The Sweeper and Shang went towards the first barrier.
The Sweeper took out a complex medal that looked a bit like the Barrier Disruptors Shang had used before but far better and more advanced.
She put the medal on the barrier and spoke several complex chants.
After a couple of seconds, a hole appeared in the barrier.
And then, she retrieved the advanced Barrier Disruptor.
Yet, the hole stayed open!
This surprised Shang quite a bit.
Usually, Barrier Disruptors had to stay on the barrier because they were responsible for diverting the flow of Mana. By taking them away, the Mana would flow in the way it was supposed to again, closing the hole.
If one wanted to create a permanent hole in the barrier, one would need to completely reprogram the Magic Circle running the barrier, and there were innumerable safeguards against that.
Even though the barrier seemed to be permanently reprogrammed, Shang refused to believe that it actually was.
This had to be something else.
Shang's mind also focused on the Peak High Mage on the ground, standing guard.
There was barely a kilometer between the Peak High Mage and the barrier. They would have felt the slight change of Mana in the atmosphere.
Yet, they didn't.
Everything the Sweeper had been doing just now was far beyond Shang's ability.
"Hurry," the Sweeper transmitted after stepping through the barrier. "It only stays open for five seconds."
Like a white phantom, Shang's body flew forward and passed through the hole in less than a second.
And a couple of seconds later, the barrier shut again.
None of the surveillance Magic Circles were triggered.
Shang's Spirit Sense investigated the small medal the Sweeper had used to get through the barrier.
"It's a Remote Disruptor," the Sweeper said after noticing Shang's curiosity. "The Mana the normal Barrier Disruptors use to disrupt the barriers is shot into the barrier with a Remote Disruptor."
A moment later, the Sweeper tossed the Remote Disruptor over to Shang, who caught it.
Shang's face turned to the Remote Disruptor in his hands, and his Spirit Sense analyzed it.
There were so many tiny Magic Circles in there that Shang didn't even try to understand how that thing worked.
Shang only had the mind of an Initial High Mage, and he assumed that this Remote Disruptor was on the level of an Ancestral Mage.
Shang had looked at the normal Barrier Disruptors several times, and he could see how some parts of them worked, but this Remote Disruptor was just too complicated.
After a second, Shang tossed the Remote Disruptor back.
"While normal Barrier Disruptors need to be tuned towards the barrier during their creation, a Remote Disruptor can adapt to any kind of barrier or Magic Circle," the Sweeper explained. "Additionally, they don't need specialized Mana, and I can just use my own Mana to power them."
"The tradeoff is that they are very complex and expensive, but having one will save you money in the long run," she said.
Shang only nodded, showing that he understood.
The Sweeper put the Remote Disruptor away again and turned towards the east.
After passing by the barrier, Shang and the Sweeper now stood in front of a mostly normal-looking area.
In a way, it didn't seem any different from all the forest around them.
But there was just something weird about this forest.
Shang couldn't quite put his fingers on it, but this area just felt wrong.
He felt like this place wasn't supposed to be like that.
If Shang hadn't known what was so strange about this area, he wouldn't have known why all of this felt so wrong.
It made sense that a place with warped time, space, and gravity would feel strange.
"When we enter, just keep going forward. It will take a long time, but we will eventually reach the end," the Sweeper explained. "Due to the immense time acceleration, just entering a millisecond later will put thousands upon thousands of kilometers between us. This means you will be alone in there."
"But you just need to go forward. Nothing else."
Shang nodded.
Shang's Spirit Sense could easily pass around the dangerous area, but his body wasn't thin enough to do that.
As for the Spirit Sense that went into the area…
It felt like it went on forever.
"I'll go in first," the Sweeper said.
Then, Shang watched the Sweeper's body enter the space in front of him…
And come out the other end in nearly an instant.
It was like she had teleported.
Shang only remained silent.
Suddenly, something happened.
The Sweeper casually stretched.
A moment later, Shang felt the Sweeper's Spirit Sense make a careless sweep of the surroundings.
After that, she relaxed and put her hand to her head.
And removed her cloak!
Short black hair came out from beneath the cloak, and a youthful face was unveiled.
The Sweeper looked like a young woman in her early twenties, and she had this carefree look to her.
In a way, she felt like someone that just didn't care much about many things and simply went along with everything.
It was this nonchalant disposition.
Shang didn't do anything for a while.
He was very confused.
The Sweeper took a deep breath through her nose and exhaled through her mouth in what seemed to be relaxation.
It was almost like she just came out of a relaxing bath.
Shang wasn't quite sure what he should do.
"Hey," he transmitted after a while.
WHOOOOOM!
In an instant, the cloak surrounded the woman again, and a terrifying Domain of Darkness surrounded her.
The terrifying domain shot towards the place where she had just felt that voice transmission, but the dangerous area was in the way.
Because of that, the domain hit nothing.
She quickly turned towards Shang.
And she stopped.
Everything paused for around three seconds.
Then, all the Darkness Mana vanished, and everything returned to normal.
"Sorry, I forgot about you after so much time has passed," she transmitted with an emotionless voice.
"I didn't notice you due to your peculiar ability," she added.
"It's fine," Shang answered. "I'm now going to enter."
"Go," she answered.
Shang nodded and entered the Reality Tear.
