Spirit King

Sordil surveyed the environment of the Spirit World. Yet unlike what had been said in the anime from his previous life, he felt no difficulty adapting to it. There was not the slightest discomfort anywhere on his body; it was as though he were still in Asland, with no difference between the two. He even suspected that Mashima had changed the manga's settings, but on second thought, that seemed impossible. After all, this was the real world, not a manga.

The moment Sordil entered the Spirit World, the Spirit King, located at its center, immediately sensed his arrival. The Spirit King gradually spread his power toward Sordil's location. Once he had carefully finished sensing him, his brows furrowed deeply.

"How strange! His power level is far below that of that lady back then, yet the way his power is composed is exactly the same as hers. Could he be her descendant?" the Spirit King muttered softly. At the same time, he enveloped Sordil with his mental power, intending to see what he would do next.

Naturally, Sordil knew nothing about this. Right now, he was on a little "outing" in the Spirit World! Having come here in person, Sordil felt that Mashima had utterly deceived him. The Spirit World was nowhere near as small as it had appeared in the manga and anime. On the contrary, it was astonishingly vast. Sordil estimated that the Spirit World was forty or fifty times larger than Asland, and that was a conservative estimate—the actual size might be even greater.

After traveling for around two hours, the scenery before Sordil had not changed at all, and not a single Celestial Spirit had appeared. It made him start doubting his entire life. Would he even be able to leave this "suburb" and see the "Celestial Spirit society" of the Spirit World while he was still alive? And time flowed much more slowly in the Spirit World than outside. Would Diphiya and the others have already turned into fossils by the time he got out?

To prevent what he feared from happening, Sordil began moving at full speed. Yet even then, he still felt he was too slow. He cast one "Acceleration" after another on himself and even began using teleportation to travel. Planets continuously drifted past him before being left behind. Gradually, after so long that even he no longer knew how much time had passed, the land before him was finally no longer deserted. A group of strange creatures appeared ahead. They had cone-shaped metal-like noses, round heads, and short limbs, and their bodies trembled incessantly as they stood on the ground. Sordil recognized them at a glance. They were Canis Minor Nicola, one of Lucy, the Queen of Complaints' Celestial Spirits from the anime of his previous life.

"Hello, little cuties! Do you know where the Spirit King is?" Looking at the adorable creatures before him, Sordil suppressed the excitement and joy in his heart and asked gently. Yet in the next second, the thrill of finally seeing familiar faces was smashed to pieces by the Nicolas' behavior.

"Pupu?"

"Pua puru!"

"Aru."

The Nicolas gathered around Sordil's feet, speaking words he could not understand. Several of them were climbing up his tail, while several white Nicolas danced in front of him. In short, not only did he fail to get the answer he wanted, but he had instead become the centerpiece of a giant Nicola family toy exhibition. Just as he felt this operation was about to go off the rails, a huge pillar of light appeared beside him.

"Friend of the dragon race, where do you come from? What is your purpose in coming to the Spirit World?" A middle-aged man about as tall as Sordil, with two white mustaches and clad in armor, appeared not far away. He stared at Sordil, who was surrounded by Nicolas, and asked.

From the instant the middle-aged man appeared, Sordil had identified him as the Spirit King. However, the question surprised him. Could one enter the Spirit World from somewhere besides Asland? And why was he asking about Sordil's purpose for entering the Spirit World? Could dragons not form contracts with Celestial Spirits? If that was the case, how was he supposed to carry out his plans?

As Sordil pondered, the Spirit King was also observing him. No, it would be more accurate to say that he was using his power to sense the aura on Sordil's body. Yet the more he sensed, the more confused he became. The Spirit King discovered that this dragon's body did indeed contain that lady's aura, but his life imprint belonged to the lower plane of Asland. The problem was that lady had never been to Asland. How could this dragon possess her aura? Could he have been sent to Asland by that lady for training?

"Hello, Spirit King! My name is Sordil, and I come from the world of Asland. I came to the Spirit World this time in hopes of forming contracts with powerful Celestial Spirits here." Since he was asking the other party for help, Sordil could only take the initiative to break the silence and state his purpose to the Spirit King.

Upon hearing Sordil's words, the Spirit King instantly became certain that Sordil had to be a junior sent down by that lady for training. Otherwise, how could he know the name Asland? And without that lady's reminder, how could he know that Celestial Spirits could form contracts with other beings? Over the past several thousand years, the lifeforms of Asland had not even known the name of their own world. Whenever they summoned Celestial Spirits, they used time-consuming Magic Arrays, and no one had ever known about contracts. Sordil did not know that his memories from his previous life had made the Spirit King mistake him for some privileged second-generation descendant sent down for training. From then on, things began heading in a strange direction.

"Hello, Sordil! Did the lady who sent you to Asland give you any instructions?" the Spirit King asked cautiously, probing him.

"She? Yes, she did. She said that sending me to Asland was compensation for me!" The Spirit King's words reminded Sordil of that woman, and he answered with a complicated expression.

"Compensation?"

Hearing Sordil's words and seeing the expression on his face, where love and hatred intertwined, a terrifying speculation suddenly flashed through the Spirit King's mind. Could this guy be... But the Spirit King quickly dismissed the thought. Given that lady's status, who could possibly be worthy of her? And even if his speculation were correct, why would that lady send Sordil to Asland? Wouldn't it be better to keep him by her side?

Sordil stared at the Spirit King, whose expression changed as rapidly as a Sichuan opera face-changing performance, and for a moment, he had no idea what to do. He was worried about angering the Spirit King, but he was also afraid that dragging things out would delay his plans. While staying in the Spirit World was indeed a good way to avoid the chaos of war, Sordil knew he could not abandon his companions. Wasn't the reason he liked Fairy Tail because of their spirit of being willing to give up everything for their companions? If he hid here alone to avoid the war, would he still have the right to join Fairy Tail in the future?

So Sordil decided to take a risk. Gathering his courage, he walked up to the Spirit King and asked loudly, "Um... Spirit King... can dragons not form contracts with Celestial Spirits?"