In this extraordinarily spacious chamber, apart from the red gemstone, there was nothing else. No erected stalagmites, no drooping stalactites, the ground was flat and smooth, the ceiling neat and orderly… everything here betrayed strong clues that they were man-made, and were completely unlike a naturally-formed cave.
As for the gem, it was placed directly at the center of the whole chamber. It was positioned perfectly, clearly placed there on purpose by somebody.
What does this mean?
Benjamin knew too that this was where "Soul’s Fire" left behind his treasure. The red gemstone was similar to a fire elemental crystal, but did not feel quite the same. It could very well be an item that senior mage left behind.
But…Michelle was probably here before, right.
The treasure of "Soul’s Fire", was something always on her heart. Although Benjamin was not sure how Michelle died, but when her dying soul unleashed the curse, it already mentioned that she had obtained the treasure.
Then what could this odd red gemstone be?
On that thought, Benjamin took a look around again. What was weird was that apart from the path he came in, he could not see any other exit from this chamber.
This is a dead end?
No way….
After thinking for a while, Benjamin surmised that the problem probably still lied with that piece of red gemstone. So he walked closer, approached it, took two glances, but he still could not see anything special about it. He only felt a warm sensation in his body.
"Is it because of the fire particle..." He muttered to himself.
Sadly, his spiritual energy was damaged, otherwise he could have used his Water Particle Detection spell to feel what was so special about this piece of red gem.
What to do?
Because of Michelle’s unexpected death, Benjamin held a sense of foreboding in his heart. After all, a fine living person would not just fall dead; there must be a reason.
For some unknown reason, after coming here, he suddenly felt that Michelle’s death had something to do with this.
And so he could not help but be more cautious in his actions.
He circled the red gemstone for 2 rounds and could not discover anything. Then he turned around suddenly and began walking in circles around the chamber while borrowing the faint luminous light from above his head to observe all possibilities around him.
It felt like he was playing an escape game where he was mysteriously locked in a room, and had to randomly flip things over and search, finally exhausting all ideas to compile certain number of digits for a password.
However, an escape room game at least gave hints and he would know how many digits the password he had to crack had. But this chamber in front of his eyes was seriously barren; except for the mosses above his head, there was the red gemstone at the center. Apart from those, everything was spick and span to the point of abnormality.
He could not be expected to investigate the color distribution of the moss and crack the hidden code, can he?
Spending almost a whole hour, he finished searching through the whole chamber. After a futile search, he could only return to the side of the red gem.
After thinking for a while, he stretched out his hand and picked up the gem.
Nothing happened.
Benjamin felt a bit odd. He assumed that this piece of gem held some sort of contraption, and picking it up would make the chamber collapse or open a door. In the end, he held this thing in his hand, flinging it left and right, and nothing has happened in the chamber.
"Hey, you take a look, isn’t this thing a little weird?" So, he said to the System.
Unexpectedly, the usually chatty System made no response in that instance. Benjamin’s mind was a piece of silence, so silent that it was strange.
He suddenly felt a little creeped out.
What was the situation?
"Did your battery die? If you’re not dead do come out and say something, stop taking your time." And so, he nagged again in his heart.
"Warning! Warning! " Finally, the System’s voice rang out, but the robotic tone was as different from the usual as the sky and land, "Fire particle was found to be abnormal, please stay away immediately from the high-risk object, or else your life would be in danger!"
...The fire particle is abnormal?
Hearing that, Benjamin was bewildered and looked towards the red gemstone in his hand.
Honestly speaking, just holding the thing in his hand like that, he could not feel any abnormalities. At most he felt the warm, fuzzy feeling in his body, a sensation that did not feel lethal.
But since the System said so, out of caution, he still decided to put the gem back.
He crouched down and put the gem back where it originally was. However, oddly enough, when he loosened his grip, the red gemstone seemed to have stuck on his palm instead, and he could not put it back.
This….
Benjamin made an expression of astonishment.
In that moment, he suddenly felt that the intensity of the warmth in his body was magnified by a few times, and was rushing through his veins. Immediately, his pale face became red, and the veins on the back of his hand also exploded, which looked extraordinarily scary and savage.
He still did not know what had happened and already, he felt that he was going to be cooked thoroughly.
So hot…What’s going on?
"Warning! Warning! Fire particle was found to be abnormal, please stay away immediately …" The System’s voice once again rang out in his brain, the messages becoming more and more frequent and panicked as it repeated the message just now again and again.
Benjamin wished he could swear out loud.
No fucking shit…he wants to stay away too!
In this unexpected turn of events, Benjamin could only desperately wave his right hand, attempting to fling away the red gemstone. But no matter how much energy he used, it was like the gem grew into his flesh; no matter how he swung his hand, he could not get it off.
Looking at his skin which was getting more and more re, similar to a cooked lobster, Benjamin became a little panicked to the point he could get a red eye.
This- This- What the hell was this?
However, this was all just the beginning. In his frenzy, he suddenly noticed that little beads of blood had oozed out the back of his hand.
Bewildered, he looked towards another hand and it was the same situation on the other hand. Not only his hands, he used the cloth on his shoulder to wipe his face but discovered that the beads of blood which bled from his face were enough to dye his shirt red.
Shortly, not needing to move, he found out that his whole body, from head to toe, was bleeding. Soon enough, the beads of blood completely dyed his clothes and pants red- he was close to becoming a bloody man.
Fuck….
Benjamin was scared to the point even his soul was close to leaving his body.
He did not know what was going on, but he was aware that if he did not do something, all the blood in his body would be drained out completely- he would become a dry corpse.
What the fuck!
He did not want death from a piece of weird red rock and turn into a dry corpse like this.
How?
In that instant, countless maniacal ideas flashed through his mind.
What if…he should just chop off this hand?
But, how? He did not have a knife by his side! Also, even if there was a knife, without the proper things to stop blood flow, he would bleed to death after severing his hand.
But…what other way does he have to get rid of this damned thing that looked like an elemental crystal but was hundred times more dangerous?
The regret the Benjamin in that moment felt was enough to turn his intestines green. (* chinese belief that you swallow your regret so it sits in in your intestines undigested, turning it green.)
Fuck! Why did he even pick this shit up!
Nonono….Calm down, there must be some other way. He finally escaped the Church’s pursue after much effort; how could he just silently die here in this damned place?
Suddenly, it was as if a lightning struck Benjamin.
Elemental crystal…
That’s right! Elemental crystal!
He suddenly remembered that he had brought the Water Elemental Crystal into the Space of Consciousness before. This item in his hand now is highly similar to an elemental crystal. If he could bring it into the Space, could he stop this mysterious state of bleeding?
But the Space has such a strong mechanism of rejection…
Whatever! His blood was bled out almost completely by now, how could he care about that much? Right now, Benjamin made up his mind, and entered the state where half his leg is in the Space of Consciousness and another half remained in reality. Then, using his spiritual energy, he aimed at the red gemstone in his hand.
It went ‘whoosh’ and the gemstone disappeared.
Benjamin froze for a bit. The simplicity of the process was a little unbelievable to him. But he could deeply feel the changes in his body - the burning sensation in his body was speedily subsiding, his red, bloated skin was also gradually returning to normal, and no longer were there beads of blood gushing towards the outside…
Just like this…he succeeded?
Phew…
Benjamin could not help letting out a long sigh of relief.
The rules for substances that can be brought into the Space of Consciousness were actually quite harsh. He had experimented before and only pure elemental bodies could be brought in while other things were ignored completely.
He too did not think that his act of frenzied attempt at remedy would work.
Thinking along these lines, Benjamin stretched out his hand and wiped away either blood or sweat from his face, while feeling the type of gratefulness one only feels after surviving a close encounter with death.
However…
Benjamin had not even exhaled this breath out, and the System’s goddamn robotic voice rang out once more.
"Warning! Warning! Detected abnormality in the water particle, please stay away from the highly risky material immediately or your life will be in danger… "