Chapter 55: Weaving Through Distortion

“The second world, Mirage, has been escaped from in a time of 32 minutes and 43 seconds. Score grade: A.”

“As a reward, the experience needed to level up [Illusion Resistance] has been filled, thus levelling up [Illusion Resistance].”

Ding!

After the disembodied voice was finished announcing what it had to announce, it was then followed up by the notification sound of Aurus’ system as a notification screen popped up in front of his field of vision.

‘[Illusion Resistance] has leveled up.’

“Hoh?” Aurus couldn’t help but feel that the inheritance is quite generous in its rewards. If the next world he escaped from would give him another level up on [Illusion Resistance], then he might be able to evolve it before he enters the next world, assuming that it’s a skill of the C-grade Mortal.

“You know what? I won’t cut losses.” Of course, Aurus knew that the [Illusion Resistance] skill did what was written on the title, which was give to a resistance to illusions to Aurus. But sometimes, being nonchalant on the effects of his skills would possibly lead him to a downfall in the future, not knowing how to synergize skills or something.

“Identify [Illusion Resistance].”

Ding!

________

[Illusion Resistance] (Level 2/3)

Grade: C (Mortal)

Illusion, a reality created by a person’s imagination. It exists and it doesn’t exist at the same time, with some able to create a connection with reality and illusion. This skill reduces the chances of you falling into an illusion, and if you do get into an illusion, your chances of escaping is boosted.

________

“Well that description seems pretty vague,” Aurus couldn’t help but say after reading the description of the skill. “It reduces my chances of falling into an illusion, and if I do get sucked into one, my chances of escaping are far greater than those who don’t have this skill?”

Aurus then started to think of the possible evolutions of this skill, ranging from nullifying his chances of entering an illusion, to possibly reflecting the illusion back to the caster while being unharmed. “I think it’s a good thing that it’s only C-grade since it has plenty of room to grow.”

His nonexistent eyes then lit up as he could still vividly remember the discovery he made in the previous illusion world. “Hehe! Who knew that [Soul Perception I] could actually be used like that!”

“Identify [Soul Perception I].”

Ding!

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[Soul Perception I] (Level 2/5)

Grade: C (Mortal—Special)

A skill given to those that have extremely strong souls when compared to their peers. This skill allows them to see everything within a set radius. The sight that the user sees will depend on what the user wants to see.

> Using this skill passively will allow the user to see ten times beyond the current radius

> Using this skill actively by wanting to selectively see something would limit the user’s vision to the current radius

Current radius: 10 meters

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“Oh.” Aurus now understood the special function of the skill. “So if I wanted to see everything around me as the individual particles that make up my view, I can do that.”

Of course, as he said this, Aurus changed his mindset to perceive everything as tiny particles that are connected together through bonds, even going so far as to seeing like this whenever he looked at his body.

Whoosh!

As if it were a virus, the view around him instantly shrunk to the skill’s current radius which was ten meters and allowed Aurus to see each particle that made up his surroundings.

Seeing that anything was possible, he deactivated this view and went back to using the skill passively, allowing him to see the entirety of the green jade hall once more.

Whoosh!

“I now know how to level this skill up,” Aurus couldn’t help but say as his nonexistent eyes gleamed. Although it was still useful in its current state, he wanted everything to become better.

“I’ll also ask the system about the Special word after the Mortal grade after I finish this next illusion world.”

Just as he was going to wonder why the disembodied voice was taking so long to let him enter the third world, coincidentally, the disembodied voice resounded throughout the hall all of a sudden as Aurus felt a sucking force enveloping his whole body.

“Haha! I was prepared for you, bitch!” Aurus couldn’t help but laugh as the words of the disembodied voice entered his sense of hearing as he instantly disappeared from the center of the green jade hall.

“The third world, Distortion, has been casted.”

“Transporting the inheritor to the world.”

…

In another green jade hall.

Whoosh!

A branch that had cuts and scars all over its body as it was covered in some sort of viscous crimson red fluid, suddenly appeared in the center of this specific green jade hall.

Looking around its surroundings, it couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief inwardly as it knew that its second trial was over. This branch was Herellia, who was trapped inside a world filled with incessant enemies that came to attack her at any given time.

“I…I succeeded…” Herellia said to herself inwardly as she tried to recover whatever was recoverable. As she was doing this, the disembodied voice, that always came at either at a coincidental time or at a bad time, resounded throughout the hall.

“The second trial, the Endurance trial, has been completed. The inheritor has survived for 5 days within that world and killed a total of 941 enemies. Score grade: S.”

“Since the inheritor has achieved such an exemplary score, the next trial’s difficulty shall be reduced. Also, the inheritor shall receive a random reward from the inheritance.”

“Reward is being randomly picked by the inheritance…”

“Reward has been picked. The active skill [Stick Regeneration] has been rewarded to the inheritor.”

Ding!

Of course, with Herellia having a system just like Aurus thanks to the blessings of the god that gave her the system, the Goddess of Kinship, Herellia was able to hear this notification sound as a screen appeared in front of her vision.

‘The active skill [Stick Regeneration] has been obtained.’

Herellia read the words of the skill and felt that it was familiar to her. Closing her sense of vision and recalling the thought, a spark appeared in her mind and made her let our an extremely cheerful aura.

“This is…” Herellia couldn’t believe that the inheritance would give the skill so easily.

“This is the healing skill Aurus was talking about!”

…

Whoosh!

Aurus was instantly teleported into another illusion world. This illusion world was extremely befitting of the name ‘Distortion’. The sights everywhere were extremely skewed or deformed, may it be trees, plants, the sky, the sun, or even the buildings around where Aurus appeared.

That’s right, just like in the ‘Mirage’ illusion world, Aurus was in the middle of a village once more, with huts and the basic necessities easily visible, albeit skewed and twisted in a way that you wouldn’t recognize it as a village.

Aurus opened his eyes and instantly felt cool-headed and rational since he was prepared for the teleport, not needing to take time to regain his rationality and logicality.

Looking around his surroundings, Aurus couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow. If this was some sort of interactive abstract art in an art gallery, then I’d get rich if I sold this.”

“Too bad that this is all just an illusion. Plus, it’s definitely confusing,” Aurus continued before closing his sense of vision.

Since he remembered that the name of the world was ‘Distortion’, all of his surroundings were distorted to a great degree, even his body was not spared from this, making him extremely dizzy.

Thus, he changed his mindset to view everything in a way that didn’t let light refract any of the things he saw. Indeed, just like the mirage, this distortion was not a physical distortion, but rather an optical one. Aurus passed through one of the distorted buildings as if it wasn’t there, getting to this conclusion.

Whoosh!

As Aurus opened his eyes, the view around him was as if nothing unusual was happening at all. Everything seemed normal at all. But of course, Aurus knew that he had to find the cause of this distortion, just like how he had to find the origin of the mirage in the previous illusion world.

Casting [Gale Hover] on his body, he gradually hovered off the ground as he relied on his active [Soul Perception I] skill to try and find the origin of the distortion.

“I hope I find the cause for this distortion in a short amount of time.”

Ding!

“Oh hey, [Soul Perception I] leveled up! Sweet!”