3 Chapter 3

Let's say that the first flight did not turn out as planned, Ren jumped up 5 meters off the ground and spread his wings in anticipation, then froze, then plummeted back to the ground and ate dirt. He then realized that flying was not instinctual for him, first of all, dream dragons do not have wings, and soul dragons, though have wings, did not go to him as a hybrid.

He sighed, it would have to be something he trained. He looked up at the rising moon, it was currently night, and a good time for him to hunt, his eyes flitted down to the forest below, dragons themselves have darkvision, while he himself has the unique soul vision of soul dragons.

He then moved quickly, moving for the cover of the forest at the quickest speed. Moments later, he scrambled down the mountain, to others it was dark, to him, there were thousands of bright fires in the forest, waiting to be plundered.

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Time passed, six months have gone by, from the size of an adult wolf to the size of an adult rhinoceros. Ren has moved his lair from the original cave to a silver mine. It had some undead inside, but they were quickly crushed without resistance. A happy thing he noted, was that a dragon's taste buds were vastly different from humans, as silver tasted like caramel.

Another happy thing was that he awakened two more ability talents, though they were generic ones, 'Dragon Body' and 'Alternate Form'. The dragon body is the housekeeping skill of dragons, hence the name, it increases strength, speed, endurance, defence, as well as the legendary dragon aura.

Alternate form is also a housekeeping skill of dragons, they can select any other being in existence equal or lower in life level to them as a permanent second transformation form, with all abilities included. It also requires the same gender. The dragon inheritance itself has hundreds of different humanoids and animals to choose from, yet he has kept back from choosing one for now.

A joyful thing is that his soul pond has filled up halfway, and the dragon body skill was the first one he could add 'experience' to. Currently it was at level 3, as eating metals increased its level, though his silver mine is almost emptied unless he spends more time trying to dig. He tested it though and decided that about a quarter of a pool will level the dragon body up to level 4, and once he finishes the silver mine, he will be just short of it.

He also was able to fly now, though a bit uncoordinated, and that sped up his hunting, he still only hunts for food, and hasn't been hunting for souls specifically. Though he did find one area, filled with tons of ghosts, he stayed away for now, and was waiting for his one year growth period to finish before he provoked that nest.

Though he did try his ecstasy soul fire breath weapon, and found it very effective against most of everything, especially the ghost. One thing he worried about was losing soul energy, but was happy to note that the burned soul releases soul energy that is then pulled to the soul pond.

He then set himself back into his rhythm, waiting to hit the one year time.

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Ren stretched his body, his body size can rival african elephants and he has an advantage in length, and his wingspan stretches even wider. Around two months ago his soul pond reached a limit, and he couldn't find a way to advance, so he has put all excess into the dragon body, pushing it to level 5.

He seemed to have reached a bottleneck in strength, and the ways of meditation for dragons posed zero use for him, and he speculated he would need a human way of meditation due to his alien soul. He decided to wipe out the ghost area before he selects a human alternate form, he wants to upgrade his dragon body skill as high as possible as he can use it in human form.

He then turned towards the area filled with ghosts. His tactics of fighting have been well honed so far, flying and spouting dragon's breath. Although it cost a bit of soul power to use his breath weapon, the return is higher than the loss. He can keep this up non stop for almost a day, if the enemy has no ranged weapon, then they are screwed, like these ghosts.

He arrived in the area where they are and immediately opened his mouth and breathed fire. The souls of the ghost ignited like dry hay, but they all were in calm and happy states, without a care of their deaths. After their souls are completely destroyed their true spirits sink into reincarnation.

According to his dragon inheritance, souls can be shattered or destroyed, but true spirits can't be broken, and after death, the true spirits either go to their respective gods, or, if signed a deal with the devil or has accumulated enough evil, they go to the abyss, all the neutral beings, like ignorant animals or people who do not chose to believe in gods, sink into the river of reincarnation.

He burned a path straight towards the center, he always suspected there would be something amazing there, maybe a lich or something. His breath weapon is a terror to the undead anyhow. He flew over hoards of ghosts, he never met another kind of undead, making him a bit confused, and as he got further and further in, the more dense the ghosts were.

The weird thing was that they were all around the same strength, it did not get stronger further in, only more dense. There were humanoid and animal ghosts as well as some other weird things, making him more and more curious about what could be here. He had long realized that they were not controlled, only reacting on instinct.

Eventually after flying a large distance, he came towards an area, all the ghosts stopped as if an invisible barrier held them back, and this phenomenon spooked Ren a bit, he cautiously flew over, and when he reached the invisible barrier there was a huge pressure, it was partially offset by his dragon body that had reached halfway into level 5, only with some time it can reach level 6.

He was not immediately repelled, but he had to struggle harder to fly. After struggling to push into the pressure zone, he saw a huge palace. The proportions indicated that it was built by a species much larger than humans, yet, if you look closely, you would realize there were numerous traces of battle everywhere.

Ren took a deep breath, landed, then headed in.