343 Chapter 343: Dead Pool

"You know all those stories, like Martial Peak or Break Through the Heavens, or even Apotheosis, where the protagonist conveniently runs across this ghost master that ends up following him like a sidekick while teaching him new skills?" Ryan Reynolds puffed his chest out proudly, his hands on his hips. "I'm taking on that this role for this story!"

"…right." I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry, but for now I decided to just listen to him. "So what are you going to teach me?"

"How to break the fourth wall!"

"…"

"What? Okay, fine. I'll be honest. Unlike those spirit masters or ghosts, I'm only going to be here for a few chapters. Maybe I'll return in the future if the readers really, really like me. It's up to them – just keep your eyes on the comments. For now, I'm only helping you because…if I don't, I'll be stuck here forever."

I sighed wearily as I glanced around the ice, trying to suppress a shiver. From the temperature, not a premonition.

"How do I get you out of here?"

"First…you need a powerup." Ryan spread his hands dramatically and shrugged. "That's what these arcs are for, right? Stumble upon a treasure, grab a secret technique scroll, cultivate…"

"DON'T SAY THAT WORD!" I bellowed, cutting him off. Ryan raised both hands in a placating manner.

"Okay! Sorry! I know it's the wrong genre! But the clichés are still the same. This is a great chance for you to power up! Or at least improve one of your magic! Right now, you've only dabbled in the most basic spells for each of the five elements. Maybe your wood element has reached advanced, but even so you still can't compare with a mage who has chosen to specialize solely in wood element. The only thing you can compete against others is in summoning magic."

"Shouldn't I be improving my summoning magic, then?" I asked, puzzled. Ryan nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, but you see…if you improve your basic element spells and learn advanced ones, wouldn't your summoned Soul Beasts become stronger? Don't forget, your Soul Beasts are completely dependent on you – their abilities are completely dependent on what kind of magic you've learned. That's why you can't summon Soul Beasts that can cast healing spells – because you've never learned healing magic!"

"So you want me to learn healing magic?"

"No, of course not! You already stretched yourself thin, trying to learn five different elements. As a result, none of your Soul Beasts…except your Green Dragon, is capable of anything more than the equivalent of brute force for spells. They are so inefficient! Cost too much mana! And it's a pity that you chose to learn more of wood magic than any other elements because the only Soul Beast that can benefit from it is your Green Dragon! Since you chose Greek Constellations as your theme for the rest of your summoning magic, you sort of shot yourself in the foot…it's unfortunate, but wood is not part of the Greek four elements, and thus none of your Greek Constellation Soul Beasts can benefit from your advanced wood magic."

Now that Ryan mentioned it, I realized that it was true. I had never really given much thought into the intricacies and difference between the Chinese Five Elements and the Greek Four Elements, and just went for constellations because I was familiar with their myths and legends. Plus I read a lot of sci-fi, so I ended up knowing quite a few stars.

Why did I end up learning advanced wood magic? It was a coincidence, really. Well, during my first year in school, I took summoning class as one of those in my curriculum. By the way, I was the only student in my summoning class, and it was…not very productive. The teacher was a cranky old man who thought the magic was a lost cause because…as you know, back then, the curriculum and syllabus was based on one-on-one matches and rankings. Even the summoning teacher didn't believe in the magic he was teaching.

Basically, he took one look at me on the first day of class, and then put a sign labeled self-study. For a whole year, it was self-study. I would occasionally visit his office to consult him on summoning magic, and he would help me out in individual problems. It was a long process – I had to spend a whole year learning how to summon something as complex and powerful as my five Celestial Guardians. What, you thought I could already summon them before I entered high school? Then why would I even need to attend a magic academy in the first place if I could already cast such high-level magic?

The teacher explained to me that it was pointless to summon weaker, small monsters that cost little mana and no time at all, because they were so easily obliterated by my opponents (remember, the syllabus focused on one-on-one matches back then). What was the point of summoning a mouse? A canary? Maybe even a puppy? A single basic spell would destroy them, and…I wouldn't have much else I could counter with.

The only thing was that…students were required to take several classes, not just one class. Fortunately, I had already learned the basics of elemental spells over the four years before I attended high school (under Dad's tutelage). So that wasn't much of a concern, and I had little interest in specializing in elemental magic, as that would come at the cost of summoning magic. So along with Divination (which involved stargazing) and Care for Magical Creatures (where we had a giant for a teacher)…

No, wait. That never happened. We didn't have such classes. I was mixing up my academy with another magic school from some other story…

Long story short, I took wood magic classes as my second subject because it was the only element with any slots left – most students signed up for the more popular classes, such as fire, water, metal (lightning), wind and earth. . My first choice was fire magic – because that was what my dad specialized in. however, after the first two weeks of bidding, I realized that fire magic classes were so popular that they were no longer accepting students for them. So I had to look for alternatives. Most of them, unfortunately, were filled to the brim, leaving just wood magic.

It was only natural. Very few students chose wood magic, especially the guys. They thought it was a girl thing. And wood magic was usually perceived as the weakest element, particularly because it was thought to lack powerful, offensive spells, and was too brittle or fragile to be of any defensive use (like metal or earth or even water). Even wind magic, which provided speed, agility and unsurpassed mobility through flight and other means, was considered more useful than wood magicThat wasn't to say wood magic was bad. As the Stuart family had proven, those who hone wood magic to the pinnacle were capable of overcoming mages from any of the other elements. Wood might not possess the best offensive or defensive power, but it was well-rounded and possessed a repertoire of more subtle tricks…relying on causing status effects, so to speak. Not to mention, it was among the most versatile elements.

The name of my wood element teacher was…Willow Woodgate, by the way. Not that anyone cares. Rather…

"How do you know so much about my summoning magic?" I demanded, glaring at Ryan. He shrugged.

"I read your story on Webnovel before coming to this universe. Or perhaps I'm just a figment of your imagination, your subconscious playing tricks on your mind and manifesting in a hallucination. Or I can read your mind. Does it matter?"

Of course it did. I wasn't sure if I could trust him.

"You have no choice, kid." Ryan shrugged. "You want to get out of this hell? You've got to listen to me."

He had a point. There was no one else in this place. I couldn't see anything but ice and more ice. It was like some crystalline labyrinth, taunting me with a million distorted reflections of myself. Even though I had been walking through what seemed like a single tunnel, the winding passageway, combined with the kaleidoscopic mirror-like ice was rendering my senses dizzy.

"Fine. So what should I do?"

Illusion, hallucination, or real ghost, it didn't matter. I was already going crazy from wandering in here. I might as well give in to insanity.

"Good choice. Now follow me."

Ryan chuckled as he flipped about in midair before drifting away. I watched him for a few seconds, my hands on my swords, and then noticed that he was a dual sword wielder like me. Maybe he was a mystical reflection of me. I wasn't sure. Couldn't hurt to follow him for now.

"Sh…"

Suddenly, Ryan floated to a halt and held a finger to where his lips were, behind that red and black mask of his. He threw out a hand to stop me, and I complied silently. Incidentally, I had dispatched a few Corvus to scout ahead, but they continually crashed into ice walls, so I ended up just recalling them and walking on my own.

Consequently, I didn't know what was ahead of me.

"Gr…"

There was a low rumble. I froze, not from the cold but from apprenehsion. Whatever the source was, it was huge.

Scowling, I glanced at Ryan, but he shook his head. Leaning over, he dropped his voice into a whisper.

"What, you didn't think we were the only ones down here, did you? Did you forget what this place is called?"

The Den of Dragons. How could I forget?

…oh.

I instinctively took a step back, and immediately began casting Draco. Given how he was my strongest Constellation spirit, he would take a long while to summon. That was fine. As long as the dragon didn't notice me, I should have ample time to cast the spell. I hoped.

"No, no, no. don't worry about it." Ryan waved his hand airily. "You're not here to pick a fight with the owner of the cave. And I don't think he will bother you as long as you don't wake him up. You can just sneak past him. As long as you don't make too much noise and accidentally hit him with a hammer…I mean, a spell, he would be too lazy to wake up to deal with you. We humans are ants to the majestic beings that are dragons. Most of the time, they couldn't be bothered to deal with the likes of us. Not unless we irritate them too much…or if they are hungry."

"How do we know this guy isn't hungry?"

"If he was, he wouldn't be sleeping. He would be looking for food."

I guessed Ryan had a point there. With a sigh, I nodded and cautiously took a step forward. When I did so, Ryan immediately gestured at my hands.

"Put out the fire. I know it is cold as fuck, but we don't want to wake the guy up by accidentally burning him. No point taking risks unnecessarily eh?"

"…right."

I obeyed and extinguished the flames. The cold didn't hit me totally yet, but as I walked on for a few seconds, my fingers and toes began to feel numb. Suppressing a sigh, I stepped into the colossal cavern just beyond the winding passage.

An enormous dragon lay in the center, fast asleep. Its body shook gently, heaving as it breathed. Large clouds of fog were expelled from its nostrils, drifting lazily in the freezing air and shrouding the beast's face in white. Unlike the crimson Hellfire Drake that I had encountered in the past, this particular dragon was covered in sapphire scales that sparkled in the dim light of the cave.

"A Frost Dragon," I muttered under my breath. Needless to say, it was a rank A Behemoth type dragon that could wield ice magic. Beside me, the hovering Ryan nodded.

"That's right. And you don't want to wake him up."

"…yeah. You're right."

Taking a deep breath, I gingerly crept around the Frost Dragon, taking care to maintain as much distance between us as possible. Before I knew it, I managed to circle around the massive monster and reach the other end of the cavern, where another passageway awaited.

"…phew."

Exhaling, I realized how tense my body had been this entire time. Swallowing, I stepped into the tunnel and hopefully out of sight of the Frost Dragon. After a few steps deeper into the icy corridor, I cast my little fire spell to warm myself up and return some sensation to my fingers and toes.

"Was that Frost Dragon hibernating?"

"Nah. He will wake up when he's hungry. Hopefully you'll be out of here by then."

"…right." I hoped that would be the case. I sure as hell didn't want to be present when the Frost Dragon woke up. I had no intention of becoming his breakfast. Taking a deep breath, and wincing when the icy air chilled my lungs, I hastened my pace.

"Relax. You want to stick around for a bit longer. Especially when we reach our destination."

"Huh?" I looked up at the hovering Ryan, confused. He was gliding in a relaxed manner, staying a few steps ahead of me. "Destination? Aren't we getting out of here?"

"If it was that easy, then I wouldn't need you to show up to help me get out of here. No, my friend. You need to get your powerup. Then only I would be released from being locked in this godforsaken place."

That bullshit powerup thing again. I tried not to sigh and roll my eyes. Something about Ryan's statements rubbed me the wrong way.

"There's no way something so convenient would exist."

"Well, you're right. It's not so convenient as to suddenly increase your mana, or hand you a new technique or treasure weapon. I mean, look at this place! Who the hell would hide some stupid martial arts or cultivation scroll in here? Or bury their treasures here? Even if you want to keep them out of the hands of other people, why would you go through all the trouble of braving the dangers of dragons, digging your way into the deepest part of an icy mountain, and hiding your treasure far from human civilization? Then…if you want to retrieve it, are you going to make that perilous journey and spend hours digging through the mountain and hiding from dragons again? Sometimes, these so-called cultivators or whatever just don't make any sense."

"This is not a cultivation story," I reminded Ryan impatiently. "It's reality."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, remember the Holy Spring that helped you with your cultivation magic like two hundred chapters ago?"

"…yeah?" I nodded, remembering the Holy Spring hidden underneath Jing Tian City. Training next to it had helped me improve my summoning magic, mostly by increasing the amount of mana I had in order to maintain them for longer durations.

"I have something similar for you!" I swear the guy was grinning under his mask. Floating through a mouth toward another cavern, Ryan threw out both hands in a celebratory manner. "Introducing the Dead Pool!"

"…huh?"

Following him into the cavern, my jaw dropped when I saw the gigantic pool that he was presenting to me.

…it wasn't so much a pool as it was a gargantuan block of ice. An iceberg, if you will.

"Whoops…I meant the frozen pool," Ryan corrected what he evidently thought was a witty punchline.

"…cool, I guess?" I tried not to roll my eyes. "And…what am I supposed to do with this…uh, giant ice?"

"Well…" Ryan paused dramatically for a few seconds, and then bowed exaggeratedly. "Devour the whole thing, of course!"