*drip...drip...*
The sound of blood tickling and hitting the ground kept echoing inside the silent hall as I continued to look at the engraved pictures on the wall.
"What is this place?" I mumbled as I looked around carefully, but even then, I didn't find anything that stood out.
Apart from the engraved walls, everything else looked nothing special.
"Argh!" I winced in pain as Grace tightly grabbed my hand, still stabbed with an arrow.
The arrow was deeply rooted in my palm. Upon closer inspection, it had pierced, messing up my veins as well.
Without saying anything, Grace broke the head of the arrow and then looked at me.
"It will hurt," she said, looking into my eyes.
"Hu-Argh!" Before I could even reply, she yanked out the arrow from my hand, making me let out a faint cry.
A hole had already formed in my hand through which I could see through.
"That's odd," I mumbled, looking at my wound.
My phoenix bloodline should have have kicked in by now to increase the healing process, but my hand is still the same.
"Stay still," Grace scolded me as she took out a handkerchief, wrapping it around my wound.
Her white handkerchief turned shades of red as my wound kept seeping out more blood.
'Why is it not healing?'
Feeling that something was wrong, I crouched down to inspect the arrow that had broken into two parts.
Sure enough, there was a muddy substance sticking at the end of the head.
I gently touched it with my working hand, bringing it closer to smell it.
'Hmm, Edda, is it what I am thinking it is?'
[Yes.]
'Hmm, something that stops the natural clotting of blood. I thought it was some kind of poison.'
*Drip..*
Well, but the question is, why would someone have a less harmful substance coating the arrow than a lethal poison?
"E-Eden..." I looked back towards Aeloria, who had now snapped out of her daze as she looked at me.
"Thank you..." She said, bowing a little, letting gravity do its work, making her enormous breasts look even bigger.
'Focus, idiot.' Slapping the pervert out of me, I stood up.
"Be careful next time," I replied as I moved to inspect the pictures.
Hmm, the first thing I did upon arriving in front of the engraved pictures was to release the star energy, using [star energy] to cover the entire hall and create a 3D map of the place.
It was a large hall that stretched for hundreds of meters.
And in these hundreds of meters, only one thing stood out.
At the end of the hall, there was a hole which should be the place from where the arrow was shot.
Having checked the place, I moved closer towards the engraved pictures.
*Drip..*
The first one was a sword cutting down a lightning bolt.
Lightning bolt...
"Zeus." I looked back in surprise as I heard the name.
"Lightning bolt is the symbol of Zeus," Aeloria mumbled as she stood beside me, while Grace was frowning, not understanding her words.
And how could she? Because there is no mention of Zeus in this world, or people just don't know about him.
He wasn't even mentioned in the game either.
Anyway, right now Aeloria is giving herself away.
That she is not from this world.
"Trident symbolizes Poseidon," she replied, looking at me this time, "while hammer symbolizes Hephaestus and helmet Ares."
"Who are you talking about?" Grace asked, unable to hide her curiosity.
"The gods?" Aeloria replied with a slight tilt of her head.
"What gods?" Grace asked, frowning.
"Zeus... God of Olympus," Aeloria mumbled. After seeing Grace's confused expression, she realized she made some kind of mistake.
"Wait... you don't know him?" She asked again.
"The God of Olympus is Apollo," Grace replied firmly.
"Wait, since when?" Aeloria asked in shock.
"Since I have known, he was the God of Olympus."
"What about the God of the sea then?"
"Neptune is the God of the sea, and all the people from the Kingdom of the Sea worship him," Grace replied.
"But wasn't Poseidon supposed to be their God?" Aeloria mumbled, frowning, and I sighed, looking at her.
"Aeloria, you are saying too much," I called her out as I looked back at the pictures, "look at the pictures carefully. All of them, the symbols are cut in half."
"And what does that mean...." She asked, but then her expression turned dramatic as she understood my words.
"No way," she replied while shaking her head, "who could even be able to kill powerful gods like them..."
"....."
Instead of replying, I looked at her silently.
"Don't tell me...."
"Nothing is confirmed. Don't think too much," I replied, dismissing her shocked expression.
"But why are the same pictures engraved on the walls multiple times?" She asked as she looked around.
"I don't know...." I replied, not thinking about it.
Remember, child, if you don't learn about your energy, the loop will continue and so will the curse for eternity to come.
*Drip..*
I shook my head as I remembered the snake's words.
It has nothing to do with what she said.
I am the one who is thinking too much about it.
"Sigh..."
Sighing a little, I moved towards the end of the hall, ignoring the pictures that were engraved on the wall.
In less than a day, I received too much information, and honestly, I don't want to delve deeper into the labyrinth anymore.
"Is that what you meant, that I will get my answer soon enough, Edda?"
[.....]
"Forget I asked."
Getting no answer, I didn't ask anymore, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of the end of the hall.
"Can't we go any further?" Grace asked as she looked around.
"No..." I mumbled as I shook my head. When I used [Star Sense] earlier, I didn't find anything that looked like a door that would take us outside of this place.
"So it's a dead end then?" Aeloria asked while I stayed silent.
I extended my hand towards the hole in the wall.
*Drip...*
But before I could understand, a single drop of blood trickled down my injured hand, dyeing the ground in red.
*Swish.*
*Twicht*
And as if it triggered something, the ground beneath us shone and a complicated rune emerged from it. Enjoy exclusive chapters from M V L
Before we knew it, the seemingly normal wall shook, and a new way formed in front of us.
"...."
"...."
"Ede-"
"Please don't ask me anything!" My voice came out louder than I wanted, making Aeloria flinch.
"Sigh... I am sorry..." Saying so, I looked down.
Too much is happening.
I don't know what this is leading to.
"It's fine..." I replied, finding it hard to cope with the reality, as Grace gently grabbed my hand.
"Let's go..." I said as I walked in front of them into a new, passage.
As soon as we entered the room that lay before us, an entirely new place greeted us.
"Damn..."
The room was filled to the brim with treasure—gleaming gold coins, sparkling jewels, and precious artifacts adorned every surface, casting a mesmerizing glow that illuminated the chamber in a warm, golden light.
Soon, Aeloria and Grace also entered the place, and just like me, they were also having a hard time believing what they were seeing.
"The hell..."
Aeloria's hands trembled with excitement as she reached out to touch the treasures, her fingers tracing the intricate patterns of gold and silver that adorned the place.
"Ahem..." I coughed lightly, bringing their focus towards me.
"Look around the place first, see if there is anything that can lead us to the next place," I ordered them, reminding them of our priority.
They both nodded as they moved in different directions.
I also started to move around the place.
My heart felt a little happier as I looked around; at least I had something that was worth all the headache that this place had given me.
It was filled with treasure—gold and silver coins.
"No date, no picture..." I mumbled as I looked at the coins.
They were unfinished coins, which do not have value as coins, but they are gold so they are valuable.
"Hmm..."
Moving around for a while, I arrived at a place that had a shelf of books with different sizes of books on them.
Out of curiosity, I reached out for the books.
And and the first book I took and read the title, my mood turned sour again.
"Timeless..." I mumbled the name of the book, feeling uncomfortable.
"Why this again..." I sighed as I placed the book back.
"Eden." I looked back as I heard my name being called.
"What?" I asked, looking at the books again.
A minute of silence stretched as she didn't say anything.
"Say if you have something to say."
"Are you perhaps not from this world?" My hand stopped as I heard her words.
"What?"
"Are you a reincarnated person?"