Walking up to Mender, James patted the man's shoulder. "I'm going to do you first. You'll likely collapse, but I'll watch over you."

Gulping, Mender nodded nervously. "I'm ready."

Panning his gaze over everyone, James took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, he said, "this process will hurt for you that have dantians already. If you don't I honestly don't know if it'll hurt or not. What is about to happen, is that I'm going to snuff Mender's soul and destroy his dantian. That will allow his rebirth."

Linda was near panicked as she clung to Bronson. Knowing she would be the hardest to convert, he wasn't going to leave her for last. Moving from Mender, he earned a few odd gazes.

Stepping up to Linda, he offered her his hand. "Do you want this, Linda? Do you want the power to explore the world?"

Looking up at Bronson, her lip trembled. Cupping her cheek, the large oni nodded. "I'm right beside you, Linda. I want you to come with me."

Shuddering, Linda turned back to James. "I-I'll do it…"

Closing his eyes for a moment, James searched her soul. It wasn't very bright, and with a gentle caress, he felt it flicker. "This will only take a moment."

Grabbing the soul, he crushed it down, snuffing out nearly all of its life. Linda screamed before she collapsed like her strings were cut. Bronson lowered her to the ground, but a second later, everyone could feel the change. An ember was burning in her stomach, bringing life to her body.

"That was easier than Luna's," James commented. "Now, I'll go back to Mender." Moving back to his friend's side, James touched the man's soul. "Don't fight it. I'll make sure you are safe."

Clenching his hands into fists, Mender nodded. With one last glance at his sister, he said, "I'll see you on the other side."

Jamie gave him a determined nod. "Don't keep me waiting."

Before they could continue to banter, James grabbed Mender's soul and squeezed. The man dropped to his knees, screaming as he clutched his chest. With a force of will, James ruptured his dantian, shredding it completely as he left an ember behind. A moment later, Mender was out cold.

"Jamie, you're next," James said. Moving to her side, he felt her clutch his chest. "You'll be fine."

"I know," she whispered. "You wouldn't let anything happen to me."

Not wanting to drag it out, he repeated the process to his sister and destroyed everything that she had built over the years. Once she was on the ground, he turned to Amber. The nekorian stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You still owe me for saving everyone," she said with a smirk.

"Get off him!" Luna growled.

"Did I just hear a dog barking?" Amber teased.

Chuckling, James didn't give the two a second longer to argue. Grabbing Amber's soul, he crushed it and left her on the ground.

His soul was starting to feel strained as he moved to the oni brothers. "Are you ready?"

Bronson set his spiked club to the side. "Yes, Master."

"I'm not your master. Not yet," James said with a smile.

Lowering himself to his knees, Bronson prepared himself. Grabbing the man's soul, James was surprised when the oni didn't scream out as he crushed it. From there, he moved to Boris, and then to Brakin. Once all three of them were down, James clutched his chest and fell to his knees.

Luna was there a moment later, picking him up. "Your soul feels heavy."

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Nodding, he took a deep breath. "Used too much energy. You'll need to protect them for now."

"Yes, My Love," Luna said before setting him down next to Amber. "But for now, you need to tell me what the Forsaken told you."

For the first time, Bo and Tim walked over, carefully moving among the collapsed soul cultivators. Once they were all sitting, James ran a hand through his hair.

"He told me that we started the war. We caused the world to rend. We invaded their land under the surface." The words poured out of James, not letting anyone get in questions. "Both of our worlds are dying now. We need to find the source and fix this. We need answers, and I need to find more ancient cities for those answers."

Bo rubbed his chin. "Are you sure it told you the truth?"

James nodded. "I am. I could feel his soul and the honesty behind it. He could have easily killed all of us, and even I wouldn't have been able to put up a fight. I need to grow stronger. We all do."

Luna took his hand. "It's a good thing we are going back into the wastelands then."

Turning to Bo, he shook his head. "Not yet. Not only did the Settling Stone Sect try to kill my people, but they were working with Running River."

Tim snarled. "We need to head back to the sect!"

Bo held up his hand. "We will, but we need to give them a bit longer to grow complacent. They likely think that Jing won, or at least believe we are gravely injured. We will strike when they are least expecting it."

Tim bowed his head. "I concede to your wisdom."

James rubbed his head and the growing headache. "I have to go back for my leather still, and there's a few things I need to accomplish in the city before we leave. Running River is going to pay for attacking me."

"What about the initiates?" Luna asked.

"They are coming with." James glanced at them. "We will have them hunt the Forsaken along the way and gather the bodies for sale to a city. Once we reach Running River, we'll need to make camp in the city and lay low as we scout it out."

"Tim will stay here," Bo stated. "I will lead you to the sect and help you gather information."

Tim bowed his head. "I will use the time to remind our cultivators that we don't destroy the city. They will be tasked with rebuilding the slums and repairing buildings."

Luna perked up. "The demi-humans will like that."

James yawned once before turning to the giant's body. "They won't be asleep for long. They are going to need to feast once they wake. We can at least cook some of the meat."

"Amber would like it raw," Luna stated. "But you're right. We should build a fire and cook what we can."

Getting up, James didn't have to move far to gather wood. The forest around them was destroyed, and it only took a few minutes to build a campfire and ignite the wood. While he worked on that, Luna carved off steaks from the giant's side. The meat was surprisingly tender when it was raw. Especially once it lost its soul and its reinforcement.

Soon, the sound of sizzling meat in cast iron pans filled the air. Luna made sure to flip the food and stack the finished steaks on plates for each of them. It was taking an hour before she had a healthy stack of meat for each cultivator, but they already knew it wouldn't be enough.

Linda was the first to stir, her eyes opening with a start and a gasp. James hurried over to her side and dragged her towards a stack of meat. "Eat. Drink."

The elf didn't need to be told twice. She ripped into the food with a ravenous hunger as Mender woke. Repeating the process, he dragged his friend to a plate, keeping him a good distance from Linda.

One by one, his friends started to wake and devoured their food. Linda was the first to leap onto the giant, tearing into its raw flesh, and that started the descent of madness by the others.

James and Luna moved between them, pushing them away from each other as their stomachs filled. Luna passed out water bottles as quickly as James could fill them, and within ten minutes, everyone was done eating.

Amber staggered over to him. "You weren't lying about the hunger…" Throwing her arms around his neck, she rested her head on his chest.

"Get off him!" Luna growled for the second time that day.

"Nah, I'm good Luna," Amber teased.

Growling, the Fenrir pulled Amber away, and dragged her into the forest. To his surprise, Jamie hurried after them, likely making sure they didn't fight.

Mender stepped up to James a moment later, his eyes heavy as he flexed his body. "When can we start leveling?"

"Today," James said. "You all will be in charge of bringing in meat for the city. That means hunting, and surviving on your own."

"You never mentioned a system of skills. I have Soul Siphon and Regeneration. Is that normal?"

Smiling, James patted his shoulder. "It is. Soul Siphon will let you devour the souls of your foes. Once you recover a bit more, you will head out. I will move among you, making sure you don't die. Luna will help."

Bronson staggered over, carrying a tired Linda. "She says we need to collect the dragon leather before someone steals it."

Nodding, James turned back to the city. "Let's go. I think we could all use a drink before we start fighting." Glancing into the forest, he yelled. "Luna, stop fighting and get over here!"

The Fenrir came bounding out of the woods a second later. "Yes, Honey?"

"We are going back to the bar for a few hours before starting their leveling. We also need to explain skills and leveling." Turning to Bo and Tim, he added, "if you need me to search the souls of your disciples, let me know. I want to remove any threat to my people while I'm still here."

Bo nodded and turned back to the broken wall. "I'm going to mend this, and then I think I'll make a few stops around the town."

"I'll join you," Tim grunted.

With all of their plans made, the started back into the city.

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