knew instantly who it was. The Soul of the Library.
Her voice, sharp as a blade and filled with urgency, shattered the stillness around him. "If you step inside, it will drain all your aura. You know that, don't you? It's already sucking your strength away. I don't know how you found this place, but this is the first time I've encountered something like this. Stop now, or both of you will be consumed—nothing more than lifeless husks."
Dan, his mind racing, instinctively challenged her, "You don't have a body. How could you be a corpse?"
Her voice was calm, unshaken, yet firm in its response. "It's just me—my body, my choice. You're the one who decided to accompany me. Now, it's time to choose: suffer or triumph by my side. If you intend to move forward, seal your remaining energy within yourself. When the time comes and you need the power, release it from the seal. You've learned how. don't let it slip away or be absorbed by this forest."
At first, Dan hesitated, his thoughts clouded by confusion. But then he realized how much wisdom was embedded in the Soul's words. In an instant, his earlier hesitation melted away. Without further thought, he sank to the ground, closing his eyes in concentration. His fingers traced the familiar patterns of the seal, his remaining aura flowing into it. The moment he completed the process, he felt the draining force around him diminish. The invisible pull, once relentless, now seemed only a faint tug, siphoning but a fraction of his power.
With the seal now firmly in place, Dan pushed forward, determined to discover the source of the force that had so unnervingly drawn him in. But as he moved deeper into the forest, something strange caught his attention. The ground beneath his feet was not leading him forward as he had anticipated. Instead, it sloped downward at a gradual 45-degree angle. Roots, thick and gnarled, twisted up from the earth like the veins of some ancient, slumbering beast.
He summoned the Sky Drift technique, his body rising and floating lightly above the ground. With fluid movements, he leapt from root to root, the natural bridges of the forest stretching beneath him, leading him ever deeper.
At the end of the descent, his sharp eyes caught sight of something blue—strange and otherworldly. He quickened his pace and soon found himself standing above a vast pond. Its surface was a patchwork of roots, knotted together like the interwoven threads of a grand tapestry, stretching down into the water below as if they held the secrets of the forest itself.
The water glowed a brilliant azure, an ethereal, almost hypnotic light pulsing from within. Dan felt its call deep in his chest, a magnetic pull that both beckoned and warned. But something about the eerie stillness of the pond, the absence of any movement—no birds, no insects, no life at all—made him pause. It was as if the very air around him had been silenced by some ancient force.
His gaze fell to the center of the pond. There, nestled in the midst of the water, was a single lotus. A strange stillness emanated from it, more profound than the quiet that surrounded it. Dan's heart fluttered with a sudden, inexplicable certainty. There was something more to this lotus—something he couldn't quite grasp but felt nonetheless.
His curiosity urged him to approach, yet caution held him back. He glanced around, noting that not a single creature stirred. Not even a fly disturbed the air. To test the water's stillness, he took a broken piece of root from the ground and tossed it gently into the pond. For a long moment, nothing happened. The water remained perfectly undisturbed, its glassy surface reflecting the overhead canopy in a serene stillness.
Just as he was about to take another step forward, the Soul of the Library's voice echoed once more, breaking the silence. "Use vile blaze,Use your cloth. Throw it into the water, then burn it."
Dan's pulse quickened as realization struck him—she was referring to his Blaze Vale technique. With no time to lose, he drew a cloth from his pack and hurled it into the center of the pond. The moment it touched the water, flames erupted from it in an instant, casting an eerie glow upon the pond's surface.
Dan positioned himself five meters away, standing on a large root that arched over the pond like a bridge. As the cloth burned, the water began to stir. The flames twisted and danced across the cloth, and with them, the water responded, rippling in response.
And then, from the depths of the pond, something emerged. A shape—serpentine and fluid—rose from the water with a terrifying grace. It was a creature, but not like any Dan had seen before. A massive, dragon-like serpent, its scales glistening in the dim light.
Dan's breath caught in his throat. The creature was enormous, its body coiling with the weight of ancient power. Its tail alone could have swallowed him whole. But what was most unnerving was the complete absence of aura. There was no spiritual pressure, no sign of its power—just a vast, unnerving emptiness that made his very bones ache.
The snake dragon, seemingly drawn to the burning cloth, twisted and danced in the air, its immense form weaving between the water and sky. Dan's instincts screamed at him to hide, to retreat. Without a second thought, he dove beneath the thick roots, heart pounding in his chest.
Above him, the dragon floated gracefully, its massive body curling in the air. The entire pond seemed to move with it, the water surging in powerful waves with every motion of the creature's massive form. Despite its terrifying presence, the dragon seemed almost playful, as it swam and spiraled around the burning cloth, mesmerized by the flames.
Then, just as quickly as it had disappeared, the snake dragon lost interest. With a flick of its colossal tail, it dove back into the depths, sending another wave of water crashing through the pond. But even as the dragon vanished, something drew Dan's attention.
The lotus—still at the center of the pond—remained untouched. Despite the turbulence, the waves, the dragon's movements, it stood unwavering, its petals perfectly still in the chaos around it. Dan couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't just a plant. It was something more—something tied to the very essence of the forest, and perhaps, to the mystery of this place itself.
Dan's mind raced as he stood there, rooted to the spot. His desire for answers burned brighter than ever. Was the snake dragon the source of the forest's strange power? Or was the key hidden within the lotus, the water, the very depths of the pond? The questions gnawed at him, but one thing was clear: the path ahead was far more dangerous, and far more mysterious, than he could have ever imagined.