Second World

Stefan, Richard, and Naomi watched Jack who was staring at the newly arrived ethereal like a statue. What's the deal with this guy? Had he never seen an ethereal before? There was indeed no one from the ethereal race in this dungeon before this newcomer, but this region was right next to the country filled with the ethereal race. Additionally, many players could cross countries now, it was unlikely if Jack never saw an ethereal before.

Jack continued to stare at Master, or at least an ethereal he thought to be Master, for a very long time.

Master's eyes showed surprise when he saw Jack here, but he ignored Jack after that first glance. He continued ignoring Jack but Jack had been staring at him for so long that it caused even him to become uncomfortable.

"Knock it off!" Master scolded.

"Holy shit! It truly is you!" Jack exclaimed. Now that he heard Master's voice, he was sure. Even though ethereal's voices were transmitted directly into the interlocutor's mind, different ethereals still had their distinctive voices.

"Why are you here?!" Jack asked, to which Master was back to ignoring him.

The native, who Jack thought was about to introduce himself before being interrupted by Master's appearance, spoke now, "You said just now your name is Storm Wind. Are you King Storm Wind? Our king?"

That native who spoke was a human.

"If he is a king, then I'm a Pope! Haha," Stefan laughed.

Richard joined the laugh.

Jack ignored them. He answered the human, who looked to be a teenager. "Yeah, I am. What's your name? How do you get trapped here?"

"I am Kramer," the teenager answered. "I'm here with a group of adventurers. We were lost when we enter a mist inside a forest. I just found myself in this place afterward. Please, my king, free us from this place!"

"Come on, kid. Do you truly believe him to be the king? You are plain dumb if you do," Stefan said.

"But I did hear that the current king of Themisphere is an outworlder named Storm Wind," Naomi said.

"Then he just happens to have the same name," Stefan replied.

"I heard we can't use the same alias as others," Richard said. "A friend of mine told me before that he tried entering the alias 'Hero' when he got his starting class, but the system told him that the alias was already taken and he had to choose another alias."

"Then he is just borrowing the name of a famous person!" Stefan exclaimed, annoyed for everyone second-guessing him. He turned to Jack and uttered, "Didn't you?"

"Um… This guy is the ruler of Liguritudum," Jack pointed to Master.

"See? What is the odd the sovereigns of two powerful countries get trapped inside here with the rest of us? I mean, how stupid are they? No way that they are sovereigns!"

"Haha," Jack laughed awkwardly. "I think I deserve that. You, on the other hand…"

Jack turned to Master. "You are after the divine heritage here, aren't you?"

Master's eyes returned to Jack for the second time. Jack saw a hint of surprise again inside those pupilless eyes.

"You want that thing to make another Godkiller, aren't you?" Jack continued. "I won't let you."

"How do you know all that?" Master asked. "Is it because of that high fairy? Where is she?"

"You don't need to worry about her, just know that you won't get what you come here for," Jack said.

"Hmph," Master harrumphed and turned away.

"Why are you here alone? You don't strike me as someone who does the dirty work yourselves. Why you didn't send your lackeys?"

Master was back to ignoring Jack.

Jack tried asking him again a few more times but Master acted as if he didn't hear anything. Jack finally gave up and back to converse with the other captives that were here before him.

With Master, there were ten of them. Stefan and Richard were draconians. Stefan was a Hidden Weapon Specialist, while Richard was a Reaver. Naomi was an orcish Berserker as she mentioned before. The other two players were Winson and Dina, both were of elven race. Winson was a Bard, while Dina was an Archmage.

The three natives were Kramer, the human teenager, Glover, a male orc, and Kerry, a female elf. All three were adventurers from different teams.

They talked, then slept, then talked again. Around one day passed since Jack arrived. He couldn't tell for sure since there was no night and day inside this dungeon.

Throughout the chatting, Jack threw Master some questions. Master just ignored him.

"I must say, this place turns much livelier after you are here," Richard said to Jack.

"Noisy is what it should be called. You all are disturbing my rest," Winson uttered. He acted like those typical grumpy old men.

"Dude… You are chained. You are practically resting all the time," Jack said.

Jack then turned to Stefan and Richard. "You two truly have been here for two months?" Jack asked.

"Yeah," Stefan answered. "Some of them were already here even when we arrived. That means they have been here longer."

"I have been longer," Dina said. "I can't remember exactly. One or two weeks earlier than the two of them, I suppose? Winson was here before me."

"Wow, no wonder he is so grumpy," Jack remarked, which caused Winson to throw him an irritated glare.

The three natives were mostly quiet except for Kramer. Kramer still thought Jack was his king even though the others continued to persuade him otherwise. Glover and Kerry only answered when they were asked. They were gloomier than the players. It was understandable, considering they were not immortal.

"Uh… Anyone has tried killing themselves to get free of this place?" Jack asked.

"How? We can't damage ourselves without our weapons," Stefan uttered.

'Oh, right. None of them is a battle monk,' Jack thought. Jack also didn't think any of them know mana manipulation.

"You can ask the natives to hit you," Jack said. "Kramer here can do it. Who wants to volunteer?"

"It's your idea, you go ahead and try it then," Stefan said.

"It won't work. You will just reappear back here," Master said.

Everyone turned to him.

"Finally can't help to join in, can you?" Jack said to him playfully, which caused Master to turn away again.

'He is right, though,' Jack heard Peniel's voice in his head. 'See the rune diagram hidden behind those vines? The diagram is obscured, but I think it is the type that forces every outworlder who dies here to rebirth at this place.'