Eternal slumber

Tracy raised the Red Lotus Staff and casually slashed a long opening in the void beside her.

Spatial particles violently disintegrated under the disturbance of the staff's tip, revealing a passage into the Spirit World wracked by turbulence.

She had barely stepped one foot inside before swiftly pulling it back.

"Almost forgot."

Muttering to herself, Tracy turned and abruptly vanished.

The next second, amid countless sparks bursting in dazzling splendor, she appeared opposite the Golden Magic Box, before another golden statue.

It was the statue of a man.

A very young man.

Even forcibly assimilated by the golden law, the resilience that seeped from his very bones could not be concealed by metal.

Golden armor resembling that of an ancient court knight outlined his tall, powerful physique almost perfectly.

Every contour of his muscles brimmed with explosive tension, as though he would burst through that golden shell at any moment.

His features were handsome and heroic, his gaze resolute.

Even though his pupils had turned to cold gold, his gaze remained like an unsheathed blade, piercing straight into the heavens.

Even as a mere golden statue, he would surely have inspired the adoration and infatuation of countless lovestruck girls if placed in a mortal kingdom or city-state.

But in the world of wizards, such "beauty" was meaningless.

And this statue, a masterpiece seemingly sculpted with painstaking care by the heavens, looked to Tracy like the most loathsome, hateful thing in the world.

The girl raised her hands, gripping her short staff with both.

She smashed it viciously toward the statue's head.

Bang!

The staff, blazing with red lotus flames, stopped less than three centimeters from the eyes of Dago's statue.

Yet his thick golden eyelashes melted like water, dripping down.

The staff could advance no farther.

The girl froze, then