'Lucy, analyze this boundary please.'

[[ *Master? Don't you already know a great lot about the boundaries, space distortions, and space-time phenomena?* ]]

'You already know the results of an analysis?'The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0/v3l-B1n.

[[ *...no?* ]]

'Then, please. Let's try your new power on something grand. It's alright anyway, right? You will understand your power better with this.'

[[ *Alright master~.* ]]

After that, I felt a strange sensation deep in my mind and on my forehead.

My eyes were closed but a strange white light flashed before my closed eyes and I saw a strange bird of white light pass through my mind, and my entire body, and then it escaped through my hand and collided with the boundary.

My eyes were still closed this time, and I didn't open them even after the strange bird vanished.

But, after a while, I saw the bird come out of the boundary with my still closed eyes, and the bird collided with my open palm and... I felt a strange pain in my palm.

It was a stinging pain as if someone poked a few needles in it.

The pain from this one was manageable but after a while, I felt another strong pain, and this one was in my mind...

And this was unbearable...

[[ *Master! Master! Take mind-healing tears! Quickly!!* ]]

Her voice was urgent, and I knew this severe pain was just the start of something bad from that fearful voice.

'White crack!'

Hurriedly taking out a transparent bottle with golden liquid, I dropped a few droplets of the golden liquid in my mouth and at that very moment, I almost lost my balance and fell...

Thankfully, she was just beside me and caught me safely.

Now I was in her arms, my head on her shoulders, her eyes wide open from my sudden fall, and shock and fear dominated those usually calm eyes, even more so because I drank more than one drop of the same liquid that cured her immeasurable headache with just one drop.

"The fuck is wrong with you!? You bastard! If you want to die so dearly, just tell me! I will be more than happy to give you a more painful death than humanly imaginable!"

She was definitely angry and, as I thought; it puts a great burden on mind and body when I use analysis on something grand like this boundary.

"I will make sure to tell you when the time comes. For now, I'm alright, so.. can I go?"

She was holding me tighter than necessary and I had already recovered from the mental pain because of one of my ultimate potions.

There were nine such ultimate potions, and this one was ranked seventh, so it was a great thing.

Just that the making cost, the ingredients and technology to refine the things required for the creation of this thing, and the overall difficulty were very high.

I only had three bottles of this thing and I would need a long time to make this potion here, without the help of the marvelous artifacts of our tower house.

Anyway, I thankfully had the rare ingredients, so it will be possible with a bit lot of time.

Anyway, she squeezed me even more after I said that and hugged me in that awkward position.

I could hear her raising heartbeat and warm breaths on my face, but we actually didn't have time for this one.

[[ *Master, the results of the analysis are ready. And yes... I apologize for my incompetence once again. I should have been the one to know the extent of this power and the effect that it would have on you.* ]]

'It's alright. You didn't know, so just learn from this mistake and make better judgments in the future.'

[[ *Yes... master.* ]]

"Rein... we can do this after we clear the dungeon, alright?"

I was calm this time, on the outside, of course.

My dynamic heart helped me maintain my composure by beating normally, and she knew from this much that the situation wasn't right for this kind of thing and that I was perfectly fine.

She released me with a red blush on her face and tried her best to look alright.

Well, she clearly failed and was in her own train of thought, so I left her for her a while and closed my eyes again.

'So, what's the result of the analyses? Great Lucy?'

[[ *It's... actually more than even I had expected, master. I got the space-time distortion value, a detailed report of what the boundary is, and the report on the other side of the boundary.

The data I got was too much, so I sorted out most of the unimportant things and converted most into statistical data, charts, and summaries.* ]]

She continued to talk while different kinds of data reports and charts showing the details of the boundary, the area we were standing on, as well as the area on the other side of this boundary, appeared before my closed eyes.

The information was too detailed even after she sorted the gathered data and just from this much... I can tell this ability was far more than what I had expected.

I can say for certain that this report was as detailed as high-ranking divine artifacts specialized in analyses of special structures like this boundary.

And I managed to stay alive only because of my extensive knowledge of space-time and boundaries, as well as because I had Lucy, or else, I knew my mind could have very well popped like a balloon because of the absurd amount of information over my low processing power.

If it were Alf instead of me, he would have been perfectly fine even after getting this much information all at once. His capable mind and unique skill are something that can process this kind of data as well as those complicated spells as easily as breathing.

Well, I had Lucy, so it was fine and this whole analysis showed me some really interesting things.

"The other side of this boundary is an empty island on the far southern sea.

That part is practically surrounded by bad weather, so no ships go that way.

The boundary itself is a rare permanent distortion and is permanently connected to that place.

This very area is just normal, and this boundary is also naturally a rare phenomenon.

This Grape tree also looks safe, so maybe we can use this boundary, the things on the other side, and that dungeon.

The island itself should only have some low-grade creatures or maybe some difficult ones too, but the atmosphere there is perfect for any tropical beast.

We should just focus on the dungeon instead of exploring the island for this time."

I said these things out of the blue so she was surprised, but I knew she heard almost most of the things I said, so there was now a confused expression on her face, almost a nonsensical one.

"What the hell?"

Yes... I knew she would curse first before asking what I just said, but, well, that habit of cussing was most definitely something that I won't be able to erase.

"I know you heard what I just said. Those are the things that I found out just now."

"How?!"

Now the embarrassment was gone, and only shock was covering her pretty face.

'Cute...'

"Well, I have my ways. Don't worry, just know that the island that dungeon is on might be difficult itself, so let's not wander around much.

I don't know much about the dungeon itself, so we will have to check it before entering."

The ability to analyze was much more amazing and useful than I had thought.

It was difficult to know the type of boundary, after all.

There were three types of main known boundaries.

A permanent one that had connected two places permanently, one with a limited time, which had a weaker connection with the other side and would disappear after a certain period, and lastly the [Sudden brakes], a phenomenon that happens in an instant and just takes people to unknown dangerous places.

The boundaries are difficult concepts and most of the time; they are dangerous.

The permanent boundaries connect two places within the same planet, while in limited time weaker boundaries can connect with different planets.

The sudden brakes are considered the most dangerous as they happen suddenly and connect to a very dangerous or different reality or planet or world.

It is theoretically impossible for the people who vanish in these sudden breaks to come back and only another sudden break in that place can bring them back.

The people who came back from this kind of sudden brakes are called [Returnees], a broken concept mentioned in many fantasy novels.

This kind of person is far rare than even the reincarnations in this world, almost countable on hand. But they definitely exist and they sure also possess great power.

Anyway, that was all about the boundary and the cracks, but to know if a boundary is there for only a while or for a long time or forever, many different kinds of great equipment are required.

And I definitely didn't use any kind of artifact, so it confused her even more.

It was just absurd. She knew that. But, after being with me all this time, she was accustomed to things like this.

So... she just nodded with a mix of anger, pain, and difficulty, and sighed deeply.

"Let's go. Wasting time here is meaningless now that we know this thing won't just close off behind our backs. We should finish everything quickly and go back or else your mom and the great lady Anna would be furious."

"Yes... so, let's go."

I can imagine how Anna would react when we get back home.

We left without telling her after all. She would definitely be angry and worried and... I didn't want that.

She knew we would go on a small trip and convincing mom was a task that took me a whole day.

She didn't know just how much difficult it was to make her understand that we would be fine, and it was fine that way.

I couldn't just let her go all by herself and mom knew that, so she had no choice but to accept my unreasonable request on the premise that I will just stay home and help her with her work for a whole month.

We didn't have any plans to go out after this, anyway. Helping mom and learning about her business would be much better...

So!

We walked through this single-person gate-like boundary and appeared in an open area with many trees behind us.

It was a half-circle kind of open area that reminded me of the spider caves from the past.

The atmosphere was a bit more humid from the previous forest we were in and there was also a bit more Mana in the atmosphere, so this place definitely had stronger beings than that weak forest.

That was that, but... I didn't expect this one.

She said this was a dungeon, and I had assumed that this was a dungeon this whole time, but... this situation...

"Fuck..."

I cussed, and she jerked her head towards me, shocked to hear something very unexpected.

She had furious eyes as she looked at this cave or what she thought was a dungeon, but I can tell from a glance, and the structure, and the inscriptions that would be difficult to see from normal and inexperienced eyes...

"This... is not a dungeon."

Now what?