Saratoga Castle.
Adam's dorm room was as cozy as ever. Its walls were made of warm stone, softened by paintings of magical creatures that he personally drew in his free ti.
The tall, arched window to the side overlooked Marian Lake and the vast expanse of greenery beyond. Rays of the setting sun filtered through these ancient, leaded glass panes, softly lighting up the room.
A four-poster bed stood against one wall, draped with velvet hangings. On the bed, Valerian was comfortably taking a nap under the comforter. After having devoured dozens of pastries at Linlin's, the young dragon imdiately fell asleep.
The atmosphere was serene with only the sounds of Valerian's soft purrs and the crackling of firewood gently echoing within the room.
Adam had cleared the area before the fireplace. On the floor, he had just finished carving a runic formation with a mana-infused ink. Moreover, he had placed magical ores on the periphery of the formation to reinforce the magic he was about to perform.
The runic formation in question was vastly different from the ones he had drawn before. The lines and angles seed to have co alive, twisting and slithering on the surface of the floor like tiny snakes.
Adam stood before the formation for a few minutes. He took a deep breath and resolved himself. He recalled Professor Whitaker's words, Confront my fear one step at a ti...
He removed his robe, revealing his strong and chiseled upper body. Then, he stepped foot inside the runic formation. He sat down cross-legged in the middle and checked the formation one last ti.
Finally, he raised his hands and perford a hand seal.
...
Coil of Eternity, Spirit World.
In this mystical plane that seed to stretch till infinity, the air was thick and humid, carrying the faint scent of venom mixed with sothing sweet and earthy.
A low rhythmic hiss pulsed throughout the surroundings, subtle yet ever-present. It did not co from any one direction but seed to be everywhere, as though the plane itself was whispering.
The sky above was made of countless fangs too tiny for the naked eye to see. It swirled in kaleidoscopic patterns, making for a very beautiful scene.
Suddenly, the space distorted and a mont later a small tear in the void appeared. Gradually, the tear enlarged and a few seconds later, a figure jumped out of it, landing on the ground.
Adam, in his soul body, scanned his surroundings with high alert. Only after confirming that there was no imdiate danger did he slightly relax. He then waved his hand, commanding his spiritual power to form a layer of clothes over his body.
He crouched on the ground, looking at it with curious eyes. Beneath the grass and dirt, he could see scales on the ground-so small, others big.
"How fascinating," he murmured.
He had carved the coordinates of the outer periphery of the Coil of Eternity into the runic formation in his dorm room. This ensured that he didn't travel to a dangerous place on this plane.
The danger level rose as one went toward the center of the plane. There, the strongest and most fearso of serpents dwelled. There was no way Adam was going to take the risk of traveling inward.
Thus, he chose the most inconspicuous location as his landing spot. He was currently on a vast, grassy plane with no other living being in sight. In front of him, close to a hundred ters out, was a dense forest.
Adam glanced at it, his breathing uneven. Even though he knew that only creatures equivalent to Rank 1 and Rank 2 resided in the outer periphery of this plane, he was still gripped by nervousness. It was a deep psychological fear.
Should I venture inside? He thought to himself while gazing at the forest in the distance.
He had thought that by arriving at this secluded place, he would have had so ti to look around. But his arrival had not gone unnoticed.
HISSSSS!!
A skin-crawling sound erupted from the forest, causing Adam to shudder. Following that, he could sense movent at the edge of his vision-sleek, sinuous forms slipping in and out of the underbrush.
Before he knew it, hundreds of snakes, perhaps thousands, erged from the forest and charged in his direction. So were small, the size of his arms, while others were as big as the trees themselves.
Seeing the army of snakes of various colors and sizes direct their bloodlust at him, Adam's mind blanked for a mont. "W-What the hell?!!"
Without an ounce of hesitation, he willed it in his mind and completely disappeared from the plane of serpents.
The army of snakes that had just erged from the forest were now at a loss for words. The intruder had completely disappeared from their vision. Not only that, they also weren't able to locate him through their keen sense of sll.
Puzzled, they looked at one another, wondering if they were hallucinating. They then parted from the middle, making way for a humongous black serpent with onyx scales and blood-red
eyes.
This was the king of the forest, a being whose strength was equivalent to a peak Rank 2- Mana Liquefaction Magus!
It slithered its way towards the place Adam was earlier standing on. It looked deeply at the spot for an extended period of ti, its eyes narrowing in hostility.
"That was no Spirit World creature," it hissed in confusion. "How does a re human know the location of our holy land? He doesn't have the aura of a contracted summoner as well... so then how?"
...
East Wing, Saratoga Castle.
A tear in the void appeared above the runic formation. Adam's soul body shot out from the portal and dove inside his physical body.
His eyes snapped open and he imdiately clutched at his chest, feeling his heart which had abruptly begun pounding like a war drum.
What the hell was that?! I've never seen so many snakes in one place in my life, he scread
inwardly.
He raised his hand and saw that it was trembling ever so slightly. He took deep breaths to calm down his wildly beating heart.
It wasn't as if he was actually weak against that army of snakes. He could most certainly deal with the entire army based on his battle prowess and his vast arsenal of spells.
But it couldn't be helped that he had an instinctive fear of snakes, preventing him from calming down at the sight of them and thinking things through with a clear head.
He buried his head in his palm as he enjoyed the warmth brought about by the fireplace before
him.
Should I just visit the other elental planes and sign contracts with the spirits there? He thought.
That would have been easier but a very ti-consuming process for sure. But deep down he knew of the imnse benefits that the Coil of Eternity provided to any Magus who was able to
sign a contract with it.
But those damned snakes...
He struggled for a few seconds before finally getting to his feet and walking toward the bed. He had made up his mind. Forget it. I'll try again tomorrow as the Professor suggested.
The youth jumped on the bed and covered himself under the quilt, completely ignoring the fact that his action just now had caused the sleeping young dragon to fly off the bed and
miserably fall to the ground.
"Myuu!!"
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