Warren staggered back from the cage and took a deep breath, then decided to check the other cells. He went to the next cell, and what he saw shocked him no less than the previous creature. The creature that was in the chamber had 10 legs, similar to the legs of a spider, and the body resembled a lion or some similar animal, on the back there were many translucent wings, like insects, and in place of the head there was nothing. Literally nothing, the neck ended and there was nothing further. Warren carefully examined the creature, but found no eyes, no mouth, no nose, no ears, nothing.
The sight of it made Warren's skin crawl. Yes, even a person who didn't flinch when fighting the Dread Emperor felt an ominous feeling when looking at these freaks. Moving on to the next cell, he saw no living creature, but only a pile of oddly shaped bones that, judging by the dust that had accumulated on them, had lain there for a very long time.
Warren decided not to check further, but to go back and ask Kate directly about the devilry going on here. Although he could call out to Kate like an Artifact Spirit, he wanted to get out of this creepy place as quickly as possible.
Climbing the stairs back to the first floor, Warren looked for the girls and found them nearby, they were in the territory for unity with the elements, Eli occupied the blood energy area. And Nila, as the owner of a talent for the rare element of stars, did not find a suitable platform for herself and just watched Eli, who at this time was surrounded by the energy of blood and, unexpectedly for Warren, achieved enlightenment in the short time that he was not there.
He said to Nila- " Have you found something to do?
Nila nodded and replied- " Yes, this place is just incredible, there are so many things here, but unfortunately, I couldn't find anything related to the energy of the stars."
"Have you asked Kate? "- the guy asked, after all, Kate spent countless time here and knew everything about this place and what is available here.
"Yes, and you can help me! She replied that starting from the third floor of the pagoda, there would be something for such rare elements. You should open the third floor as soon as possible! " -The girl said, smiling sweetly.
"Okay, I'll try, but come to think of it, I don't even know what conditions I need to meet to open the next floor..."-The guy said, then mentally turned to Kate-" Could you come over here? I want to ask you something.and before Warren could finish the thought, Kate materialized right in front of him.
"Is there something you wanted to ask?"- the girl asked.
"Yes, what conditions do I have to fulfill in order to open access to other floors?"- the guy decided to ask first.
"Well, there's nothing wrong with that, you just need to increase your cultivation. One stage is equal to one floor, you are now at the Stage of Laying the Foundations, so you can use two floors. " -explained the spirit girl.
"Okay, I get it! Then the second question is: What the hell is going on in the basement?!"-Warren moved on to the question that was bothering him.
Kate asked, cocking her head to one side in disbelief, then continued- " There's no basement in the pagoda!"
"That is, as there is no basement?!"-Warren thought, so stunned was he by her answer that question marks almost appeared above his head. This moment challenged his intelligence, making him feel stupid. All Warren could say was- "What? "
" There's no basement in the pagoda."
"But, but... but there's the stairs!"- he said, pointing to the center of the floor.
"Yes, there are stairs that lead to the upper floors!" -Warren was about to lead her there, but at that moment, they were interrupted by Eli, who had made a breakthrough in understanding the Blood Element, her hair became even redder, and a bloody halo appeared around her head, which signaled a breakthrough in the Blood Dragon bloodline.
"Incredibly, she did it..."-the guy muttered. He walked up to the girl and looked at her lovingly- " Congratulations! You managed to increase the purity of the bloodline. "The
girl laughed loudly and rushed to the guy with a hug-" Thank you, husband! "
"For what?"- he asked, hugging Eli tightly.
"I do not know how I would have lived without you, even this breakthrough, I do not know when it would have been possible if you had not brought me here!"- she said and gently laid her head on his shoulder.
"Haha, don't mention it!"- he replied.
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They walked around the first floor for a while longer, and Warren finally found some normal clothes instead of his demonic treasure. He stopped using the demonic heart and the armor disappeared, Eli and Kate reacted normally, but Nila had not yet seen him without clothes and blushed deeply, saying something like - "At least I warned you, pervert..." - in response, the guy just laughed.
He was dressed in a silk robe with intricate patterns embroidered on it, black breeches, and high leather boots on his feet.
"Now at least for the war, at least for the wedding!" - joked the guy.
As they neared the center of the room, Warren remembered the problem of the basement and, seeing the same spiral staircase, he said to all three girls - "Well, what did I say!" - and nodded at the stairs. The girls looked in the direction indicated, and Kate and Nila, who had heard what he had previously stated, looked at him strangely.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"- The guy was surprised.
"There's no way down there!"- they said confidently, and Eli, who was not aware of the subject, only watched the conversation with interest.
"How not?!"-Warren exclaimed, and decided to show him down the stairs.
Warren went down the stairs, then got up and, with a questioning look on his face, said- " Well? Where do you think I went down?"
"!!!"-the three girls stared at him with dazed eyes, then said they saw him-"You went straight down through the floor like a ghost!"
"Illusion!" - flashed through Warren's mind and he decided to experiment, he took Kate by the hand and led her along, but the girl could not get down, the floor was an insurmountable obstacle for her, later Warren tried to do the same with Eli and Nila, but this time it did not work out. Warren wondered what was wrong, and then he had an idea. He went down alone and tried to summon Kate, as he had done before, but the Artifact Spirit did not hear his call and therefore could not move to him.
"Apparently this is a very powerful illusion, or only the owner of the artifact can go there!" - concluded Warren after all unsuccessful attempts.
"What did you see there?"- asked Nila.
"Eh? What?"-Warren didn't hear the question, lost in his own thoughts.
"You asked Kate what the hell was going on, so what did you see?"-the girl asked him.
"I saw..."- and Warren told him about the creatures he had encountered.
The girls looked at him with a little disbelief after hearing this, but then they realized that there was no point in lying to Warren about anything. Warren thought of something and passed his memories to Eli through the contract. The girl screamed, and Nila and Kate turned their attention to her.
"The husband is telling the truth!" -Eli confirmed Warren's story, having previously mentioned the properties of the contract.
"Okay, I don't think there's anything to worry about! Still, Kate lived here for many years and didn't even know about those creatures, maybe in the future we will find answers!"-said Warren, temporarily closing the topic.