Jack appeared inside a cave hall. He looked back. He couldn't see the portal that brought him here.
"Grace?" He called. He tried sending her a message, telling her that he was okay, but a notification soon told him that he was unable to send messages. He wondered if she followed him and go through the portal. He waited for her to appear.
Instead, it was Peniel who suddenly appeared beside him. She had been forcefully teleported here. She seemed to be at a loss.
Seeing that Grace didn't follow, Jack actually felt relieved. She would be safer outside. He didn't know what menace was inside here. Jack looked at the cave hall around them. Tree roots were seen along the walls. This informed Jack that they should be underground. Perhaps they were under the ground from where they used to be? Jack looked at his radar. Nothing. If they were under where they used to be, he should see one green dot on his radar, which was Grace.
'At least there was no monster,' Jack thought of his empty radar.
"Where is this place?" Peniel finally said. "I felt like I was being pulled from a very long distance."
"Really? I felt like I was simply stepping through a door," Jack said.
Peniel looked at him annoyingly. "You are going through a proper portal. I can be said to have been forcefully hurled here."
They both looked at the cave hall again. It was empty. There was only one opening in the wall.
"Only one way to go," Jack said.
Peniel looked back, searching for the portal. All she saw was just wall and tree roots. She said, "I don't think we can go back using the same way we came."
"We can always use the Town Return Scroll."
"If that doesn't work here?"
Jack shrugged. "We will just look for another way out then," he said as he walked to the only exit from this cave hall.
Peniel rolled her eyes, but she was used to Jack's take-it-easy attitude already. She flew behind him.
The exit took them to a long narrow cave. The cave became wider as they advanced until they came to another cave hall, one much more spacious than the one they came from. Not only that, this cave hall seemed to contain a full ecosystem. With trees and plants, there was a small lake in the distance. Jack even saw several small animals running around the place. He couldn't see the end of this place. This cave hall was probably the size of a small village.
"Weird," Jack said.
"Yeah, to see what looks like a small forest inside this place," Peniel said.
"That, and also the light," Jack said. "I thought it is my Dragon Eye that allows me to see this place so clearly, but it looks like the light just exists by itself around here."
"Hey, you are right. I can see just fine here, but I see no obvious light source."
"Something else, the mana around here. It feels all over the place. It is denser than normal, but I can't gauge how much dense it is… I don't think my mana sense work in this place. A monster might attack me right next to me and my mana sense won't be able to detect it. What kind of place is this that it can even negate mana sense?"
"Luckily, you still have your radar, right?"
"… There are times when a monster fools my radar, so I can't fully rely on it as well," Jack said. "Well, doesn't matter. I will just treat it like I'm back to before, relying on my good old eyes, ears, and nose."
A stone path marked the way. Jack simply followed it. He paid attention to the forest on his left and right. His weapons were in his hands, ready for action at a moment's notice.
He soon came to the small lake he had seen from the distance. The water was very clear. He could see some fish swimming near the surface. There were also some small birds flying above the lake. This place felt outdoor despite he was clearly in a cave.
As he followed the stone path, he saw a clearing on one side of the lake. Several wooden huts were there. If there was someone in this place, it should be there. Jack walked over.
He observed the huts after arriving. They were very small. They also didn't have doors. It was just a large opening, showing the room behind. Only one room inside the hut. Multiple trinkets filled the floor of the room.
Jack came to one of the huts and observed the mess on the floor. He then heard a gasp from Peniel.
"That's… That's the Chalice of Life! And that's the Grail of Temptation. This one is the Pottery of Angel Summoning… Ouch!"
Peniel had tried to touch the trinkets on the ground but she felt a jolt of electrocution when her hand neared.
"What is it? Are they that impressive?" Jack asked.
"Impressive? They are legendary items!" Peniel exclaimed.
"Le–Legendary…?!" Jack stammered. "Then why didn't my monocle tell me of such valuables?"
Jack tapped his monocle. No response. This meant his God-eye monocle was deactivated in this place, no wonder his radar was empty. He tried using Inspect, but the description of the item came out as junk. Jack figured whatever that was preventing Peniel from touching the item was also masking it from people's Inspect skill.
"My mana sense is dulled here. My monocle isn't functioning either. If not for you, I might have walked past this place thinking all of these are just mere rubbish," Jack said.
"Even the other ones are all unique-grade items. This place is a treasure trove," Peniel said.
Jack crouched and his hand went close to one of the things on the ground, the one Peniel called the Chalice of Life.
"Wait! There is a…"
Jack already felt the same jolt that stung Peniel while she was still talking. The sting hurt. He took a deep breath, braced himself, and then forced his two hands to touch the Chalice of Life. He figured if he could force his hands close to the item, even if just for one touch, that should be enough for him to send the item into his storage bag.
However, his palm hovered an inch over the chalice, not moving any further. Jack felt the pressure he was pushing at was increasing. Until finally, it exploded. Jack was sent flying tens of meters back. He crashed into a tree before falling to the ground. He lost 5,000 HP from that repulsive force, which was almost half of his life.
"Are you okay?" Peniel asked worriedly.
"Damn… My whole body hurt. That protection field is no joke," Jack said and walked back to the hut. "It is also not of a pure lightning element. If not, I might be able to abuse my Lightning God Suit to try to brute force it… Hey, could it be… Peniel, follow me!"
Jack went to the other hut and then asked Peniel, "Do you see that Eye of Illios inside here?" Jack never bothered asking Janus what the Eye of Illios looked like because he believed his God-eye monocle would inform him once he laid his sight on that legendary-grade item. Never would he think that the item would be masked from both his monocle and his Inspect ability.
"No, but there are other bunches of Legendary items," Peniel answered.
Jack brought her to the next hut. "What about here?"
"Here… Ah, there it is!" Peniel exclaimed as she flew over and pointed to one of the items on the floor. The item looked like some kind of a small trophy that people get after winning a competition in his past world. There was an eye-shaped sculpture held on its two ends by a crescent-shaped cast that was resting on top of a tiny metal box.
Jack came to the item indicated by Peniel.
"Be careful! Don't touch it or you will get burnt," Peniel warned.
"With that protection field, I doubt I can even touch it if I want," Jack said. He then took out the Glass Cube that was supposed to be able to contain the Eye of Illios. He was thinking maybe the enchantment in this glass cube could bypass the protection field?
Jack brought the cube close to the eye, but it was the same as when he did it using his hand. Something was preventing the cube from touching the eye. Jack didn't try to force it. If the repelling force broke the cube, he wouldn't be able to get the Eye of Illios even if he found a way to circumvent the protection field.
Jack stored the glass cube and tried to look around inside the hut for any clue. He wondered if he destroyed the hut, would that help to dispel the enchantment that protected these items on the ground? While he was having the thought, a voice was heard from behind.
"A level 50 outworlder? When I sensed someone entering my sanctum, I thought it will be at least a level 80 adventurer. Did you solve my entrance puzzle all by yourself?"
Jack turned and found a tall young man. The young man was shirtless and wore simple black long pants. His hair was white with a short undercut style. He had dark-rimmed eyes with no eyebrows. He was looking at Jack with an expression that showed equal laziness and fascination.
Jack tried using Inspect on the man, but all he got were question marks.
When he was wondering how he should respond to this person, he noticed Peniel had frozen up.
'Hey Peniel, do you know who this person is?' Jack sent his thought to her.
'… Just comply with whatever he wants,' Peniel replied.
'Hm?' He felt like he had heard Peniel say the exact same sentence before. The memory soon came to him.
'Wa–wait… Are you telling me this young man before us is a divine being…?'
'… He is the God of Greed.'
