After a few seconds, Sidus's eyes finally regained their clarity. He looked at me with a confused expression all the while constantly scanning his surroundings as if looking for something.

"What do you remember?" I asked.

"I-I'm not sure, It feels like I just woke up from a dream, one where we met an old black dragon. We talked and he said something to me, but I can't remember," He replied with a shake of his head, the confusion was clear in his eyes as he kept trying to recall what he missed.

I slowly nodded at that and replied honestly without hiding anything, "We did meet an ancient black dragon, he called himself Nilath. We were dragged into his soul space that's why you don't remember much, I suspect It was also him that saved us from the monster behind that door," I explained seriously.

Sidus's eyes widened in shock and surprise at my revelation, it took him a few seconds to calm himself before I continued, "There's a possibility for you to obtain Nilath's inheritance, this will undoubtedly help you grow stronger, though the old dragon was too vague about it," I clicked my tongue in annoyance, It seemed like all dragons liked to speak in a vague mysterious tone instead of just saying things clearly.

"Inheritance?" Sidus's eyes shone at the mention of a way for him to grow stronger.

"Yes, though as I said, you'll have to find him again next time, and by then you need to be stronger if you want to withstand the inheritance," I slowly explained.

Sidus nodded in understanding, his gaze quickly turning determined. He didn't question where he should look for the old dragon, nor did he inquire for any more ways to grow stronger, with a goal set, Sidus's entire body seemed to brim with energy and excitement, one that I haven't felt from him in a long time.

"Should we continue exploring the cave?" He asked as his eyes wandered down the dark corridor with a newfound determination.

I followed his gaze and slowly nodded. Besides the ancient door monster, and the old dragon, we still haven't come across the monster we initially came here to deal with. With the door gone, I doubted It would reappear, here again, the appearance of Nilath was probably closely linked to it.

'Maybe his task is to constantly chase after the ancient door to seal the monster behind it?' I inwardly wondered. It was just a rough guess, but at the moment It seemed like the most plausible one.

"Let's go," I said and carefully continued ahead, Sidus closely following behind me.

It took us a while before we finally reached an exit. For some reason, however, something told me that the world inside the cave and outside were different, not quite like when we entered Nilath's soul space.

Perhaps because my affinity towards mana was higher compared to others, Sidus didn't seem to notice anything wrong, yet I was quite sensitive to the change. I tipped my head back and glanced upwards. There was no moon or stars in the sky, the night was akin to a cloth blanketing us.

"It's already dark?" I mumbled with a frown.

Sidus's eyes suddenly turned serious as he moved closer to me and spoke softly, "We are here brother,"

"Hmm?" Hearing that, I curiously scanned our surroundings. We were standing in the middle of what looked like a dark valley, the sky was dark, and our surroundings were darker.

A layer of dark mana seemed to cloak the area ahead preventing me from peering at what lay behind. 'That should be where the monster is at, right?' As if on cue, the surroundings in that area suddenly began to morph as the dark mana moved to form a large imposing figure.

Its four huge shadowy wings looked larger in person, his two goat legs gave off a creepy feeling, yet the most eye-catching feature of the monster was its hazy head, It was just a blob of darkness that constantly moved, all the while It wasn't connected to Its torso and just silently floated right above it.

With Its sudden appearance, the dark mana in the area seemed to grow relentless as If hurriedly rushed to surround the monster. A frown made its way to my face as I glanced at the scene. The monster appeared to be swallowing the mana, constantly encompassing it inside its body.

An ear-piercing roar rumbled across the dark valley, causing my frown to deepen, Sidus’s expression turned serious as he faced the monster. He looked like he was facing his archenemy. ‘Interesting, Sidus said something was calling him into this place, at first I thought that the thing was Nilath’s inheritance, even the ancient dragon seemed to silently approve, but now, maybe that’s not completely true?’ I noted.

The more I looked at the monster constantly swallowing the dark mana, the more I seemed to understand something. ‘The inheritance is one part, but I think the real reason for his summoning is the mana itself. The mana is calling him for help,’

Perhaps before I wouldn’t have considered such a possibility, but after I visited grandmother, and the land of the Gods, and after I saw the stream of mana, my viewpoint of things slowly began to change. ‘The mana is conscious, it seems to consist of countless elements, constantly swimming through the stream and filling the land. Whatever this monster is doing is clearly harmful to the dark mana, and since Sidus is the one with the affinity to this particular element, he is the one that can hear its plea for help,’

The more I thought about It, the more I grew confident in my chain of thought. ‘That must be it,’ Sidus looked like he was barely stopping himself from lunging forward, while I on the other hand started considering my options, ‘Water mana is sparse in here, so using it will not be very helpful, Earth mana, on the other hand, is abundant but I'm not sure of its effect against Dark mana,’

“Then that just leaves Cosmic mana,” I whispered, a wide grin slowly making its way to my face.

“Sidus,” I called out, he seemed to be having a hard time tearing his attention away from the monster that was still sucking in the Dark mana from its surroundings.

“Brother?”

“It looks like the monster is dependent on Dark mana, I’m not sure what the effect will be if we separate It from it, but I have a feeling It won’t be pretty, your affinity towards the mana should be higher since it seems to be brute-forcing it. I’ll give you a chance and you use that to wrestle back control over the mana,” I quickly explained.

Sidus appeared to have understood my plan as he nodded seriously, a dangerous aura emitting from his body as he readied himself.

“Good,” Seeing that, I nodded in approval and turned my attention back to the monster.

‘Shall we start then?’