So he did not continue to insist.
Gauss tied one end of the rope around his waist, while the other end was bound to a sturdy jagged rock.
"Then my safety is in your hands." Gauss said with a smile.
"Rest assured," Serdur promised solemnly. He grasped the middle of the rope, ready to slowly release it in coordination with Gauss.
He took a deep breath.
Encased in the Gauss Force Field, Gauss took a big step towards the "magic quicksand" area.
The moment his foot touched the ground.
The sand beneath seemed to undergo some magical transformation, as if his toes passed through a layer of water, entering a new world.
Then his ankle, calf, thigh, and finally his entire body was submerged in the vortex of quicksand.
The quicksand vortex did not disappear.
There was only a thick rope gently swaying at the center of the vortex.
Completely submerged in the quicksand, Gauss hesitated for a moment, then opened his eyes.
He found himself in a pitch-black space, with no sand or soil visible around him.
Gauss released a Light Spell, dispelling the darkness that enveloped him like a tide.
However, the Light Spell could only illuminate the space nearby; in the distance, the light rapidly dimmed, eventually leaving only deep darkness.
The Light Spell seemed to be suppressed in this environment.
He looked up at the upper end of the rope.
He could see only darkness, with the other end of the rope seemingly suspended in mid-air.
Continue downward. Gauss took a deep breath.
He could feel that there was more space below, and fortunately, the rope he had prepared was both sturdy and long enough.
As Serdur outside continued to lower the rope, Gauss also descended slowly.
Finally, his feet touched the ground.
Once stable, he untied the rope.
He crouched down, using the Light Spell for illumination, and examined the deep black floor tiles beneath him.
He lightly tapped them with his fingers, receiving a very hard feedback sensation.
Upon closer inspection, the dark tiles seemed to be inscribed with some kind of plant-like glyphs.
The glyphs radiated a mysterious vibration in his view, but he couldn’t grasp their meaning in a short time.
Gauss looked at them several times, etching them into his memory, yet still not fully assured, he took out a scroll to copy the glyphs onto it.
Only then did he stand up, preparing to explore the area around him.
Before he officially began, he opened the map in his mind and marked his location.
This way, even in this profound darkness where there was no light source apart from the faint illumination of the Light Spell, he would still be able to find his way back.
"Let’s go," Gauss said, intending also to reassure himself.
He wandered around the vicinity.
He discovered that the landing place seemed to be a plaza space.
In a certain direction, there was a deep passageway, possibly connecting to other areas.
After exploring the plaza and confirming there were no findings or anomalies, he headed toward the passageway.
The environment was eerily quiet.
The darkness seemed to swallow not only the light but also sound, sensation, and even life force.
While walking, Gauss unexpectedly felt a bizarre sense of familiarity.
Have I been here before?
Gauss searched through his memory.
He was certain that neither his original self nor he after coming through had ever been to a similar place.
Of course, that’s stating the obvious. Anyone who had visited such a strange place would certainly have a lasting impression, right?
Could it be the "Seahorse Effect"?
Gauss wondered, recalling a magazine article he had read in his past life.
The so-called Seahorse Effect, also known as "deja vu," refers to the feeling of familiarity with a scene that has not been experienced.
It occurs when the brain erroneously categorizes new scenes as "old memories," confusing them with the long-term memory area, thus creating this deja vu of having lived through this moment, which often occurs among people in their late teens and twenties.
This body just happened to be around 20 years old...
Gauss walked into the passageway.
He released a Mage’s Hand, letting it hover along his path.
The farther he walked, the more he could feel a peculiar pull coming from ahead.
The light from the White Bone Staff also subtly grew brighter.
Dispersing more of the darkness for him.
The corridor was not long.
The end was a very small room.
After thoroughly inspecting the entrance for traps, Gauss stepped inside.
The room was indeed small.
It was about a three-meter square cubic space.
In the center sat a simple black stone chair.
And lying silently on the chair, was a flawless white gemstone.
Other than this, there was nothing else.
"Thump thump!"
The moment Gauss saw the gemstone, he couldn’t help but feel his heart start to race.
Anyone who saw this scene would realize that the flawless gemstone was extraordinary.
But he still managed to calm his excitement.
He controlled the Mage’s Hand to pick up the pure white gemstone.
The Mage’s Hand touched the gemstone, fingers closing around it, successfully lifting it from the black chair.
There was no other movement throughout the process.
The Mage’s Hand brought the gemstone to Gauss.
"Let’s start with an Identification Technique!"
He raised his White Bone Staff close to where the gemstone was.
Just as he was about to concentrate and release the Identification Technique to see its essence, the staff suddenly trembled violently.
Then the pure white gemstone unexpectedly broke free from the Mage’s Hand, and before Gauss could react, it rapidly collided with the White Bone Staff.
"Crack!"
The pure white gemstone almost instantly merged into the White Bone Staff.
The next moment, the staff emitted an extremely dazzling light.
The light was too bright.
Gauss couldn’t help but squint his eyes.
And in his hand, the staff slowly became warm.
Then its shape slowly underwent some changes, from the slightly jagged bone-like form, it gradually became smooth and slender.
From the original thirty-something centimeters, it gradually extended, finally stopping at over fifty centimeters in length.
And at the handle, a piece of pure white gemstone converged and appeared.
The light slowly coalesced.
In the end, what appeared before Gauss was a magnificent, near-artistic Magic Wand!
My Magic Staff is complete!
Gauss held his breath.
This White Bone Staff had been obtained from the Half-Elf Mage Andri.
He always called it a staff because no matter how mysterious its origin, at most it was just a base, without a compatible staff core.
After Gauss acquired it, he tested many materials, but never found anything that could elicit a marvelous reaction with it.
Now, by a stroke of fate, he unexpectedly obtained a mysterious staff core that matched it.
Gauss waved the Magic Wand in his hand, unable to put it down.
It was indeed too beautiful.
And waving it around felt just right, as if it was part of his body.
"Boom boom boom!"
Before he could admire it further, the booming sound suddenly echoed beside him.
A sense of unease rose in his heart.
Wasting no time, he immediately slipped into a ’Ghost Form’, and then activated ’Enhanced Jump’ along with ’Monster Strength’.
His body turned into a light.
Guided by the map, he dashed toward the location where the rope had dropped.
His moonlight monitored the surrounding environment.
The darkness seemed to have been completely "activated".
Though it felt bizarre to say, it was his subconscious feeling.
The "darkness" seemed to be a life force, continuously growing denser and rushing toward him from all directions.
The surrounding ’Light Spell’ resisted strongly but was visibly shrinking rapidly.
Gauss bit down on the Magic Wand, grabbed the rope with both hands, and first deactivated Monster Strength to avoid pulling too hard and breaking the rope.
Without waiting for Serdur above to pull, he swiftly climbed upward.
He climbed quickly.
His body quickly ascended along the rope.
Finally, he managed to leap out before the darkness could completely engulf the Light Spell.
"Buzz buzz!"
The quicksand shook violently several times, slowly solidifying, and eventually returned to its original firm soil state.
Gauss propped himself up from the ground.
At this moment, he was covered in white, with two small curved horns on his forehead, his body entwined with pale energy, still holding a pure white Magic Wand in his mouth.
A glint of bewilderment shone in his eyes.
"Captain, what happened inside?" Serdur detected that something was off with Gauss.
In fact, as Gauss actively climbed, Serdur, holding the rope outside, could feel it, so he deliberately refrained from pulling, allowing Gauss below to exert strength to climb up himself.
"What happened?" Bewilderment flashed in Gauss’s eyes.
"Captain, first step out of this state," Serdur patted Gauss’s shoulder.