The dimly open area echoed with the sound of dripping water and machine hum. The place reeked of oil mixed with a multitude of disgusting smells. With a burst of qi, Mingyue created a transparent barrier, shielding them from the stench. Her eyes darted around sharply, and after a while, her expression turned into a frown. “Any idea?”

“We’re surrounded by machines that somehow use lifeforce, so using our normal detection methods won’t work,” Alex replied while employing his ability to assess their situation. Numerous possibilities ran through his mind, from their teleportation going wrong again to what might have happened to his world. Each was absurd, but Alex knew, ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’

Time must have flowed significantly here, Alex theorized, as the time fluctuation between the two worlds had forcibly synchronized. The moment the formation was destroyed, all the accumulated differences collapsed into alignment in an instant. It had been like stretching a rubber band to its limit—when released, it snapped back, unleashing all the built-up tension at once.

The question now was what had happened during this time and how much time had passed. Alex could not be certain of the latter, but for the former, there were many possibilities. The most likely was a massive dungeon break. With most high-level awakeners absent, humanity might have been overwhelmed, leading to their defeat. In that case, the invaders would likely be a new race with advanced technology. The second possibility was that the World Council or the hunter organization had made a deal with an outer species. But no matter what, Alex was sure there was another race involved. Otherwise, using lifeforce as energy would have been impossible for them.

“Seems we’re underground. This place should be what you call a sewer in the past,” Mingyue said, breaking Alex’s train of thought. She then turned back and pointed her finger. “This seems to be the remains of the portal on top of the spire. Someone must have moved it here.”

Looking at the remains that barely resembled a portal, Alex replied, “This should be either Alice, Patricia, or William.”

“Should we explore then?” Mingyue asked, turning her gaze toward the room’s only exit.

“We need to find out more information first.” Considering the current possibilities, just walking outside was not a good option. Alex did not want others to discover their presence before he could understand the entire situation. ‘Vesa, can you contact Patricia?’

‘I can try, King, but if you want to stay hidden, it will be a huge risk. There’s a possibility they can detect my method. And King, it’s very faint, but I think we have Progenitor’s blood here.’

“What!?” Mingyue cut in. Vesa’s words reverberated in both their minds, allowing her to hear the suggestion. “How could the blood come here? Last time, there was nothing like that. If it recently came here, that means whatever brought it is our enemy.”

It wasn’t just the enemy that Mingyue worried about but the people behind them. There was a possibility someone had gotten lucky obtaining the Progenitor’s blood, but to utilize it? It was impossible unless they had the background to do so. This meant that if Vesa’s words were true, whoever held the Progenitor’s blood belonged to the vampire race’s old enemy—those involved in the vampire genocide and even Alucard’s death.

“We can go to another realm, but honestly, I want to find out more about the situation,” Alex said with a complicated gaze. In reality, it was better for them to retreat and hunt more Progenitor blood rather than survey a place that clearly posed a grave danger. But he couldn’t just ignore all his old comrades left behind on this planet. There was also their old guild, where many goblins and other pets remained.

“All right. In that case, I will wait for you,” Mingyue said, taking a seat in the corner of the room. With her qi, all the unpleasant smells disappeared, allowing her to sit comfortably. She then closed her eyes, trusting completely that Alex would handle the intel gathering.

Feeling her trust, Alex said nothing further. He began walking around the room, spreading his qi-like waves and using them as echolocation to sense the surrounding area beyond the room. His hand touched the wall, the texture slimy at first before transitioning to something smooth and cold. “Metal mixed with concrete at this level. Interesting, never thought of this.” He then put his finger to his chin. “Did they run out of magical materials? Otherwise, this doesn’t make sense.”

In his world, most buildings in the past had relied on traditional methods: using metal rebar or mesh as reinforcement and encasing it in concrete for structural strength. However, this material was entirely different. Here, the metal seemed to be integrated into the concrete at a particle level, creating a new composite material. The result was something almost as strong as solid steel while retaining the properties of concrete.

This integration likely worked through a process where fine metal particles or fibers were uniformly distributed throughout the concrete mix. When the concrete hardened, the metal particles became embedded within the cement matrix, creating a network that enhanced the material’s tensile and compressive strength. This blending eliminated the weak interfaces typically found between rebar and concrete, making the entire structure uniformly strong and resistant to cracking or failure.

Alex then sensed lifeforce running through the walls via a special pipeline. Based on its design, he quickly deduced its function. “This allows the wall to recover itself—something like regeneration. But in exchange, it produces this weird substance.”

Alex pulled his finger back, seeing the slimy green goo sticking to it. “Vesa, try to analyze this formation. Does it have other functions? If it has some kind of reconnaissance ability, staying hidden is pointless.”

‘Yes, King. I am also interested. This seems to be a new method of utilizing lifeforce. It’s still worse than our method, though, as this one is incapable of utilizing 100% of the lifeforce, leaving behind that green slimy goo.’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep