Chapter 776: Subverted Common Sense
"A quarter of an hour has passed," Celine breathed a sigh of relief, "It seems he didn't encounter anything."
"What a pity, I guess he's just lucky," Elsea said with waning interest.
"I don't want to entrust the outcome to probability," she said with a hint of reproach in her voice, "Next time, please choose a more reliable method, okay?"
"Don't dwell on what's already happened," Elsea changed the subject, "Guess how long the mortal king can last inside? During the Dawn Era, the highest record left by mortals was less than a quarter of an hour, right?"
"Witches fare no better. The time spent in the Realm of Gods has nothing to do with magic power. Even the Union relies on a group of mortals to monitor the relics non-stop in shifts. But considering the king's age and experience, he should be coming out soon."
According to all the records Celine had perused, those who had personally experienced battle and fought demons head-on generally lasted longer, whether they were witches or mortals. And the highest record was created by Akalys, lasting almost a full hour. As a king working behind the scenes, this performance is already quite remarkable.
"Perhaps he wants to hold on a little longer, after all, it's his first time witnessing such a realm."
"That would make him dizzy and even faint," Celine suddenly realized something and looked at Pasha, "Did you forget to tell him that?"
"Fainting is not a loss of composure and won't cause any real harm," Pasha wiggled her tentacles, "On the contrary, this uncomfortable experience of mental exhaustion can reduce his impulse to touch the relics of gods, which is a good thing for everyone."
"So… you didn't forget?"
Pasha remained noncommittal, "Some things are better left unsaid. If it were us, we probably wouldn't want to be too constrained when exploring the Realm of Gods, right?"
"Now I understand why Lady Nataya chose you as one of the three candidate seats," Elsea clicked her tongue.
Celine couldn't help but feel the same way. Being scared to the point of losing composure or fainting from exhaustion could be seen as a withdrawal without side effects, which could reduce the mortal's curiosity without damaging the relationship between the two sides. Clearly, Pasha and the others were thinking more deeply.
After waiting for a while, she frowned slightly, "It's been more than a quarter of an hour, is he alright?"
Pasha looked at Roland Wimbledon, who was still sitting upright, "It seems… there's nothing unusual. This mortal king is full of surprises."
"A new record has been set, should I say congratulations?" Elsea shrugged her main tentacles.
Celine didn't answer. She felt vaguely uneasy, as if something was wrong.
The following wait seemed to confirm her guess.
Another quarter of an hour passed, and Roland remained motionless. She became increasingly anxious.
A person who has lived for a hundred years should have a vague sense of the passage of time, but the almost constant pulse of this body could accurately tell her every moment and breath. Three quarters of an hour of exploration was too long. The other party was neither a transcendent nor a warrior and should have exhausted his energy long ago.
Could it be… that something unexpected had happened in the Realm of Gods that had never been noticed before?
Wendy couldn't help but step forward, seemingly wanting to wake the king, but was stopped by Pasha.
"If you get too close to the relic, you will also be affected by it."
"Then let me enter the Realm of Gods and bring His Majesty back!" she insisted.
"Even if you go in, you won't be able to bring back the king. No matter how many people are simultaneously touched by its call, the Realm of Gods they see is unique."
Celine noticed that another witch, who had been hiding her figure, was also moving. Judging from the vague magic power reaction, she took something out of her pocket—according to the information Phyllis had gathered, it should be a weapon unique to Neverwinter.
After conveying her concerns to the other two, Pasha nodded and immediately took action. She stretched out her tentacles and wrapped them around the mortal king, pulling him back to Wendy's side. Although ending the exploration in this way was not the most ideal outcome, nothing was more important than Roland's safety. If a conflict broke out between the two sides, the consequences would be unimaginable.
……
As the relic of gods was put back into the Divine Stone box, Roland suddenly opened his eyes.
"Your Majesty… are you alright?" Wendy helped him stand up and asked anxiously.
"Nothing's wrong… I'm fine," he rubbed his sore legs, "I saw the alien monsters guarding the other two relics and even talked to them, but unfortunately, they couldn't understand what I was saying."
"You… what did you say?" Celine was shocked, "Could it be… that you encountered demons and…"
"And a giant eyeball, which looked like it was in a ship that could sail underwater…" Roland continued, "Of course, I can't be sure if it was a ship or something else."
Even though she couldn't see her companions' expressions, Celine could feel the shock of the other two, especially Elsea. She was the survivor who had stayed in the illusion for the longest time—her experience as a member of the Holy Guard allowed Elsea to last for about half an hour, but that was only when the painting was empty.
If she encountered a demon or an enemy from another race, the rate of energy consumption would increase exponentially!
"Then what happened?" Pasha asked urgently.
"I can't explain it clearly, but some black tentacles suddenly appeared in the painting and attacked them." Roland roughly described what he had encountered, "Those tentacles felt very difficult to deal with, and they had to withdraw from the painting. The whole process took a few minutes… no, about a third of a quarter of an hour."
He meant that he had encountered the guardians of the other two civilizations at the same time, not only was he unscathed, but he had also forced them back?
Celine felt like she was listening to a fantastic tale.
She wasn't surprised by the appearance of the black tentacles. As the energy decreased, the relic's influence on the explorer would become greater and greater. Hallucinations, illusions, tentacles, or something else… would appear one by one. They weren't simply mental disturbances but would cause real harm to the body. This was why Pasha emphasized that they weren't just illusions. Before these influences caused real damage, as long as the call was cut off, the explorer would be fine.
Of course, it wasn't something ordinary people could do to forcibly resist this mental erosion. Even battle-hardened witches would quickly feel tired and eventually lose control of their bodies.
But why was Roland's situation completely reversed, with even the black tentacles rushing towards the enemy? This was the first time she had heard of such a thing.
Looking at the mortal king, who didn't seem to care, Celine suddenly had an incredible thought.
Could it be that this ordinary person's level of spiritual power was comparable to that of the Starfall Queen Akalys, the head of the Three Seats?
However, the other party obviously didn't realize this. He stretched his limbs and smiled, "But I also thank you for pulling me out. I wanted to see if there was a boundary in that place, but I walked so far that I didn't want to go back the same way."
"Ahem… is that so," the three were silent for a long time before Pasha broke the silence, "Then would you like to continue exploring the relic?"
"Not for the time being. With just four paintings, there's not much point in continuing to look at them," Roland shook his head, "Next, take me to see the pivot carrier."