Just as Shade had expected, not long after entering the water, his probing hand touched solid ground below. Extremely frigid spirits surged from cracks in the earth with the gurgling water, and even with the First Fire, Shade still felt the chill.
It was not quite as Long-Haired Luvia had said, that anyone below the Twelfth Order should not come down here, but contact with this cold was certainly harmful to the body.
Relying on his keen senses, he kept searching the bottom of the pool. A moment later, he felt something cold and parchment-like:
"Found it. Miracle Element?"
As his palm touched that "parchment," he again felt as though he were holding Luvia's hand. This time, in the dimness beneath the water, he saw no light or shadows. He truly was alone here:
"I should ask Long-Haired Luvia about this tonight, though she hasn't been feeling well these past two days."
He was thinking of turning around and swimming back up when he suddenly paused:
"Enhanced Space Perception. Hm?"
This spring had indeed formed because of a crack in the mountain, but about ten meters beyond that thick rock wall, Shade had detected a rather spacious cave.
A ten-meter-thick mountain wall was not easy to break through, but since he had sensed the space, Shade could use Laguerre's Leap for a Space Jump. Yet before he could decide whether to take the risk, the cave inside the mountain vanished, as though everything he had just seen had merely been an illusion.
"That wasn't an illusion, was it?"
It was not an illusion.
But no matter how Shade sensed afterward, Enhanced Space Perception could no longer catch any trace of that mountain cave.
He had stayed underwater for too long, and the rope around his waist had already begun tugging