Is this really a Game?!

Reign had a slightly puzzled look on his face as he heard Aethion's words. For a moment he considered whether it was a plot of the old man to somehow escape, but something deep inside of him was telling him it was not so, when a soul is bound then escape is almost completely impossible.

Reign focused and channeled his mana while giving it his all to go inside his own consciousness, slowly a figure was being formed in front of him and the others. Under the astonished gazes of Shadow and the others, the figure consolidated and they could see an ethereal image of Aethion who was smiling at them.

"Hello, you bastards." Aethion waves at them with a smile as they gave him dark looks after hearing the way he addressed them. It seemed that the dark looks only worked to make Aethion even happier as his smile grew wider.

"Damn, so you really weren't going, crazy bro." Shadow looks at Reign and nods multiple times before switching his gaze to Aethion.

"So, we don't have a lot of time, I don't think you will be able to hold this "connection" for too long." Aethion looks at Reign who was already feeling a slight discomfort, the mental fatigue that this kind of thing builds up was immense.

"So, you managed to get in contact with the elves, as I said, you do good to them they like you, you do bad to them or nature they hate you, they're simple creatures honestly, of course, that is only true for the average ones, such as the ones you saved, the older and stronger elves are more, well more complex let's say."

"Their lifespan is much longer compared to humans and even the most average elves can live a couple of hundreds of years, but because they rarely leave their territory their way of thinking mostly stays the same. Now the ones you have met are certainly going to be different, they were transported to this world like I was and they are definitely going to try and expand their territory and try to strive in the forest."

Aethion says as he looks at the six people in front of him, Reign who was next to him was starting to feel tired as beads of sweat were slowly forming on his forehead.

"Looking at how those elves have behaved after you have saved them I can infer that they have just recently started expanding and exploring their surroundings, the fact that they were still wary of you even after you had saved them is a sign that they are slowly changing, in my opinion, you managed to earn their friendship in the perfect time."

"I do recommend you let things go for about two or three days, and then go visit them, you don't want to draw any suspicion towards you. But this forest, without even having a physical body I can still feel the decay, the undead I could make by using the inhabitants, ohh what a pity."

"Tch, you're still thinking about that old man, don't forget that was the reason you were killed by us in the first place." Shadow clicks his tongue in annoyance as he looks at Aethion with a fierce glint in his eyes.

"Well of course, how could I forget that boy?" Aethion looks down at Shadow with a grin on his face as the latter's face gets scrunched up in annoyance.

"You still haven't told us the most important thing though, how the hell are you still here?" Wolf suddenly says as he looks at Aethion with a relaxed face.

"Well, you guys should already know that you were there when he took my soul after all." Aethion simply shrugs his shoulders while speaking.

"You know damn well what I mean you old bastard." Wolf looks at him with a sharp gaze as he says with an annoyed voice.

"Unfortunately I am as clueless as you are, all I know is he used some sort of a skill I have never seen before to bind me to him, oh, seems like that would be all for today." Aethion smiles as his figure suddenly becomes blurry before disappearing completely. Reign suddenly leaned back on a rock as he panted heavily, his face covered in sweat.

"Reign!"

"It's, it's alright, just a bit tired is all." Reign puts his hand up to stop Shadow from coming to him, establishing a connection and letting a soul out of his consciousness to talk with everyone outside was even more difficult than he had previously thought. It was only a minute and yet he felt as if he fought someone for more than a full day, he was physically fine of course and his mana was still there, but the mental exhaustion was truly high and he needed to take a short rest.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to get used to talking with the old bastard, at least we can get some info from him."

"But do really believe him?"

"Weirdly enough I do, I can't explain it but for some reason, I feel that he isn't lying about anything, perhaps being bound to me means he can't lie, I do remember reading some novels that had some similar things in them when people enslave others like this then they can't lie to them or something like that."

"So you made an old man a slave, that's just weird man."

"Hey, who are you calling a slave you little prick?!" Aethion's angry voice could be heard from inside of Reign as the latter simply chuckles. They spent a couple of more minutes resting before getting up.

"So, back to the castle?"

"Back to the castle."

Everyone slowly made their way back, they had a couple more encounters in the forest but they tried their best to simply pass through the area without fighting any opponents. Of course, that didn't work perfectly and they had to fight a couple of times, but since their opponents weren't overwhelmingly stronger everything went well.

Reign was still able to fight, his mental exhaustion was still there and his reflexes and reaction speed were a bit dulled, but not enough to make any large difference during their fights.

They passed through all the forests before arriving at the castle, they arrived just before sunset and slowly made their way back to their rooms, nobody wanted to go through the portal for today and Reign wanted to talk with Eldar about Aethion a bit.

In Eldar's office.

Reign and Eldar were sitting on the sofas as they talked, after hearing about Aethion and how his soul was bound to Reign he simply nodded with a relaxed expression on his face.

"It's pretty much what you thought, bound souls cannot lie to you or betray you so you can relax, all the information he has given you was correct, good job with finding the elves though, you should definitely try and establish connections with them, it will do good for you, and for me, if they decide to ally themselves with us."

"Still thinking about that promotion I see."

"Of course." Eldar simply smiled at Reign as the latter says goodbye and leaves his office. After the door closed Eldar's relaxed face changed slightly as he looked at the night sky and the bright moon that was high in the sky. Of course, a part of the sky was blocked by the enormous snake that was still coiled around the Earth.

"Capturing and enslaving a soul of a necromancer, this guy never fails to surprise me."

"Well that's a good thing at least, what do you think, will he succeed in taming his powers?"

A figure suddenly appears from the shadows. Jack sits down on another sofa as he looks at Eldar.

"He already managed to take part of the darkness and control it, honestly I think it's a given that he will, I'm not that familiar with his kind but from what my old friend had told me, once someone manages to acquire and control a part the darkness then the chance of succeeding becomes much larger, not to mention that it usually takes years for something like that to happen, but this guy did it in two months."

"So he's a prodigy, we already knew that."

"All of 'them' are prodigies Jack, but even amongst 'them' he would be special, that's what bothers me, this planet is too talented, I fear that there is something hidden from us, not just us but from the alliance as well."

"Well that's a given, gods do not simply come down to any planet and give out their marks you know, not all planets manage to get 13 seeds of hope, not all manage to have one of "them" either."

The two old friends both release a sigh before taking out a bottle and two glasses. They spent their night drinking a bit and reminiscing before finally going to sleep.