Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1805: Floor 32, Aetherion

-----

"How do you know so much about me?"

Maria could not quite understand how this man knew so much about her childhood.

"If there’s a toy that a child once loved, to the point of naming it, I know of it."

"..."

The man stood up. The clouds around him twisted into countless images of children with their beloved toys. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Toys are gateways to dreams, hope, and imagination—powerful elements often unseen by ordinary eyes. But you have mastered one of them. Even now, however, you have not tapped into everything yet. Take Bobo. Remember your childhood. Channel its power."

"My childhood?"

Maria looked down, suddenly aware of a tingling sensation within her.

Something strange.

She had no idea it was there until this moment.

"You’ve been channeling your power through suffering, agony, despair, and sorrow so far... But just as much as those negative emotions exist, so do the positive ones. Nothing is ever as one-sided as you imagine, my child."

"Thank you for returning Bobo to me."

"Hm, don’t mind it. That’s what I do. I am a Toy Maker."

Maria held the small toy in her hands, hugging Bobo tightly until she felt it slowly merge with her soul. It entered her Dantian and floated within the Nebula inside.

"This is... like an Immortal Artifact? No, it’s more akin to a Dream Spirit or Weapon... but also a Dharma Treasure that is incredibly strong..."

"It’s called an Embodiment of Nostalgia. By channeling Memories of Childhood, Bobo will help you advance on the path you’ve chosen. He has never stopped believing in you."

"...Thank you again."

"Hm. I would prefer to be left alone, however... I like to work on my own."

"I guess that’s how artists are, haha..."

As Maria turned to leave, the Toy Maker glanced at her once more, readjusting his glasses.

"If you truly plan to go ahead with your plan, make sure you don’t regret it later, understood? Go all the way to the end. And prepare for anything. Perhaps those you’ve always believed to be your allies really aren’t. And those you always thought were your enemies... may align with your dreams much more than you imagine."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"It’s up to you to guess. I don’t care what happens down there. The Dream Sea is vast and endless. The tower will never catch me, hahaha! I am truly free! Are you free, young Maria?"

As Maria fell, left to question everything she believed, her two consciousnesses merged. She looked at her daughter winning second prize in the tournament.

Celes took third place, while Arachne and Melianna placed fifth and sixth.

First place went to a young ant child who had built a very beautiful ant colony diorama with bricks.

"Mama! Papa! I WON SECOND PLACE! YAAAAY!"

Nyx celebrated even more wildly than the first-place child, who stared at her with his big ant eyes, tilting his head in confusion.

"Hahaha! That’s my girl!" Lucifer laughed and clapped.

"Yeah!" Maria nodded and joined in.

Everyone in her family clapped loudly, drawing complaints from the others about how noisy they were.

They also congratulated Celes on third place and Arachne on fifth; Melianna looked sad about coming in last.

In the end, everyone received a small prize anyway—one ticket each.

Those from third to first place earned additional tickets: first place received four, second place three, and third place two.

"Awesome! I can bring my brick friend along now!" Nyx cheered. "Wow, what should I make next?! Maybe a huge creature! I can’t wait!"

Eventually Maria and her family had to wait while the children assembled their army of Brick Familiars. Through the special tickets, the children formed soul contracts with them, allowing the familiars to accompany them anywhere.

With everyone happy, they decided to move on. Maria shared the experiences she had gone through with the Toy Maker and what they had discussed.

Everyone was a little surprised but did not overthink it.

"Maybe he said everything just to mess with your head," Lucifer suggested. "But he doesn’t seem like a bad guy... though he’s not wrong. Never trust strangers too easily, Maria."

"Maybe he meant that the Outer Gods aren’t all that good?" Partner asked.

"I already know they aren’t good people," Maria replied. "But I also thought they weren’t too bad... Perhaps I should be wary and prepare for anything once the time comes."

"Did he also mean something regarding the Heavenly Father or the Administrators?" Emeraldine wondered. "Maybe they aren’t bad?"

"They are definitely not the best though..." Maria sighed. "But... you’re not wrong either. Maybe there’s something more to everything. It opened my eyes a little."

The portal to Floor 32 lay behind a huge and colorful mountain. Riding atop Nyx’s giant brick dragon, they found the white portal and stepped through.

FLUOSH!

As they trespassed through dimensional membranes, Maria and her family felt a strong, cold, and fresh wind rush over them.

When they arrived, they stood on grass, surrounded by trees—ordinary grass and ordinary trees, no strange brick world.

The skies stretched vast and beautiful, and the sun shone brightly overhead.

The winds, however, were powerful in this place.

"Seems nice, but there’s a lot of wind!" Nyx said, walking around.

"Yeah," Maria nodded. "Hmm? So is this a more ordinary world or..."

"Woah!"

Suddenly Maria heard Alma and ran to her, finding her on the floor, looking stunned.

"What’s wrong?" Maria asked.

"T-The cliff! Look down!" Alma said.

"Hm?" Maria approached the cliff and peered over the edge.

Below lay an endless ocean of clouds, with dozens of floating islands scattered across the boundless sky.

"We’re in the sky..." Maria murmured. "Oh wow! Is this a floating island then?! That’s really cool, I guess!"

"Yes, this is Floor 32, Aetherion," Ferleen confirmed with a nod. "It’s a world with... no surface. It’s an endless blue sky. The local folk say their world was once destroyed in a cataclysmic event and split into thousands of floating islands and a few floating continents."

"Craaaah! Who’s there?"

As Maria listened, a bird person descended—a literal humanoid bird resembling a hawk, with arms and huge wings behind his back.

He was quite tall, armored, and carried a spear.

"Are you from the Crimson Order?!" he roared angrily. His spear glowed with magical power; a transparent stone attached to it amplified its strength, surrounding it with a wind-like aura. "You have pale skin, white hair, red eyes! And that woman over there has red hair...! Vampires! Begone from here!"

He attacked Maria with fury. His aura erupted with immense power, shaping a storm of winds into dozens of birds that assaulted her and everyone else.

"Please calm down. We are not from the Crimson Order."

Maria’s Void Aura easily shielded her family. Then Nia stepped forward with a smile, twisting her hand. The storm of winds shuddered, lost its strength, and dissipated.

"Wha...?! You have a Wind Rider with you?!"

The man nearly fell but managed to stay aloft with his wings, glaring down in surprise.

"A Wind Rider human...! That’s very rare...!"

"Wind Rider? My Elemental Affinity is just Wind and Thunder," Nia said. "It’s nothing that special..."

"Well, in our world only a few can do that!" he replied. "But they always become great figures—the Wind Riders who can freely travel the Endless Cloud Ocean without ever tiring their wings. Truly boundless and free!"

"Aaah... Uh-huh," Nia nodded, still rather confused.

"If there’s a Wind Rider among you, then you cannot possibly be from the Crimson Order!" he declared. "My apologies! We Bird Folk can only harness the power of the Winds using the Windstones we occasionally find—they fall from the skies during windstorms or thunderstorms."

"Aha, so that’s the stone in your spear," Maria said. "It doesn’t seem like a normal Wind Spirit Stone. It has Divine Power inside! Pretty unique."

"My apologies," the man said. "I might have jumped to conclusions, but we’ve been on edge since the Crimson Order and Olympus arrived in our world. They’re working together... and causing a lot of chaos and suffering."

"Again with these guys?" Arthur sighed. "What are they doing now? What happened?"

"Follow me. You should see it for yourselves," the man said, leading everyone toward his village on an adjacent floating island below.

"There..."

He pointed at the distance, not daring to step into the village.

It lay in ruins—houses destroyed, blood everywhere.

At the center stood a huge mass of shadows with red eyes, absorbing blood from all directions.

-----