Abium stared at the Maze for a while and fell into deep thoughts.
'Haa, I can't hesitate right now. I hope the explorer didn't lie to the masses.' Although he had enough information to explore, he still felt somewhat uneasy about it.
If people entered the cave without prior knowledge, they would only find themselves in split pathways.
Even if they choose a random pathway and roam inside the Maze for days, only a few would find their way back to the entrance.
Sometimes, it would even take days for them to return.
The remaining unlucky ones would lose their sense of direction and vanish from the Maze itself. As for where they go, not even the explorers knew.
'That's why it always remained as a mysterious maze.'
Abium recalled the information about how to enter the pocket dimension and spoke.
"Once we enter the Maze, we have to look for 13 red gems and collect them."
"What are those gems for?" Nicolaus furrowed his brows and asked in puzzlement.
"It is to open up a portal to the pocket dimension." Abium moved closer to the entrance and said calmly.
"What is Pocket Dimension?" Nicolaus raised his eyebrows and asked in confusion.
Meanwhile, Abium wasn't surprised by his lack of knowledge about the Pocket Dimension.
In truth, even he knew nothing much about it.
'I only heard a few things about it from the roaming mages and explorers.'
Abium heaved a deep sigh and continued to explain.
"It's the same as the spatial ring, but the space contained in the Pocket dimension would be much bigger. I heard that the Pocket Dimension could even hold our Peral kingdom or an Empire inside." Abium paused as he looked at the confused Nicolaus and continued.
"It's like a mini-world. Anyway, listen carefully, Nicolaus. Please refrain from touching the Altar Room's door hidden in the Maze without collecting the 13 red gems. Once you touch it, even I don't know what would happen."
Nicolaus listened to Abium's words attentively and nodded his head even though he didn't understand much.
"Don't think it is easy to find those gems. It might even take more than two days."
"Two days?" Nicolaus repeated in a surprised tone while Umi tilted her head in puzzlement.
"Ugh, I will tell you honestly. I believe that 'Time' seemed to be flowing abnormally in this Maze. I don't know if this news is real or fake, but you can think of this Maze as something more mysterious than the mythical dungeons."
As Abium responded, Nicolaus suddenly turned his face solemnly and probed further.
"Is it possible for a person who went inside this maze a few years back to still be stuck in that 'Time Anomaly'? Is it possible for her to return?"
'As I thought, he is still thinking about his childhood friend. Could it be he has a crush on that girl?' Abium furrowed his brows and soon shook his head.
"I don't know, Nicolaus. But if they got imprisoned inside something like Time Crystal, it might be possible."
'Although it's unlikely, I don't want to crush his hope now.'
In truth, Abium wanted to show him the real magic world and help him grow stronger.
'That's all I can do for my lifelong friend.'
He quickly cast those useless thoughts away and gazed at the other two.
But before he could say anything, a low mutter came out of Umi's mouth as she looked at the eastern sky and threw her tiny hands in the air.
"Sun!"
Nicolaus and Abium got startled by her sudden action and shifted their gaze towards where Umi was looking.
The next instant, a dazzling light appeared from the east, fell on their tired faces, and gave them a warm feeling.
'It's already morning. The longer we stay, the more danger it will become.' While muttering, he shifted his gaze towards the southern direction and even heard shouts of soldiers.
'They are already started to search the town's outskirts.' Although Baron Tibbott wouldn't tell Margrave about the secret underground passage, Abium didn't dare to underestimate the Light Church members.
'I heard that some Priests could hypnotize others and even force them to tell the truth. The Light Church also has many.'
Shaking his head, he gazed towards the gloomy cave and muttered.
"Let's go!"
Then, he walked ahead while carrying Umi's mother on his shoulder, while Nicolaus grabbed Umi's tiny hand and followed after him.
Once they entered the mysterious Maze, Abium took out the magic lamp from his space ring, lit it by clicking the switch, and illuminated the surroundings.
The group then slowly walked further into the cave while looking for the red gems on the walls.
But as they walked further, Abium was surprised as he noticed that the rough walls soon turned into something smooth and shiny. Moreover, the shrubs that occupied the ground also disappeared and were replaced with white marbles.
Even the palace floor appeared poor in quality when compared to this one!
As the light emitted from the magic lamp reflected on the shining walls and concrete floor, it brightened the surrounding in dim yellow light.
After some time, they suddenly halted their footsteps and soon noticed that the path was split into three.
"What should we do now?" Nicolaus asked with a frown.
On the other hand, Abium waved his hand, selected the right-side path, and moved forward.
"We don't need to think much about choosing the right path in this Mage. All that matters most is staying together." His voice echoed in the Maze.
Meanwhile, Nicolaus nodded in understanding and hurriedly ran after him while carrying Umi.
After a few minutes of walking, they saw that the current path was split into three again.
As Abium was about to move towards the right side, Nicolaus suddenly noticed something shining on the wall of the middle path and shouted.
"It's there!"
Abium also stopped his footsteps, followed his gaze, and soon saw a small human eye-sized red gem embedded in the shiny brownish wall.
"Nice." He nodded with a pleased smile, moved towards the middle path, and took out a small silver knife from his space ring. Then, he used it to take out the red gem from the wall and stored it in a separate leather pouch.
After that, Abium took a step forward and moved deep into the middle path.
After an hour of walking, Nicolaus started to feel like they were circling in a loop.
But Abium didn't even show the slightest hint of tiredness and continued to walk.
They finally found the second gem two hours later and almost shouted in joy.
"Let's rest here," Abium suggested as they arrived near the next junction and placed Umi's mother on the floor.
He then sat on the floor, looked at her face, and muttered.
"She is strong."
"You mean she is a Warrior?" Nicolaus furrowed his brows as he asked the question and soon frowned.
"Wait. Aren't these Beastkins cursed by the Gods and barred from practicing any cultivation techniques?"
Meanwhile, Abium shook his head and corrected him.
"They aren't cursed but blessed by God's bloodline power long ago. Unfortunately, the current generation Beastkins have long lost the way to awaken and strengthen their bloodlines." He paused for a moment, scanned her body, and checked her status.
...
[Name: Unknown
Age: 33
Race: Fox kin
Class: Elite-Rank Bloodline Warriors (Similar to Warlocks)
Attributes:-
Strength- 3.2
Agility- 3.4
Vitality- 3.3
Mana- 11.0
Spirit- 5.5
Skills:-
Basic Sword Arts
Bloodline spells:-
Zero-Tiers:
Chill Touch (Unlocked)
Crystal Cocoon (Unlocked)
Frozen Land (Locked)
Ice Needle (Locked)
Mist Realm (Locked)
Ice Web (Locked)
Affinity:
Ice: High.]
...
"Hmm, she is an Elite Rank Bloodline Warrior. If I'm not wrong, her strength should be around Second-Tier Warrior, and she could even cast some bloodline spells." Abium spoke calmly.
"Bloodline spells?" Nicolaus widened his eyes in surprise.
After all, Magic spells weren't something a normal person could cast casually, so he was genuinely surprised by his words.
"Yes, but something seems to be restricting her from casting more spells. So, she could only cast two Zero-Tier Ice Magic Spells now."
In truth, he had seen something similar when he met some Beastkins slaves in the past and even fought them.
Unfortunately, most of them were weak due to this restriction and could only cast one or two bloodline spells.
They couldn't even stand for a few minutes in battles against mages and died like some cannon folders.
Shaking his head, Abium shifted his gaze towards Umi and spoke.
"But this child is something different. She has the potential to grow beyond the limits of any mortal."
He then leaned on the wall, took out a few dry grapes from the spatial ring, and gave them to Umi.
"Oh? But will that make any difference? The Light God and his followers would continue their hunting mission and further reduce their population, right?" Nicolaus spoke coldly.
Although he felt pity for their unfortunate situation, he didn't care if they survived or not.
On the other hand, Abium thought of the 'Blessed One' status and muttered.
"Maybe she has a chance."
After that, he took out a few dry pieces of bread, gave three to Nicolaus, and started to eat the rest.
Half an hour later, the group once again started their journey and started collecting the red gems.
It took nearly fifteen hours for them to collect twelve red gems.
Abium and others were exhausted by continuous walking and showed tired expressions on their faces.
Nicolaus even asked to rest in the Maze a few times, but Abium rejected his idea.
They also came across that altar room a few times earlier, but they didn't enter due to the insufficient amount of red gems.
It was not that much hard to enter the altar room. But once someone entered the Altar room, Abium knew that they would disappear from there and reappear somewhere in the Maze and even get separated.
'All those collected red gems will also disappear.' Abium shook his head and continued to search.
After a few minutes, they soon found that last gem embedded on the floor and finally got relieved.
After talking rest for a few minutes, Abium and others soon arrived before the Altar room and looked at the door.
Abium watched the iron door filled with runic inscriptions and weird engravings for a while and touched it.
The iron door distorted the next second and disappeared like an illusion, revealing an altar room to everyone.
Abium looked at the altar table and saw a fist-sized blue crystal at the center.
He also noticed thirteen one-meter tall stone pillars placed near the altar table in order and appeared mysterious.
Moreover, small iron pots were placed on top of those pillars and gave him a feeling of eeriness.
Although it was Abium's first time in this mysterious Altar room, he recalled all the information about it from one of the explorers and decided to act cautiously.
"Nicolaus, place each one of these red gems in those iron pots," Abium spoke and tossed the leather pouch towards Nicolaus.
Meanwhile, Nicolaus caught the leather pouch, stepped forward towards the black pillars, and started placing the gems on the pots.
When he put the final red gem on the last stone pot, a mysterious thing happened suddenly!
The whole room began to vibrate fiercely, followed by cracking noises.
At that moment, Abium noticed that the sound came from the stone pots and realized that the red gems were cracking.
'Is it some activation method? Why didn't that explorer say anything about it?'
As he was in muse, he felt a change in the surrounding elements.
He soon noticed that many crystalline elements gathered at the center of the room and created a small crack in the space!
The crack then began to expand and formed into a dark bluish portal!