The last thing Ian saw was the red warning flashing wildly on the control panel. Then, the entire Time Machine was hurled out of the time passage by an irresistible force, plummeting toward an unknown time and space.
When he woke again, he found himself lying in a grassy field. The air was filled with an unfamiliar scent, and even the color of the sky seemed unlike any era he remembered. Beside him, the once-cool Time Machine had become a pile of smoking scrap metal, with sparks occasionally jumping between severed wires.
Ian struggled into a sitting position and checked himself over. Apart from a few scrapes and bruises, he seemed fine. His White Robe was covered in mud and grass, but that golden glow was still vaguely visible beneath his skin. The lead box he carried was still safely tucked inside his robe pocket.
The Fragment of the Eye of Ra was unharmed.
"Well, at least I didn't lose the most important thing." Ian muttered to himself with grim humor. Not daring to be careless, he put the lead box, which he had not had time to place in his Money Bag before, into the bag.
After being reinforced time and again, Ian's Money Bag was no longer an ordinary item merely enhanced with an Undetectable Extension Charm. Much Protective Magic had also been placed on this spatial storage equipment.
After all, all his worldly possessions were inside it. If some accident damaged the equipment, everything Ian owned would explode out and scatter all over the ground.
Just like what happened when he ran into that little fairy—who could possibly handle that?
"Cough, cough... Who designed this landing system? They ought to be sent to mine with Black guys who don't speak the language!" Ian grumbled as he stood