Chapter 275: Return to the World
"Are you sure we are now in another world?" After having some time to think about it, Benjamin still couldn’t believe it, which was why he asked.
To them, this was an important question.
"I’m, I’m not too sure, the book wrote that." Tony was doubting too as he said, "to determine things, according to legend, some mages went in search but the thing was, they never appeared again.
Benjamin thought of the explorer that died in the dark room.
Could he be the mage that was looking for this place from a long time ago?
Even though he was still doubtful, but between the two of them, he was about five percent sure about things.
"That’s it, follow me." he nodded his head and said to the other three, "If what you say is true, then we can leave this place now."
Tony was stunned, "Are you serious?"
Benjamin replied, "Of course it’s real, what do I get from lying to you? I can do whatever I want to you, you can’t defeat me."
Even though the last bit was a little over the top, but they remembered Benjamin fighting with the bull. And the three mages bowed their heads without another word.
They still don’t know how Benjamin defeated the bull. This added a veil of mystery to Benjamin, his magic skill also increased.
So, it was expected of them to follow him.
"Alright then, follow me." Benjamin turned and as he said it, he headed towards the entrance of the cave.
The other three were still a little doubtful but they still followed him.
"Master Benjamin," Benjamin hesitated before asking, "this cave looks like it’s sealed. We tried to break it open with magic but it didn’t work. We can only reach here, and no further."
Benjamin was too lazy to say more, he didn’t even look at them when he said, "You guys just follow me."
The three of them looked at each other and quietly followed him.
Benjamin reached the entrance of the cave in about ten minutes. The three mages that were following behind used fire magic to light up their path. This helped Benjamin conserve his energy because he didn’t need to use the water element sensing technique to find their way through.
The glow from the firelight clearly showed the black stone before them was firmly sealed. Even after going through Benjamin and the other mages’ combined attacks, there wasn’t even a mark on the stone wall. It was impossibly strong.
"Master Benjamin, we..." Tony was about to ask what were they supposed to do now. But he saw Benjamin pulled out something from his pocket.
"If we are really in another world, then the only thing stopping us from going back is the power of the space." Benjamin said to the three mages as he shook the ginkgo biloba leaf in his hand, "You guys should come closer, I don’t know the radius of effectiveness this thing has."
The other three were stunned.
After spacing out for a while, one of the other mages said in a disbelieving voice, "This is a leaf from the Tree of Time?"
Benjamin nodded his head.
This was his escape plan.
The strange sheepskin parchment went through time and space and opened a way into this place. Now, the path was closed; the sheepskin parchment was unable to be of any use, so he had to look to another magical treasure.
He believed that since this leaf began his magical journey, it would be like the legends; a power of unimaginable heights that could break through time and space.
It would definitely be able to break through this seal.
Benjamin took a deep breath and stretched out his hand, gently placing the leaf on the stone wall before him. The three mages beside him quickly huddled closer and stretched out their hands to touch the small leaf. It was as though they were afraid of being left behind.
The cave was not big, and with them huddled so closely together, Benjamin felt a little claustrophobic.
"Stop squeezing so closely, if you keep doing that I won’t take you with me."
A shiver of fear ran down the spines of the three mages, and aside from a finger that kept in contact with the leaf, they took a huge step back. They looked really odd standing like that, as though they were frogs walking on their feet.
Benjamin didn’t have the energy to complain.
But, this was a matter of life and death and they don’t have the time and energy to deal with these minute details.
After a while.
"Why is nothing happening?" Tony said hesitantly.
Benjamin frowned at the stone wall before him.
The four of them were touching the leaf and the leaf was pasted on the wall, then why was there nothing happening to the stone wall? Was it because there was too many of them so it couldn’t be activated?
Actually Benjamin was not clear on how to use the "Tree of Time". Maybe it required some sort of special technique, but before this when Benjamin was traveling through worlds, the leaf never required any special techniques.
Maybe he needed to drip some blood on it?
After a moment’s hesitation, Benjamin kept the leaf again, deciding to try another way. The three mages also pulled their hands back, moving their aching bodies with odd expressions on their faces.
It was then when the four of them felt as though something wasn’t right.
Why did their backs feel chilly?
Just then, Benjamin’s heart thumped loudly.
This kind of ominous feeling... it couldn’t be, the two eyeballs were safely hidden in ice, would the ruins suddenly bring out some moth?
The three mages looked shocked, tremors running down their bodies and they did not dare to look behind them.
It was obvious that this nagging feeling was felt by everyone, it was not something that any one person randomly felt.
This mysterious ruin was a bad opponent to face, now that they have sealed a bull in ice, would a horse suddenly appear out of nowhere?
This is bad.
Just then, Benjamin was preparing to enter into battle and he even went into the space of consciousness to prepare his magic.
"What are you afraid of? Just look behind you, it is already nighttime, isn’t it normal for it to be chilly at night?" the System suddenly appeared and said in a matter-of-fact voice.
It was already night?
Benjamin felt as though something strange was going on.
But, when the System said that sentence, the goosebumps disappeared. And so, after taking a deep breath, he turned and headed straight out the cave; ignoring the other three shivering people.
But, he had never seen this cave, instead he saw a bright moon.
Benjamin was stunned.
The moon...
The clear glow from the moon was like a dream or an illusion.
What is going on?
After losing his wits for a while, his eyes became brighter as he suddenly realized that the huge stone crushing his chest was now gone. The edges of his lips curled and moved outside with a stunned expression on his face.
He didn’t even take two steps before he started climbing out of the cave, or in other words, the pit.
Aside from the cave, these were the desolate hills where he first entered the ruins, only now it was night time. The cool evening breeze blew passed his face, and in that moment, he felt as though he had returned to the human world.
He was back in this world.
Maybe it was because he was used to loud colors and huge sounds during magic, and crossing over always made him a little dizzy. Maybe that was why he wasn’t prepared for the ginkgo leaf’s low profile, the small leaf brought him back silently through the worlds again.
As the thoughts flowed through his head, Benjamin looked to the leave and let out a breath.
What else could he say?
This world was amazing.
"We’re... we’re back?" the three mages behind him got over their fear, and turned to climb out of the hole.
They lifted their head and looked to the sky, acting like people who were seeing the light for the first time in a long time. They looked around at the desolate hills that didn’t even have a scrap of green at all, it was the first time that they felt such a desolate place could be relaxing.
As he took in the "fresh" air around him, Benjamin turned and looked to the other three mages and said, "the Mages Freemasonry only sent the three of you? Are there any of your companions standing guard around here?"
Tony gathered his wits when he heard the question but he had a distressing look on his face.
"We... have always been lacking in terms of our manpower. Just like the element disturbance this time, it can be considered our fastest ever response even though it was just the three of us. Unless they haven’t heard from us in three days, only then would they send someone after us. Regarding the other power that was disturbed, I don’t know why they did not come."
After hearing this, Benjamin couldn’t help but laugh and shook his head.
He didn’t know why, but the mysterious and powerful Mages Freemasonry suddenly didn’t look all that mysterious and powerful anymore.
Even though they have a huge influence, but they still are unable to direct most of the mages. Not even their own people are not all that powerful.
"Alright then, we went through all that trouble escaping, what are we still doing here? Let’s go back." He said.
"Master Benjamin, you really are a great mage." Tony sounded very sincere as the three mages bowed to Benjamin, "we don’t know how to repay you. If you have any problems, you can always come to the Mages Freemasonry to look for us. We will do everything within our power to help you."
Benjamin nodded his head without saying a word.
With much joy and gratitude, the three mages bowed to Benjamin again before using the flying spell to leave the place.
And Benjamin...
After the three mages left, he suddenly turned the corner of the mountain a distance away and said coldly, "what are you still doing there, come out."