Chapter 172: The Unexpected Power of the Divine Space Ring

Kang Ji Yoon was none other than the angel Kei had crossed paths with back in the Holy Land.

As for why he had wound up on Earth, and why individuals from his old world kept popping up around him one after another, Kang Ian, Kai, the Tree of Life... Kei temporarily pressed all those questions down to the bottom of his heart.

He lacked the sheer strength required to investigate. Overthinking things wouldn’t accomplish a thing.

If Kei still retained the might of a Legendary Mage, he undoubtedly would have thoroughly probed this matter; Kei utterly loathed falling blindly into a trap meticulously orchestrated by someone else.

For the time being, he could only press forward with life, remaining a novice Craftsman until the day arrived when he possessed the competence to unearth the answers.

Ultimately, the expedition that had appeared perilously fraught came to a gentle close. The team swiftly exited the forest, heading toward the Dungeon’s exit.

Kei walked near the center of the group, occasionally casting backward glances at the dense, leafy canopies flanking the path. A lingering sense of reluctance refused to dissipate from his chest.

After all, this place was a patch of woodland transplanted from his old world; regardless of how laden with pain and regret the memories of the Elven Forest might be, it was still the home where Kei had spent his early childhood alongside Julius, precious memories Kei held deeply dear.

"What a shame..."

Kei let out a soft, silent sigh within his heart.

It was a pity that the flora native to the Dungeon couldn’t leave this place. The instant they crossed outside, they would wither and die. Even stowing them away inside spatial rings offered zero preservation.

Kei abruptly halted his steps.

*Wait a second!*

What about his Divine Space Ring?

Other Space Rings possessed merely ordinary spatial stone matrices, entirely incapable of housing entities possessing actual life, yet Kei’s Divine Space Ring was fundamentally different!

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Kei’s mind.

Kei had no earthly idea whether Dungeon flora would genuinely wither if stowed inside his ring. But if he never tested it, he would never find out, therefore...

As the group drew close to the exit, Kei paused beside a clump of medicinal herbs sprouting right along the edge of the path. Their dark green leaves radiated a dense concentration of Dungeon mana.

Bending down, he uprooted a specimen carefully and stored it straight into his Divine Space Ring.

Kang Ji Yoon and Kang Ian offered no commentary, merely standing by with unbothered detachment as they waited for Kei to finish selecting the flora he wished to preserve.

The surrounding hunters caught sight of the action, yet none expressed any surprise. They had likewise harvested a handful of plant samples within the woods, intending to haul them outside to inspect whether they exhibited any anomalies, verifying whether items extracted from this particular Dungeon were unconditionally guaranteed to rot away.

*Swish!*

Following a fleeting sensation of spatial distortion, Kei stepped through the Dungeon threshold alongside the rest of the party.

Upon returning to Dong-San City, the hunters immediately inspected their respective spatial rings. The outcome unfolded precisely as anticipated: the flora and soil samples hauled out of the Dungeon had completely disintegrated into dust!

Not a single intact leaf remained behind!

"Figures, they really couldn’t be preserved," a hunter sighed in frustration. "Just what kind of monsters are the plants in this Dungeon?!"

Kei stood rooted in absolute speechlessness.

Right now, Kei finally comprehended why the Tree of Life’s visage had worn such an expression of profound helplessness. If the Tree of Life attempted to leave the Dungeon of her own accord, she would undoubtedly suffer that exact same identical fate.

It wasn’t that she refused to leave, but rather that she physically couldn’t.

Kei clenched his hands into tight fists.

Now he understood why the Tree of Life was trapped inside the Dungeon, steadily drained of her vitality without any means of escape. If that law applied to her, as well, stepping away from the forest equated directly to death.

"I’ll head back on my own, you two don’t need to tag along."

Kei offered a strained smile, gently shoving Kang Ian and Kang Ji Yoon by the shoulders to signal them to leave.

He possessed zero lingering energy left to sustain prolonged small talk. When Kang Ian and Kang Ji Yoon offered to escort him all the way home, Kei declined, swiftly making his way back to his residence entirely on his own.

"Kei! You’re finally back, I was worried sick!"

The instant Kei crossed the threshold of his shop, he was greeted by Kim Sora’s tear-rimmed, rabbit-red eyes.

"Alright, I’m back safe and sound, Sora-nim."

Kei chuckled helplessly.

Kim Sora remained so panicked she practically refused to let him out of her sight. Kei reassured her repeatedly that he had returned safely with zero further incidents, urging her to head off to rest. Only once Sora finally relented and retreated to her quarters did he head upstairs to his workshop.

Locking the door behind him, Kei seated himself before his workbench and focused his undivided attention upon his Divine Space Ring.

The medicinal herb he had harvested inside the Dungeon still rested undisturbed within.

The dark green leaves hadn’t shriveled. The stem remained upright, its roots still clinging tenaciously to the tiny clump of soil he had brought along. Even the faint, wispy stream of Dungeon mana radiating around it hadn’t dissipated.

Kei stared in blank shock for a long beat.

Every other plant stored inside the spatial rings of the other hunters had dissolved into dust the moment they cleared the Dungeon.

Yet this plant remained entirely unaffected!

"Could it be..."

He murmured softly, his heartbeat accelerating rapidly.

If the Divine Space Ring possessed the power to shield flora from that rule... then could it potentially rescue the Tree of Life?