The Rich Cultivator-Chapter 315. Getting the Items back

"So even if we find a way to escape, can you escape?" Tyler asked, his voice calm yet direct.

"Tyler!" Mathilda shot him a sharp look, trying to stop him.

But Misra simply smiled—a hollow, tired smile that did not reach her eyes. "It’s alright," she said softly. "I’ve been asking myself the same question for a long time."

She sighed, tilting her head up as if searching for an answer in the void above. "If escape were possible, would I even want to leave? Or am I just a shadow, an illusion fabricated by lost memories? I don’t even know if I am the same Misra who first arrived in this village... or just a ghost of her former self."

Her fingers lightly brushed against her own arm, as if trying to confirm she was still real. "Maybe... I just don’t want to exist in this loop anymore."

Mathilda frowned, a deep sadness settling in her eyes.

Misra noticed and reached out, gently patting Mathilda’s head. "Don’t be sad," she said, forcing a small chuckle. "We still have things to do, don’t we? Let’s go and retrieve your things, shall we?"

Mathilda nodded slowly, though the sorrow in her expression remained.

"Where are they?" Tyler asked, eager to change the subject and focus on something tangible.

Misra turned toward him, her face becoming serious. "Most of the belongings of outsiders are taken by the village," she explained. "They are usually stored beneath the abandoned well, near the edge of the village."

"I explored every part of the village. I found out that most of the Outsiders things will disappear and appear in that well." Misra said.

Tyler and Mathilda exchanged glances. "Then we just need to go there and get them?"

Misra hesitated.

"But there’s a problem," she said at last.

Tyler narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"

Misra took a deep breath. "Let’s just hope they haven’t been eroded," she said grimly.

"Huh?" Mathilda blinked. "Eroded? What do you mean?"

"I don’t know, but there is a grey mist inside the deep well." Misra explained. "Everything here is trapped in a cycle, including the objects that belong to outsiders. But the village doesn’t wants high end technology. That’s why those things that are high level technology erode faster."

Tyler crossed his arms. "You’re saying that if our belongings have been here too long, they might have disintegrated?"

Misra nodded. "Not disintegrated exactly. More like... absorbed by the village itself or the mist itself. I don’t know for sure."

Mathilda’s eyes widened with urgency. "Then we need to hurry!" she exclaimed, stepping forward as if ready to sprint.

"Yes," Tyler agreed, his expression turning serious. "We need to get to the well before the village takes everything."

He looked at Misra as if he was blaming her "If only we hadn’t wasted so much time yesterday."

Misra let out a small chuckle,"But who was enjoying the most."

She teased him and continued, "It wouldn’t have made much difference," she said with a shrug. "The mist is too dense at night. Even if we had tried, we would have corroded as well."

She paused, then added, almost nonchalantly, "I even died once because of it."

Tyler narrowed his eyes. "You lose memories when you die, don’t you?"

Misra nodded, her expression unreadable. "Yeah."

"Then how do you still remember everything?" Mathilda asked, frowning in confusion.

"I stored those fruits somewhere where I will eat it eventually and get my memories back. It has same properties of Silver Honey." She replied.

The four of them wasted no time. Stepping out of the house, they found the village as tranquil as ever, its eerie normalcy standing in stark contrast to the grim truth Misra had revealed. Children laughed and played, elders sat by their doors, and merchants called out for customers—yet none of them were truly alive.

For Tyler and the others, the village felt real, almost too real. That made it all the more unsettling.

"If we really find a way to stop this village, everything might disappear..." Tyler muttered under his breath, though he didn’t say it loudly. He didn’t know whether he wanted Mathilda or the others to hear his doubts.

They reached the well quickly. From the outside, it looked like any ordinary well, worn from time, with moss creeping along its sides and a wooden bucket hanging from a rusty pulley.

Tyler peered over the edge. "Now what?"

"Now we jump," Misra said simply.

Before he could even react, Misra leaped into the well.

Mathilda hesitated for a moment but then followed suit, vanishing into the darkness.

Tyler sighed. "This is insane."

But he jumped anyway.

A few seconds later, they landed on solid ground, dropping into a cavernous space beneath the village. The air here was thick, heavy with a dark mist that swirled ominously around them.

Tyler’s eyes widened. "Ahh... Abyss Mist..." he muttered, recognizing the strange, ethereal fog. "No wonder the items get corroded down here. Thankfully, ours are coated with Anti-Abyss Coating. At least they won’t corrode too fast... Probably."

The girls stood there, frozen in shock. As the mist shifted, the cavern they were in seemed to stretch endlessly into the void. Towering piles of objects—weapons, broken artifacts, —were scattered like a graveyard of forgotten history.

Misra stepped forward and gestured toward the scene before them. "Many storage treasures got corroded and destroyed, leaving behind only the things inside them. The village stores all of them down here which isn’t needed. This place is where it all ends up."

Tyler scanned the mountain of abandoned relics. Who knew how many outsiders had fallen victim to this village over the centuries?

"Well... I hope mine isn’t destroyed," he muttered before turning to his companion. "Mana."

In response to his call, a shadowy figure emerged from Tyler, slipping seamlessly into the mist and vanishing into the sea of discarded items.

Minutes passed. Then, suddenly, Mana reappeared, carrying a sleek metallic watch and—most surprisingly—a trident.

Tyler reached for the weapon but hesitated when he saw its altered appearance.

"Hahh..." He let out a breath of surprise. The trident had once gleamed with radiance, but now it had turned completely black, its surface pulsing with an ominous Abyssal energy.

"Alright... Did this thing mutate or something?" Tyler frowned, examining it more closely. The weapon felt heavier, yet at the same time, it seemed to hum with newfound power.

Mana crossed her arms. "It absorbed the Abyss Mist. Weapons left here for too long can become... tainted. But it’s still yours, just changed."

Tyler wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Pushing the thought aside, he turned his attention to the watch Mana had retrieved. His fingers brushed over its surface before he pressed a small button. The device flickered to life, displaying a holographic interface.

His Portable Waypoint Terminal.

"Still working, huh?" he mused. Though pretty much useless in the Abyss, it had one crucial feature—an in-built storage system.

He quickly checked its contents and smirked. "Well, at least I didn’t lose everything. There’s more stuff in here than in that entire pile of junk."

Misra watched him curiously. "You are rich in your world?"

Tyler shrugged. "sort of "

Mana then handed him another item—a small, ornate compass.

Tyler’s eyes lit up the moment he saw it. He immediately recognized what it was.

"This is...?"

Mana nodded. "Yes. That’s the one."

Tyler felt a familiar pulse of energy as he held the compass. It was no ordinary navigation tool. It’s

"The compass that leads us to Lily Gomes," he murmured.

Mathilda stepped closer, eyeing the object with curiosity. "And that means...?"

Tyler’s lips curled into a grin. "Which also means it can lead us to the pathway to another floor."

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Hello dear readers, Lazy Meow here...

I want to sincerely apologize for the delay in updates. Over the past few days, I was in the process of moving to another state, which turned out to be much more exhausting and time-consuming than I expected. Unfortunately, this left me unable to upload new Chapters, and for that, I am truly sorry.

I know many of you have been eagerly waiting for the next part of the story, and I deeply appreciate your patience and support. Now that I’ve settled in, I will do my best to get back on track and upload regularly. In fact, to make up for the delay, I’ll try to release more than one Chapter a day whenever possible!

Thank you all for continuing reading this novel—it means the world to me. Your love for the story keeps me motivated, and I can’t wait to share what’s next in Tyler’s journey.

Once again, I apologize for the wait, and I truly appreciate your understanding. Stay tuned for upcoming Chapters, and I’ll see you all soon!

Much love,

Lazy Meow