Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 101

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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101. Abyss Garden (3)
“No windows, no handles either.”
The mansion’s front gate that we’d finally reached had no handles visible. Instead, a keyhole was carved into the center of the door.
“It seems the only way inside is with a key.”
It appeared to be a Gate mechanic.
In cases like this, even swinging a pickaxe at the mansion wouldn’t break it. The mysteries of a Gate couldn’t be solved by brute force alone.
“Right. There’s nothing like a handle on the inside either.”
If there had been a handle, I could have vaulted over and opened the door from the other side.
But it didn’t matter now. I had the Caduceus Key.
“Does it really open everything?”
“An S-rank item should at least do that much.”
“Yeah, the rank doesn’t lie.”
Mister chuckled softly while gazing at the mansion.
“I think I understand the Gate’s intent now. A survival-type with limited time. You fight, create the key, and enter inside.”
“Exactly. The interior is either a safe zone or contains a hidden area.”
“Given that it’s an alchemist’s mansion, it’s probably the latter?”
“We’ll find out once we go in.”
It was possible this place could be a safe zone. Perhaps the puzzle outside was meant to escape danger.
The reason I thought this way was because of Chun-bae.
‘Will the alchemist appear? How strong?’
-I don’t know. The alchemist I’m aware of likely won’t appear. They’re an enemy you couldn’t face at your current level. Even this garden has been adjusted for difficulty.
‘To what extent?’
-They were infamous. There’s a high probability they won’t appear, but if they do, they’ll be adjusted to match your level.
Either way, I pushed the Caduceus Key into the keyhole.
“Oh?”
The size clearly didn’t match, but the entrance adjusted itself automatically until it fit perfectly with a click.
Clunk—.
And the door opened quite easily. Thieves were usually the ones good at this sort of thing…
“Our Guild won’t need a thief.”
“Huh? A thief?”
Min-jae startled and repeated back, apparently mishearing Mister’s words.
“A thief, a thief, you fool. That’s a disparaging remark about the profession. If anything, you’re the suspicious one. You hear what you’re thinking about…”
“Huh? Me? No way. Mages are also an unpopular profession.”
“Hmm. Suspicious, I tell you.”
“Focus. Let’s go in.”
Since we needed to enter the mansion, I cut short their banter. At first, my spatial awareness detected nothing.
What appeared first was a stone structure in the center of the mansion.
On both sides behind the stone structure were staircases leading to the second floor, with corridors on either side.
My gaze was drawn to the stone structure.
“That looks like a fountain, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Around the circular platform in the center, six pillars rose like the vertices of a hexagon, matching the platform’s height.
Unlike before, there were no patterns or levers, making it difficult to discern anything.
“Doesn’t seem like we’re supposed to build anything.”
“Right. There’s a key inside the central circular platform.”
Still, through my spatial sense, I could faintly perceive the key’s presence within the platform.
The key sat in a groove carved to match its shape, and a stone lid covered it perfectly, sealed tight.
“Can’t we pull it out through the Subspace?”
“The gap is too narrow. The Subspace needs a certain amount of space to open.”
If it were hidden behind a wall somewhere, I could connect two Subspaces and retrieve it like a portal, but…
This situation made that impossible. Lee Shin-hee, who had been observing the surroundings, spoke up.
“Isn’t this the kind of structure where you find mechanisms throughout the Mansion to unlock it?”
“Like the Fountain puzzle outside?”
“Yes. Six, six. It matches perfectly. Considering this is a survival-type Gate with minimal time restrictions, there are probably annoying monsters around the mechanisms inside the Mansion.”
It was an accurate assessment.
“Should we just break it?”
“It won’t break. It’s set by the Gate parameters.”
Mister shook his head as if fed up.
“Damnably complicated structure.”
“Tell me about it.”
Five hours time limit, survival-type.
Moreover, the plant monsters outside had the property of regenerating as time passed.
With monsters continuously spawning and attacking, we’d need to solve all these puzzles to unlock the hidden passage.
It was a rather troublesome Gate structure.
“Doesn’t matter for us, though.”
The Fountain where we find clues among plants to craft a key, and the hidden mechanism inside the stone structure concealing another key.
One Carceus Key could solve both in a single stroke.
“Right, we had that key, didn’t we?”
“Of course. We were lucky.”
To be honest, when I first obtained the key, I was delighted thinking “So the Subspace gives out S-rank items too,” but I wondered when I’d ever use it.
A universal key is useless without locks, after all. Besides, considering the nature of my abilities, I could break through most locks anyway.
“We might not have been able to crack it without the key?”
“Exactly.”
Min-jae answered Mister’s comment. Both of them were weak when it came to intellectual tasks.
“Tch, why are you making that face like you disagree? You’re part of our group too.”
“Don’t draw lines, hyung. That’s just how people naturally stick with their own.”
These people were eerily perceptive. As I stood there thinking that to myself, they struck right at the heart of it.
“Me?”
“Who else would it be if not you?”
No, I really am smart, aren’t I? I looked at Lee Shin-hee with an aggrieved expression, but she averted her gaze, seemingly suppressing a laugh.
I need to teach this guy some discipline one of these days.
“Let’s stop the idle chatter here. Shall we search for the keyhole location right away?”
“Sounds good!”
“Yeah, let’s find the hidden room first!”
* * *
“Those armor-like things over there. Don’t they look like Living Armor?”
“That’s probably right.”
“It’s a monster that’s hard to distinguish from being strong, but it’s not moving right now?”
“Maybe it moves once we activate the mechanism to obtain the key? Or perhaps when we get close to it?”
We continued our discussion as we headed straight up to the third floor. As the saying goes, it’s darkest under the lamp—the key could have been on the nearby first floor, but it didn’t matter.
My spatial awareness range had expanded to about forty meters by now. The third floor would let me sense the entire Mansion.
“I’ve got it. The fifth floor is the end, and I can sense all the way to the spire jutting upward.”
“Is the hidden room in the spire?”
“No, it’s not there. Surprisingly, there’s nothing at all. Just a moment.”
I don’t usually concentrate on all the information my spatial awareness provides. It consumes too much mental energy.
It was difficult at first, but through constant training, I’ve grown accustomed to it.
It was similar to how, even when many things fill your field of vision, only what you’re focusing on captures your attention.
“Hmm.”
Now was the time to focus entirely on my spatial awareness. I didn’t need to pay attention to everything in the Mansion.
The edges on both sides were slightly out of place.
Since I could verify that by moving left and right, I decided to set it aside for now.
I closed my eyes completely and examined the range I could sense in detail.
‘There are moving creatures in the rooms, and they look strange. Could they be Chimeras?’
On the second floor, I sensed a treasure chest, and from the way something was writhing inside, it seemed to be a Mimic.
Since it resembled an alchemist’s workshop, there were indeed many rare monsters, just as Mister had said.
In one corner of the monster rooms on the first, second, and third floors, I also sensed a lever. It was probably related to the structure on the first floor.
Occasionally, I sensed hidden spaces within rooms, but they were all traps.
‘Huh?’
As I was ascending floor by floor with my spatial awareness, I felt something out of place near the painting in front of the fourth-floor stairs.
There was a minute space in the frame. A space just large enough for a keyhole.
“I think I found it.”
“Already?”
As I concentrated with my eyes shut, my companions, who had been silent as mice, opened their eyes wide.
“There are monsters in the rooms and I can sense a lever too. Chimeras or Mimics? They seem stronger than the ones outside.”
“That’s probably because they’re deeper in the Mansion.”
“We can fight them if we need to, but let’s head to the hidden room first. It’s right around the corner. Fourth floor.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
At the news of finding the hidden room, Mister grinned widely and took the lead up the stairs.
Upon reaching the fourth floor, Mister opened his eyes wide and swiveled his head left and right.
“Which way do we go from here?”
Min-jae raised his hand excitedly as well.
“Mister, want to make a bet? I’ll take left.”
“I was going to pick left too….”
“Then I’ll take right.”
“Coffee bet after we leave the Gate?”
“Deal.”
The two of them chattered away excitedly, while Lee Shin-hee watched them with a wry smile.
It was the expression of an older sister observing her mischievous younger brother.
“Min-jae. Hye’s got that smug look on her face again.”
“Mister, no way? It’s either left or right anyway, so surely….”
Tsk tsk, how naive.
Now seemed like the perfect moment.
The ideal time to show these spatial-sense-deficient fools the gap in our abilities.
“You’re both wrong.”
“Pardon?”
“But there are only left and right paths visible? Or is there no path at all?”
“Straight ahead.”
At my words, Mister and Min-jae turned their heads. Just as they said, the only visible paths were left and right.
However, there was a painting placed against the wall blocking the front.
“You’re saying it’s in this painting?”
“That’s impressive… but wait, this isn’t about being smart, is it? It’s about spatial awareness.”
“Ugh, be quiet. Just examine the painting.”
The painting depicted winged angels stirring a ladle in a golden urn filled with liquid. I suspected it was a painting that reflected the alchemist’s taste.
Mister stared at the frame with wide eyes.
“I can’t find it?”
“Here.”
I pointed to the left side of the painting, toward the ladle held by the angel. There was a very small keyhole, but it was covered by hardened paint matching the painting’s colors, making it difficult to spot.
Even an expert at finding hidden pictures would need considerable time to locate it.
“Wow, they hid it this well? Are they insane?”
“Exactly. If it weren’t for you, Hye, even if we found the key, we wouldn’t have found this.”
Min-jae was right. What good would it do to search the entire mansion and obtain the key?
It would have been impossible to examine each frame like this. The mansion wasn’t small, and we would have struggled to reach it in time.
But one thing was certain.
The more difficult something was to find, the better the hidden reward would be.
“There should be something decent then.”
I inserted Caduceus’s key into the keyhole. Just like before, the key took its proper form on its own.
Honestly, I was anticipating this too.
‘Where exactly is the hidden reward?’
What puzzled me was that there was no hidden passage or space behind the painting.
If there had been, I would have noticed it sooner. So something else opens somewhere?
And so, with a click—.
The moment I turned the key, the painting suddenly came alive.
“Whoa!”
“Gasp!”
The guild members standing before the painting stumbled backward in surprise. I was startled too.
The Angels hadn’t actually leaped out of the painting. They were moving within it.
“What is this….”
Bubbles began rising from the golden liquid inside a pot with fire burning beneath it.
The Angels were stirring that pot with a ladle.
And when light flashed from the pot, the Angels poured the liquid into a small vial and extended their hands toward us.
And precisely, only the vial containing the golden liquid flew out of the painting.
“Huh?”
The moment I caught the vial without thinking, the painting lost its vitality and returned to its former state.
Exactly as it was before, except the liquid that had been inside the pot was gone.
And in my hand….
[Elixir (S-Rank)]
I was holding an S-Rank item once again.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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