Chapter 84: Leaving
Charles didn't even think before he pulled out the Ember Pistol from his space ring, turned the hammer, and aimed at the strange leaf.
An instant later, the space twisted for a moment, and soon a humanoid figure appeared in front of the tree. Unlike those previous goblins, this goblin looked taller, and two red horns appeared on the forehead area. It was 190 cm tall, muscular and red lines appeared all over the body.
Before the goblin could realize the situation, it heard a bang sound. A moment later, a crimson bullet landed on the forehead area, entered deep into its head, and killed it on the spot.
[Target Eliminated! 350 Exp obtained!]
'Hmm, I gained a total of 1,360 Exp.' Charles became surprised.
"I'm wondering if my 'unluckiness' is affecting my enemies instead of me," Charles spoke out loud as he arrived in front of the tree and stared at the strange gem-like leaf in curiosity.
"That might be due to your 'Trickster' class's [Prevision] skill. It can change one's Future from time to time. So, even if the 'unluckiness' acted up by creating dangers, this skill can warn you and help you in advance. Do you know what would have happened if the [Prevision] skill didn't activate earlier? This Night Goblin would have instantly attacked you instead, and you would have injured or lost something in return. I also have a suspicion that you finding this Traveler Tree's Twin Leaf here might be due to someone's interference in 'Time' or 'Fate'." The Holem's Crown paused for a moment as it noticed an indifferent look on Charles's face and soon asked in suspicion,
"It seems you already aware of this strange anomaly?"
Meanwhile, Charles let out a heavy sigh and nodded. But he didn't say further and quietly observed the Traveler's Tree Twin Leaf.
"Do you have a method to extract the plane coordinate from this leaf, Mr. Runeth?" Charles asked.
"I have a method, but it will take some time." The Holem's Crown responded vaguely.
"How many minutes?" Charles was well aware of his current situation and asked in a hurry.
In the meantime, the Holem's Crown went silent for a moment and said in a low voice.
"3 months."
Charles froze for a moment and soon frowned.
"It seems my unluckiness still has some effects on me."
'Wait... I can just cut the tree trunk into pieces and then take the 'Twin Leaf' along with a piece of the tree trunk, right? Although the leaf will create a defensive force-field upon sensing the danger, that doesn't mean it is an intelligent plant. The leaf will try to protect itself, but I think it won't try to protect its Host tree. It is indeed a good method to fool its instinct.' He nodded his head and soon took a large ax-like weapon from the nearby dead goblin. Then, he didn't waste any longer and started cutting the trunk.
Due to the enchantment in his body strength, it took only 5 minutes for him to cut off the large trunk. Then, he again cut the wooden trunk into pieces, took the gem-like leaf attached to a wooden piece, and placed it on the ground.
"Good thinking, now we have to seal the space; otherwise, the dark goblins from another side might pop out at any time." The Holem's Crown said in a solemn tone and asked Charles to take out the Starfall Codex book.
Charles also took out the magic book and started flipping the pages. Soon, he stopped on page no.12 and started to chant a spell called 'Space Seal'.
Once he completed the chanting, a runic circle appeared under the wood and soon enveloped it. A moment later, Charles saw that the sliced wood was etched with runic words and nodded.
"Done." He said in a low voice and stored it in his space ring. Then, he didn't dare to delay any longer and returned to Riverdale City at a fast speed. If it was before, Charles might have taken 1 to 2 hours, but after his rank up, he killed all those low-level creatures in seconds and returned to 45 El Street within 20 minutes.
In total, Charles took only 90 minutes in the Dreamworld to complete his job!
Once he returned to his bedroom, he checked everything and closed his eyes.
A moment later, his figure turned blurry, and soon he disappeared from the Dreamworld.
...
After an unknown amount of time, Charles opened his amber eyes and sat up in the old man's appearance. He glanced around the room with wary eyes and soon noticed that Rachel was still sitting in the cross-legged position on the floor.
Meanwhile, Rachel also opened her black eyes and wore a surprised look on her face.
"How many hours have passed?" Charles felt something was off about her expression and asked in curiosity.
"22 Hours 38 minutes." A short reply came out of her mouth as she stood up, gave a golden-covered notebook, and then added.
"I contacted my friend when you were in sleep and already wrote down the whole procedure to do the ritual ceremony to summon the will of a Fire-Elemental Plane, Mr. Oswald."
A weak smile appeared on Oswald's face as he stored the notebook in his space ring and stood up with the support of the black cane.
"Thank you for helping me, Child." He said in a polite tone and soon asked in suspicion as he smelled a blood scent in the room.
"Did anything happen when I was asleep?"
A gloomy expression appeared on Rachel's face as she nodded her head and spoke,
"A few hours ago, two Rank-3 [Shadow Stringer] class Mystics sneaked into this room and tried to search for something in the dark. Although I killed them on the spot, I have a feeling that something is wrong with their actions."
"Shadow Stringer class Mystics?... Aren't they from the Divine Order?" Charles raised his eyebrows and soon nodded his head.
'The Divine Order organization seems to have some relation with the Red Prince. As for their strange action, Red Prince might be trying to find my purpose in visiting the Dreamworld. No, he might have sensed something abnormal about my current action.' A heavy sigh leaked out of his mouth as he stepped towards the bedroom gate, opened it from the inside, and walked out.
"It's time." He said in a calm tone and looked at the sky, which was filled with dark clouds.
After staring at the sky for two seconds, he went downstairs and silently walked out of 45 El Street. Meanwhile, Rachel also followed his footsteps, and soon both arrived at the market street, filled with thousands of people.
"Thank you for protecting me, Child." He said in an ancient old voice and soon mingled with the crowd.
Before Rachel could say something, the crowd separated them apart, and soon Oswald Raven was nowhere to be seen.
Rachel stood there with a dumbfounded look on her face and soon shook her head. After that, she turned around, went in the opposite direction, and soon disappeared from Market Street.
Two minutes later, a woman in wiry blonde hair appeared in the corner of Market Street and soon frowned. She had monolid hazel eyes, barely visible eyebrows, and wore a tight black suit.
A moment later, another blonde-haired old man walked out from the crowd and spoke in a confused tone.
"Did you find him, Miss Saron?"
Saron shook her head and said in a troubled tone.
"He might be Eve's father and looked powerful. We have to find this guy before Charles arrives from the Unexplored Forest."
A grim look appeared on Martin's face as he nodded his head and soon went into the crowd to search for him. Although he was a Nightwind Family member, he never went to Eve's and Harry Nightwind's wedding ceremony and knew nothing about Eve's father's appearance at all. So, when he saw that old man's appearance, he didn't even suspect a thing and became sure of that possibility.
Saron, Martin, and few other lackeys searched for Oswald in every corner of the city and soon started to get anxious.
…
It was around 9 P.M, October- 4th.
A slim human shadow climbed on the tall city wall using ropes and soon appeared on the other side. Then, in old man's appearance, Charles erased his tracks and stealthily moved into the dark woods.
'I only have 8 Life Church's gold coins remaining in my space ring. Hmm, this money will disappear in a blink if I didn't spend it carefully.' He nodded thoughtfully and soon reached an earthen road. Although it was dangerous to walk in the dark for a normal mortal, Charles didn't put much thought into it and started his journey.
He mostly ate the dry bread he stored in his space ring and went in the western direction. Although he met some wild wolves along the way, they didn't pose much threat to him at all.
On the second day at noon, he stopped in front of a rural village, rented a small house for one gold coin, and started to construct the [Fire Wings] spell's corresponding spell model.
Usually, he could only maintain the [Fire Wings] spell for 5 to 10 minutes. But after he raised his wisdom to 30, he entered the Inner-world and managed to store fire-elemental energy inside it.
Due to that, he now could maintain this spell for more than an hour!
'But it's not enough. If I want to travel to another kingdom by walking, it will take a week or two. There is also a possibility that I might leave some clues behind unknowingly. But if I upgrade this spell model, I will have an easy time.' He locked himself in a wooden hut and opened the game interface.
After some thought, Charles spent 2,450 Exp points and chose a spell model called [Red Wings].
Except for the color of wings and time duration, this spell was almost the same as the previous [Fire Wings] and Charles could use this [Red Wings] to fly for 6 to 7 hours continuously. If he managed to understand the meaning behind those Runal letters, he might even maintain the spell for up to 12 hours.
Once he spent the Exp, he took a deep breath and closed his amber eyes.
A second later, his consciousness was pulled by the [Flame Body] spell model and soon appeared in his Inner-world in his illusionary form.
Hiding his excitement, Charles glanced at the surroundings and soon saw that the whole place has still appeared darker.
He looked up at the sky and noticed that his illusionary body was rising on its own! No, he was flying towards those seven spell models at a fast speed.
In seconds, he appeared in front of the seven star-like spell models and soon noticed one star was ten times brighter and larger than the other six.
'Incinerate spell model?' He raised his eyebrows and soon perceived a sudden anomaly from afar. In the Inner-world, his senses were heightened to an unimaginable level, so it was not surprising that he noticed such changes in the deepest part of the inner world.
'This world appeared more like my own mind.' He turned around and soon widened his illusionary eyes as he saw red-colored sparks were flying from afar and soon started to merge with another spell model!
With wide eyes, Charles observed those sparks and soon understood that those sparks were Runal letters.
'My guess is right. The game system is indeed hidden in my Inner-world.' The corner of his illusionary lips curled upward as he made a right guess and formed into a smile.