"Eijaz, can you open the map again?"
The hologram opened once again, showing the huge forest of violet trees. It was separated by black mountain ranges in the four directions. At the intersection was an enormous violet tree so big it reached the atmosphere. Lightning flowed through its blue leaves until some of them broke, releasing a spatial rift. Luo was in the lower left side of the forest, closing in on the huge tree at the center. Another location was marked with a cursor aside from his location, showing his goal, which was located at the end of the mountain ranges to the right of the tree. Aside from that, once he zoomed in, certain dots were flickering, indicating some locations far away from him. These were the locations of the overlords of this forest that Eijaz detected.
"It seems they didn't notice us. Seeing how there is no movement, probably most of them are in slumber right now."
[Still, don't let your guard down. Any portal that opens close to us might just be accompanied by something that can easily finish us off]
Luo nodded as he thought about some information he remembered. Despite the forest being so huge, it didn't have many monsters due to the number of rifts here and the harsh environment. Most of the races that crossed this planet chose to leave. Those who stayed either weren't strong enough or lost their lives trying to occupy a territory, so only the strongest stayed to guard their territory. In each zone, the overlords can be counted on one hand.
So, unless he is unlucky enough to encounter an unfamiliar beast coming out of a rift, he can avoid the overlords' detection thanks to Eijaz. This is as long as he stays outside their territory and doesn't meet them face to face.
"Did its location change, Eijaz?"
[It actually did, but luckily, it is still located close to the mother tree, as a smaller one has a crack in its trunk]
[But it will close in three days."
"Hmm, we should somehow get there."
Luo thought as he estimated the distance, confident of reaching there in two days. After some rest, Luo resumed his journey as he thought back to three days ago.
Three days ago, Eijaz explained the current dimension they were in.
[This planet is called Sule, Land of rifts for a reason. After experiencing a huge space storm that covered the entire planet millions of years ago, the planet's ecosystem started changing as Origin space energy permeated into the planet's core. This led to rifts and all kinds of spatial phenomena happening on it, mostly rifts and space cracks. This planet is roughly half the size of earth and can be separated into three famous zones: The Lost Ocean, Spatial Desert, and Kiniland Forest. The forest can be considered a huge part of the planet, covering more than ¼ of it. Most frequently used by other Humans as a hub for transport, the other two zones are very mysterious, to the point that even Transcendent beings vanish after entering there]
"So, are you trying to say that this forest is safer than the other two?"
[It's safer in terms of restrictions, as Transcendent beings can't enter it, this forest can be roughly separated into four zones each having less than 8 Overlords all at the Peak phase of the third order, they normally don't leave their territories, the trees in this forest are special as their leaves sometimes manage to open a rift, while their trunks can become space cracks. Our goal is to cross a spatial rift at the end of the upper right zone leading to a human kingdom.]
"And we are currently in the lower left zone, gosh what a nice luck, are you sure I don't have that curse on me any longer?"
Seeing that Eijaz didn't respond to the complaint, Luo got slightly embarrassed as he changed the topic along with a cough.
Cough
"What is the difference between space cracks and rifts?"
[Space cracks only allow movement inside the planet, but rifts are connected directly to the outside Space system and the distance of their destination is normally not set, but their destination can be predicted if you use special tools or simply have access to the world's Sea of Knowledge, like me]
"So, all I need to do is cross this rift to reach a human kingdom suitable for me to grow my strength. However, the distance is too vast to cover in such a short time at my current speed. Hmm
Luo rethought some points in his plan to fit the situation for a couple of seconds. He started zooming in on certain places on the map a couple of times before smiling confidently.
"It is a difficult task, but it's not impossible."
Back to the present, Luo has spent the last day and a half running at full speed to reach his destination in time. Currently, he was at the edge of an Overlord's territory, which covered the mother tree.
"How many minutes can you give me, Eijaz?"
[10 minutes, not a second less. After this, I will only be able to hide you from the Akashic records for one day]
"Got it. At my signal, you can do it."
The journey has been smooth so far, but now the real challenge starts. Along the way, Luo avoided the Overlord's territories such as they minimized their Soul energy expenditure. But now, Luo was going inside the territory which he was trying to avoid. Surely, upon being sensed by the Overlord, the latter will realize that something is wrong with him due to his order rank, making him think that Luo might have some treasure that can hide his Presence from the Akashic Records.
Once beings break through the first order, despite not having any intelligence before, they will gradually gain it with each breakthrough. This was especially the case for beasts who only lived based on their instincts before. Upon reaching a certain rank, they might become even more intelligent than humans.
Looking at the dot on the map, Luo kept his focus on it as he charged at full speed inside in the direction of the tree he was aiming at. And as they expected after crossing the territory, The Overlord didn't take much time to notice them and sort his thoughts up. This was because the dot started moving in Luo's direction at crazy speeds.
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Luo kept looking at the dot as he ran, estimating the distance that the beast would cover with each passing second. Just before he made his last lunge, Luo shouted
"NOW"
A couple of seconds ago, in front of the trunk of the huge mother tree, was sitting a majestic 4 meters tall Leopard like creature. It had a visage somewhat similar to a snow Leopard only with fangs coming out of its mouth like a sabretooth with a horn on its forehead, it had greyish white fur with some black dots on it, it had a kind of bony whip like sword for a tail that extends and at the tip was an axe like blade made of the same material as the tail. Its eyes had some kind of deep wisdom in them as it gazed at the chaotic violet sky with blue thunder flowing through it despite there being not a single cloud, the only thing that could be considered as a source of light was the huge violet rift in the sky.
After Luo entered the Leopard territory it immediately noticed his presence. It gazed in his direction with its head slightly turned to the side, as if confused.
"Weird. I can clearly sense he is of the First Order. how can he stay here?"
The Leopard didn't think deeply as it lunged in the direction of Luo, it quickly closed the distance, but as soon as it was on its last lunge, it felt his presence completely disappear. Even his smell could not be detected any longer. But it still kept on its run to the last location he was at, only to find nothing there.
Back at Luo, just before it, stood a huge Leopard.
'W-what the hell is this?!'
Luo was totally taken aback by the sheer size and oppressive aura this creature emitted. He felt his insides churning and his legs giving out as his head blanked. He started feeling all of this despite not being specifically targeted by the pressure. He realized that he stood absolutely no chance against this thing, as it was clad in a very intense Black aura which he had never seen before, and a sweet taste assaulted his senses.
"O-oh my, so this is a Third Order, and this sweet taste, it's curious!!"
He didn't even need to think about the meaning of black as he easily guessed what it meant.
The beast didn't notice Luo at all as it looked around for a couple of seconds before dashing in another direction.
Sigh
Feeling a bit of relief about not being found, he couldn't help but sigh as he hurriedly composed himself.
"Damn, I stand absolutely zero chance against that. If I'm found out, I'll really die!"
He could not waste any more time as he dashed in the direction of the mother tree at top speed.
5 minutes later
'How much time do I have left?'
On the way to the mother tree, Luo asked as he looked at the map. He saw that the leopard was still searching for him on the territory periphery.
[4:12]
A timer appeared on the side of the map. After seeing it he felt a bit at ease as he estimated reaching the target in only two minutes and a half.
'Good, I can save up some time for any variable'
2 minutes quickly passed as he was already in front of the mother tree and already saw the target in the distance. Continuing this way, he was just a few seconds away from reaching the cracks and started feeling subtly happy.
"I guess my bad luck is really gone."
Then a leaf fell from the mother tree directly in front of him. Looking at the incoming leaf, he was horrified as he realized something.
"No, don't tell me!"
Luo quickly tried to use the second technique that he learned, [Explosive Step], as he vanished from where he stood, dashing away in the direction of his goal. Just when he was passing by the falling leaf about 10 meters away from it, the latter shattered, opening a rift and bringing with it a strong air pressure which repelled him back so far that he didn't stop until he hit a tree close to the mother tree.
"Sh#t, I won't make it at this rate."
Just when he thought about this, a black claw extended from inside of the rift. The moment it landed on the ground, intense pressure shook the surroundings as even the huge trees shook. Luo was having trouble standing up, despite having Eijaz's protection. He still couldn't completely negate the pressure.
"This thing is on the same level as that Leopard!"
Luo looked at the eerie black aura surrounding the creature as it got out. He could taste the spiciness of the aura. It was an emotion he was very familiar with, and it is killing intent. The body walked out entirely showing a very weird creature. It had a humanoid body but was more than 10 meters tall, its body was made from black vines, it also had a bone-chilling, white skull-like face.
Luo was starting to lose hope as he saw the timer counting down to the last minute. He was lost at how to make his way past the giant who came out of the gate, as it covered a huge distance with its extending vines that moved nonstop. He knew he would have to take a huge detour to get away from it and reach his target, but time wasn't on his side. Normally, with his current rank, if he was just in the proximity of a creature, its pressure alone was enough to seriously injure him. Only thanks to Eijaz's protection can he still survive. As he was thinking, the giant started moving toward the mother tree, step by step. Not too fast, he seemed to be taking his time. Luo watched as he got closer and closer to him. He was still struggling to move, trying to get away from this creature as far as he could before his time ran out.
Suddenly, when Luo was checking the timer, a shadow dashed past him and the giant in a straight line, as one of the giant's arms suddenly flew into the air. After the shadow stopped behind the giant, it could be seen that it was none other than the leopard who stood majestically with its chest puffed up, exuding a huge killing intent. Both monsters were ready to face each other.
The giant's arm regenerated, while the leopard's tail and claws started emitting blue flames. Without any notice, the giant smacked the ground with his leg, causing an earthquake that shook the surroundings and flipped trees. He was thrown far back by the earthquake, only to smash into the mother tree's trunk.
AGHH
Despite being quite far away from the giant, the shockwave alone was strong enough to put Luo in a critical state. He was bleeding everywhere, as his left arm, along with the left side of his ribs, were all broken.
"Good. Now I'm on, like hell I will die here! I am not dying here!"
Although his body trembled from the pain, his mind was clearer than ever as he faced death once again. His eyes looked everywhere for a way out as he racked his brain. He knew he could not take his time, his timer was already counting the last twenty seconds.
[18,17,16...11]
Time slipped away as hope seemed dim. Even Eijaz was quiet. Maybe it had given up? But Luo did not move as his gaze was fixed on the map, forgetting even the timer. Then suddenly, he said:
"THIS IS IT. F#ck not like I've got a choice"
After saying this, he started running at full speed, using [Explosive step] continuously as he dashed to the other side of the mother tree. Luckily for him, his goal wasn't too far away from where he was, as he could already see the gate. What Luo decided to gamble on was a gate located at the bottom of the mother tree. Even Eijaz couldn't know where it led, as he didn't have enough Soul energy to access deeper into the sea of knowledge.
[6]
[5]
'Sh#t, I won't make it at this rate'
Luo compared the distance he had left with the time, concluding that he wouldn't make it at his current speed. However, he thought of an idea, and he tried it immediately. He stopped in his tracks as he focused on controlling the energy to try his last gamble.
[4]
[3]
BOOOM
He was flying. He sent himself flying with an explosion at an insane speed ahead, a speed comparable to that of a second order being.
[2]
Despite the looming death, he was burning with excitement. He closed the gate very quickly, just a couple of meters short.
[1]
"MAKEEE IT!!"
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[Space Cracks, they are of spatial origin and are usually found within the inner space system of the planet (Inside the planet), which means it allows movement only inside the planet.]
[Rifts, they are of circular shape, they can exist inside of the planet and outside of it. They are connected directly to the outside space system, which allows for farther traveling distance than space cracks]