The wish for Strength!
Marik's Pov:
When I was sleeping today, I felt that someone had entered my illusionary field around me.
At first, I thought it might be a blockhead who got trapped here and would die, like several others, in this mist illusion after wandering around for some time.
If you don't have extreme determination and a very strong will, you will never be able to get out of this place, and you will die of exhaustion in the infinite loop illusion due to mental breakdown, starvation, etc.
Thousands of people have perished in this manner, with only a select few managing to withstand Marik's deceptive tactics.
However, those who managed to survive the illusion ultimately met their demise due to the pressure of being in my presence.
Just looking at me caused them to lose their determination and will.
Today was the first time someone survived my infinite loop illusion.
That kid had an extraordinary determination, as if he knew that he could get out of the illusion easily and that there was nothing to worry about.
He kept walking without any sign of exhaustion or fear of the unknown, as if he knew that there was nothing to be afraid of.
The time within my illusion accelerates in comparison to the external world. But the illusion still gives a real sense of time passing.
When that boy finally reached me, it was already the 15th day in the infinite loop illusion. He had been walking with his strong will for 15 days straight, never wavering on his path.
This impressed me.
It has been so many decades since I was last impressed like this.
During the last test, which required him to stand in my presence, I attempted to exert more pressure on his will, but he remained unwavering, facing me and speaking calmly.
After becoming an SS rank, you can see through several truths and lies just by your intuition alone, yet, due to some unknown reason, my intuition was not working on him. I
was not able to determine if he was telling the truth or lying when he said that he read about me in human record books.
So, I was even more surprised. This kid has something special, but I can't pinpoint what it is.
So, to fulfill my promise, I opened a gate to his destination. Due to my illusion powers, the person who goes through my gate will find themselves at the place they wanted to go.
It can be anywhere in this world.
I wonder where that boy has gone. Even I don't know about the destinations on the other side after all. I just hope that boy knows where he wants to go and makes it back alive.
'That kid was a strange one'
Marik pondered this in his mind, shaking his head and letting out a sigh as he remembered that strange encounter with the human kid.
After a while, the huge snake put down his head and closed its eyes to sleep again for a few decades, waiting for the next person to visit him.
He eagerly anticipates more fascinating interactions in the future.
...
Rio's Pov:
After walking towards the tomb, Rio stood in front of a huge gate.
The gate was huge and seemingly made of some mysterious metal; it showed signs of being rusted for a very long time.
Rio remembered this place from the novel.
According to the novel, Fade and Kira met Marik on their 6th day of walking through that infinite loop illusion and finally made their way toward the giant snake.
Well, you might wonder why it took so long for Rio to reach Marik when Fade and Kira were able to do the same in just 6 days—did they have a stronger will than Rio?
Nope, it's just that they are both protected by divine will, and these illusions can't trap the children of heaven for long.
Due to this, they were able to reach Marik so easily and so early that even Marik himself was dumbfounded by this and was angry because it was the first time that his great illusion was not able to keep someone suffering in that loop illusion.
His pride as a great illusion master was hurt because of it. But then Kira intervened and was able to recognize Marik's name.
She is not the main heroine for being a mere harem member of Fade; she has a strong backing, and she has been accustomed to many history books since childhood.
Her father tried to provide her with everything, to the best of his abilities.
She has always been interested in history, and because she had read about this giant snake in the history books, she instantly recognized Marik.
Kira purposely praised Marik's past achievements of trapping the demon army in an eternal illusion, due to which Marik forgave them both and opened a gate for them to reach their destination.
Although Marik appears to be a humble old snake with a good personality, he takes extreme pride in his strength and achievements and will be pleased easily by praising him.
So, he was impressed by that little praise from Kira and let them both go.
Marik was testing Rio to determine whether he was telling the truth or lying. It's a relief that Rio's 'true immunity' can block such unusual things being used on him as 'intuition'.
If not for this skill, Rio would have never been able to survive this illusion test.
After all, the heavenly luck will not help Rio reach the end, and Marik could have seen through his lies if not for this skill. It was a close call this time; he could have been dead due to a single mistake.
But in the end, everything was resolved without much trouble. This also demonstrates that you can alter the heavenly will to some extent and change your fate through hard work.
'Now that I think about it, Fade and Kira found this place by mere coincidence, or can be said, luck.'
When Fade and Kira walked in the portal, their destination was to get out of this forest and reach the academy, but how could the heavenly will let them go without giving any reward for passing this place?
Suddenly, strange fluctuations happened in the portal, and they were led to this tomb to collect the rewards for themselves. Really a great coincidence, isn't it?
Rio sighed in his mind and looked at the huge words written above the iron gate.
These words were written in some ancient language, which he didn't know, but since he had read the novel, he knew that it meant "The Tomb of Wishes.".
Kira was able to figure this out because she knew of these ancient languages and similar kinds of stuff.
Her talent in history is even greater than her talent in being an excellent mage. She is a walking book of history with so much knowledge.
'Tsk, that Fade's got a gem by his side. Well, nothing can be done about that...'
It's not like Rio wants to get involved with that girl.
She is also a disaster magnet and will get into several disasters, and Fade will have to save her life every time she gets stuck in these disasters.
Rio doesn't have that much energy to spend on saving someone; not to mention, he is extremely selfish to begin with.
To get these ancient texts translated, he can't waste so much time building a relationship with her.
'Let's leave these things for later and do what I came here for...'
After sorting out everything in his mind, Rio walked towards the gate and gave it a light push.
The gate opened without much effort. There was a long corridor behind the gate.
As Rio entered the corridor, the huge gate closed behind him, all by itself, but Rio was not surprised by this because he knew this was just a mere mechanism of that gate.
After walking continuously in that long corridor, Rio finally reached its end. There was a huge hall at the end, and a beautiful lake was present in the middle of it.
Glancing towards the right side of the lake, Rio noticed a grave nearby. Rio walked towards the grave and observed it for a while.
A thought occurred to him:
'So, this is the grave of the greatest magician, Ivan, Such Irony...'
People said that Ivan was the greatest magician in history, capable of destroying continents with a single spell.
He was one of the few people who had reached the peak of SS grade and were already qualified to break through the limit and reach a new realm.
Yet the great bottleneck hindered his way to ascension, and he failed to ascend, which led him to his death like every other person who tried the same before him.
In the end, he used his last magic to create a separate dimension for his grave. Only by passing Marik's test can one enter this extremely well-hidden dimension.
Ivan and Marik have been friends for a long time, and they were like real brothers to each other. Marik has been protecting his brother's grave for decades.
He deserves the title of great holy beast for his unwavering loyalty to his long-dead friend.
The magic power and essences that escaped Ivan after his death condensed this lake, making it the true lake of wishes, capable of granting up to five wishes at most.
The huge stone near Ivan's grave spelled out all of this, but it was in an ancient language. Of course, Rio couldn't read it, but he knew about it because Kira translated it for Fade in the novel.
The lake in the outside world is just a fake one; this lake right here is the true lake of wishes.
It can fulfill your wishes while respecting the power of the world's laws. Despite several restrictions, this lake is a real treasure.
'But the problem is that one person can only get one wish, and that wish can't be too ridiculous, like asking for immortality or something; it can only be under the scope of SS rank.'
(No, you can't get a girlfriend even if you wish at this lake, so don't even think about it.)
As of now, no one has used this lake, and all five wishes remain intact. Therefore, even if Rio makes a wish here, it won't cause any issues.
After all, Rio can't do any harm to this place. This place is made up of the essence of an SS-rank individual.
It can only be destroyed by someone who himself is an SS rank; only if he was able to pass through Marik first, though.
When Fade and Kira used this lake, they both asked for advancement in their knowledge or strength as mage.
Fade got what he wanted because heavenly luck helped him, and his fire magic evolved into the high rank one.
Giving a huge boost to his strength. After which he was capable of defeating a D rank while still being an E rank himself.
Kira got the advancement in her knowledge about history and other magical phenomena from the memory of the legendary mage Ivan.
This enhanced her comprehension of various magical occurrences.
'I wonder what will be the reward for me. After all, you can only choose knowledge or strength, and the rest will depend on the lake; the reward will be random and can be anything.'
Rio walked toward the lake and concentrated his mind on wishing for strength.
As he already has the knowledge of the future from the novel, he doesn't need that for now, and strength is more important for him at this time.
If he doesn't increase his strength as soon as possible, Fade will catch up to him very quickly.
'I wish for strength!'
...
...
Author's Note:- This is a poll, what do you want Rio to get?
1. A Sword- [Leads to the end of this adventure. Will focus on the academy more.]
2. A Skill- [Will lead to a new journey after the next events.]
3. Increase in Swordsmanship- [will lead to the way of interacting with the other characters.]
Tell me in the comments about your opinion. The story will be based on your opinion, be careful to choose what you like about the story. Thank you for your support.