*Swish* *Death* *Again*

*Swish* *Death* *Again*

*Swish* *Death* *Again*

Honestly, by now, Lorien didn't know how many times he had died and how long he has been here.

After all, time doesn't make much sense in such a dream realm; Calling it Chaotic would be an understatement.

However, if there is something Lorien is truly grateful for in this experience, it would be that there is a huge difference in the power level between him and his opponent which caused all of his deaths to be instantaneous.

This made it so that Lorien didn't have to experience much pain, the only feeling he had to cope with was "death's embrace" each time he 'died'.

Although this experience is very brief each time, it wasn't pleasant at all.

*Swish* *Death* *Again*

*Swish* *Death* *Again*

'Tsk, I am almost getting used to it.'

However, even though this is the case, Lorien didn't want to continue his streak of death for no reason.

It's just that this is not something he could control; the only options he has now are either to quit or to defeat it!

*Sigh*

'What should I do...'

Giving off a long sigh full of exhaustion, Lorien has nearly lost all hope as he had accepted the fact that he couldn't beat him right now.

'Sigh...'

'Direct combat really doesn't work.'

'However, now that I think of it, why am I even fighting him? It doesn't make sense!'

'This is something that has already happened in the past, not to mention that it is practically just an illusory recreation of the event.'

'Beating him won't do me any good, even if I were to win, all I'll be doing is tricking and lying to myself!'

Thinking of this as he died a couple more times in the process; the complex emotions that Lorien was feeling suddenly diminished and started fading away.

And with their disappearance, a burst of clarity and a bit of indifference suddenly hit Lorien causing him to feel enlightened.

'This event is something of the past, it has nothing to do with the present.'

Stolen novel; please report.

'Trying to alter past events is nothing but a fool's errand.'

'The only impact such a thing should have is a 'cause', and what I have to do is to accept this cause and improve myself so I can alter the 'effect'.'

The more Lorien thought about it, the clearer his head became.

'So that's how it is...This was never a battle of force was it...'

'However, this is to be expected, after all, the main objective of this level is to improve the will and mentality.'

Realizing this just in time to be 'resurrected' again in the initial position, Lorien raised his head and looked indifferently at the opponent in front of him.

Right now, Lorien's eyes were devoid of any emotions; it was as if he was looking at an ordinary stone, not a being who could easily kill him.

However, this wasn't of any concern to the man who was standing in front of Lorien as he continued following the script and spoke.

"ytinutroppo na hcus niag t'ndluow I ,esiwrehtO !yadot levart ot dediced I ylikcuL!"

(Luckily I decided to travel today! Otherwise, I wouldn't gain such an opportunity!)

Saying this, the man then raised his hand again and attacked Lorien.

However, seeing this, Lorien didn't try anything, rather, he just looked at the attack indifferently.

*Swish* *Boom* *Death*

Dying again as a consequence, Lorien appeared again in the original position completely unharmed as expected.

However, after appearing, a small smile silently appeared on his face as he closed his eyes and opened his arms wide as if hugging the air.

'It got reduced...'

'I can feel it, this small realm weakened slightly this time, which means that this weakness and fear is also disappearing.'

Sensing this, the slight smile on Lorien's face grew wider as he knew that his thoughts were correct.

'So that's how it is.'

'This isn't about defeating fear, it is about being able to calmly face it, and then gracefully accepting it!'

'Acceptance huh...'

'Well, now that I think of it, that is indeed true.'

'If one wants to grow, and defeat their fears they first have to be able to [Face-it], fully [Accept] this emotion, and then [Understand] it.'

'If one wants to move forward towards a brighter future, one has to first accept and come to terms with their past.'

'Only by following such a process can a person improve.'

'Blindly fighting emotion may seem courageous, but it was never the solution.'

'If I were to describe it, it is nothing but a caveman's method.'

'[Accept] the past, [Face] the present, and [Look-up] to the Future!'

Understanding this, Lorien felt enlightened as he completely let go of the negative emotions he was holding.

Doing so, he just continued smiling as he got continuously attacked and killed by the man in front of him.

*Swish* *Death* *Again*

*Swish* *Death* *Again*

*Swish* *Death* *Again*

However, different from before, Lorien completely kept his calm not looking bothered at all, instead, he felt better than ever, he felt completely liberated.

'Why worry about the past; Why worry about things that can't be changed!'

Continuously gaining insight with each time he died, Lorien could feel that this realm composed of negative emotions was quickly weakening.

If things continued at this rate, it wouldn't take long for Lorien to completely end this trial.

*Swish* *Death* *Again*

*Swish* *Death* *Again*

And indeed, it was as he expected as just a couple of minutes later, and with a last attack landing on Lorien, the realm he was in suddenly shattered and merged with the [Inner Dream World].

*Crack*

*Crack*

*Swish*

The moment this happened, Lorien instantly found himself back inside the [Inner Dream World] standing right under the towering golden dream tree.

'Sigh...'

'It seems that it's finally over...'

However, Lorien didn't have much time to think about this as he felt this world get strengthened and consolidated following the disappearance of the weakness he had just 'battled'.

Moreover, Lorien also felt that some other mysterious changes happened to this realm, it's just that he couldn't put his fingers on it.

'Wait! This is....'