Ghost Dragon Kaldiz

"Brother Sordil, you haven't eaten or drunk anything for three whole days. If this goes on, your body won't be able to take it! Neither Uncle Hissell nor my father would be happy to see you like this. The dead cannot be brought back to life—you need to accept your loss!" Diphiya stared at the increasingly haggard Sordil, lowering her head as she choked back tears and tried to persuade him.

Sordil, who had been immersed in guilt and grief, suddenly raised his head and stared unblinkingly at Diphiya. After a long while, he abruptly got up, tightly hugged her, and began jumping around. Just as Diphiya thought he had lost his mind, Sordil suddenly released her and burst into loud laughter at the sky. He laughed for a full five or six minutes before finally stopping. Then Sordil turned to Diphiya and said, "You're right. This isn't the time for me to wallow in despair, or I'd be disgracing Old Man Hadessta and Headmaster Hissell! Besides, if word got out, that guy would probably look down on me too. Since he could do that, then so can I."

Looking at the suddenly energized Sordil, as well as hearing those words she did not understand, Diphiya felt that he was somewhat different from before. He now carried an indescribable air about him. After Diphiya's encouragement, Sordil realized there were still many things he had yet to try. Giving up hope so early and sinking into private despair was not only irresponsible toward himself, but also a betrayal of Headmaster Hissell's expectations and those of the five old men of Fostadu. Perhaps in his previous life, the dead truly could not be revived, but this was the world of Asland—a world where there had been successful cases of bringing the dead back to life. It was still too early to give up.

Having worked through it all, Sordil emerged from the shadow of Hissell's death. From now on, his task was no longer merely to survive—he also had to pull Hissell and the others back from the underworld. As for Ankhseram's Curse, let it come if it wanted to. He would be waiting! Taking the food from Diphiya's hands and smelling its fragrance, Sordil felt his body begin protesting against the "atrocities" he had inflicted upon it over the past three days. His stomach rumbled like a drum, and his limbs began to weaken. Perhaps he had been too excited and had used up the last of his strength; even his head started spinning.

At that point, Sordil had no time to care about anything else. He needed to wipe out the fragrant "enemy forces" before him as quickly as possible. Thus, by the time Diphiya came to her senses, the food she had just brought had vanished without a trace. Sordil was already carrying the dishes and running toward the academy. Judging by the way he was going, if she stayed here any longer, she would be the one left without food later. Diphiya gently shook her head as she watched his retreating figure. Suddenly, she felt that she had overthought things. Brother Sordil was still the same food-loving Sordil, unchanged in every way. Perhaps what she had sensed earlier had only been an illusion. With a faint smile, Diphiya headed toward the academy.

After Sordil had appeased his endlessly protesting body, he began inscribing Quality Magic Arrays around the Mildian Magic Academy library. That was right—Quality Magic Arrays. This unscrupulous fellow had decided to "pack up" and take away the library he had coveted for so long. If Hissell heard about his plan, would he push open his coffin lid, climb out to argue with him, and then take him below for a nice cup of tea?

"Buzz—"

The air around them began to vibrate, and the library gradually shrank little by little. A quarter of an hour later, the library that had once stood proudly above the continent at Mildian Magic Academy had become a miniature model in Sordil's hand. Sordil lightly swiped his right hand through the air, creating a crack in space. The miniature library then vanished from his hand, and finally, the spatial rift disappeared as well.

"Brother Sordil, what did you just do? Why did the library disappear?" Diphiya asked curiously, staring at Sordil's empty hands.

"This is a new spell I came up with on the way here. It's called 'Secret Room,' and it belongs to Space Magic. It can store objects in a separate spatial dimension and retrieve them when needed," Sordil explained to this foster sister who had pulled him out of his despair.

"That's amazing! Can you teach me that spell?" Diphiya stared at Sordil excitedly like a child begging for candy.

"I can! But not now. I still have something to do. Once I'm done, we'll return to Fostadu, and I'll definitely teach you then!" Sordil said softly, rubbing Diphiya's head. After comforting her, Sordil began circulating the magic power within his body before pressing both hands against the ground.

Sand Sculpting: Rock House

Immediately afterward, endless yellow sand began to swirl over the site where the library had once stood. Before long, an identical library appeared before them. The difference was that vast amounts of sand magic power flowed within this library.

"Brother Sordil, why did you use magic power to build an identical library here?" Diphiya asked in confusion as she stared at the structure before her. At the same time, Lindel and the other two also looked over curiously, listening carefully for Sordil's explanation.

"This library contains information I left behind with magic power. It's for contacting an old friend! All right, get ready. We're returning to Fostadu now!" Sordil explained the reason as he looked at his work with satisfaction, then told everyone to prepare the things they would need for the journey back.

Kaldiz lay beside the river, gulping down mouthful after mouthful of water. Once he had drunk his fill, he leaned against the rock wall behind him and panted heavily, all while vigilantly observing his surroundings. After confirming that there were no pursuers nearby, Kaldiz rested his head against the rock wall and gradually drifted into sleep. In a white world, a small figure flew toward Kaldiz, shouting something as it came. Once the figure drew closer, Kaldiz finally saw who it was—it was his newborn son. Kaldiz opened his arms and ran toward his child. Suddenly, a blaze of red fire shot toward his son. He shouted desperately to stop it, but it did nothing. The flames raged, reducing everything to ashes.

"Ah!"

Kaldiz sat up with a loud cry, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. He stared blankly around him. There were no flames, no corpses—only layer upon layer of mountains. Kaldiz suddenly clenched his fist and slammed it heavily into the mountain rock. Two trails of tears slid down his face. With a ferocious expression, Kaldiz stared toward the northwest and swore in his heart that he would avenge his son and his people. He would send every butcher who had harmed them to kneel before their graves and beg forgiveness.

"Rustle, rustle."

A faint sound suddenly came from the bushes on his right. At once, a fiery red breath attack blasted toward Kaldiz. At the same time, five or six dragon figures appeared in the sky around him, tightly surrounding him at the center. Without the slightest hesitation, Kaldiz unleashed a breath attack to meet the fiery red breath. The two attacks instantly canceled each other out in the air. Just then, a figure emerged from the bushes on the right. Seeing this, it laughed and said, "As expected of Kaldiz, the Ghost Dragon. Impressive! But it still won't change your fate!"