense spirit energy emanate from the door as if the door couldn't contain it all. Many students talked excitedly, imagining the many wonders behind the door. They notice a man in a black cloak with a half-token medallion appear in front of the door using teleportation. He pulls his hood back, revealing black steel horns, crimson eyes, and orange hair streaked with black.

"HAHAHAHA," the man laughed. "You are the applicants for this year's round? So many of you. Ha, this is gonna be fun. My name is Draxil Rork, proud demi-human with dragon blood in my veins. I am a rank 9 mage. Didn't ascend yet as there is still much fun to be had. You green horns don't need to know that."

Rank 9 mage? A Mage Emperor?

Many applicants were excited and felt that they had made the right choice. Learning from the powerful increased one's growth and nurtured their own potential. Elgar didn't like the man's tone and felt something was suspicious. The three spies were also shocked but they stealthily made their way through the crowd to Elgar. Draxil stared at a book containing the information copied from the status cards of the applicants.

"Don't t need this. Who you are doesn't mean a thing to me," Draxil sighed, exploding the book with pure mana. "Say green horns, you want to enter the academy? You want power? Do you desire immortality? Do you desire to stand at the peak of the world?"

"YES," many applicants cried, their blood boiling with excitement and anticipation.

"Well, it ain't gonna happen if you're dead," Draxil laughed. "The dead are dead unless a blood mage reanimates your body and soul. It's forbidden, but does the law ever stop people?"

The crowd immediately becomes quiet. No one knew what to do or say to those words.

"Look at all you green horns, silent as a whipped dog. Geez," Draxil laughed. "Since you're here, you obviously placed your life for forfeit you know. Many people died during the exams. Not mine as I never hosted one yet, but many died. Power isn't just handed to you unless you're some fancy noble or really lucky. You see, this black door is a gateway to a secluded area of the Chasm of Chaos. Only rank 3 and 4 magical beasts are found there. Let's see now, I'm guessing there is around eight hundred of you. You pass when you complete four objectives. I'll give you a moment to take it ALL in. It must be pretty shocking to you green horns."

"Chasm of Chaos? Elgar said to Magmar, an evil grin on his face. "You and I will definitely prioritize killing magical beasts. I want to kill them. I want to eat their flesh and drink their blood."

"Yes master," Magmar replied beneath his cloak.

" The first objective is simple. Kill a rank 3 or 4 magical beast and give me its spirit core once the other onjectives are done. Feel free to absorb the spirit energy in its body. Only rank 3 magical beasts and above are able to form a spirit core so don't bother with rank 1 or 2 magical beasts. For martial artists with qi, this is the best place for you with all the spirit energy for the taking. For mages, it's best to just loot the body for materials and sell them for some silver and gold," Draxil began. "The second objective is to reduce the number of applicants to a hundred and fifty. Feel free to use any method at your disposal once you enter the door. The third objective is to find my guinea pig."

"WHAT?" one applicant asked and  was immediately burned to ash in a tower of fire by Draxil.

"I hate being interrupted," Draxil sighed. "Find my guinea pig and kill it. The final objective is simple exit the door. You see, there is a formation barrier in front of the door. All you gotta do is force your way through it. Only people with a soul as powerful as a rank 3 mage or warrior can exit.  That means you kiddos need to rank up. The formation barrier will appear and the door will remain open when two hundred applicants are still alive. How do I know if you are all dead? The tokens with your mana in it will crumble if you die. Good luck and put my guinea pig to rest. Its killed a lot of people and the brass in the empire are always on my case to kill it. It's a rank 4 magical beast, but with a few personal upgrades. Have fun!"

The door open and only Elgar immediately began walking to it. Many of the rank 3 mages laughed at him for daring to enter alone without a party as he entered the door. The other applicants who were only rank 1 mages and warriors whispered to each other and were scared. Rank 3 and 4 magical beasts? Most of them were too weak to even injure a peak rank 2 magical beast. Only the most talented were rank 3 and one was even a rank 4 mage. The three spies nodded and went in the door to pursue Elgar. They were all rank 3 and were confident that Elgar would join them as he was a rank 2 mage. All the rank 3 mages made parties and went in the door. All the rank 1 mages quickly begged the rank 2 students to allow them to join them. It was a sorry sight but they wanted to pass.

Elgar pulled back his hood and breathed the air as he exited the door. He looked around and saw dark purple cliffs on his right and left side. Mist was everywhere as Elgar looked to his left. He looked to his right and saw the academy walls. He guessed that the further west he traveled, the deeper it got as he was at the entrance of the chasm. His blood thirst rising, he ran into the Chasm of Chaos, a baleful aura rising as he took his sword out of his magical bag with Magmar trembling with excitement under his cloak.

Elgar slaughtered every magical beast he saw. As he was part dragon, he was able to eat them raw if he wanted and he did. Many rank 1 magical beasts died while he and Magmar went on a killing spree, eating a few here and there. Blood would spray on his cloak and Elgar wondered which part of the crimson cloak was not covered in blood. He killed many as he didn't want others to take all the fun. By the time the spies arrived, all they saw was a river of blood and mangled bodies. Even if they were rank 1 magical beasts, the carnage was just too excessive.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Elgar did not kill as many rank 2 magical beasts as he didn't want to uncover his true strength as a rank 4 mage. Regretful as he didn't chase the magical beasts scared by his baleful aura, he only killed magical beasts separated from the others.

"Time for some fun," Elgar said and began channeling his mana. A large summoning circle appeared and wolves made of bones appeared. Elgar laughed and ordered them to travel east where the door was. He found a lake that spread for a considerable distance but did not reach the walls and began channeling mana once again. On the bottom of the lake, fish made of bones. He intentionally left deep foot prints around the lake to leave a sign that he avoided the lake. He didn't want people to know that he was a necromancer after all. Summoning all those bone minions strained his mana, but he had as much as a rank 7 mage so he didn't care. The bone wolf minions were created using rank 1 summoning magic while the fish were created using rank 4 summoning magic. He summoned and destroyed a few bone wolves with ease to make it seem like he fought them.

"That's low master," Magmar commented.

"Only two hundred are permitted to leave," Elgar said aloud. Magmar couldn't talk out loud but it could understand him.

Elgar quickly left the lake and ventured deeper in the chasm. He made a plan to deal with the spies. He would venture in deeper and kill a few magical beasts and absorb their spirit energy. After all, he could use qi in his right arm. He would kill them once he was satisfied. He would find and separate and the black haired spy secretly, causing the cousins to panic. He would then appear after he made a few scratches on himself and join their party. So long as House Dune sent them to spy on him, the less likely they would get in his way. If they were kept alive, he would not have to worry about trying to find the identities of the spies who would replace them.

He continued killing rank 2 magical beasts. Some of them looked like deer. Some looked like unicorns. Some were even snakes as long as twenty feet. However, it didn't matter what race it was if its rank was below his own. Occasionally, he would see through the eyes of one of his wolves, watching them eat the applicants in first person as they become more coordinated under his eyes. Most of the rank 1 and a few rank 2 applicants died under his coordinated assault. Once they killed a weakling, a bone wolf minion would take the storage bag or spatial ring and place it in a small hole near the lake before shattering to pieces in the lake. He would salvage the bags when it was time to leave.

He didn't feel evil. It was allowed in the rules. Besides, he saw applicants trying to kill each other. He just lessened the numbers a little faster. He frowned when a few rank 3 applicants under the leadership of the lone rank 4 began defending the lower ranking applicants. The rank 4 applicant was a warrior who used fire and light element qi on twin swords. His charisma influenced the weaker applicants to follow him like a cult., praising the warrior's strength. The warrior was a boy with a large build, a girlish face, and blonde hair. He hated pretty boys like that. They always had a sinister side and used their 'heroics' to manipulate and take advantage of others in the name of justice.

Elgar sighed as all his remaining wolves were killed but was glad he was able to feel like a necromancer. This was how they fought. This was what it was like being in control and having minions fight on your behalf. He used a quarter of all his mana to summon a rank 4 undead lich, a summoning spell he learned from Tristan. It wasn't an ancient lich, but it was able to summon rank 2 bone wolves. He also summoned spent another quarter of his mana to summon two rank 3 undead lich. One would summon rank 2 undead warriors while the other would summon rank 2 undead archers.

"Head to the back of the lake and summon bone wolves to attack the group of humans, but leave the trio of humans ahead of them alive. If you are in danger, hide among the bone fishes. Once they pass you, summon more wolves and attack them from behind," Elgar said to the rank 4 lich before turning to the two rank 3 lich. "You two will form a small army and attack the rank 3 and rank 4 applicants. Leave the weaker ones to the other lich as well as the trio of rank 3 warriors and mage. In the end only a little over two hundred of the applicants are permitted to live."

"Yes master," the three lich bowed and levitated toward the lake.

"The first wave of wolves was a test," Elgar said. "I needed to weed out the weaker applicants and see how the more powerful ones fight. They mocked me for wearing my cloak while I stood in line and for when I entered the door alone. This is their punishment."

"It is not wise to hold a grudge, but they did disrespect you master." Magmar conceded. "Too bad they didn't know they angered a rank 4 necromancer with the mana supply of a rank 7 mage. Poor humans. Poor, pitiful humans."

Chapter 9: Hidden Forces Main Page Chapter 11: Three becomes Two