Chapter 23: Shards of History

Sila recalled his past life playing "Journey of Radiance." After guiding the male and female protagonists through the beginner dungeon in the Transverse Canyon, if they entered the tavern in the small town, they could hear rumors about a large group of adventurers who had disappeared without a trace a few months prior. At that time, Sila had merely clicked to dismiss the message with his mouse.

Now, as he pondered, this overlooked piece of information revealed something significant: The dimensional rift beneath the Transverse Canyon had not always been undiscovered. In fact, adventurers had found it and spontaneously gathered to explore it once.

Unfortunately, their exploration had obviously failed, ultimately leading to their demise among the shards of history.

At this moment, as the crowd pressed forward, a dark-skinned, lanky man dressed as a ranger stepped forward and said, "Young master, if you're here for pleasure, I advise you to take a step back for a while."

His words were polite, but as he finished speaking, the surrounding adventurers took a few more steps forward.

If Sila didn't leave, they wouldn't hesitate to use violence.

At that moment, with a soft click, a figure materialized—it was Kent, his hand gripping the hilt of his knife at his waist.

The atmosphere instantly tensed up.

Although Kent was an expert-level warrior, there were forty or fifty elite adventurers present. He was confident in slaying them all, but he feared they might harm Sila behind him, as well as…

Sila pondered for a moment, then merely patted Kent's shoulder and said, "Forget it, I doubt it'll come to a fight." Kent was taken aback, and the surrounding adventurers also showed subtle changes in their expressions, then realized something and looked crestfallen.

Suddenly, a strange light band flashed near the bottom of the Transverse Canyon.

Through the light band, people could faintly see a dark, eerie world, the only things clearly visible being fluorescent stones and the dark, flowing water beneath them.

"Forget about this guy, let's go." said one adventurer. In an instant, the many adventurers, unable to confront Sila any longer, rushed down and leaped towards the light band.

Dimensional rifts disappeared over time and were inherently unstable. The newbie dungeon below the Transverse Canyon was not open all day but appeared only at specific times.

Sila had known this and deliberately arrived at the critical moment.

On the contrary, although the adventurers had seemingly known about the existence of the dimensional rift for some time, they hadn't figured out its pattern. Otherwise, they wouldn't have wasted their efforts earlier, trying to force Sila to leave with words.

The rift was about to appear, and even if Sila turned around and left on the spot, the secret would still be exposed.

The adventurers present all wore intense expressions in their eyes.

Just a moment ago, they had wanted to unite against an external threat and reduce the number of competitors, but now they couldn't afford to be distracted.

As the adventurers successfully rushed into the light band of the Dimensional Rift, surprise flashed in their eyes.

They could clearly sense an inexplicable shackle and restriction passing over them, realizing roughly that only those below expert level could enter this place.

Immediately, many were overjoyed, and some even cast meaningful glances back at Sila and Vivian.

If this rich young man and his little girlfriend dared to enter, they would become sitting ducks for everyone else.

Because experts and above couldn't come in!

What use is your money?

You can only hire elite-status subordinates, and we are also elite status, so who's afraid of whom?

Sila smiled and said to Kent, "Then I'll take my leave first." The old knight looked worried, "Young master, this..." His expression was stiff.

The Dimensional Rift symbolized various treasures and mysterious inheritances, and once one obtained even a fraction of them, the benefits would be immense for their young master. But with forty or fifty adventurers rushing in ahead, the danger had increased significantly!

"Don't worry, Kent, I have a plan." Sila's eyes sparkled. The fact that many adventurers were entering the Dimensional Rift was good for him. In his past life, he had read on the forums of "Journey of Radiance" about a cheese strategy for the newbie dungeon that greatly reduced the operational pressure but required completing a prerequisite task: leading the escort team of the princess of the Victoria Kingdom into the Dimensional Rift.

Sila himself didn't possess the strength of a male lead elite ninth-rank warrior.

Entering the Dimensional Rift would originally have been quite arduous for him, but with dozens of cannon fodder serving as the princess's escort team's combatants, he might even be able to obtain all the rewards more easily...

Sila took Vivian's hand, "Kent, go buy a few more portions of roasted venison at the tavern, and I'll eat them when I get back."

Then, he wrapped his arms around Vivian and jumped down.

Vivian, held by Sila, didn't show any sign of resistance.

She had sensed the malicious glances of the previous adventurers, coupled with the psychological pressure of soon betraying Livia, as well as the unease caused by exploring the Dimensional Rift. Instinctively, she leaned towards Sila, who had been displaying an air of confidence and control by her side, and even took the initiative to wrap her arms around his neck, making it easier for Sila to exert his strength.

Sila smiled at the sight, recalling a scene also documented in "Journey of Radiance":

When the male protagonist and the princess of Victoria first entered the Dimensional Rift, they were chased by a hidden expert-level earth dragon in the Transverse Canyon. In their panic, they jumped towards the abyss of the canyon and unexpectedly stumbled into the dimensional rift. There was even a CG scene where, in her fear, the princess lowered her guard towards the male protagonist for the first time and embraced him.

"Now, I'll be the one to intercept this increase in affinity." 

Sila thought as he looked around.

"Here they come." 

he said with a hint of a smile, noticing a familiar figure among the adventurers in the distance.

Meanwhile, Livia, who was mixing in with the adventurers and jumping towards the Dimensional Rift, furrowed her brows slightly. "Why do I feel like Sila Leviathan was looking at me just now?" Livia didn't dwell on it for long. At this moment, she felt a sense of joy: "With the cover of the Dimensional Rift, it will be much easier for me to kill Sila Leviathan this time. I won't have to go into hiding after killing him like in the original plan. I can even gain considerable rewards from the Dimensional Rift. This is truly heaven-sent!"

Her eyes sparkled with ecstasy!

...

Meanwhile, inside the Dimensional Rift.

Tick.

Tick.

The sound of trickling water came from all directions.

Sila and Vivian hugged tightly together until the girl's face turned slightly red, and she gently pushed against Sila's chest.

Sila then spoke with a concerned tone, "As far as I know, when entering this Dimensional Rift, if you don't stick close to each other as much as possible, you'll be teleported apart. Look around, there's no one else near us."

Sila explained while Vivian observed the surroundings.

Visibility was extremely low, and they could only recognize their surroundings through some fluorescent stones on the rock walls, but indeed, there was no one else around.

After sensing with her spiritual energy, she further confirmed this.

A hint of guilt arose in the young girl's heart: "I'm sorry, I thought... I apologize."

"It's okay." Sila said with a righteous expression, effectively solidifying Vivian's "accusation" against him into a posture of "I didn't hold on after entering the Dimensional Rift, it was just for safety, to avoid being separated out of necessity."

He then asked, "Alright, did you bring the fire-melting capsules?"

"Here they are." Vivian quickly retrieved several red-glowing capsules from her spatial ring.

Sila casually crushed them in his hand, and instantly, a ball of flame-like light appeared beside him.

He tied this light ball to his arm.

On the other side, after Vivian crushed her capsule, Sila also helped her tie the resulting light ball to her back.

At this moment, Vivian noticed that the fire-melting capsules instantly emitted waves of warmth upon contact, making her somewhat stiff body feel much more comfortable. The cavern was extremely cold, a fact that was not apparent outside the Dimensional Rift earlier. The adventurers, she thought, were in for a world of hurt.

With the help of the fire-melting capsules, Sila and Vivian felt their bodies warm up and became able to move freely. Seeing this scene, Sila sighed inwardly.

In the original story, due to the extreme cold in the Dimensional Rift, there was a classic plot: the male protagonist gave his clothes to the female protagonist, causing himself to almost freeze to death, and ultimately gained a wave of affection.

However, due to the insufficient strength of Sila and Vivian, if they wanted to obtain the inheritance in the cavern and successfully kill Livia, they had to forgo this gain in affection.

Nevertheless, compared to the princess of Victoria, who cultivated a persona of "feeling genuine emotion and sincerity." Vivian was more "admiring of strength." Therefore—

The young girl looked at Sila with a hint of confusion and curiosity in her eyes...