What the heck is this? I was first surprised at the huge Dimension Bonus but leaving the World of Spirits?
Does that mean this is another world? No. It says dimension so it's like the Pocket Dimension, but this one's simply higher than that.
Even the inherent energy here couldn't be identified by my Level 2 Adaptability.
There's also that Flux Energy Conversion.
My Flux Energy State forcefully adapted me to this dimension, converting the unidentified energy into Flux Energy but that cost me 45% in Strength and Endurance. Almost half of my base stats. However, the Dimension Bonus offsets it which raised my Strength and Endurance by a few points.
[Strength: 16.4(51.4)
Endurance: 16.3(51)
Intelligence: 5.1(5.7)]
Err... My stats finally hit above 50. Above the Heroes' average base stats...
Even if only temporary, I can finally see their backs.
"D-daisuke."
Yumiko's voice brought me back to the present. She's weakly calling out to me from the front.
I shook off my thoughts and upon seeing her state, I hurriedly went next to her.
"What happened, Yumiko? What are you feeling?"
Yumiko was kneeling on the ground with a difficult expression on her face. There's even a trace of sweat on her temple. What she felt must have been difficult for her to bear.
"This place isn't part of the World of Spirits. My connection to the world has weakened. I wouldn't be able to replenish any used Spirit Energy now. Also, I feel like I was weakened a bit. There's a surge of power when I entered but most of it rapidly decayed right after along with a bit of my strength. I think I'm only at 80% of my original strength."
Yumiko described her situation. She grasped onto my arm as she slowly stood herself up.
I supported her by holding her waist steady.
Since she didn't have a System, she couldn't get a detailed analysis of what had just happened. Unlike me, the System notified me through a series of notifications about what happened upon entering.
The surge of power was the Dimension Bonus but the decaying of it was most probably her failure to adapt to the inherent energy of this dimension. My Flux Energy State somehow forced me to adapt but it still cost me 45% of Strength and Endurance.
I knew that her Strength and Endurance is more or less 50. For her to feel weakened despite the +20 Dimension Bonus, does that mean even her overpowered buffs were weakened?
It's highly possible.
After helping her stand up, I explained to her what has just happened and what she probably felt while waiting for the others to enter.
"You don't have to worry about using your Spirit Energy. Have you forgotten who's in front of you?"
I have Spirit Boost, so replenishing their Spirit Energy is a done deal.
Yumiko looked at me and when my words sunk in, she smiled gracefully while giving me a hug.
"You're right, how can I forget that my support is here? Un. Psyche or Spirit Energy is not a problem. We'll be fine!"
Under our watchful eye, the others, starting from Jayna, started to cross the entrance and enter this dimension.
As soon as they set foot in here, each of them could be seen to have immediately bore a difficult expression.
I went to Jayna and helped her up. I couldn't do anything about the weakness she felt so I placed her to our side and let her use me to support herself before her strength came back.
Rei and Ren also recovered from the sudden power up and decaying after a while. They both stood up and went to their position.
It's actually the Transformed Spirit Beasts who were having a hard time. As soon as they entered, they unconsciously transformed back to their original forms.
They howled and growled when they felt the process of power up and decaying. It's a minute later before they transformed back to their humanoid form, each one of them catching their breath.
It seems that the backlash of the Dimension was higher for them compared to us.
"Everyone, please calm yourself for now. I'm going to explain what happened. But first, please check your bracelets and see if nothing's wrong with it."
I clapped my hands to catch their attention.
Though some of them were still frowning from what had just happened, they obediently crowded around us.
All of us took out the Escape Bracelet given by the Spirit Queen and after checking that it still works, we all put it off and stored it somewhere we could pull out and break easily if we were met with unavoidable danger.
"I felt weak when we entered. What happened?"
Abe, the ape-like Transformed Spirit Beast asked. He's the one who still has his tails and furs in his Humanoid form. He seems like the leader of their group, a 4-Rivers Transformed Spirit.
"Right, I felt like my feathers were plucked forcefully."
Rane, a crane-like Transformed Spirit Beast. She still has feathers around her elbows and forehead like a Harpy. She's the only female Spirit Beast who was sent with us. She's also a 4-Rivers Transformed Spirit.
"Calm down first and let him explain, okay?"
Yumiko stepped forward and silenced the clamouring Spirit Beasts.
It's Yumiko so her words were more powerful than mine. They don't know that among everyone here, only me experienced an increase in strength. Compared to them who probably lost a bit of their strength, I'm already about to show my prowess if Yumiko didn't step up.
Upon hearing her words, the five of them immediately shut up and looked straight forward. First to Yumiko then to me.
I already observed our surroundings, compared to what can be seen outside, the interior of the ruins was well lit even without any lighting. Apart from the eerie feeling because of the unknown inherent energy, everything seems normal, peaceful even.
After explaining to them that we arrived at a different dimension which wasn't a part of the World of Spirits, some of them couldn't believe it. Only Jayna seemed to be excited with the thought of her having left the World of Spirits.
She once mentioned how she wanted to travel to other worlds so travelling to this dimension somehow fulfilled that wish of hers.
At least there's someone optimistic among us. I patted her head before calming down the clamouring Spirit Beasts again.
"Yumiko, please."
Since she's the de facto leader of this exploration, everything will be decided by her. I only explained what happened to us since even Yumiko was still a bit puzzled after my explanation.
"For now, we'll go to the first landmark. Be cautious at all times. And if you see something, don't immediately go at it, report and we will come to see it together. Understood?"
Unlike the Yumiko of last night, her commanding presence this time was enough to discipline the grumbling Spirit Beasts. With the formation we carefully thought out earlier to provide no openings in case someone or something suddenly ambushed us, we started to explore the ruins.
With Yumiko in front, I used Spirit Boost on everyone before proceeding silently. Due to that, their previous groaning expressions eased up. Being refreshed of one's energy was something else after all. It's like being able to drink water after your throat dried up.
According to the map, the first landmark that we will see should be a giant waterfall. But 10 minutes into our trek from the entrance, there's no sounds of running water that could be heard.
"Look, what is that?"
Jayna pointed at something shining in red light at one corner of the wall to our left. Something was embedded to it.
I looked at Yumiko since she will decide whether we should investigate it or not.
"Careful. Let's slowly move there. Keep an eye out especially around that shiny thing."
Yumiko said as she turned towards it while keeping up our formation. The five Spirit Beasts didn't say anything but I saw some of them frowning.
Even with strength, it's really hard to get someone to fall in line completely if you only just met.
As long as they won't do anything problematic then I'll leave them be.
When we were about 10 meters from the shining object, my Adaptability was triggered as numerous presence was suddenly picked up by it. The peaceful and silent atmosphere was suddenly filled by sounds of someone digging beneath.
I grabbed Yumiko's shoulder to stop her from going further.
"Keep your eyes on the ground!"
I shouted. Jayna and the twins heed my shout while only 3 out of the 5 Spirit Beasts did the same.
I couldn't care less if something happened to those two, they were already reminded many times by the Spirit Queen. We're not a babysitter so if they can't follow a simple warning then they better off themselves.
This is an unknown ruin with unknown dangers. Even with the testimony of those survivors, a lot of things remained vague.
When the sounds grew louder. Everyone was already on high alert, well, except the two.
Though I could sense that they're coming, it's hard to pinpoint where they will be emerging from. I kept my eyes on the ground and to any crack on it that might suddenly appear.
1 second… 10 seconds… 1 minute…
Crack!
As soon as that sound registered in my ears, I looked at the source and found that one of the Spirit Beast who refused to listen had one of his legs grabbed. And a second after that, he was pulled down by the arms grabbing it and sunk down the ground even before he could transform back to his original form or pull out the Escape Bracelet.
"Kupa!"
Abe shouted since he's the one near the Spirit Beast, he tried to grab his arm but the enemy was one second faster.
"Hey, Abe. Look at your feet! Jump away!"
Rane warned Abe and waved her hand to send a gigantic white feather to push him out from where he was.
A second later, an arm emerged from it and when it couldn't grab onto anything, it went back down.
What kind of enemies are these?!
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