After concluding the meeting in Twilight City, Todd, having left the Soul Space, slowly opened his eyes, looked at the distant mountains, and fell into deep thought.

Standing beside him, Ivy noticed his unusual behavior and asked, "What's wrong?"

"If someone told you that they could help you get rid of your human body and transform into another race, would you agree?"

Evie looked at Todd strangely: "Isn't the answer obvious? No one would refuse power if they could gain a stronger body."

Todd continued, "But you will become a complete alien, and you will never be able to integrate into human society again."

Evie shrugged, completely unconcerned: "You probably don't know what my life was like in the village. There was no entertainment, no idle chatter, only daily practice and worship of the gods. For me, human society didn't mean much..."

Hearing Evie's answer, Todd shook his head and said, "That might be the answer for you, but it would be completely different for others. Humans have long regarded society as a necessity. To detach oneself from human form is tantamount to self-exile from human society..."

Todd's voice trailed off, his thoughts turning to himself as he listened to these words. Had he, who had chosen to transform into a dragon to protect everything in Twilight City, ever felt a pang of regret deep down?

Perhaps there is, but then he realized that the answer was no longer meaningful.

Evie leaned against Todd's hind legs and whispered, "If there's anything good about being human, maybe there is... For example, when I'm with you, I finally find something interesting to do, but because of your appearance, that's completely impossible..."

An embarrassed Todd cleared his throat: "As I said, I'll find a way to solve this problem. But let's not talk about that for now. I'd like to ask, when I'm not in Froststone, how are emergencies usually handled in the city?"

Ivy glanced at the black dragon: "The shamanic gathering will hold a meeting and use a voting method to give the results."

Todd pressed further: "What if the meeting cannot reach a consensus, or if the matter is so urgent that there is no time to decide through a meeting?"

Ivy rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment: "Come to think of it, there have indeed been similar situations before..."

"How was it finally resolved?"

"Runic divination".

Todd asked in confusion, "Runic divination?"

Evie explained, “In the teachings of the gods, if mortals face a choice of destiny, they usually seek out shamans and ask them to use stones inscribed with runes for divination. Have you forgotten? Even Odin, the king of the gods, once sought the help of the three Fates regarding the Cataclysm, asking them to use runes to deliver an oracle.”

Todd immediately became interested: "How exactly is runic divination done?"

"A pile of stones engraved with runes was placed in a stone circle, and flames were used as a catalyst to observe the changes in the runes on the stones..."

Todd shook the dragon head, saying in an incredulous tone, "That's it? You make a decision using this method?! It's no different from burning a tortoise shell or shaking a divination tube!"

Evie looked up at Todd: "Burning tortoise shells? Shaking divination cylinders? These are also methods of divination?"

"Never mind that for now." Todd stretched out his hind legs, coiled the dragon's tail behind him, and lifted the dragon's head with his forelimbs, saying, "Whether it's Twilight City or Froststone City, in the event of an emergency, holding a meeting to make a decision is too slow, but using divination is unreliable."

Ivy rolled her eyes and said, "These kinds of words shouldn't come from the mouth of a god..."

Ignoring Ivy's sarcasm, Todd pondered deeply: "Ideally, I'd like to find a way for the Twilight Cabinet and the Shamanic Gathering to contact me proactively... The soul space used for remote meetings can currently only be opened by myself. However, if there were a way to allow not only me to open it, but also for others to freely enter... that way, if any emergency occurs in either city, they could proactively enter the soul space and contact me..."

Thinking about this, Todd suddenly remembered something.

When he established a soul link with Leviathan, it was not through direct contact, but by touching the head of a manticore, he automatically entered the latter's soul space.

If this method is feasible, does it mean that the soul space is not something that can only be opened through one-way operation, but rather that all individuals can freely access it through some kind of intermediary?

Thinking of this, Todd flapped his dragon wings and flew into the air, saying to Evie on the ground, "I'm going to the Shadow Kingdom."

Under the immense wind pressure, the latter watched the giant dragon slowly rise into the sky, squinted his eyes, and shouted, "Remember what you promised me!"

Before he finished speaking, Todd had already entered the clouds and was flying rapidly northward.

It was late at night when Todd landed on the ruins of the Shadow Kingdom temple.

Meredith, who was sitting by the fire drawing sand pictures on the ground, heard a huge flapping sound from the sky. She stood up, dropped the branch she was holding, and happily waved her arms overhead.

Todd slowly landed on the open ground of the temple ruins and asked Meredith, "Do you remember my first training opponent on the island, that manticore?"

Meredith was taken aback by Todd's sudden question.

Realizing what had happened, she said with some regret, "You came all this way just for that wild beast?"

Todd folded his dragon wings and looked down at Meredith: "There's something I want to verify: the process involved requires that manticore."

Meredith sighed helplessly, "Alright, the manticores' colony is in a cave on the eastern side of the snow mountain. There's a huge ancient tree there, clearly visible from the air. Remember to come back to me after you've finished your business; I have some questions for you too."

Todd nodded, flapped his dragon wings again, and flew towards the snow-capped mountains of the Shadow Kingdom.

After searching for about ten minutes, Todd found the hidden crypt that Meredith had mentioned beneath the ancient tree.

Todd folded his dragon wings and slowly glided to the ground. The small creatures around him, seeing the black dragon, scattered and fled into their respective lairs.

Looking at the dark entrance to the cave, Todd couldn't help but worry about how to summon the manticore.

After pondering for a few minutes at the entrance, To Todd was surprised to see a manticore poking its head out of its burrow and looking at the huge black dragon in front of it with a tentative and fearful gaze.

With his true vision through the power of his soul, Todd immediately recognized the person he was looking for.

Taking a deep breath, Todd slowly placed the dragon claw on the lion's head, and in the next second, his consciousness was instantly sucked into darkness.

In the vast, boundless deep sea, in the pitch-black darkness, the colossal Leviathan looked at the black dragon that appeared before it and asked in a deep voice, "You've come here for the secret of the soul link?"