Chapter 164: Realm of Rank-4
In a few minutes, Charles appeared near a dirt passage, took out the Twin Leaf from his space ring, attached it to a random tree trunk, and recited the secret chant.
A few seconds later, the Twin Leaf let out a dim light and sucked Charles into it!
Same as before, he saw a myriad of stars around him and soon noticed another suction force coming from another direction.
The next instant, Charles appeared inside a dark underground cave and startled the kids, who were in the middle of hearing Jessie's folk tale.
He then glanced at the surroundings and breathed out a sigh of relief as he noticed that nothing abnormal had happened.
"Let's go back, kids. Everything is fine now." He spoke in a calm tone and then gestured everyone to chant.
But this time, they didn't make any mistake and did the ritual on a first try.
Within a few seconds, Charles and the kids left the Fire Elemental Plane and returned to Edhen!
The kids opened their eyes and soon noticed they returned to a completely different location!
"Where are we, Teacher?" Jessie shifted her gaze towards the nearby dirt passage and asked in confusion.
Even though it was a night, she didn't face any difficulty seeing the surroundings at all.
After her rank up, her perception had reached an abnormal level!
On the other hand, Charles smiled lightly and answered.
"We are in the RedStar Woods. It's the woodland next to Helm Ville."
Meanwhile, the kids glanced at each other and nodded their heads.
At that moment, Jessie suddenly thought of something and asked in confusion.
"What about our Carriage and horses?"
"It's still in the Inn. Forget about it, we will buy another one when we go to the Royal Capital." Charles waved his hand and started walking towards the Helm Ville direction.
Although the kids felt somewhat sad, they didn't dare to complain and followed after him.
After an hour of walking, they saw the outskirts of Helm Villa and soon appeared in front of the western entrance gate.
Unlike before, the entrance was guarded by more than five guards, and everyone stood with tense expressions on their faces.
It was the effect of the necromancer's raid.
Upon seeing their arrival, they soon opened the gate and let them in without any complaint. Some had seen the kids' battle the previous day and knew that one shouldn't take this group's strength lightly.
In truth, if not for the kids' killing most of the skeletons, other kids in the town would have been abducted that night.
The first reveal of this chapter happened through N//0/vel-Biiin.
Not only that, but the casualties would have gone past more than 20!
Meanwhile, Charles and the kids returned to Strangers Street and soon reached the single stored house.
After that, they walked into the main hall and soon saw Ashley standing in the corner of the room while holding a broomstick in her hand.
Currently, her legs and hands were trembling in fear!
Upon seeing the kids, she let out an embarrassing smile, hid her fear, and welcomed them respectfully.
On the other hand, Charles told the kids to rest and returned to the underground basement.
He first lit the hall with fire torches, placed the Twin Leaf on a concrete wall, and then concentrated his full attention on it.
He soon perceived a strange link with his mind, erased the secret chant from the Twin Leaf, and replaced it with a new one!
Although he could erase the kids' memories about this leaf, he felt it was unnecessary.
After that, Charles sat on the cold floor in a cross-legged position and opened the game interface.
He then thought for a moment and finally put the single free attribute into wisdom.
A moment later, an explosion appeared inside his head!
Simultaneously, the Inner World began to enlarge quickly and appeared ten times larger than before!
It even started to interfere with the reality itself!
He sensed that the air inside the underground basement started to turn hot and even fires and lavas started to appear randomly from time to time!
Not only that, but Charles also felt a drastic change in his perception.
At this moment, his wisdom power spread out from his body and swept the whole town like a scanning wave!
Everyone, including the kids, felt some invisible power scanned their bodies!
Some felt confused, some felt anxiety, and some felt fear, and so on.
Meanwhile, Charles felt a qualitative change in his mind.
His thinking became two times faster than before, and he even got some answers to the previous strange incidents.
He opened his amber eyes in the underground basement and then started to frown.
'There are some strange links between these strange coincidences, strange kidnappings, and the murders.. Wait.. I have heard something similar about these three..' He abruptly froze for a while and soon remembered the incident when he joined the Aces Team and took the official first mission.
'Yes, now I clearly remembered now.' He hurriedly closed his eyes and soon opened his eyes in the Inner World.
He soon reappeared in front of a strange lava pond and showed his face towards the lava pool.
At that moment, he also saw his 'clone' on the opposite side and noticed that it was meditating.
Charles didn't disturb the clone before closing his eyes and concentrated his attention on the surroundings.
The next instant, a ball of lava appeared on his illusionary palm.
This ball of lava contains the entire memory of his first mission!
He quietly waved his hand and soon saw a virtual screen appeared in front of his eyes.
In the virtual screen, he saw the past 'Charles' entered the Withering Shadows department, and his former team member Andrew asked him to give a party.
As Luke explains the disappearance of three [Historian] class mystics and the suspected individuals' identities, Charles skipped their earlier conversation. Finally, he stopped at the moment when Emilia tilted her head and spoke about their job.
"Our first job is to find Jeffery Dahmer and ask him some questions about this strange antique." Her voice was calm and cold.
In the meantime, Andrew placed his hand on his chin and started speaking with a dead-serious tone,
"It's the Goddess Rodia's Cursed Gem. In January 7024, a beautiful but spooky gem mounted on a ring in the form of a snake was donated to the Explorers' Association by Richard Arc's daughter. Along with it was a letter explaining the Gem's strange and alarming tale.
This spooky purple Gem was looted from Goddess Rodia's ancient temple during 6450 S.A.E and subsequently brought to the Arc Kingdom, given to Richard Arc as a gift. It then allegedly wreaked havoc for decades. When Richard passed the purple Gem on to various friends, they reportedly experienced abnormalities, including a trail of kidnappings, coincidences, and murders.
When the gemstone returned to him, Richard wrote a letter and sealed it in the Royal family's hidden chamber. It remained there for centuries, and now it showed its appearance again."
When Andrew finished his words, Charles's expression turned stiff in the Inner World.