"Then, what should we do with this thing?" Arov raised his dagger, fiddling with the strange cube in his hands.
[Child of Fortune: See that mouth part? Recite the runes you've inscribed across the cube's surface, in the sequence marked by the numbers. Be cautious about what might emerge from that mouth.]
After a series of slow, deliberate steps, the runes began to glow with a mystical light. One by one, they peeled away from the cube's surface.
The runes hovered in the air, seemingly ablaze with a metallic red hue.
They exuded a profound sense of struggle, reverence, and solemnity, as if conveying their original meaning.
As if the bonds tying the cube unraveled, a brief rumbling emanated from it.
The mouth, with its unnervingly perfect teeth, murmured in a language Arov couldn't comprehend.
The murmuring grew faster, more intense, until suddenly, the cube exploded, spraying disgusting green liquid across the floor.
A mysterious stone now lay before Arov.
[Child of Fortune: Split it in two along the cutting line.]
Arov drew his sword from its scabbard. With a vertical slash, he split the stone cleanly into two halves.
Picking up the divided stone, he examined it closely and found an eye.
The eye's pupil was golden with black edges, but its vertical shape was peculiar.
The sclera was red, shifting to a deep orange as it approached the pupil.
"An eye? Why would something like this be stored here?"
[Child of Fortune: No idea. Remember, I'm only here because fortune guided you here ( ͡°з ͡°).]
[Abyssal Rift Eye
Tier: Epic
An eye capable of creating spatial rifts to locations previously seen by its owner.
Conditions:
1. The location must be observed by this eye.
2. Previous owners cannot transfer marked "locations" to new eye holders.
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Cost: 10% of the user's mana. ]
"Another cheat ability. No, wait—how did you even find something like this? Surely this isn't mere luck," Arov asked, suspicion in his voice.
After a moment of silence, Fortune's Child finally responded.
[Child of Fortune: Think of it as pure luck. I happened to notice traces of spatial rifts all over this place. My initial hypothesis was that Abyssal energy leaking from this area caused them, but this was disproven by the remnants of spiritual consciousness left on each rift. Hence, there must be a definitive cause for this phenomenon. While accompanying you, even while inactive, I quietly identified patterns in the rifts across each floor. When this object wandered near this floor, I pulled it in using luck, and BOOM! 💥Σ(°д°ﾉ) It's now in front of you.]
"Not entirely convincing, but I'll trust you for now," Arov retorted sarcastically.
[Child of Fortune: 凸( •̀_•́ )凸]
"Alright, system, assess the risks of integrating this object with my eye."
A blue panel appeared before him.
[Integration is completely safe. The Demon King's constitution can handle the strain of using this eye. However, until you grow stronger, you may need to rely on continuous use of Devil Change.]
"It's fine. I can handle it." Arov moved closer to the eye.
Another system panel appeared.
[Would you like to assimilate (Abyssal Rift Eye) with your eye?]
[Yes/No]
[Left/Right]
Arov paused, surprised.
"Dang, I've read tons of web novels and comics. Their changed eye is always the left one. Sure, it's cool, but isn't that a bit overdone? I'll go with the right eye."
[Understood.]
The eyeball began to radiate a brilliant purple light.
The light entered Arov's right eye, and a strange, throbbing sensation made his brain feel like it was being hit by a baseball bat.
The original golden hue of Arov's pupil blended with the golden glow of the Abyssal Rift Eye, forming crystal-like fragments resembling stars in a night sky.
"This..." Arov stared into the mirror-like reflection in the system panel.
He now had an initial theory about enhancing the [Sight Beyond Space-Time] Trait.
Though it included "Space-Time" in its name, it didn't yet allow direct manipulation of space.
Perhaps at higher tiers, control over space could expand. When mastery over space reached a certain threshold, the Trait might evolve to affect time in real-time.
"Can these two abilities merge?"
[They can, but specific conditions must be met. The (Sight Beyond Space-Time) Trait is of a higher tier than the Abyssal Rift Eye. No matter how many Epic-tier abilities you merge, they won't significantly enhance the Trait. The minimum requirement is World Tier.]
"... Forget it."
Better to grow step by step—there was no need to rush.
"So, there's really nothing else here?"
Slightly disappointed, Arov speculated the archives might be stored elsewhere.
"Should we head straight to the 30th floor?" he mused aloud.
With over 10 minutes remaining, the wisest course seemed to be ascending directly to the 31st floor to survey the situation.
"Hah," Arov sighed quietly, a bit regretful about wasting time chasing that butterfly.
"Oh! I almost forgot something," Arov exclaimed, pulling a dagger from his pocket.
Grinning, he activated the Abyssal Rift Eye.
Immediately, Abyssal energy surged from his right eye, turning his surroundings grayscale.
Finally, he understood what Child of Fortune had meant.
Spatial cracks were scattered everywhere in this place.
Fortunately, these cracks didn't seem to cause space leaks.
Earth's spatial stability seemed strong enough to heal any crack swiftly.
"I take back what I said earlier," Arov muttered.
As if understanding his intent, Child of Fortune quickly reacted.
[Child of Fortune: Be grateful I'm by your side. (￣∇￣)]
Arov said nothing more.
Arov threw his dagger several meters away, then activated the Abyssal Rift Eye to create a hand-sized spatial rift.
The dagger disappeared into the rift.
Seconds later, another rift opened behind Arov.
He deftly caught the dagger between two fingers.
"Not bad, but this isn't enough."
He opened another rift in front of him.
Touching the rift with his fingers, he made it vanish under Amir's Cloak.
"... So it's really possible."
This felt like being handed a combo set and ultimate technique.
Imagine stabbing your enemy without them even realizing it—anywhere, anytime, from any distance!
"Coming here really was a blessing!"
He dismissed his earlier notion of this being solely a boss room.
---
1021 word.