Chapter 721: Runeth's Incarnation
"Let's go," Runeth said as he stepped forward and walked into the pitch-black cavern.
"But it's an empty cave now. There was no mysterious maze too." Umi showed a confused look and spoke.
"It's not that the entrance disappeared completely. I just hid it until certain conditions were met." Runeth explained as he walked further into the cavern.
Meanwhile, Charles conjured a ball of fire, let it hover mid-air, and followed Runeth closely.
Although Umi was confused by his words, she didn't ask many questions and hurriedly followed the duo.
But as they walked further, the rough walls became smooth and shiny. The shrubs and the weeds that occupied the ground disappeared and were replaced with white marble. Magical lamps were also attached to the walls, giving brightness everywhere.
"Why did you made this maze anyway, old man?" Charles asked as they walked in.
"Oh? It's one of the seventeen inheritance ground of mine in seventeen different planes and each one has a secret of mine. This one has the complete essence spell model replica of Erase Existence spell. You should also do the same whenever you face an obstacle in your rank up. You never know what happen to us in this vast universe after all." Runeth answered.
"But why haven't you taken any disciples before? Or did you have already?" Charles further inquired.
"Unlike other mages, I rarely take disciples by myself. Instead, I will always let the destiny decides. Not even gods can manipulate with their fate strings to get my inheritance." Runeth said proudly.
"Aren't you the one who got turned into a crown artifact by a divine?" Charles scoffed.
At that moment, Umi started to talk while looking at Charles.
"Now that I think about it, do you guys know my big brother Abium? Whenever I mentioned his words, he always acted surprised or showed more interest."
'I thought of her as a naïve and playful girl but I was wrong. Even though she seems to have met Runeth's incarnation, she has been observing us all this time and keeping an eye on our every movement.'
"Actually, I met your big brother two in the world where we came from. Do you want to know more about him and his current situation?" Charles asked.
"Hmm? No. Although it's been a long time since I met my both big brothers, I've been talking with them every day. It's just that I'm not bothered asking where they are what they are doing right now." Umi responded casually as he cautiously glanced at the walls made of rocky sand and soon added.
"Found it." She hurriedly walked towards the wall, clenched her fist, and made a light tap. The next second, a part of the wall broke and started falling on the ground, revealing a mysterious red gem filled with unique rune patterns.
"This is the key to enter the pocket dimension. We've to gather 12 more gems in the maze and then enter the altar room." Umi explained solemnly.
"Oh? You know this trick?" Runeth stopped his footsteps and asked. It was one of the few tricks to enter the pocket dimension, but he never told anyone. Unless someone was fortunate, finding all thirteen gems in this maze and entering the altar room is almost impossible.
'Moreover, my incarnation is the one who decides whom to enter the altar room.'
If someone enters the altar room beforehand, they might teleport to the other side of the continent or the cave entrance. Another restriction was that one could enter this Maze cavern only once every ten years.
"Big Brother Abium was the one who told us to collect these gems. At that time, my mom was there too." Umi clenched her fist while biting her lips and added.
"Those moments were my precious ones in my whole life."
While she was talking, Runeth found another gem and put it in his pocket. Then, he stopped his footsteps as he saw the pathway splitting into three and added.
"Let's split up and search."
Both Charles and Umi also halted their footsteps and agreed.
"But be careful that you can't use your wisdom power here. I made such a complicated security array to protect the pocket dimension." Runeth added as he chose the center path and walked ahead.
"Interesting."
Charles chose the left path and continued to walk inside the maze while searching for the unique gem. But as he walked further, he couldn't help but be stunned as he saw the pathway splitting up again.
Without even a delay, he chose the left path with the help of his visions, continued to walk in, and soon found a red gem. For the next few minutes, he continued to roam in the maze, found three more red gems, and soon arrived at a sizeable chamber-like area with multiple intersecting paths.
But the tall metallic door at the end, which had runic inscriptions and weird engravings, made him halt his footsteps.
"Oh? It seems you came earlier than me. So, how many gems did you collect?" Runeth asked as he walked from one of those pathways.
"Four." Charles's words surprised him.
"Ah, I forgot you have the vision skill to fight the right path." Runeth nodded his head and soon arrived beside him while adding.
"We still need six more gems. Let's wait until that foxkin arrives."
After waiting a few minutes, Umi returned through one of those pathways and showed a sad face while giving the gems.
"I only managed to get three gems in total."
"This girl's luck is good indeed." Runeth smiled as he got the gem from her and turned towards Charles.
"We'll stay here. You go and pick up the rest with your vision skill."
Charles didn't say anything as he activated the sixth sense skill and soon found the right path.
He once again entered the maze and continued his search. After an hour of long search, Charles finally managed to gather the rest of the three gems, returned to the chamber-like hall, and gave them to Runeth.
On the other hand, Runeth walked closer to the metallic door and touched it. The next instant, the iron door distorted as if it had never existed and disappeared, revealing an altar room to everyone.
"That was the door of the past? So, it never existed to begin with!" Charles said with a shocked tone.
"Haha, you should know that I chose Historian Class later due to my curiosity about the 'Past Time.' I've been researching it since when I was a Tri-Elemental Mage." Runeth said as he stepped into the altar room and soon walked towards the center of the altar table without minding the thirteen stone pillars in a circle.
He first touched the blue crystal at the center of the altar table and moved toward the nearby stone pillar. Once he approached the table, he took one red gem and put it on the iron pot above the small stone pillar. He continued to put all the other twelve gems in the remaining ones and arrived before the altar table.
At the same time, the whole room began to vibrate fiercely, followed by cracking noises from the red gems.
As the red gems started to disintegrate, dense spatial elements gathered at the center of the altar room, creating a spatial crack.
Soon, the crack expanded and formed into a big bluish portal.
"Let's go." Runeth said as he stepped into the portal and soon disappeared from there. Umi and Charles also followed him behind and went in.
Soon, all three stood in the middle of a dense forest.
Charles released his wisdom power in every direction and soon noticed a few goblins were nearby.
"Is this the pocket dimension?" Asking, he also looked up at the gigantic sun.
"An artificial Sun? Wow, you actually managed to create an artificial sun?" He couldn't help but get surprised.
"That's a spell of my friend. I made some alterations and let it stay in the sky forever." Runeth spoke as if it was normal and soon sharpened his gaze towards a particular direction before uttering.
"Teleport."
A second later, three magic circles appeared below their feet, enveloped them as a whole in spatial elements, and forcefully teleported them.
The next moment, Charles and others stood in a 16x16ft large chamber. Many magical lamps appeared all around, illuminating the whole area in bright light. The walls and ceilings were adorned with pictures of legendary creatures, giving a sense of uniqueness.
But what startled Charles was that he saw a similar scene he encountered in the Hall of Stars. Countless artifacts, potions, books, and strange materials were placed inside glass cubes and showcased everywhere.
Charles walked towards the nearby table and inspected the artifacts sealed inside. Although a powerful force tried to block his wisdom power, his wisdom skill easily bypassed the invisible blocking layer and started analyzing the items one by one.
"Nightmare Touch... Hand of Midas...Cloak of Destiny... "As he looked at the artifacts, he was momentarily stunned.
"Some of these artifacts are rare even in Rebirth Tower-" Just as he spoke, Charles sensed a presence from behind and instantly turned around.
Soon, he saw an illusionary figure of a middle-aged man standing a few feet away from them and showing a stunned face. He had blonde hair, amber eyes, a round face, elongated thin eyebrows, and a muscular body. He wore a golden robe with a dragon symbol engraved and looked familiar.
"Old man? Is he your incarnation?" Charles asked.
