"Is he dead?"The huntress asked her grimoire.

No. His belongings were not transfered.

"Fuck...Where is he then?" She was looking at a barren land. The three tornados had razed the ground.

There were no shadows for Daylen to hide anymore.

Daylen slowly appeared from a closing pit.

"There he is." She said as she nocked three other arrows.

Daylen said : "Let's talk about this. If you release those arrows, I will just hide underground."

"Oh yeah? What do you offer?"

Daylen said : "I will give you a pure crystal to leave me alone."

"You must the only one in the dreamscape who can give away pure crystals so easily. Do you not understand how rich you sound just for saying that? You just gave me more encouragement. I must kill you today before someone else gets to a moron like you." She said as she releassed the three more tornadoes.

Daylen made a grasping motion with with two hands and a hundred spears crafted from earth left the ground as they headed for the woman in the air from all directions.

"He controls the earth as well?" A wind curtain was acting as a shield as the earth spears were reduced to smithereens upon touching the wind shield.

Daylen said to the grimoire: "Use aura crystals to cover my expenses. I have no more aura."

ok.

He created a shadow that looked like him in his hand and threw it towards the woman.

"Now." He told the grimoire which poured aura into the speeding humanoid shadow.

A towering twenty meter long black giant then appeared in the air punching downwards towards the wind shield.

"This is bad." The woman said. She knew that the punch was sending her towards the ground where a black circle was being created by Daylen. If she touched any kind of shadow she was at his mercy.

Her grimoire said :

The giant is the nearest shadow here. Watch out.

It was too late. As the giant punched, it exploded to create a circle around her.

The thread of shadow that was connected to the giant and Daylen transformed into a rope that Daylen used to swing the sphere back on the ground.

It was all a ruse. The punch was there to mislead her as she was going to be trapped in a dark prison in which her wind had no way of protecting her.

He had connected the giant to a thread so he could control it from a distance without her knowing it.

Being trapped in a prison of darkness connected to Daylen was the worst thing that could happen to her. She was bound from head to toe when Daylen reached her.

Daylen made the sphere of darkness disappear and said to the bound woman: "Why let greed control you? You could've just taken the one pure crystal and leave. If I want to kill you now, I can do it."

"Should I run away now? No. She saw me. If she pays her grimoire she'll be able to see where I live and work since I registered my name to acquire the shop." Daylen thought.

"Even if you kill me, I will come back for you. Hehe...my grimoire just told me your name and workplace...haha you work in this dreamscape...how dumb can one be?" The woman hysterically laughed.

"I can beat her again if she comes back alone, but what if she brings friends next time?" Daylen thought.

You can make her an undead after you extract her soul.

"Well, if she comes back, she will be fighting against herself." Said Daylen as he asked the grimoire : "Give me the steps for the soul extraction."

Daylen came back to his shop with a cloaked woman.

"It really is good to have a strong puppet from time to time." Daylen said.

He had succeeded in creating a undead out of the woman. As he still had the corresponding soul, the undead also kept her bloodline ability.

As long as one had the corresponding body and soul, all the abilities belonging to the specimen were kept, otherwise it would be just a fighter that could only use physical strength wheter in soul and body.

That was only at the divine level.

At the trascendant level, the soul could keep its bloodline ability.

"Can I level the undead up to the 13th level and still keep it around?"

No.

"Hehe...I tried."

"I've never thought of a name for you...how about Thorn?" said Daylen to the expressionless undead.

"I can see myself at the head of a powerful undead army." mused Daylen.

The next day, he went to the hunter's guild.

" I want to assemble a team." He said to the clerk.

"That you must do on your own. Here we have bounties for the capture or killing of beasts." Th clerk coldly said.

"Okay. What is the highest paying reward you have here." Daylen asked.

"700 million aura crystals for the right claw of the Gold Dragon." The woman behind the counter was growing impatient as she looked at the line bihind Daylen.

"Not even one pure crystal.." Thought Daylen.

"I need two hunters to distract a dragon for a few seconds. I am willing to pay them one pure crystal each." Daylen said.

The clerk showed a shocked expression and said: "Almost all the bounties here belong to the Raymond Treasure House. They always offer the best rewards because they are capable of it. Yet, you, a nobody offers a reward so great that I cannot help but feel like you are wasting my time." The clerk said.

Before he was about to be thrown out he asked the grimoire to withdraw two pure crystals.

He held them, one pure crystal per hand, and then carefully put them on the counter before the clerk.

The light the pure crystals releassed was seen by everybody in the hall.

A faint scent of greed and intents of murder were slowly being releassed by the hunters in the hall.

The clerk could not believe what an idiot she was looking at, but then again, she had forced him to take them out.

"What kind of beast are we talking about?" The clerk asked. She remained clear headed in contrast to the rest of the hall.

"The Arcane Mirror Dragon. I will be the one to slay it. I just need two capable hunters to tie it down for a few seconds." Daylen said.

"It's a suicide mission. No one will take it for just a single crystal." The clerk said. She was trying to raise the value of the mission because she knew that there were hunters crazy enough to accept it. The commission she would recieve from this was substantial as well. The more this crazy idiot kid in front of her paid the better.

There was a complete silence in the hall from the moment the pure crystals had appeared. Most here had only heard of them in legends and knew that only some wealthy families were in possession of a few of them. One pure crystal was worth one billion aura crystals.

As some listened in on the conversation with their vairous abilities, they found themselves without breath.

The Arcane Mirrror dragon?

Even to distract it for a second, death was guaranteed.

The pure crystal would only serve to recuperate the lost 12th stage.

"Two more then." Daylen understood as he took out his last two pure crystals.

Gasps were heard in the hall.

"This is acceptable. Please follow me." The clerk took the four pure crystals and had Daylen follow her.

She had him wait inside a luxirous room as she left.

Soon after, a middle aged man dressed in a blue attire entered the room with a weird looking tray. The four pure crystals were on the tray as well as a folded parchement.

"My name is Elyas Hawk. I am the boss around here.,,hehe...it's quite surprising to see so much wealth on a young man...You seem unafraid of the hunters that are now waiting for you to leave the city to kill you for your riches. How may I adress you?"

"Daylen." Daylen said, but he felt that Elyas already knew who he was.

"All the blacksmiths dream of the aura congealing art that the Arcane mirror Dragons possess but none of them are crazy enough to try and acquire it. They choose other similiar and accessible abilities even if they are considerably weaker. You must be the first to try assemble a team to at least try even if it's a suicide mission." Elyas said not hiding the fact that he had looked into his client beforehand.

Daylen did not care as he said: " I know that fighting in the city is prohibited. I am safe until you find those two hunters for me. When it is time for me to head to the Arcane mirror Dragon's lair, the hunters will be the ones that will need saving."

"You just put southedge city on the map by offering such a reward. I can already say that many will try to swindle you while others will try to kill you. The journey from here to the Mirror Everglades will be nothing but a nightmare. You will be attacked left and right." Elyas said. He adopted a serious face then said : "How sure are you that you can kill this dragon."

"Beleive me. If I wasn't sure of myself, I would not be giving away four pure crystals just for a chance in a million that I might succeed." Daylen said. He added : "I am a hundred percent sure to kill it if I have at least five seconds to prepare."

"If you are that confident, I might have two perfect experienced candidates for the job. If five seconds is what you're asking, they can give you ten seconds." Elyas said with confidence.

"Alright. Where are they? We can leave now." Daylen said.

"Not so fast. There is a condition that you must complete to gain their help." Alyas said.

"What is it?" Daylen asked.

"You must spar with them and beat them. Two against one. One of them is itching to know just how strong you are to dare try and kill the Arcane Mirror Dragon." Elyas said.

"Okay." Daylen accepted immediately.

"Good. Come back in six days at the hunter's coliseum." Elyas said.

The fight of the year was to held at the hunter's Coliseum the next day.

Unbeknownst to Daylen and because of him creating a huge ruckus in the hunter community, he had been titled dragon slayer by the hunter's guild.

He was to fight the two best hunters of Southedge city to prove himself to them and to the world. No one could claim to be able to slay a dragon without at least some capabilities.

As he remained a mystery to all but himself as well as being constantly watched by unscrupulous individuals, Daylen kept honing his skills in forging during the five days before the fight.

He understood that he had no choice in the matter since he was not an influencial person.

This fight was also a way to show his might to the endless crowd that was lining up to kill him. He planned to showcase his strength in a spectacular manner.

Inside the Hunter's guild.

"What was your first impression of him?" A young man wearing a blue armor asked as he looked through the window drinking wine.

Elyas who was reading a few lines in his grimoire said : "He is but a dreamwalker who appeared out of nowhere with pure crystals and bought a shop in the commecial district of Southedge city. As for my first impression of him, he appeared unaffraid of going against a dragon. To him, as long as he has those five seconds of his, the Arcane Mirror Dragon is as good as dead. I've never heard nor seen such a thing in the divine dreamscape. Such things happen in the ascendant dreamscape where power levels are not fixed to just one stage."

"My followers say that he is forging all day long with that cloaked assistant of his. He doesn't even stop to breathe and keeps hammering day and night." The armored man said.

"I know that you desperately want to acquire the Arcane fire core of the dragon to gain the ability of arcane fire, but it's a lost cause if you want to use that blacksmith as your shield during the fight against the Dragon." Elyas said.

"We'll know for sure after the fight in the coliseum tomorrow." The armored young man said.

"By the way when is Lin arriving. I've been sending her mesages and she doesn't answer." Elyas asked.

"No idea. She always hunts dreamwalkers ever since the doors were opened by Anlow..." The young man said before the door behind him was destroyed and the huntress that had previously attacked Daylen entered.

"I'm finally here." The woman said.

"Lin, your brother and I have been waiting for your return. Something urgent deserves our attention." Elyas said as he sent her all the information he had on Daylen.

"Gods...this is the guy who killed me." Lin said.

Both Elyas and the young man in blue turned to look at each other with disbelief on their faces.

"Big sis, are you sure it's the same person." The young man asked.

"A hundred percent."

"Haha..good." Elyas laughed.

"That's good news."The young man said.

"What happened to you two? I just said that I was killed by this guy." Lin said.

They explained the situation.

"No way. Even with Jax helping me, we might not win against him. His abilities defy common sense. We need three more people to be able to kill him." Lin said.

She then explained the whole fight to them.

"I see. The ability to control the earth and the ability to control shadows." Elyas said.

Jax could not believe it. A man as dreadful as Daylen should be out there killing beasts to level up, but he prefered to forge all day long.

"It doesn't make any sense for a blacksmith to be this strong." Jax said, but thought: "I'll see for myself just how strong he is. I need the arcane fire so I can go back to Ascendant dreamscape with a useful ability for once."

Many had been downgraded from the ascendant dreamscape to the divine dreamscape. The opportunities were aboundant in both dreamscapes but the divine dreamscape offered the players a good starting point.

Many preffered staying in the divine dreamscape to hone their abilities as well as gaining as many as they could provided that they were useful to them. Gaining a useless ability only helped in the case you died. Losing a useless ability was not detrimental to the player but allowed them to keep their levels and essential abilities.