Lake of Illusions.
One of the many, many explored locations in the Trian Ruins.
From all the possible options, this was the one most suitable for him.
Varian took a breath and looked at the lake in front of him.
It started at his feet and ended at the horizon. He had to turn around to see how wide it stretched.
The lake’s blue water glittered like pearls under the sunlight.
Varian focused his sight on the lake and tried to find anything unusual.
None.
It was perfectly still, peaceful and beautiful.
But that was a mere illusion.
There were definitely awakeners on the lake and they were fighting fiercely.
Varian could feel the heat waves, violent winds, and space fluctuations even at the edge of the lake.
While he couldn’t see them, he knew what they were fighting for.
Even with everyone else being invisible, the thing at the center wasn’t blocked by the lake.
It shone with dreamy silvery light and looked like a precious jewel.
The key.
‘I have to get it, but.’ Varian looked up.
Just a few hundred meters above the lake, a plain red surface was floating, stretching several miles both in length and width.
His space sense spread out and Varian saw the whole ‘thing’.
A giant red monster. It looked like a snake but had giant wings that resembled those of an eagle. Its face was similar to that of a lion.
It was currently sleeping.
But with each exhale, it created a fire tornado that danced in the vast desert Varian was currently in.
According to the scientists, this place wasn’t a desert previously. It was in fact a very fertile plain.
But once this creature ‘slept’ here for a century, a desert was born. The only thing saved was this lake.
Varian turned his gaze back to the lake.
His space sense spread into the lake, but it disappeared without a trace.
“As expected, I can’t find the situation inside. But the biggest opponent would only be peak level 7.” He was sure.
It wasn’t that level 8s and level 9s didn’t want to come here, but they couldn’t.
“Hrrr!”
As the red creature snored, another fire tornado brewed into existence in the distance and scorched the desert.
If the level 8 and level 9 awakeners even enter the ‘range’ of this huge creature, it’d wake up.
This was tested and proven countless times.
And each time, the creature took the lives of those that woke it up. Even level 9s weren’t spared.
But level 7s and below were ignored by it.
When asked ‘why?’, the experts gave this answer.
‘It treats level 9s like annoying trouble, level 8s like flies.’
‘Then level 7?’
‘Like bacteria.’
Varian covered his face. ‘Level 7 and still bacteria.’
Shaking his head, he stepped towards the lake.
There were low-level 7s, mid-level 7s, high-level 7s, and even peak-level 7s here.
“This is the best location for me. I must get the key.” He jumped onto the lake.
Whoosh!
Instead of drowning, Varian stood on the water. This was a special quality of the lake. People couldn’t drown in it even if they wanted to.
Before he could appreciate the novel experience, a white fog engulfed him before disappearing abruptly.
Varian was still on the lake’s edge and nothing seemed to have changed. But he knew that he was currently under the ‘illusion’ of the lake.
He looked around to check out the awakeners. But he could only see for a hundred meters. But he did catch a glimpse of an awakener’s back before it disappeared.
Not just that, he couldn’t even hear anything beyond his hundred-meter bubble.
‘Senses are being tampered with.’ Varian dashed forward.
As an explored area, Illusion lake was well known to everyone. Besides the illusion, there was one more dange—
“Roar!”
A human surfaced from the lake in front of Varian.
No. It wasn’t exactly human. While the face was that of a middle-aged man, its whole body was covered in blue-scaled armor. It emitted an aura that said, “I’m fishy, literally.”
It was a full-armored merman.
“Urgh.” Varian wasn’t surprised at this merman’s appearance. He raised his hand and slapped the creature’s head.
“Roar!”
The merman quickly created a water shield, but it broke upon contact.
The creature’s head exploded, spilling out blue brain matter. Varian winced and decided to not do this again.
“I need to keep going.” He moved three hundred meters without encountering any human.
But he did find two more mermen. They were slightly stronger than the previous one.
However, they were still low-level 7.
Zap! Zap!
The lightning bolts fried them.
As he moved further and further, Varian’s kills turned more and more efficient.
The lake’s radius was almost fifty miles and Varian was barely even 1% in. So, he increased his speed and rushed towards the center.
Since the lake was too big and they had their senses restricted, Varian didn’t encounter any other humans for almost two miles.
Most likely, he just passed by them without noticing them.
But the strength of mermen kept increasing. They were still low-level 7, and were thus one-shotted. However, they started to appear more frequently and started group attacks.
Shuaa!
“This fucking merman breeding lake.” As he severed the head of the fifth and final merman of the group, Varian muttered in disgust.
As an explored area, Illusion lake’s characteristics were well known.
The kill count of mermen would be counted every 24 hours. The one with the most kills would get a reward that would help them with water, fire, and mind paths.
Out of the forty-five days, the ruins remained open, there were also grand tests for the cumulative kill of 15 days, 30 days, and 45 days.
The longer the period, the more precious the gifts.
Shuaa! Shuaa! Shuaa!
Varian was three miles in and was yet to encounter any human. But he kept swinging his sword at the mermen.
After a few more minutes, Varian crossed the sixth-mile mark.
And encountered his first human.
“Oh boy.”