The sun wanted to set beyond the mountain top.
The crimson sunset painted the entire sky.
Kane and the others were already scattered throughout the camp, guarding it to prevent a surprise demon attack.
The golden ripple underfoot suddenly stopped.
Upon looking back, Finaris was wobbling as she stood up, leaning on the golden scepter.
Her pale face hinted at significant energy expenditure.
A blue Hand of Magic floated over with a bottle of yellow potion, gently shaking it in front of Finaris, signaling her to drink it.
"Thank you," she murmured gratefully, downing the potion in one go, feeling her physical strength rapidly recovering.
"How is it? Has the sealing been repaired?"
Upon hearing Kane’s question, Finaris nodded.
Since the objective was achieved, after a brief rest, everyone mounted their horses and set out on the return journey.
The soldiers on the Volcano Fortress walls observed a trail of dust in the distance, only to realize it was Kane and the group upon closer inspection.
After inspecting their surroundings to ensure there were no issues, they opened the gate, leaving a small gap.
At the gate, Finaris and Kane parted ways, with her heading off to report the details of the mission and share with the commanders certain demon attack intel known only to her.
Kane and the others returned to their rooms.
They appraised and categorized the spoils collected over this period.
Some attributes were subpar, but they could replace worn-out equipment.
Speaking of the dungeon, they virtually didn’t encounter any monsters that dropped gold coins, leaving them without any monetary gains this time.
But it didn’t matter, as they’d still acquired a substantial amount of useless silver and copper equipment.
Selling these pieces would also fetch a hefty sum.
After sorting the equipment briefly, everyone retired to their rooms to rest.
Only Kane remained in the living room, waiting for the Magic Stone to finish extracting energy from the silver materials.
Kreya and the others had lost interest in watching Kane perform Skill Extraction, as each extraction was monotonously repetitive without any variations.
Kane decided to use this silver Magic Stone for Skill Extraction instead of upgrading existing Copper Skills.
Nowadays, he typically alternates between extracting with a silver Magic Stone and upgrading with another silver Magic Stone.
Once the Magic Stone transformed completely into a silver metallic texture, Kane gripped it tightly.
Opening the Book of Adventure, he slowly pressed his palm onto the Extraction Array.
[Would you like to use the Silver Magic Stone to extract skills?]
[Skill Extraction in progress······]
The array on the book began rotating, emitting faint light, and the Magic Stone in his hand vanished, replaced by a glowing patterned stone fragment.
[Name: Explorer’s Pointer]
[Category: Active Skills]
[Description: Consume magic power to create a silver pointer, finally determining the item or location you wish to find in your mind. Complete knowledge is unnecessary, only its characteristics. The clearer and more numerous the characteristics, the more accurate the direction indicated by the pointer. The range the pointer can explore expands with its user’s growing strength.]
[Introduction: A skill exclusive to Treasure Hunter Mitchel Kuki, created through imitation of a magical item he once acquired. Despite his intentions, the skill deviates greatly from his expectations.]
Regarding this skill, useful it surely is, but in most situations, it collects dust in storage.
Yet once it comes into play, it’s exceptionally convenient.
Such skills stones that augment inventory, enabling responses to more unexpected situations, are better than nothing, though.
Thinking of this, Kane rose to return to his room to rest.
Just as he opened his room’s door, he was knocked to the ground by a mass of white.
Looking up, it turned out to be Cotton Candy, whose form had expanded again, making Kane’s room completely unable to contain him.
He poked at the cloud jammed in the doorway.
The cloud trembled but remained unmoved.
He poked again more forcefully.
This time, it seemed he finally managed to awaken the sleeping Cotton Candy.
Its body quickly shrank, the cloud blocking the door receded, revealing the path into the room.
Only then could Kane enter.
Once inside, he saw Cotton Candy, exceedingly excited, feeling that he’d grown bigger.
For children, growing up is the happiest thing.
Walking over, he patted Cotton Candy: "You must diligently control your ability to grow big and small, otherwise, once your body grows a bit larger, you’ll have to float in the sky forever."
Upon hearing Kane’s words, Cotton Candy showed a shocked expression.
Kane tapped its head.
"It’s not that I’m refusing you entry, but when you sleep, you can’t control your size, and by the next day you’ve directly filled the room."
"Pee-gie!" Cotton Candy frowned, encouraging itself, determined to work hard and learn.
"Yep, yep, exactly, exactly!" Having such spirit is essential.
If I don’t control my size well, can’t I enjoy a soft cloud bed anymore in the future?
After Cotton Candy regained control, Kane lay down and relaxed.
At this moment, demons and Skin-Stripping Monsters were reveling on the plains.
Within the demon’s base, apart from a few demons, no other creatures were visible.
After Winged Demon Kuleus received the token from Bartos, he led nearly all the creatures away.
Bartos leaned languidly on the floating platform, relishing the rare peace and ease, quietly observing without any desire to intervene.
None of this mattered.
Whether winning or losing, living or dying, ultimately, it would return to the beginning.
Why not lie and await the cycle’s reboot.
Waiting for the next cycle, to see if any unseen figures might bring new amusement.
Upon meeting these unseen outsiders every time, he felt a strong urge to eradicate them.
He keenly knew that this place’s will was affecting him.
This was utterly unacceptable for someone as rational as him.
Thus, he learned to behave smartly, avoiding encounters with these individuals, since not meeting them naturally meant not being influenced by the world’s will.
Due to his significant role in history, escaping this control was impossible.
However, while advancing history step by step, he relaxed wherever possible.
Ultimately, these were incidents experienced countless times, devoid of novelty.
As for Kuros leading the massive demons and creatures, he didn’t head toward the location seized by Kane and his group. For original chapters go to N0v3l.Fiɾe.net