by Yuri Ajin
On the other hand, everyone on Kai’s team was classified as a genius (including Ailenx, who got eight point four points).
Therefore, the aristocrats were no match for him and Shacks, as they could easily fight four opponents at once.
Finally coming to his senses, Septus looked around. The first person he saw was a member of his team hiding behind a large stone. For some reason, he was wearing a suppressor collar.
Turning his head slightly to the left, he saw three corpses of his subordinates.
“What’s going on here?” With a splitting headache, Septus began to rise. “Why are my servants dead? How did the prisoners destroy the traps? Where’s Bane?”
After a bit, the sounds of battle finally reached him. Turning around, he saw eight figures. Four members of Bane’s team fought against their recent captive, as well as some masked elf. And a little to the side, Bane was chasing the very mortal they had been trying to trap.
“Fuck...” Septus shook his head, not believing his eyes. “How’s this possible? A mortal human fighting against an Exorcist, who’s also the heir of a great family... Am I out of my mind?”
Trying to calm the current of ki in his body, which became chaotic after the traps exploded, Septus suddenly heard two powerful strikes. The shockwave almost knocked him down.
An’na and Malvur tried to break inside the barrier.
“Monstrous power...” he muttered. “We underestimated them. These two aren’t weaker than my cousin. Well, in that case, it’s time to show them what it means to be the heir of a great family.”
He started rummaging through his Spatial Ring.
Found it! He smiled, and the next moment he jumped to the side.
“Not so fast,” Shacks said. Having dealt with his opponents, he noticed that Septus had regained consciousness.
“It’s too late!” Septus grinned, teleporting to the side and summoning a decorative dagger from his Ring.
Shacks dashed toward his opponent, but he was too late. Septus cut his palm with a Royal-rank artifact, after which it glowed and crumbled to dust.
In the next moment, the world was covered in darkness.
***
His ears were ringing like mad. His body was weak.
Kai barely regained consciousness. Trying to put the pieces together, he remembered that he was fighting Bane. As expected, the elf was a talented cultivator, so it wasn’t easy to defeat him. However, Kai was still dominating their duel. His Sword Forces were stronger. Coupled with the Yin concept, which strengthened his attacks, his bloodline, which helped him to fight on an equal footing, as well as the Cold Void and the Field of Superiority, which fettered the enemy’s strength, Kai quickly began to beat him.
Bane became an Exorcist quite recently, so he didn’t have time to master enough techniques for his new level of strength. In addition, he lacked experience in battles with strong opponents.
However, no one came out as a winner in that fight because they were affected by a powerful gravitational blow. Both Kai and Bane were instantly driven into the ground.
Kai managed to protect himself, and the incredible power of regeneration helped him to recover before anyone else. Looking around, he realized that he was in a huge crater, in the center of which was a maniacally laughing elf. Septus was so impressed by the power of the artifact, that he couldn’t contain his emotions.
Where are the others? Kai scanned the area around him.
The first person he saw was Malvur. For the first time since they met, the giant revealed his true size in order to protect An’na. She was well hidden under him and suffered almost no damage, but Malvur did. Although he looked unharmed, Kai’s energy vision allowed him to see all the internal injuries he had suffered. He needed a healer.
A little to the right, Kai saw a sphere of water frozen above the ground, inside which Ailenx was hiding. He used all his ki to protect himself, and he managed to come out unscathed, which couldn’t be said about Shacks, who was the closest to the artifact at the moment it went off. Although he managed to create some kind of protection, it wasn’t strong enough. He survived but he was more injured than Malvur.
Most of his internal organs were damaged, his limbs were broken, and his right arm was twisted in an unnatural position. He was on the verge of life and death.
“Shit!” Bane suddenly spat out. He was furious. His life was saved by a single-use amulet, which he had on him since childhood. “Are you nuts, Septus?! You fucking moron! You nearly killed my servants and me! You’ll answer for this, I promise. But first...” Squinting, he looked at Kai.
However, before Bane had time to do anything, there was a powerful crash. An’na, Ailenx, Kai, Bane, and Septus turned to look at the entrance of the cave, which also suffered the consequences. It sounded like a rock was crumbling but it turned out that space itself had cracked!
Wait... Isn’t there a passage to a hidden pocket dimension...? Septus mentioned something about it... Bane remembered. Just don’t tell me...
He didn’t finish the thought. A loud sound of glass breaking made him freeze.
A second ago, the mouth of the cave led into a small empty underground tunnel. However, when it collapsed, unable to withstand the pressure of the artifact, it opened up to another dimension. The sun was shining there, the birds were singing, and the scenery looked so tempting...
No one had time to realize what had happened when suddenly everything around got sucked into the passage. The gravitational pull was so powerful that no one was able to resist it.
After a couple of minutes, everything stopped. The split sealed up, leaving behind nothing that would hint that there was a crack there earlier, connecting the real world and an artificial pocket dimension of massive proportions.
The cultivators entered the Aive Hidden Valley. They were the first participants of the Cloud Trial who managed to do that in the last few decades.
Chapter 5
CLOUD TRIAL — AIVE HIDDEN VALLEY
Tossing and turning, Ailenx struggled to understand what was happening. He knew that something was wrong, but there wasn’t much he could do. He wasn’t fully conscious yet.
The next thing he knew, he was splashed with cold water. He instantly woke up.
“Finally,” Kai said, trying to see Ailenx’s eyes hidden behind the mask. “Are you okay? We need your help.”
“Kai?” the elf muttered, coming to his senses. “Where are we? What happened?”
“We got sucked into a pocket dimension. We’re safe now, but we need your help to get out of here. How are you feeling?”
“All right, I suppose. I don’t seem to be hurt...” Ailenx sat up. “But I have almost no ki left.”
“That’s not a problem.” Kai nodded, and then, without explaining, put his hand on the elf’s stomach.
Ailenx was about to ask what he was doing but stopped, feeling warmth spreading through his body. Prana filled his Source unbelievably fast.
It’d normally take him about seven hours to restore his ki supply fully. If he had Azure Crystals or alchemy, he could speed it up to three. But now, it took mere minutes.
“How did you do that?” he asked, amazed.
“Special technique. It doesn’t matter. We need to help them,” Kai replied and pointed behind him.
Ailenx turned around, finally noticing Shacks and Malvur lying unconscious nearby. They both looked terrible, especially Shacks, who not only felt the full force of the artifact’s attack but also had much less protection than Malvur.
“Heavens...” Ailenx whispered, seeing the state they were in.
“We’ve given them Healing Potions and pills, but this isn’t enough,” Kai said. Though he didn’t feel much because of the Cold Void, he was still concerned if his friends would survive.
He had learned that Ailenx had healing abilities when he did his research on the Shattering Strike Sect members who potentially got the mark of the Cloud Abode.
Ailenx was a versatile cultivator who specialize
d in the element of Water, both for attacking and healing techniques.
Without another word, the elf quickly got to the wounded and sat down in a lotus position between them. Spreading his arms and moving his palms above his barely breathing teammates, he waved a complex energy pattern and then filled it with the Forces of the Path of Water.
“Rainbow Healing Bubble,” he said, activating the Gold-rank technique.
Two streams burst out of his palms and quickly covered his teammates’ bodies. A few seconds later, both of them were inside water spheres, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow.
“Tell me if you need more ki,” Kai said. He observed how Shacks’ unnaturally twisted limb slowly returned to normal.
Ailenx nodded.
“Malvur’s condition isn’t as serious as it seems. He’s a giant, so he has a kind of natural armor. Even if we didn’t help him now, he’d wake up in a couple of days and he’d recover with the help of alchemy,” he explained. “But Shacks’ condition is extremely bad. I’ll do everything in my power, but I think he won’t be back on his feet without a real healer. I can only stop him from dying, but I can’t completely heal him.”
“What can you tell me about his injuries in regards to his further development?”
“Fortunately, there’s no threat to his cultivation.” Ailenx smiled. “If he heals soon, these injuries won’t affect it in any way.”
“I see.” Kai nodded, confusing the elf.
“Are you always this cold?” Ailenx looked at Kai. Meeting his empty gaze, he shuddered, feeling as if a shard of ice touched his soul. “Forget it...” He shook his head. “How about you tell me where An’na is? I don’t see her anywhere.”
“She’s not far from here. She’s installing a signal array and surveying the area. We’ll have to stay here for a while. We should recover, and then go look for a way out. I’m not sure if anyone will even look for us here once the trial ends. We don’t even know if this area is a part of the test zone.”
“And how are we going to find a way out?” Ailenx asked. “From what I see, this pocket dimension is massive, which means that it’ll be difficult to make a passage in it. Its creator clearly put a lot of effort into it. Getting out may take much more than three days.”
“I agree. Luckily, I know how we can get out.” Kai showed him an ordinary-looking silver ring, on which he had spent almost all the money he won on bets.
[Space Uniting Ring]
Rank: ???
Access denied. Your stage of development is not high enough.
Quality: Low
This artifact is able to leave special spatial marks in selected places.
Remaining marks [8]
Features:
❖ At the moment of activation, the artifact connects two selected marks, creating portals. After they are used, the marks disappear.
❖ It is possible to set restrictions for portals so that they only allow certain auras to pass.
Conditions:
❖ The maximum distance for linking marks should not exceed 100,000 miles.
❖ The artifact can be used by any creature with a sufficient amount of ki.
“Was that what you used to lure me into the trap before the Trial started?”
“Yes,” Kai admitted.
“So, you can create a portal then?”
“Not really. I need a mark on the outside for that. I have one just in case, but it’s all the way back in Darden. If we move there, we probably won’t have time to return to the mountains in time for the end of the trial.”
“What should we do then? How do we get out?”
“The same way we got in.”
“You want to create a crack? A passage?”
“Yeah, the idea is to put maximum pressure onto a minimum surface area. If I create a portal mark, the energy will act as a battering ram, trying to burst outside. That might be enough, but maybe we’ll need to hit this space with Royal-rank techniques to make sure. The problem is that the dimension would try to protect itself after our first try, so we need to find a place where this pocket dimension connects with reality, and try to open a portal there.”
“Why don’t you just create a portal at the place through which we got here? Shouldn’t the space be damaged there already?”
“You’re right.” Kai nodded. “But that place is up there.”
“In the sky?” Ailenx asked, looking up in surprise.
“Something like that. That isn’t a real sky, it’s just an illusion created by the Forces of this tiny dimension. In any case, it’s very high above us. And I can’t fly.”
“So, we’re looking for other weak points. Can you do that?”
“Yes.” Kai nodded.
He couldn’t rely on his knowledge of the Forces of the Path of Space, since their level wasn’t high enough for this. However, he had something else that could help him.
Energy vision.
Thanks to it, he could see the entire energy network of this artificial space, which constantly circulated along it, keeping up its existence. He planned to use this to trace the points of contact between reality and the Hidden Valley.
“Well, then I’m counting on you. In the meantime, I’ll concentrate on helping these two,” Ailenx concluded, and then closed his eyes, focusing on healing.
Kai had to stay vigilant as they were still in an unfamiliar place. Aside from An’na, who was out exploring, he was the only combat-ready member of the team.
About an hour later, he heard a rustle from the jungle. An’na revealed her aura, spreading it toward them so they wouldn’t mistake her for an enemy.
“I see you weren’t in a hurry,” Kai said, giving her a sidelong glance.
“It’s just that this place is so interesting!” An’na said enthusiastically. “There are so many things here that I’ve never seen before! You need to check it out...” She stopped speaking after noticing Kai’s icy gaze. “Okay... I played around a bit...” she added, turning away, embarrassed. “Sorry...”
“What happened to your arm?” Kai asked, noticing a small wound on her right forearm.
An’na immediately covered it with her hand.
“Oh, it’s nothing.” She shrugged. “I almost fell into a trap.”
“Aristocrats?” Kai asked, immediately assuming it was Septus and Bane.
“No. It was a natural array. There seem to be a lot of them in this jungle.”
“What did you see? What lives here? What’s out there?”
“Lots of things.” An’na smiled and then told Kai about everything that she had found.
She first climbed a hill — a huge moss-covered statue of some sort — from where she could see most of the jungle. Nothing stood out much, but she still noted a few places of interest. As it turned out, there was a volcano here, which wasn’t visible from their current position. It was in the east, and they were in the south.
In the west, there were swamps, which she didn’t want to explore. As for the north, she didn’t get that far. The only thing she could see was a foggy area in the center, but it was difficult to spot anything inside it from afar.
As for the monsters, she didn’t run into any during her exploration. Only natural traps.
“But the island seems very large,” she added at the end.
“The island?”
“Yes, right, I forgot to mention that. I saw the edge. It seems we’re on a huge rock hovering inside a spherical pocket dimension.”
“I see...” Kai said absentmindedly. “Okay. Go, get treated, and rest up. We’ll be leaving in a few hours.”
“Where are we going?”
“To look for a way out of here.”
***
“Do you have anything to say, old man?”
“Not much. I’ve seen many different pocket dimensions, but this is the first time I see one with life inside. It doesn’t just exist but it keeps itself alive. No master can create such a dimension. This was all probably created by divine powers.”
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“Really? And what can we expect to find here?”
“Anything...” Rune’Tan shrugged.
Several hours after arriving to the Hidden Valley, Kai and the others finally left their temporary camp. Now they were walking through the jungle, not worrying about traps since Kai’s energy vision could locate them, allowing him to safely deactivate them with the help of his energy-controlling ability.
Ailenx, Shacks, and Malvur, were moved to the Night Space since Kai didn’t want to interrupt the treatment. Therefore, Kai and An’na were the only ones looking for the crack in the pocket dimension.
“Let’s go this way.” Having determined the direction, Kai pointed west.
“But that’s where the swamps are.” An’na grimaced, slowing down. “Maybe you can find another place? I don’t want to walk through mud.”
“If you don’t want to, don’t go then,” Kai replied without turning around.
“You’re such a jerk sometimes.” An’na pouted but still followed him.
After two and a half hours, they finally reached the swamps.
“There are still a few miles left. I recommend you follow my steps exactly,” Kai said, continuing on his way.
“Okay...” An’na sighed.
They weren’t rushing. Kai needed time to determine the path along the energy channels. Besides, if they used movement techniques, they could easily attract the attention of local monsters or, worse, the surviving aristocrats.
Kai was looking at the intertwining energy channels, many of which for some reason converged somewhere deep beneath the swamp, when suddenly something powerful almost hit him on the back of his head. He managed to put his hand up at the last moment but he was still tossed aside. The creature rushed at him but An’na decapitated it. She immediately had to turn to other creatures that began to surround her.
After landing in the mud, Kai saw the attacker. It was a naked woman with gray skin, partially overgrown with moss and grass. She, or rather, her body, approached Kai as if it wasn’t missing its head. Glancing to the side, he noticed a small, thin tentacle connecting the nearest body of water to her back.
