Almost Drained Dry

"Eh? This texture? How could this be?"

Josh poked the eyeball. He had originally assumed that after enduring who knew how many years of exposure, it should have petrified long ago. The reason it could still retain its current state was probably related to the Magic elements inside it, though those Magic elements had basically been depleted.

"According to what Hosdena said, it should be in a depleted state. But why are there such dense Magic elements inside this eye?"

Josh pondered in silence. Honestly, even he was completely baffled right now. He had thought he was the first outsider in this world, but Hosdena had told him that he had been here for who knew how many years!

Josh had initially worried about what kind of person the one who arrived before him might be and whether he could handle them. But then this dragon told him that his father had brought him here, that his father had died along with the person he fought, and that they had both been incredibly powerful figures!

Josh felt like this damn dragon was driving him insane. Could it have even the slightest bit of common sense? Still, considering that this dragon had survived from birth until now by relying on its pitiful inherited memories—which had lost a huge portion—Josh found him rather pitiful.

"If we count the time when he was still an egg, this guy has probably lived nearly two thousand years, right? Even if not fifteen hundred, it can't be far off. If I remember correctly, Merlin was from King Arthur's era, which means around five hundred years before the Common Era. Dragons really are terrifying creatures."

The gap between races could sometimes be so vast that it made people despair. Josh was descended from humans and had crossed over here, making him far stronger than others his age on the Muya Continent. Although he had lacked Magic elements back then, his cultivation had not been poor—only his combat ability had been lacking. Yet even now, he was only at the fourth tier.

The fourth tier meant his lifespan had increased, but Josh knew that he would live at most a little over three hundred years. Yet this somewhat dim-witted fellow before him was a giant dragon—an ancient giant dragon, no less. Though his strength was roughly comparable to Josh's and the quality of his mana was far inferior, he had still lived for at least fifteen hundred years.

And judging by him, who knew how much longer he would continue living? It truly made Josh want to cry without tears. Unless someone had truly grown tired of living or had a screw loose, who would not want an endless lifespan?

No longer dwelling on such depressing matters, Josh knew that the difference between races could never truly be erased, but he did not think being human was bad. At the very least, his sense of beauty remained human, and cultivation could continuously narrow such gaps. Focusing his attention, he carefully examined the eyeball, because he always felt that this Giant eyeball was far from simple.

"At the very least, this was left behind by a top expert from the First Era. It might even be one of that person's own organs. No matter where it was placed, it would have immense research value!"

He poked it here and touched it there, his gaze never leaving the Giant eyeball. Even when Dumbledore asked what he and the dragon had been talking about earlier, he had no mood to answer. Garen kindly told Dumbledore that they had been speaking Josh's native language and that the dragon might have come from Josh's homeland.

Dumbledore immediately stopped asking. In his heart, Josh's homeland could be considered a sacred place. Look at Josh—he was so young, yet already possessed such extraordinary strength. A single meditation had changed the landscape of the wizarding world. This dragon did not look ordinary either, so if it truly came from Josh's homeland, there was nothing surprising about it.

"Two people have already come over. What's one more dragon?"

Dumbledore had no idea that this dragon's origins were countless times more terrifying than Josh's. If the dragon's family were still alive, this world would probably have long ceased to be what it was. It would have become a world ruled by dragons.

As for Fular, unfortunately, he knew nothing. But he also knew that even if he asked, he would get no answers, so he obediently and quietly stood to one side, watching Josh and the others.

After a long while, Josh still could not figure out what to do with the Giant eyeball. Even without a supply of blood, it still looked exceptionally fresh. Yes, fresh was the only word Josh could think of to describe it, because its texture and vitality did not resemble something that had lost its life force at all.

"It seems this world had no practical use for Magic elements before I arrived. Should I try injecting Magic elements into it and see what happens?" Josh hesitated for a long time before finally thinking of this method, though he did not hold much hope for it.

"Say, should I try one of those blood-binding-owner tropes? Maybe there'll be a surprise?"

For some inexplicable reason, that thought came to Josh. But he quickly shook his head—if every treasure could be claimed with a drop of blood, then those treasures would be far too cheap. A soul binding was what was truly impressive. Slowly gathering his mana, Josh placed his palm against the huge eyeball and injected his mana into it.

Very quickly, strands of Silver Mana appeared within the slightly transparent Giant eyeball, where red streams of light flowed. Like liquid, it slowly mingled with the red light, mysterious yet exceptionally captivating.

"It seems... nothing has changed."

After Josh injected his mana, the Giant eyeball showed none of the changes he had expected—though, in truth, he did not know what changes he was supposed to expect. Feeling disappointed, he sighed and tried to pull his hand back. He felt like an idiot for wasting so much mana.

"Hmm?"

But his expression soon turned fearful, because he discovered that he could not pull his hand away at all. Worse, the mana within his body continued flowing uncontrollably into the Giant eyeball!

"What the hell is this?"

Josh tried once again to yank his hand free, but he found that he simply could not do it. The continuous loss of mana filled him with terror. Although his recovery ability was quite good, he was deeply worried that he would be completely drained dry if this continued. The depletion of one's mana source was something every mage feared!

Fortunately, the Giant eyeball did not seem to intend to drain Josh completely. Just as Josh felt he was about to collapse and had even decided to have Garen chop off his hand, the Giant eyeball finally released him, allowing him to pull free.

The instant he felt the mana stop flowing from his body, Josh violently yanked himself backward. He did not even care when he landed on his backside. All he wanted was to get as far away from that damned thing as possible. The feeling of being completely out of control just now had been unbearably awful. He never wanted to experience it again.

"What's wrong? Are you all right? Why did your face suddenly turn so pale?"

Garen was the first to notice something was wrong with Josh. He immediately pulled his broadsword from his Space Bag and gripped it tightly, standing in front of Josh while staring warily at Hosdena and the huge eyeball. Hosdena, meanwhile, looked at the two of them in confusion.

"What happened?" Hosdena asked doubtfully.

"What is going on with this huge eye? Why did it suck away my mana?"

Josh gritted his teeth as he asked. Although the Magic elements within him that had gone out of control were slowly entering his mana source and replenishing his mana, which was an unexpected gain, the sensation just now had been too dreadful, leaving Josh in a terrible mood.

"I don't know either. That Giant eyeball had been there since I was born, and I had never touched it. I knew it was something my father left behind, and my memories told me it was protecting me, though I didn't know what it was protecting me from."

Hosdena shook his head. He did not know what the Giant eyeball did either. He had been alone since childhood, with no companions and no creatures he knew. Only this Giant eyeball had kept him company. He did not want to accidentally destroy it while playing around, because then he would truly be miserable.

"Of course it was protecting you from being found by others, my child."

At that moment, a deep, weak Dragon roar seemed to resound within everyone's hearts! No one could understand the meaning of the Dragon roar, yet everyone understood what it meant. More frighteningly, it had not sounded beside their ears at all—it seemed to echo within their souls!

Josh immediately turned toward the Giant eyeball. His instincts told him that voice had come from it, and the others looked over as well. Sure enough, the Giant eyeball, which had originally been filled with flowing red light, somehow seemed to have gained vitality. At its center, a stream of silver light was slowly gathering!

"This is? That shape? A dragon? And it's a dragon formed from my mana?"

Josh immediately recognized what the silver light was and the shape it had gathered into. He suddenly found it utterly unbelievable. Since when could his mana save the dead and heal the wounded?

No, this was not saving the dead and healing the wounded. This was resurrection! He had revived something from two eras ago, something from hundreds of millions—or perhaps over a billion—years ago. Though, strictly speaking, it was only a soul, it still counted as a form of resurrection, didn't it?

Once a soul existed, resurrection was not difficult as long as one found a compatible body and used certain special magical methods. At least in Josh's memories, even the Muya Continent had quite a few such spells. Though most were evil, and most casters were wanted criminals.

But that meant resurrection was entirely possible!

"Keeping me from being found by others?" Hosdena had no idea what Josh was thinking. He stared blankly at the dragon shape forming inside the Giant eyeball, his emotions complicated as he asked.

"Then, who are you talking about?"