What Zayden saw in the light was the silhouette of a spear.
A long spear that was embedded in the ground, with its spearhead pointing toward the sky.
Zayden’s heart beat faster. Although he felt extreme pain with the change in his heartbeat, he forced himself to stay awake and keep looking at the spear.
’A spear?’
He continued to approach.
He kept pushing himself forward using his one foot.
But then he suddenly found his head hitting something.
However, because he could not use his hand to check, he could not make sure what the thing that hit him was.
But as he kept pushing himself forward, he finally saw what had hit his head.
Because of the light, the area nearby was no longer so dark, and he could perceive what was beside him.
He had actually hit a skeleton.
Zayden widened his eyes and then tried to look at the nearby area. Although his vision was sometimes blurry, he could still see some bones and skeletons.
Many of them.
It made his heart tremble.
’It’s those who came to this place! All of them are dead!’
He then turned to look at the spear again.
Why were they dead? How could they have died?
Was there a fight among them?
He did not know. He just kept approaching the spear.
But at this moment, he suddenly felt as if someone was watching him. The feeling was really subtle, so subtle that he thought he might be hallucinating.
How could there be another person here?
He kept approaching the spear until he finally could see it more clearly.
It was a golden spear.
Its spearhead was white. There was an engraving on its long shaft that extended all the way to the base of the spearhead.
The engraving actually depicted a dragon.
A long eastern dragon.
It was engraved beautifully on the spear, and it gave off a mighty feeling. Like a dragon soaring toward the heaven.
The other parts of the spear were also made with great attention to detail, as if the ones who created the spear wanted to make it as perfect as possible.
Cough! Cough!
’Shit, my body... almost at its... limit.’
He coughed up a mouthful of blood, and he felt his strength leaving his body.
In the end, after all of his struggles since earlier, he had to face one fact: his body had its own limit.
He might have a burning spirit. His will might be as strong as the strongest rock.
But his body was still mortal, with its own limitations.
No matter how much he pushed it, it would eventually crumble.
Even though he kept fighting the poison inside his body, in the end, it was one of the most deadly poisons on the continent.
He had been fighting a losing battle since earlier. The poison was still spreading, albeit much slower because he kept fighting against it.
Now, the poison had already spread to almost all of his body.
Zayden did not waste any time, and with the remnants of his energy, he kept pushing himself toward the spear.
As time kept ticking, his pushes became weaker.
His speed slowed down.
But Zayden kept forcing himself. He did not give up.
He just wanted to reach the spear.
His consciousness was already almost slipping away. His sight had already mostly darkened. The light only entered his vision from time to time.
But Zayden could still see the blurry silhouette of the spear.
Finally, after using every bit of strength he had, he finally reached the spear.
He then gave up on moving his foot. He could no longer feel it. Now, he focused on one of his arms.
He forced himself to move it.
One of his arms was still not entirely poisoned, so he thought that he could force it to move.
Since earlier, he had only focused on moving one of his feet, but now he could finally focus on one of his arms.
After much difficulty and pain, he finally managed to move one of his arms. With every bit of strength he had left, he dragged his hand, already bloody with his own blood, toward the spear.
Zayden’s hand finally touched the spear.
At that exact moment, all the remaining strength left his body.
His body instantly went limp, and he slumped.
His eyes already looked lifeless.
Yet his mind was still conscious. He could still feel his hand touching the spear.
However, at this moment, he finally had to face reality itself.
’It looks like I’m really going to die this time... I cannot change the outcome.’
He inwardly chuckled bitterly. He really did not know what he had been thinking.
How could he fight the Northern Black Spider poison inside his body and win? How could he survive after this? His death was certain.
Moreover, what was he hoping to gain by reaching this treasure?
There was nothing the spear could do. It was not some kind of treasure that could detoxify the poison inside his body.
It was not a treasure that could make him powerful overnight.
Plus, this was a spear, a treasure that he could not use.
He was a swordmaster.
What did a spear have to do with him?
But still, with every last bit of his consciousness, he hoped for a miracle. He hoped for help to come his way.
’To anything that could hear me, to the heaven, to any gods, to anyone! My family... My family...is in danger... I want the power to protect my family. I want revenge. I want to make sure those traitors pay for their betrayal.’
’To anyone...’
His mind suddenly stopped.
His heartbeat was already so weak that anyone would have thought he was already dead. It was beating so faintly that it almost seemed to stop.
But when his soul seemed to be almost leaving his body, the spear trembled.
It suddenly released a subtle yet powerful energy.
If any being on the continent were present here, they would feel an energy they had never felt before.
The energy would be the most powerful energy they had ever felt. They would need to prostrate themselves in the face of this energy.
Even the appearance of this little bit of energy made the ground around the spear tremble.
The energy seeped into Zayden’s body, and at that moment, a blinding light consumed both his body and the spear.
Unfortunately, at this moment, there was no one standing on the edge of the abyss. If anyone on the edge of the abyss looked at the undying light at this time, they would see the light growing brighter.
Its light would illuminate the large area at the bottom of the abyss.
As the light spread across the bottom of the abyss, Zayden suddenly felt his surroundings again.
His eyes were closed, though he did not know when he had closed them.
He felt a soothing sensation across his body. He felt no pain anymore. He felt refreshed, as if he had just taken a bath, and rich heaven and earth energy was entering his body.
He finally opened his eyes.
What he saw was... countless stars.
He blinked his eyes a few times. He still saw the sky filled with stars.
He turned to the side. He still saw countless stars.
He looked below and instinctively moved his body into a sitting position.
He was actually in the middle of space!
He was simply floating in space, where he could see countless stars in every direction.
’Is this the afterlife?’ Zayden thought.
"It’s not."
Suddenly, a male voice resounded, making Zayden instantly turn toward the source of the voice.
He was stunned to see that there was actually someone standing behind him.
The figure was obviously a man.
He was tall. Although the figure was exuding light, making him look like a sacred being, Zayden could see that he wore a grand golden-white robe.
The man also had long golden hair.
Zayden could not see the man’s face because it was covered in blinding light, but there was one thing that instantly caught his attention.
’Those are dragon horns?’
He could see the horns, and their shape made him realize that these were horns unique to dragons.
Although there were no dragons living in the Eastern World, everyone knew what dragons looked like, as well as their human transformations.
The figure in front of him was undoubtedly a dragon in human form.
This was not the first time Zayden had met a dragon in human form. But at this moment, he knew that the dragon in front of him was much different from any dragon he had ever met.
Even his horns looked much grander.
Combined with the aura the figure was exuding, Zayden felt as if he wanted to prostrate himself.
It was as if he were standing before a higher-level being, and he, a mere mortal, needed to bow down before him.
The man did not say anything after his two words.
Although Zayden could not see the man’s face, he just felt that the man seemed to be observing him.
After gathering his courage, he finally opened his lips.
"Who are you?"
The man did not answer instantly.
Instead, after a few moments of silence, the man said something else that did not answer his question.
"Good seedling. It’s truly fate that you came to find me."
Zayden felt confused, but then the man asked a question that made him widen his eyes.
"Kid, do you want great power?"