After a while, they finally arrived at the location indicated on the map.
There, Brand found a hut that was slightly larger than the average-sized ones. It was the Essen family's hut.
Brand never expected it to be in a good state, being in such a secluded place, where even the other villagers had moved out.
Naturally, this hut was abandoned as well. However, the sight of it was dreadful.
Essen's hut was cleaved in half. It was a clean cut with a diagonal slash.
Brand approached the hut with caution, together with Seraphine, who was relaxed. She was humming and whistling like this was just a walk in the park.
Inside the hut was a mess. Most of the furniture was broken, and Brand could see the open sky from within.
"This was terrible. Since when did this place become vacant?" Brand asked.
"It looked like it was raided by humans instead of monsters." Seraphine shared her observation.
Seraphine then flew around the room herself, as if searching for something. At the same time, Brand activated his cyborg eye to scan the surroundings.
As always, a layer of red tint covered his vision. He didn't search for anything in particular.
It was not like he would find some genealogy book that has a complete record of Brand Essen or his family, right?
'Nah, I don't need to know his full family tree. Diary would be a good find though.'
Brand was having fun. This felt like treasure hunting. The game he used to play with his sister. Hiding toys and plushies for each other to find.
While he looked around, there was a peculiar feeling. His vision should have been fully tinted red.
However, the colour of this particular place has a normal colour, as if his scan was blocked, but only in that direction.
He walked in that direction. It was normal. Nothing special there.
However, as he approached it, he felt a faint vibration from beneath the ground. Maybe there was something in the underground?
He looked around once more and even deployed his beetle scout to check if anyone was approaching.
After he reconfirmed a few times, he activated his Scarab Shell. His Scarab Shell skill would not only increase his defense, but he would also gain the tremorsense ability, which enabled him to detect vibrations underground.
'Come to think of it, this was the first time I did a full body activation of Scarab Shell.'
Brand deliberately saved the transformation as a trump card. He preferred to keep it a secret. This was what his father had always advised him as well.
'Never show your full hand.'
A man should have a few cards up his sleeve. The element of surprise would be a decisive factor in whether to win or lose.
Black Scarab Shell covered his whole body, from head to toe, even his face. It was as if he was a masked vigilante. The transformation was swift, and after it was done, his perception of the world shifted.
He felt overwhelmed at first, with the constant input of vibrations. His sensation of touch was enhanced so that he could feel not only the ground but also deep in the ground as well.
Whether it was organisms or the sands. The sensation was so vivid that he felt they were crawling on him, as if the ground were part of him.
However, these new sensations were foreign to him, and he felt overwhelmed. He groaned in discomfort as if he was sinking into the quicksand, drowning slowly.
"—"
"Brand!!!"
"Start by focusing on yourself first!" Seraphine urged and guided him.
"Narrow the range."
"Focus on your foot."
It lasted for a while before he learnt to tone down his senses. When he did, he felt as if the ground was a pool of water.
He could feel ripples of waves constantly hitting his foot and bouncing off him.
"This was insane… There were still too many vibrations, although it got better." Brand shared how he feels.
"You would get used to it," Seraphine replied, and Brand nodded.
He had to get used to it. Brand closed his eyes and let his sense of touch guide him. He slowly tapped his foot to send ripples of vibration out.
He then locked his senses to follow the ripple.
It moved, it bounced, and it returned.
Brand was slowly adding more taps to send more ripples. He was searching for a signal. He was aiming to form a cognitive map through the reflections of waves.
It didn't take long before he found something peculiar. It was too distinct. The ripples of vibrations he sent seemed to be absorbed by some unknown object.
Then he felt a stronger vibration coming from it. As if it was calling out to him.
Brand slowly walked in the direction, while his eyes were still closed. He could feel the vibrations getting stronger and stronger. Then it erupted!
As if he were standing at the epicentre of an earthquake, though this was only because his sense of vibrations was enhanced.
From Seraphine's point of view, Brand was just shaking his hips. But he was feeling nauseated.
'Time to work.'
Once Brand managed to pinpoint the location with the strongest tremor, he pierced his hand into the compacted earth flooring, tearing the earth apart.
He continued to dig deeper, until…
—Thud...
His hand came to an abrupt stop. It was complete silence. He clearly hit something, so he expected a force feedback at the very least. But there was nothing.
Even when he was clawing against the earth, he could hear a ragged sound.
'Did he just hit thin air?'
When he removed his hand to check, he saw a small patch of light among the rubble. He rubbed off the dirt and sand and found a round shiny object.
Strangely, for an object that absorbed vibrations, he could feel the object shaking, as if it were excited.
It was a silver metallic shield with a gold trim.
On the trim was a small engraving.
'Brand Essen'