The pain was terrible; it sucked, but Arthur had faced many hardships throughout his new life, so it would not kill him. It took him five minutes of so much pain he rolled on the cave's ground while the beast just looked at him.
After it was over, no system notification popped up — Arthur's second body did not have it — but he could still feel the difference!
His eye now had a different pupil with the shape of a star.
"What does this eye do?" Arthur asked.
"You will get better at it with time and practice, and also while your power increase, but the main thing about this eye is the future! You can see one second or half a second in the future while fighting, which can give you an edge! Also, visions about the future are not uncommon. Still, one cannot control that aspect, and sometimes the visions are too hard to comprehend."
"What? Is this powerful?"
The power from the Unseen Truth Eye was incredible! Arthur did not think one eye was stronger than the other; they had their own strengths, weaknesses, and their powers differed a lot from each other. While the Emperor Eye had some supportive features, the Unseen Truth Eye was overpowered!
Arthur was not expecting to get such a valuable thing from his 'prison,' so he was delighted by it. Now his main body had one Forbidden Eye, his avatar another one, and when they merged, he would have both!
"I need to find all the eyes if I want a chance?" Arthur asked.
"Yes, you do. But don't worry about it. With your Emperor Eye, you will come across others. It just takes time."
"Now what? Will you get me out of here?"
"Unfortunately, I can't," the beast said, which made Arthur flinch.
"I can't free you personally, but it does not mean you cannot leave. If I use my powers to destroy the formations here, whatever is after me will find me, and then I will die."
"Oh, right, I forgot about that," Arthur chuckled and then moved his gaze to the things the beast had stored inside.
"You can take whatever you want."
That was a sentence one did not speak to Arthur. He moved around as fast as lightning, browsing through everything the beast had inside its cave, and Arthur found some good stuff!
There was a plate armor and a red cape; Arthur could tell just by looking that these things were treasures, the cape being more valuable!
"What are these? This mantle looks decent."
"D-Decent? This is a legendary artifact that not even the Blood Monarch could use! He found it once a long, long time ago, and after not being able to use it, I kept it."
"Really?"
Arthur could see the mantle was valuable but to that extent? There was no way of him knowing it, and now all he wanted to do was try the cape and see if he could wear it.
Sure enough, Arthur picked up the red mantle, attached it to his back, and instantly a connection grew between the two. It was like the dormant spirit of the cape woke up.
"You can wear it? You are more special than I thought," the beast said.
The sensation was weird. Arthur and the mantle could somehow understand each other's feelings, but the cape could not speak to him.
"Do you know something about this cape?" asked Arthur, trying to learn more about the treasure now that he was worthy of wearing it.
"No idea. I don't even know where the Blood Monarch got this from, but it should be one of the strongest things one can find in this universe."
Arthur sighed, unhappy to get zero clues about the mantle's origins. Still, it soon vanished when he remembered all the benefits he had earned! There were a few other things, but only two caught Arthur's attention: an ancient-looking spear with its crimson red blade and a ring with a red stone.
"Are you trying to get all of my treasures? I'll only let you pass this time because you seem decent. The spear is a high-quality magic weapon, and you can use it until the seventh rank. The ring is still a mystery to me, so you must learn more about it, just like you do with the red mantle."
There weren't many other things that caught Arthur's attention, and the beast was already kind enough to give him all that, so Arthur did not push. After that, Arthur spoke about the prisoner elves who went there to die, and that surprised him!
"This is a new thing. The elves weren't using this place as a prison and started only a few months ago. I did not kill anyone who came here, and the ones doing it are the elves themselves!"
"What?"
"I saw them murdering the prisoners and collecting their blood. They must be doing some black magic."
Arthur and the beast spoke a little more, but it was time for them to part ways. He did not know the beast's name, or perhaps it did not have one. There was a way out of that place, a specific exit inside the Dark Forest.
"But first, blood!"
Now that the mysterious beast problem was over — the beast was friendly — Arthur could roam at night and get his needed blood.
Not that the Dark Forest was safe, but Arthur moved around inside it, and the beasts kept coming at him, trying to get a bite of his flesh. But, unlike before, Arthur now wore plate armor with a mysterious red cape and had a spear in his hands!
A weapon made a massive difference in a fight, especially one of high quality. Arthur pierced his spear through the beasts like it was nothing, killing most of them with one hit.
He got hit from behind only one time by a surprise attack, but his red mantle moved on its own in time, protecting him!
"This is awesome!"
Arthur went into massacre mode, killing all the beasts that tried to attack him. After one hour, the beasts seemed to acknowledge he was not prey for them, and no one attacked him.
He passed beside the beast, and they would do nothing, as if Arthur was a friendly beast, one they did not need to attack.
"I am the lord of the Dark Forest! Sadly, I still cannot use my eye properly."
The beast in the cave had told Arthur it would take a few days for him to get used to his Unseen Truth Eye, so using its powers would be hard. It was a shame, but Arthur could wait a few days, and there was something more important for him to do than practice his new powers: leave!
Not just leave but take the three prisoners who helped him out of there and learn more about this black magic the elves were practicing.
"All the elven tribes are doing this, sending prisoners to this place to kill. Why? Elves are kind and pure people who do not do this."
Something or someone was making up the minds of those elves, and Arthur would find out!