Second World

In a pocket world inside the dimension where the base of the Order of Magi was located, Jack was still inside the forcefield cage. He had both hands touching the forcefield wall. His eyes were closed. His face showed that he was hard in concentration.

Janus simply looked at him in silence. Jack had continued doing this ever since he was locked inside that forcefield. He only stopped doing whatever he was doing when he needed to rest or when evil Janus came to visit.

Janus had asked about what Jack was doing when he was resting. Jack answered that he was looking for a way out of this cage. Janus didn't understand how Jack planned to achieve that. All skills, spells, and tools were sealed when they were inside this forcefield cage. Jack didn't explain further.

Janus stopped bothering Jack afterward. But at this moment, he sensed a strange sensation from the cage that Jack was in. His grade might have fallen to the rare elite grade, but he still retained his mana sense ability.

He looked over due to this strange sensation. As he watched, he saw in between Jack's two hands, a small slit had appeared in the forcefield wall.

His eyes turned wide. He was about to say something when Jack opened his eyes. The small slit on the forcefield wall slowly closed itself. It was as if there was never a change on that forcefield.

"He is coming again," Jack said. 

Janus had stopped wondering how Jack could detect someone coming earlier than him. He just trusted Jack now because Jack was always correct. Jack didn't tell Janus that it was because of his mana affinity talent that gave him a longer-range mana sense.

Evil Janus came into the room not long after. He had been coming in like clockwork every three hours, probably to make sure there was nothing wrong with his captives. This time, however, he was slightly late. It had been seven hours since he last visited.

"… You have taken another victim," Good Janus said.

Jack could sense Evil Janus' mana was stronger than his last visit, but his Inspect still had Evil Janus at level 90 mythical+ grade.

"It won't be long now," Evil Janus said.

"What will you do with us once you get what you want?" Good Janus asked.

"Do you mean after I become an eternal being? I will kill you and take your essence. I don't want to risk it by doing it now because I'm afraid your essence will simply merge with mine. If that happens, we will just be back to our old self, an indecisive weakling who considers too much about morality and reputation. Once I am an eternal grade, I believe I will be even more dominant. Your essence will simply be consumed by mine then."

"What about me?" Jack asked.

Evil Janus turned to Jack with a dead-pan face. "I've answered that question before. You will be my lab rat. I will experiment on you until I find a way to extract the Time Sage out of you."

Jack was amused that Janus knew the term lab rat. Did the mage of this world use a laboratory to conduct experiments? Yet, he was not amused enough to crack a smile at his current situation.

Evil Janus walked one round around the room, inspecting the rune diagram. He was making sure everything was still in order. He then stopped in front of Jack's forcefield cell. He approached and stared at the forcefield wall. In particular, the spot where the small slit had appeared not long ago.

He stared at the spot for quite some while, making both Jack and Good Janus worry.

He then tapped on that spot with one finger, making sure the forcefield wall was still solid. After he was sure that nothing was wrong with the forcefield, he stepped back. His eyes switched between Jack and Good Janus a few times. Both trying their best to look normal.

After a while, he left without any parting word.

Jack exhaled a relief. Evil Janus had walked out of his mana sense range.

"What the hell did you do to the cage?" Good Janus asked.

"Like I said, I'm looking for a way out," Jack said. "But I never expect your other self to take notice of that small crack. I need to make a hole big enough to escape in less than three hours if I am to try another attempt. If I fail when he is back, he might sense it for sure this time. He might do something about it then, but I still need more practice to achieve that."

"Can you practice without making that crack on the forcefield wall?" Good Janus asked.

"… I can, but it will take a longer time," Jack answered. "How long is it already since I am here?"

It was Peniel who answered, "It has been almost two days."

Jack sighed. The convention should have concluded by now. He wondered how that event went.

*

Inside the Liguritudum Realm, The World Maker had its guild headquarters in a region dominated by a main city called Quetzqua. The headquarters itself was named World Throne.

Currently, in the basement of World Throne, three bound players were thrown into separate jail cells. These players were Jeanny, Leavemealone, and Red Death.

"If you want to strap me to your machine again, just do it already. Why waste time putting us in jail?" Leavemealone asked.

Master was there with them. He wanted to make sure these three were secured. He was currently staring at Leavemealone upon the question but he didn't answer. It was because of Leavemealone, Wilted, and Jack that his extraction machine was unusable anymore. Syndrillis fired her divine breath to help the three escape. That breath hit and damaged the extraction machine.

The machine was an alien entity, it could not be created in this world. Master tried to repair the machine but failed. Thus, he needed another way. A way that was already ready to be used but he only had one chance for it.

Leavemealone returned Master's stare. He didn't back down even when he was incapacitated.

Master turned to the two natives in the room. They were level 80 rare elites.

"No one except me is allowed to open their cells," Master said. "Immediately sound the alarm if someone insists on doing so or if any stranger steps foot into this room."

"Yes, my lord," the two responded.

"Take this. Use it in case of emergency," Master gave one of the natives a small rectangular plate. "The two of you will take turns guarding these prisoners. The one who is guarding should always hold that plate."

The two confirmed their understanding.

"One last thing," Master approached the two natives and whispered something to them.

Finished giving his instructions, Master gave the three captives another glance before he left the room.