Eventually, he satisfied himself with his own precautions, and used the natural treasure. As with most of its ilk, he simply swallowed it. A few moments later, a buzz of electricity ran through his body, pleasant at first, like a massage. Then it intensified, and his skin started to crawl with tiny threads of golden lightning.
His eyes began to glow, and strange, ghostly images appeared before him, highlighting potential lines of fate in the world nearby. Given that he was alone in a room, there was nothing much there, save for the movements of the air, and his own body. The jolts of lightning grew more and more painful, until his body convulsed multiple times per second.
Visions played across his eyes, of places and things that could happen. Civilizations growing in the blink of an eye, and crumbling in the next. Stars exploding, spelling devastation for everything in their vicinity. Cultivators at the D Ranks arriving, and preventing the supernovae with ease. There was little distinction between what was truth and fantasy, if indeed, any of it was truth. The haze of probability was a deep and inscrutable one, which Sam had no way of piercing.
Bolts of lightning started to travel along the timelines, tracing them out, using their energy to power to process. Sam grew more adept at doing so himself, his body and mind changing to accommodate the effects of the natural treasure. Then it ended, and he lay on the floor, still twitching.
After a minute, he recovered, and got to his feet, swaying slightly as he saw a ghostly image precede his movements. The effects of the natural treasure were already taking effect.
He saw the door opening before it actually happened, a spectral man stepping inside. Before it could happen, he opened the door himself, surprising Garnax.
“Oh!” The man exclaimed, surprised. “I was just coming in.”
“I gained a new skill,” Sam said vaguely, watching as the disconcerting display of an overlaid body move before Garnax could actually do so.
Garnax smiled. “Congratulations! Hopefully, you can use it in the arena. My family is immensely grateful for everything you’ve done for us.”
Sam smiled. “I was hoping to do that as well. I need to test out my new ability though. Is there anywhere around here that I can fight monsters or something like that?”
“This compound has a private dungeon for us to use. It is only a high F Rank though. Would that suffice?”
Sam sighed. “I suppose so. Are there any within teleportation distance? Like, within the nearest thousand miles or so?”
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“Unfortunately,” Garnax began, his face falling. “Granthar has banned the use of long range teleportation for any without a license within this area. I was going to tell you earlier, but you haven’t actually used any outside of the arena.”
“Hmm. What about the teleportation arrays?” Sam asked.
“None within range of the dungeons. Granthar keeps them close to hand, as they are part of the wealth of the world. The fact that we even have access to one at all, with our tarnished family history, is a miracle.”
Sam nodded. “Alright. Take me to it then.”
Garnax turned and strode out of the room, and along the narrow hallway that stretched through the family compound. There were about half a dozen rooms there, each of which was richly appointed. Tapestries hung on the wall, and the floors were covered in velvet carpets. The basement that Sam had been summoned in was below the kitchen, with a small passageway leading to the only part of the apartment that lacked decoration.
They exited, heading out into the main passageway of the greater building. This time, Sam saw a few people walking about, all of whom recognized him, turning the other direction when they saw him. Then they realized that he would merely catch up to them in a matter of moments, and reversed course, looks of fear on their faces.
Garnax grinned at this, and Sam shot him a look.
“What? Most of the time, they look at me and my companions with disdain. It is refreshing to see something different, even if it is only fear.”
Sam shook his head, smiling slightly. “You people of the Boundless Expanse are so strange sometimes.”
A few minutes later, they stood before an elevator, marked with a red sigil of two stars in the middle of a circle. Next to the stars was a black stripe. Sam inferred that it indicated the dungeon’s difficulty.
“The two stars show that the dungeon is F Rank, and the strip shows the difficulty-” Garnax started to say.
“I could get that much,” Sam said, cutting him off. “Can we just enter the lift, or is there some process?”
Garnax grumbled slightly at being interrupted, but he wasn’t really bothered by it, and instead he reached into a pocket, pulling out a plastic card with a picture of his face on it.
He pressed it to a small pad next to the elevator, and the doors hissed open. Sam followed him in, and the two men felt the slight change in position from the elevator starting a moment later. It was far smoother than any elevators from Earth though, and had Sam not been an E Ranker, he wouldn’t have noticed anything at all.
Thirty seconds later, the doors opened once more, disgorging them into a cave filled with jagged stalagmites and stalactites. In the center was a roiling portal. Garnax’s attire suddenly shifted as he used a storage device to dress himself. Armor covered his body, and a pair of short swords rested in his hands.
“I might not be an E Ranker like you, but I can still hold my own,” Garnax declared.
“You might not get to fight much, but I appreciate the company,” Sam replied.
Then he stepped into the portal, crossing the gap in the blink of an eye. Reality warped around him, and he appeared in a much smaller cave, with a single exit. Outside of the cave, he heard movement, the sounds of large creatures moving. Then there was a blood curdling howl as something died.