...
After the gray-white light dissipated, the first sensation Duke felt was the strange texture beneath his feet.
He stood in the center of the basement, still atop the specially prepared circular silver-white metal transport plate, identical to the one in the Flower Sea Plane Manor basement, down to the precise direction of the connection rune engravings.
However, the texture underfoot was not the smooth hardness of metal, but a coarse, gritty sensation as if stepping on dry gravel.
He glanced downward, his pupils slightly constricting.
There was ash on the ground.
Not a thin layer of dust, but a thick gray-white powder that could cover the soles of his shoes, evenly spread over the entire basement tiles like snow.
The ashes were so thick that his shoes sank nearly a centimeter when he stood on them, producing a faint rustling sound in the dead silent basement, which sounded particularly clear.
