Ulrich's face blanked, his finger tapping on the desk with a constant rhythm. At this moment, countless thoughts came and went by his mind.

  Ultimately, he paused his finger, opened his mouth, and raised one final question:

  “What is in this ruin? Skeletons? Scarlet Wolf?”

  In that moment, Borik and Snezana felt an oppressive aura pressing on their shoulders. It was lofty, hanging as high as the golden light above, and crushed them with the weight of boulders.

  Surrounding Ulrich was a blanket of darkness which obscured his 'face' and 'expression'. Their mind reeled in shock, unable to grasp the meaning of this alarming development!

  The hall was full of light, fueled by raging fire from the oil lamp that hung on the giant, stone pillars. Yet even in this environment, they find Ulrich’s presence suffocating, the same kind of weariness they experienced in the wilderness.

  Snezana, Borik, and Mason arrived at one single conclusion:

  Terrifying! He’s definitely not ordinary!

  Just as that thought passed, Ulrich’s oppressive aura retreated, allowing them to be at ease.

  Their faces... There’s traces of fear and respect? What’s wrong with these people? I just asked a simple question… Don't tell me there's a powerful fallen knight guarding the storage entrance?!

  He was extremely confused, but maintained a blank look—though this only made the trio further unsettled.

  Borik wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and answered earnestly, “As far as we have scouted, there are only skeletons wandering around the ruin entrance. However, I can’t say what is inside, since we’ve yet to enter that far.”

  Saying so, he recalled that menacing darkness from earlier and quickly assured Ulrich, “We have some record of the history of the ruin. It used to be a castle that belonged to a rather low-ranking lord. At most, there should only be some fallen knights guarding the storage room.”

  A low-ranking lord? Fallen knights? Indeed, the shadow realm was peculiar in many ways.

  With that thought, he stood up and said, “I am in a hurry, do you mind?”

  Right now?! Borik's amiable smile almost cracked, but facing Ulrich, he didn’t dare to blurt out his thought.

  Fortunately, their mercenary group has been preparing for this expedition for some time, so most of the preparation has long finished. The only thing they were waiting for was the last member, and Ulrich filled that slot.

  “We are ready. However, it is currently night fall… We have to wait for dawn to rise.”

  With that said, he extended his hand and offered for Ulrich to stay together in their Residential Quarter section. This way, they didn’t have to regroup again later, thus saving some time.

  However, Ulrich shook his head and said, “I have some personal matters to attend to. I’ll meet you again at this exact spot once dawn rises.”

  Indeed, he was busy with some other affairs that required his attention. Not to mention, Ulrich had too many secrets. Despite them being ordinary, he didn’t dare take the chance of exposing his secrets. It was better to be safe than face regret later.

  Regarding this, even Borik was helpless.

  Honestly speaking, he wanted to befriend someone like Ulrich. Clearly, this Johan is not ordinary, and to be given a chance to befriend such a figure was no less a blessing to them than exploring this ruin.

  Unfortunately, such people are often elusive and eccentric, though that only made them more enigmatic. However, pushing it too hard would be excessive, leaving behind a rather unpleasant first impression.

  So Snezana, as well as Borik, gave up that idea for now and bid ‘Johan’ goodbye before heading to their residential quarter.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  As for Ulrich, he stayed for a bit longer, hoping to listen in the surrounding conversation for rumors of recent events. He hoped to slowly assimilate with the people of this region, though that might take some time.

  Nightfall in the shadow realm was beautiful, a dreadful splendor that cannot be found in the surface world. Outside, there is a reflection of a giant tree, so far that its branches and leaves cannot be touched as far as the eye can see.

  Beneath that tree is a land filled with countless ruins, monsters, and creatures of all kinds.

  Ulrich locked the wooden door behind him and lay on the fur mattress. His eyes stared at the ceiling, which was covered in a thick animal hide, the same one that was used at the Keep’s Hall lobby area.

  Even then, the golden light was like water, spilling through small gaps which cannot be concealed with mere animal hide. It was mesmerizing, the soft glow mixing with a murky, yet tangible darkness.

  As he narrowed his eyes, the shadow line danced in his vision.

  This golden light is so strange… It’s like a raging river, splitting apart everything in its path, including the ‘shadow’ during the day. But at night… The shadow swallowed the light, as though it is ‘alive’.

  It was terrifying to look at, but his eyes were completely mesmerized, unable to turn away. After a few seconds, he massaged his head and disabled shadow vision.

  The scent of a burnt candle eased his mind a little, though it was quickly replaced by a moist, moldy smell.

  Lately, he’s been using shadow vision more often, thus improving his own mastery of it. Prior to entering the shadow realm, just looking at the shadow lines afflicted him with weakness and strained his eyes. However, it was much more manageable now.

  From there, he grasped another crucial piece of knowledge:

  Repeated usage of a certain ability will strengthen it naturally, as well as reduce the strain on myself… Besides this, further accumulation of lesser runes also improved his spells and talent to another degree.

  Back then, five dark arrows were his limit in the Sanctuary, but increased to ‘ten’ with the Blessings of the Shadows. And now, even without that blessing, Ulrich was confident in casting at least ten dark arrows without worrying about spirituality weakness. Just from this, his journey in the shadow realm had proved bountiful.

  As that thought passed, he recalled the matters of his dreams, which was another one of his worries.

  Since he was in the shadow realm at the moment, could he still dream of Donghai, of the future? Or enter that white space through dream walking? This was another reason he didn’t want to accompany Snezana’s mercenary group.

  At this moment, Ulrich took out the revolver from his waist, placed it beneath his pillow, then closed his eyes.

  He quelled his thoughts and allowed his ‘body’ to sink toward the depths. Quickly, he greeted a familiar darkness, finding himself awake in the middle of the bustling city.

  It’s the same. As I thought, even the shadow realm cannot block out this dream…

  Seeing that it was daytime, Ulrich grinned.

  I can use this dream as an alarm clock!

  The relationship of time between the shadow realm and the surface was chaotic, which bore a resounding similarity to the dream realm. Time was not equal, being almost impossible to measure through ordinary means. A month here might have passed, though only a single day went by in the surface world. This was an exaggeration, but true to some degree.

  Yet, since this dream penetrated even the veil of the shadow realm, he could simply go to sleep and deduce the time in relation to the surface world from there. After all, the rules between his dream and the real world have been the same for years.

  There’s no reason for the rules to change all of a sudden!

  With that out of the way, he wandered around the city, eventually finding his way back to a familiar apartment.

  “Who the hell are you? A beggar?”

  Ulrich stared at Zheng San’s face and smiled, causing the latter to shiver uncontrollably.

  “Why do I feel cold all the sudden?”

  He didn’t think much of it and waved his hand, “Go away, I've got nothing to give you. I’m too poor to even take care of myself!”

  Something never changes… Ulrich chuckled, his voice dropped low as he said, “I know a place with lots of money, are you interested?”

  Immediately, Zheng San’s attitude shifted, “Really? Where?”

  But stopped.

  “Wait—How am I supposed to trust you? You look even poorer than me!”

  With the number of bank heists Ulrich had pulled in the past ten years in this city, even if money grew legs, they wouldn’t be able to outrun him!

  However, he didn’t say this, and instead, brought up a familiar name from their first meeting.

  “Eternal Club. I know your current assignment is to steal a black book.”

  Zheng San’s face dropped, his hand almost slamming the door shut, but he dared not.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m your fated brother from past lives. This should be our third life now. If you want money, just help me with one thing.”