Nea tossed and turned, unable to sleep, as every time he closed his eyes, the image of those red eyes appeared in his mind.

"Although both have similar eyes, their demeanour is different. The princess's eyes are gentle, while the other person exudes hostility. And why does that gaze feel so familiar?"

As Nea pondered, he found it increasingly difficult to sleep. He got up and went outside to catch some fresh air. Opening the door, he peered onto the veranda, finding it deserted. It seemed everyone had gone to sleep already. Nea felt that his body had healed somewhat; according to the doctor's words, he would fully recover in just a few days. He walked out into the garden before his room to stretch his muscles. It was quiet around midnight; he could even hear the gentle autumn breeze rustling through the air. Nea looked up at the faintly glowing moon amidst the starry night sky, finding solace in the peaceful atmosphere. Perhaps Nea had never experienced such tranquillity before, having lived in the bustling urban environment where the noise was constant.

Nea took a look around the surroundings. He was in the backyard of a large estate, and the view from his room was incredibly picturesque. The landscape seemed to be enveloped by towering mountains, as no matter how high the roofs and walls were, he could still see the hills and peaks around, some of which even seemed to curve inward, forming the shape of a dome. There appeared to be settlements on the mountain slopes, indicated by scattered lights. To the left, Nea could make out a crack in the sky at the base of the mountains, seemingly the only entrance and exit point. On his right was a bright stream of light, resembling a majestic city, as a structure akin to a fortress sitting on the mountain slope, extending all the way up to the peak.

"A majestic architectural structure stretching from the valley below to the mountain peak. Where could this be? Everything looks quite ancient, as if from ancient times."

Nea pondered for a while longer:

"Didn't Gray mention that the portal only traverses space? This place looks like the past; isn't it also traversing through time? Or did he not explain everything?"

Then Nea shuddered at the thought of something he had just considered:

"Could they be here? Even though we were pulled through the same spatial gate, there's no guarantee I am on Earth where they arrived. Oh no, if that's the case, then I gonna stuck here for good!!"

Nea, still deep in thought, suddenly heard a voice from behind:

* Oh, hey there. If you're feeling a headache, why not rest inside? Staying out here too long might give you a cold.

Nea turned to see a young man standing near the door:

"How long has he been there?"

Seeing Nea's surprise, the young man introduced himself:

* I'm Minh. I've been assigned here to keep an eye on you.

"Keep an eye on me? Oh, right, I'm the guy who fell from the sky. They even thought I was a spy from another country."

Nea brushed off his clothes, stood up, approached the young man, and extended his hand for a handshake, but the other guy backed off a bit. Nea felt awkward and withdrew his hand, then introduced himself. Minh, the young man, struggled to pronounce Nea's name:

* Ne...a. Your name is quite hard to pronounce, just as rumoured.

* Rumoured?"

"His name is hard to pronounce, too. Everyone has such strange names here," Nea thought to himself.

Minh explained:

* Yes, there have been several rumours about you since yesterday, about your strange clothes, hair, name, and even these peculiar eyes. Only you and the princess have such unique eye colours in this country, not to mention the strange accident when the royal physician was trying to treat you.

* Strange accident? What happened?

He looked at Nea intently and then pointed to the object around his neck. Nea looked down at his necklace and asked:

Stolen story; please report.

* Is there something wrong with it?

* I'm unsure; I just heard the soldiers talking about it. The physician accompanying them was going to remove that necklace to treat you, but as soon as he touched it, he was immediately frozen.

* Frozen?

* Yes, indeed. It seems like it doesn't affect you, but for people like us, when we try to touch it to check, our fingers instantly feel cold.

* Really?

Nea stared intently at the necklace:

"It's from my father, a birthday gift. Could it contain some kind of power? And why don't I feel anything?"

Then Nea suddenly remembered:

"Oh! Right, the morning dream, the icy eye floating in the darkness, resembled this necklace. Father, what exactly is this?"

After that, Nea retreated into the room to rest while the young man named Minh continued to stand guard outside the door.

****

At a certain inn in the heart of the capital,

* This place is bustling; I also want to join in.

Cain paid no attention to Liana's chatter on the balcony beside him; he just focused on observing the streets.

* Selene, let's go down to the street.

Liana called out from the rooftop, where Selene was hidden in a mirrored illusion, sitting quietly in one place, tightly holding her sword. Selene scanned the streets anxiously, trying to find something or someone. Meanwhile, Liana was still rolling back and forth on the bed:

* I wonder what Hyun and Violet are doing right now.

She said, then got up, dragging Cain along to keep up.

****

Meanwhile, Hyun and Violet stayed back at the campsite.

Hyun was a new member of Team Four, though he had been with the team and trained for a year. Due to Hyun not being very skilled in combat, he was assigned to support duties and to look after Violet.

Sneeze

Sneeze

Crash

Seeing Hyun sneeze, Violet mimicked him just as she curiously played with Hyun's energy container, causing her to drop it to the ground accidentally. The incident illuminated the entire room instantly, and suddenly, energy burst out from it, about to burn all of Hyun's electronic equipment. Fortunately, he managed to absorb them back into himself in time.

"Phew, that was close!"

Hyun turned to ask Violet:

* Violet, are you okay?

Hyun looked at Violet, though standing right next to the explosion, she seemed fine, except for being covered in dirt and dust. Hyun noticed Violet seemed to enjoy mimicking others, so he handed her an empty energy bottle. Violet looked at Hyun bewildered, then grinned happily, accepting the gift and sitting down to play. Hyun smiled and went back to charging his energy bottles.

****

The evening before:

The trio of Cain, Liana, and Selene returned to their campsite after identifying Nea's location and their objective. In the late afternoon, Liana and Hyun found a space at the back of an arched mountain range. This location was close to their target and challenging enough to deter any ordinary person from climbing to that height. The scenery here also faced the sea, making it suitable for camping. Liana was quite pleased with finding this spot:

* Waaaa, I knew this would be the best spot. Haha.

* You're laughing quite loudly. Hyun, we're back now.

Cain had just finished speaking when a rectangular crack appeared in the air, like a door opening into another space. The three quickly stepped inside, with Cain leading and the two girls following. Suddenly, something darted towards Cain, but he managed to duck down in time to avoid it, causing it to collide with Liana and wrap itself around her. It was Violet, who looked quite alert. Liana hugged and patted her head but did not forget to glare at Cain, so Violet followed suit. Not wanting to be left out, Cain also turned to look at both of them. The three stood gazing at each other until Cain regained some composure. He turned to look at Hyun, who appeared somewhat dishevelled and slightly worried. Hyun asked:

* What happened?

* Don't worry, everything is fine for now. Take a rest for a bit; we'll gather to discuss our plans later.

With that, Cain climbed the stairs and disappeared upstairs. Liana and Violet continued to playfully tease Cain with their glances until he vanished from sight. Then Liana turned to Hyun and asked:

* You look a bit dishevelled, Hyun. Did Violet do something excessive?

* Aha, it's nothing too serious. This afternoon, while I was enlarging and setting up the invisibility shield for the house, Violet suddenly got excited and ran off for a bit. We ended up catching a few wild pigs.

* Ah, so we'll have roast pig tonight, then. Well done, Hyun. Take a rest. Selene, Violet, come with me.

And so, that evening, the team enjoyed a feast of a whole roast pig prepared with Liana's special recipe and the help of her two assistants.