Ryder and High Duke Oris appeared in a forest inside the Death Domain. The light seemed like it was on the cusp of disappearing as the night drew close.
As soon as Ryder appeared in the place, he brought a scroll out of his inventory and opened it before High Duke Oris.
"Your is the map of Death Domain. Where are we on the map?" he asked High Duke Oris.
High Duke Oris gazed at the man briefly before he placed his hand on one spot in the map. "This is where we are."
As soon as Ryder saw the spot, a wry smile appeared on his face.
"You just had to drop me at the farthest edge from the Royal City, didnât you?" He asked softly.
If the point where High Duke Oris touched was supposed to be believed, that meant Ryder was as far from the Royal City of the Death Domain as he could possibly be. It only increased his distance that he had to cover.
âThere are many edges of the Death Domain, but he just had to drop me here,â he thought as he took another glance at the map.
"These are the rules. I can do nothing about it," High Duke Oris innocently raised his hand as he rid himself of the responsibility.
"Itâs fine. It just means some extra travel. You can leave now," Ryder let out as he shook his head. It wasnât worth it to argue with High Duke Oris since he said it was the rule.
"Alright. Iâll leave now. You already have the map, so you know about the village nearby. But you wonât need to stay there since you have that treasure. I wish you all the luck. I hope youâll be successful and increase our fame even further."
After finishing what he had to say, High Duke Oris took another full glance at Ryder before he disappeared.
"Hah, this guy is finally gone. So much for thinking, heâll drop me somewhat closer," Ryder muttered as he started walking towards the nearest village.
It was finally the time for him to be alone in the Death Domain amidst his enemies.
According to the map, he only needed to walk for half an hour to get out of the forest and entered the village, but he didnât feel like wasting time.
Since he wasnât going to stay in the village, he didnât need to bother. Instead, he had to go even farther.
He took out the map once again and saw the direction of the Royal City and planned accordingly about how far he could go to reach there before it was time to log out. He thought of a path with which he could travel without having to go near any of the populated places.
It was much safer to fly alone without interacting with anyone since the real trial was going to begin when he reached the Royal City.
After making the best plan of approach, he started rising into the air and shot straight towards the Royal City, avoiding the villages in the path.
He flew straight for close to two hours before he finally stopped as the time of his ability was almost over. He wanted to save some in case of emergency, so he didnât use it all.
The place where he stopped was a beautiful pond that was shining beautifully. This seemed like a perfect place to end his journey.
He landed near the pond, which seemed to have still water. After he landed, he noticed that a few bubbles were coming out of the water. "Are there some Fishes in water too?"
He had to log out, but the bubbles made him curious. Albeit the curiosity only lasted for a few minutes before he decided that it was better to just log out now instead of wait there.
He opened the system screen to log out, but just as he was about to tap on the logout button, he saw the ripples in the water increase.
He stopped as he looked back at the water, only to see the ripples coming towards him.
"Hmm?"
As the ripples reached the end of the pond, a hand came out of the water. Soon, another hand came out before a head became visible.
"A girl?" Ryder muttered in confusion as he saw the person.
It seemed like a girl. The girl pushed herself up, revealing the top half of her body which was not covered in the least.
Only after she had come halfway out did she open her eyes which revealed her blue pupils before Ryder.
"Yaaa!"
As soon as she opened her eyes, a scream left her mouth before she ducked her body inside the water once again.
"Who the hell are you! How dare you enter this place??" The girl asked, screaming.
âHmm? How did I get here? Did she find out who I am?" Ryder wondered, misunderstanding her words.
"Are you deaf?! How did you enter this area! I had sealed the area. No one should have been able to get inside! Who exactly are you?" The girl asked again as she got no response.
âOh, sheâs talking about this place, not the Death Domain. Iâm an Idiot to misunderstand that,â Ryder thought as he smiled wryly. âBut what barrier is she talking about? I saw none on the way. Could it be that the barrier was on the ground? Maybe thatâs why I wasnât affected.â
While Ryder thought of a reason for not being affected, he was wrong. The barrier was not only covering the ground but the sky as well. The only reason he didnât feel or see the barrier was because it was only effective against people from the death domain.
As the girl hadnât thought of a person from realms infiltrating, she didnât realize the obvious that was right in front of her.
"Maybe you made a mistake in creating the barrier. The place I came from had no barrier. Iâm sorry, I didnât know you were bathing here. Iâll take my leave now," Ryder let out as he started walking away.
"You bastard, you think you can leave after seeing me?!" the girl asked Ryder loudly.
Ryder stopped in his tracks as he turned back. "What are you going to do? Come out of the water and let me see even more?"
"I already told you that it was an accident. I didnât even know you were inside. Now that I know, Iâll leave. I have no interest in seeing people nude after all," Ryder let out as he turned back and started leaving.
The girl watched him leave without saying anything. He was right. If she came out to stop him, he was only going to see more.
She wanted to let him go somewhat far before she came out to get dressed. She could find the guy after she was dressed. Albeit, she didnât realize that she wasnât going to find him.
Ryder didnât wish to run away. He only wanted to get out of her view before he logged out.
"That girl was pretty tough. Not a bad place," Ryder muttered as he tapped on the logout button
The world became blurry before it turned black. Ryder found himself lying on his bed. He opened his eyes only to find Alice coming inside his house.
"You are up! Good! You need to see this!" She told Ryder in a hurry.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Huh? What happened?" Ryder inquired as he stood up.
"The tv! See what theyâre showing. Brother Shuâs company... Itâs being sold!" Alice declared.
"What the heck?" Ryder got off the bed and walked out of the room without even taking time to wash his face.
He entered the room where the TV was placed. The TV was showing a news channel called CNPC.
In the program, two anchors could be seen talking amongst themselves. A headline was shown on the bottom of the screen.
"Dream Corporation to be brought by Necrosis?"
"Please welcome our correspondent Alison who is in front of the headquarters of Dream Corporation. Allison, give us an update on what you managed to find out. And what can you tell is our readers?" The Anchor asked the girl who was being shown on a split-screen now.
"Jay, Iâve been trying to get a statement from the Executives of the Dream Corporation since the Washington Host published the news about the possibility of the sale. Albeit no one has commented. Their silence was somewhat telling, though," the girl answered.
"So they have refused to deny the reports? There is a possibility of this going through. When can we expect the sale to happen? And what reasons do you see for them taking this decision? Youâve been covering them for a long time. Give us some of your theories," the anchor further asked.
"Jay, from what I know about the Dream Corporation, this decision is pretty shocking. Iâm not sure, but it seems like itâs a decision made with the support of all executives and Mr. Maxwell, who owns the Organisation. We havenât heard any news of any arguments between them."