Turning the old wheel carefully, Jacob descended over a mile deep into the ground, and even he was shocked at just how deep this elevator was going.
Not only that but as he dived deeper and deeper, he noticed the air was getting heated up. Jacob's mask was also showing multiple color waves, and it was getting harder to see as everything started to turn brighter.
'I'm entering a high radiation zone. Which means I'm at the right place.' Jacob thought as he was very familiar with this kind of heat as well as all those color patterns appearing through the glass of his mask.
So, he decided to change the mask since now it was obstructing his vision instead of helping with it, and it was pretty sure there won't be more surprise attacks in this place.
After the elevator was over 1500 meters deep underground, it finally landed on its destination. The temperature of the place was also ten times higher than the atmosphere outside, which made even Jacob feel the heat like he was standing in the middle of a desert.
'It's probably level four radiation, which can't hurt me…' Jacob stepped out of the elevator and found himself in a large, dark cavern. There were some decayed rail tracks and rail carts lying there collecting dust, 'So it was a mine site in the distant past but somehow ended up in this state.'
Jacob thought as he walked into the cavern while he followed the rail tracks going all the way into a mine tunnel on the other side of the cavern. As he entered that tunnel, he noticed a trace of light deep within, which was clearly unusual since has yet to find any trace of light whatsoever.
'This light source might be left behind by that guy (Mason).' Jacob thought as he continued to follow the rail tracks.
As Jacob went deeper into the mine, he found the heat was getting even more intense, although slowly but surely. There were also light stones recently installed on the old mine walls, which were clearly the work of Mason.
After following the rail tracks for about four hundred meters, Jacob finally stopped because in front of him were now two passages where those rail tracks were dividing.
He noticed that one of the passages was lightened up with the light stones while the other was dark, which clearly indicates where Mason has gone during his visit.
But Jacob's mind works in a strange way as he looks into the dark passage and thinks, 'If he was an explorer, I don't think he would leave this place without searching everywhere, so why is this passage dark and seems unexplored while the other one is completely opposite. That guy was greedy but no fool. So, he might have prepared something in advance just in case someone like me entered this place.'
Jacob knew he could be wrong for all he knew, but he still liked to see himself, and a mistake in this place could be extremely deadly as he might get buried in there if Mason had installed some kind of explosives.
So, instead of following what seemed right, he decided to do the opposite and went with his instincts and entered the second passage, which was dark. If it appeared as a dead end, he could always come back and goes to the other side.
Furthermore, he was now even more vigilant of traps around, so he kept an eye out for any anomaly.
After walking a couple of meters in the dark mine, Jacob noticed something completely unexpected and out of place. He spotted magic runes on the tunnel walls, and it was completely filled with them. As he moved forward, those magic runes were literally on every inch of the mine.
'Even I can't understand those runes despite my current attainment in the magic runes?' Jacob was forced to stop as he no longer dared to move forward since all those runes were completely out of place, and he couldn't understand even one of them.
However, the heat has increased three folds since Jacob entered the mine, which was also an indication that he was on the right path. But those runes were irking him in the wrong way.
So, without hesitation, he deiced to use his trump card, which he wasn't expecting to use in this place at all.
"Cursed Immortality!"
Jacob knew if some kind of terrifying thing was hidden in this place, then Immortika was the perfect warning siren.
The moment Immortika appeared, it wrote, "Out of the pan into the fire. You really like to explore, huh?"
Jacob didn't like those ambiguous words in the least bit because he could clearly see they meant nothing but trouble for him.
"It seemed the other side was the right passage after all, and that guy probably left this one alone for a grave reason." Jacob transmitted as he admitted his mistake and turned around without even an ounce of hesitation.
He was only here for the mineral, not seeking death, and now he was even thinking of abandoning it altogether and leaving this suspicious place.
"Hahahahah… how decisive. I didn't even say anything, and you are already starting to walk away!"
Jacob sneered after seeing that line, "The context behind your 'greeting' was enough for me to walk away. I have learned not to ignore your ambiguous 'greetings' the hard way, so even if there is nothing on the other side, I'm not going there without you giving me a proper explanation."
"Hehehehe… how amusing, you're finally starting to pay attention to little old me, huh? To show how happy I am about it, I'll reveal a very interesting fact about what those runes are engraved on those walls. They are the ancient magic runes used for sealing the treasures which are related to Dark Beings."
Jacob's steps came to an abrupt halt when he read that last passage. Momentarily greed flashed past his eyes before he started to walk away.
"What that treasure belongs to the Dark beings have to do with me? Besides, if that treasure is related to Dark Being and its seal in this place for these years, then I'm pretty sure it should be better to leave it alone." Jacob coldly uttered.
Despite his interest, he wasn't a fool that he would go back there into who knows what. The business of the Dark Beings has nothing to do with the living like him. Even a greedy person like Mason seemed to understand this much, and he left this place alone for a very serious reason, to begin with.
Immortika then suddenly wrote something which made Jacob rooted in his place the moment he read it.
"Tsk, tsk, you're being quite compassionless lately, and there is no fun in that. Very well, then what if I told you that treasure back there can help you awake a peculiar magic core? Hahahahaha…"