The next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of nowhere. Darkness stretched out in all directions, enveloping me in total pitch blackness. Even though I activated the lenses of my enchanted glasses to see in the dark, nothing showed up. Night vision, infrared, none of those modes worked. Despite feeling solid ground underneath my feet, I felt as if I was standing in endless space.
One thing was for sure. This was no longer the Dragon's Valley. My companions were nowhere to be seen, and even the titanic dragons were gone. There was also no sign of the rocky spikes that served as the formation that they named the Dragon's Teeth.
I recalled Jaden's words. This was another dimension, according to him, a pocket of space severed from the real world. Then again, what we called "real" was probably subjective. To the denizens of this dimension, this was probably their real world.
However, I had yet to see any of the inhabitants of this world. All I could see was darkness. I could sense a great amount of mana saturating the place, so dense that it almost existed as fluid matter. My hair stood on their end and I shuddered as a tingle ran through my body. Drinking in the massive amounts of mana, I couldn't help but feel intoxicated.
No. I had to compose myself. This could be a trap.
Ragios's late warning echoed in my mind and I narrowed my eyes. Even though I glanced around cautiously, the fact remained that I couldn't see a single thing.
"Hurry up and show yourself already," I complained, looking around. I was half-expecting a noble, beautiful woman with long, glossy black hair and pearl-white skin to appear, her fine figure clad in a long, black dress, but she didn't show up.
You know, the embodiment of Darkness, who would request that I address her by her name, Rakshasa. Then she would inform me that this was the Black Phase, a dimension where darkness reigned over all else. At least she didn't abruptly drag me in here while I was fighting someone halfway. That was stupid as hell, and I would blame the gods for unnecessarily dragging the story out for no bloody reason, not when I was so close to killing a certain idiot with my cheat skills.
As if such nonsense conveniently (or frustratingly) happen in reality. Way to disrupt the pacing.
Anyway, I wondered if I should call this place the Black Phase, Qliphoth. Then maybe I would receive the power of darkness and learn how to wield the chains of darkness or some bullshit like that.
"Shut the fuck up."
I rolled my eyes. Of course not. This wasn't some trashy story about an edgy guy with the Ex Skill Fixed Damage who went around slaughtering everyone with his aura of instant death and gaining a harem. Besides, the purpose of this Dragon Trial was to determine whether I was worthy of inheriting a type of dragon magic. What the fuck did Chains of Darkness and whatnot have to do with dragon magic? Nothing, that's what.
That said, I had no idea what to do. Was I supposed to wander about the darkness forever? Come on, at least give me some sort of clue! The total darkness and silence was driving me insane! I felt like screaming into the void.
Then I spotted something in the core of the abyss. At first, I thought I was mistaken, but after adjusting my glasses, I saw something in the center of the void. A supermassive sphere, which somehow reminded me of a black hole.
That couldn't be possible. Black holes were for all intents and purposes invisible. The gravity they produced was so strong that even light couldn't escape from them – the primary cause of their invisibility. I was aware that black holes were often formed when supermassive stars collapsed upon themselves once they reached the end of their lives, expanding rapidly as they absorbed mass from their surroundings. The biggest among them devoured stars and merged with other black holes, becoming supermassive black holes.
If I recalled correctly, the center of our Milky Way Galaxy was also a supermassive black hole, a location known as Sagittarius A*.
Was that what I was looking at right now? A supermassive black hole?
Wait…if that was the case, then was I currently in outer space? Floating near the core of the Milky Way Galaxy? How did I even get here?
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but no, this is not a river of milk."
I almost choked at that. Whirling around, I searched for the source of the voice, only to realize that there was no beautiful woman or handsome guy standing beside me.
Given how deep the voice was, the owner should be male, though. So I shouldn't be expecting a beautiful woman. Even so, there was no old guy or macho dude with muscles standing around. I was still alone.
"No, you're not alone. You just haven't understood how to 'see' properly in here yet."
"Uh, okay. So how do I see properly?" I asked, trying not to sound too annoyed. There was a deep, throaty chuckle that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Then I suddenly understood. Looking up, craning my neck, I stared upward and suddenly realized that the darkness wasn't merely darkness.
It was a colossal shadow that seemed to stretch out forever, cast by a being so massive he dwarfed a continent. I swear, he was bigger than the entire Havan Kingdom itself, his size so immense that he blotted out the entire sky and enveloped everything within his shadow.
Using my magical senses rather than sense of sight, I began to perceive him. The being who spoke to me was a titanic dragon. A dragon so massive that he stretched for hundreds of kilometers. His head alone was the size of an island country, attached to a continent-sized body whose wings spread out to engulf the world in perpetual shadow.
"The Elder Dragon?" I asked dumbly. No, there was no way…the Elder Dragon was supposedly hiding inside a volcano. And this guy was way bigger than an entire mountain range.
"Not really." The enormous dragon appeared to grin, though that expression was so big I almost couldn't see the entirety of it. "I am the Dragon God."
"…okay?" I pushed my glasses up and stared at him. "I assume you're here to supervise my trial or something?"
"Sort of." The Dragon God nodded. "I'm here to see if you're worthy of inheriting my dragon magic that has been specially reserved for Demonic Emperors."
He sighed, which caused a hurricane on the other side of this dimension. Good thing I wasn't caught in it or I would have been blown away.
"Do take note that not all Demonic Emperors will be able to inherit this dragon magic. And there is the possibility that you may die if you try to force the issue."
"So I've heard." I nodded, having resolved myself. "What is this trial? What do you need me to do to prove myself, exactly?"
The Dragon God gestured toward the supermassive sphere in the center of the void. Now that I took another look at it, I saw that it wasn't exactly spherical. It was more oval-shaped, an oblong. It reminded me of an egg for some reason.
A supermassive egg, at that.
"You must reach the egg at the center of the abyss in order to pass the trial."
"I see." That sounded simple, but given the warnings I had received so far, I was certain there was a catch somewhere. "I'm guessing the way toward the egg will be fraught with dangers."
"That's correct." The Dragon God shrugged. "Good luck."
"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what sort of dangers I'll be facing, or warn me to stay away from the abyss or something?"
"Why would I do that? You need to get to the egg. How will you reach it without traversing the abyss?"
"Huh?" I scratched my head. "Okay. At least tell me what's dangerous about navigating the abyss. Are there predators? Is it corrosive? Will my skin melt off if I step into it? Are there traps?"
"No. the dangers are more psychological than physical." The massive dragon raised a titanic claw to gesture toward his head. "You will have to deal with illusions. It will be a journey filled with solitude and mental trauma. In a way, the trial will be filled with nightmares, but you should always keep in mind that they are literally all in your head."
"Thanks for the tips." I bowed my head. Taking a deep breath, I then jumped into the void and soared toward the egg. Speeding like a bullet, I surged toward the egg. Occasionally, I would glance about, as if expecting some monstrous illusion to lunge at me from out of nowhere.
So far, nothing.
But when they came, they caught me entirely by surprise.
"Whoa?!"
The entire space about me vanished, replaced by a brighter, unfamiliar setting. Voices chattered around me, familiar voices from a long time ago. I almost felt tears in my eyes when I recognized the owners of the voice.
As my sight cleared, I found myself in a familiar setting. A place that I hadn't been for over five years…and one that no longer existed.
My village.
"What's the matter, Klein?"
I blinked and looked up. Dad was staring at me, a hoe resting on his shoulder. He raised an eyebrow in concern.
"You've been spacing out this entire time. Studied too hard, last night?"
I realized that I was carrying a few tomes. Grimoires that I relied on, indulging in self-study in order to learn magic. Dad had saved up for months just to buy me these bunch of books. Even though he hadn't learned magic, he was more than willing to help me fulfil my dream of becoming a mage.
"Make sure you study hard." Dad placed a hand on my head. "You will definitely be a good mage."
One of the reasons why Dad pushed so hard for me to become a mage was because, quite frankly, mages had a bright future. With the current world as it was, faced with invasions from the Demonic Empire or other crises plaguing the Havan Kingdom, mages were always in high demand. Since very few people actually succeeded in mastering magic, those who did were greatly coveted. The mage corps paid well if I intended to go in that direction, but there was also adventurers who would pay well to recruit me into their parties.
After all, magic was an extremely powerful weapon and very versatile tool. A single mage was the equivalent of at least ten soldiers. There was no contest between comparing a fireball and an arrow, and of course mages wouldn't run out of arrows. Then again, we relied on our own mana, so it would be deadly if we ran out of energy. Also, hunters and archers had their own strengths and advantages over mages, but that was another topic altogether.
Even if I didn't want to participate in combat roles, I could still easily get a job in the city, managing arcane archives or handymen jobs such as plumbing, construction and even alchemy if I chose to specialize in that. Like I said, magic was incredibly versatile.
It was also a great honor.
But none that mattered to me. Staring at Dad, I had the feeling that I was forgetting something. At the back of my mind, there was a voice telling me that this wasn't real. That everything wasn't real. But I ignored it.
"Yeah, I will," I assured Dad. For some reason, looking at him, I wanted to cry. But why? What was this incredibly sad feeling in my chest, this tremendous weight of sorrow?
"Klein? Are you okay?"
"Y…yeah. Sorry." I frowned and shook my head, trying to clear out these weird emotions. Why did I feel like a tragedy was going to happen? Why did seeing my dad bring about tears?
I hurriedly looked away and wiped at my eyes, pretending that I was sleepy. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to calm down.
"Sorry. For some reason, I was thinking back to a dream I had this morning. A very long dream."
I clutched the grimoires tighter to my chest. That was right. This vague recollection of hazy…no, not memories. They couldn't be memories. They had to be a dream. An exceedingly long dream that felt like another life in a distant time and place, something so surreal and stupid that I couldn't believe that my subconscious could dredge it up.
"Maybe I've been reading too many web novels," I muttered under my breath.
Dad scowled in disapproval. "You shouldn't be reading such rubbish. Spend more time working hard and studying, okay?"
"R…right."
Yeah, this was definitely my dad. I still remembered how strict he was regarding my education. He was the one who drilled the importance of hard work and discipline into me. It was thanks to him that I was able to persevere even after…
…wait, even after what?
I winced and raised a hand to my head. Why couldn't I remember? It was right at the tip of my tongue, the edge of my mind, yet somehow dancing out of reach. It was something important, but I just couldn't latch onto that memory. It continued to slip away from my grasp, teasing my consciousness.
Glancing up, I peered around the village through my glasses. The lenses were clear for some reason…wait, why was I expecting something? My glasses had always been like this. I ended up wearing them because I spent too much time reading and thus ended up damaging my eyesight.
Yet I felt as if my glasses were incomplete somehow, missing some vital function that I had taken for granted.
"Focus, Klein," Dad chided me. "It's only past noon. Don't go spacing out on me already."
"Ah, yeah. Sorry."
I nodded and hastened my pace to keep up with him. Right, I was supposed to help him with the fields.
While I did so, a familiar figure emerged from one of the neighboring houses and waved at us.
"Ah, Mr. Pearson. Klein. How do you do?"
Dad broke into a smile when he saw her. He nodded in a friendly manner.
"Oh, Irene! Where are you heading to?"
"The market. Mom wants me to buy some fruits." She smiled shyly at me. "Are you helping your dad out, Klein?"
"Oh, don't worry about it." Dad was grinning. He placed a hand on my back and pushed me forward. "Klein, go help Irene out. I'm sure she'll need a boy to help her carry all those groceries home."
I frowned and shook my head grumpily. For some reason, the moment I saw Irene, I felt pure hatred and rage threatening to boil out from inside me. The ferocious emotions almost caught me by surprise.
It took me everything I had to clamp down on the sudden desire I had to murder her on the spot.