Two children walked alone in a big forest.
In front is a white-haired elf wearing a dark flowery crown on his head, and the other is a blonde girl walking behind the elf with a deep smile on her face.
"Hey, are you sure you won't come with me? Why not? Isn't that crystal is what all awakeners need?" The girl looked at Gray in front of her and asked.
"Yes, everyone needs it, but I have something more important to do, so I don't have time... And don't keep following me! You can take care of yourself and go back to your base alone!" Gray didn't want to talk or stay with the girl behind him.
In fact, it's not that he doesn't want to, or simply want to leave the little girl alone inside a forest full of beasts.
But this girl gave him a very, very weird feeling.
Awakening Crystal? This thing he really needs, but he can find many with Baccarat's help. Besides, he's still worried about Perona.
Just now he tried to see the papers and found that Perona's direction changed weirdly.
This phenomenon is so weird. And for this reason, he was walking easily right now. He wants to see the direction will change again after a few minutes.
Anyway, this is not the reason he doesn't want to stay with this little girl.
The first reason is that she doesn't feel right for him. How? As said before his observation Haki allows him to detect somethings that can't be felt normally.
From this little girl, he felt nothing...
How to say it... She's like... an empty shell... Just a moving body. If she didn't talk too much, he would have thought she's another zombie.
And the second reason which is the most important. He couldn't see her Disks!
A human with no disks? This is the first time he encounters such a situation. And that's why he's trying to leave her side.
Well... Even though he wants to leave, but...
"Hey, why are you following me? If you really want to get those crystals you're talking about, you should tell the leader of your base..." Gray looked at the girl and said. He really doesn't like being followed.
Even if he used his ring to hide, this girl still followed him. And that's another reason he thinks she can take care of herself.
He's sure that she's not as weak as she shows form the outside. The fact that she could keep up with him alone shows this.
"Am not following you(Funny Smile) Look there!" The girl said this and pointed at a gigantic cave not far away from them.
"What is this?" Gray saw the cave and wondered what she means.
"Didn't I say before that I know a place with many Crystals? They are inside that cave, but there are some monsters also hiding inside, so I don't dare to enter inside alone!" The blonde smiled at Gray and said with a smile.
"Huh??" hearing her words, Gray couldn't help but stop.
So she's telling him that by chance, the way he was walking, is actually the way of the cave she wanted to lead him to from the beginning?
This... Somehow weirder...
But thinking about the possible crystal effect upon his ability, Gray's mind couldn't help but wants to try.
If like she said there are many crystals inside than that's a good thing for him...
"What are the monsters you are talking about?" Gray thought for a second and asked.
"Well... am not sure either maybe evolved worms? A few fourth-order awakeners tried to enter that place a few days ago, but none of them came back," The girl touched her face and said with a smile.
Forth-order didn't come back? So is she's asking me to go die alone inside?!!!
Seeing Gray looking at her like this, the girl didn't care so much and kept smiling as if she saw something funny.
*sight* Gray sighed and couldn't help but start thinking of what he should do.
First, he has to find the others, but he's probably the slowest between them right now. So there is no need to do this. They should soon find him.
Second, he wants to find Perona, but her direction kept changing so he's not really sure about the direction the papers show right now.
In front of him, there is a cave that might have many strong evolved creatures or even some kind of weird evolved zombie. Which is very dangerous.
But!
It's still a fact that there might be many Crystals inside, and those crystals are wonderful things for him and the others.
So it will be good if he gets some now.
So here is the question is. Can he trust the little girl behind him?
Looking at the smile on her face, Gray knows that he can't.
But he can also see that she's not lying about the fact that there is a crystal inside.
Gray looked at the pattern on his hand, which already filled some of it.
This brief part should normally be filled in one day! But the crystal made it faster!
This crystal is a superb thing for him, so he wants to get more. If had enough crystals, he won't have to wait for a month every time to cross the world again! Besides... His fourth awakening ability might need these crystals...
After thinking so much, Gray finally decided.
"I refuse, and don't follow me anymore!" Gray uses the ring and disappeared from the place.
Hearing Gray's answer, the girl smile stiffened.
"I.... refuse???? This thing is.... really cute.!!!!.. I wonder if he..." The little girl looked at where Gray disappeared, and a more wrong smile appeared on her face.
...
...
A hundred meters away, Gray looked at his back wondering if this girl will follow him or not, but looks like she didn't which made him feel some relief inside his heart.
Enter the cave? Please... Such an obvious pit...
He fell to such a pit many times already, he won't be careless for some crystals...
So he simply refused and walked away...
But maybe Gray's luck is not that good today.
While walking the ground under him suddenly collapsed and made a huge hole.
"What!" Gray's reaction wasn't slow either and directly used his magnet and tried to push his body away from the hole.
Well... He almost succeeded.
Only if the tree in front of him didn't fall against his direction because of the earth changes.
"Are you ***** kidding me!" This was Gray's last words before he falls down in the hole.
.
.
"This is not my doing..." The little girl appeared beside the hole and looked at Gray who can't be seen from this high already.
"But... This also good... this hole is connected with the cave anyway" The little girl smiled wickedly and said while looking at the hole.
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...
Gray fell inside the never-ending hole for a few minutes, but he kept using his ability trying to stop his small body from fall down, after all, hitting the surface with this speed.....
Soon he was able to see the end of this hole.
"Damn!" Gray used his best and even took his dagger and fixed it on the wall beside him to slow his body's felling speed.
And soon he managed to stop. After all, he used both the magnet and the dagger to stop himself.
Looking under him with sweat on his face Gray couldn't help but sigh with relief.
Then he pulled the dagger from the wall in front of him and fell down to the ground beneath him.
"This is!" When he was in the hole just now, he wasn't able to see everything. But now that he came to the end of the hole and entered this big underground hall he saw the real face of this place.
Looking around he found a world full of light.
Many shining crystals with different colors around the place. Every crystal looks more beautiful than the other!
It is very surprising how such a place exists in the main world!
Gray walked to one of the crystals and touched with his hand.
"So beautiful... Even though the apocalypse ended many things... But it gave birth to many more..." Gray looked around him and said with a sad tone.
And what he said is absolutely right. The apocalypse is more than just a humans and zombies evolution. The world itself is evolving with every passing second.
Such crystals shouldn't exist by any chance! let's not say shining crystal...
"But what was the hole just now?" Gray looked up and wondered what made such a hole so suddenly. But soon he thought about it.
This hole should have existed from the beginning, the ground that he walked in up there was only a barrier hiding this hole maybe...
So what made this hole should be something else....
Then he looked around and found a tunnel not far away from him.
Gray walked alone to the tunnel side and looked inside.
But his eyes showed him nothing. This tunnel is so dark and seems to be so deep.
"Can't enter like this" Gray didn't enter directly.
So he walked to the crystal wall beside the tunnel and sit down. He's not worried that something will attack him here. After all, he can't feel anything inside this huge crystal hall.
In the last world, he extracted many sources and saved them until now. Some of those sources are very strong. But he didn't find a good use for them.
But now he reflected on something.
Looking at the ring on his hand, Gray thought of what kind of source he should merge to it.
In fact, if it was before, he will choose a strong offensive ability for his ring.
But now he changed his idea somehow.
He will cross more and more worlds in the future.
Before, he never thought an accident like separation might happen. But this showed him that his idea was wrong, so he thought of another way to take the others with him, and be safer at the same time.
And this idea is very simple.
Space ring!
Normally, space rings will only contain dead objects. But Gray can change his ring to a stronger space ring.
How?
Before, he extracted a source called [Castle source] from one of the worst generations. This source he was planning to give it for something bigger than just a small ring.
But if he can't even care what he wants with him between the world, there is really no need for a bigger object.
In this way, he will let the others enter the ring every time he crosses, and like this, he won't encounter an accident like separation again.
Thinking about all of this, Gray made up his mind and started thinking about what kind of source will be suitable to combine with the castle source.
And soon he decided which one will be the best overall.
With this decided Gray choose some useless sources and sacrificed them to combine the two sources.
After a few minutes, Gray crown calmed down and showed a new source.
Looking at this source, Gray smiled and fuse it to the ring directly.
As soon as he did this. From the ring, Gray felt extra things inside.
As if...
Gray tried to feel the ability and soon he found the place changed around.
He found himself in a completely new place standing in the middle of a vast castle! A very dark magnificent castle!
"Here is... inside the ring?!" Gray looked at the huge empty hall around him and couldn't help but marvel.
This is... Really big!
"Wait, if am inside the ring then my body?" Gray thought about this problem and tried to feel his situation outside.
And soon he understood.
His body is still outside. But, he inside the ring is only a projection of himself. Since the ring belongs to him completely, he can enter and leave the ring any time he wants.
Feeling all this, Gray directly emptied his space pocket to the ring and even threw the pocket itself inside.
"*sigh*... if I did this from the beginning... The other would have been with me right now....." Gray couldn't help but sigh with grief, then he shook his head and stood up then looked around.
"Since I have a castle... Maybe some decorations will be good?" Gray looked at the crystals around him and somehow awakened treasure collection spirit. Having an empty castle moving with him so empty always feels so wrong.
After collecting what he can take, Gray simply threw them to his ring and walked in front of the tunnel again.
Looking at the deep tunnel in front of him, Gray's small body disappeared.
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...
"This is the cave?" A group of seven people came to the cave after Gray left and looked at it with strong eyes.
"Yes, from the information we have, this cave contains many crystals inside, with those crystals, our Hero base will be a safer place," The old man in the group stepped forward and said.
From their words, they are actually from Hero Base, the strongest base around the entire area! And Gray's goal before the separation.
"To create the barrier do we really need so many crystals?" One of the team asked.
"Yes... Those crystals contain massive energy, only such energy will be able to activate the barrier Mr. Dakarai made" The old man answered.
On hearing the name Dakarai, the respect in everyone's eyes was very clear.
Dakarai... One of the four fifth-order awakeners in Hero Base...
"Well! everyone get ready, we will enter the cave after half an hour, and we will get out within three hours! Everything has to go as planned. I don't want any mistake!" The leader of the group spoke in a very series voice and gave everyone his orders.
And everyone listened to him directly!
From this, you can see that this group is not a normal group of awakeners. But more like professional soldiers.
After half an hour, five men entered the cave holding their own weapons in their hands. Leaving two men standing outside guarding the entrance.
"Hey, you think they will be okay?" One of the two men who stayed outside and said.
"I don't know, but am sure the captain will make things work out," The other man said this with confidence.
While the two were talking, a little girl not far away was looking at all this with cunning eyes.
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