Second World

Wilted Tree gave Jack a questioning look.

”My spellʼs one-hour cooldown had just ended not long ago,” Jack said as he cast Body Double. Three identical Jack appeared.

Seeing the spell being cast, Wilted Tree came to a realization. ”Yes, I forgot you have this spell. How careless of me,” she said. She then suddenly beamed. ”This means I might still complete my objectives!”

”Which one of you is the real one?” She asked.

Jack lifted his hand to answer. Wilted Tree hurriedly used the runic rope and bound one of the copies.

”How high is your lockpick skill?” Wilted Tree asked after done tying up fake Jack.

”Um, Basic Expert,” Jack answered.

”That is rather high,” Wilted Tree said with a hint of surprise. ”Our grade is the same, I can let you try to do the lockpicking while I send your copy down.”

”Wait, what about Leavemealone?” Jack asked.

”He will be fine for another eight hours. Didnʼt you hear what Master said up there? The process takes eight hours. During that time, Master will also stay up there. So, this is actually perfect timing.”

”Perfect timing? For what?” Jack asked as he followed Wilted Tree who was now walking again. She pulled the end of the rope that was binding fake Jack.

”To do what Iʼve come here to do. Here, take this,” Wilted Tree said and handed Jack gold-colored lockpicks.

Eternal lockpick (Unique tool)

Lockpick count: 100 (replenish 1 count every hour)

Increase lockpicking success chance by 20%

”Wow! This is so much better than my Enduring Lockpicks!” Jack commented.

”You have Enduring Lockpicks?” Wilted Tree said, and then added, ”this is only a loan! I expect it to be given back once I return!”

”Sure, sure. Iʼm not the kind of player who steals othersʼ stuff unless they deserve it. So, what chest do you want to use this on?”

”Not a chest. A door. It is Masterʼs private quarter in this fort. He stores some valuables there.”

”Why? Doesnʼt he have an inventory system as well? That is the safest place, why place something valuable outside of his inventory?”

”Because these items canʼt be stored in playerʼs inventory system. Aside from that, Masterʼs private quarter was also the entrance to a place that I need to access. In short, just open the God-damned door.”

”Okay, maʼam. Show me this God-damned door, I will open it for you in no time.”

”This one,” wilted Tree said as he pointed to a normal-looking door. They have come to a dead-end that only had this one door on the wall. Jack would have thought that the haughty Master would have picked a quarter that had a more impressive-looking door.

”Now work on this door while I take your copy down to the cell,” Wilted Tree instructed.

”Yes, maʼam. But what if someone passes by?” Jack asked.

”There shouldnʼt be anyone. This place doesnʼt have much personnel,” Wilted Tree said then left.

Though Wilted Tree said so, Jack still took precaution. He placed his remaining copies some distance away at the corner of the corridor that led to his place. If someone approached, his copy should notice them. Since the God-eye monocleʼs radar was not in 3D, he could not tell if someone was up there, down there, or at the same level as him. The dot that represented Master and Wong if seen on his radar were nearby him, so he could only use the old-fashion scouting method to check if people came. If someone did, he would use his Cloak of Shadowʼs ability to hide in the dark.

His thought was currently divided into three attentions. Lockpicking the door, watching for any people that approached, and following Wilted Tree into the prison cell. With the help of his Hundred Synchronous Thoughts talent, they were a piece of cake.

The door proved to be no less difficult than a Gold-rank treasure chest. He had failed numerous times working on it when Wilted Tree arrived in the dungeon down there. Through his copyʼs eyes, Jack saw a large-looking warden guarding the cell, a level 50 rare elite native ethereal. How Master managed to get such a powerful native to work for him, Jack would never know. But if his real body had been brought down here, there was little chance he could escape even if he was no longer bound.

He heard screaming from one of the closed doors in the dungeon.

Wilted Tree, embodying Motherboardʼs persona, turned to fake Jack with a sinister smile and said, ”That is the fate of the person who had failed master. The guy was in fact the one who had lost the Second Soul Remnant to you.”

ʼSunrise?ʼ Jack thought.

”Master had kept him in torture until, let me quote, when your mistake has been rectified and the Lightning God Blessing returned to me. I guess he will soon be freed, but you will take his place after.”

The native warden laughed hearing that.

Wilted Tree then passed fake Jack to this native before taking off the runic rope. Jack made an act as if trying to resist, only to get hugged by the warden in a dead-lock grip before getting thrown into the cell. Inside the cell, Jack saw the walls were lined with rune diagrams.

Although it was only a copy, he could still take out a copy of his weapon for a show, but he failed to do so. Jack figured it must be due to this rune diagram. He had no doubt the diagram also prevented him from using any skill or spell.

Jack heard Wilted Tree instruct the warden to take a careful watch and not let Jack escape, that this prisoner was very important to Master. He heard the ethereal warden reply with a grunt. Afterward, Wilted Tree left. Jack just had his copy sat down quietly inside the cell.

Jack had used up all one hundred of Wilted Treeʼs Eternal Lockpickʼs counts, but the door was still stubbornly resisting his intrusion. He was now using his Enduring Lockpickʼs twelve counts, which were also quickly used up with failure.

Luckily, he had a large stock of normal lockpicks in his bag, so he was not dismayed. He continued to work on the door. Each attempt was done with full concentration and awarded full proficiency. This blasted door gave out almost the same proficiency as the gold-rank treasure chest, which indicated that their difficulty was similar. Hence, his proficiency went up at a high rate, but not yet enough to push his lockpick skill to the next grade.

He also constantly used Runestone of probability to boost the success rate even further and improve the proficiency of his runecrafting skill. Just when his copy saw Wilted Tree show up in the corridor, he heard the success notification that the door had been unlocked.

Jack stood beside the open door and waited for Wilted Tree to arrive with a triumphant expression. When she arrived, she simply put up her hand. ”My Eternal Lockpick,” she said.

Jackʼs triumphant look turned sour, but he still gave her lockpicks back to her. Wilted Tree then entered the room. Jack followed closely behind. The place was decorated rather luxuriously.

”Even for a temporary quarter, he still spends the time to dress this room so,” Wilted Tree commented. But she didnʼt admire the room for long, she went ahead and ransacked it.

There was another door opposite where they came from. That was probably the door leading to the place that Wilted Tree mentioned she needed to go once she found the items she was looking for in this room.

”My God-eye didnʼt show anything valuable,” Jack said.

”Mine too. He wouldnʼt have placed them out in the open. They must be in a compartment or a case that blocks our God-eyeʼs detection,” Wilted tree replied.

Jack nodded, he had indeed encountered things like that several times, so he started turning things around as well.

”Can you tell me what we are looking for? Iʼm afraid I will miss it even if I see it if I donʼt know what exactly we are looking for.”

”Your God-eye will identify it if the things are exposed to your eyes. Although I must say, even without the God-eye, you will recognize them when you laid eyes on them.”

”What do you mean? Are you saying I have seen the things that you are searching for?”

”Yes,” Wilted Tree replied but provided no further explanation.

Since the girl didnʼt explain further, Jack didnʼt push. He had experienced this kind of treatment from Peniel, so he was not that troubled. At this time, Penielʼs cooldown had also ended and she was flying around the room looking for anything that looked interesting.

Jack searched every inch, even trying to press on the wall surfaces to see if there was any hidden compartment. When he squatted down to look below the bed, he saw a straw storage box. He sensed faint mana enveloping that box. He pulled the box out carefully from under the bed.

Once the box was out, he didnʼt immediately open it. The mana he sensed was some sort of rune diagram, yet he saw no rune drawings on the box. It was an invisible rune diagram. However, it was a much simpler one if compared to Pandoraʼs prison. He traced the invisible rune and unraveled it. Jack suspected the purpose of the diagram was some kind of a trap in case someone managed to break into this room. Master must not have expected an intruder with a mana-sensing ability.

Once Jack disarmed the rune diagram, he took off the lid. His God-eye monocle immediately lit up with purple color markings.

But that was not what surprised him. What surprised him was he recognized the items inside the box. There were two of them. They were round-shaped objects.

Just to make sure, Jack used Inspect on them and found out their names to be Second Soul Remnants, the same object that had given Jack his second class.

😉