152 First Checkpoin (1/2)

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”Where in the world...”

When Raven's vision re-adjusted, he found out that he was on a different place altogether.

Dark and ominous clouds loomed over his head. The moon was awfully close and was died with a blood-freezing shade of red.

He could hear howls of wolves, rustling of bushes and he could also feel the heavy atmosphere in the air.

”So...you finally reached this point.”

An ethereal voice passed by his ears, sending shivers to his spine. Raven hurriedly looked over and saw the faint silhouette of Inos, sitting on one of the tree branches while looking at him with a kind smile.

”Partner!” Raven said in an elated manner. ”You appeared, which means that I reached the first checkpoint right?”

”Correct.” Inos nodded in satisfaction. ”You might be confused about this, so allow me to explain.”

”As the 9th True Heir Candidate, this whole palace grounds is your trial grounds. Letting you experience the Royal Suppression isn't enough to forge you as the rightful heir.”

”Scattered in the Palace Grounds are 100 Pocket Dimensions, just like this one. Each of them is a checkpoint on their own.”

”Once you enter inside, you cannot leave without clearing the challenges it poses. Try focusing on your mind, you shall see the the current challenge, or mission if that makes it easier to understand.”

Listening to Inos' explanation, Raven hurriedly closed his eyes and searched his psyche. There he found golden words that carried profound ancientness and solemnity.

***

Challenge #1: Fight!

- Defeat or Kill enemies. The result will vary depending on your actions so decide wisely Young Candidate.

***

”Have you seen it?” Inos' inquiry woke up Raven from his trance.

Raven nodded and felt quite perplexed.

All of these events took him by surprise. When Inos informed him a while back about his overall goal to become the rightful owner of the Divine Ancestral Crown, a True Heir, many questions found their way onto his mind. Like, who was the creator of the Crown? Why did he created it? Where is this creator? Why does one have to pass these challenges to become the true owner of this crown? And so on...

None of his questions were answered, which lead him to believe that he had to succeed in these trials first before the answer revealed themselves to him.

The existence of these pocket dimensions also brought great waves in his heart. It had to be known that spatial genesis is the pinnacle of Space Laws. Even back in his previous life, there's only a handful of people who had the ability to create their own pocket dimensions, and all of them are incredibly powerful people. Which is saying a lot because they're at the Divine Realm.

But the creator of this crown not only created a pocket dimension inside an item, but also created 100 pocket dimensions inside a pocket dimension. This was enough to send Raven's mind reeling...

”I know this is a lot to take in...” Inos said, breaking Raven's trance once more. ”But remember the reason why you wanted to become the rightful heir. Remember and hold onto it, let it be the fuel that you need to go past your limits.”

Raven looked up and saw that Inos was already gone. His words lingered onto his ears for a while and filled with his with resolve.

'He's right. It's useless to think about things deeply, I have one major goal. And that is to transcend any challenges that comes my way and protect the people that's important to me. That's everything I need.'

Having his thoughts cleared up, hesitation no longer clouded his mind and he directly looked in front of him.

Raven tried cloaking himself with energy, hoping that he could suppress his presence and do some investigations first without alerting the enemy. However, he was met with a problem.