Ren moved closer to the crystalized Life and Death Beetle.
Now that he was finally standing this close, the pressure in his chest only grew heavier. The beetle was right in front of him. A real Rare Substance. Something he had been searching for this whole time. Something that could help him understand both Life and Death laws in the future.
And yet, instead of pure joy, what he felt first was anxiety.
Because he couldn't absorb it here.
Not yet.
He had not reached Stage 3 of his pathway, and a Rare Substance like this could not simply be taken out of the Secret Realm the normal way. That was one of the most basic pieces of information every explorer knew (A/N: Told in Chapter 4). Materials like this were too deeply tied to the realm itself.
Which meant he had a problem.
A big one.
Ren's eyes kept flicking between the crystalized beetle and the cave entrance behind him.
He needed a solution.
Fast.
Because there was no way those two giant snakes had evolved because of this thing and wouldn't notice if it suddenly disappeared. If either the Life Snake or the Death Snake came back before he figured something out, then this chance would vanish along with his life.
His mind raced.
Could he hide it somewhere nearby and come back later?
No. Too risky.
Could he try carrying it directly and rely on speed?
Impossible.
Could he somehow absorb a part of it now?
Also impossible.
He hadn't even reached the correct stage, and forcing something like that would be suicide.
Ren clicked his tongue softly.
"Think."
He stepped closer anyway.
At this point, standing far away and panicking wouldn't help him.
The crystal around the beetle gave off a faint glow, the black and white halves reflecting into his eyes as if they carried their own tiny world of balance inside them. Ren slowly extended his hand, not because he had a full plan, but because he needed to at least touch it, inspect it, understand it better.
The moment his fingers brushed the crystal—
The LifeForm Tier System reacted.
A mechanical voice sounded inside his mind.
"Host has come into contact with a Rare Substance containing law power."
Ren froze.
The next line came instantly.
"Unlocking Spatial Storage Space for host."
A pulse of information entered his mind right after that.
____________________________
Spatial Storage Space:- An infinite storage space usable only by the host.
Host may collect any item through direct physical contact if the item is not owned by another living being.
Host-owned items may be collected remotely if they are within the host's sensing range.
Time is stopped inside the storage space.
Internal law composition: Space only
Because of incomplete law structure, the space contains no time, air, fire, life, or other supporting laws. Thus only, Capable of storing any Non-living objects, and Rare Substances that cannot ordinarily be taken outside a Secret Realm.
____________________________
Ren stared at the information in complete shock.
For a second, he almost forgot where he was.
An infinite storage space?
And not only that—
It could store Rare Substances that normally couldn't be taken out of a Secret Realm?
That alone was outrageous enough, but what shocked him even more was the fact that the system had unlocked a new function without his Lifeform Tier increasing.
Until now, he had always assumed the system only evolved as his Lifeform Tier rose. That had seemed like the obvious rule.
But now this had happened.
Which meant one thing very clearly.
He still didn't understand everything about the System.
Not even close.
There were probably conditions, triggers, or hidden functions he hadn't discovered yet. Maybe contact with special materials could unlock things. Maybe law-related items caused reactions. Maybe the system's growth was tied to more than just his own level.
Ren's mind was full of questions.
But he crushed all of them immediately.
Later.
He could think later.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was survival.
A way out had just appeared in front of him, and he would be an idiot not to use it.
Ren took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
If the system really could store this Rare Substance, then he only had one move.
Take it.
And leave.
Immediately.
Because the moment the beetle vanished, the aura tied to it would disappear too. And if those two snakes really had evolved because of it, then there was a very high chance they would feel that change instantly.
Ren was almost certain of it.
That meant he had maybe a few seconds.
Not minutes.
Seconds.
Before storing the Rare Substance, Ren quickly turned his senses inward and located the special energy crystal inside his body.
Every person who entered a Secret Realm carried one. It was linked to the portal itself and held the same kind of energy as the realm entrance. If someone wanted to leave the Secret Realm early, they had to crush that crystal and activate emergency withdrawal.
But there was a condition.
The escape could only work if the person was in a non-combat state.
If they were actively fighting, being directly chased at close range, or locked down by a beast's pressure or attack, the teleportation would fail or be interrupted.
And even when conditions were met, it still took around two seconds to activate.
Two seconds.
Normally, that sounded short.
Right now, it sounded terrifying.
Because if his guess was right, and the two snakes sensed the Rare Substance's disappearance immediately, then they would race back here at once. Creatures of that level probably only needed three or four seconds to get close enough for their killing intent or aura to lock onto him.
Which meant the timing would be everything.
Too early, and he might hesitate and ruin it.
Too late, and he would die.
Ren stared at the crystalized beetle in front of him.
Then he took one slow breath.
And another.
His fingers curled.
"Do it."
The moment he made the decision, he moved.
He touched the Rare Substance fully and activated the Spatial Storage Space.
The crystalized Life and Death Beetle vanished instantly.
No cracking sound.
No explosion.
Just gone.
At the exact same moment, Ren crushed the energy crystal inside his body.
A pull began around him.
But before the teleportation fully activated—
Far away in the tunnels, the Life Snake and the Death Snake both stopped moving at the same instant.
For the briefest fraction of a second, there was silence.
Then both of their heads snapped toward the same direction—
The cave.
The place where the Rare Substance had been.
They felt it.
The aura was gone.
The black snake let out a furious hiss that sounded like something rotting from the inside out.
The white snake's hiss was no softer, but in its anger there was a strange sharpness, like the scream of something whose territory had been violated.
Then they moved.
Not through the tunnels they had been following before.
They rushed in a straight line toward the cave, smashing through everything in their way. Stone walls cracked. Tunnel branches collapsed. Roots were torn apart. Where the black snake passed, rock darkened and withered. Where the white snake surged forward, broken stone and dead roots split under wild overgrowth.
The entire cave system trembled.
Loose stones rained down.
Dust burst into the air.
Deeper creatures fled in terror from paths they did not even understand.
The snakes did not care.
They only moved faster.
Toward the place where the Rare Substance had disappeared.
Back in the cave, Ren heard it.
The a loud and angry hissing.
And then the trembling began.
The whole cave system shook hard enough that Ren almost lost his balance even while the teleportation energy was forming around him.
Cold sweat covered his body.
He could feel them coming.
Even without seeing them, he knew.
Those two snakes had sensed it.
They were racing here.
Fast.
Too fast.
The two-second teleportation felt longer than anything he had ever experienced.
One second.
The cave shook again, harder this time.
Cracks spread across one wall.
Ren's breathing turned shallow.
Two seconds—
He felt the same strange sensation as when he had first entered the Secret Realm. A pull. A distortion. The world stretching and folding all at once.
And just before the teleport fully took him, Ren saw the tunnel entrance at the far side of the cave explode inward.
A storm of dust, shattered rock, dead vines, and fresh overgrowth burst through the opening as the two monstrous serpents forced their way toward the center.
But they were not close enough.
Not yet.
Not enough to lock onto him.
And that was enough.
The cave disappeared.
Ren vanished.
When the Life Snake and Death Snake burst into the cave proper, there was nothing there.
No Rare Substance.
No intruder.
The place where the crystalized beetle had rested was empty.
For one heartbeat, both giant snakes remained still.
Then the black one slammed its head into the cavern floor, shattering stone and sending cracks racing outward in all directions.
The white one reared up and struck the cave wall so hard that an entire section collapsed, and from the broken stone new roots and trees erupted wildly through the ceiling and floor, only to be destroyed again by the black snake's withering aura.
They rampaged.
The cave shook like it was being crushed from all sides.
Tunnels collapsed.
Crystal formations shattered.
Underground beasts hidden in deeper passages died without understanding why.
The two snakes tore through the chamber and the nearby tunnels in violent rage, searching for something already gone.
But no matter how much they destroyed—
The aura of the Rare Substance did not return.
Ren emerged outside the Secret Realm outpost.
The transfer was so sudden that for half a second, his knees almost buckled when his boots touched solid ground again.
He caught himself before falling.
Then he bent forward slightly, hands on his thighs, breathing hard.
The world around him was normal again.
No shaking tunnels.
No giant cave.
No death aura.
No life aura.
Just the outpost. The market. The protected zone. People moving around, shouting prices, checking gear, arguing over maps, doing all the ordinary things they had been doing before.
Ren straightened slowly.
His whole body was covered in sweat.
A few nearby people glanced at him, probably because he looked like he had just escaped something terrible.
Which, to be fair, he had.
But no one stopped him.
No one asked questions.
That was one of the few good things about a place like this. People saw strange things all the time. As long as you weren't actively causing trouble, most of them minded their own business.
Ren took a slow breath.
Then he opened the Spatial Storage Space carefully with his mind.
The crystalized Life and Death Beetle was there.
Ren stared inwardly at it for a few seconds.
Then a laugh almost escaped him. Not because anything was funny. But because the whole thing was absurd. He had actually done it. He had found a Rare Substance.
Followed two Death-level snakes into a mountain.
Stolen the thing they had evolved because of.
Unlocked a ridiculous new system function.
And somehow escaped alive.
Ren slowly lifted a hand and wiped the sweat from his face.
"…I'm never doing something that crazy again."
He paused.
Then corrected himself under his breath.
"At least not for a while.
(Author Note: If you enjoyed the chapter, please vote, rate, and leave a comment if you can. Your support really helps the novel grow and motivates me to keep writing. Thank you for reading!)