Chapter 95 - Challenger Detected

The sea of red wrapped around Jiran with a feather’s pressure as he stepped through the portal. He couldn’t see far through the oscillating liquid and felt no sense of danger from its touch. His mind tried in vain to detect patterns in its movements but the fluid remained secretive, obscure, and undefinable.

Its embrace caressed his clothes in probing movements that shifted the fabric of his thick cloth shirt and pants. A tingle coming from his fingers holding the beast corpse caused him to look over his shoulder. He clicked his tongue when he saw the red sea rapidly dissolving the corpse. Within five seconds, it was gone.

Guess it’s not going to let me cheat by bringing in a portable mana-bank.

When the red sea found nothing else worthy of being eradicated, Jiran was spat out through another portal and into a familiar white-paneled room. A glow seeped from every panel, lighting the space so brightly, his eyes stung until they adjusted.

Challenger timer disabled

Ascension locked until challenge completed

Jiran stood unsteadily with the support of his manabody. The ninth point of concentration was less impactful than the previous two but only by a slim margin. He released a frustrated groan seeing his empty party window but knowing that was likely he quickly moved past the annoyance.

With a deep breath, he closed his eyes to review his maxed-out, tier three status.

NAME   Jiran of Feylon

RACE   Human

AGE   15

WEIGHT  1421 kg

STATUS  Intermediary User Interface / Active Dual Mind / Linked Manabody / Party System

TIMER  DISABLED

TIER   3

EXP   100/100

GROWTH  200%

MANA   9

CONCENTRATION 9

STRENGTH  180

AGILITY  180

ENDURANCE  180

DURABILITY  180

WISDOM  180

INTELLIGENCE 180

SKILLS

Molding - Mana Expansion lvl 78 > 80

Shaping - Elemental Compression lvl 56 > 60

Channeling lvl 28 > 40

Identify lvl 6 > 7

TECHNIQUES

Forcing lvl 37 > 42

Coating - A.E.A. lvl 63 > 67

Revelation lvl 4 > 5

True Origin of Fire lvl 23 > 25

True Origin of Lightning lvl 22 > 23

True Origin of Ice lvl 20 > 24

True Origin of Water lvl 13 > 19

True Origin of Wind lvl 11 > 18

Gas Manipulation lvl 19 > 22

Big Bang lvl 15 > 19

Acid Manipulation lvl 1 > 14

Metal Manipulation lvl 10 > 12

Light Manipulation lvl 13 > 16

Restoration lvl 22

Mana Transference lvl 23 > 31

OTHER

UNIQUE - Foresight

Designation Keynote Prime

Regional Dialect - Jeweled Isles

Interface Map

Sanctuary 0%

Well, the first step is getting used to my current strength.

As he moved in small, shaky motions, he reviewed his situation.

The moment the system detected I was ready to proceed, it sucked me into the red sea where I was checked for anything that could give me an unfair advantage. Then, it popped me into this safe room and gave me some time to adjust to my new power. The notifications, portal, red sea, and now this room, it’s all so structured. And structure implies intent. The relative fairness of it all leads me to think this is more of an aptitude test rather than a senseless challenge. There’s even a scoreboard for Fathers’ sake! And it’s all old as Madra’s balls too. This arena is something that’s been going on for a long, long time. I’d bet just about anything on it.

The thought of betting reminded him of Cameron and his snarky attitude. I think he’s rubbing off on me. Peer pressure is no joke. Better nip that, kid’s a loon.

Jiran sped up his movements, feeling more confident in his body with each passing second. He took a few minutes to examine the pure white walls, floor, and ceiling. Their softly glowing light crept into the edges of his vision with haunting passivity. The more he focused on the walls, the more pressure they exuded on his mind. There was something about the empty room that emitted a hallow sanctity, it crept up on him until he stopped looking outward and directed his attention in, away from the undefinable emptiness.

He felt like only minutes passed before he was able to jump and spin. Power coursed through every fiber of his muscles and when he flipped midair to land feet-first on the ceiling, his body condensed like rubber before he sprang to a wall. He flipped once more before bouncing to the opposite wall.

A short time later, he landed and ran through a series of deep stretches. With two smacks to his cheeks and a deep exhalation, he was ready to proceed. His heart hammered as he touched the small interactive screen on the wall. A shock traveled up his finger—barely a tickle. Jiran waited for several seconds but nothing happened. He touched the screen again and once more a little shock ran through his body.

What the heck? Last time a door opened right away. What’s going on?

“Hey! Open up, I’m ready!” The anticipation of the upcoming fight had already flooded him with adrenaline which caused the growl that escaped his throat to be far more bestial than civilized. He leaped back from the screen as a hollow, mechanical scratching sounded from it. The grating sound caused a notification to flicker in his status.

Unfiltered density detected purge excess density to proceed

Purge unfiltered density? Is it talking about my lunch?!

“You want me to… purge my lunch? Ugh, figures. No cheating allowed,” The scratching reverberated again after he spoke.

Unfiltered density detected purge excess density to proceed

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Give me a minute.”

I don’t have time to stand around arguing with a door. Niya's on a clock, so I'm on a clock.

Jiran walked to a corner of the room and did what needed to be done. He spat a few times to get the taste out of his mouth before pressing his finger to the screen once more. This time, when the shock ran up his finger and through his body, it flowed freely all the way through him before exiting where it entered. Four lines appeared in the solid wall next to him and slid away to reveal the expected door.

He stepped through to a grassy plain. hillocks escalated in elevation for about two kilometers before they transitioned into a single mountain. Dim light filled the air, coming from all directions at once. Goosebumps prickled his skin as something deeply unsettling about the entire area began to tickle at the edges of his aura’s range.

Between the grasslands and hills, there was a wall of dancing light that stretched high into the sky and seemed to wrap all the way around the hills and mountain like a ring around a finger. Even though the wall distorted what was beyond, he could see through it easily to a second wall that separated the hills from the mountain further in.

Maybe it’s three tests in one? Get through the grasslands to access the hills and then the mountain is the final test.

Jiran saw no beasts or movement of any kind. There was no wind, no trees, no bushes. The only life in sight was the grass that covered everything except the mountain and even that was lifeless, unmoving. The air was thin, and when he took a deep breath, he couldn’t detect even the slightest trace of density entering his lungs.

No density for me to absorb into more mana. First, the corpse I tried to bring, then purging my lunch, and now no density in the air. I’m getting the feeling this is going to be some kind of mana-based endurance challenge. I better do whatever I can to conserve my mana.

A hissing sound, like air moving through a tube, caused Jiran to look over his shoulder. The door leading to the white room slid shut to reveal more grasslands stretching out infinitely behind him. He waved his hand through where the door had been and felt only air.

This reminds me of that dome I woke up in last time. I can spare a few minutes to check.

Jiran pumped his legs, exhilarated by the feeling of immense power as he dashed away from the mountain. Sure enough, within fifteen minutes, he arrived at the edge of the dome. Once he was closer, it became visible. He ran his hand along its smooth surface as he sprinted parallel to it. It didn’t take long for him to determine it was gently sloping in a huge circle with the mountain in the middle.

Jiran took off at a brisk jog toward the curtain of light as it was the next obvious thing to investigate. He only made it a few meters before his brows furrowed and he came to a complete stop.

What the?

He stepped back toward the dome wall until it was only barely within the range of his manabody and waited. Without moving a muscle, within ten seconds, the dome was no longer within range.

Is the dome moving? No, my manabody is shrinking! The air is sucking the mana out of my aura!

Jiran pulled his manabody into his skin and held his breath while focusing on the sensations of his aura. He could immediately tell that the drain on his aura stopped the second it was contained within his skin. He also realized that something was even more strange with the air inside this space.

He already knew that the more density he absorbed, the heavier his body became, and his aura automatically distributed that weight into the ground around him. Typically, when he pulled his aura inside his skin, the intense weight of his body was somehow anchored to the ambient density. However, this density-devoid air had no anchoring effect.

Forcing also uses the air as an anchor to pull and push my body. Does this density-devoid air mean I can’t use forcing or fly with my manabody?

Jiran activated Forcing and wasn’t overly shocked when his mana failed to apply any push or pull to his body. Whatever the technique used to defy physics did not apply inside this dome.

So, normal air is saturated with density that mana and aura can latch onto. Maybe like a lattice or framework? Something like a monkey bar dome at a playground. I can usually push and pull off that framework with my mana to move around. But not here. Interesting. Could I try to latch onto my aura with forcing as a substitute?

Jiran tried to use Forcing one more time while focusing on using his aura as a frame for support but it once more failed.

Molding + 4

Forcing + 7

Woah! What the… Oh, right. Skill and technique levels are based on understanding. So my theory was correct and knowing another aspect of how mana operates game me a bunch of levels. The amount of levels makes me think the framework in the air can be considered a major aspect of how mana operates too! Dang, forcing only needs one more level to evolve. Oh well, without being able to use it here, I doubt I’ll get that last level any time soon.

Hmm, if my manabody can’t latch onto the air here, how am I not sinking?

Jiran pushed his fingers into the ground, or at least he tried to. The dirt was as unyielding as steel. Only the grassy layer on top of it supplied the illusion of soft ground.

Crazy. Whoever or whatever designed this place was certainly thorough. Enough screwing around.

Jiran blasted forward at his maximum speed. With his aura pulled inside his skin, he pushed off the ground all the harder, its power adding to his own. Within five minutes, he stood before the shimmering wall of light. Its surface reminded him of looking through a murky fish tank that randomly refracted light. He pressed against it with his fingers to find it as unyielding as the ground. A moment after he contacted the barrier, a series of flashing messages appeared in his status notifications.

Challenger detected

Authority needed to progress 0/100

Spawning combatants

Static filled the air as a deep buzz reverberated all around him. Jiran spun around to see multiple balls of blue energy gathering in the sky at what he assumed was the top of the dome. They were separated by about two-hundred meters, stretching out across the entirety of the plains to the dome wall. As the balls grew in size and power, they eventually exploded into bolts of lightning that struck the ground. Everywhere the bolts landed, a single large egg sack sprouted.

Within seconds, the eggs burst open and small hairy beasts crawled out before turning on the eggs with voracious hunger. Their mouths opened wider than Jiran would have thought possible as they ate. With each bite they took, the beasts grew exponentially larger until they were triple Jiran’s size.

The beasts were covered in thick, dark hair. Predatory teeth dripped saliva and yellow eyes gleamed with ravenous intelligence. Powerful shoulders and hips extended into long arms and legs, tipped with deadly claws. They were humanoid in shape with an overly large upper back. They stood hunched forward, clearly evolved to charge and pounce.

[Juvenile Shambler] (Tier 5) (3980/3980)

Roars filled the air as each shambler finished its first meal and grew to their full height. Jiran swallowed nervously at the thought of each beast rushing him simultaneously. A moment later, he sighed in relief as the beasts only seemed interested in trying to intimidate their neighbors. They beat their chests and roared at one another while throwing their bodies around in wilding motions.

After a few seconds, the nearest beast noticed him. Jiran watched in fascination as its yellow eyes expanded to an unnatural size. The beast's skull seemed to stretch as eye sockets grew to match the now much larger orbs of glowing light. Its chest shook and a lungful of air was pushed out through convulsing muscles, causing a sound similar to an excited gorilla.

With drool leaking from its mouth, the beast charged.