Chapter 193: Shadow Box Transportation

Was that really possible?

Anything could be stored inside one’s inventory, with the only exceptions being if it was alive or sentient. Kaelen had confirmed that his shadow alone possessed neither of those qualities when he used it to scout the floor ahead of Black Rose and the Stronghold Lords.

If that were truly the case, could Kaelen send his shadow in a box, and when it was taken out at the other end, could he switch places with it temporarily to be in other lobbies?

That sounded like breaking the rules. Then again, there were no rules about it—yet. And Kaelen had come to discover that any rules that didn’t apply in the Tower could be used as a loophole, just like when he brought Lysandra in with him and used the Fate-Rewriting Pill without any consequences.

Where the problem lay with the idea was with the Herald of the lobby he was sneaking into. Would that Herald detect the presence of a foreign candidate, and if they did, what would they do with him?

That wasn’t exactly a problem, as Kaelen could always switch back to his lobby before things escalated.

It wasn’t the best idea, but it was worth trying.

He took out one of the treasure chests he had gotten from the second floor, now empty after the items inside had been upgraded and moved to his inventory.

Then he placed it on the bed, open, and controlled his shadow to detach from his feet and move into the box.

It wasn’t hard to make it fit, and using his absolute dominion over shadows, he structured it in a way that made it look like the shadow of the box itself when opened and made it move according to the light streaming inside.

He paused to test out the theory. It was solid.

He wasn’t satisfied, though.

Felix had also claimed that the trade lines were being watched, and even if the shadow might be hard to detect automatically without ringing any bells, it was best not to conceal it further.

He took out a few of the lowest-tier items in his possession and tossed them inside to make it look like a normal treasure chest before he closed the lid and locked the hatch to make it look brand new.

All that was left now was to store it inside his inventory successfully, then ship it to someone in another lobby. That was the hardest part of the idea, which would either decide if this was a worthy loophole or a dumb idea.

He placed his hand over the treasure chest and exhaled slowly to calm his mind and try not to think about what was actually inside. When he blinked, the treasure chest was gone.

He hurriedly checked his inventory, and sitting there was the familiar false treasure chest. This made him break into a smile, and without hesitation, he messaged Lysandra.

He didn’t trust Felix enough to test it with him, so he decided to do it with the person he trusted. If it worked, he could then inform Felix of the success.

Me: Hey, are you alone? Do you have a room to yourself?

She didn’t reply or even open the chat for a moment.

Kaelen stared out the window to see that it had gotten increasingly dark outside, with a twin blood moon hanging from the sky.

The lobby was eerily silent now, and it was only normal for candidates to be asleep with a new day ahead of them, especially those who planned on entering the second floor at first light.

[Lysandra sent you a voice chat]

Her voice came across in a whisper.

"Not really. I’m sharing a room with Chloe, the girl who sent you a message on my behalf earlier today. She’s snoring inside, but I’m on the balcony. I was cultivating before I saw your message."

Kaelen replied, "Oh, I’m sorry for disturbing you, then."

"No, it’s okay. Do you need anything?"

"Yes, actually. Is your Herald around?"

"No, why?"

"I’m going to send you a package right now. I’ll explain in a moment," he said and selected the false treasure chest and transferred it to her.

Lysandra, who was sitting cross-legged on the flat top of the balcony’s wooden rail, received the transfer request and accepted it immediately.

She took it out of curiosity and stared at the box for a moment but didn’t open it.

"A treasure chest? Why did Kaelen send me this? Is he gifting it to me?" she mumbled to herself when a voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Ah, so it works..." Hearing Kaelen’s voice startled her and made her tip over on the wooden rail, but Kaelen caught her from behind and helped her maintain her balance and climb down from the wooden rail.

She was stunned and stared at Kaelen for a long moment before she forced herself to ask, "H-How did you get here?"

"I shadow-stepped from inside the treasure chest," Kaelen replied as he moved closer to the wooden rail to run his eyes across her lobby.

It was identical and no different from his. The only thing that gave it away was that Kaelen’s room was on the other side instead; otherwise, he might’ve had a second thought after nothing changed around him except that Lysandra was now standing before him.

Lysandra was still dumbstruck as she stared from the unlatched treasure chest to Kaelen standing there physically. "H-How did you...? Is this within the rules?" she asked in disbelief.

Kaelen turned to stare at her. "What? Sounds like you’re happy to see me."

"No, that’s not what I meant. I missed you," she hurriedly replied. "I’m just... it’s just bizarre, and I’m worried you might get into trouble for this if it’s against the rules."

"Well, there are no rules against it. Just like there were no rules against bringing you with me. But here we are. I also took precautions to make it look like a normal treasure chest, and the fact that you couldn’t even tell there was something off with it means it’s foolproof enough," Kaelen replied with a smile.

"Well, I... just thought it had your scent. I never imagined you’d put your shadow inside."

"Then let’s hope everyone thinks it’s my masculine scent. Besides, what could possibly go..." Kaelen stopped himself before he finished the sentence.

It was clear to him by now that each time he said that sentence, something in fact went terribly wrong. But before he could relax at escaping the jinx, he felt a pair of piercing gazes on him.

"Well, well, well... what do we have here?" The Herald’s cold voice came from above.