Ancient Maze

While following after Wayde, who was leading the way and dealing with any obstacles that came their way, Ryan struggled to conceal his fatigue. He hadn't entirely recovered after his encounter with the Warlock, and entering the trial was very abrupt and random.

But since it supposedly only revealed itself once to each individual deemed worthy, he had no choice.

Gritting his teeth, Ryan continued channelling mana into his body to keep up with Wayde, who elegantly flew without breaking a sweat.

However, suddenly reaching an abrupt halt, Wayne startled Ryan, who quickly followed suit.

"How you holding up, kid?" he then asked in a condescending tone.

"Doing alright. But are we getting close?" Ryan was confused since he didn't sense any danger or creature coming their way, which was usually why Wayde would stop.

Wayne simply laughed and led Ryan around the corner, where there was an opening that overlooked an ancient maze that stretched out as far as the eye could see.

Ryan's breath caught in his throat as he beheld the maze, a labyrinthine network of twisting pathways and towering walls. He also couldn't help but notice the invisible barrier before him shrouded in energy, similar to that which he had travelled to Aria through.

'A Spatial Rift...,' he noted internally before asking, "How are we going to navigate through that...?"

"That's precisely what we need to figure out," Wayde stated, his tone revealing no hint of reliance on Ryan's assistance.

The raggedy mage's aloof manner seemed ingrained, and Ryan chose not to dwell on it. Instead, he asked, "Why didn't you just fly over the maze?"

"You'll see," Wayde responded, making contact with the Spatial Rift before being sucked into a swirling vortex and vanishing from sight.

"Another Spatial Rift... How many more of these will I have to go through?" Ryan muttered to himself, steadying his breath and following suit.

Moments after, he appeared in the maze and couldn't help but be in awe. Now within the maze and not overlooking it from above, the walls were much higher and more imposing than he could have ever imagined.

It made navigating through the maze feel even more impossible.

Meanwhile, he also couldn't help but notice and be amused by the state that Wayde was in.

He was gasping for air, struggling to hide his discomfort from the Spatial Rift.

"I can never get used to these..." Wayde groaned, amazed by Ryan's unaffected state.

Even powerful mages experienced disorientation after spatial travel, unless skilled in Spatial Magic.

Yet Ryan exhibited no signs of being affected.

'Maybe he possesses a unique talent or ability related to spatial manipulation,' Wayde pondered, attempting to regain composure.

'What exactly is this kid?' he questioned internally while glaring at Ryan, who was suppressing the urge to laugh at him.

'It must be my constitution that makes me unaffected by them, not to say that they are fun or comfortable to travel through,' Ryan gathered before suddenly channelling mana into his legs.

'I should be able to jump high enough to land atop the maze's walls, then getting to the centre should be easy,' he thought to himself, propelling himself upwards.

As he did, Wayde's smile grew, a hint of excitement gleaming in his eyes, anticipating what was to come...

Bang!

Hitting an invisible ceiling that was entirely unexpected and undetectable, Ryan, who had sprung up into the air, blacked out momentarily. Regaining consciousness as he fell back towards the ground, he luckily managed to reinforce his body with mana and land on both feet.

Ryan stumbled as soon as he did, dazed and seeing double while hearing Wayde's maniacal laughter in the background. 

"What did you expect, kid? You think nobody tried flying over the maze?" 

"The so-called Great One designed this place. He wouldn't live up to his name if it was that easy to get out of this maze."

"Once you're in here, there's only one way out, which is the Spatial Rift we came through. As for the maze itself, it's indestructible," Wayde continued.

'You could have told me that beforehand,' Ryan groaned internally.

"Odus, that bastard made it so that there's no other way to clear this trial but the one he designed. This maze shifts randomly, so trial and error is useless, which also makes digging under it futile, even if you could. Tunnelling out of the underground structure we were in before is also impossible."

"Believe me, I've tried," he added with a hint of helplessness and desperation.

"From everything I have been able to gather and understand, we need to anticipate the movements of the maze and select the right pathways using Mana Sensitivity," Wayde explained before abruptly losing his temper.

"If only that damned elf bitch had told me all that before I came in here," he yelled, before babbling on about what he was going to do to her and anyone else who had dared look down on him.

Eventually, after cursing and ranting for a short while, Wayde outlined the basics to Ryan.

According to what he and those who had previously attempted had gathered, they needed to rely on fluctuations of mana and traces embedded in the walls to navigate through the labyrinth.

But even then, he wasn't entirely sure and ended his explanations with, "I'll leave figuring out the rest to you."

"What do you...?"

Before Ryan could even finish questioning Wayde's reliance, the ragged mage suddenly snapped.

"If you can't do that, then what do you offer?!" he bellowed, unleashing a powerful aura that caused powerful winds as he attempted to intimidate Ryan into servitude.

However, after going up against the Warlock, Wayde didn't appear all that scary.

That wasn't to say he was confident in going up against him.

But compared to the Warlock, who was merely toying with him and seemed to almost be infinitely powerful, Ryan felt as though he could stand his ground against Wayde.

Whether that was the case or not, Ryan would rather not find out.

But letting himself get walked all over by his deranged companion also wasn't an option.

And so, Ryan merely said, "I'll give it a go."