"I wish all of you good luck," Farnus said.
The eyes of every student standing there sharpened as they prepared to enter the place they had always heard about.
And one of them was Asher himself.
"Form lines; you will enter according to the number on your token," Arman instructed as everyone looked at the small blue stones given to them after their oaths.
And a number appeared on it.
"Eleven," Asher muttered as he looked at the number.
It was the priority given to him, just after the Third Year Rankers, with Alyssa receiving number twelve, and Alan number thirteen.
"Remember, the place you will arrive at will be different for each of you," Arman warned the students once again.
Blake Cranston stepped forward with the token that bore the number '1' and walked towards the massive gate.
He took a deep breath as he observed the scenery in front of him.
Taking a step forward, Blake disappeared, and soon enough, the other Rankers began to enter.
After the tenth-place Ranker, it was Asher's turn.
Asher stepped forward, under the watchful eyes of many. Most bore a look of caution. Even the professors were curious about what results the infamous Heir of the Greville Family would achieve inside this place.
But nobody knew, not even Asher himself could imagine what he would find.
What the Trials Ground held for him was unknown, but that was about to change.
As he was about to enter the place.
Asher stepped into the blue energy and disappeared, and soon enough, the scenery in front of his eyes changed to an unknown place.
For everyone, the starting point of the Trials Ground was different. Despite years of shared experiences, the trials remained unique to each individual.
And what lay before Asher was a single wall adorned with strange runes.
[Quest has been formed]
[Find the remnants of the Creator of the Trials Ground]
It wasn't a grandiose place or one teeming with monsters; it was a simple wall with strange runes.
But when Asher turned to look behind him, he saw strange black shadows standing, blocking another gate that resembled the ones Farnus had opened.
[The effect of Fate has been nullified in this place]
[Host is advised to exercise caution]
[Host is advised to exercise caution]
Multiple warnings began to appear in front of Asher as he found himself in an unknown place, not knowing what lay ahead for him.
***
Five minutes after the last student entered Trials Ground, suddenly the Runes on the Massive Gate started shaking.
Farnus looked at it, and floated backwards and every Professor present their increased their distance from the Gate.
BOOOOM!
Multiple waves of mana erupted as the Runic Formations started to vibrate and a fog like smoke covered the entire blue energy that took the students inside the Trials Ground.
Those mana waves kept covering the entire island, as the barrier of Inner Sector was enduring it.
Farnus floated in the ground as he started using his own mana to make sure the mana waves didn't ran rampant and a few other Professors did the same.
They closed their eyes and started decreasing the intensity of the mana waves.
This was the reason why Kevin got a small break from his training from Farnus, because Farnus was needed to make sure the mana waves didn't damage the World Academy.
"Professor Elsa, I will go maintain the Oath Stone," Arman spoke as Elsa nodded.
Soon enough, Arman got covered with black fumes as he disappeared and went towards a massive stone that had multiple names written on it.
It was the Oath stone, where the names of the student that had taken the Oath were engraved and they were glowing with blue energy.
This glow, depicted that the students were following their oath, and if a person broke it, their name would stop glowing.
Arman looked to his right, and a old man appeared.
"Quite a diligent one you are, Professor Arman," Neyman said while looking at Arman.
"I am just doing my job," Arman replied respectfully.
"It's fine, don't worry, nobody can tamper with this Oath stone, I have already used many runic enchantments to make sure nobody can damage it," Neyman replied.
Usually, the security measures wouldn't go this far, but after the appearance of Zephyr, an unknown group that maintained to invade the Kalvas Gala, Farnus made sure that extra measures were taken to increase the security of World Academy.
"Someone would be a fool to invade the place where the Strongest Hunter in the World is present himself," Neyman said while laughing.
Arman nodded with a smile, but he knew behind the playful smile of Neyman, the old man did many things to make sure that nothing could go wrong.
After teaching in World Academy for many years, and interacting with him, Arman knew what kind of person Neyman was.
"It's just that the names that are participating this year aren't normal," Arman said looking at certain names.
And one of those names were Alyssa Astaria, the Daughter of the Astaria Family, and only Blood of Garcia family that was still alive.
There was a lot of criticism about her participation inside Trials Ground, which a lot of students and people outside the World Academy didn't particularly liked.
"It's fine, not all that go inside get what they desire, and those students will soon realise the reality of those trials," Neyman said while raising his eyebrows.
Neyman's words made Arman remember his own experience inside the Trials Ground, and a helpless smile appeared on his face, as it wasn't an exactly pleasant experience.
Meanwhile, as the situation outside the Trials Ground was stabilizing, the students were already inside the Realm of Illusion, facing unknown trials that had started the moment they stepped inside.
"Ice Lance," Alyssa muttered.
Soon the Ice Lance formed in the air and went towards the ground, or the lava floor that was beneath her.
"It's real," Alyssa muttered as she saw her Ice Lance being melted as soon as it went near the lava.
It wasn't some normal lava, but her instincts were telling her to maintain her distance from it.
The moment Alyssa stepped inside, she was greeted with a ground made of lava and a huge castle that she could see a glimpse of, far away from her position.
Right now, she was using her Gravity Magic to stay afloat in the air, away from the strange lava.
"Is that the place I need to go?" Alyssa asked herself.
She started going towards the Castle instantly, as she carefully observed her surroundings but except from the Castle in the distance everywhere she looked there was nothing but lava.
Even the heat from the lava was enough to make your skin burn, but Alyssa was using her ice magic to form a thin film around her body, to save herself from the scorching heat.
Splash!
Suddenly, a big spike appeared directly below her erupting from the lava floor. Alyssa immediately used the Gravity magic to shift her body away, barely dodging the spike that started melting soon after it appeared.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Alyssa's heart started beating loudly as she felt the danger of this place seeping in, as it didn't seemed like an illusion at all.
Taking a huge breathe, calming herself down from the strange feeling she was feeling, Alyssa carefully started moving towards the Castle again.
Her instincts were warning her, just like when she was inside the C Rank Dungeon with Asher, it was a feeling similar to it, but it was greatly amplified for some reason.
"Is it part of the Trial?" Alyssa muttered trying to guess what her trial was.
Unknowingly to her, a strange golden shadow appeared in the sky far above her, which was filled with greyish clouds.
The golden shadow slowly turned its head toward Alyssa, as its eye opened revealing golden colored pupils.
"Hmmm, interesting, it's similar but its not her," It spoke.
"Where are you?" The golden shadow spoke as the eye disappeared and soon the golden shadow dissipated into the greyish clouds.
Alyssa didn't notice it, but the strange feeling that took over her, got greatly reduced but it didn't stop her from being extra careful.
"I will not lose this chance!" Alyssa clenched her fist as her eyes stared directly at the Castle.
For her, this was a chance that would bring her closer to her goal, and she needed to make the most out of it.
***
"Creator of the Trial..." Asher muttered as he looked at the notification.
Although, the next notification took his attention as the System notified him about the effect of fate that was being nullified here.
"What do you mean by this?" Asher asked.
[ This place has severed itself from the fate of this world, meaning that no one's fate is bounded by each other here.]
[ Usually, the fate of all beings are connected to each other in a way, but this place is nullifying it ]
"Is it because all of this is an illusion?" Asher asked.
He had reached Level 40, which allowed him to ask questions from the system that he couldn't before.
[ The exact workings of this place is unknown ]
The notification was enough for Asher to know, that whatever Trials Ground was, even the System didn't know about it.
"Dangerous~"
A voice echoed in Asher's head and it belonged to Rifir.
It was the first time Asher had heard Rifir say something like this, which caused him to drift his eyes towards the black shadows in the distance that were standing still.
