The inside of the cave was cold and damp, the air filled with the foul stench of a wild beast and the earthy smell of rock.

The last time, Raylo had only explored halfway before the awakening of the Earth-shaking Bear Dragon interrupted him, forcing him to retreat.

Now, with the threat gone, they could explore it at their leisure.

Led by Coal Ball, they advanced deep into the cave.

The deeper they went, the more distinct Raylo’s sensation became.

Ever since forming a contract with Coal Ball, his perception of Space Elements had grown much sharper.

He could clearly sense a faint, yet persistent and unnatural, distortion in the spatial structure here.

After about ten minutes of walking, the path ahead suddenly opened up.

At the end of the cave was a massive cavern, over a hundred meters across.

The cavern’s dome was high, with countless jagged stalactites hanging down. The ground was littered with the skeletons of various animals, along with some sparkling ores—evidently the "treasure" hoarded by the Earth-shaking Bear Dragon.

This was the lair it had occupied for many years.

However, the treasure didn’t capture anyone’s attention.

Their attention was fixed on the stone wall in the deepest part of the cavern.

Coal Ball stopped in its tracks. It paid no mind to the bones and ores, its gaze locked onto the stone wall. A series of suppressed, low growls rumbled in its throat, and its black fur stirred as if moved by an unseen wind.

It had inexplicably emerged from this very spot during its youth.

It felt a deep, soul-level familiarity with this place, but also an inexplicable fear.

Later, the full-grown Earth-shaking Bear Dragon had taken over this lair, driving it out while it was still young and weak. It had never been able to return.

Today, it had finally returned.

"ROAR!"

With that roar, an invisible wave of energy erupted from Coal Ball, spreading outwards!

"VMMMM!"

The space throughout the entire cavern trembled violently.

On the stone wall before Coal Ball, the air rippled as if it were the surface of water, spreading out in concentric circles visible to the naked eye.

Then, to everyone’s astonishment, the solid rock wall began to turn transparent and distort, as if it were a phantom.

An oval-shaped spatial rift, its edges shimmering with a dim, dark light, appeared silently upon the stone wall.

The interior of the rift was a void of pitch blackness. Yet within it, specks of light swirled slowly, profound and deep, as if containing countless stars. It emanated an ancient and immense Void Magic Power.

Unlike the fleeting fissure carved out by Coal Ball’s Space Slash, this spatial rift was exceptionally stable.

It stood there silently, like a door that had been opened and left fixed in place, connecting to an unknown beyond.

Raylo’s heart skipped a beat.

He understood instantly.

This wasn’t just Coal Ball’s childhood home; this stable spatial rift was the greatest secret of this place.

Coal Ball, the rare Space Young Dragon, had very likely...

...come from the world behind this rift, accidentally arriving in the Black Stone Mountain Range.

A stable, long-term spatial rift like this one connected to a world filled with uncertainty.

It could lead to a distant corner of their own world, or perhaps... to a completely new world, entirely different from the land beneath their feet.

The only way to know for sure was to cross through it.

Raylo’s expression grew more serious than ever before, but as he gazed at the rift, an endless tide of emotions swelled within him.

’A whole new world?’

The thought was like a spark, instantly igniting a wildfire in his mind.

Coal Ball crouched before the spatial rift, but it didn’t rush in immediately.

The little guy turned its furry head, a pair of obsidian-like eyes gazing at Raylo. A low, questioning "awooo" rumbled deep in its throat.

The sound held a yearning for its unknown home, a dependence on its newfound family, and a hint of a plea.

It wanted to go in, but it was asking for Raylo’s permission.

Raylo didn’t answer right away.

He looked to his two companions.

Moonlight, in the form of a large white cat, elegantly licked a paw. A flicker of curiosity shone in its pale gold, slitted pupils.

"A whole new world!"

The miniature Golden Dragon, Sun, spoke in a booming voice, his words filled with irrepressible excitement that echoed through the vast cavern.

"Raylo, what are we waiting for? Fortune, glory, and powerful opponents are all out there, waiting for us to conquer!"

It tapped the tip of its golden tail on the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust, its eagerness to get going perfectly clear.

For Sun, who had always been a wanderer, a stable life was far less thrilling than a challenging adventure.

Seeing the looks on his companions’ faces, the last wisp of hesitation in Raylo’s heart vanished.

His only regret was the Earth-shaking Bear Dragon they had just teamed up to kill.

’If I’d known there was a stable spatial rift here, I should have spared that thing’s life.’

’Now we’re missing a tough, thick-skinned scout to send in first.’

The thought was fleeting.

Raylo reached out, ruffled the fur on Coal Ball’s head, and made his decision.

"Go on."

With permission granted, Coal Ball let out a joyous roar. Its black form became a streak of lightning as it plunged headfirst into the spatial rift without a moment’s hesitation, vanishing instantly.

"We’re up," Raylo said to Moonlight and Sun.

He went first. The moment his body touched the dim light, he felt no resistance. Instead, it was like passing through a cool curtain of water, and he was easily swallowed whole.

Moonlight followed right after, leaping nimbly inside.

Finally, it was Sun’s turn.

Although its eight-meter-long body was much smaller than before, the oval-shaped spatial rift still looked like a tight squeeze.

The Golden Dragon carefully folded its wings and lowered its body.

Its head poked through first. As its golden scales brushed against the void energy at the rift’s edge, they let out a soft "SZZT" sound. The Golden Dragon flicked its tail in annoyance before finally squeezing the rest of its body through.

The experience of crossing through the spatial rift was far stranger than Raylo had imagined.

It wasn’t a simple case of everything going black and then bright again.

The moment he and Moonlight passed through the invisible ’door,’ the entire world seemed to twist.

He felt as if he’d been thrown into a boiling cauldron of paint. Kaleidoscopic streams of light frantically pulled and squeezed at his body and consciousness.

The concepts of time and space blurred, becoming meaningless.

He seemed to see countless fractured images flash before his eyes.

Burning stars, collapsing continents, bizarre creatures of every shape and form, and the endless, cold void.

He felt his body being broken down into its most basic particles, only to be forcibly reassembled an instant later by some invisible power.