365 Entering the ancestral grounds

With what Gabriel told me about the restriction of the ancestral grounds, I initially believed it to be yet another superstition, but seeing the entrance to the subdimension with my very own eyes, made me rethink this matter from the scratch. 

Even if creating subdimension wasn't as hard of a task as I assumed from the challenges bound to creating my own, it still didn't make any sense. From what Bonger told me a few days ago and everything I saw so far, the world should be more or less divided into areas with a completely different approach to using the energy. With that said, the existence of subdimension that was strictly bound to either magic or pure cultivation didn't make any sense when one thought about the way the locals were using their energy!

"I can tell you only a bit. Cracking the code of this lock will cost five hundred attribute points!"

Woah!

It's been a while since you wanted to rob me of my points in this way!

"Oh, shut your crap! Just like you can't evaporate the mountains with just a spit of yours, I have my limits as well! Do you think that I really enjoy how weak you are? Since my existence depends on your wellbeing, don't you think that if I could, I wouldn't feed you all the best cultivation, magic and other techniques? Grow the fuck up!"

Ups, it seems I angered you a bit. Sorry for that, I always took that you just didn't want me to get complacent! While it pains me a bit, we don't really have a choice, do we?

"I will take it as a yes. Give me a second."

Every day, I was learning something new. Taking the Bonger for the example, it already evolved in my head from a dead system following the strict principles of its code, into a kind of mentor, that had its own needs and aims. 

While I wanted to get to the bottom of this topic and finally know what the fuck was actually going on, with how weak I was and how limited my knowledge was, I could only base all my theories on those scraps of information that I currently had.

That's why I had nothing against investing about a third of my remaining attribute points into cracking this dimension open. Even if this place would be completely in the open, I already hoped to learn a lot from it. The fact that it was hidden in something akin to my own small world, only added to its potential value!

"I'm in. As long as you pass the guards without raising the alarm, you should be able to enter that dimension. It was surprisingly a tough nut to crack!"

Preparing a shockwave was a simple task, but forcing it to appear on the opposite side of the clearing than were I was, actually took a big toll on me. I really had to find a way to increase the range of my attacks!

BOOM!

With the shockwave destroying the eerie balance of the surroundings, all the guards instantly turned their sights to the source of the sound. 

"Forward! Catch them!"

One of the leaders reacted in a timely matter, forcing half of the guards to follow him into the woods while bringing the other half to the previous position of his own team. Looking at the situation, I couldn't believe that it was too easy!

Despite the time on the clock ticking, I wasted almost an entire minute scanning the entire area for well-hidden lookouts. There was simply no way that they would all fall for the oldest trick in the book!

But no matter how much I stretched or focused my perception, the entire area from my side remained as empty as when I first scanned it! I guess I had to show some backbone and act boldly once upon the time!

Stepping out from the shadows, I dashed forward the spatial rift that was continuously causing the flow of the energy int he area to be just ever-so-slightly disturbed. In a flash, I appeared before it, only for the entire surroundings to change from the small clearing in the middle of the forest, to a huge, open plain! With ruined, stone buildings littered around the entire dimension, I finally confirmed that I was, in fact, in the right place!

Taking a quick look around, I located a few potential hideouts. Without wasting any time, I jumped into a corner of what looked like a ruined house. With the multiple gaps in its former wall, I could easily observe the entire place, while remaining well hidden.

Surprisingly enough, despite how big the refugee camp that I saw previously was, I couldn't see even a single human in this entire place! Only after scanning the entire area with my energy vision I managed to locate a single, huge group of people all gathered up around the centre point of the dimension.

While I wanted to check it out right away, I decided to wait for a moment, to ensure that no guards would surprise me by appearing in the entry point to the dimension as I would make my way towards the gathering of the people.

"That's strange… Despite how old those ruins are… I can still detect a shallow hint of energy coming from the stones!"

If you want to tell me something like that, either elaborate what does that mean, or keep it for when I have the time to care about it.

"Hmph! Way to spoil the fun!"

Wait, did I feel the adventurous vibes from Bonger? Since when he turned out to have such personal interests like this? Ah, forget it, I need to make a move soon.

With no guards coming inside the dimension despite quite a fair amount of time passing by, I started to change my hiding spots. With each quick jump, I was getting closer to the centre of the dimension. While doing so, I couldn't help but admire how enormous this place actually was!

For comparison, my small world with about a hundred inhabitants was smaller than one and a half kilometre in radius, yet even after covering thrice this distance, I was only barely able to make out the frame of the only building that managed to remain standing despite the passage in time.