If you can't solve the problem, then solve the person who caused it!
Abis began to doubt himself a bit. He wondered if he had become mentally rigid from digging up corpses and studying necromancy in Darkness all the time. He couldn't even come up with such a direct and effective solution until Flora reminded him.
"So you're saying... I use my abilities to secretly bring Princess Leona out of her coffin..." Abis said, glancing at the confused ghost.
The ghost quickly turned his face away. "I don't know."
"And then, with the resurrected Princess Leona, we directly head out from here to find the queen who probably cursed her, and solve the queen and her minions, so that the tomb guardians in the village can continue to live without the burden of being hanged at any time," Abis said enthusiastically, clapping his hands. "My goodness, I love this plan. After all, we're the strongest necromancer and Spirits master on the continent. Why should we act so subserviently?"
Flora also smiled. Abis's affirmation and his words made her very happy.
"We have a month's time, and that should be enough," Abis calculated the time by pinching his fingers. "It takes half a day to reach the capital from here. I think a month is enough—unless there are any unexpected incidents during the problem-solving process."
"Just half a day?" Flora interrupted Abis's thoughts. "There is still quite a distance from here to the capital. We would need at least a week to travel."
"A week? Oh, you mean on horseback?" Abis was puzzled, then he touched Flora's head. "My silly Flora, do you think I only have one horse?"
"Huh?"
Abis smiled and snapped his fingers, pulling both of them into Darkness at the same time, gently stroking the ring on his hand.
A long, haunting scream seemed to come from ancient times, echoing in Flora's mind. As the scream became clearer, the sky gradually darkened. The sun was shining above without any clouds blocking it, but its brightness was diminishing noticeably. The powerful magic caused a fierce wind to blow around the two, blowing away the snow on the ground in Darkness and lifting Flora and Abis's clothes with a crackling sound.
"What kind of magic is this?" Flora looked at Abis's hand in astonishment. A blue light was spreading out gradually from the ring on his hand, and the increasingly powerful force made Flora feel a sense of oppression. She even had the urge to release Spirits to protect herself.
"Don't worry, it won't hurt you," Abis said to Flora while raising his hand high. "Come out, little Charizard!"
The light on his hand grew bigger, then separated from Abis's hand and continued to expand in mid-air, until it became a large creature hovering over their heads like a small mountain. Then, the light gradually transformed and solidified in the air, eventually turning into a huge creature with wings.
"Summoned by my lord's call, master, I am Frost Dragon, not Charizard." The huge creature in the sky flapped its wings, emitting a thunder-like sound, but its tone was filled with helplessness. "It has been two years, and the master should have remembered it correctly by now."
"You were a Charizard when you were alive," Abis laughed. "Although I saw you for the first time when you were almost dying, I still prefer calling you Charizard."
"What are your orders, master?" The gigantic creature above them gave up reasoning with Abis, flapped its wings, and slowly descended. The tremendous wind pressure caused Flora to press down her hair to prevent it from being blown wild.
Only now did Flora see the appearance of the creature in front of her clearly: its whole body covered in icy blue scales, with a thick layer of frost on top, giant wings flickering with magical runes, four legs as thick as millstone and a head as big as a bull, hollow eye sockets with two flaming blue flames burning, constantly emitting white cold air as it breathed and spoke—wasn't this a dragon?"Let me introduce you, this is Flora," Abis said, placing a hand on Flora's shoulder. "Flora, meet Charizard. As you can see, he is a dragon."
"A dragon...?" Flora covered her mouth to maintain her composure. "But dragons went extinct a thousand years ago, didn't they?"
"They didn't go extinct. The dragons found a hiding place on the continent where they could remain concealed. Nowadays, humans are becoming more and more powerful, and it's not easy for dragons to coexist," Abis smiled, pointing at the dragon's nose in front of them. "The dragons foresaw that their entire bodies, from skin to bone, could be turned into weapons and armor that humans would like. So, they planned their disappearance in advance. According to them, they would only come out to save their world when the end of days was near."
"Miss Flora," despite being as large as a mountain, Charizard behaved very obediently in front of Abis, like a gentle mare. "So, you are the master's relative?"
"Yes," Abis nodded.
"Companion! Companion!" Flora corrected blushing.
"Oh, I'll call you 'mistress' in the future," Charizard's massive face broke into a pleasing smile, "Mistress, be well."
"Great, a brief introduction is enough. We will need you to fly us somewhere in a little while, so get ready," Abis didn't bother being polite with the dragon, ordering directly.
"Understood, please summon me whenever you need me," Charizard nodded its massive head obediently. Then, with Abis lifting his hand, it transformed into a beam of light and disappeared into Abis' ring.
"So, with this little guy helping us, we should have no problem reaching the imperial capital in half a day, right?" Abis stood with his hands on his hips, proudly telling Flora, "Charizard is a very reliable partner. As long as you give him shiny things as collectibles frequently, he won't slack off while working."
"You actually have a dragon..." Flora couldn't believe her eyes as she looked at Abis. "How many secrets do you have?"
"It's not a secret," Abis waved his hand, saying, "I just have too many things in my hands. If I bring everything out, it would take half a day to explain everything. It's the same if I bring them out when needed. But enough about that, can we leave now? I haven't met Princess Leona yet, even though I've seen her rough appearance in some portraits. But those painters made her look too abstract."
