"I'll go and check where this transmission channel leads to." The gnome broke the silence he maintained while sensing the situation on the other end of the transmission tunnel.
Then, the gnome disappeared from the current space after he was done speaking.
Austin recognized the gnome's teleportation ability when it came to spatial force. He was confident that the gnome was capable of handling any situations on the other end of the transmission tunnel even if there was any danger or difficulties on the way.
The space where the gnome had disappeared, stirred after a short while. It whirled like a vortex and then broke into fragments.
When it became steady again, the gnome appeared in the middle of the whirlpool.
"It's a stable transmission tunnel. Boy, come and check it yourself," the gnome uttered and invited Austin to see for himself.
Austin nodded in approval and followed.
He walked towards the gnome and slipped into the transmission tunnel without any hesitation. Like what the gnome said, Austin clearly sensed a stable, strong force pushing him forward as soon as he stepped into that space.
The gnome followed Austin and activated its space teleportation ability to reinforce the transmission force in the tunnel.
Austin felt the surge of transmission force around him as if he had been wrapped in a ball.
The strong transmission force lasted for a while before Austin felt the gradual decrease of force and the steady airflow around him.
The space became stable as Austin had come to another space.
What Austin saw was a secret room about several square meters in size. All its walls, as well as its floor, were paved with thick and hard marbles.
Initially, Austin could not see anything in the room.
When his eyes got used to the dim light, he saw a meditation cushion in the middle of the floor.
A smooth and sparkling round blue stone, in the size of a fist, was embedded in the cushion. Judging from its appearance, Austin could not tell what material the stone was made from. Its blue luster was beautiful against the dusk in the secret room.
Both Austin and the gnome could not help but settle their eyes on the strange yet enchanting blue stone.
With the help of their spiritual senses, they both felt a fluctuation of spiritual souls from the blue stone.
To their surprise, the fluctuation of the spiritual souls seemed very familiar to them.
It somehow reminded them of Jim, and it was indeed his spiritual souls who were oscillating.
'How could it be possible?' Austin wondered in utmost surprise.
He was confident that he had refined Jim's spiritual souls.
'How could it be possible for Jim's spiritual souls to fluctuate in this blue stone? What's with this whole thing?' Austin continuously thought in disbelief.
He was both stunned and puzzled to feel the presence of Jim's spiritual souls after refining them.
To figure it out, Austin launched his spiritual sense toward the round blue stone without any hesitation.
Austin sensed a weak spiritual sense from the faint fluctuation of Jim's spiritual souls.
Therefore, Austin grew confident that there would be no problem in dealing with Jim's spiritual souls with his current spiritual sense.
"That's bold of you, boy!
Who are you? It's so brave of you to step into my secret room without an invitation! That's also rude and intrusive
hought it was more mysterious than it seemed.
Austin focused on directing a strand of his spiritual sense into the inside of the blue stone.
To his surprise, however, his spiritual sense was blocked off by a mysterious unseen force as soon as it touched the surface of the blue stone. He couldn't get inside with his spiritual sense!
Austin felt stunned, wondering what the whole thing was about. The stone was indeed baffling yet mystifying at the same time.
He observed the round blue stone again carefully. Somehow, it reminded him of the Purple Vital Stone, a divine weapon he had obtained before.
In Austin's opinion, however, that blue stone was much more mysterious than the Purple Vital Stone.
The stone seemed to have been cultivated by somebody, as some kind of restriction had been applied to it to block access of unauthorized spiritual sense.
It was evident that the blue stone was cultivated by Jim!
In that case, Austin didn't think he should leave anything that belonged to the old guy. He decided to refine the stone to his own possession.
"Refine!"
Austin roared while directing continuous tremendous spiritual sense power from his Soul Sea towards the blue stone. Seething forces surrounded the stone and stroke its surface like billowing waves.
The confrontation of two kinds of forces lasted for a little while.
With the crashing of those forces also came the colliding noises that blared in the small secret room.
Suddenly, several explosions were heard in a row, as if something was perpetually broken.
With the mighty power of his spiritual sense, Austin had broken the spiritual sense restriction applied to the blue stone.
Without any obstacles, Austin's spiritual sense poured into the stone like a surging body of water.
Austin found a mark of spiritual sense inside the stone. It was obviously left by Jim after he had cultivated the stone.
He wiped out the mark and left his own spiritual sense mark on the same position where Jim had left his.
As soon as Austin sealed his own mark on the stone, he felt as if it was entirely under his control.
To his surprise, a strange feeling suddenly gushed in his mind.
It was so strange and overwhelming that he felt utterly stunned.