Crystal Dragon (Part 4)

Slowly, I open my eyes.

Looking around, I find myself in a white, empty space. There's no floor, no walls—just endless whiteness stretching as far as the eye can see.

What is this place? Is this... heaven?

No way. Heaven's supposed to be a happy place. This boring, blank place can't be heaven.

I stood up and noticed something odd. My hands, my clothes—my hands were the same as before in earth. Right now, I was a human, and I was wearing my regular school uniform.

"What exactly is happening?" I asked aloud, my voice echoing back at me. I turned and shouted, "Hey! Hello?! Is somebody here?!"

I hoped someone would answer—someone who could explain this madness.

Could this be a skill? A skill from the Crystal Dragon? A power that traps someone's consciousness in a blank dimension... That's insane. But not impossible. Not in the magical world I was reincarnated into.

Maybe I look like my old self because of how I see myself. Self-image must play a role here.

"I feel scared… If my deduction is correct, does that mean I'm bound to stay in this empty place forever?"

Waiting here, all alone, with no end—this was a punishment worse than death.

While panic started creeping in, I felt a presence behind me.

"Fufufu…" someone giggled softly. "You're a funny one, aren't you?"

She looked just like me—or at least like my elf body. The only difference was she seemed a bit older. A teenage version of my current self.

"G-Gueh?! Wh-Who are you? You look like me…"

"Really? I always thought I was much prettier." The elf girl with white hair walked closer, gently placing her hand on my cheek. "In that world, you're using my avatar. So, yes—we look similar. Like twin sisters. I wonder why you're appearing as your old human self, though. Probably because you haven't accepted, deep down, that you're now an elf girl."

I pushed her hand away and stepped back. My mind was racing.

"Cut the small talk. Can you please just explain what's going on? I'm in a hurry—I need to get back and defeat the Crystal Dragon, or people will die!"

"I really admire that kind of heroic spirit." She smiled. "But you don't have to worry about time here. This space isn't affected by time. We could chat for hours and it'd still only be a second in your world."

"I don't have time for chatting!"

"Wow, that's cold! I've been here alone for so long, and now you're brushing me off?" she pouted. "Fine. I won't tell you how to escape this place."

"Please don't be like that! I understand how you feel, but I really don't want to be stuck here forever," I begged. "Please help me."

She gave me a long look, then sighed and cleared her throat. "Alright, alright. Let's keep this simple and quick. For now, just call me White. I'm the original owner of the body you're using."

That was a major revelation.

"So... I'm using your body? Are you here to take it back?" I asked, trembling.

"Nope. It's yours now," she said casually. "But I'm thankful someone like you is using it for good. I died before you were reincarnated. As for the details of my death—sorry, that's classified."

She crossed her arms and looked away.

"So you're the reason I got a second chance at life?"

"That's right. And... I'm sorry about everything you've gone through. Especially in that dungeon. I've been watching all your adventures—the good and the bad."

"I'm getting used to life in this world. It's not so bad now."

"I'm relieved. I thought you might curse me. Anyway, let's move on. Right now, you're dying, and I came to save your soul before it ascended to heaven."

"Wait—I'm dying?!"

"Well, yeah. After you took that attack from the Crystal Dragon, what did you expect? I'm here to offer a way to defeat it, and also a few warnings about what's coming next. Probalem you might be facing in this world."

I gulped.

So she's the tutorial character, huh?

But why now? I've been through so many life-and-death battles—why appear only now?

"Ahem. I can hear your thoughts. And yeah... sorry I'm late."

She can hear my thoughts too?!

"Of course. We share the same body. Right now, you and I are basically the same person—just different personalities. Anyway, about the Crystal Dragon... It has a unique power."

I listened intently.

"The dragon can create skills tailored to counter its opponents."

"That's insanely overpowered! It doesn't learn skills—it creates them?!"

I recounted everything that happened during my fight with the dragon. The dragon could think for a strategy and not an easy opponent to deal with.

"It's called Crystal Power. A unique ability that lets it create elemental skills on the fly and be emune by those elemental skills. The second one is Crystal Mirror. It can copy any skill it sees. It can also copy an attack or some kind and return it back."

"How the heck am I supposed to beat something like that? It can create and copy? That's pure cheat-level nonsense!"

"I agree. But nothing's perfect. Everything has a weakness—and the Crystal Dragon is no exception. Think back. It was seriously injured before, right? Do you know why?"

I thought for a moment.

Then I remembered—the blinding white light in the dungeon. Rin said the Grandelia Kingdom used a weapon made of pure mana to destroy the place, leaving it unexplorable.

"That pure mana blast…"

"Exactly. Pure mana has no elemental attribute. The dragon couldn't counter it, and it couldn't copy it either—because it never saw it coming."

"But my skills are all elemental… I do have a few non-elemental ones, but they're mostly for crafting or convenience."

"There's your answer."

"What do you mean?"

"Create a weapon like the one that injured the dragon," she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I blinked. "Yeah, that's a clever idea…"

Then I lunged at her, wrapping my hands around her neck. "ARE YOU INSANE?! I'm not some genius inventor! I can't build a weapon of mass destruction out of nowhere!"

This wasn't just complicated—it was impossible! Asking me to build that was like asking an average person to whip up a nuclear bomb. I'm not Oppenheimer!

She shoved me off and coughed. Catching her breath, she said, "I'm serious. Creating such a weapon would be easy for us. But you'll need help from others. I'll guide you."

I stared at her in disbelief.

"Don't look at me like that… I was a genius elf girl, you know. Before I died, I led a lot of people... and they kind of betrayed me."

"Betrayed?"

"I'm not saying more about that. It's confidential." Suddenly, she pulled out a pen and paper out of thin air. "I'll walk you through the steps to build the weapon."

I sat down.

I had no choice but to listen.