Looking at the black gem in their hands, they looked ahead to find over a thousand black metallic boxes scattered on the ground. Each of the boxes was floating a couple of inches in the ground while a single chain was attached at the bottom to keep it in place. It was a flat space of land surrounded by mountains that reached the heights of approximately 9000 meters as it was encapsulated in a gray fog. Occasionally, a shadow of a serpent larger than the mountains can be seen moving and slithering outside of the mountains. Its body reaches an immense height of 12000 meters as they can only see the body moving across.
"What is that?" Luke asked while staring at the serpent's body.
"I don't know…maybe Catalinna knows something about it." Lawrence replied
"So she is a soul stealer.."
"How can you say that?" Lawrence asked calmly while inspecting the floating treasure box. There's a small slot where they can insert the gem but there wasn't any indication of what treasure is in the box.
"Since a soul stealer has future knowledge about the world. If you don't know it but Catallina has the information for it, then she's a fellow soul stealer" Luke replied with a shrug. Lawrence accepted his reasoning and didn't respond anymore.
"Say, how do we know if the treasure we got is something that we wanted?" Luke added
"We don't. It seems that the demon got lazy and just locked every treasure the winners can get." Lawrence sighed
"This sucks. Maybe my eyes can do something about it" Opening his eyes, he saw what treasures are inside but most of them are books and scrolls. There are weapons of different assortment but it is shadowed and he can't distinguish anything else except the shape of the weapons while there are some materials that Luke has no idea what for.
"My eyes work, I can see what's inside but the treasures are coated with darkness. I can only see the shape of the item to know if it's a weapon or a book." Luke replied
"At least we have something to based on. You can choose first what you want." Lawrence responded as Luke nodded before multiplying to three.
"It's best not to waste more time. Take my mirage, it can use my true sight" Luke sprinted through the boxes with his illusion by his side before going in a different direction. Both of them simultaneously opened their eyes as they scanned every box they can. This is only possible here in this plane as they have near-infinite mana and aura while their body is given inextinguishable stamina. They don't know what caused this but they will take complete advantage of it.
"Hmm… I still don't have body art and my weapons art is unusable. My movement art, light sky step is still an adept level. I should master it here but the others are probably waiting." Lawrence pondered for a while as he gazed at Luke and his illusion moving abruptly and appearing on the other side of the plains as they use shadow jump to basically teleport to a place that has a shadow.
He looked at the mirage of Luke standing beside him as he willed it to find a three-pronged spear like a trident with the middle blade significantly longer than the two blades beside it. He is hoping to find the Gungnir, one of the most famous spears wielded by Odin in the Norse Mythology. It is a spear that was described as being so well balanced that it could strike any target, no matter the skill or strength of the wielder and it can hit any target. The novel took some inspiration from the Norse and Greek mythology to create some relics wielded by the characters.
He wanted to get the spear of the Damned but it seems that the demon only gave it to Maximilian as he technically passed since the demon got too bored. But with the Gungnir, it wouldn't matter. If it has the ability to be thrown and basically hit the enemy as long as he can see them, he can accelerate the spear with lighten and use the gravity he can generate while spinning it around him like what he does with the dagger of misery to increase its speed. He can take out enemies from a far distance with the spear. He can be a sniper and instead of using a gun, he can use the spear as it doesn't miss.
The mirage returned before pointing at the most northern box. Lawrence nodded before using the light sky steps to pass through the thousand treasure boxes. Arriving there, he checks the box to find it full of dust and there is some rust. He tried punching the rusted parts but it didn't budge. Luke noticed him standing there as he teleported beside him using his shadow.
"Oh, a trident. I thought you use a spear" Luke commented
"Trident is indeed spear. Anyway, can you explain the shape of it?"
"Sure, it's a trident for sure but the middle blade is too long that both of the side blades are quite useless for stabbing unless you pierce a monster that has a body larger than a man. It's basically a spear that tried the style of the trident" Luke inspected what was inside the box quite meticulously.
"Thanks for the colorful illustration. Now let's see if you're right" Lawrence inserted the gem inside the hollowed part of the treasure box and it falls swiftly inside of it. He was expecting special effects such as a flash of light or manifestation of Odin but it merely spits the spear out, nearly hitting the both of them as the treasure box opens. It bites the chain holding it in place before digging downward like an animal.
"That was certainly weird" Luke quipped with a smile. Lawrence grabbed the golden trident-like spear laid on the ground as he felt a tingling sensation running through his arm. The black material wrapping around his arm started moving up to his shoulder. Suddenly, a bunch of eyes appeared all over the black material. Its black iris and bloodshot eyes glared at Lawrence who calmly looked at it. It looked around using its eyes before closing all of them. It returned back to its sealed state as it didn't exhibit any strange movements anymore.
"What…was that?"
"It seems that it was awakened by this relic spear but it returned to its sealed state." Lawrence explained as Luke shrugged. It wasn't his problem and business if Lawrence wanted to have a weird artifact attached to his arms.
"Anyway, did you find a dagger you wanted?" Lawrence asked
"It's harder than I thought.." Luke sighed
"But there is one that caught my attention. It is a small dagger, smaller than the wolf fang's dagger and it seems to have a sheath. It was shrouded in a darkness deeper than other treasures that it was hard to know what it was initially. I thought it was a piece of 2 bread but the demon wouldn't do something that lazy and stupid"
"So it means that its shape is indescribable?"
"Pretty much, follow me" Luke replied before dashing towards the treasure box containing the peculiar dagger as Lawrence followed him. In the far right corner of the plains, Luke stopped before pointing at the treasure box in front of him.
"Should I risk it?" Luke asked
"Why are you asking me? It's your right to choose your own treasure" Lawrence calmly replied. To him, it was no different from the other treasure boxes.
"Know what, forget about it. I'll try my luck." Luke puts the gem into the treasure box before it spits a sheath and a steel dagger with a golden hilt on the ground. It continued by clamping on the chain before digging downwards.
"What is this…" Luke grabbed the dagger and sheath from the ground before inspecting it. It was sharp but it's as sharp as a normal steel dagger. There were patterns on the golden hilt but that was it. He tried sheathing it but it didn't do anything. He removed it but it was still the same.
"Don't tell me….this is a normal dagger?" Luke can't believe it. It was better if he didn't receive anything since he didn't have an expectation of getting a treasure, more so a relic. It was more devious to be given a normal weapon after all the high expectations he gained after seeing the golden spear floating beside Lawrence.
Before he can process what's he's gonna do next. They were wrapped around in a black fog for a second before vanishing. Suddenly, they found themselves standing in front of the cemetery. With Luke's hand, holding the dagger and the sheath. The sun is starting to rise as they spent about 4 to 6 hours inside the graveyard
"Umm…boss. I doubt I can sell this" Luke nervously chuckled
"Oh! It seems that you were able to get your emotions back" Lawrence smiled
"This…i hope that this remains a secret" Luke replied
"Of course but you have to share your information with Vania and Catalinna. Especially the soul stealer information about your father" Lawrence responded before a soft palm landed on his shoulder, he turned around to find Catalinna smirking at him.
"Oh! The Gungnir and the….carwenan? no…oh, The Carnwennan!" Catalinna stared at the relics with excitement on her face while Vania is standing beside her with the mask still attached to her face. She hadn't taken it off ever since they entered the Sekai Kingdom.
"Carnwennan?" Luke dubiously stared at the golden-hilted dagger.
"One of the three weapons given by the Creator to all races" Catalinna explained before staring at it. She seems to be oddly interested in the relic.
"By the way. What secret are you guys talking about?" she added without taking her eyes off the dagger.
"It's about a soul stealer." Lawrence commented
"What about them?" she asked
"Are you a soul stealer?" Luke replied with a question as Catalinna stared at him before shaking her head.
"No, soul stealers are people who are reincarnated with their memories retained to a different body. Those are people who can grow stronger faster with the use of their past life memories. I'm not a soul stealer, i'm simply Catalinna"
"I admitted that I was-before Lawrence can reply, a sharp killing intent was launched against him as he looked around to find the moon shining differently. It was beckoning him to stare at it. Forever. It was immensely beautiful that he can't take his eyes off. Unknowing to him and everyone, the mark of the silver moon on his chest started shrinking and expanding as if two forces is in a tug of war.
In the eyes of Catalinna, she saw Lawrence staring at the moon oddly. She tried shaking him around but he didn't react. She tried slapping him but it didn't do anything. Her last resort was to bend Lawrence's neck so that he would face the ground but no matter how she tried, she can't budge him to move. A bright silver light encircled beneath her feet as magic writings appeared around it. With no hesitation, she grabbed Vania before jumping to the sides as the silver light exploded in a silvery beam. Destroying everything in sight. It's as if a beam from the sky descended to the ground and exploded.
"Catalinna…what do we do?" Vania asked with concern as Catalinna started looking around to find no one. The sound of the explosion must have been heard by some of the residents. The lights in several houses started flickering open. As the commotion caught the attention of some of the patrolling guards. She glanced at where Lawrence was just standing as she saw a shadow wrapping around his body before sinking into Luke's shadow.
"Let's hurry up! Don't worry! I put the boss on my shadow" Luke shouted before nearly tumbling as he falls to his knees. He breathes roughly as the world around him started spinning and his consciousness is slipping. He forgot that he isn't on the trial's plane anymore. As he founds out that almost all of his aura was gone just from using the relic Carnwennan to store Lawrence in his shadow.
"Are you alright?" Vania asked behind the mask as Luke meekly nodded with a smile. Seeing that he's fine for now, they hurriedly ran towards the slums to hide from their pursuers or lack thereof.
"DAMMIT! DAMMIT! THESE ANTS DARE DEFY ME!!" a woman wearing a veil and a priestly garb manifested on a top of mansions overseeing the nearby graveyard and the surrounding place including the slum. Her ragged breathing and the fluttering veil is the only thing that can be noted from the woman as she seems to be enraged.
"You false gods. You dare create trouble in my graveyard?" a skeleton on a black robe appeared wielding a scythe appeared in front of the woman. Meanwhile, a brown-haired teen can be seen sitting on the roof with an amused expression.
"HAH?! Your worthless graveyard influenced my successor. Now, my connection to him is gone and the mark is slowly vanishing. I didn't waste this much time only to be stopped by a long-forgotten skeleton!" the veiled woman waved her hands in hopes to blast the fool to smithereens but nothing happened. She gazed at the teen simply staring at the running backs of Catalinna and the rest towards the slum.
"You abomination! What are your plans and why do you keep on hindering me!" the veiled woman shouted but the teen turned his head before shrugging.
"Nothing, I just believe that a new set of heroes are needed to be born that are not controlled by other powers." the teen replied
"Be warned, once we descend. I'm killing the both of you first" she threatened before vanishing into thin air. The skeleton looked at the teen before sighing.
"Is that your only reason?"
"Nope, the end is getting nearer and nearer. I created a lot of enemies that it wouldn't be strange for me to be the first one dead. Still, i want to put my hopes in this group so that humanity has an anchor to rely on. Though, i also did it to the rest of the continents." the teen smiled
"I see..i hope your endeavors would have a fruitful success." the skeleton exploded into a black smoke before flying back towards the cemetery. The teen simply stayed on top of the roof, staring at the backs of the group running towards the slum.
"Thought the only help I can give them right now is through protection against other gods, angels, and demons. I hope this is enough…"