Rydel waited until night-time, in these last hours he spotted at least four hares coming and going from the tree. Rydel hadn’t heard about this phenomenon before, but he had a few theories.

The tree could be a mutated version with spatial affinity and it was bigger on the inside than the outside. This was the least likely possibility, as there wasn’t any spatial disturbance near.

Then, if it wasn’t natural it could only be man-made. So, either the tree was an illusion set by a formation or the tree was processed like a spatial ring, the difference being that spatial rings can’t hold living things inside.

If it was the last, Rydel had to be extremely careful, as he couldn’t begin to estimate the power and motives of someone who could do that.

At least, he was able to confirm that the hares that entered were able to leave, he had that assurance.

Rydel used the Mantle of Night and covered himself in moonlight. He sent spiritual energy to his lungs and the sole of his shoes. Rydel was in sneaky mode and prepared.

He stood in front of the tree and lightly touched the bark. He felt it, so it wasn’t an illusion. Rydel pressed his hand against its surface and didn’t feel anything, it was just like a normal tree. He wasn’t discouraged, he then punched the tree, and the result was the same, a normal tree indeed.

If Rydel hadn't seen those hares, he would have believed that he was crazy. Now, if some random beasts could do it, the trick shouldn’t be too difficult. Rydel coated a finger in spiritual energy and tried again, this time his finger disappeared.

The feedback that he got was bizarre, he still felt his finger, but it was numb. Rydel has never experienced something like this, it was like his finger wasn’t in front of him anymore. Was it a teleportation device? He wasn’t sure.

He coated himself in a light sheen of spiritual energy and entered the tree.

Rydel felt stretched and mangled at the same time. His body was in a thousand places, his consciousness the only thing that kept him whole. It stopped in an instant.

Rydel retched and his chest heaved, he didn’t want to repeat that again. If that wasn’t a teleportation device, then he didn’t know what it was. He lost all his preparations in that instant, so he rapidly reapplied them and looked at his surroundings.

He was in an enormous open space, with his enhanced perception he could tell there was a ceiling about 300m up above, but he couldn’t see the end of what he suspected was a cave. The ceiling was covered in blue fluorescent moss that gave a faint and mystical illumination.

In the distance, there was a giant white sphere that resembled a miniature moon. Its white light didn’t mix with the blue light, they connected and danced in the air forming two-colors auroras.

The environment was rocky with tall bulky mushrooms in the shape of trees. There were herds of different animals, he could see pumpkin rhinoceros, they were orange and had literal pumpkins growing in their bodies. There also were strawberry cows grazing the little fungi that were growing on the ground, and crown melon crows. Those were yellow, their skin had the texture of the aforementioned fruit and they had a little crown on their heads made of bone in the shape of a T.

There was a pack of hares next to the entrance, they were the bottom feeders of the region, being hunted by every carnivorous species here. It now made sense why they were the only ones that ventured out, they were trying to survive even if they had to leave their territories.

Rydel moved to a least populated zone where he could begin to figure out where the hell did he arrive.

He had to revise his theories. He has heard of natural formations before, where the natural harmony was enough to develop magical effects. It could happen, but it was so unlikely that he discarded it.

So, it was indeed man-made, the question was, why? And was it still populated? He won’t find any answers sitting there, so he proceeded to explore.

What puzzled Rydel the most was that he could use his Dao of Moonlight even if he was underground, without any direct connection to the Moon. Granted, its power was halved, but still.

That giant sphere couldn’t be a moon, it wasn’t a natural satellite orbiting around a planet. How could it produce moonlight then? Rydel didn’t know and proceeded to get his answers.

Rydel spent the next hours approaching the mini-moon, but he had underestimated the distances. From his point of view, the sphere was still the same size, it hasn’t changed one bit. He also realized that the ceiling was slightly curved upwards, he didn’t know how long it would take to reach his objective. That didn’t disillusion him, he has all the time in the world.

His mission was to survive in the Leoheim forest for two years, not to come back in two years. It was also implied that he would kill the 150 beasts in this period, and when asked he’d be honest about it. If he failed, he failed, it wasn’t like he’d be punished or something, this was all to prove himself in the end. Of course if he achieved good results, he could ask the elders for some gifts or rare resources before his Trial.

Rydel continued his journey, but he avoided the biggest herds. The E-grade went from level 1 to level 49.

Early E-grade was from 1 to 20, middle E-grade from 21-40 and high E-grade from 41 to 49. Level 49 was the peak of the grade, where you could challenge The Second Trial. If you managed to overcome this Trial, you’d level up to became a D-grade being at level 50.

Thankfully there weren’t D-grade beasts in this cave, at least that he could sense. He’d immediately die in the case that they decided that he was a good snack.

In fact, even middle E-grade beasts would kill him without any problems. The beasts that he had been killing were those that were level 10 or less. There wasn’t any type of way to identify the level of another living being, but the presence that they naturally emanate would increase.

Of course, living beings could retract their aura, but if they were weaker than him, he’d be able to sense it, the problem was when someone was stronger than him. Rydel wouldn’t know if they were just a little stronger or in a completely different league. Of course, the difference in strength has to already be considerable to be able to hide it from him.

Fortunately, beasts in general didn’t retract their aura, this way other predators would leave them be and know the hierarchy with a simple glance.

This cave was teeming with life, early E-grade were mere cannon fodder, middle the occasional veteran and late were the leaders. He even could sense peak E-grade from time to time. Thankfully his Mantle of Night hadn’t stopped working even after night should have ended. The probability of the giant sphere being the responsible was all but confirmed at that moment.

Rydel was now above a rock, looking at a group of pumpkin rhinoceros resting in a little plain without any other big beasts next to them. Rydel had to consider his food supplies, he still has some raccoon, but it wouldn't last long enough, he needed to hunt.

This group was small, just about twenty individuals, and the leader was in the middle e-grade. He couldn’t take him on yet, but he had a plan.

Rydel went down to a nearby wall and made an incision with his sword. He poured the leftover rocks on his spatial ring and in no time he had a cultivation chamber. He didn’t seal the cave, as he still needed the moonlight, but it was covert enough for his purposes.

He initiated the Moonlight Transformation, it was as good a time as any other to name this technique, and in less than ten minutes something snapped inside of him. He opened his black eyes and went above the rock again.

Rydel used his Gate of Lunacy, looking in the eyes of the furthest rhinoceros from him, the effect was immediate. This rhinoceros' eyes turned red and attacked his former comrades, they were surprised but they retaliated anyway.

The leader was pissed and growled, the other rhinos were paralyzed but the one affected by madness didn’t care and continued his attacks. To the leader this was an affront and it took personality to deal with it.

It was at this moment that Rydel made his move, he went to the nearest rhino and made a spiritual slash on his neck from behind. The angle was a little awkward and didn’t cut all the way through, but the rhino was on his last legs. The nearest rhinos noticed Rydel and they charged at him without hesitation.

Rydel made a back flip and avoided the first charge, he grabbed a prominent pumpkin that was growing on the back of this rhino and used the impulse to mount it.

Two other rhinos charged after this, they weren’t able to stop in time, and made a serious injury on the rhino that he was mounted on. Rydel didn’t care and stabbed the rhino in the head, instantly killing it and putting the corpse on his spatial ring. He sprinted to the first rhino that was bleeding on the ground and finished the job with another slash at its neck and took the corpse too.

It was at this moment that the leader noticed the screams of its group and turned to look at Rydel. From its pumpkin it shot seeds like a gatling gun and put the maddened rhino unconscious.

Rydel saw this, used his Gate of Lunacy on the leader and made an escape. He didn’t look back and made a fine spirit net behind him. The leader’s growl was so loud and filled with bloodlust that it was palpable.

The other rhinos looked scared and escaped from the leader’s ire too. The leader gaze locked on Rydel and shot a volley of pumpkin seeds. Rydel detected them via his spiritual net, strengthened his right leg and jumped to the side.

Rydel continued running and used the Gate of Lunacy one last time on another rhino. It turned back and attacked the leader who was still shooting. The lunacy made the leader focus on the new threat, it shot orange beams from his eyes and instantly pierced through the rhino’s head.

The corpse didn’t fall to the ground, instead, new pumpkins grew from its previous injuries and its eyes turned soulless and vacant. The zombie-turned pumpkin rhino hissed and waited for orders, a pity that the leader wasn’t in conditions to give any.

Rydel was already far away, but saw this last scene, turned around and ran even faster. He didn’t want to become a pumpkin-infested-zombie. Fortunately, the rhino’s leader decided to unleash its fury on its group, tremors sounded for two more minutes before it stopped.

Rydel ran for a dozen more kilometers, he then reapplied his Mantle of Night, it had been dispersed by the earlier attacks, and chose another direction to escape.

Two hours later, Rydel was sure that he had survived this ordeal, made another cultivation chamber on the wall, and used a rock to seal the entrance. He put some candles for illumination and meditated to recuperate his energy reserves.