[Knowledge on the Other World God: Not found.]

Lan just stood there before blinking and shaking his head.

‘Wait, what just happened?’ he asked, feeling both relieved and a little upset.

[Accessing knowledge of this kind required greater authority and other alterations.]

‘Alterations,’ Lan repeated. ‘In what way?’

[Attempts to access knowledge of this kind were not accounted for, so no protocols were defined, resulting in temporary conflict with the World Codex. So new ones had to be made, and new limitations had to be drawn.]

‘So you are alright then. I mean, you screamed,’ Lan asked before he could help himself, even though he knew not to refer to the Voice in such a way.

[… All is well.]

‘And this won't happen again then?’ he pressed.

[There should be no reason for further action.]

Lan blinked, although he was glad that the Voice was back; it had sounded different for a moment. And had it called him by his name? he had never thought about it, but it had never done that. More importantly, how was there knowledge that the Voice did not know, he thought before stopping himself.

There was plenty the Voice didn’t know because he had not earned the right to know it. All it meant was that even though he had their abilities, he was still not allowed to know about this God. But how by the light, had it ended up in his family.

Lan sighed. Finding a lost ability didn’t mean he would find all the answers, and it wasn’t like it was really lost. Perhaps if he was able to fix things with his father, he may know more.

Guessing that was all he was going to get, and knowing there was no reason to argue with the Voice, Lan walked over to his sword and picked it up, finding the glowing Runica had disappeared and the steel returned to normal. Making a note to investigate it more, Lan sheathed his sword and looked back to his Tome and abilities.

The first didn’t appear in his abilities; instead, it was represented in two ways. One was a blue flame in the right corner of his eye. The other was the mana units now on his page in the Tome.

[Mana manipulation: Upon gaining one's mana pool, the core ability of Mana manipulation allows one to control the mana in one's body. Casting spells, enhancing abilities, crafting potions and enchanting items are now possible through mana manipulation.]

While the Voice spoke, Lan noticed a new heat in his chest. It wasn’t unpleasant. If anything, it felt right, like another piece of him had been found, and the more he thought about it, the more he could see it. He could see the lines of mana tracing his body like new veins had been carved into him, which flowed with mana instead of blood. As he focused more, Lan felt like he could move the mana, gathering it in his hand. But without knowing any spells or, more importantly, how to even shape the mana into rune circles. All he could do now was make his palm colder.

After a moment, Lan released the mana and finally looked at his first ability.

[Other World Chest: the second of the seven gifts from the Other World God. The Other World Chest grants one the power to a shard realm where objects can be placed. If you can lift an object, it can be placed into the Chest. With the expenditure of mana, objects within the Chest may be removed without physical contact.]

‘So it’s an item box,’ Lan said, frowning. He was glad for it, but why go through all these steps for a relatively common mage ability. Although it was odd that there wasn’t a mentioned capacity, only an odd weight requirement. And that was to say nothing of the fact that somehow he was allowed to know that it was only one of seven “gifts” without knowing anything about the one that gave it to him.

Sighing, Lan looked around for something to test the Chest with and landed on the new goblin knight’s dagger. Picking it up, Lan exercised his mind commanding the Other World Chest to open just before he felt a pressure build an arm’s length in front of him before his hand disappeared as he pushed it into the Chest.

The moment he did, his Tome turned to a new page.

[Inventory]

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[Rusted iron dagger: Added]

Lan flexed his mind again and reached into the space in front of him.

[Rusted iron dagger: removed]

Lan Rolled the dagger over his fingers before dropping it back into the Chest. Although he had never used one, Lan knew a little about Item boxes.

At one point, he proposed using mages to carry goods in item boxes to Dell. Dell had allowed him to try, but not only did the mage’s guild kick him out the moment he brought it up, but he had been jumped by people he was sure were from the transporter’s guild for a week until they were sure he had gotten the message.

He had, but Lan had never given up on the idea. Especially now that he knew the mage’s guild already did just that for the guilds when on guild jobs.

Even still, it seemed to work just like an Item box, he thought before flexing his mind again. This time trying to draw out the dagger without reaching into the Chest.

[Ma 70 – 65]

[Rusted iron dagger: removed]

As the dagger dropped to the ground in front of Lan, he frowned. Five mana seemed like a high cost.

‘Is it five for every item removed or just every activation?’ Lan asked.

[Every time you remove an item from the Chest in this manner will require an exchange of 5 units of mana. However, larger items may cost more.]

‘Hmm, I guess I can see some situations where it can be useful…’ He said, not convincing himself.

[Versatility in abilities is always a good thing.]

Lan started to speak, then paused. Had he phrased that last statement as a question? Lan knew that he sometimes talked at the Voice, but it never answered unless it was another question.

‘Right… what about the second ability.’ He asked, looking at his Tome.

[Eyes of the Other World God: The seventh of the seven gifts of the Other World God. The Eyes of the Other World God grants one the power to see the threads that make up the world. Activating the ability will allow you to see hidden auras. With the expenditure of mana, you can look deeper.]

‘See hidden auras…’ Lan repeated and flexed his mind. The moment he did, his vision darkened and took on a golden tint. Stepping back out of surprise, Lan looked around. Aside from the colour change, nothing else looked different to him. That was until he looked into the trees and saw a glowing ball of golden light. Shifting his sight back. Lan found the Wisp still waiting for him. Clearly, it wasn’t done leading him to wherever it was taking him, and he did owe it his life.

Before that, Lan tried to see more. Whatever that meant.

[While activated, you can enhance the power of the Eyes of the Other World God by sending a trace of mana into your eyes.]

Doing so, Lan focused on his pool of mana before directing a tiny stream of it into his eyes.

[Ma 65 – 64]

The moment he did, his sight became clearer as a magic circle filled with Runica framed his vision, slowly turning as it glowed with mana. Lan looked back to the Wisp; nothing much had changed, only being able to see the aura around the Wisp better.

Taking a step towards it, Lan’s foot bumped into the goblin knight. He looked down and paused.

After all, there was a bounty on goblins, and he now had a much bigger bag and had killed them… it would be wrong to just leave them, not to mention a disservice to his achievement. Even still, he really didn’t want to.

Scrunching his face, Lan sighed and dropped the bag of Silk flowers into the Other World Chest.

[Inventory]

[Bag of Silk flowers added – Contents: 127 Silk flowers]

With that done, Lan started the unpleasant task of marking his bounties. Beginning with the new goblin knight, Lan brought its dagger to its ear. Trying not to think too much about the sensation, he tried to work quickly to remove the right ear. Once done, he headed back into the hollow tree, gathering as many ears as he could that weren’t burnt too bad to recover.

As he did, Lan occasionally activated the Other World Eyes. He wasn’t looking for anything, but it couldn’t hurt, and it helped him get used to doing so. Unlike first getting his Tome changing sight was a little jarring at first. But by the time he had made it to the other end of the hollow and placed the last ear into the Chest.

[Inventory]

[Goblin ear: Added – 24 >25]

He could switch between the two without thinking about it, but it didn’t get him anything.

Looking at the ears in his Inventory, Lan guessed that his estimate had been a little off with the thirty counts on the goblins, but it was close enough. And he would be returning with much more to show for his efforts now than just twenty flowers. In fact, if he could get back to the glade, he would have another knight's ear and the rest of the flowers. Lan thought before realising that was if he could find his way back.

He sighed before looking back to the Wisp. Still, the feeling that it wanted him to follow was there. In fact, it felt like it was even more urgent than before. The sun was even lower now, and the woods could only get more dangerous. But the Wisp had saved his life.

Finding and dropping his mace into the Chest, Lan froze mid-step as he looked at one of the many daggers littering the hollow floor.

Even if it was bad metal, bad metal could be melted down, and he now had a bottomless pocket. So on the way back, Lan picked up all the daggers he could find. He almost took the clubs but decided against it, seeing as it was just shaped wood.

This reminded him of a time a few years ago when he knew of a man offering an insane amount of coin for authentic goblin clubs but immediately regretted it after receiving one hundred that adventurers managed to gather after hearing about it and hundreds more carved logs.

Coming out the end of the Hollow, Lan approached the Wisp, which flew up to him. Now that he wasn’t being chased, Lan could feel that something was trying to compel him. But he did not know if it was the Wisp itself or if the Wisp, too, was being compelled.

Without thinking, Lan raised his hand palm up and allowed the Wisp to sit on it.

[Status effect gained: Guiding Light – while the effect Guiding Light is active, you will find luck ever so slightly shifting in your favour]

Lan thought this had to be the source of the myth about Seeing Wisps granting good luck and smiled.

Okay… Lead the way,’ Lan breathed, watching the Wisp take off before he began to follow it.