Second World



The two Jacks walked out of the Order of Magi's hut. They continued walking away and went into an alley. Inside the alley, they looked around to make sure that no one was following them. The Double Clone ran out of duration then. The two Jacks disappeared. Both of them were clones.

Half an hour ago, when Jack stepped into the portal into the obelisk plaza, he did several things while in transit. There was a one-second gap between the time he stepped into the portal and stepped out to the obelisk plaza.

During this one second, he cast multiple spells. He first used Dragon Eye to expressly cast his first spell, Superior Acceleration. Once accelerated, he cast Double Clone and then Invisibility on his real body.

When he came out of the portal, he quickly located Janus' position. While invisible, his real body used mana concealment and moved away from Janus.

His real body then waited until his incorporeal body found the nexus world before he went into the link between the pocket worlds. His invisibility lasted fifty minutes. He was still unseen moving between the pocket worlds when his two clones vanished outside.

He saw some other faction members, both natives and players, as he roamed between worlds. Normally, there would be more players than natives. This time, the players' number had significantly reduced. No doubt it was because of Master's convention.

Because he was also a member of the faction, he should be able to blend in once his invisibility ended, but he preferred that no one saw him. Luckily, fewer members were roaming around as he neared the nexus world. He paid attention to his radar and used stealth to avoid passersby when there was one.

He continued his journey. After some time, he felt weird. He should have arrived by now. He had walked for longer than he should have. He looked for a secluded place and went into the incorporeal state again. He found himself walking away from the nexus world.

He understood then. No barriers were set around the links between the pocket worlds, but some sort of illusory maze was placed around the nexus world. Without knowing the proper pattern of moving, one wouldn't reach the nexus world.

Jack was dejected. He didn't know the pattern. He also couldn't sense this pattern using his mana sense. The links seemed to just change randomly, sending him in a circle around the maze.

Since he didn't see any option, he just continued doing what he did. He walked through the maze. In intervals, he went into the incorporeal state to get his bearings. He spent hours doing this without success, but he didn't want to leave. He didn't know if he could fool young Janus again the next time he tried infiltrating this place. So, he persevered.

He was getting restless. He could end up spending a day trying to go through this maze. If he did, then he had no choice but to leave. He needed at least half a day to get to the convention venue.

As he was having the thought of giving up, he found himself in a place that he vaguely remembered. It was a hall with dark walls. He stopped and looked around the place. He remembered then. This was the place young Janus teleported him to when he brought the Eye of Illios.

There used to be a pedestal near where he stood, but Jack was sure this was the same hall from then. After thinking for a while, he walked toward the hallways Janus had led him to that last time.

He wasn't aware at the time, but probably Janus had brought him via the secret pattern to reach the nexus world, where the real Janus was located. He was now retracing the paths he had taken back then. Thanks to his high intelligence stat, he remembered the paths as if he had taken them just yesterday.

After going through a series of dark corridors, including the fenced wall where Janus had shown off the Ghost Form spell, he arrived at the large hall where he first laid eyes on the real Janus.

No one was around.

'Good, he is not back yet,' Jack thought in his mind.

"You think you can find anything here?" Peniel asked.

"That is the entire purpose of me sneaking into here," Jack replied. "Natives don't have our inventory system. They have to put their belongings somewhere. This should be the place where he is most likely to store his most valuable secrets."

"Are you sure it is him?" Peniel asked.

"I'm not. That's why I am here. To find proof of my suspicion… Which I hope I don't," Jack answered.

"If you don't find anything, then you will go back to square one," Peniel said.

"I know, but I still wish it isn't him," Jack said. "I still have to make sure, though."

Jack went through the place while conversing with Peniel. There weren't things to store stuff in this hall. No chest, no wardrobe, no drawer. Jack went around the hall quickly without finding anything. He was now standing at the center of the hall, confused about what to do next.

"So, what now?" Peniel asked.

"There should be someplace where he stores his stuff," Jack said. He is not willing to give up so soon. "For example, the Eye of Illios. No way he brings that thing everywhere he goes. He must put it somewhere with his other belongings."

"You want to try some of those corridors?" Peniel asked.

"There were several exits from this hall other than the one they entered from.

"… I don't know where those corridors take me too. They might send me out into the start of the maze again, for all I know," Jack said.

"Well, you won't get anywhere by staying…"

Jack stopped Peniel's words. "Do you hear that?" Jack asked.

"Hear what?" Peniel asked back, confused.

"Listen…," Jack said.

Peniel focused on her hearing. She didn't hear anything. She was about to say something before she heard it.

"It's like the voice of someone calling," she said.

"It's from that corridor!" Jack pointed. "Let's go."

The two went into the corridor the voice was coming from. The corridor was a linear path that took them to a chamber. Inside that chamber, a person was caged inside some sort of a force field. That person was the real Janus.

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