57 Expectations vs Reality (2/2)

Eric nodded and added: ”For starters, we can't stay here, we're wide in the open.”

”True, judging by how they captured all the other teams, I doubt those people will be friendly to outsiders.”

They were currently located on the outskirts of the city, which consisted mainly of farmland. There were grass fields filled with cattle as well as various plantations. The main entrance of the city was located about two kilometers from them. There were floating vehicles all over the city, but luckily they were pretty far away from the party. Looking around and scanning the best he could, Joshua didn't detect any nearby humans. This was reassuring as he was sure their clothing would stand out, especially Boris who was wearing full plate armor and was armed to the teeth.

”An option would be for all of you to head back to the caves for now, while I scout ahead,” Joshua suggested.

”You won't make it far, though. Your movement range is still limited to a kilometer from me, you won't even reach the entrance,” Catherine pointed out.

”True…”

”We could hide in one of those farms for now,” Lydia suggested.

”I guess, but what about the inhabitants?” Eric asked.

”Just put them to sleep with your magic, we won't harm them.”

”I suppose we can start with a farm, let me scout ahead,” Joshua replied.

Joshua dismissed his body and vanished from sight, apart from Catherine. He floated in the air toward a nearby farm a few hundred meters from the party.

'Luna's not detecting any life forms inside, the owners must not be home. Let's check inside.'

He flew right through the wall. Well, at least he tried… when he attempted to cross it, he hit himself head-first on a solid surface.

'Ouch! What the hell?' he cursed inwardly and knocked on the wall. It was solid and impossible for his ghost form to walk through.

'Strange…, I know the lab had similar walls, but I didn't expect a mere farm to be the same. Actually, if the walls had runes like back then, Luna should have detected them.'

Just to be sure, he had Luna scan the farm once more, but the system didn't detect any runes in the wall.

'Could the entire place be warded against spirits somehow?'

He tried to enter the ground or to traverse a nearby tree, but as he suspected, he couldn't move though.

'Freaking hell, what's the point of being a ghost if I can't even move through matter anymore?'

Since no one was around, he materialized his body once more and began to look for a more traditional way to enter the place. Soon enough, he found a key located under the doormat at the entrance.

'I can't believe that old trick worked… I crossed into another world, found a lost civilization and yet people are still unbelievably dumb about matters like this.'

Sighing, he entered the place. The first thing he noticed was that the area was rather dusty, someone hadn't come here for a few weeks it seemed. He notified Catherine and told them they could come over. In the meantime, he explored the house a bit. The level of technology seemed to be rather advanced, he spotted several familiar devices he had seen in the laboratory, like a rune based fridge and oven. A few photographs were present, showing a young couple, which he assumed they were the owners of the place. There was also a large screen present in what appeared to be the living room, Joshua assumed it was some kind of television, he would have to check it out later. There was a staircase leading upstairs as well as a door to a basement, but the party arrived so he stopped exploring for now. Cynthia was the last to enter and closed the door behind her. After looking around for a few seconds, they all sat down in the living room in order to have an improvised meeting.