John was determined to claim his rewards, so he stood at the edge of the cliff, peering into the abyss below. Amidst the darkness, a flicker of silver light caught his eye. "Could that be soul fragments?" he wondered, squinting to get a better look. Once he confirmed his suspicion, wings sprouted from his back. Heimdall watched silently as John leaped off the cliff, the wind howling in his ears as he descended rapidly. "How deep does this go?" he mused, feeling as though he had fallen deeper than the Dragon's Village.
The soul fragment danced ahead, leading him like a will-o'-the-wisp. John pursued it all the way to the bottom, where the darkness was so complete he could no longer see the cliff from which he had jumped. "Here," a man's voice echoed, causing the soul fragment to tremble. "It has self-awareness?" John mused, his gaze deepening. Suppressing the urge to use the Soul-Eating Curse, he moved forward.
The ground beneath his feet felt like crystal, cold seeping through his shoes as if he were stepping on a frozen lake. To counteract the chill, John transformed his feet into dragon claws, which made the cold bearable. As he ventured further, he encountered an ice sculpture—a massive white dragon, lifeless and encased in ice, its body adorned with icicles. A profound silence enveloped the area, prompting John to steady his mind.
Beyond the dragon sculpture, he saw the frozen forms of fire dragons, preserved in their final moments against the glacier walls. The cold assaulted him once more, and he quickly conjured fire elemental magic to ward off the chill. "These dragons were frozen to death," he realized, recalling Heimdall's words about dragons never leaving this place.
Guided by the soul fragment, John approached a golden orb encrusted with frost. Inside the orb was a room, emitting a faint blue light that seemed on the verge of extinguishing. The soul fragment lingered outside the golden chamber, instilling a sense of security and trust in John. Despite his initial instincts, he refrained from using the Soul-Eating Curse and instead focused on the room.
The chamber, designed for dragons, was spacious, with a door resembling a golden plant that was firmly locked. The faint blue light peeked through the gaps, and the door itself seemed alive with surging magical energy. "This reminds me of the tree in the unicorn colony," John thought, drawing parallels between the magical tree where unicorns renew their horns and the golden structure before him. It seemed unlikely that dragons were responsible for creating such a marvel.
Taking out his wand, John examined the intricate locks. "Alohomora," he attempted, though he was plagued by doubts. Deciding to set aside his questions for the moment, he turned his attention to a square box surrounded by the same plant-like material as the door. The box, sealed on a table, emitted a deadly cold that was absorbed by the surrounding plants. "Could these glaciers have been created by boxes?" John wondered, struck by the absurdity and horror of the thought. The idea that a single box could generate an entire glacier—and the immense magical power required to do so—was baffling.
Realizing that he had yet to complete the system task, John understood that this final test likely involved the mysterious box. His expression darkened at the thought. "Is this really the work of a person? And if this box is responsible for the glacier, how am I supposed to pass the test?" he pondered.
Raising his right hand, John activated the silver ring that covered his entire arm, with five magic crystals channeling power into the philosopher's stone. Tentatively, he reached out to touch the box. The moment his finger made contact, a surge of magical energy erupted from the box, flooding into him. John stood at the epicenter, a circle of ripple-like magic emanating from him. The ice it touched shattered instantly, as did the body of the giant dragon guarding the entrance. "This isn't good!" The spread of magical power continued unabated, gradually enveloping the entire glacier. The sound of the glacier fracturing echoed in his ears. Densely packed cracks snaked their way through the passageway, retracing the path he had come. The Philosopher's Stone emitted a brilliant blue light, and cracks began to form in the five magic crystals, signaling an overload of magical power. Previously, John had only managed to create one super magic crystal using the power of 36 magic crystals, but now, five had undergone the transformation. The magnitude of the magical power was overwhelming.
"Let me go!" With all his might, John's right hand broke free, and he was blasted away by the massive wave of magic, crashing into the wall. He watched as the plants tightly wound around the box withered away. An ice-blue aurora surged towards John, crystallizing the ground in its wake. At that moment, all the amulets he wore shattered, transforming into layers of spells that formed an iron armor shield around him. However, the aurora pierced through the Iron Armor Curse in an instant. This was the most formidable attack John had ever faced, surpassing even Voldemort's assault in the Albanian forest.
Without a moment's hesitation, John drew his wand and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" A light-formed albatross collided with the aurora, its biting cold nearly freezing John's brain. The pattern on his shoe lit up, and he sprinted to the side. Less than a second later, the aurora pierced through the albatross and struck the golden wall, which quickly began to crystallize. John exhaled a white breath, the destruction of his Patronus causing him a painful backlash. He staggered to his knees, wincing in pain.
Turning back, he saw the crystallization spreading throughout the entire room. The wall was breached, and the aurora flew outside, scattering light from the crystal like a rainbow. John's eyes widened in horror as he realized, "That's it... Rainbow Bridge?!"
_________
If you are tired of reading I also have this converted to an audio novel on my youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@NovelAudioForge/featured
Direct Link to playlist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_Hg-qsW4rM&list=PLKskshYG-OcPTR4-Nw7IWFEBZm07D8pBV&ab_channel=NovelAudioForge