When Varian opened his eyes, he was quickly aware that he was in a new world.
The sky was high and blue. The land stretched into the horizon. But there was not a single person in sight.
‘Random teleportation, huh.’ Varian clicked his tongue.
The Trian ruin was big. According to some estimates, it was as larger than the earth itself!
So, even though there were probably tens of thousands of humans who were in the ruins, he seemed to be stranded in the middle of nowhere.
‘Tch. If the repulsion didn’t exist…’ Varian shook his head.
Random teleportation could be overcome if the people who were entering the ruins had body contact.
That was how teams entered and that was also how the so-called young masters and young misses of the elite families were able to have their bodyguards with them.
‘Still, it’s not bad this way.’ Varian smiled.
His goal was to find Sia. According to Enigma, Sia would arrive at a special place that’d appear near the end of the 45 days.
‘Almost 2 weeks left, what should I do?’ Varian’s lips curled up.
He looked around.
Unlike dungeons, the ruins had a certain fullness to it. As if the dungeons were merely an incomplete product while the ruin was a whole.
Varian couldn’t exactly pinpoint why or how.
Perhaps it was the crystal clear sunlight that came from the solar system’s suns that somehow hung in the sky.
Or maybe it was the rich and dense aura that was higher than any dungeon Varian ever visited.
Or maybe, just maybe, it was a feeling.
From deep within, there seemed to be a source telling him that this place was incomparable to the dungeons.
‘I can deal with this later.’ Varian shook his head and noted his surroundings.
He was currently at the edge of a forest. No, to be precise, he was still one step away from the forest.
On the other side was a vast plain and near the horizon, there seemed to be a mountain range.
‘Trees with violet leaves, plain of black soil, mountain ranges in the shape of a snake…’
Varian’s lips twitched and he quickly tapped on the bracelet on his wrist.
Whish!
A curtain of light popped up in front of him.
‘Violet Woods.’
The name confirmed his suspicions.
‘Hek.’ Varian glanced at his foot—it was still one step away from the forest. He couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
Earth Ruins was, for convenience, divided into three areas. Explored, Partially Explored and Unexplored.
Violet Woods was not only explored, it was infamous.
Varian clicked on the bracelet once again. Since modern technology was ‘banned’ in the ruins, humans made a star treasure that was capable of holding information.
But that was it.
Still, it was better than nothing.
{Violet Woods: Located in the Lios Sector. It is home to around a thousand level 7 Cassia trees, a special plant species.
These plants look normal and feel normal to an observer. But once you enter the forest, to be precise, once you step in, the nearby trees would morph into their plantae form.
They would spit poison, attack with dangerous vines, and even coordinate to kill you off.
No level 7 has come alive out of this place
PS: …..}
“Hiss!”
Varian stopped reading and carefully took a step away from the forest.
‘Thankfully, I didn’t enter.’
He turned away and with his back to the forest, was about to sprint away.
“Roar!”
Following a monstrous roar, the ground shook and the pebbles near Varian shot at him.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Varian raised his hand and a lightning wall blocked the stones.
Kaaa!
Yet, the mere force with which the pebbles shot at him caused the lightning walls to crack.
“Roar!”
The pebbles that were repelled shot again, but in the opposite direction.
“This…”
As pebbles combined one after another, a humanoid stone monster five meters high was standing in front of him in the blink of an eye.
‘Stone Giant.’ Varian rolled his eyes at the coincidence.
{PS: Stone giants tend to rest on the edges of the violet forest. They are very peaceful unless they perceive you to be trying to trespass into the forest.}
“…” Varian cursed his luck and rolled to the side.
Shaa!
From the area Varian was previously standing, rock pillars burst out. In fact, they only looked like rock but were as strong as tough metals.
‘Is there a mine underneath?’ Varian’s expression got worse, but he wasn’t really anxious.
‘I can fight a level 7 and check my own strength.’ Right when that thought popped up, his senses screamed at him.
Whoosh!
Lightning wings unfurled on his back and Varian dashed into the air.
Boom! Boom!
The ground exploded and from right under Varian, massive and sharp metal spikes shot out.
Whoosh!
Varian rolled in the air and avoided the metal spikes.
Shaa!
Air exploded as earth spears condensed from the ground and shot at Varian. They broke the sound barrier and reached him in the blink of an eye.
“Level 7 is indeed a different range,” Varian admitted. His powers, while close to this range, didn’t reach there quite yet.
But he didn’t give up.
Varian quickly used his telekinetic, lightning, and space powers to obstruct the earth spears.
Space around the spear solidified, an invisible force gripped the spear and a lightning wall blocked the spear’s movement.
Boom!
Huge shockwaves shot out as the earth spears exploded.
Space, telekinetic, and lightning forces cracked apart easily and the explosion force reached Varian.
As the force just touched Varian, space rippled around his body and he disappeared.
“Fucking hell.” Varian spat out blood as he appeared a few hundred meters away.
Even though he only took the partial impact of the strike, it still gave him a minor injury.
As if that wasn’t enough, after he teleported to another position, earth spears appeared in front of him in an instant.
Boom!
Varian tried to block the earth spears with his powers and teleported again. The earth spears too exploded again, right before his teleportation. This time, the damage he endured was worse.
In a few seconds, Varian was already three miles away from the violet forest, yet the stone giant kept attacking him.
Earth awakeners were supposed to be on the slower side, but this thing was not only fast, but it was also weird.
Whenever Varian was on the verge of escaping, it disintegrated into a pile of stones and rushed towards him.
Thus, even with teleportation, Varian failed to escape. But he wasn’t intent on escaping either.
‘I can test my limits and then get away with Boo.’ So, he switched his stance and took the offensive.
Three minutes passed, and Varian tried all the tricks in his arsenal.
His offense began as lightning spears, wind-crushing punches, space explosions, vine shoots, mind attacks, and telekinetic blasts.
It was single path attacks first, but he quickly combined them. From two paths to three paths, his attacks slowly turned more dangerous.
But as a price for a battle with level 7, his injuries kept getting worse.
Despite that, the cracks on the stone giant, albeit light, gave Varian enough satisfaction.
‘I am weaker than level 7s, but they can’t ignore my attacks either.’ Varian smiled and raised his hand.
Whoosh!
A metal spear appeared in his hand and he applied the force from his body path strength while also applying the force through his telekinetic path.
Simultaneously, he coated the metal spear with lightning and space armor.
And then, his mental power shot out and attacked the stone giant’s mind.
“Grehh” The earth creature growled but waved its hand.
Whoosh!
A terrifying earth spear shot at him.
Its mere speed caused the air to heat up and the shockwaves from its speed cut apart the ground.
But due to his mental interference, the momentum of the earth spear did slow down.
“Haa!” Putting all his strength into the spear, Varian hurled it at the incoming weapon.
Boom!
The metal spear and the earth spear clashed in mid-air.
Time seemed to still for a second before a huge shockwave enveloped the area.
Varian was blown into the sky while the Stone giant crashed to the ground from the shockwaves.
“Cough. Cough. That was a good match.” Varian wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
“Roar!”
The stone giant seemed to be enraged as it let out a terrifying roar.
Boom! Boom!
Two earth spears shot at Varian.
“Sorry guy, I had my fun. Gotta go.” Varian shrugged and called. “Boo, let’s go.”
“…”
There was no response.
“Boo! Emergency!”
“….”
“Boo?!”
Boom! Boom!