Kenzie and Master bid Lars good-bye as they prepared to board the wagons and make haste to leave the territory of the Ancient Slith Sect.

A tearful group of 5 men and their small families made up of Kenzie, Maester, Bernie, Ollie, Ol' Mulberry and the latter three's spouses and children were boarding a wagon on the afternoon of that day itself; in order to get a leg ahead of any possible pursuers.

Though they were pretty sure that they were unlikely to get away without their adversaries giving chase, they were also confident that the pursuers would need to be a small group and at most have a beginner Legendary combatant - something that would not trouble Kenzie who was now back at nearly his peak strength.

"Mmm. Take care," Lars smiled impatiently as he waved them off. He sighed inwardly as he saw them depart, quickly turning into a speck on the glaring horizon, heading east and away from Wiarno City - hopefully to find a new life somewhere else with whatever remained of their wealth and their families.

With that, Lars began to pace back towards the interior of the Ancient Slith Sect's compound, headed to his original reason for coming here.

Based on the time needed to travel here and back, he had 10 days left before the Gorun City entourage for the Battle Through The Heavens were due to meet. He felt not just a little irritated at himself as he felt that he had wasted too much time from favouring stealth and wasting 3 days on the journey, as well as wasting another night and morning's worth of time by accompanying the Slith's through their difficult decision to leave the lands.

He felt he had wasted too much precious time; time that could have been spent on furthering his objective - get home, save the Earth, get Moira, discover the secrets of the Demon-Hunting Sect, find his own lineage, overthrow the All-Heaven Divine Empire, somehow find out the truth behind the Abyss...

'And find a way to free Kizorik from the bonds of the Abyss...'

With these thoughts, Lars felt a heavy burden upon his relatively young shoulders; for a man who had merely lived a combined 38 years, wasn't this too much to expect...? Just how many worlds was he meant to save while at it...? Why couldn't he just forget it all and focus on his own life...?

And why couldn't he just ignore those people he met and just focus on advancing his own dreams...?

'When will I stop being so sentimental...? I shouldn't have wasted time waiting for them to leave... I should have just checked out the entrance gate to the Mystery Realm and left them to their own devices...'

'Mm-hmm! Boyo! You're too green! Gotta be like me! Cold and callous, uncaring and fierce!' Kizorik folded his arms and puffed out his chest, raising his chin up high as he bragged to an audience of two - who ignored him while smiling wryly...

Velzash held back a sigh that would spark a useless argument and instead chose to comfort Lars, saying, 'Young lad, it is no weakness nor a failure to care about others... A big heart is no crime! Instead, what is a crime is if you want to care about others... But lack the ability to empower that care! All you need is the strength and raw power to back up that big heart, as well as the readiness to accept that others might just repudiate your care...'

Kizorik grumbled, feeling that his own "words of wisdom" (translation: Bragging) were not received with grat.i.tude and felt dissatisfied that the relative newcomer Velzash's advice would be taken instead.

But he kept quiet; after all, no matter how much he bragged and prodded Lars to be cold and callous, heartless and cruel, the little birdy himself was just as much as an emotional softy...

Lars paused mid-step, appreciative of the sage words. He nodded to himself, eyes softening as he felt vindicated for his soft heart that was often taken advantage of.

'Yeah... Strength and power! That is what I need if I want to protect those I love! Alright! No delays, let's get on with this journey to the Mystery Realm...'

Lars continued his quick pace, then accelerated into a blazing streak of speed to the centre of the Ancient Slith Sect's compound where Kenzie had led him to earlier - the core of the sect and the focal point around which the entire land was built around.

The journey pa.s.sed in a blink of the eye as though the lands were large, Lars' speed was blisteringly fast.

He stopped as he approached the Treasury room - now empty - at the centre of the sect's lands. But that was not his destination.

His target was the inconspicuous looking trash room secreted away at the back of the now-abandoned Treasury guards' quarters, hidden away behind a simple and unadorned door marked, "Refuse Room"!

Lars made his way through the rather narrow guards' quarters and found the room just as he had been shown earlier.

Before he pushed the door open, his eyes turned dead serious and flashed with an escalating sense of danger. He prepared multiple spells and instantly cast them.

Spirit Armour, Stoneskin, Air-s.h.i.+eld, Water-s.h.i.+eld, Fire-s.h.i.+eld, Earth-s.h.i.+eld, Protection from the Elements, Immunity to Physical Attacks!

His body shone in a veritable rainbow of colours which would have anyone who watched him; of course though, there was no-one there.

He nodded, then stopped before he opened the door. He had forgotten the most important finis.h.i.+ng touch...

A clothes peg/ laundry pin/ laundry peg to block his nose!

Lars materialised the clothes peg from his storage ring and winced as he opened it to clamp down on both of his nostrils.

Then, satisfied with his defences, Lars gritted his teeth, mustering up the courage needing for this harrowing challenge and narrowed his eyes as he pushed open the door...

And was instantly a.s.saulted by the horrendous smells of countless years of festering, decaying, mouldy and nasty garbage...!

Despite all of his magical and physical precautions, Lars nearly puked as he came face to face with his greatest weakness, one which he struggled with every day but still could not overcome...

Filth!

He gagged, turning green as he fought the urge to throw up all of his breakfast, last night's dinner, his intestines and his soul at the horrible sight before him of fragments of food covered with flies, maggots, insects... He could not continue as he forcefully blocked his consciousness lest he be mentally scarred for the remainder of his life!

'...I... I need to find an amnesia spell after this... Yes... I'll pay a hundred million platinum coins for that...!!!!' Lars groaned inwardly as Kizorik and Velzash chuckled - and also looked away, disgusted but thankful that they could not smell things in the physical realm unless they materialised...

Lars hurriedly recited the magical incantations to uncover the entrance portal, rus.h.i.+ng through the long chant in a matter of 3 seconds. The moment he finished the incantation, he leapt backwards and stumbled over, falling to his hands and knees a distance away from the disgusting filth of the room as he heard a *ting!* sound behind him - a sign that the trigger key had been successful.

Lars did not dare to watch, but had to force himself to as the entrance to the Mystery Realm was uncovered. He saw the image and smells of wretched rotting garbage flicker then fade away, revealing instead a room entirely bare - bare of even tiles, structure or anything at all!

There was merely rocky, sandy ground in the middle of which was a craggy opening in the ground wide enough for two people to enter sidelong...

Lars took in a deep breath, remembering the reason Kenzie and Maester had given him for why no-one had ever re-entered the Mystery Realm after all those years...

Because the previous Patriarch, the founder of the Ancient Slith Sect, had never dared to speak of the realm, except that in there, all concepts of humankind's powers were meaningless...

It was a land of great danger, one in which the original group of more than 50 soldiers had been decimated, reduced to merely 2 people... With the strongest, greatest, meanest and highest-leveled falling like flies, having no advantage to low-level fighters...!

The former Patriarch had forbidden anyone else to enter, barring it from all others including his family and procuring a great sealing spell courtesy of General Wyoldr to maintain his order to the sect as well as to guard against any uninvited guests.

The only time he had ever spoken of it was in his last testament; his will pa.s.sed on to Kenzie and Maester as the heirs of the family; to guard but also to retain the access key to the Mystery Realm.

Alas, the Sliths had nothing beyond that to tell Lars except that it was extremely dangerous and even World-cla.s.s and Legendary-level powerhouses had perished like flies within!

Faced with this great danger before him, Lars pondered whether it was worth risking his life or not...

And jumped in, smiling, for what danger was there that could deter he who had gone through the jaws of death itself...?

And as the darkness of the gaping chasm swallowed him up, unbeknownst to Lars, the two dark-red-and-purplish seeds pulsed with dark-light, growing more vibrant and sinister as they expanded in size and virulence...