Deeper Region, Forbidden Forest

Grim investigated the entire forest before he came across a giant cave.

The cave was big enough to fit a small town, and for some reason, the cave reminded him of the giant bird.

The inside was hollow and bleak. Grim summoned a fireball, illuminating the cave.

To his dismay, the cave was empty. So he took out the map he acquired from the ruins.

The cave was one of the three marked locations on the map, but he couldn't find anything peculiar about the cave.

He pondered. "This place wouldn't be marked without any reason. This cave hides some kind of secret, and I want to know what."

Grim began to examine the cave for clues, but even after hours of investigation, he couldn't uncover anything.

He punched the wall in frustration.

Clang!

The collision gave off an unusual sound. Instead of the usual thick noise, it emanated a sharp noise as if he had struck a metal.

"Well, that's weird. I'm sure I struck the wall."

Grim punched the wall again.

Clang!

It gave off the same sound again.

"Why would a wall emanate metallic noise? Let's see if the other spots are also the same."

He started punching, and he was shocked to discover that the entire rear of the cave gave off a metallic sound.

"Yup, that's very suspicious. Here goes nothing."

'Vigor'

He multiplied his strength by 110x and punched.

Bang!

The entire cave shook slightly.

He observed the wall, and to his disappointment, the attack had only left a punch mark.

"Looks like I have to punch for an entire week. If only my two crystals were intact, I could have pulverized the cave."

Bang!

He went back to punching.

***

A week later

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One could hear the constant punches inside the cave.

Bang!

Crack!

"Finally."

Grim was about to cheer his success, but suddenly he heard an ominous sound.

Hissssssss!

The wall began to redden and melt eventually.

"I don't like this."

'Aerial'

He dashed out of the cave and further.

Roarrrrrrr!

The entrance of the cave roared and ejected fire. Grim, who was kilometers away, could feel the heat.

"This has to be the larger meteor."

He was excited by its power.

Booooooom!

Suddenly, the cave exploded, releasing hot magma omnidirectional.

'Aerial'

His affinity with fire had reduced as a result of the missing crystals. So, he tried to dodge blobs of magma.

The chaos lasted an entire day.

By the end of the day, the inner region of the forest had been reduced to ash, new mountains had emerged thanks to the accumulation of lava, and all lives ceased to exist.

Grim witnessed everything from far away. To him, it seemed as if he had traveled back in time and observed the creation of the planet itself.

He could feel the familiar fiery aura all over the forest.

"Ahhh! This comfortable feeling. Despite my desire to sit here and cultivate, I'll have to return to the headquarter."

"I'll go check on my master and seniors. Then, I'll return."

He flew off.

***

Eight days later, Alliance Headquarters

Grim arrived at the entrance.

The security was lax at the moment. The recent victory had instilled a false sense of security in everyone.

The major players behind the game had yet to reveal themselves. But Grim didn't divulge it. He didn't want to cause mass hysteria.

He flew to the headquarters.

There was an ongoing meeting at the headquarter, and his sudden arrival paused the meeting.

"Go on."

He gave the order to continue.

The meeting lasted for several hours. It was mainly about the restoration of the headquarters and the traitors.

Grim left the decision of restoration to Zhao Jing and Tao Shun. As for traitors, he ordered them to pardon them.

Everyone opposed his decision.

So Grim stated.

"I'm not doing it out of compassion. I'm doing it for the future."

Zhao Jing asked. "What do you mean by that, brother Grim?"

Grim took out the cube and ordered. "Everyone, supply your Qi to the cube."

Everyone was hesitant. So Grim supplied the Qi himself.

Zhao Jing and others followed suit.

Once the cube was filled to the brim, it released a holographic projection as before.

The sudden change of events surprised everyone. They began to gossip among themselves.

Grim yelled. "Listen to it first."

Everyone went silent.

***

The projection vanished after the final message, and the cube returned to normal.

Grim exclaimed. "Now, you must know the situation we're in."

Everyone began to murmur.

Zhao Jing asked again. "Brother Grim, what three locations were they talking about?"

Grim replied. "Brother Zhao, I won't reveal the three locations at the moment. It's not that I want to monopolize it, but I know some idiots will be overwhelmed by the greed and get themselves killed."

"As for what's in that location, imagine something 10x worse than the 'unique cultivation area'. Even I can't guarantee my safety there."

The exposition left everyone speechless.

Grim broke the silence. "You should understand now why I'm willing to pardon them. We don't know how many or how powerful enemies will show up. So we'll need the help of everyone. Today onwards, let everyone in the evolution realm access the unique cultivation area."

"I'll get going now."

Grim grabbed the cube and flew off.

The higher-ups decided to keep the information secret while following Grim's suggestions.

***

Faith Academy

The staff had informed everyone about Grim's well-being, but they had yet to confirm themselves. So his return caused a commotion in the academy.

His master, senior brother, and sister were the most anxious. So they arranged a banquet upon his arrival.

The banquet ended late at night, and Grim returned to his room exhausted.

Sigh!

"There are two things I'll never get used to, seeing my clone, and having to attend a banquet. Now that's over. I'll check the treasure from the ruin."

He took out the pouch and dug out all the treasures.

First was the ring. It looked like an ordinary ring, but he knew it wasn't the case. So he probed the ring. At first, he released his consciousness into the ring, but it vanished immediately. He gave it a second try, but it gave the same result.

"Consciousness won't work. I'll try Qi and physical strength next."

Then, he supplied it with a small amount of Qi, but it was enough. The wisp of Qi vanished within the ring and lit up the invisible runes.

The ring floated and slipped into his right index finger once all runes were lit.

"What the hell. Get off of me."

Grim tried to pull out the ring, but the second his left hand came into contact with the ring, it vanished.

"Ahh! What the hell."

He panicked and retracted his hand. To his delight, the left hand was safe.

Phew!

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's try with something else."

He took a bowl and threw it into the ring.

Bleep!

It vanished.

"Now, let's get it out."

He tried everything, but the ring wouldn't let it out.

"Let's try grabbing it."

His left hand touched the ring, and it vanished.

"I can still feel my hands."

Then, he tried to move his hand, and surprisingly it did. However, it felt as if his hand was floating.

Soon, the hand came across an object. Grim touched the object, and he was able to guess it.

"It's the bowl from before. So the ring can act as storage."

He began to experiment with the storage function and concluded.

"It can store anything except living beings, and it doesn't affect the shelf life of perishable goods. This is a blessing in disguise. Now, I can store anything anywhere."

He was in a great mood.

"Let's check the second treasure."

He grabbed the book, its cover was made of gold, and its pages were made from materials he had never seen or heard about. He turned the pages, but the writing made no sense to him.

"I'll ask runesmiths for help later."

He stored the book in the ring.

Then, he grabbed the final treasure.

It was a blue stone size of a walnut, giving off a unique aura.

'Moonlight Storm'

A rapid vortex formed around him. The vortex siphoned up Qi in the surrounding, but it couldn't absorb the aura from the stone.

"Well, that's unexpected. An 'advanced' level skill couldn't absorb even a strand of the aura. Let's try again but for a longer duration."

[Evo points left: 10,444,750]