"Use your mana and crush this forcefully. The rift is about to close."
Just when Lucien was thinking of a solution, he suddenly felt the body leaning against him move slightly.
Then, he saw Lilith extending her arm. In her hand was a shimmering bead that looked like a marble.
"Do it fast. We don’t have time. Ugh..."
It seemed all the exercise and fierce fighting earlier had taken its toll on her. Lilith once again leaned against Lucien and warned him in a breathy voice.
From her expression, she didn’t seem to care at all about their earlier venture.
"Little guy, come here."
Lucien saw that Lilith wasn’t joking. So, he didn’t dawdle either and ordered the little guy to climb onto his shoulder. Then, without hesitation, he crushed the marble in his hand.
The moment he did, he saw the entire cavern suddenly collapsing inward into a massive rift like the one he’d seen before.
Only now did he realize that the entire cavern was actually traveling through this unstable space... and due to the little guy’s meddling, it had become distorted and was torn apart by the rift itself.
Fortunately, before the space storm could swallow them, the shattered bead transformed into a shimmering barrier that wrapped around them tightly.
Then, in the blink of an eye, Lucien, Lilith, and the little guy disappeared from the place, leaving only the broken cavern behind.
"Fuck... why it is always ..."
The orb Lilith gave him was a rare, single-use teleportation artifact that successfully allowed them to escape the collapsing rift.
However, it was equally unstable, just like that portal, or even more so.
So, as soon as Lucien came out of the Rift, he was thrown onto the ground roughly.
Fortunately, this time he was smarter and used someone as a cushion, conveniently saving himself from embarrassment.
"Ugh... can you...leave me now?"
And the person who cushioned his fall was none other than Third Princess Lilith, who was looking at him with faint anger on her face.
What kind of man would instinctively use the woman in his arms as a cushion when falling?
She was probably thinking just that. Not to mention where he grabbed her when she fell.
This guy was still busy taking advantage of her.
"Oh? Yeah, don’t worry... It’s not like I want to be with you."
But Lucien neither cared about her emotions nor bothered to apologize.
He just lifted himself up gracefully with the little guy on his shoulder, as if nothing had happened between them.
He then distanced himself from Lilith while paying close attention to her, ready to activate the mark if anything happened.
Only, Lilith was still in her soaked and disheveled clothes that were see-through after all. This made the situation all the more awkward as neither of them could completely ignore.
Fortunately, Lilith still managed to change her dress swiftly before they felt someone arrive near their location.
Although it was kinda embarrassing when someone was looking at her, what could she do?
"Lucien? What are you doing here?"
The person who arrived was a tall girl with golden-brown hair and sparkling emerald green eyes. It was none other than Liora, who had come here after sensing the fluctuation of magic in this place.
However, she never thought she would see Lucien inside the dungeon, let alone at the core.
She was so surprised that she blurted out a gasp with wide eyes.
’Wait...he is here, doesn’t that mean he completed the trial?’
She thought, feeling bewildered.
How could Lucien do this?
If he was so capable, why would the Goldveil family waste so much money and so many connections to get him an awakening quota?
’And why is he with the Third Princess, Lilith?’
Moreover, Liora was even more uncomfortable that he was actually with the Third Princess. Didn’t they have a small confrontation at the gate of the dungeon just now?
’Why are they suddenly so close?’
Although Liora didn’t see the embarrassing scene of Lilith and Lucien since they had already composed themselves, she still saw some subtle change in their relationship, which she couldn’t understand.
Still, she gave a standard bow, according to her noble etiquette, to which Lilith just nodded slightly.
Lucien was also surprised to see an acquaintance in this place, right after he appeared.
"Umm... hey, Lucien, why are you inside the dungeon? Didn’t you decide to wait outside for the awakening altar?"
Liora saw Lucien looking at her and couldn’t help but ask in confusion. She couldn’t understand what had happened to him after she left, so he decided to enter.
"Oh, haha... things just happened, you know, and I decided to take the test on a whim."
Lucien smiled awkwardly, not knowing what to say to her.
After all, she must be thinking he was crazy to take such a risk when he was already qualified to awaken.
"...But why? Why didn’t you wait outside? What would you do if you encountered an accident? What would uncle and aunt think after investing so much, only for you to blow it all up ?"
However, maybe seeing Lucien so nonchalant, or maybe due to something else, Liora didn’t take his answer lightly.
Instead, she suddenly came closer and slapped his head in anger while admonishing him, just like an older sister.
After all, once he decided to take the test but failed to reach the center before nightfall, he would be disqualified.
Then, he would be directly transported out of this Genesis Rift dungeon. Didn’t that mean his quota would be wasted?
Of course, she was angry. But she didn’t know that poor Lucien; no one really told him this at all.
"Ouch... hey, I’m already here. Isn’t that my ability? Why are you hitting me?"
Lucien was surprised by Liora’s outburst and couldn’t help but rub his head with a confused look.
Although he didn’t feel any pain, he acted as if he did, since he could clearly see Liora’s concern in her beautiful eyes.
So, he didn’t argue further and was about to explain when he heard a soft giggle from the side
"Hehe... it seems you two are quite close."
The voice was so soft and serene that it could soothe any man’s soul.
"Liora Evergreen, right? Don’t worry, he’s fine. He just wanted to prove himself. After all, he is a man and can’t back down now."
Lilith giggled beautifully, then looked at Lucien with those same eyes that had looked at him at the gate of the dungeon before.
Only now, there was something mixed within them that Lucien had a hard time understanding.
"Whether I’m a man or not, doesn’t the Third Princess know yet?"
He was still fully on alert with this girl who had almost killed him. This girl was really something else.
Despite him doing something outrageous to her while mysteriously using her own skill, she was so calm.
It was as if she had forgotten what had just happened.
Lucien wasn’t afraid of someone who yelled loudly, but he had to be cautious around such a silent person.
In fact, he wanted to ask her to remove the mark on his mind in return for removing hers, but the situation here didn’t allow him to discuss.
"Yeah, you’re indeed right. See? Your friend is a man after all. Why would he use charity to awaken his class?"
Lilith didn’t take Lucien’s cold answer to heart at all and replied to Liora with a light laugh.
She looked exactly the same as before, soft and seductive, yet so dangerous.