Capítulo 1792: Chapter 1791: “Euphoria” Beyond the Rift
After the cigarette was lit, it released a light blue smoke with a scent that made one drowsy. Shard held his breath, waiting for the response of the sleepy Earl. It was only a few seconds before Shard, subconsciously yawning, noticed that the Earl had actually disappeared into thin air right before his eyes.
[Not disappeared, look carefully.]
“She” gently reminded Shard, who focused his attention and finally saw the Earl again. He wasn’t invisible; rather, his presence felt severely diminished. Shard suddenly thought of the coins from the Black Mist Camp, but clearly, the two were unrelated.
Focusing allowed him to observe the Earl, who opened his eyes but seed quite confused and drowsy, clearly not fully awake. He stood up from the sofa and then walked toward the wall he had just pointed to, the one with the “rift leading to Elysium.”
Shard watched earnestly, and to his surprise, saw the Earl actually walk into the wall itself. When his skin touched the wall, ripple-like marks appeared between the skin and the wall, and then the Earl vanished.
“What’s the situation?”
Shard had been following the Earl closely all along and reacted when the Earl interacted with the wall. Worried about hurting Earl Petrack, Shard didn’t pull him back but used his perception to probe through the series of activities. Just when the Earl disappeared, Shard tried touching that wall, which turned out to be completely solid, even shining the Space-Ti Spirit Rune on it showed no reaction.
He had lost track of Earl Petrack and couldn’t discern anything, which was deeply unexpected for Shard. Though according to the Earl, he had used mushroom powder for “Deep ditation” more than once, so he should return soon, but Shard still thought it best to investigate the truth himself.
When the Earl disappeared, Shard indeed sensed an unusual spatial fluctuation, indicating the Earl had perford a space transfer in a special state. The “rift” he spoke of on the wall likely truly exists but cannot be observed in a normal state.
Since neither “Enhanced Spatial Awareness” nor Shard’s inspiration could detect that rift, it’s highly probable it is among the most hidden spatial fissures in the stable Material World. Given the recent frequent anomalies worldwide, it can be concluded that the role of Seven-Color Mushroom Powder is to enhance certain aspects of spatial perception ability.
“But the effect must not be limited to this.”
Hesitatingly, Shard returned to the table and picked up the portion the Earl had previously given him:
“Earl Petrack is just an ordinary person, his drug resistance is far lower than mine, and I have strong resistance myself… For safety, I only need a very brief observation of the rift… Still must be cautious.”
He took out a needle he carried with him, used the needle to extract a small portion of mushroom powder, and with wide eyes, picked the smallest particle and placed it in his mouth—
[Strong hallucinogenic effect, no impact on you. Suggestion is not to ingest; instead, drop it into your eyes.]
“Alright.”
Using water to dissolve the tiny portion of powder, he proceeded to drop it into both eyes. Instantly feeling dizzy, he subconsciously closed his eyes and gripped the sofa to avoid fainting.
When he opened his eyes again, the world seed sowhat different, though perhaps due to Shard’s minimal dosage, he didn’t see terrifying illusions. Instead, the world appeared sowhat darker, and so fleeting black rifts were scattered in the air where there was originally nothing.
Most of these rifts were quite short and not fixed, wriggling as they vanished or reappeared. The largest and most stable of these rifts was indeed on the wall where the Earl had disappeared. Shard didn’t need to get close to confirm that this was truly a hidden rift in stable Material World space.
Shard had read about these rifts in textbooks; they are always forming and vanishing, a representation of spatial dynamic stability. Usually, they wouldn’t be so concentrated, presumably appearing so frequently due to proximity to the Green Lake Central Island, influenced by the instability of the “Twin Islands.”
These rifts wouldn’t affect humans and people couldn’t see such things. But once seen, it ans they can be touched, a very rare and dangerous situation. After all, what cos along with spatial rifts often might not be particularly friendly.
Too little dosage ant the effect was rapidly fading. Shard quickly packed away the remaining mushroom powder, then walked toward the gray rift on the wall and stepped through it.
So far, he had experienced many types of space transfers, but this was the worst experience. He felt like he was spinning in place a hundred tis in one second. Once the surrounding space stabilized, the food in his stomach protested, wanting to rush out from his mouth.
Leaning against the wall, enduring the urge to dry heave, the scent of powder in the air further exacerbated his stomach’s discomfort. Suppressing the desire to retch, he looked around. Clearly, he was indoors, and very luxuriously decorated indoors.
The floor tiles were clean enough to reflect light, the ceiling stood five ters above the ground, allowing a massive crystal chandelier to dangle, sothing taller than normal building floors should allow. Outside the window, gloomy skies and misty rain lood, while indoors lively, cheerful music played. The walls were painted gold, while the red wooden corner cabinets were filled with ornate fruit trays and delicate candle stands.
Behind him, a staircase covered with a red carpet suggested there was far more than one tier here, and looking around, a spacious hall and the laughing crowd further hinted at the substantial area of this multi-story mansion.
A middle-aged woman in a satin dress stood at the door, skillfully and enthusiastically welcoming each finely dressed guest through the entry. Beautiful ladies in clusters of twos or threes led familiar patrons upstairs or to the first floor’s private sofa sets.
The scent of powder in the air grew thicker, and the atmosphere created by laughter and joy was quite pleasant and comfortable.
“This is…”
The shocked Outlander gradually understood everything before him:
“High-class tech… No, whether it’s Draleon or Carsonrick, tech institutes are officially banned; is this a high-class club?”
He completely understood now why Earl Petrack said his Deep ditation state allowed him to go through the wall to Elysium. The sober Earl indeed ca to a “nice place.”
As long as the Earl could instinctively pay while confused, this place was indeed the best paradise for a person who was pure-hearted and led a dull life.
“But which city is this?”
Most people around were speaking Casenric Language, with a Mikaela Ironworks City accent, giving Shard reason to suspect he had rely arrived at the South Shore of Green Lake.
“No, no, this isn’t the ti to think about such things. While the Mushroom Powder’s power hasn’t waned, I want to quickly find Earl Petrack, bring him back, and ask about the origin of this strange Seven-Color Mushroom… I absolutely don’t want to stay here long; if Luviya and the others knew, they’d mock .”
But before Shard could take action, the door not far from him opened, and a middle-aged man with his face obscured by a hat, wearing a black leather coat, walked in. After whispering briefly with a woman at the door, she pointed upstairs, then led the middle-aged man and another stern-faced man pushing a black briefcase, towards the staircase.
They didn’t notice Shard at all, but Shard recognized who the entering middle-aged man was:
“Director Anlos?”
Although he had heard upon joining that so agents would use invoices from tech institutes and Roder Card Casino for reimbursent, Shard never expected his loyal superior would co to such a place during crucial bilateral negotiations seeking leisure.
“No, no, Director Anlos isn’t that kind of person.”
After recovering from shock, Shard realized his superior was likely here on a mission or eting with an important contact. But he had not expected the agents’ mission location to be such a… thrilling place.
[So where do you think it would be?]
“Of course on the rooftop, then say sothing like ‘how could it be you’ and ‘give
a chance, I want to be a good person’.”
“She” smiled gently, and Shard continued to murmur inwardly:
“No wonder soone wants to reimburse receipts from here; turns out it really is necessary.”
So Shard faced two choices next: one was to find Earl Petrack, who was sowhere having fun, and the other was to follow Director Anlos to see what he was up to.
With just a brief consideration, Shard made his decision, turned, and followed up the stairs:
“Earl Petrack is having a good ti, I shouldn’t disturb him. Director Anlos’ situation is clearly more interesting.”
The effect of the Mushroom Powder was wearing off quicker than Shard expected; he caught up with the three while using Illusion Technique to keep himself hidden. As he approached, he heard Director Anlos calling the middle-aged woman welcoming them “Lady Lorian,” suggesting she was the owner of this establishnt.
From the first floor up to the second, there were still flirtations and laughter between n and won, only the hall had shrunk, and the remaining space consisted of rooms with open doors.
The third floor’s hall shrank again, but there were only three rooms, each very large.
Lady Lorian led the two n into one of the rooms, but before Shard could admire the sheer curtain-adorned large bed and the astonishingly large wooden basin, she moved to the bookshelf and pressed so chanism, revealing a narrow passageway at the corner of the room. Behind it, stairs wound upward within the wall cavity.
Such secretive establishnts often have hidden rooms like these. Lady Lorian didn’t go up, and waited here, while Director Anlos led his companion over.
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