Chapter 237: A Pond

*BOOM!*

With a crazy explosion that was quite similar to Greg's, dust and smoke flew everywhere, while Joe's body underwent visible changes too.

His body became stronger, his eyes turned brighter, while a calling presence appeared around his body.

It seemed anyone who successfully walked up on the stairs would get such blessings, but Greg didn't know if it was a good thing or not.

If an enemy decided to attack them in surprise and succeeded resist against the Endless Pressure's power, it's would also get the blessing, just the two of them did.

But at the same time, if someone tried to go up on the stairs, they would easily kill them, because under such pressure it was impossible to move normally.

"We should leave something here to look out for unwanted guests. But what?", thought Greg calmly and started to think.

But unfortunately, he didn't have an idea, because the only Soul Creature was was independent of him was his fairy.

"However, if I think about it, she has been not a lot of use lately, so I guess it would be the best to leave her here."

As Greg said that, he put his hand out and summoned the fairy.

Instantly, a small sleeping fairy appeared atop his palm, making Greg's eyes to twitch slightly.

"This... She has been sleeping way too much lately, no?", thought Greg and poked the fairy on the cheeks.

"H...Huh?"

Waking up with a sleepy face, the fairy looked around then a small while later looked up at Greg.

"From now on, you will look out for this place. Anyone who is passing through here and it is not me or him, signal at me. Understood?"

The little fairy looking at the staircase with a still sleepy face nodded slightly, and with slow wing flutters, she flew over a tree.

Seeing as his Soul Creature flew atop a tree and lay down to continue her disturbed sleep, Greg flinched again, but still sighed in the end.

"Well, let's hope she understood me.", thought Greg with a bitter taste in his most and looked at Joe.

Seeing that his friend was examining his body with a surprised expression, he smiled and said, "Let's go. We still have a lot of things to check out."

Knowing that Greg was talking to him, Joe looked at his hands one last time and nodded.

"Sure."

With that, leaving the fairy behind, Greg started to walk toward the buildings with Joe following him closely from behind.

Walking on the beautiful jade-like path, Greg watched as slowly the buildings he saw from the distance started to appear around him.

Each house was built from wood and brick while on their surface detailed carvings could be discerned. The roof on top of each building was curvy and pointy, giving Greg a somewhat ancient feeling.

However, even like this that everything looked so breathtaking, Greg felt like the 'city' was truly ancient. It was ancient to such a point where Greg felt kind of scared.

He knew that no one lived here for an unknown amount of time, but still, he felt like he was watched by thousands of eyes, peering right into his soul.

Joe felt like Greg too. Even though he looked calm on the outside, anyone who looked at him saw that he was on high alert.

Walking inside a city where no one lived for ages, showed that the Eternal Kingdom was truly a mysterious place in every way.

If it weren't for the fact that Joe said he found this place first, then Greg would have believed that a powerful expert was living here and watching them from the shadows.

"Let's go there. It seems that is the main building here.", said Joe, pointing toward a huge skyscraper on the very top of a small hill in the distance.

Nodding, Greg started to follow the jade path that showed the way there, but suddenly stopped and looked to the side.

"What is that?"

Looking at the side, Joe noticed that in the ground, a small gap was visible, while in it a path was going deeper underground.

As the two watched the gap, suddenly inside Greg's consciousness Shapeless started to move and on its own accord, it flew toward the gap.

"!"

Seeing the sudden change of events, both Greg and Joe looked surprised and looked at each other.

"I can't control it. It's acting on its own. What is happening here?", asked Greg and without hesitation, he started to chase Shapeless.

Joe knew that something must have happened if a dependent Soul Creature which had no self-consciousness suddenly started to act on its own, so he followed Greg too.

This place was filled with way too much mystery, so he was quite curious why did suddenly Greg's Soul Creature started to come alive.

"First it turns out this place is the legendary Eternal Kingdom, then we found the Endless Pressure and now this. This place is much greater than I have thought!", said Joe with visible excitement in his eyes.

Running with fast speed while remaining alert of any traps, Greg followed Shapeless closely from behind, while Joe did the same behind him.

After running for almost 10 minutes without stopping, Greg started to feel a bit shocked just how deep they have gone down when the area around him started to expand.

Bit by bit, the narrow path grew both in width and height and soon Greg found himself in a huge open space.

"Woah...", was the only thing Greg and Joe were able to say the moment they noticed just what kind of place they have arrived at.

The whole place was filled with emerald green grass, while in the very middle a small pond could be seen.

The pond was however strange and definitely not any ordinary pond. The color of it was abyss black, yet it was crystal clear.

From above, one could clearly look down and see the deep bottom, even though the color was as black as ink. It was bizarre for sure.

"What does Shapeless want to do here?", thought Greg with a perplexed expression and looked at his Soul Creature.

Right at the moment, Shapeless Dream was hovering above the pond while doing nothing else at all. 

Greg seeing this glanced at Joe, but seeing him confused too he turned back and started to walk toward it.

Arriving at the edge of the pond, Greg looked down then at Shapeless but still didn't see why it came here.

There was nothing in this place not in the pond which looked intriguing, so Greg was a bit confused.

"Why did it come he-, uh?", started to say Greg, but suddenly Shapeless moved and appeared behind his back.

"!"

As Joe watched the staff-shaped Soul Creature move he wanted to warn Greg but he was late.

Before he would have had the chance to talk, Shapeless pushed Greg forward making him to fell right into the pond.

*Splash!*

With a heavy fall, Greg sunk into the pond, while his Soul Creature followed suit and sunk into the black water after him too.

"What the hell?", said Joe and run to the side of the pond.

However, the moment he looked down, his face turned to shock in an instant.

It was not because he saw something incredible, but instead because he didn't! He couldn't see a thing, even though the water was crystal clear. For some mysterious reason, Greg's body has vanished inside the pond.

"Just what is happening here?", asked quietly Joe as he examined the water, but feared to jump into it.

Not knowing what kind of power it had, he didn't want to try jumping after Greg, so he waited patiently, maybe after a small while later he will appear again.

Time ticked by slowly, yet even after half an hour later, Joe was still standing next to the pond looking at the water with a worried expression.

When another 15 minutes passed by, Joe frowned and said, "Okay, it seems I should go after him."

As he said that he was about to move and jump into the dark water, but suddenly light broke out from the water's surface.

"!"

Looking at the almost blinding light which appeared suddenly, Joe stepped a few meters back and watched as an arm emerged from the pond.

After a small while, another hand appeared and it was not long when the head followed suit too.

With wet hair and an exhausted expression, Greg struggled to climb out from the pond and lay down on the soft grass in the side.

As Joe saw this, he instantly turned happy and started to walk toward him, but just as he took a few steps forward he halted while his eyes widened.

Feeling the stare on his skin, with heavy breaths Greg turned to look at Joe and looked at him with confusion.

However seeing as Joe was watching him with shock, Greg frowned and lowered his gaze onto his body.

But the moment he did, his expression turned stupified too and a shocked sigh escaped his mouth.

"What?"