Chapter 429: One-Way Vision

In a cave far from the civilized world, deep underground, there was an ancient, primordial entrance. Like a gaping maw, a black hole, it waited silently for prey to walk right in.

Waiting for a little morsel it could swallow whole.

"Don’t we have any Bards with us? What a shame!" Anastina said, a little annoyed. "I’m dying to hear what they would write and sing about this place!"

"How about, ’A cave from ancient times, with a Giant Dragon living inside’?" Delaford started to sing cheekily, but his companions quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Don’t talk nonsense! How could there be a Giant Dragon in here?!" Sera scrambled to cover Delaford’s mouth, her voice sharp as she warned, "You’ll get us all killed with that jinx of yours!"

"Not all Giant Dragons are bad. There are good ones, like Aiksuuri..."

"Aiksuuri didn’t spend at least a thousand years in this godforsaken place!" Sera retorted. "Even a silver dragon would probably go mad!"

"Even if its mind were fine, there’s no guarantee its body would still be normal," Jilannis added softly. "I wonder if any of you are familiar with matters of the Multiverse? There’s a type of monster in the cosmos—brains with bestial claws, each encased in a hard shell. They feed on the intelligence of sapient creatures and, when the time is right, take over their victims’ bodies..."

"Please, I’m begging you, stop!" the barbarian pleaded. "I don’t want to hear about that stuff! Tell me those stories before dinner or bedtime, any time but right here, right now!"

"Well, this is a surprise. I thought the great Chieftain of the Ocher Tribe was never afraid," Aive teased with a smile.

"Me? Of course I’m not afraid!" Sera puffed out her chest, putting on a brave face. "I’m just worried about them jinxing us! You know how it is. When you really don’t want something to happen, it just has a way of... you know what I mean?"

"Murphy’s Law," Ron nodded. He gestured for Victoria to cast Daylight Magic below. A brilliant orb of light instantly consumed the surrounding darkness. When Ron looked down, he had to squint. "Hmm, looks like nothing more than plants adapted to the darkness. They can’t take the sudden light."

"Wait here. I’m going to head down and scout things out while my Flying Magic is still active."

With that, he had Victoria bolster him with a few more Divine Magic spells. Once certain he was prepared for anything, he slowly descended into the cavern’s mouth.

This reminded Ron of a time, long ago, when he’d descended from one cave to another. He’d been in a much sorrier state back then, forced to rely on a Scroll just to use Spider Walking Magic.

Of course, that place had also been far safer than this one. This place was clearly far from simple.

"This entire area is forged from metal," Ron marveled, looking around after casting Dark Vision on himself. He clicked his tongue in amazement. ’I wonder what kind of metal it is... If I could chisel some off for Rurik to smelt, he could probably forge some decent gear.’

Despite the long passage of time, the metal walls showed no signs of rust. The damp, open environment hadn’t damaged them in the slightest. Even as simple building materials, they’d be worth a fortune. Of course, that was just a passing thought. He wouldn’t be touching them until he had figured out what was going on down here.

’What if I end up taking down a load-bearing wall!’

On this new subterranean level, Ron saw the ground was much like the one above: layer upon layer of thick soil nourished the lichens and fungi growing on it. Some unique plants even emitted a faint, fluorescent glow. He figured they must have been the only source of light before the great door was opened.

A stir in a distant fungal jungle drew Ron’s gaze. He spotted a small Thorny Beast as it scurried away in panic, disappearing around a corner. His arrival had startled it, and worse, Victoria’s Daylight Magic had killed off a large swathe of the fungi it depended on for survival.

’A fragile ecosystem.’

Ron assessed that the balance here was a product of pure chance; it couldn’t withstand the slightest change. The arrival of him and his companions—their very presence—was enough to deal it a devastating blow.

After all, the so-called soil layer here, like the one above, probably just covered a cold, metal floor. From what Ron could see, some of the plants were clinging to raised glass surfaces, like rootless duckweed—

’Wait a minute.’

Ron’s brow furrowed. He quickly changed direction, moving toward the raised, translucent objects. Only a small portion of them was exposed, and even that was covered in fungi. If not for his careful observation, aided by his Magic, he would have missed them completely.

After brushing away the fungi, Ron was one hundred percent certain: it was glass!

As Ron carefully cleared away the surrounding soil, he made an even more surprising discovery. The glass wasn’t a standalone piece; it was part of a capsule-shaped, hollow structure, complete with a metal casing. It was some kind of container!

"Benefactor, what’s down there?" Silvia’s voice drifted from far above.

"It’s safe down here! Come on down!" Ron called out. The distance between the floors was great, and any stairs would have been steep, but with Jilannis’s Magic, the descent took only a moment. The space before Ron shimmered, and his companions were teleported right from the level above. "I found these," he said, turning to one of them. "Count Richthofen, did the texts you found mention anything like this?"

Ron stepped aside, revealing the container behind him, which resembled a Hibernation Pod. Sera immediately leaned over it, huffed on the glass twice, and began wiping it vigorously.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard the barbarian scrubbed, the surface remained stubbornly opaque, as if coated in a layer of mist. It was impossible to see what was inside.

"It’s a kind of one-way glass," Ron said, grabbing Sera just as she was about to smash it in frustration. "The light is brighter on our side right now, so we can’t see in, but anyone inside could see out."

"Then how do we see inside?" Sera asked, arching an eyebrow. She wasn’t one to puzzle over such things.

"Simple. Victoria," Ron said with a snap of his fingers, "kill the light."