?Kyle stopped in front of a medium-sized building. He narrowed his eyes with skepticism at the ordinary-looking door. Still, he entered the building through a widow because he was sure he sensed something good in this place. Just like the other buildings, the interior was rather simple.
Slowly, he explored the building by going from room to room, checking behind furniture and opening doors. Strangely, no one from the dark race was present in the building. As he searched, his eyes scanned the walls for any signs of hidden passages or secret compartments. And that's when he noticed a simple stone bookshelf. However, it was empty.
Kyle blinked with a raised brow.
"Huh? If they don't have books why did they place it here.."
With a grin, he pushed the stone shelf away from the wall. It was heavy but the weight was nothing in front of the delicious smell of treasures. His grin widened when a narrow stairway emerged from behind the shelf, leading down into darkness.
With a mix of excitement and caution, Kyle descended into the stairway, until he reached a wide underground room. However, the sight he saw was vastly different from the one he imagined.
The room was mostly empty, except for a few old plants and herbs that were messily scattered on the ground. In the distance, he saw a table and gingerly walked past the scattered plants.
Kyle's eyebrow twitched when he arrived in front of the table. A few bloodied weapons and some storage rings were all, that were strewn across the table surface. He sighed and massaged his temples because the weapons and rings belonged to Alec and the people who escaped a while ago.
"What did I even expect? The dark race is truly poor."
Regardless, he activated his skill scent perception to check if the room really had nothing of value. Instantly, his nose was blasted with hundreds of unpleasant scents oozing out from the dead plants and the surrounding walls. Yet, amidst so many scents he sensed it clearly when a calm and soothing smell flickered around him.
Kyle moved his head to glance at the few weapons placed above the table. He picked up the simple-looking sword and narrowed his eyes.
"Hmm, Alec sword? I thought it was just an ordinary weapon but the smell coming from it is saying otherwise."
He tilted his head and swung the blade around him. A humming sound echoed in the room as he ran his fingers along the smooth silver surface.
"It's good but it's not mine. What a pity."
He shook his head and tossed everything present on the table inside his mind space. However, he made a mental note to return the items if he encountered their owners. After all, due to the dark race presence the ancient realm was very dangerous.
"Anyway, since I only know Alec and Carcel, I should just dump everything on them."
Kyle roamed inside the room but in the end, found nothing of value. He dejectedly left the building and aimlessly wandered inside the base. He was so carefree that if anyone saw him they would think he was walking in front of his house. In the middle of his walk, he even killed a few members of the dark race as if they were the ones intruding on his territory.
After a few hours, he let out a tired yawn. There was this weird feeling in the back of his mind, that he was forgetting something really, really important, but he just shrugged it off because he was too tired.
Kyle looked around and decided to enter the nearest building. To his surprise, he discovered an empty bed in one of the rooms. Though the bed was firm, it was better than rocks and trees. He drew a protective Array in the room and retrieved a blanket from his mind space to get some sleep.
.....
A loud sound reverberated in the middle of the vast field. Bia narrowed her eyes dangerously at the tiny innocent insects crawling below her huge body.
-'You bastard! how dare you cut off my voice!'
Her wings fluttered with crimson flames and countless fireballs appeared around her. With a single flap, she tossed the fireballs down at the insects. The surrounding air grew scorching hot as the raging flames intensified, growing larger and more ferocious with each passing second.
In the distance, Nine and Jian both simultaneously peeked out from behind Haylee's huge body. They wiped their sweaty foreheads when they saw Bia's towering figure.
Nine let out a chuckle. Before when Kyle was around, he endured bone-chilling cold, and now with Bia's presence, he had to endure intense heat.
He tapped Jian's shoulder with a hardened expression.
"Why do you think she is so angry?"
Jian narrowed his eyes in contemplation.
"Maybe, she is missing Kyle?"
Nine nodded in agreement. The duo had only met a few days ago, but to their surprise, they instantly clicked, as if they were long-lost friends.
Haylee's eyebrow twitched when he heard the two boys clinging to his body. He so badly wanted to throw them away but he paused for the sake of the rules.
Unlike the two curious heads peeking out from behind Haylee, Rowan and the girls were training in the distance. Due to Haylee's presence, the insects did not bother them that much that's why they were able to easily pass their time in the castle.
After using up all her mana, Bia let out a huff and silently landed next to Haylee. The boar acknowledged her with a nod when he sensed the powerful aura around her body.
"Good job. If you keep it up, you might just have another breakthrough."
Bia closed her eyes. Just as Kyle had guessed, she recently reached (B-)-Rank. However, despite feeling drained, she couldn't help but be angry at him. It had been a whole day without any news from Kyle. If she couldn't sense that he was alright, she would have thought he had perished out there.
"Bia, are you hungry?"
A familiar sweet voice floated through the air, instantly diverting Bia's attention from Kyle. She shrank in size and pounced on Yue with a blissful expression.
-'Yes! It's food time!'
