Chapter 41: CH. 41 | The Ring of Eternity

Following Thalia’s plan, they decided to leave the city guild and head toward the nearest magic shop. There were plenty of magic shops near the guild, but Thalia explained she had a regular one she trusted.

The woman explained that her go-to magic shop had a full selection of skill cards, both general skills and class specific ones, all of good quality.

Theo listened, growing impatient to try one out for himself, even though he’d likely only be able to buy general skills there.

The place sat quite a distance from the city center, down the south road, taking the first turn at the intersection, until they finally reached the magic shop.

Beyond skill cards, they also sold magic accessories to help adventurers out.

"Lizzy!"

"Lizzy?" Theo asked.

"Her name’s Elizabeth, but I like calling her Lizzy."

"Makes sense," Theo answered, looking forward again, "Though an outsider like me might have assumed she was some kind of lizard race."

"Just a second!" a voice called out from inside the shop.

Before long, the woman stepped out and greeted Thalia. The two of them hugged each other like old friends reuniting, Theo and the others watched Thalia closely.

"How have you been? Are you doing okay? I heard Denis disappeared, is that true?" Lizzy asked.

Thalia let go of the embrace and explained that the two of them had failed their mission and gotten separated in the forest.

What Thalia said might have sounded believable enough to her, but not to Theo.

Theo could clearly see that Thalia was putting on a masterful act, one convincing enough to win Lizzy over completely.

Her talent for acting is honestly beyond question at this point.

"That’s a relief, looks like you’ve got a new party now. Who’s the leader?"

Thalia smiled and introduced Theo to Lizzy. The two of them shook hands briefly, exchanging smiles.

"I’m Theo," Theo said.

"I’m Elizabeth, most people call me Elis, but your friend here is the only one who calls me Lizzy," Lizzy answered.

"You two seem really close, I’m impressed," Theo said.

Lizzy gestured off to the side, inviting Theo and his party to browse the magic accessories they needed, along with whatever skill cards they wanted.

Thalia and the others headed to the cashier’s counter to buy skill cards, but Theo didn’t follow.

He stopped in his tracks, catching sight of the magic accessories displayed along the wall, along with a basket piled high with earrings, hair ornaments, necklaces, rings, wands, gloves, and brushes.

Since the items were just piled together carelessly, Theo couldn’t make out what each one was actually for, like the earrings and rings.

As far as Theo could tell, the items in that basket were probably just random accessories sold off cheap.

He turned and asked Lizzy, "Are these accessories in the basket priced differently?"

Lizzy turned and nodded. She explained that the accessories in the basket were unidentified items, their functions unclear, and their origins unknown.

She’d priced each one in the basket at ten copper.

"Don’t you want to buy a skill card, Theo? I’ve seen quite a few that I think would suit you," Thalia said.

"I’ll get to that later," Theo answered, "I’m still curious about something in this basket."

Theo crouched down and dug in deeper, searching for something that might turn out useful, since one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, as the saying goes. Even so, he had no real idea what he might actually find.

While he sifted through the wooden basket, his eyes suddenly locked onto a ring, a blend of black and gold, with a strange golden engraved pattern etched across its surface.

Curious, Theo reached for it, but the moment his hand touched the ring, the world around him shifted in an instant.

[Ancient Authority Detected.]

[Authority Compatibility: 100%]

[Authority of Mystic Eyes recognizes the artifact.]

[Eye of Eternity Ring has found its rightful owner.]

Theo’s eyes took in the system panel appearing right in front of his face, right as the world around him began transforming into something entirely different, shifting continuously as time passed.

"Eye of Eternity Ring? What is that?"

He watched the ring hover in front of his face, the space around it saturated with a golden mana energy that felt overwhelmingly powerful. His curiosity drove him to reach out and touch the ring.

Theo managed to grasp the ring, holding it in his hand, slipped it onto one of the fingers on his right hand.

In an instant, thousands of scenes from events Theo had no knowledge of flashed clearly before his eyes, as if the world around him was shifting in step with each new scene.

At first, Theo watched it all calmly, feeling no effect from any of it. But the longer he took in the sequence of events, the more his heart grew uneasy and his head began to pound, filled with hazy, fragmented memories of those events.

He raised a hand to his head and let out a loud scream of agony after witnessing all of it. He even collapsed to the ground, curling up and screaming for someone to make the projection of those events stop.

"Theo...?"

"THEO?!"

His consciousness snapped back, and he found himself back in the magic shop, with Thalia right beside him, gripping his hand. Theo’s breathing came in ragged gasps, his body drenched in sweat, his heart pounding wildly.

"What happened to you?" Thalia asked.

"What was that..."

Theo froze, realizing the ring was now sitting on his right hand’s finger, exactly as it had been in that strange world he’d just experienced.

He tried to steady his breathing, calm his racing heart, and wipe the sweat from his temples.

"Did something happen to me?" Theo asked.

"I don’t know," Thalia said, "But you started screaming and begging for something to stop. What actually happened?"

He glanced to the side and saw Lizzy, Lily, and Aya standing behind Thalia, all wearing the same confused expressions. Theo let out a short breath, gently massaging his temples.

"I don’t know... I suddenly found myself in this strange world that kept shifting, showing me things I don’t know about."

Thalia narrowed her eyes, her brow furrowing at what Theo had just described, "I don’t understand."

Theo pushed himself up and took a long breath. He started acting normal again, as if the whole thing had never happened. Explaining it to them wouldn’t help anyway, since they probably wouldn’t understand.

It would be far better for Theo to figure out the ring’s power on his own first, then tell them everything once he actually understood it. For now, he was clearly fine.

"All right, if you say so," Thalia said.

"Thalia," Lizzy said, "your party leader is a strange one."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?!" Theo asked.

"You were screaming like a maniac while putting on that ring. That’s obviously weird and confusing, since as far as I remember, that’s just some useless ring with no effect whatsoever."

Thalia laughed softly, then turned to look at her friend, "He might be strange, but he’s a thousand times better than Denis."

Theo listened to their conversation, then followed them back to the cashier’s counter to continue buying skill cards.

He still stood in front of the accessory shelf for a moment, his eyes fixed on the ring now resting on his finger.

That system panel told me this ring is somehow connected to the Authority of Mystic Eyes.

I need to figure out exactly how this ring works, and what those events I just saw actually meant.