Returning to the Mysterious Era

Chapter 147 - Ding! Your Cheat Has Arrived

Half a minute later, the hall fell into utter silence, with a few white scarab stragglers aimlessly crawling across the ground.

The amber-colored pool water gently rippled. The pool was deeper than Cassius had imagined—at least five meters deep. Rather than floating, he was bizarrely anchored to the bottom, a powerful suction force holding him firmly in place.

Thud!

The veins in Cassius’s legs bulged as he used everything he had in him to jump out of the water. But the intense gravity felt like thousands of hands were dragging him back. His heart sank as he realized something was wrong.

A leap that should have propelled him three to four meters into the air was completely negated. He barely managed to jump thirty or forty centimeters before succumbing to the force and falling back down.

After a moment of contemplation, Cassius noticed something else strange—his skin was helping him breathe. The amber liquid around him seemed to be constantly permeating his body with oxygen, allowing him to breathe freely underwater.

They're not letting me leave, but they’re also keeping me alive?

Cassius was puzzled, but he wasn't about to sit idly by at the bottom of the pool. He began to shuffle along, his gait like an old man, as he tried to locate the edge of the pool. If he could find something to grab onto, he might be able to climb out.

A few minutes later, he touched the cold wall of the pool. Leaning closer, he was startled to see that the wall was covered with numerous mouths—some open as if speaking, some snarling, some pursed. The entire expanse of it was etched in various expressions.

Cassius took two steps back in shock, then cautiously examined the wall again. They turned out to be carvings on the pool wall, but they were so lifelike that they looked eerie and unsettling.

Should I try climbing up? He grabbed onto the indented mouths and started climbing. This time, he managed to get slightly higher than before, about half a meter above the bottom, but he still couldn't hold on. The suction force grew stronger the higher he climbed, and his muscles began trembling. His fingers could barely grip the indentations, and he had no choice but to let go and drop back down.

Cassius sighed in frustration and continued to circle the pool, noticing that the carvings on the walls had changed. The carvings depicted various sensory organs: a mouth, eyes, a nose, ears, and hands—the five senses humans use to perceive the world.

Meanwhile, a hazy mist began to form in the vast hall above. The fog grew thicker by the second, and soon the entire hall and surrounding passages were shrouded in white mist.

A shadowy figure emerged in the mist, hovering near the edge of the pool as if to peer down at Cassius. The black runes on the ground that had previously dimmed suddenly flared up again at the figure's appearance, the intense red bathing the entire hall in light.

Cassius noticed the red glow even from the bottom of the pool. He looked up sharply. "What's happening up there?"

"Survive... Hiss... Hiss... Survive..." A sudden static-like noise crackled in his ears.

What do you mean survive???

Cassius was bewildered, lowering his head only to see that the carved mouths on the pool wall had started to move. The expressions, once varied, morphed into a single roar: "Aaaahhhh..."

Buzz!

Cassius felt as though he had been struck by lightning, his mind going blank in an instant.

Starting from the mouths, the eyes, noses, ears, and hands all began to shift, each sensory organ activating simultaneously, and overwhelming Cassius with a deluge of sensations.

His body convulsed, blood pouring out from his seven orifices. Soon, his skin began to bleed as well, his pores oozing out thin streams of blood. At that moment, a torrent of fragmented information crashed into Cassius’s mind, with images and perspectives constantly shifting. It was like watching a movie that had cobbled together other films into one, their frames jumping out of sequence.

The chaotic images were surreal yet vividly real. All the sensory information humans used to understand the world—smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch—were all present.

Cassius felt as if he was living through various moments in history, experiencing them through different people’s eyes. One moment, he was in one person’s body, and the next, he was in another. His mind got so hot it felt like it was on the verge of exploding.

He seemed to be everywhere at once—the past, present, and future.

His vision kept rising higher and higher until he saw a river running through the world. But instead of water, the river carried fragments of history and images. The river's upper reaches were narrow and thin, but at a certain point, it widened abruptly.

An ancient and powerful civilization, mysterious and autonomous, appeared on the world’s stage. Caring little for the mortals on the ground, it was focused solely on its own devices. This civilization lasted for a long time but at some point, it vanished, leaving a long period of emptiness.

After the void, black patches began to taint the river. It was so dark that Cassius couldn't see anything in that segment of the river. The river took a sharp turn at a certain point, and a dense white mist covered it.

Cold sweat drenched his back. The black water and white mist continued to intertwine endlessly. Until just then...

Whoosh!

Cassius suddenly opened his eyes, flipping over to sit up from the bottom of the pool. His chest heaved as he gasped for air. His back was covered in sweat.

He didn't know what he was afraid of, but a deep, inexplicable terror gripped him, sending chills down his spine.

Cassius rubbed his throbbing head as the fragmented images he had just seen faded as fast as they had come, becoming as vague as a dream.

He sat in a daze for half a minute before realizing he was now standing on an empty pool floor; the amber-colored pool water had vanished entirely. The carved mouths on the walls were also gone, replaced by smooth, cold black stone.

He jumped, testing the ground, and found that the suction force had disappeared. Cassius immediately leaped up, grabbing the edge of the pool, and flipping himself onto the floor of the hall. Glancing down, he noticed strange lines and symbols on the ground, though they appeared damaged, with large blank areas and lines abruptly cut off.

"Hmm?" Cassius noticed a black ouroboros symbol the size of his palm imprinted on his chest. The snake’s eyes and scales looked realistic and reflected a blackish-purple light if he looked at it from different angles.

"What is this?" He reached out to touch it; there didn't seem to be anything unusual about it.

Cassius looked up and noticed something in the upper right corner. A floating coiled snake symbol: ∞.

He hesitated, then, as he had done before, tried to focus on the coiled snake symbol. Instantly, a flood of information surged into his mind, causing his body to sway slightly.

The symbol was called Ouroboros, the Chalice of Blood that brewed the Blood of Immortality, and the Rune of Wisdom that guided one’s ascent.

Originating from the mysterious Aoyin civilization, Ouroboros was said to be one of the five cornerstone artifacts that led to boundless greatness and endless distances. A series of incomprehensible words followed, before ending with an additional sentence, "Absorb the essence of calamity and brew the Blood of the Spirit."

What exactly is the essence of calamity? And this Blood of the Spirit? Is this some sort of riddle?

Cassius could hazard a guess about the Blood of the Spirit; it was probably something that would be beneficial. But as for the essence of calamity, he was at a complete loss. Could it be the lingering attachment energy needed for time-travel? But then again, they seemed like two vastly different things, with a considerable gap between them.

As Cassius ruminated, that vague voice urging him to survive seemed to echo in his ears again. What was the shadowy figure in the mist planning? It had brought him to this ruin and granted him an unknown wisdom rune.

Despite it likely being a good thing, Cassius detested the feeling of being manipulated and controlled by others. It made him feel like a dangerous pawn.

Cassius felt a bit anxious, but he quickly dismissed the thought. After all, he was in a time-travel era. This was a historical scene from fifty years ago! No matter what schemes or conspiracies might be at play, they would all be rendered moot once Cassius returned to the real world. Even if he died in this time-travel era, it wouldn't matter. At most, it would mean a failed time-travel, and he wouldn't be able to bring back any power.

Cassius wasn't pressed for time this time, and he had even stocked enough lingering attachment energy for another attempt. The danger from the Shadow Demons was still within a controllable range. In theory, Cassius didn't need to worry too much.

Forget it, I'll just get out of here first, he decided. This ruin was swarming with dangerous white scarabs. It'd do him no good to try exploring now; Cassius had no intention of running into those bugs again. He took a deep breath and flitted into one of the passages.

Half a day later, Cassius sat down to rest in the middle of a cavern, a bottle and a tattered piece of parchment in front of him. To his surprise, he had also obtained a secret elixir that Twilight had unintentionally acquired himself. After avoiding many traps, he also found a piece of parchment in the same stone chamber. He couldn't understand the language on it, but it seemed to be related to the elixir.

Cassius was pleased to see these items because it could only mean he was getting closer to the cave's exit. However, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment; Cassius was still wandering in circles in the passageways.

This place was like a maze with countless twists and turns, where no one could tell where they were standing or how far the exit was. In such a situation, all he could do was keep trying.

Fortunately, Cassius had reached the pinnacle as a pugilist, allowing him to go without food or water for half a month. He wasn't in any immediate danger, for now. He still had plenty of time.

A few days later, Cassius stood at a crossroads, hesitating. At this rate, he was going to develop decision paralysis. The identical environment and identical passageways looked just the same as before. The road ahead could be a trap or a place where monsters lurked.

After all this time, Cassius was mentally and physically exhausted, and his face had visibly grown more haggard. The constant need to wake at the slightest sound, due to the dangers within the ruins, had also made him increasingly irritable.

Exhaling, he glanced at the upper right corner. The wisdom rune showed no change, offering no feedback. It just hung there, and was simply a waste of space.

What the hell is this thing good for? I'm getting annoyed just looking at it.

With no outlet for his frustration, Cassius slowly extended his hand, using his fingers as a blade to carve a cross into the wall. At the very least, this could help him figure out his way out of the ruins. It was better than doing nothing.

He stopped carving. Holding his breath, he listened intently. A few seconds later, Cassius pressed his right cheek against the wall. His brow furrowed, but his eyes seemed to gradually brighten. His pupils turned blood-red.

Boom!!!

The rock shattered and scattered as the wall shook violently. His iron fist, fully unleashed, rammed into the hard wall like a pile driver and stretched out like a black giant python. His five fingers clutched something oval and pulled it toward him.

A Blood Race youth's head was stuck in the hole. His eyes rolled back, looking as if his neck was about to be torn off.

"Good!" Cassius laughed loudly, slamming the head back into the hole. Then, his rock-white muscles swelled and bulged, his massive figure charging forward like a wild bull, and smashed into the wall forcefully.

Boom! Crackle, crackle, crackle...

Dust rained down as he came out and entered a parallel passage. Three Blood Race youths, their faces pale with shock, stood beside him. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Finally... finally... What a long detour this was..."

Relieved, a slight smile tugged at the corners of Cassius's mouth. Seeing his arrogant demeanor and the fallen companion on the ground, the three Blood Race youths roared in fury and charged at him, their bodies swelling and transforming until they became monstrous black-and-red bat creatures.

Cassius clenched his fists, eager to fight. Maybe it was because of the long and frustrating journey, but he found these ugly, blood-gifted Blood Race creatures strangely endearing now...

Endearing enough to make him want to crush their bones inch by inch with his fists, to sever their powerful muscle fibers with his hand blade. And those three round heads looked so much like fragile watermelons...

Cassius yearned to unleash the violent killing intent that had been building inside him. It had nothing to do with the Shadow Demons this time. Probably...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The wall echoed with three muffled thuds as the heads of those Blood Race creatures were violently slammed against the wall, leaving bloody dents and cracks. Cassius had pressed too hard on one of them, crushing them to death by sheer force against the sturdy wall.

"That felt good."

Shaking the blood off his hands, Cassius cracked his neck, a series of joints popping audibly. Just as he was about to pick up the two still-living Blood Race creatures, he noticed something different in the upper right corner. The wisdom rune had finally changed—it was no longer the same!

A long and thin blank progress bar had appeared on the right side of the coiled snake-shaped rune. On closer inspection, there was a small red dot at the end of the bar, indicating a minuscule bit of progress.

Cassius was suddenly struck by a realization. Is the essence of calamity related to dark creatures?!

He blinked. There were even more changes.

[Stone Armour Technique: Heavy Armor Mastery (Total Two Stages+)]

There seemed to be a faint plus sign after "Total Two Stages." Cassius’s heart raced.

Ding, your cheat has arrived...

He shook off the auditory hallucination. His throat felt slightly dry. Cassius then tried focusing on the plus sign, and the entire Stone Armour Technique entry began to blur in an instant.