"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. Do you know what will happen to you?"
A voice echoed in the entire room the moment Austin's spiritual sense touched the blue stone.
The unexpected voice coming from right inside the blue stone sounded fierce and full of rage.
Suddenly, an illusory blurry image floated from the blue stone.
The vague image constantly changed before finally forming into a picture of a person.
It was the image of Jim, exactly!
"Oh?
It's you, Austin.
Haven't my real body taken over your body yet?
Tell me, why did you come here to my secret room? How did you get here?"
Jim's image recognized Austin and asked in fury.
'Real body?'
Both Austin and the gnome felt surprised at such a strange expression, but they soon realized what it meant.
This image in front of them was just a shadow of Jim's real body.
Since he was just a shadow of Jim, his spiritual soul energy was too weak compared to that of his real body.
As far as Austin was concerned, the spiritual souls of this shadow were no more than one-hundredth of Jim's real body.
So, Austin and the gnome felt no fear with their sudden encounter with Jim's shadow. In a reposing and amusing attitude, they stared at the shadow from head to foot as if observing something interesting.
"That's too rude of you, two shameful beasts! How dare you look at me that way!
Didn't you hear me? Answer my questions!"
In all honesty, the shadow already felt a trace of fear in his heart. But he remained calm in the presence of his enemies.
He thought that his real body had gone to take Austin's flesh body as planned. But Austin was right here in front of him, intact and unharmed as usual.
What did that mean then? Since he hadn't been able to sense his real body for a long time, would that mean that his real body was gone for good?
The shadow suddenly realized what could have happened to his real body. Assuming a composed expression on his face, he secretly sank his mind back into the round blue stone.
He tried to connect to his real body once again, but he felt nothing.
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