Free Web NovelChapter 65: To You In the Future... Part-1.
"huff..."
The pressure on his body was so strong that it seemed like he was walking under intense gravity.
It was as if someone had increased the Earth’s normal gravitational field by several hundred times! Just taking a single step forward caused him to exert tremendous amounts of mana!
’There’s no free meal in this world... Just like I expected, this so-called ’Eternal Garden’ is not exactly a safe haven at all...’
The more Zephyr tried to resist the temptation of staying in this place, the more he felt that the entire world was looking at him with intense hostility.
’It’s almost as if I have become incompatible with the rest of the world and the entire world around me is against my decision to leave...’
*Step!* *Crack!* *Shatter!!*
With each step forward, the ground shattered, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared everywhere, showcasing how much pressure Zephyr had to endure.
’Thankfully, I am tanky and strong; if it were someone else, they would have been crushed under this intense pressure and force...’
"Hufff..."
With one careful step after another, Zephyr made his way to the giant cauldron, and by the time he crossed the halfway point, the pressure became so intense that Zephyr felt it was difficult to move even with his insanely strong physique.
It was as if hundreds of thousands of invisible hands had firmly clung to his body and were trying to force him back and try to stop him with all their might; Zephyr almost felt overwhelmed at this point!
’How is anyone even supposed to leave this place if even I am having such difficulty doing so!?’
By all means, Zephyr was an abnormal being with insanely powerful resistances and physical capabilities, and yet he was having such a hard time making his way through the intense resistance of the Eternal Garden!
This clearly showed that if it was anyone other than him, they would have likely never been able to make it out of the Eternal Garden at all!
’Don’t tell me that the trial hasn’t actually ended and this is the actual third trial!?’
’That stupid bird lied to me!’
Originally, Zephyr thought that going through that dream was the actual third trial and he had passed it by now.
But now that he thought about it, it’s possible that the magical sparrow was not fully trustable.
’What if the creator of this trial designed the sparrow in such a way that it can also lie and use deceit on the challenger?’
’What if the Eternal Garden is just a trap used to make people lose all their dreams and ambitions by forcing them to live in this fake paradise-like place?’
To every being in the world, the definition of ’Paradise’ was different.
Some thought that a ’Paradise’ would be a heavenly place that you would go to in the afterlife if you did kind deeds in your life.
Some thought that achieving great things in life and being remembered by many was the greatest goal in life and the greatest ’Paradise.’
For some, their own dreams were the ’Paradise,’ and for some, just being able to happily live with their loved ones in peace was ’Paradise.’
Zephyr himself had his own unique thoughts about what a ’Paradise’ would look like, but one thing was for sure... This so-called ’Eternal Garden’ was not what Zephyr envisioned as a ’Paradise.’
This place was located exactly where it would work as the best ’Trap.’
The outside world was shrouded in darkness and destruction, but this place was filled with peace, treasures, and tranquility.
It had abundant food and resources; it had beautiful scenery and a peaceful environment with no threats roaming inside whatsoever!
But there was a big flaw.
This place was simply too perfect.
So perfect that a person can just live here without any troubles and worries, and that is the biggest problem of this place.
With no troubles and worries, a person would have no reason to improve themselves in order to solve those troubles.
Without a reason to improve, humans tend to start degrading; without dreams and ambitions to chase, people are nothing but living corpses that have no goals in life!
Zephyr knew that if he stayed in this place for too long, he would become a dreamless, thoughtless puppet of this place who would never dare to think about anything outside of this place.
He would become confined to this small area and would even stop thinking about leaving this fake paradise!
His dreams, his ambitions, his ’Path,’ and his thoughts would all be either destroyed or altered beyond recognition!
In other words, he would no longer be Zephyr Reid, but a slave to this fake paradise!
’How crafty and cunning... the one who created this trap is someone very knowledgeable about ’Paths’ and ’Ambitions’...’
’I really would have fallen for this trap too if not for the fact that I awakened my mana and realized my ’Path’ before coming to this place...’
Zephyr was now starting to realize why the third trial was called ’Trial of Broken Dreams’; this fake paradise was indeed the best method to break anyone’s dream and shatter their mind into pieces.
’I can’t stay here... I must keep moving!’
*Step!* *Crack!* *Crack!*
As moving forward with pure physical strength became nearly impossible, Zephyr suddenly had an idea, and he decided to use an unconventional method instead.
’What if I use my elemental affinities?’
[Shattered Firmament Martial Arts: Space Type: Spatial Repulsion!]
Zephyr used his space affinity to surround himself in a spatial repulsion field in an attempt to counter the pressure suppressing his body, but to his surprise, the spatial repulsion had no effect whatsoever!
’Could it be that this pressure I am feeling is not actually originating from outside but from elsewhere!?’
Up until now, Zephyr was thinking the pressure was some kind of gravity enhancement attack that was suppressing his movements, but now it seemed that things were completely different!
’Don’t tell me... the suppression is acting straight onto my soul and spirit!?’
Thinking about this, Zephyr suddenly glanced at this stat panel and frowned.
’No, it’s not acting on my soul or spirit either...’
Zephyr’s spirit base stat was still the same as before, which meant that it hadn’t grown at all.
’I have been struggling against this powerful pressure for a while now, and if it was acting on my soul or spirit, then my spirit base stat would have grown up a point or two from all this effort...’
’If it’s neither space nor spirit, then... what is this pressure coming from...?’
Zephyr could not sense miasma or any abnormal fluctuation in mana density around him either, which means they weren’t the culprit either.
Despite thinking about various different possibilities, Zephyr couldn’t find the source of this pressure at all.
’Unless I find the source of this pressure, it is very unlikely I would be able to move forward even a single inch...’
Zephyr had already tried using his various elemental affinities to push him forward or try to resist the pressure, but it all turned out to be fruitless.
Without knowing the real source of the pressure, Zephyr could not accurately use his elemental affinities to deal with it, and the affinities couldn’t push him forward no matter how much mana he used on them.
’I guess I have no other choice left now... phew, let’s do this...’
[Ding! Are you sure you want to buy a ’Hint’?]
[Yes or No]
’Yes’
With no other clues left, Zephyr had no other choice but to rely on his powerful and trustworthy system once again to get past this hurdle.
’Although the system is kind of rude whenever it evaluates me... but the hints it gives are certainly credible...’
The system itself was a big source of a headache for him as its origins were mysterious and unpredictable, but Zephyr’s instincts told him that he could trust it, so he didn’t bother hesitating in making use of it.
’Thankfully I have enough BP at hand...’
At the moment Zephyr had around 18000 BP and buying a hint with 10000 was possible, so with no other choice left, Zephyr decided to use it.
[Ding! You have bought a hint from the system!]
[Ding! This hint involves profound secrets of the ’World’ and its ’laws’; thus, the hint format for this hint will be changed...]
[Ding! Adjusting parameters to be compatible with the host’s existence level... creating temporary ’Miasmic immune’ memory fragment...]
[Ding! Reducing burden through temporarily borrowing the power of the ’law’ of ’Death and Destruction’....]
[Ding! Warning! The burden of receiving this hint will be very high; it is recommended that the host remain focused and maintain high vigilance against external interference during memory fragment transmission...]
[Ding! Initiating Memory Fragment Transmission...]
Before Zephyr could realize what was happening, his mind suddenly went blank and his body became petrified.
As if time had come to a stop all of a sudden, everything around him slowed down.
The movement of wind, the motion of the falling tree leaves, and the swaying of the grass blades in the wind... all of it became slower.
Zephyr’s eyes closed on their own as a massive amount of information and a foreign memory appeared in his mind out of nowhere!
