As Stark had some time left, he decided to yet again go inside his [Memories Museum] to train.
He had gotten very familiar with all his skills now, and even though controlling the [Sculk Necklace] was very complicated since the weird liquid never truly did it what he wanted, when he actually managed to touch a monster with the slime-like substance, then he would end up combo-ing the boss 70 percent of the time since it would be restrained by the liquid.
Stark knew why he struggled this much once the sculk ever so much as grazed him now: even other monsters had a hard time with it, so no wonder.
“The time…” Stark mumbled, it had been so long that he had been inside the [Memories Museum] to try and fight a different combination of bosses he hadn’t checked, “WHAT?”
It was currently 4 am, meaning that he had essentially spent all day yesterday, as well as a good chunk of the night, fighting.
“I mean…” he scratched the back of his head, “I wanted to be as ready as possible, and I think I am, but cutting back on sleep won’t do it… I still need some stamina after all…”
After a fight against his own mind, Stark finally decided that he didn’t need that much sleep, and that he would sleep around 3 or 4 hours, weirdly enough though, he actually wasn’t THAT tired.
“Weird…” was it [Domination] fueling him as to keep him awake?
Well, it didn’t matter.
He left the [Memories Museum], then jumped on his bed and closed his eyes, making sure to set up his alarm.
***
“…” Stark opened his eyes, fully knowing where he would be as it always happened, there wasn’t a single night of sleep where he didn’t meet them after all.
Strangely enough, though, the scenarios [Domination] and [Alchemist] would find themselves in this dream realm were always different.
Right now, Stark was sitting on the bench of a lively park, and although it was surrounded by darkness, trees and grass were still visible, making it much different than the usual depressing atmosphere of this world.
“Ready?” he heard [Domination]’s voice to the left, and he saw it standing beside him, on the same bench.
“Of course he is, he can always use my potions to destroy them anyway,” [Alchemist] shrugged.
“Oh yeah, of course, he can use the only GOOD potion you have, which is [Crystal Stun],” [Domination] shook his head.
“Hey, if he actually took the time to buy some potions instead of praying to get some news one from monsters, then I’m sure our crafting station would already been at level 10!” [Alchemist] scoffed, and it was true, since Stark didn’t really take the time to do any of that, he just constantly bought materials for the potions he currently had, but never bothered to buy new ones.
“Doesn’t matter, tomorrow is a big day for us!” [Domination] closed his right fist and pointed it at the sky, “New rift, new boss, new apostle to defeat!”
“Right,” Stark spoke for the first time.
“Anyway, we don’t have anything much to say beside that you should be careful, going solo always worked until now, but I have a bad feeling about this,” [Alchemist] nodded, and [Domination] agreed with that statement.
“Don’t worry, I’ll manage,” Stark also got up from the bench, while Alchemist remained sitting.
And so, before he could even realize it, the park had disappeared.
“Good luck,” he heard Alchemist’s and Domination’s voice as they vanished as well, and then he lost consciousness too.
***
~BEEP, BEEP, BEEP~
His alarm was ringing, and Stark quickly shut it down as he opened his eyes and got up immediately, not wasting a single second.
It was currently exactly 8 am, and Stark wanted to leave while the streets were still mostly empty.
Quick breakfast, shower, changing clothes, and he was all set!
“…” he left his apartment, carrying nothing in his hands other than his sole determination, which was burning his heart so strongly that it actually hurt a bit.
Right as he walked through the hallway before reaching the stairs, he passed in front of Lana’s hand, stopping for three seconds to look at it.
“…” but then he immediately continued walking.
He reached the ground pretty quickly.
“Anyway, need to find the location of the rift…”
He remembered reading something about it on the [Death Rift] card, which he owned since he was the leader.
…
[Location of the Rift:] Each of you has been granted a [Location Panel], check it out to know the location of the rift!
…
“Right… But how do I open it is the question?” he mumbled, “Well… might as well try.”
“Location Panel!” he semi-shouted.
And… nothing.
[You need to also say the name of the rift, since you have been put on the list of people who can do it.] another panel appeared to help him though, otherwise it would have been really difficult.
“Location Panel: Corpse Cemetery!” he spoke again.
And this time…
~DING~
[Follow the arrow!]
Extremely similarly to back when he received that watch from Arthur, the archer king, to conquer [Sierra’s Death Path], an arrow appeared on a panel visible to Stark, pointing to a direction.
[26.7 kilometers away, inside the sealed cabin of the ‘crosswood cemetery’.]
“Oh,” it even added some sort of note afterward as to show him (and probably his other teammates) the exact location, looks like the chairman and the teachers had thought of everything, “Well at least I’ll know now.”
Stark didn’t want to waste any more time, and so he immediately hailed for a taxi, which were basically his primary way of traveling as he didn’t have a driver’s license, or a car in that regard, maybe he could ask Lana though, she would probably give one to him…?
In the end, he removed that thought from his mind as it actually kind of embarrassed him to think of Lana as his… money giver?
“Please, to the ‘crosswood cemetery'” he asked the driver as soon as he got inside the car.
“Oh?” the driver looked at him for a few seconds, but just shrugged, “You should be careful there, kid, it’s been abandoned and no one goes anymore since there have been rumors that a powerful rift has opened there.”
“Yeah, I’ve been tasked with conquering it,” Stark said nonchalantly, not finding any excuse like ‘I’m visiting someone’.
“…” the driver stared at Stark with a neutral expression, then started up the car, “Alright… I hope you do a good job, then.”
“Thanks.”
It took them around 30 minutes in the car to finally reach the cemetery, which was placed in a really ‘creepy’ side of the capital, since most of the buildings there were abandoned.
“Heard it was from monster attacks,” the driver informed Stark, “I would really be careful if I was you, kid.”
“Interesting…”
[1.5 kilometers away, inside the sealed cabin of the ‘crosswood cemetery’.]
“Well, that’s all,” the driver stopped in front of the gates of the cemetery, which was literal end of the road, there was nowhere else to go from there.
“Alright, thanks,” Stark paid and left the car, then the taxi driver went away, disappearing as soon as he turned around the corner, “And now…”
“It’s time to do this…” he stared at the cemetery from behind the gate, and it actually sent a shiver down his spine.
There was a really creepy atmosphere, and he could sense it in his bones that there was, in fact, a rift in this place.
But right as he tried reached his hand to open the gate…
~CLUNK~
He noticed that it was locked by a powerful-looking chain.
“Oh, great,” Stark sighed, but it didn’t bother him.
There was a sign right next to the entrance: [Do not attempt to climb up, an electricity spell has been placed on the bars.]
He could see the cemetery through the bars, but he couldn’t access.
And when he reached for one of them…
~ZAP~
“-100!”
It was in fact protected, but thankfully enough the people that set it up didn’t make it too powerful, as it would have surely killed someone if it was.
“Crimson Ball Transmission,” Stark though wasn’t bothered, as he just summoned the crimson ball in his hand, then threw it above the gate, landing on the ground inside the cemetery.
~SNAP~
He was teleported inside without a single problem.
To be honest, even outside of battles, [Crimson Ball Transmission] was an incredible and practical skill, at least much more than the boy originally believed.
It allowed Stark to set up a point in the real world in case he wanted to go back, but also allowed him to get past areas that wouldn’t normally possible to get past, and quite easily too.
And then there was the teleportation in battles, which were also amazing, allowing him to take enemies aback every time.
“Anyway,” but now that Stark was inside the cemetery, he looked around, and all he could see was a small stone road leading deeper inside, tombstones scattered everywhere, and a thick layer of mist blocking the view.
It was in the morning, but the mist made it hard to see even though the sun was up.
[800 meters away, inside the sealed cabin of the ‘crosswood cemetery’.]
“Let’s get this over with.”
And so he began walking down the stone path, trying to find the ‘cabin’ and the rift.
