Deal Reached

"Another world?"

Akathosh's expression turned strange. It was not that he did not understand what another world meant. On the contrary, he understood it all too well. As a supreme being who had once overlooked the world, he had once considered a question—could Kamacia truly be the only world with life?

He was the Wing of the World, named by Kamacia itself. He had flown to the deepest reaches of the world, seen its boundaries, and vaguely glimpsed what lay beyond it—endless strange energy cutting off everything in every direction.

Yet that time, he had received the world's response. Kamacia had told him that the universe was infinite. Kamacia was the universe, yet not the world; it was the world, yet not the universe. It was contradictory, but Akathosh understood. Kamacia might be unique, yet within the infinite universe, there were countless other "Kamacias."

"You mean I left Kamacia?" Akathosh pondered for a moment before asking. But he quickly cried out in alarm, "Wait! Wait! You know Kamacia's history so well, so you should also be from Kamacia—no, from the Muya Continent. Why are you here too?"

"Could it be that silver energy?" Akathosh soon realized what a foolish question he had asked. Even the enormous dragon head formed from Magic elements looked somewhat awkward.

"Yes." Josh nodded and admitted it directly. "Didn't I just say that the Void Gate lets me travel through different worlds without regard for boundaries? It's similar to you, except you forced your way through entirely with your own power, while I rely on void energy to achieve it. The essence is similar, but my situation is obviously far better than yours."

"That means you can ignore the devouring of that energy and freely travel between worlds?"

"In theory, yes." Josh shrugged. "But unfortunately, my magic cannot accurately locate a particular world. Or rather, we have no idea what kinds of worlds exist, so it is completely random. For example, my companion Garen is not from the Muya Continent. He comes from a place called Valoran."

As he spoke, Josh pointed at Garen, who stood to the side on guard. The enormous dragon head turned and met Garen's gaze. Garen gave a slight nod and said, "That's right. I am indeed not from the Muya Continent. My homeland is Valoran. I know about those purple bugs you mentioned, because they often invade my homeland. Thank you very much for killing them."

"I was merely surviving."

Akathosh shook his enormous dragon head, clearly unconcerned with such matters. He was even considering whether he should simply have this fellow take his child back to the Muya Continent. After all, he was already in this state, and his old rivals were long dead. He had nothing left to care about.

"Oh, right. There's something I forgot to tell you." Josh seemed to have guessed what he was thinking and said directly, "Hosdena seems to have been very lucky. He does not appear to have been affected much. You should know that among your people from the First Era, almost all their descendants suffered misfortune. Even your race has had enormous problems reproducing, and can only huddle away on Dragon Island."

"What?" Akathosh froze. He had not expected such a thing to happen.

"By the way, I have another question. Didn't you live on the World Tree? Why does he say his memories are on Dragon Island?" Josh pointed at Hosdena, who was also staring wide-eyed at the enormous dragon head Akathosh had conjured.

"What's so strange about that? My wife was not just his mother. He really was born on Dragon Island. Is that so surprising?" The enormous dragon head clearly made a deeply disdainful expression. For some reason, Josh found it extremely punchable.

Fine, Josh could not be bothered to lecture this fellow about devotion or fidelity. After all, in any era, the strong always claimed the most resources—whether wealth, status, or women. A guy like Akathosh, especially one who was a dragon, would hardly deny himself anything.

"Looks like you're quite responsible after all."

"Of course. My other children can all protect themselves. Only he is still an egg, so naturally I have to protect him. Isn't that perfectly normal?" Akathosh did not want to dwell on this matter and asked directly, "Can you take him back? Back to the present-day Muya Continent."

"Of course. That is not difficult for me at all. Besides, that was already my plan, because my companions and I came here to find mounts—no, to find intelligent dragons, form contracts with them, and become companions."

Josh answered casually, but quickly realized that saying it like that seemed somewhat inappropriate. If they were those Tree Peak Dragons outside, Josh would not care in the slightest. He would just knock them unconscious and force a contract on them. But with these two, that really did not seem appropriate.

"How hypocritical. There is nothing wrong with looking for mounts. Our dragon race once served as mounts ourselves, though those people all left Kamacia. I don't know whether they are dead, but the dragons who remained back then are still alive, so those people probably have not died either."

"But you want dragons as mounts?" Akathosh sized up Josh and Garen, then shook his head disdainfully. "You are too weak. Even newborn dragons are far stronger than you. Even Lizard-Dragons probably would not agree to it."

"It is true that we are very weak, but please do not deny our potential." Josh shook his head, disagreeing with Akathosh's assessment. Come on, you stand at the pinnacle of the world. If you call us weak, then even counting those fellows in the Land of the Gods, probably very few would catch your eye.

"And look at your child. He has lived for over a thousand years, yet he still does not seem stronger than me!"

"That is because of this world's restrictions!" Akathosh said as if it were only natural. "This world has a fairly abundant supply of Magic elements, but for our dragon race, it is pitifully scarce. Furthermore, his inheritance is incomplete, and this world is too weak. His strength has already approached the pinnacle of this world!"

"But if I had not appeared, he would have spent his entire life waiting to die in this world, wouldn't he? And you would never have been able to awaken either, would you?"

Josh spoke without any politeness, and his words left Akathosh speechless. Indeed, if not for Josh, no matter how powerful he had once been, he could never have awakened again. His child would probably have remained lost in this world until someone discovered him or until he died.

Akathosh's barrier was extremely powerful, but it could not withstand the erosion of time. Perhaps one day, someone with strength equal to or greater than Josh's would come with obvious ill intent. If that happened, Hosdena would truly be finished.

"Besides, I think I have a way to bring you back to life!"

After hesitating, Josh finally said what he had truly wanted to say. Sure enough, Akathosh froze the instant he heard it. Resurrection? It was not as though he had never considered it, but he was a dragon. His former power had been far too great; this was not something ordinary Magic elements could accomplish.

The stronger one was, the higher the viscosity of their Magic elements. Correspondingly, once such a powerful being perished, the energy required to save them with elemental magic was simply too immense. Even if they were resurrected, there was no guarantee that their strength would return to its former peak.

"I don't think you can do it." Akathosh sighed helplessly.

"Why not try? You are already dead. As you are now, you have nothing to lose."

Josh persuaded him softly. Truthfully, he had only decided to try because he had just inexplicably received the Echo of Inheritance within his mind. Josh had a spell he had never used until now, but the Echo of Inheritance had explained in great detail that he could attempt it at this moment because Akathosh had experienced the void.

"Even if your soul still remains, what can you do to us in your current weakened state?" Josh said bluntly. "And we have made our purpose very clear. Whether you agree or not, we will try to form contracts with some dragons. But rest assured, we will use equal contracts. There will absolutely be no forced restraints."

"Don't forget, only through a contract can a soul be changed. I do not know what exactly the world consciousness of the Muya Continent is, but it was able to unleash the World's Lament and curse you people who shattered it. That makes it clear that it may not let you go. Are you willing to take that risk?"

Josh's final remark was entirely made up. He had no idea whether the Muya Continent truly possessed something as advanced as a world consciousness, but that did not stop him from using it to bluff. The effect was excellent, of course. The expression on Akathosh's conjured dragon head became exceedingly ugly, proving that Josh had guessed correctly.

"What do you intend to do?" Akathosh asked in a suppressed voice.

"It is actually very simple. I will help you attempt resurrection, but during the process, we will voluntarily sign a contract." Josh had nothing to hide and stated it directly.

"I will help you be reborn, and you will receive a new body. Because you have experienced the void, you will have a body more attuned to the void in the future. However, all your previous power will completely disappear. I hope you can accept that. Oh, and as for the contract, do not worry. It will be an equal contract, and after signing it, we will share our memories with each other. That can serve as the foundation of mutual trust between us. What do you think?"

Akathosh gave Josh a long look, then turned toward Hosdena, who was chatting with Garen about something—apparently, seeing Josh speaking with his legendary father and realizing he could not get a word in, he had gone to talk with Garen instead. Finally, Akathosh sighed and nodded in agreement.

Hosdena needed to grow stronger. To escape this world's restrictions, he could only leave and return to the Muya Continent or travel to another world. Though Akathosh had been dead for many years, he also hoped to be resurrected. Who would choose death if they could live? The key to all of this lay with the young man Josh, and Akathosh had no choice but to accept the conditions.

"I accept, descendant of the elves. I hope you will keep your word. Otherwise, even if I must die, I will drag you down with me!"