'No wonder forbidden magic is punishable by death, it could end the life of the planet if care isn't taken.' Blake shivered when he thought of it.

"Before we call it a day, I suggest we limit the number of doors or arrays we crack. Not only is this research facility big, but we don't have an idea of how many rooms there are, and if we keep spending a day on each door we will never make it out of here before our food stock runs out." Brian said to the group.

​​

Every one of them knew about this, but the problem was that Blake and the system had double thoughts on if they wanted to leave.

Just from the 2 rooms alone, they had learned about things which even those in the outside world couldn't imagine, but of what use was the knowledge if they eventually died of hunger.

"What is that look on your face, don't tell me you don't what to leave." Brian stared at Blake with disbelief written all over his face as he saw his reluctant expression.

Blake had practically been the only one working to get them out of the research facility. With the dangerous determination he showed before opening the first laboratory, it was very shocking that he had a change of heart.

[The kid is right, if we don't manage to find any sort of food supply while exploring this place, we would have no other option than to leave when we find an exit, but that is if we do.] The system said.

'So much for me being the pessimist.' Blake snorted. 'On the bright side, my mana control increases with every array I crack hence increasing my speed, meaning we might get a lot of knowledge before we leave.' For the first time in a long while, Blake was truly optimistic.

"If we end up discovering a food storage and it has been confirmed that the research facility is safe, I don't think I will be leaving anymore." Blake said.

"Same here…" Castiel had exactly the same thoughts as Blake.

They had still had at least a week before the magic school's resumption and it wasn't as if they had any major plans, so staying back to learn more was the best option.

"If you guys say so, then I would stay back as well." Brian gave out a helpless sigh. "Now can we discuss how much time we spend on arrays?"

After some minutes of delegation, the trio had come to an agreement. Since they had no idea how big the research facility was and had no clue on how much ground they had covered, they agreed to skip a door and crack the one after it, but that was unless something important came up.

After the delegation, the trio had dinner, and Blake for the first time in a while brought out a beast core to cultivate.

He had been the one cracking the arrays on the doors, while the others cultivated, therefore decreasing the gap between them.

The worst part was that immediately he was done with the last arrays, not only did he lose consciousness but the recovery rate of the mind was quite slow compared to the body, hence making him unable to concentrate while absorbing the energy from the crystal.

With the hours they spent on analyzing the black gas, the time spent on talking and having dinner, coupled with the breakthrough his mental strength had undergone, Blake had recovered enough mental to continue cultivating.

'Let's see how far we can go.' Blake said as he sat in a crossed leg and began absorbing energy from a beast core.

So far, Blake had filled up 23 stars of the champion realm and according to the system's description of the Azkelwert hourglass, him filling up the 24th star meant he had completed the 3rd pillar of the hourglass' protective layer.

…

3 days ago…

When Arnold had saved Tessie Winchester from being teleported to an unknown location by the unknown warp gate, Tessie had beckoned on him to search for the trio, but due to how dangerous the Bulian hills were, and Tessie being a burden Arnold couldn't do much.

He could risk his life neither that of the young mistress just because they were her friends and apart from that, they were meant to be the ones protecting the commissioner not the other way around.

'Thank the Gods that master didn't trust them enough and sent me here.' Arnold couldn't help let out a sigh of relief, because if he wasn't there, the Winchester household would have been in disarray, if not mourning.

Not having any ideas of meeting the beast responsible for the chaos in the region or waiting for a warp gate to take them away, Arnold led Tessie out of the Bulian hills.

Thanks to the artifacts on him and the strength of a mid-realm Hero, Arnold used his aura to drive away weak beasts, while those that were strong enough to resist his aura were easily dispatched.

With Arnold, the journey to the city wall and then to the Winchester manor was a smooth one and after informing his master and madam about what had occurred, he went straight to the adventurer's association and reported the incident.

"Are you trying to say that 3 adventurers of ours just went MIA?" Susan was shocked by the news, but she quickly composed and handed a form to the butler.

"Please kindly wait as I relay the news to my superiors." After cross-checking the form, Susan gave a light bow before heading to the guild master's office.

Normally, every complaint or problem was meant to be taken to the vice guild master, Langford, and if the situation was deemed worthy of the guild master's attention, then it would be personally taken to him, but right now the case was different.

Not only did the situation involve its members, but it also caused the displacement of many beasts from their habitats in the Bulian hills, and most importantly Arnold mentioned a huge anomaly that couldn't be easily looked over.

'If this isn't worth his attention, then I wonder what is?' Susan gulped as she knocked on the door.