Path to Transcendence

Chapter 503: Another Challenge Rift

As they passed by the flowing waterfalls, he couldn’t help but reach out and touch the water. The pressure was much higher than he expected, and he almost found himself yanked downward.

The water didn’t seem to have anything too special about it, though. From what he could tell, there was a potent bit of water mana infused into it, but that wasn’t surprising. Other than the purity of the water, nothing else stood out to him.

They eventually reached the cliffs, and he slowly lowered them. The floating island was much larger than he suspected. It was an entire ecosystem up here, and he could sense powerful pulses of mana radiating from the whole island.

He wondered if these mana pulsations had anything to do with how the island was floating. His senses picked up half a dozen other people on this island. At least half a dozen that he had detected so far. There could be more, but he would have to explore to figure that out.

Aubrey didn’t waste any time; she was already swiftly pacing toward the center of the island where the mana pulsations were originating from. He followed right behind, making sure he had some defenses around them. With how many ambushes he had already experienced, it was better to be prepared.

Julius noticed one person in particular probing them with their senses. It didn’t feel quite hostile, but they were being a little too curious for his liking. Funnily enough, it wasn’t Julius this girl had their eyes on. It would appear that Aubrey was the center of her attention.

Julius hasn’t made any moves to intervene yet. For one, she wasn’t being aggressive or hostile. If anything, it was a bit annoying feeling his perception pinged over and over whenever she looked in their direction. But annoyance wasn’t a reason to start shit.

He let her be and expanded his senses toward the center of this island. He wanted to see what was going on. He couldn’t understand how an island this large was being supported in the air. He didn’t sense any large fluctuations of gravity magic, but for all he knew, there was, and he was just blind to it.

Finally, he and Aubrey approached something interesting. A swirling portal of rainbow light floated in front of a small, worn-down shrine. This was where the pulsations of mana were coming from.

He frowned at the portal for a few moments. If he was right, this portal led somewhere —most likely a rift. But that didn’t explain the strange pulsations he felt coming from the portal and how it connected with the floating island. The energy he noted coming from the portal felt dangerous and a bit unstable.

Did the island somehow draw some of the mana from this portal to support its floating nature? Or perhaps it was the other way around. Maybe the portal was a byproduct of the floating island, and the pulsations he felt were the excess energy from the portal’s existence.

He bit his lip as he examined it in closer detail. It was hard to tell; not even his senses could pinpoint an exact answer. It was both confusing and extremely exciting. He wanted to find out the answer even more now.

A small group of people gathered around this portal. From what he could overhear, they were talking about what they thought this portal was. Aubrey and he got closer to these people. They all stopped what they were doing to watch their approach, but once they sized them up and realized they were there for the portal as well, they continued talking amongst themselves.

Apparently, one of the guys had a pretty good analysis skill and was in the process of deciphering what this portal was. Julius watched as the guy’s eyes flashed with blue light.

After a couple of minutes of this, it would seem the guy had finally finished his analysis.

“It’s definitely a rift of some kind, but the actual specifics are hard to determine. It resembles some of the Challenge Rifts I have come across, but I haven’t seen a rift this color before. Also, the mana radiating from the rift seems quite dangerous,” the guy noted with apprehension.

“Dangerous?” One person asked.

“Probably. To be fair, we are still in the Secret Realm. I can’t imagine that a hidden rift like this one would be safe,” the analyst said.

“Okay… So who wants to go first?” A girl asked them all.

Not a single person moved or raised their hand. Nobody seemed willing to volunteer to be first. Julius didn’t exactly blame them for that either. The portal was emitting powerful and somewhat volatile mana.

However, before he could even realize it, Aubrey was already walking over to the portal. He chased after her, shaking his head. He had the same idea, but she was way more impatient than he was and didn’t want to wait.

The girl saw them approach and held out an arm to them. “What do you think you are doing?”

“Didn’t you just ask for volunteers?” Aubrey asked her. The genuineness in her voice must have confused the girl because she quickly backed off with a frown.

“Let them be, they can test out the rift for us,” a tall blonde-haired guy stated before turning to look at the guy who had analyzed the portal. “Will it disappear if they enter, or will it stay open?”

“It should stay open. That’s why I think itʼs a Challenge Rift or something similar. Multiple instances should be allowed to run simultaneously. We don’t have to worry about them stealing the opportunity just because they enter first. I am more worried about what is inside and if itʼs worth it. We can’t be sure that something of value is inside, we don’t have much time left, and we still need tokens to advance,” the guy with the glowing blue eyes stated.

They all started to discuss the risks and benefits of heading inside, while Julius and Aubrey stood near the portal, looking at each other awkwardly. It was like these people had already forgotten about their existence.

“Do we just go?” Aubrey whispered to him.

“Yeah, I mean, they basically gave their permission,” he whispered back.

She nodded and started to walk over to the portal with Julius right on her tail. The iridescent coloring of the rift was unique; he also hadn’t come across anything quite like it. He was more interested than cautious, and he believed that Aubrey shared similar feelings.

He turned to her. “I don’t know if we will be transported together, so good luck,” he said to her with a grin.

She grinned back at him and extended her hand. He grabbed a hold of it, noticing that she squeezed it harder than needed. But he was alright with that. Then they both reached out to touch the portal.

He looked over at her to make sure they both received the same notification.

Would you like to enter this Challenge Rift?

Notice: Once you enter you will not be able to leave until you complete the Challenge.

He could tell from her smile that she had indeed gotten the same notification. They only needed to share one single look before they both accepted and felt the familiar tugging sensation as the rift pulled them inside.

***

You have entered a Challenge Rift. By doing so, you have agreed to attempt the challenge and will not be able to leave. The only paths to leaving this rift are to overcome the Challenge or death.

However, if you are to succeed in completing the Challenge and show your merit, you will be rewarded for your efforts.

The challenge for this rift is for you to endure.

Good luck.

Julius looked around at where he had spawned and didn’t see Aubrey. He had been hoping that the rift would allow them to take it together, but it would appear that wasn’t the case. As much as he was worried about her, he needed to focus on his own challenge.

He didn’t know what death might mean in the Secret Realm. They were already informed that death wasn’t permanent, but this was a Challenge Rift and a separate space entirely. He didn’t know if the rules were still in effect here.

He also didn’t have any plans to find out. He hoped that Aubrey didn’t either.

The location he had spawned in was beautiful. From what he could tell, he was standing in the middle of a much more maintained shrine on top of some sort of tall mountain. The clouds were so close that he could practically reach out and touch them.

The sun was hovering on the horizon, glimmering on the polished stone beneath his feet. The pillars of the shrine were made of a sunset-orange colored crystal, with the sun refracting on their surfaces, creating a truly magical sight.

He didn’t see any notifications about selecting a difficulty or anything like that. The one he had entered in Blumand had three difficulty levels to choose from, but it appeared like it was a special feature for that specific rift.

He also didn’t know if he liked the eerie message. Endure could mean many things.

He was getting worried about what kind of challenge it would be as he waited. He wondered what kind of monsters this challenge would have him fight. Was it another wave-type rift, where each wave got progressively stronger?

His curiosity was steadily increasing, and he was thankful when he finally sensed something change around him. A massive explosion of mana echoed around him. The orange crystal pillars were flashing brightly, and he could feel shockwaves with each pulse.

Julius frowned and began looking around the shrine. He attempted to climb down the steps, but something invisible prevented him. It was like running into a brick wall.

He tried to force his way through, even going so far as to smash a [Void Strike] into the invisible barrier. Still, nothing happened, and he was unable to break through. It would seem that the challenge had something to do with staying within the shrine.

He walked back to where he had spawned, then found a small bench to sit on as he continued to examine his surroundings. The message he got replayed throughout his mind. What could endure mean? What was he going to endure?

However, as he sat there, he started to feel a little bit uncomfortable. The energy he felt coming from the crystals didn’t seem to be dying down. If anything, it felt like it was increasing by the second.

Not only that, but a strange field had been established all around him. It was reminiscent of a domain, only much more complex than anything he had ever experienced. It was this particular mixture of several energies and concepts that he didn’t quite understand.

He didn’t believe he would understand even if he had several days to examine it.

That wasn’t what worried him, though. What worried him was the gradually climbing pressure he started to experience. This “domain” continued to be fed by the energy these crystals were releasing. He had no idea where this energy was coming from. He doubted it was from the crystals themselves. His senses were sure of at least that much.

The discomfort he was feeling was slowly climbing into the territory of unpleasant. His skin felt like it was hovering over a bonfire despite there not being any fire mana present. His aura and mana experienced similar sensations.

Each movement he made with his aura and mana caused him extreme discomfort. Furthermore, his energies also didn’t respond as quickly as they usually did, which made him wary.

He was starting to get a bad feeling about this Challenge Rift. Initially, he had believed that the rift would be a simple rift where he would defeat some monsters or do something similar, but the more information he gathered, the more he realized he was wrong.

This wasn’t a rift where he could just beat up some monsters.

No. This rift was much worse.

If his gut was correct, and it usually was. This whole Challenge Rift was basically going to turn into a torture chamber.