Chapter 22: Roran
Because of the memories from his previous life, even before entering the Astral Rift, William knew that this small dimension was located between the Vermillion Realm and the Abyss Realm.
As such, he had already anticipated that he might encounter people from the Abyss inside this rift.
(A/N: I explained the mechanism of Astral Rifts in Chapter 7. If you have forgotten it, you can check it out.)
Taking a deep breath to suppress the killing intent rising within him, William carefully listened to their voices and quietly walked in their direction.
The war in which William and all of his friends had died was initiated by the Abyss Realm.
As such, his hatred toward the Abyss was even greater than his hatred toward the nobles.
Most of the people within the Abyss Realm had the mentality that they were superior to everyone else and that all other realms should be ruled by them.
From what William knew, it was not just the Vermilion Realm that had been attacked by the Abyss, many other realms had also suffered its invasions.
Concealing his aura, William slowly inched closer to the source of the voices and soon spotted three humanoid beings standing nearly two meters tall.
Their skin was pitch black, and sharp blade-like spikes protruded from their arms. Their eyes were a deep shade of violet, giving them an extremely eerie appearance.
"Roran, are you sure this thing is working properly? We have been searching for almost eight hours, yet we still haven’t found anything."
Crol, one of the Abyssal beings spoke in a doubtful voice.
Although they were speaking the language of the Abyss Realm, William had learned it during his previous life and could understand every word.
"Are you doubting Lord Garan’s words? Since he said this thing can help us locate the Rift Core, all we need to do is follow his instructions." Roran, the only Star Warrior-level being among the three replied coldly.
"We have already searched the other parts of the rift. Only the southeastern area remains. If nothing goes wrong, then the Rift Core should be somewhere there."
Moru, the third Abyssal being spoke calmly while staring at the compass-like object in Roran’s hands.
"Let’s hurry. Lord Garan won’t be able to hide the appearance of this Astral Rift for long. We need to find the rift core before the news spreads and leave immediately." Roran increased his pace as he spoke.
After listening to their conversation, William couldn’t help showing a look of surprise.
’These guys are here for the Rift Core...’ He muttered inwardly and his eyes narrowed.
The Astral Rift Core... As its name suggested, it was the core of an Astral Rift.
Once the core was removed, the Astral Rift would gradually lose all of its functions before eventually collapsing completely.
Normally, no one would ever touch an Astral Rift Core unless absolutely necessary.
After all, an Astral Rift could serve as an excellent training ground, and if one’s luck was good, killing monsters inside it could even result in valuable drops.
Once the core was taken away, however, the entire rift would collapse, and no one would be able to use it ever again.
For that reason, unless it was absolutely necessary, no one would remove the core of an Astral Rift.
However, from the conversation between these three Abyssal beings, William could tell that they had entered this Astral Rift specifically to steal its core under the orders of someone called Lord Garan.
An Astral Rift Core had very few practical uses.
Its greatest value was serving as the core material for forging an artifact.
Artifacts forged with an Astral Rift Core possessed extraordinary growth potential and could greatly enhance a person’s strength.
William lowered his gaze toward the sword in his hand, and a faint gleam flashed across his eyes.
To him, whether this Astral Rift survived or collapsed didn’t matter.
According to the memories from his previous life, after this rift was discovered by the higher-ups, it hadn’t come under the jurisdiction of Baron Xing, the ruler of Rosco Barony.
Instead, it had fallen into the hands of a certain bastard noble who prohibited the people of Rosco Barony from entering it, claiming that the people of such a backward place were unqualified to enter the rift and waste its resources.
In reality, that man simply wanted to monopolize every resource inside the Astral Rift for himself.
As a result, despite the rift being located within Rosco Barony, its people gained absolutely no benefit from it.
’If I can obtain this Rift Core, I will be able to forge the perfect sword for myself...’ William thought inwardly.
However, the next moment, his brows furrowed.
"That’s not right...According to my memories, this Astral Rift never collapsed and eventually fell under the control of that bastard noble."
As this thought surfaced in his mind, William looked toward the trio walking farther into the forest.
"Did these guys fail to find the Rift Core in my previous life, or did they find it but fail to take it away for some reason?"
The core of an Astral Rift was its most important treasure.
Because of that, it was always hidden in an extremely secluded location where it was incredibly difficult to find.
Although William didn’t know exactly what kind of treasure the compass-like object in their hands was, judging from Roran’s confidence, it clearly possessed the ability to locate the Rift Core.
"Since they were able to find the core but still failed to take it away in my previous life, something must have prevented them from obtaining it... Either something is protecting the core, or it’s located somewhere they simply can’t reach."
Originally, William had planned to use the Restriction Bronze Bell and launch a surprise attack to kill the three Abyssal beings before taking the compass for himself.
However, he quickly changed his mind.
Instead of acting immediately, he decided to follow them first and see what exactly was preventing them from obtaining the Rift Core.
Watching the trio gradually move farther away, William took a deep breath before silently following after them.
