Harry was currently watching the white orb, unsure of what to do or how much time it would take for Krish to regain consciousness.
He stood there for a while but eventually left his sea of soul.
"Now where should I start?" Harry murmured to himself, looking around for any possible exits.
He had thought that solving the problem would lead him to an exit, but that wasn't the case. He was still trapped in the cave. The ring was still lying on the floor. Harry picked it up hesitantly and tried to put his consciousness into it.
"A space item? Tyler once mentioned these. They can store multiple items. Space items are quite expensive, and Tyler's father has a ring with space equivalent to a small room."
However, this ring in his hand had space equivalent to a football stadium. He entered the ring and could tell there wasn't much air, meaning a person could only survive for at most two minutes.
Living things can't survive in these space items unless they're made by a top-class space element user.
"There are only books. Was that person really a leader? He's so poor," Harry giggled.
He paid attention to the books and found they were all related to soul cultivation.
Normally, people don't need specific cultivation techniques. There's a standard way to channel Qi, and as the amount or quality of Qi increases, so does your level. But in crucial moments of leveling up or when unable to handle the energy inside, insights from previous cultivators can help a lot.
There was a hole where the dead body had been sitting. Harry understood what it was because the shape matched the black sword, and he was confident that once he put the sword in place, he could get out of the cave.
"Now I think all that pain was worth it," Harry sighed and placed the black sword into the slot.
Clang.
A sound echoed in the cave. Cracks started to appear on one side of the wall, as if the stone was melting. Harry watched in awe because the stone, which had resisted his attempts to escape, was now melting like ice.
After a while, a gap opened between the stones. Harry threw the sword back into his ring and stepped out of the cave.
He took a deep breath, relishing the fresh air, but then realized the mist was so thick it made it hard to see far.
"How did I end up here? I'm sure I wasn't that deep in the forest." Harry shrugged, answering his own thoughts.
He was missing Krish and wished he could ask him what had happened after killing the level 9 beast.
He started wandering, hoping to find an area with less mist and pursued that direction.
He had just begun walking when he saw a bush shaking. Harry assumed a fighting stance and drew the black sword, unsure of its power but confident it was better than his previous weapon since it was related to some sort of leader.
A rabbit emerged from the bush, but it was far from ordinary. It was almost as tall as Harry, standing on its hind legs with red eyes that glared at him fiercely.
"Inspect," Harry commanded the system.
[Rabku: Foundation Building Level 6 Beast]
"Let's see if you're intelligent enough," Harry smiled, putting the black sword back into his ring. He didn't want to kill it in one shot with that sword.
Harry ran toward the Rabku beast. The beast saw him and started running towards him as well.
"So you don't have any intelligence," Harry shook his head. When a paw came at him, he lifted his hand and threw a punch.
Bang.
The beast's arm broke off, and blood started dripping from its mouth. The beast glanced at Harry, fear evident in its eyes. Seizing the opportunity, it started running back into the bush.
"Haha... you proved me wrong. It seems you know what fear is. Does that mean you're intelligent?" Harry laughed.
When he stopped laughing he realized he was acting like a maniac.
But he had to satisfy his curiosity. He started following the beast and quickly used force to pin it to the ground.
He used the forced soul contract skill on it.
['Forced soul contract' unsuccessful. Beast's intelligence is too low.]
Harry was confused because, according to him, the beast ran away after seeing his overwhelming power, indicating it could identify threats to its life.
"Is it just some sort of beast instinct to run away from the powerful?" Harry theorized.
The level 9 beast hadn't run away because Harry was too weak to pose a threat.
He drew his black sword to make it painless and, with one slice, the beast's head rolled to the side.
[Level 6 beast 'Rabku' has been killed. 100 EXP has been rewarded.]
[EXP: 5400/25600.]
"What?" Harry yelled, unhappy to see he only got 100 EXP from killing a level 6 beast, one-fifth of what he received last time.
"Does that mean every time I level up, the amount of EXP gained from lower-level beasts decreases?" Harry thought, holding his hair.
It was not hard to get out of the forest because he was noticing red mist.
He went where the red mist was scarcer and turned back when he saw it was denser.
In a day he found a way out of the forest. During that time, he encountered some basic-level beasts, but killing them was pointless because he didn't get any EXP from them.
"Hey, who are you, and when did you enter the mist forest?" a guard asked, standing at the entrance.
"I don't know how much time has passed, but I entered with Liam to kill an advanced beast," Harry answered without hiding anything.
There were two guards who started looking at Harry skeptically.
"Wait here. Let me talk to someone," one guard said, pulling out a phone-like device.
Harry sat on one of the rocks, a little away from the guards. He didn't want to cause a scene.
After 10 minutes, Harry saw a person approaching.
"Liam," Harry said, waving his hands.
"Harry, you're still alive!" Liam said, giving Harry a big hug.
"Don't tell me you wanted me to die," Harry joked, brushing dirt off Liam's clothes.
Liam didn't say anything.
"Let me go. Don't mistake me for some girl." Harry said when he saw Liam didn't let him go.
"You know someone is waiting for you," Liam said, taking a step back.
Harry realized his mom should be here. He looked at Liam with a questioning gaze.
"No, we wanted to tell her but didn't have the courage. For now, we said you're on a special mission. She asked about it again and again, but we made up reasons, saying the mission is secret." Liam replied, knowing what Harry wanted to know.
"Let's go then," Harry said, smiling.
On the way, Liam explained how the elders lost connection with Harry, assumed he was dead, and what happened afterward.
Harry was surprised to hear that tomorrow is the entrance test day. The dispute between Liam's and Blake's families had been resolved, and with family and some resources that his brother sent, Liam reached Foundation Building Level 9.
Tyler and Meru were also preparing for the entrance test. Although it took time to move on from Harry's presumed death, it motivated them to become stronger.
With Liam's family's help and their hard work, Meru reached Foundation Building Level 8, and Tyler reached Foundation Building Level 7.
They returned to the city, but instead of going to the Star Association, Liam brought Harry to a castle-like building surrounded by gardens and the scent of different flowers.
"Your mom has been living here since she arrived," Liam said to a confused Harry.
"Thanks," Harry said.
Harry took a bath and changed his clothes, removing all clues about his adventure, but he couldn't remove the mental fatigue evident on his face.
Liam led Harry to a certain room.
Harry entered the room with a big smile on his face.
"Mom, are you enjoying this royal treatment?"