Once Jin reopened his eyes, he saw that he was no longer in the grand hall of the castle. As expected, it had been sent to the mountain for the trial. As he got up, he looked around. He couldn't see anything and it was quite dark, all lights being hidden by a dense canopy. He was in the middle of a forest. Obviously, this was the first area of the trial, the forest.

He didn't move so as to not make a reckless mistake. Instead, he observed his surroundings starting by where he stood. It turned out that he was on top of an elevated mechanical platform of sorts. There seemed to be a dense membrane covering the whole platform as everything aside from it was clad in the verdant green of the flora. He could also feel that there was something beyond the membrane, floating in the air. He could sense it.

He activated his eyesight and instantly managed to see what was behind it. A dense mist filled with elements. There was a wide variety in there ranging from the usual illusion element to the rarer emotional elements like fear or love. This was without doubt a dangerous area to go in unprepared.

Also, he saw something move in the corner of his sight. If he didn't have such good optical abilities, he might have missed it. It wasn't much in fact. Just a micro movement from a root. But he saw it and recalled Hae-Hyuk's words. His warning mostly. To not damage the forest.

But what was considered damaging the forest? As he began to think, he began to hear cries. Pleas for help and screams of fright. But he could not pinpoint from where they came from. Where they actually made by the woods? The trees did look creepy with the many holes they had inside of themselves from which oozed the miasma filled with elements. It was possible that it was produced by the air that went through those apertures. It could also be a rival dying painfully.

He would rather it be the second option to be honest. One less guy who would potentially try to get his head.

Anyways, he easily forgot about the miserable shrieks and focused on the problem at hand. How does one go about crossing a forest without damaging it? Just by walking, he would no doubt end up touching the grass and flatten it. Would that count as damaging the forest? It was hard to say.

He spent a few more minutes pondering on one of the questions he had ruminated over for the past week. In the end, he only ever managed to reach a single conclusion. The only way not to damage it was to be a part of it. Damaging oneself wasn't going to trigger some self-destruction ultimatum after all.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

He thought of flying but it was unlikely that he would manage to make it all the way outside without brushing over something. There was quite the high density of vegetation here.

He pondered on ways to hide himself but could you hide yourself from the very thing you tried to hide within? It didn't seem doable. At least, not with the means he had.

Being part of the forest to cross it seemed to be the optimal option.

As to how to do so, there were many ways in fact. He only needed to be 'something' that was already there. Or at least to seem to be. As to how to do that, well, he had a lot of rings filled with many different elements and he had of course prepared for this beforehand. Anyone beyond the 20th stage would be capable of turning an element into a liquid state and Sophia was perfect for the job.

He made sure to have her create a few peculiar liquids specifically after learning about the trials. He had reflected for a long time before making a choice on what to pick. In the end, he picked the wood element. The way to go was to cover his entire body with a thin film of spiritual energy then coat over it with a mix of spiritual energy and the wood elemental in its liquid form. He decided on it in such a form because he was accustomed to manipulating elements in this state and it would enable him to move with more fluidity.

Of course, there was also the problem of the mist to deal with. But then again, he had a solution. He would surround himself inside a mist of his own containing a beneficial element. The element of concentration, related to the emotions. Not only would it stop anything else from triggering reactions from him, it would help him focus and maintain the other coatings.

He didn't know how big the forest was but he was certain that he did not have much time to waste. Five hours might seem long but it wasn't. Because this wasn't really the timer he had to face. The timer was related to his rivals. Be it twenty minutes or five hours, what mattered was only that he arrived soon enough to cross a bridge.

And so, he went straight into action and began the multiple coatings. Once he was done, he tried a few steps while remaining on the safety of the platform. He got used to it in minutes and jumped down once satisfied. As his feet hit the ground, flattening the flora underneath his shoes, he silently hoped for nothing to happen.

Fortunately, nothing happened.

After that, he began to ran as fast as he could while maintaining the coatings. It wasn't even a quarter of his maximum speed but that was the best he could do without risking to trigger the anger of the forest. It was better to lose a bit of time than to endanger himself. He believed he needed to be fast but he had to be steady as well. Rushing would only lead to failure.

He moved through the jungle unobstructed and with a deep sense of calmness.