Void Origin

As the silver radiance faded, both the contract ritual and resurrection ritual had been extremely successful. This had completely exceeded Josh's expectations, because he had originally thought that rituals like these usually came with some unusual complications, especially when dealing with a former supreme powerhouse like Akathosh.

"But I'm not a masochist. Isn't it best if nothing unexpected happens?"

There was nothing special about the contract ritual. Josh had seen this kind of contract in all sorts of books, so using it was not difficult at all. Although he had originally intended to conquer one with his fists, now that he had found something better, there was no need to go looking for Tree Peak Dragons that looked like brainless idiots.

"This is a satisfactory result. Once this semester ends, I'll make a trip back to the Muya Continent."

Josh had originally planned to stay here until everything was over, or perhaps return after a few years, once Garen's Battle Qi reached the Fourth Tier. But now, it seemed necessary to go back early and take a look. Come to think of it, he had been here for a year while time on the Muya Continent had completely stopped. He could barely remember what he had been doing before he left.

"Was I conducting a population census?"

Josh rubbed his head and thought back carefully. But he soon stopped dwelling on it. He would know once he returned. As for coming back, Josh still had over half a year to prepare. He felt that having this super-ancient dragon help him should not be a problem.

The resurrection ritual had actually been very simple. Overall, one of Josh's spells had done the lion's share of the work—the summoning spell he had always considered useless: Void Swarm. Even Josh had not expected that this spell could be used in such a way.

Through the inheritance echoes in his mind, Josh learned that this thing was far more formidable than he had imagined. The spider summoned by the Void insect race—the one Josh found unbearable to look at—had been entirely constructed from pure Void energy.

With Josh's current strength, he could summon only one, but that was enough. Someone grabbed the newly summoned silver spider—Garen, of course—and Josh immediately condensed a Baleful Phantasm over it. In an instant, the spider from the Void transformed into a lump of silver energy.

Using Akathosh's appearance as a template, Josh controlled the Baleful Phantasm and continuously altered that mass of silver Void energy. This was no easy task; it tested the strength of Josh's mental power. In particular, since this power came from the Void rather than Josh's own body, controlling it consumed an enormous amount of mental power.

Moreover, this energy possessed unique life characteristics. Although it did not resist his control, forcibly changing the physiological structure of a living creature still took Josh a great deal of time. It was not until night fell that Josh completed this enormous undertaking.

"That was unexpectedly difficult." Josh wiped at the nonexistent sweat on his forehead. His body was not particularly tired, but his mental exhaustion was real. "Still, the result isn't bad."

Looking at the miniature dragon on the ground, roughly fifty centimeters long, Josh was fairly satisfied. At the very least, he had made it entirely in Akathosh's likeness. It was vivid and lifelike, as though Sky Wing had been resurrected once more. Of course, it had drawbacks as well: it was too small, and its vacant appearance made it obvious that it lacked both a soul and bones.

The next steps were much easier. Although Akathosh's bones had been completely devoured in the endless Void, Hosdena was his child, and their essence was the same. So Josh rather cruelly took a small piece of bone from Hosdena—given a dragon's regenerative abilities, it was not a problem, though it still hurt badly.

Then he took some still-living flesh from that massive eyeball and fused it all into the miniature dragon's body. The final step had to be completed by Akathosh himself: signing the contract, then using Josh's blood to activate the body of this Void dragon.

At this point, Akathosh was very straightforward. He directly signed a soul contract with Josh, then immediately entered that miniature body. Akathosh had originally had a few schemes of his own, but the moment his soul entered that new body, he realized that he had no way to break the contract.

The Void energy within this body was exactly the same as what he had experienced in the past. Akathosh was even certain that if he truly betrayed the contract, this body would immediately devour everything he was—including, most terrifyingly, his soul.

Akathosh was deeply puzzled. This power clearly should not have been something as weak as Josh could control, yet everything before his eyes told him that this Void energy really was under the control of someone he had once viewed as little more than an ant. His assessment of Josh's potential rose sharply.

To control such terrifying power, travel between worlds, learn their knowledge, and perfect his own power system... this man's future strength will certainly be extraordinary!

That was what Akathosh thought. So he readily decided to help and nurture this fellow properly. Their equal contract was mutually beneficial. As long as Josh grew stronger, Akathosh himself would gain unimaginable benefits. Naturally, if Akathosh became stronger, Josh would benefit as well.

As for Hosdena, no one knew why, but he and Garen had somehow taken a liking to each other—no, it would be more accurate to say that as the two talked, they suddenly felt that the other was not so bad. Then they had a fierce fight, and naturally, Garen was beaten up one-sidedly.

No matter how inferior Hosdena might be, he was still a true dragon. His strength and defenses were terrifying. Although his magic power was poor in quality and sparse in amount, it was still not something Garen, with a Third Tier body and Second Tier Battle Qi, could handle.

Yet what surprised Josh was that the two still signed a contract afterward. It was also an equal contract, but Hosdena presided over it. Garen did not understand this sort of thing at all, but it was obvious that Hosdena had had enough of this forest and was desperate to leave as soon as possible.

Now that his goal had been achieved, Josh had no intention of remaining in the forest. Early the next morning, after meditating through the night, he had restored his mental power and further refined his magic power using some methods from Akathosh's memories.

It had to be said that Akathosh was indeed an ancient being whose age was beyond reckoning. He possessed an enormous number of memories, and they had nearly turned Josh into an idiot from the sheer mental impact. Fortunately, Josh's mental power was not too bad. He could at least barely keep himself from passing out. After receiving all those memories, Josh's face darkened.

That was because eighty percent of the memories Akathosh transmitted were damn dragon cultivation materials and this guy's romantic exploits with female dragons! Akathosh, meanwhile, looked at Josh in confusion. He probably had not expected Josh's reaction to be so interesting, but he was not foolish enough to say anything.

After barely finding some suitable information in the transmitted memories, Josh unexpectedly discovered Akathosh's complete understanding of space. This delighted him immensely, but Josh knew that now was not the time to study it. After resting for a night and waking the unconscious Fular, they began their return journey.

"Was what you were speaking earlier the language of your homeland?"

Sitting aboard the airship, Dumbledore hesitated for a long time before finally asking. Honestly, the fact that he had held back for so long was already remarkable. Dumbledore had originally thought that Hosdena, that dragon, might simply be hard to deal with. But he had never expected that this dragon came from the same place as Josh.

What was even more terrifying was that a dragon-shaped soul had appeared afterward! The roar emitted by that soul alone had made people feel as if their souls were about to collapse. It was utterly terrifying. What Dumbledore found even more incomprehensible was that Josh had resurrected that soul, while Garen and the dragon had signed a contract, and those two things had entered their bodies!

How had something so large been stuffed inside?

"It is indeed the language of my homeland."

Josh nodded. At the same time, he lowered his head and glanced at the dragon-shaped tattoo that had appeared on his wrist. Garen had one as well. It was a kind of dimensional space. The newly reborn Akathosh and Hosdena lived within that space, which was attached to Josh and Garen.

"These two dragons accidentally ended up in this world thousands of years ago. The one we met is called Hosdena. He even met Merlin before. As for the soul afterward, that was his father. I plan to take them back with me later."

"So that's how it is." Dumbledore nodded. "When do you plan to return?"

"I'll go back once this semester ends. By the way, Dumbledore, could you give me the architectural blueprints for Hogwarts? I plan to build one myself when I return and use it as a castle."

"You're leaving this semester?" Dumbledore frowned. "Then do you plan to come back? And I'm sorry, but Hogwarts' blueprints have been passed down through the minds of each generation's headmaster, so I don't possess the original plans."

"That isn't a problem." Before Josh could speak, the tattoo on his wrist emitted a flash of light. A miniature dragon flew out, landed on Josh's shoulder, and spoke. After receiving Josh's memories, Akathosh could speak English as well.

"Boy, don't forget the spell you used to create my body. I have no idea what you were thinking, using such a spell so wastefully!"

"Wastefully?" Josh scratched his head. He knew Akathosh was referring to Baleful Phantasm, but was that not how the spell was supposed to be used?

"Of course. Extremely wastefully." Akathosh nodded, then said seriously, "I looked through your memories. I have to say, your luck is so absurdly good that even in our era, it would have made others jealous. If you had lived in my time, I would definitely have hunted you down, because your potential is far too terrifying."

Hunt him down? Josh's face immediately darkened. What kind of damn good luck was that?

"That spell is the fundamental power behind your entire series of spells. Mastering it means you have grasped the origin of your power. Your portals are temporary because you do not know how to use the power of space and this origin power to stabilize them. But that is no longer a problem. I can help you."

"You're going to help me?"

"Of course." Akathosh nodded seriously, then switched directly to the language of the Muya Continent. "I'm not sure what the consciousness of that world is like now, so it is only proper to leave ourselves a fallback route for escape. But I think we can be optimistic. You brought an outsider into it, yet it did not discover you. Perhaps that is because this outsider is simply too weak, but it never hurts to be prepared."

Josh nodded, then looked at the confused Dumbledore and thought for a moment before saying, "I was discussing something with him. But I can guarantee that we will return next semester. Also, I plan to invite you to my territory to help me properly plan its construction. That isn't something I'm familiar with."

As he spoke, a mass of silver power appeared in Josh's hand. It was the dispersed form of Baleful Phantasm.

"Since this is origin energy, from now on, you'll be called Void Origin."