Tartarus, Night.
In a dimly lit cell, a young man with dishevelled black hair and sharp eyes sat on the bed.
"...I have to finalise my plans soon. With Goblin's addition, I can put up my escape in advance."
"My plan has more than eight percent chance of succeeding. I have no need to find the keys for the collars, I only need to safely get the key to underground and escape there."
"The risk is significantly lower and my chances are higher. I'm about to finish Sleight of Hand for a couple more days, that's when the plan will start."
Elias muttered to himself while pinching his chin. Time was rapidly moving, it had already been half a month since he had transmigrated.
Although he was working hard, he had never forgotten the ticking time bomb "mission" in the system.
The mission that needed the most priority was enrolling in the academy, which had a three month limit.
While he was thinking about it, a hole of space suddenly opened in the corner of the room, warping the surroundings slightly.
Elias turned his gaze over in surprise. In the hole of space, a small figure with a ruddy face walked across the hole and entered the cell.
"You're here."
Elias commented before looking away. He gazed at the ceiling of his cell, turning his sight to the small little camera in the top corner.
It was so small that it was almost invisible, but he had already found out about it since the first day, he just didn't bother to think or talk about it.
Goblin noticed where he was staring at and simply nodded, gesturing that he had already dealt with it beforehand.
Goblin's power was connected to space. He has the ability to create a sealed space in a specific area.
Using that, he could avoid the security team's notice.
With Goblin's confirmation, Elias smiled and asked:
"Since you're here already then have you already prepared?"
Goblin grimly nodded in acknowledgement before sighing in slight mockery.
"I already did. I even erased all my traces. I don't know if I'm stupid or not to trust you, but that existence is definitely going to hold a grudge over me…"
Elias merely smiled and responded while waving his hand.
"Don't think too much. That thing is still recovering. Besides, what's a little risk in life when your dream is in your sight?"
Goblin fell silent. It took him a few while to reply with a slight nod. He raised his head.
"...You're right. Besides, my gut tells me to trust you. Anyways, since you know about those places, then do you know what I am?"
Without intending to hide it, Elias nodded and directly spoke.
"That's right. Elysia is the home of the elves, while Franheirt is the home of the dwarves. Goblin, you're not human at all."
Goblin momentarily paused before confirming it with his own words.
"That's right. I'm not human. I could be considered what you humans call a dungeon escapee, are you sure you can trust me?"
Dungeon escapee. A term for monsters or beings that originally lived in the mysterious dungeons before being able to escape and invade human society.
Most of them caused disasters to the world upon their escape, unleashing catastrophic damages to society.
To his expectations, Elias unexpectedly shook his head and answered.
"I don't trust you at all and I don't mind if you don't trust me either. However, I do trust that you treasure your dream more than anything that you will realise it's counterproductive to betray me."
"I believe in your greed and desire to find those places, not your morality. If you do betray me even with that, consider it my short-sightedness."
Goblin opened his mouth but was unable to respond, speechless.
It was true in a way—as long as he could find those places, he would do anything. He was no role model of ethicality and fairness, far from it.
For example, a few months prior he even contracted with a devil to find those mysterious places.
That was the reason why he was in this prison selling miscellaneous stuff. It was that in his deal with the devil, he needed to gather life span and souls.
Thus, he went to prison after prison, sold stuff and asked for their "spirit force" or a fancy term for lifespan and their soul.
That was why Elias was calling what he was doing a scam.
Cigarettes, wine and etc for their lifespan?
That was utterly nonsensical.
The reason why no one found out about it is because he was very careful about it, removing any traces and not being too greedy.
The real truth of him being a merchant—he was scamming people all over the world.
Seeing that Goblin didn't muster a response, Elias continued slowly.
"You will go to any extent to find those places, forsaking morality, pride and even life. They must be very important to you."
"You're finding those places because that's where you think you belong, correct? It's because you're a half-breed. A half dwarf and a half elf. In truth, we are roughly the same situation."
To those words, Goblin was confused but admitted to it in resignation.
"That's right."
After that, Elias didn't say anything anymore. Goblin was silent as well. They were both quiet.
After a while, Elias clenched his hand and suddenly broke the silence. He directly told Goblin his intention.
"I plan to escape this place."
As though he had expected it, Goblin didn't show any surprise and asked in response:
"Do you need my help?"
Elias nodded slowly and stared at him. No, more specifically, stared at what was behind him.
Goblin immediately noticed his gaze and took a step back instinctively, grabbing his woven mountain bag tightly.
In an instant, he realized what his boss wanted from him.
"...No. Please no."
Goblin begged. Unfortunately, the glint of greed in his boss' eyes only flared up more.
"A wise man knows when to submit to his circumstances,"
Elias chuckled as he approached.
"Bullshit! Absolutely not!"
Goblin cursed in infallible rage as he hurriedly retreated to a corner.
Elias simply smiled and stared at Goblin without fear. Goblin didn't relent either, the two stared against each other.
It took a while before Goblin eventually relented, breaking the stalemate between the two.
Elias could take some few items, but not everything at once. Plus, he could not take Goblin's own created items for free.
However, that was enough for Elias to be satisfied.
Despite being a scammer, Goblin was a genuine merchant traveller of many realms. He had a lot of items stored in the mountain bag.
After having come up with an agreement, Elias smiled and clapped his hands.
"It seems It wasn't a mistake to have a deal with you."
'You have the gall to say that… It was a mistake for me having a deal with you…!' Goblin's thought as his face distorted, smiling in anger.
Without slowing down, Elias stood up and opened the heavy mountain bag. There were five zippers, the higher, the more valuable the objects stored.
He opened the lowest zipper first, but soon closing it as he didn't find what he wanted, then the second zipper…
Each and every of his actions made Goblin shiver in silence. His own wealth was being ransacked in front of him.
Elias took his time, spotting countless items in the heavy mountain bag. It was like a space bag in fantasy.
Very quickly, he found the item he needed in the third zipper. He took it out. It was a shining crystal, filled with crystalline light, exhibiting a luminous glow.
"Ah, I found it. This is what I needed."
Elias said, caressing the luminous crystal with his fingers. Without hesitation, he abruptly crushed it in his hands, breaking the crystal!
Woosh!
At that moment, bright formless energy erupted from the crystal, entering his body.