Cheat Awakening

Although Myne couldn't open the hidden compartment honestly, his ghost form still had no problem peeking inside the safe directly. Thankfully, there was a mana stone-like object inside, otherwise, with his current vision, it would have been impossible for him to see the contents inside, after all, the safe was completely sealed leaving no place for light to enter.

Inside the safe were twenty gold coins, over a hundred silver coins, a small parchment-like object, a broken silver ring with a blue gem in the centre and strange runic symbols engraved on it, a metal card, an official wax seal stamp made of gold with a skull printed on it, and finally, a shimmering blue crystal about the size of a finger.

"Huh? Weird, why does this mana stone look so shiny and beautiful? The energy within it seems to flow like water. Is it really a mana stone? The one I have doesn't seem to have this kind of beauty or live mana-seeing feature," Myne thought anxiously, staring at the mana crystal, unable to tear his eyes away from it.

"Sigh, I hope it's not anything dangerous, but… what should I do now? In ghost form, I couldn't do anything except explore, and without returning to my normal form, I couldn't take those things. However, if I return to my normal form... Forget it, the previous experiences weren't pleasant, but letting those things go would also be a great loss.

It went against my life motto of never wasting anything, especially if it was unknown and looks valuable."
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"F*ck it, this amount of pain is worth it. That strange mana stone alone is enough to hit Lewis' pocket hard," Myne muttered while gritting his teeth. After taking a deep breath, he deactivated his Ethereal Phase skill. Just like before, the super-powerful gravitational force struck Myne's small body hard, bringing him directly to his knees.

The number of veins popping up on his face and body, especially on his arms and neck, showed how hard he was trying to resist it.

While enduring the gravitational force, Myne, who was mentally prepared this time, didn't waste time. He quickly opened his status window and hurriedly activated all his body-strengthening skills: Physical Strength Enhancement, Leg Strength Enhancement, Strong Arm, Physique Rise, Strength Rise, Defense Rise, Rock Skin, Iron Wall, and Power.

Additionally, to avoid becoming exhausted within seconds, he even cast the Support Magic: Stamina Recovery on himself every five seconds.

Only after combining so many skills did Myne barely manage to resist the gravitational force on his body and stand on his feet, although his legs were trembling heavily as if they were carrying hundreds of kilograms of weight.

"Aaaaahhh! F*ck!"

Myne had hardly formed a victorious smile when a great pain erupted from his legs, and he fell back down on his butt. When he looked at his legs which were hurting as if they were about to explode, he saw white smoke coming out of them. The meaning was clear: muscle tissues in his legs tore apart due to extreme weight, and now Ultra Regeneration was working hard to wipe his ass.

"Shit, it seems I still overestimate my own capabilities. I better finish my work quickly," Myne muttered helplessly, this time with some pity for his own legs, he crawled towards the bed on all fours. First, he put the bed into his inventory, not having confidence that he could move it simply by force under such circumstances.

Then, he reached the location of the hidden compartment and punched hard on the wooden floor.

The wood, although more solid than the one in Myne's world, was still wood, not iron. So, Myne's fist, carrying the blessing of gravitational force and various skills, easily broke through the wood to reach the solid metal frame of the safe. Without any hesitation, Myne instantly put the entire safe into his inventory before hurriedly using Ethereal Phase again.

"Phew, finally done. F*ck, it seems like I have to fool Waffle to give me his gravity control skill if I ever wanted to come here again. With that skill, I might be able to move freely. I don't know how much mana that skill will consume," Myne complained as he got up from the ground. He then checked the village chief's house for any remaining useful items, but as expected, he didn't find anything.

It seems the village chief was a good guy, otherwise, there is no way he would be so poor.

"I better go back. I might not be able to find a place to cry if the portal closes," Myne muttered to himself as he flew out of the chief's house at full speed and rushed toward the cliff. However, halfway through his flight, he noticed a few orange light dots emerging from the forest a few kilometres away from the village. Their destination seemed to be the village.

If it were daytime, he might have missed them, but at night, those light dots were just too conspicuous.

"Huh? Is someone coming in this direction? Probably some people coming to investigate. An entire village disappearing and losing all connection with the outside world was undeniably suspicious. However, judging by their speed, it might take at least an hour for them to reach here. Sadly, I don't have that much time.

Sigh, what a huge loss! I could have learned a lot of information from them."

Shaking his head in frustration, Myne quickly resumed flying towards the cliff.

...

"My Lord, why don't we take a rest? We've been riding for the entire day, and even the horses are tired. If we continue like this, I'm afraid they might not be able to hold on any longer," A young man in his twenties advised worriedly.

The young man had long black hair, brown eyes, and a suspicious round white circle with three menacing horizontal lines tattooed on his mid-forehead, and wore a complete set of full-body silver knight armour as he rode his brown horse.

The person, whom the knight in silver armour referred to as "My Lord" wore a full body of golden armour and rode a magnificent black horse that stood three meters tall, resembling a giant beast, and also covered with full body golden armour, thankfully Myne didn't see it, otherwise, this horse would surely have changed the owner today.

The knight in golden armour has long red hair, piercing red eyes, a handsome face, and like the sliver armour guy, a suspicious green circle with four menacing horizontal lines tattooed on his mid-forehead.

Hesitating for a few seconds after hearing his subordinate's advice, The red-haired knight finally glanced at everyone, especially at the horses who were indeed panting heavily. With a heavy sigh, he nodded and raised his hand, signalling all twenty of his subordinates to stop and take a rest.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, finally getting the chance to rest. They hurriedly dismounted, grabbed their supplies tied to the horses' backs, and quickly set up a small camp. Looking at their speed anyone can say just how desperate they were to finish minor work and close their eyes.

Several skilled apprentice knights swiftly took the job of taking care of the horses, while others cooked food and set up a comfortable tent for their Lord. So this heartless guy could relax a little and stop treating them like machines programmed only to work until their deaths.

Their current Lord was undoubtedly the worst one they had encountered in years. He literally didn't understand the concept of work-life balance. Their life under this guy has become so miserable in the past few days, that there were several occasions when they wanted to cry.

Except for two hours of sleep and a ten-minute break to eat twice a day, they were constantly travelling as if their lives were on the line, rather than a simple investigation of a random village in the forest that had neglected to pay taxes on time.

After entering his tent, The red-haired knight simply removed his upper body armour and lay down on the sleeping bag on the ground with a weary look on his face. He retrieved a golden, palm-sized pocket watch from his inner shirt pocket and pressed the button on top. With a gentle click, the watch flipped open, revealing two sections.

One side displayed the time, which was one o'clock in the morning, and the other side showcased a family photo. It featured a smiling redhead man holding a little girl in his arms, with a beautiful woman sporting a gentle smile standing behind him, holding her big, bulging belly.

"Sigh, I hope I can get back home before Helga gives birth," The red-haired knight muttered with a doting smile while looking at his wife and daughter.

"I want to be with her when she needs me most. Damn it, all this because of that damn old man! He's making a mountain out of a molehill. Just because a village in some remote corner of the kingdom didn't pay their taxes on time, he sent me here with no room for negotiation. Is his daughter-in-law's health not more important than a few measly gold coins?"

"That old coot has lost his mind with age! Even when I offered him hundreds of coins, to bygone those villager's taxes, he refused without hesitation! Damn him, he's definitely doing this intentionally to trouble me. What a petty old man! Just because I forgot his birthday present, he has to resort to such dirty tactics!

I'll definitely get revenge one day," The red-haired knight muttered angrily before closing the pocket watch and closing his eyes to take a little rest.