Chapter 22: The Wind Rises

This sleep was quite restful.

The battles in his dreams didn’t leave Wade feeling exhausted—on the contrary, they energized him.

“Good morning, Mia.”

Wade greeted Mia in his mind.

He grabbed the wriggling little ghost and sat up.

Mia wasn’t pleased. Pouting, she struggled to break free, but Wade held firm. The space was too small, and he feared she might bump her head if she flew around.

Moreover…

Wade looked up to see the white bone beams above trembling slightly.

Tiny grains of sand fell through the gaps between his ribs onto his tattered shroud.

Something wasn’t right. He could hear the howling wind outside.

Wade moved to the cave entrance and pushed the rock aside just enough to create a small gap. Immediately, fine sand and pebbles poured in.

Outside, yellow sand filled the sky as strong winds raged.

The wind was tremendous. Wade crawled forward to observe.

Mia joined him on the ground, mimicking his movements as the little ghost peeked out with her tiny head.

Wade gripped her tightly to prevent her from flying away.

In such fierce winds, a feather-light ghost could vanish in an instant—who knew where she might end up?

Even skeletons couldn’t maintain their footing in these conditions.

Wade spotted another skeleton caught in the gale—the unfortunate skeletal brother tumbled head over heels like a rolling stone down a mountain, carried away by the wind.

Skeletons were too light; their weight couldn’t withstand such winds.

Seeing this, Mia shrank back like a snail retreating into its shell, hiding in Wade’s palm.

Wade quickly pulled the rock back to seal the entrance, preventing the wind from disturbing the cave interior.

This was his first time witnessing such powerful winds on the wasteland. Apparently, even the wasteland had weather changes. His time living here had been too short to gain sufficient experience.

Fortunately, he’d prepared a small home in advance.

He’d chosen this cave after careful consideration, selecting a sheltered spot on the leeward slope just in case. Unexpectedly, it proved useful.

Had he been wandering outside when the wind picked up, he might have ended up like that skeletal brother—”sailing far away”—possibly cracking his skull against a rock during the tumbling and meeting an unfortunate end.

At least he had shelter from the storm.

However, hiding in the cave didn’t mean complete safety.

Although the leeward slope and several meters of sand and stone acted as barriers to weaken the wind, he still had to guard against the risk of cave collapse.

The cave’s greatest weakness was its composition.

Its structure wasn’t made of solid rock but loose soil and sand—far less stable.

Rainwater saturation or strong vibrations could cause it to collapse.

That’s why Wade had reinforced the cave with bones.

This helped somewhat, but the effect was limited since it was only temporary work.

He’d spent at most an hour or two piecing these bones together. The framework was crude, and what held the bones together wasn’t strong adhesive—just his soul fire.

Under normal conditions, this structure would suffice, but facing such intense winds exposed the risks of shoddy construction.

The bone framework in the cave shook continuously, like bamboo in the wind.

He had to physically stabilize the beams, gripping two main support bones with both hands to reinforce the structure.

Sand continued to fall intermittently from above.

Not much, but the occasional trickle was unsettling—who knew when the “ceiling” might collapse and bury him and the little ghost alive?

Mia showed no signs of anxiety. Bouncing around energetically in the cramped space where she couldn’t fly freely, she instead climbed all over Wade.

Wade sat cross-legged, using both hands to steady the “beams.” He had to maintain this position—now he was the sturdiest, most reliable “pillar.”

Perhaps because he was ignoring Mia, she grew dissatisfied and tried every way to get his attention.

The little ghost climbed from his shinbone up to his thighbone, then to his pelvis, and finally up his spine toward his skull.

She treated Wade’s body like a mountain—which, relative to her size, he practically was.

Her lower body remained mist-like, so she could only climb with her hands.

Carefree, she swayed back and forth, clearly wanting to play with the skeleton before her, but Wade genuinely couldn’t spare the attention.

He wished he could give her something to do—like math problems—to calm her down.

Now he understood why teachers loved assigning homework and tests.

Wait… maybe she could actually help with something.

Not solving simple arithmetic, but using her innate abilities.

That “freezing” power.

When Wade first encountered Mia, he’d felt intense cold, frost forming on his body.

Couldn’t Mia freeze water? She’d even frozen a Flame Imp with this power.

If she could create ice, that meant she could lower surrounding temperatures.

Although this land was dry, it wasn’t completely devoid of moisture—dew would condense on bone surfaces when camping outside.

Wade’s idea was to have Mia expend some magic to see if she could freeze these bones together, making the “ceiling” more secure to stop the sand from falling.

He conveyed this simple experiment to her through thought.

Control the output—don’t waste energy.

Understanding his instructions, Mia flew up.

The little ghost landed where the bone framework connected. Embracing each “joint,” she caused frost to form on the bones. Visible ice crystals condensed—there was moisture even in this sandy soil.

When she landed on Wade’s skull and reached up to press her small hand against the “ceiling,” releasing her magic, the loose sand solidified into hard clumps of frozen earth.

Though the wind still raged outside, no more sand fell.

Carefully, Wade released his grip, ready to resume his role as a “support pillar” if needed, but the “beams” no longer shook—the frozen water provided stability.

The little ghost had expended considerable energy but wasn’t exhausted—just tired as she landed on Wade’s shoulder.

“Rest if you’re tired,” Wade communicated.

Mia shook her head and began circling around him again—she still wanted to play.

Very well. After all her help, what harm was there in playing for a while?

Skeleton and ghost chased each other in the confined space.

Outside, the wasteland winds howled like the apocalypse.

But within this small cave, it might as well have been another world.