"I'm telling ya, it's dangerous. All probes I sent were disabled. It seems there is a vacuum eating everything."

"We can always throw Lil in there. You know, he has a lot going on for him."

"Oh, shut up, you idiot. Focus!"

On the same path section Marie Ghost stayed at, a group of cultivators now debated. She wasn't here anymore, but they were working on a plan to catch the walking treasure trove she reported.

Nevertheless, they found it hard to believe when their friend explained what she saw, a well of longevity. How could such treasure be walking around so fearless?

"If you take this recklessly, Marie will be angry!"

"She can only be so angry since she already has too much in her hands."

"Why don't ya tell that to her face, then?"

"You wouldn't dare."

"Let's stop going around the bushes. Let's pay the needed price. Lucas, get one of your dolls. We'll reimburse the price later, and each of us will feed it a bit. That should be enough to deal with whatever trap is below."

If anyone saw those people working together, they would be appalled. Who would deserve so many legends working together? Most would think they were trying to save the world or something like that.

"Do ya think Marie is going blind?"

"I don't think so. This topic is everything our friend has. How could she misinterpret longevity? If she tells me refining the target would allow us to live longer, I'll believe her. While death is close to her, she wouldn't throw our friendship away since she loves her clan too much. She hasn't shown any sign of going crazy, either. She's as cold-hearted and calculative as ever."

"But how could one single body has such high value?"

"I wouldn't know. But if we can't rely on the best Doctor in the world, who can we trust?"

While they talked, Lucas materialized one human-sized doll and began setting it up. This doll might look funny with its weathered clothes and lack of colors and polish. But only a dozen in the world could build an equivalent artifact.

Unwrapping it from a thick fabric, Lucas slowly revealed his masterpiece.

"I'll start." He said as he pumped Spirit inside the doll.

The object hummed as it harmonized and turned on.

By the time he finished doing his part, the doll had gained a new luster. Its eyes were seemly alive.

"Next."

One after the one, they inserted Spirit energy into the doll. While for those masters, the amount spent was small, anyone else would be staggered.

Their mouth didn't stop, though, but neither did their hands. They quickly finished the job and sent the doll below as the vanguard.

---

Ben had slowly stabilized his wild emotions.

He was now passing through an underwater cave. But the cold water and the darkness couldn't slow him down.

Yet, something else did.

Noticing a change in his Spirit flow, Ben looked in a specific direction. There was nothing to see, it was dark, but his eyes looked deep in thought.

'They took their time. I wonder who tripped it. If it's Marie, it shouldn't kill her. But it should be enough to make her overly careful. And even if I can't easily make another without ending up poor and naked, they don't know that.'

As the owner of the trap, Ben's felt it going off. Even if his connection to it was minimal, he still felt the disturbance. And while any other time, he would be able to identify what caused that, right now, he could make a perfect guess.

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And if he was correct, he hoped Marie jumped down since this would definitively slow her down.

Ben honestly didn't want to exchange a word with her.

Meeting Marie was one of Ben's worst nightmares due to her infamous tendency toward conducting brutal experiments.

While the Ghost Doctor indeed gained her title due to her medicinal skills. And that was also how most people in general society knew her. However, despite being well known for saving lives, most of the fear and respect she held with her peers were due to her cruel and practical ways.

Marie Ghost was the opposite of Chloe Volcano Breaker. While the author of Insights was a pacifist, Marie was merciless. Most of her lifespan was gained by almost literally drinking the blood of too many to count.

A few thousand years ago, there was a widespread fear that she would spiral into a mad demon. But fortunately, somehow, she calmed down eventually.

However, Ben still stressed over people like her the most. Those who took what they wanted first and then thought about anything else later, including morals and consequences.

She wasn't alone on that list, though. That one included King Latwel VI, Lucas the Doll, the four Cardinals of Slet, the Mummy of Naneas, the Unnamed Wander, and a hundred others. However, the Unnamed was likely dead since Ben hadn't seen news of him for 2500 years, not even rumors.

"How are you doing up there, buddy?" Ben whispered, moving forward again.

He now had Syd in a bowl tied to his head, avoiding letting the creature enter into contact with the dangerous water.

'Just hold on. Things can't just get worse. Right? Right? They can't!'

"I don't feel tired, but I feel as if I should be exhausted."

'Luckily, you can also play dead.'

Early on, Ben activated both of their playing dead mechanism. Then, Ben walked a fine line between ending up in a monster den and some lazy stroll.

Fortunately, he was like fish in the water. Running around on dangerous grounds was his best skill, surpassing his array mastery. The amount of practice he had in ruins was just astonishing.

"It's time, Syd, to go into the container. And hopefully, we don't become food to some creature on the lake." Ben whispered so low that Syd wouldn't hear it if conscious.

'Staying in this water will freeze my muscles. The warming up later will be very annoying. But surviving comes first.'

Ben was ready to take a swim in Latwel Lake!

---

"Moon, how was it?" Marie Ghost asked.

Right now, she lacked the finesse look she had prior. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes were baggy and bloodied, and her voice was croaky.

"David is secured within the cultivation room. Where should I go?" The woman with two swords replied.

"Stick around me and help me contact everyone. Don't try to contact Latwel again. I got a response, and they are tied with maintenance. The fat pig will not be able to move for 30 years."

As they talked, one of the dozens of devices vibrated and glowed red on the large table in the middle of the room.

"Talk," Marie answered it.

"Potential suspect. My people got sight of someone on Mooneshell. The read following your instruction pointed to be around 70% accurate."

A man sat in a surveillance room filled with many white marble blocks.

Fuzzy images covered every marble surface.

In one of the images, a man walked clad in a fancy cloak and with a wide flat metallic hat.

"The read should be correct. That's definitively him. How do we proceed?"

"Only keep your eyes on him. Do a stellar job, and I'll personally treat your aging. I'll call again when everything is ready. First, I'll contact the others to surround the suspect."

Meanwhile, on the street, the suspect kept whispering, "I'm fine, don't worry about it. I'm fine." Every minute or so.

He walked extremely fast and precisely, giving people the impression of someone flowing in the air.

Soon, he arrived at one of the Carriage Stations and bought a trip to Norluch, the Capital of Srok.

"Sir, everything is ready. Should we leave right now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about it. I'm fine. Let's leave."

The journey began swiftly, but those eyes following them never stopped.

...

"So, is he alone now?" Marie asked.

"Yes. The driver made a deal and left. And with the animal released into the wild, our suspect has been feeding Spirit Stones into the carriage. Although, it has been stuck here for too many hours now."

"Well, another trap, then. I thought it was our target for a second since it acted so hurriedly. However, we still need to check, so prepare the formation. And I will lead."

The Ghost Doctor was here alone with some of her subordinates.

The rest of the forces decided to help by spreading out and building the larger encirclement.

After she got close enough, she sent a weak attack cutting the door.

The broken wooden wall revealed the man sitting on the floor in the back of the carriage.

His eyes and face were lifeless. But both of his arms were supported by his folded and rigid legs. And the middle finger on his right hand was straight and had a fancy ring.

However, not many could see the elder giving his finger. When the room was disturbed, the ring glowed and blew up.

The explosion consumed the whole formation. But the preparation the group did still highly suppressed the impact.

Yet, the region could still feel it since this was more populated than the mountains, where a similar explosion happened a few days ago.

As a result, a carriage slightly further along the road had to free its horses due to their hasty response to the sudden shock.

This sequence of events was the most sensible reaction due to the power of those creatures and how easy it was to die with them when lacking fine control.

"Mr. Ben, what are you going to do?" Someone inside asked.

In the carriage, some people talked on friendly terms, gossiping about the latest news.

"This is likely the Doctor. But why is she here and not at the plateau? Did they not come here to stop the fire?"

"I don't know, but it shouldn't be safe here. We should keep walking since the further we're from cultivators, the better."

As he said this, Ben got out of the carriage and began light jumping, waiting if anyone would join him.

"Sorry, it's too far away." They all retreated and shook their heads.

"Fair enough. Farewell, and I wish you luck!" Ben replied as he jogged away.