The evening of 34th, Trian Month.
The first day of Charles' journey was coming to an end.
Meanwhile, it was the second for Varian.
Compared to Charles, he estimated that he needed one more day for the journey.
So, he entered the valley right on 33rd.
Now, the second day was also ending for Varian.
Once he entered the valley, the rather narrow valley expanded and multiple paths came up.
Varian randomly picked a path and went ahead.
Like every other path, this too had the same natural beauty.
A serene river, evergreen trees, and colorful flowers.
Under the moonlight, it formed a picturesque scene rivaling that of a fairy tale. But instead of the soft white moonlight, it was an eerie red moonlight.
As the world lit up under the red light, Varian stopped by the river. He crouched on the pebbles and looked at the river's surface.
His face, no, his disguised face was clearly reflected in the blue water.
It was the face of a young adult in his 20s.
Varian touched his cheeks.
Originally, Boo managed to make him some skin masks. Even level 7s couldn't find the flaws in that disguise.
But ultimately, it was Enigma's disguise treasure that he always used.
However, it was broken by Julius during the Gamma Expo.
Without him asking, Enigma gave him another face mask.
It was equally good relative to the previous one. Even if level 9s checked him with their powers, they wouldn't be able to determine it was a disguise.
"If you keep doing this, I'll have to sell my own mask to fund you." She joked! It was rare.
But Varian had no problem replying. "Really? Then I'll work hard."
"I'll tell Sia you're working hard to see the face of another woman." She threatened, but in a mischievous tone that even she didn't notice.
"Heh," Varian smirked. "She won't mind if it's a 500-year-old grandma."
"Say that again!" The temperature of the room dropped to a freezing point.
"Oops! I gotta go!" Varian escaped.
Recalling their conversation, Varian shook his head and smiled.
His reflection on the lake, however, didn't shake its head.
The red moonlight reflected on the lake, but the eyes of Varian's reflection shone blue.
Splash!
A hand reached out from the lake and grabbed at Varian's throat.
Shuaa!
The moment the hand appeared out of the lake, the surrounding temperature dropped.
When the hand reached Varian's throat, it changed into a claw with long nails and was about to pierce his windpipe.
"This again?" Varian gripped the hand.
It was cold, slippery, and pale blue. It was even a hand.
Swish!
The wrist of the hand turned into water and traveled to the palm from which they joined the long nails.
Whoosh!
The nails elongated in an instant and touched Varian's skin.
Ting!
The ice blue nails made the sound of metal clashing the moment they touched his skin.
The hand stopped at the unexpected result.
"Hree?!" A shriek came from the river.
"At least you tried." Varian sighed and grabbed the blue hand.
Twish!
His hand turned into a branch and forcibly absorbed the water.
Then, he looked at the river and raised his hand.
An invisible force gathered in his palm. It was the telekinetic force. Varian folded it into a mass.
With each passing second, it grew heavier.
At first, it was a soccer ball. Then, it was a bike. Soon, it was a car. Before long, it was a bus.
Finally, it reached the weight of a mountain.
"Hm, this will be enough," Varian muttered and pushed his palm to the lake.
Boom!
The river was forcibly split!
On either side, there was water, but there was a huge gap in the middle.
ᴡ ᴏᴠʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛʀs ᴀʀ ᴘᴜʙʟsʜᴅ ᴏ ᴀʟʟᴏᴠʟ ꜰᴜʟʟ.
In that gap was a strange frog.
"Grok!" It stared at Varian with an open mouth.
This man escaped its assassination so easily. His strength was on a different level!
As the creature's instincts informed it about its impending death, its senses told it not to worry.
The water on both sides was about to join. The creature knew this and cheered happily.
"Kree~"
Once it's in water, it could escape easily.
In other words, it could escape before Varian came here.
Boom! Kacha!
But Varian didn't even move an inch. He simply snapped his fingers and the space around the frog-like creature blasted into pieces.
"Grok!" It croaked and created a water shield around itself. Then, it quickly elementalized itself into water.
The chaotic space currents blasted its water shield to pieces, but they deal only a little damage to the elementalized frog.
"Heh." Varian tapped a finger into the air.
Zaaap!
A lightning net was cast around the water and began evaporating it.
"Grok!"
The frog-like creature couldn't bear it and turned back from its physical form.
As the lightning started to burn it down, the frog attacked Varian with its final blow.
Shuaa!
A surge of water mana shot out from its body and enveloped Varian before freezing him into a block of ice.
The frog itself was burnt to ashes.
Suaa!
The river re-connected and everything seemed usual.
Except for the block of ice at the banks of the river.
Inside the ice block, Varian closed his eyes and channeled his own water mana outward.
But it was incredibly difficult for two reasons.
One, he was currently trapped by the water mana of a high level 7 beast, even though it was a novice.
Two and most importantly, the aura pressure here.
This entire valley had some sort of pressure on his aura. Since aura was everywhere in his body, the same pressure applied to Varian.
Compared to high gravity or solidified space, this was worse.
Because it directly affected the ease with which Varian could channel his auras.
It was like dragging a bag that had an additional weight attached.
This aura pressure prevented many awakeners from using their full strength and resulted in their deaths.
But.
'This is an excellent training opportunity.' Varian's eyes shone in the ice block and his water mana slowly seeped into the ice block.
Bit by bit, it covered the whole thing.
This seemingly normal operation was much harder here.
Whoosh!
Varian's water mana clashed with the water mana in the ice, the water mana that was left behind by the frog.
It seemed like a tug of war was about to unfold between the two mana.
Even though the water mana of the frog had no more source, due to the inherent strength of the frog, the mana itself was high in both quality and quantity.
On the other hand, Varian's water mana lacked in both quantity and quality.
But.
'I know how to deal with this kind of stuff.' The experience came from clearing his memory fog daily.
So, Varian didn't wage an all-out war. Instead, he started chipping away at the sides.
When faced with an unmoving, unintelligent enemy, this was an excellent method.
Sssz!
The ice began to slowly melt.
'More!' Varian could've broken it apart had he wished to, but instead, he chose this approach for a good reason.
Whoosh!
Mana mobility was hard under this pressure. But instead of despairing, Varian used this to hone his water mana by pitching it against foreign water mana.
To give an analogy, it'd be like exercising to increase muscle, but under a higher, and tolerable gravity.
Sssz!
When the last bit of ice melted, the efforts paid off.
[+500 Xp]
Varian sighed in relief.
His current level wasn't enough.
'Sia might be a high level 7. I need to at least be equal to her.' Varian clenched his fists and vowed to himself.
It was then—
"Roar!" "Kroww!" "Dreh!"
A weird-looking tree with its branches waving around, a humanoid monster made out of pebbles, and a flower that gave off lightning arcs surrounded him.
Varian laughed.
"This is gonna be fun."