3 bar menu

Chapter 71

This abandoned palace had little interest to me, but even I could tell it once belonged to someone powerful. To see the portal connect to somewhere else, I quickly realized many things. First off, as Erika had predicted, we weren’t in Schrodinger’s box. The box appeared to merely be a conduit used to transfer things to this place. It also wasn’t the only entry point. If the box killed anyone who tried to escape it, then perhaps one of the other routes could be our means of escape.

Anyone could be coming through to this side. It could be an abomination, or even the owner of this place, although its look of abandonment made that feel unlikely. Either way, I was immediately wary and chose to hide myself. I used Crypsis to blend myself in with the environment. I enhanced this look with my Chromatophore, changing the very color of my skin. Adding Cellular Redistribution I blended with the environment perfectly. I was nothing but a ghost.

However, of all the dangerous things I could have expected to come through, it wasn’t a young man. He stumbled through the entrance, a yellow flickering magic flashing as he appeared, almost like he had been pushed. He let out a cry as he caught himself, then looked around frantically.

“Is it safe?” An arrogant voice sounded on the other side.

“Ah! I-it is!” The boy called back once he recovered from his shock. “It’s safe!”

A moment later, two more people stepped through. They were all also young. They were all in their teens, perhaps early twenties, about the same age as Erika. One of them was a boy, and the other was a girl. The boy had his nose in the air, and an arrogant look on his face. The girl was a redhead with a large chest, and she was clinging to him while giving looks of adoration.

“I suppose you’re not completely useless.” The arrogant one spoke after looking around.

“I told you there was a portal, my lord.” The boy spoke while nodding. “You’ll be the first to explore this unknown world.”

“World?” The arrogant one sneered. “This place isn’t even large enough to be called a pocket dimension.”

“Ah!” The boy winced.

“In fact… this might even be…” As the lord looked around, his smile became a frown. “A storage space?”

“A storage space?” The girl looked disbelieving. “You promised me adventure, and you took me to somebody’s closet?”

“I-it can’t be storage this large…” The boy tried to defend, wincing as the lord looked at him. “We’re alive!”

“An uncultured servant like you might not be aware of such things.” The Lord made a face. “But when you reach my level you learn more about the wonders of this world. There are even storage rings that support life and are many times larger than this!”

“That’s so interesting!” The girl took the opportunity to compliment him, not seemingly aware that by doing it, she admitted she was the same as the uncultured servant.

The boy looked a bit excited by his words. “If that’s so, and you can obtain the ring, it’d be worth half the kingdom!”

“Idiot!” He scoffed. “No one said it was a ring… and this subspace has destabilized or we never would have been able to enter through that crack. Although, looking at it, this likely had many entry points. It appeared to be some high-level paragon’s home away from living space while he traveled.”

He was inspecting the doorway as he spoke, and his voice contained quite a bit of confidence. I even found myself trusting what he said as true. Then again, I had no experience with subspace and pocket dimensions. This was the first time I was even aware that such a thing existed.

“A high-level paragon… that’s good, isn’t it? There could be any number of treasures in here!” The boy’s voice was still eager.

The prince examined the entrance a bit longer and then turned away. “You did acceptable. However, that depends on what we find.”

“If you find something pretty, can I have it?” The girl pouted her lips and battered her eyelashes up at him.

The boy gulped, but to the lord’s credit, he didn’t seem so easily manipulated. “Anything you find will naturally be yours.”

He didn’t agree or disagree, but the girl still smiled as if he had made a promise. The group of three only looked around the room for a short time before looking for a way out. They seemed to be disinterested in the skeletons all around the courtyard. That was good because it just so happened that my current hiding place was among the skeletons. It was still the easiest form for me to take.

When they encountered the locked door, the guy didn’t hesitate to break it open. When he did so, I got a hint of his strength, and he was likely a high-tier flawless. He’d be one of the highest-evolved humans I had ever met. Thankfully, he wasn’t a lord-level evolved, or I might have become a bit more worried.

“Wh-what about our exit?” The boy asked nervously. “Maybe I should return…”

Even then, the connection remained open, the distorted image behind it like a thin puddle of water was the only show the path was still there.

“It is an unstable entrance. Going through one more time may cause it to collapse.” The lord glared at him.

“U-unstable?” The boy turned white, and the girl held his arm tighter, a look of worry on her face.

“It should last a few hours.” He shrugged. “We have time to look around. It’ll allow one more transfer. We’ll all leave together. It’ll be fine.”

That seemed to be enough to relax the other two and they nodded and followed him. Once they left the courtyard, I detached a piece of my body and used Mimic to replicate a mouse and chased after them. This worked way better than my manual attempts to replicate sensory organs. I didn’t use this method before because I was practicing, but this time I wanted to watch what they were doing and I didn’t have the time or energy to construct something capable of both following them and having all of the necessary senses.

“Hah! It’s a Sunset Orchid!” The Lord had only crossed the hallway when he exclaimed.

There was an innocuous flower in a pot that he excitedly pulled out, looking at it as if he had just found a great treasure.

“Isn’t that a really rare alchemy ingredient?”

“It’s exactly what I need to advance to champion.” He spoke reverentially. “This already makes this trip worth it.”

A few rooms later…

“That’s an omni moonstone. It’s great crafting material!” The boy cried out.

The girl reached out and snatched it before he could react. When the pair looked at her, she blushed.

“This would make a good amulet.” She responded, pocketing it into her belt pouch.

The pair continued to scour room after room. Plants I had discarded as weeds and rocks I had ignored as rubble or landscape kept getting selected by the group. These items apparently could be used in crafting. I had dozens of crafting skills, but I knew nothing about this world’s flora and fauna, let alone craftmaking. I felt slightly embarrassed that there had been so many treasures I had blatantly overlooked. These items could be used in the production of potions and pills, as well as artifacts like that talisman that the paragon knight had used. I wouldn’t mind putting something like that on Mara.

As the group continued, I started to have a new worry. Their search was methodical, so I could predict their movements, and they’d soon be reaching the library. This was where Erika was hiding.  I had considered just letting them meet each other. I was curious how they’d react. What would she say, and what would they say? For all I knew, they were acquainted. He appeared to be some lord, and she also appeared to have some noble status.

However, I started to realize that if they considered her a threat or suspected she was holding onto better stuff, it’d become inconvenient. I might even need to save her life. Thus, I decided to keep them from reaching the library. After checking out the composition of the wall, I used Matter Shifting and Externalized Control to extend the wall. It only took a few moments.

I chose right after they had entered one of the rooms. The wall extended out over the doorway, and like that, there was only a wall with no entrance. Of course, Erika couldn’t escape either, but she looked perfectly comfortable remaining in there for some time with her books and showed no sign of leaving even after days.

“Nothing in there.” The lord looked unhappy, even though he had already gathered a half dozen things, and allowed the other two to have a couple of things too.

By that point, I had already disappeared. “Hmm? Wasn’t there a wall here?”

The boy was looking down the hallway in confusion.

“Does it look like there is a door there?” The lord demanded with an irritated voice. “Let’s go.”

The three walked passed the library. The boy, it was hard for me to determine if he was a friend or a servant based on how the noble boy treated him, looked once more at the wall but then seemed to put it out of his mind. It was time to put in my plan.