Nick didn't bother cutting off the heads of the wary dogs because that would take too much time so he just tapped on each carcass, having them enter his space band. Nick didn't take the serpent carcasses because he had no use for them so he hurriedly got back on track, heading towards the soul eating lion graveyard. Nick traveled for another two hours until he came upon an old stone well.

"Is this the entrance to the graveyard, Slade?"

Slade replied:

[Indeed, it is. Now, the formation that I set up around this well is a simple one so the blood of someone or something with a high enough affinity for soul magic will activate it, transporting whomever or whatever into the graveyard. Just prick your finger and let the blood fall into the well.]

Nick did as Slade instructed, using one of his knives to cut the tip of his index finger and placed his finger over the well so that some of his blood would fall into it. His blood slid off his right index finger and when into the well, after waiting for two minutes, a glowing azure, circular diagram appeared over the sand surrounding the well, radiating magic energy that Nick was both familiar and unfamiliar with.

(This is a magic formation, right? It feels so similar to the one that brought me to this realm. What is that unfamiliar magic energy that I'm feeling?)

[It's probably the soul magic, kid. I created this formation mostly from the naturally occurring laws within the surroundings which consists of laws related to soul magic and I also used the corpse of a magic beast that had rank 4 Apprentice Magician level strength that also specialized in using space related magic; that creature's corpse is buried deep within the sand. This formation uses both soul and space magic to create the effect of transporting something to a different area, it's more soul magic than space magic though. Brace yourself, what's about to happen may make you feel nauseous the first time.]

Nick suddenly felt overwhelmed by the magic power coming from the magic formation and soon he felt the space warp around him, giving him a feeling of nausea. Soon, the scene in front of him became that of an underground chamber that was the size of a football field with the ground being completely made of sand. Nick looked up and he could see the light blue sky through the well's entrance; The space was dimly lit but Nick could still see his surroundings. Nick moved his feet slightly upon which his foot touched something hard.

"Bones?"

Nick took a closer look at his surroundings and realized that this place was filled with bones half covered by the sand. Nick ran around to get a better picture of the environment.

"Bones everywhere...this place really is a graveyard. Slade, why did you create that formation to transport things if the well's entrance is directly above us? Couldn't you have just thrown the bodies of the magic beasts you killed down the well."

Slade replied quickly:

[I could have but don't forget that my previous host was a large soul eating lion - its body was bigger than the well's entrance. I needed spacial magic added to the formation to get that huge body down here beyond the entrance to make use of this environment. The formation is mostly present for security purposes; for anyone or anything that doesn't know how to get down here, the well will seem as ordinary as any other.]

"Well, now that I'm down here, what's next? You said that you had a magic formation that could allow me to absorb the soul magic related laws in this place, lets have it."

[That's the right attitude, kid. I'm about to place the laws into your thoughts so that you will remember them as you draw them in the sand; there's no wind down here to interfere with your drawings so you just have to use one of those bones to do so. After you finish drawing the laws, we'll get to the good part.]

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Nick received a diagram made up of laws via his thoughts and tried to identify the meaning in the symbols but he was immediately stumped because he saw that the symbols were not written in Valteese.

Slade spoke with a smug tone:

[Huh, you thought that the laws would be in Valteese? Who am I? I am the great soul hunter Mage so of course I have a few other mystical languages under my belt apart from Valteese. Don't bother trying to determine the meaning of the symbols and just copy them exactly.]

Nick did as Slade instructed and took a length of leg bone off of the ground and began using it to draw symbols in the sand. The process was slow since Nick was unfamiliar with the symbols so he would take a few minutes on each one making sure that it was drawn correctly. Nick drew the magic formation with a radius of about ten meters which was minuscule compared to the size of the underground space. When Nick was almost finished drawing the symbols, the sky had already turned dark but the space that he was in did not decrease in visibility.

Slade read Nick's thoughts and satisfied his curiosity:

[The formation outside keeps the visibility of this underground space constant so you don't have to worry about it getting dark. Finish the formation so that we can move on.]

Nick continued drawing the magic formation and when he had written the last symbol, the entire formation began to shine with a grayish glow.

[Good, we're ready to begin increasing your potential. Sit in the center of the formation and begin chanting the laws that I'm about to give you. They will cause the surround laws related to soul magic to be imprinted on your soul, eventually destroying the magic formation. I've translated these laws into Valteese for your benefit but they'll be effective as soon as you begin to speak.]

Nick couldn't wait for what was about to happen since if Slade was accurate in his description, his affinity for soul magic would increase by a large margin. Nick hurried to the center of the magic formation and sat and began chanting the laws that Slade had placed in his thoughts. He could feel the magic power coming from his voice as he spoke the words in Valteese. The grayish glow of the formation increased in its intensity and Nick began to feel an itchy sensation all over his body.

At this moment, Slade encouraged him:

[You should be feeling a bit of discomfort but that is natural when cultivating soul magic, that's why not many people generally specialize in it but if you can endure it, the rewards will be great.]

(Okay.)

Nick continued to chant the laws and a few hours went by, Nick couldn't tell how much. By the time the itchy feeling became incredibly unbearable, Nick was so exhausted that he felt like he might die at any moment; Nick closed his eyes in an effort to focus on the words he was chanting and not on the discomfort. Exhaustion and discomfort filled Nick's entire being but he persevered until he was alerted by Slade:

[You can stop now, kid. You have absorbed all the soul related laws in this underground space.]

Nick opened his eyes and saw that the glowing magic formation had disappeared and the symbols that he had drawn into the sand were no longer present. Nick got to his feet and looked up to the entrance of the well and he saw that night had turned into day without him even noticing; Nick moved around and the itchy feeling that he had previously been enduring faded away like it was never there.

"I don't feel any different, how do I know that the magic formation worked?"

Slade chimed in:

"You'll know after I teach you one of my favorite soul spells from my younger years and use it to kill the magic beasts in this area."

Nick became exited and asked sarcastically:

"Should I start calling you master Slade?"