Late that same night, he rested in a leeward rock cave, intermittently conducting shallow meditation and maintaining vigilance.
Half-asleep, he suddenly "heard" a rhythmic "thud-thud" sound coming from deep within the cave, as if someone were gently tapping against the stone wall.
He also heard low murmurs in a language he completely failed to understand, yet one that carried an ancient and desolate quality.
The sound drilled into his ears, carrying a peculiar magic power that made him drowsy, his consciousness seemingly about to fly out of his body and drift toward the depths.
[Eye of Vigilance] saw nothing; only ordinary rock lay deep within the cave, yet the sound and the pull were undeniably real.
Ian felt his consciousness blur once more. Just then, the status panel seemed to detect the abnormality in his mental state, and within his mental sea, the will runes vibrated in unison.
A cool breath, much clearer than before, swept across his mind, instantly banishing the lethargy and sealing the bizarre sound outside.
Ian sat up with a start, breaking out in a cold sweat. He immediately rushed out of the cave, fleeing the cavern without looking back.
The thud-thud sound vanished the moment he left the cave, as if it had never appeared, but the creepy sensation of his will being tugged lingered for a long time.
The status panel... has never failed me! It can even resist this kind of mental attack!
Ian felt a mixture of relief and trepidation in his heart, glad that he possessed such a powerful trump card. The level of bizarreness in this region far exceeded imagination, frequently triggering the passive reaction of the status panel.
The initial warning from the status panel, I remember that was in the library of the Shadowmoon Tower...
To this day