Bluebird and Sila came to a stop in front of an open area that only had an ancient stone archway. Burapha had gone beyond this area the last time he tried traveling to the north. The ancient arched entrance was like a landmark telling travelers that they were about to enter the vast snow region in front of them.

“Why did you two stop?” asked Burapha. He took a heat stick out from his backpack, snapped it to make it glow, then tossed it inside his coat. With it, he felt slightly warmer.

Sila turned to Burapha and shook his head. “I don"t know. Bluebird just told me to stop.”

Both of them stared at Bluebird who kept checking the time via his system window. Then, Bluebird turned and started to speak.

“When I run past the arched entrance, you two will have to run after me, okay?”

Sila just got a proper look at the arched entrance. He exclaimed, “Eh? This is?”

He took a detour around the entrance, looking at it from different angles. Burapha was curious, so he did the same. However, he couldn"t see anything strange about it.

“Sila, did you notice?” asked Bluebird.

Sila nodded. “I"m not sure what it is, but the scene I get from looking through the entrance is strange. Like, there is a crystal cave behind it, though it is very blurry.”

Burapha, on the other hand, could only say, “I can"t see anything, Big Brother. There is only snow.”

“That"s remarkable for you to see it that clearly. I bet you have some skills or items that enable you to see through illusions,” Bluebird replied to Sila.

“Oh, right. I do have one like that. It"s a racial skill—Moon Reflecting Mirror.” Sila nodded.

He almost forgot that Moon Reflecting Mirror had such a pa.s.sive ability. Fortunately, after his talk with Dark Self, he started paying more attention to what he had, especially to his slime-race skills which were enhanced by Monster Heir. In fact, it might be thanks to Monster Heir that he could see through illusion, since it improved Moon Reflecting Mirror. It was not an exaggeration to say that most illusions wouldn"t work on Sila anymore if he knew where to look.

“To have this kind of ability, the slime race is awesome. Compared to me, my merpeople race is not well-versed in combat. My racial skills are also mostly related to water.”

“What about the ultimate racial skill? You should be the only one playing as a merperson,” asked Bluebird.

“I don"t even know the name of the skill. The Sea King told me I still lack the qualifications to use it.”

Sila encouraged Burapha. “Usually, to obtain good skills, we have to finish some quests to unlock their true potential. Take my slime-race skills for example. All three of them had useless abilities in the beginning. However, after I pa.s.sed the Way of Slime"s ordeal, they are all excellent skills.”

Burapha felt slightly more motivated. He asked Bluebird, “In the end, what are we waiting for, Big Brother? What is the illusion about?”

Bluebird kept watching his system window as he answered Burapha"s question. “It"s a shortcut to Belacia City. Instead of having to spend five days traversing the vast snowfield, we can arrive at the Winter Forest in one day if we go through the cave.”

“Eh? Isn"t that super convenient?! I spent a week just to reach the snowfield last time! Why didn"t you tell me before?” Burapha asked, sulking.

“Did you ask me? All I saw was you asking for information from Swan. Geez, you still have no idea that most secrets in Monster Soul were discovered by me, Sir Bluebird. Swan is just an administrator. She only knows general information. Well, she is more well-known than me because of that.”

For the record, Bluebird had discovered this secret route long ago when he was searching for information regarding Monster Soul"s northern region. However, Yardpirun believed that a secret is only valuable when it is still a secret. Belacia City was a difficult city to conquer. If this information was leaked, the city would lose an edge and be significantly easier to raid. Thus, she ordered Bluebird to keep this to himself.

“When can we enter?” asked Sila.

“We will have to wait until the exact moment that it opens. In the beginning, I thought it opened at random intervals. However, when I researched it, I found that there is a pattern. I will test my theory today.”

“When will the door open, then?” asked Burapha, to which Bluebird checked the time again.

“Based on my calculations, it will open in five, four, three, two, one, zero!!” Bluebird pointed his finger at the entrance.

Unfortunately for Bluebird, nothing happened.

“Nothing happened,” said Burapha, breaking the awkward silence.

“That"s weird...” Bluebird was talking when the entrance started shining faintly. The scene behind the entrance transformed into the interior of a cave with crystals embedded in the walls, like Sila had described.

“See?!! Hurry up! I don"t know how long it will stay open for. Sometimes it stayed for only a few seconds and sometimes it lasted for a few minutes,” Bluebird shouted before rushing through the entrance, Sila and Burapha close behind.

Once they were inside, Sila looked back and saw that the gate was still open. Bluebird let out a sigh of relief and headed into the cave.

The interior of the cave was extremely s.p.a.cious. It was enough for a big caravan to comfortably pa.s.s through. Burapha admired the scenery and went to knock on one of the glowing crystals.

“What a beautiful cave. What are these crystals? The way they glow is pretty.”

“Soul Crystals,” Bluebird said nonchalantly, to which Burapha opened his eyes wide.

“Soul Crystals?!! You mean the super rare item that can elevate the rank of weapons made of Orichalc.u.m?!” Burapha"s voice echoed through the cave. Bluebird had to block his ears.

“You don"t have to shout. Yes, they are those Soul Crystals.”

Burapha rubbed one of the crystals. “Why aren"t you excited? Don"t you know how rare they are?”

“No matter how rare they are, they are useless without Orichalc.u.m. In addition, you can"t take them with you no matter how much you desire them. You can only admire their appearance.”

“Why is that? What if we break some off to take with us?” Burapha placed his backpack down and started searching. He wondered if he had prepared a pickaxe with him.

Bluebird let out a sigh. “No need to find a digging tool. Sila, try taking one of them.”

Sila was enjoying the beauty of the pale blue crystals, each with a soul residing inside. Hearing Bluebird, he approached the side of the cave. The souls in the nearby crystals shook and emitted a brighter glow as the Mechanical Evil G.o.d"s Protection, the armor made of Orichalc.u.m, moved closer. Sila extended his hand, grabbed onto one of the crystals, and removed it from the cave wall.

“We got one,” Burapha said delightfully.

Bluebird shook his head. “Just wait and see.”

As soon as Bluebird finished speaking, the soul residing in the crystal Sila was holding left the crystal and flew into another one on the wall. The crystal in Sila"s hand became an ordinary stone.

“What happened?” asked Burapha.

Bluebird knocked the Soul Crystal behind him. “These souls can"t leave this place without the Fairy Queen"s permission.”

“The Fairy Queen?” asked Sila.

Bluebird pointed his finger toward the deeper part of the cave. “Follow this path, and we will have to pa.s.s through the Fairy Kingdom—the place where fairies live. The Fairy Queen is the Emperor Rank monster residing in that kingdom.”

Sila asked in a hurry. “Isn"t that dangerous?”

“No, the fairy race living in the kingdom is very friendly. They even welcome visitors with open arms. There are two things you need to keep in mind though. First, always check the time. Second, don"t stay in the kingdom for longer than a day.”

“An entire day? What if we stay longer than that? What will happen?”

“I don"t know, but there is a warning sign in front of the kingdom"s entrance. I also don"t know what will happen if we stay too long,” replied Bluebird.

“One day is quite long anyway. Since they will give us a warm welcome, how about we take some rest before continuing our journey the next morning?” Burapha proposed the idea. He took a liking to this cave since it was a lot warmer than outside.

Bluebird refused. “No, you can"t. It"s dangerous to stay there. As far as I have noticed, our perception of time will be distorted inside the Fairy Kingdom. If we don"t constantly check the time, an hour can instantly pa.s.s. If you sleep, a week may pa.s.s when you wake up.”

Sila had experienced changes in the flow of time when he stayed in the Desert of Death, so he nodded. “I agree. We shouldn"t take unnecessary risks. Our objective is to arrive at Belacia City as fast as possible.”

Bluebird continued to lead the way to the deepest part of the cave, closely followed by Sila and Burapha. The three of them no longer conversed anymore, the idea of losing time having killed the mood.

Soon, Sila sensed a life force ahead of him, so he blocked Bluebird from advancing.

“Someone is there, ahead of us,” Sila whispered.

Burapha tried to release his psychic power to detect up ahead, but the cave disturbed his psychic power by echoing it around. Therefore, he felt extremely confused and wondered how Sila could achieve the feat.

Similar to Burapha, Bluebird couldn"t detect anything. However, he sent a small tailorbird to investigate the area and nodded at Sila"s statement.

“There really is a player ahead of us, and they seem to be unconscious. Anyway, this is strange.”

“How is it strange, Big Brother?” asked Burapha.

“There is only one entrance. If this player entered the cave the last time the gate opened, they should have arrived at the Fairy Kingdom already.”

“Maybe they got lost?” Burapha whispered back.

Bluebird shook his head. “Did you see any intersections? We went straight from the entrance up to here. There is no way someone can get lost. The Soul Crystals are always glowing, so there is no way they couldn"t see where they were going either.”

“We have to go through anyway. Just be careful,” warned Sila.

Burapha and Bluebird agreed with him. Sila became more vigilant and slowly walked forward while Bluebird transformed into a tailorbird in order to become a smaller target. Bluebird, in the tailorbird form, flew and perched on Sila"s shoulder. Lastly, Burapha took out the Eastern Sea Evil Lance. However, with a large backpack on his back, his movements looked rather sluggish.

The three of them headed forward slowly. It took them less than five minutes to see the person lying on the cave floor. Based on his attire, he seemed to be a qi type player. Several parts of his body were covered in a thin layer of ice. His clothing was ragged, indicating it had gone through many hardships. His body was subtly moving up and down based on the rhythm of his breathing.

“This is—!” Bluebird and Sila exclaimed simultaneously.

“What is it?” Burapha asked quietly, feeling tense.

Bluebird said, “Nothing. I was just surprised because it seems like he is just sleeping normally.”

“Dang... Here I thought you were about to say something important. You too, Big Brother Sila?” Burapha complained.

Sila replied, “No, what I want to say is... Based on his clothing and his back, I think I have seen this person before.”

Bluebird and Burapha stared at the person whose face was against the floor. They indeed felt this person looked rather familiar. Burapha tried using his lance to poke at the man once, which worked. The man sprang up from the lying position.

“Hm? Did I fall asleep?” His voice was also familiar. Once the man turned his head, the three of them instantly recognized him.

“You... Lomyok. Why are you here?” asked Burapha.

The Deity Lomyok in his green clothing swept his eyes, scanning through everyone. “Oh, Sila and... you two. I beg your pardon. I don"t remember your names.”

Lomyok stood up and swept the dust off his clothing. Although his body was covered in dirt, his face was exceptionally clean. It was as if he had put special effort into preserving his looks.

“I didn"t expect you to track me to this place. Actually, you could have just asked me directly.”

Sila repeated Burapha"s question. “Lomyok, why are you here?”

“Hm? Sila, did you get a haircut? You look better this way. I have been thinking that a shorter hairstyle would suit you more. I always know that you have the potential to be more handsome. As expected of my rival.” Instead of answering, Lomyok nonchalantly went off topic.

“Oi, how did you get here?” asked Bluebird.

“I simply came here to search for clothing worthy of being worn by me. When I heard there is the best, most elegant clothing in the Fairy Kingdom, I instantly knew that it was made just for me. I lingered around the arched entrance which is rumored to lead to the Fairy Kingdom, and, suddenly, I got into this cave before I knew it. As my rank is only Squire, I exhausted my qi and fell asleep.”

Lomyok didn"t seem to mind the fact that his rank was demoted to Squire Rank even though it would be the most devastating thing for any other player.

“To put it simply, you were lost,” Burapha summarized.

“Considering my handsomeness, I have never lost my way. I always walk on the paths that destiny leads me down, and my destinations are decided by fate.”

Sila turned to Burapha and gave him a blank look. No matter how he tried to interpret Lomyok"s statements, it sounded like getting lost.

Lomyok headed into the deeper part of the cave, to which Burapha asked, “Where are you going?”

“Hm? I"m going to the Fairy Kingdom, obviously. Let"s go separate ways. Thanks for waking me up.”

The three of them looked at each other. Sila said to Lomyok, “We have to go past the Fairy Kingdom as well.”

“Aha! I caught you. You want to follow me, the handsome one. Fine, fine. Come and follow me. I won"t mind.”

“Erm... We really have to go that way. We have absolutely no intention of following you,” Bluebird replied.

“Fine, fine. Everyone always says that. I really don"t mind. Just don"t try to get a piece of me. I don"t want injuries on my face.” Lomyok shrugged and continued to roam inside.

Sila, Burapha and Bluebird didn"t know what to do with Lomyok. Unfortunately, this route was the only shortcut to arrive at Belacia City, so they had no choice but to go after him. They even all thought that if they had known beforehand that they would b.u.mp into Lomyok, they might"ve instead chosen to go through the snowfield.