Helplessness in the Void

Whoosh!

A few seconds after disappearing from the green jade hall he was used to traversing on, Aurus was brought into a world where the floor was black, the surroundings are black, and what he perceived was all black.

"Ugh..." Aurus felt light-headed after being transported to this world without him taking any precautions. It took Aurus a few minutes before he could barely think straight as he looked at his surroundings.

"Huuh...haah...why is this world...devoid of anything?" Aurus couldn't help but mutter to himself as he used his [Soul Perception I] skill to look at everything. He could sense items here and there, but they were the same color of black as the vast expanse behind it, making it seem that they were not there. The only thing that wasn't black or devoid of color was Aurus himself.

Rolling bit by bit as he used [Soul Perception I] to look at his surroundings, Aurus felt that it would take a while for him to leave this world. At that moment, the disembodied voice that usually resounded throughout the green jade hall where previously resided, resounded throughout the world where Aurus was currently in.

"The third trial, Illusion, has now begun."

"The first illusion world, Void, has been casted."

"Oh? So that's why this world seemed like it was devoid of anything. The world's name is Void." Aurus now felt that the world he was currently in made more sense. Nonetheless, he was at a loss as to what to do next since he had no idea on how to escape a world like this.

Continuing to roll forward with the help of his [Soul Perception I] skill, Aurus started to hypothesize methods that would allow him to leave this first world.

"Hmm...so far, only three ways come to mind," Aurus muttered to himself.

"The first thing I could do is traverse this vast expanse to its end and escape from its boundary. Of course, being an illusion world, it has its limits on distance."

"The second thing I could do is heed the disembodied voice's words and forcefully escape the illusion by utilizing the methods I used when I fought with illusionists back then."

At these moments, memories of him fighting against illusionists surfaced in his mind, letting him recall the ways he escaped their illusions. Since he was in an illusion world, then it makes sense that he could escape it like escaping from the illusions of the illusionists, right?

"As for the third method...I don't know if it'll work though," Aurus had some doubts on this last method. "Rather than heeding the disembodied voice's words, I disregard this and accept everything as reality while finding faults within the illusion world."

"It does sound absurd," Aurus felt that the words that came out of his mouth were sarcastic.

"I guess I'll just use the second method for now. If that doesn't work, then the third method. If that doesn't work, then the first one."

Cutting off his senses towards the outside world, Aurus continued to roll as every once in a while, he would turn to the left, or perhaps turn to the right, or even turn 180 degrees. As to why he was doing this, he was just following his gut feeling as he did this.

And so, with this method, around 10 minutes have passed since Aurus entered this world.

At these moments, Aurus activated his [Soul Perception I] skill once more, seeing that everything was black around him. "Hm. I guess the second method doesn't work then."

Aurus then steeled his decision to start using the third method since it didn't work.

"[Spirit Detection (Wind Variant)]!"

Whoosh!

At the instant Aurus casted one of his two support spells, a green circle hastily expanded to a radius of 10 meters before dissipating, letting Aurus perceive everything that was 10 meters around him with a greater sense of detail.

"Hmm..." Aurus absorbed every single bit of information regarding the surroundings 10 meters around him. After a few seconds, he had a rough sketch of the place he was currently in.

"A few objects within the 10 meter radius were rock-like in shape, while the ground was covered in small stalks of what seems to be grass. As for trees, there is none. Hence..."

Aurus easily got to a conclusion. "This is a plains. The question left is...how vast is it?"

At the next instant, Aurus had an impulse to traverse the whole terrain of the illusion world he was currently in and gauge how large the area was. But this was instantly suppressed by his rationality, since he knew that it would span 5 kilometers on each side at least.

Letting out a soft sigh of relief, Aurus conjured a floating Anima that was transformed into a Spirit Spear not long after. Aurus then recalled the location of one of the rock-like objects and shot the Spirit Spear towards it, which instantly multiplied in number not long after, turning into a barrage of Spirit Spears.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At the next instant the massive amount of Spirit Spears collided with the rock-like object, a small glint of light appeared near the rock-like object, making Aurus' nonexistent eyes light up as he knew he was getting somewhere.

Seeing that he found a possible way to get out. Aurus did not hesitate to get closer to the rock-like object which was being bombarded by the multiple Spirit Spears. It took a few minutes for Aurus to come closer to the rock-like object, only to be gobsmacked at what was happening.

The Spirit Spears weren't colliding with the rock-like object at all. With the help of his [Spirit Detection (Wind Variant)] skill, Aurus could see that there was a strong yet invisible barrier a few millimeters apart from the rock-like object, as it deflected the tips of the Spirit Spear to hit each other instead, resulting in the sparks Aurus could see from afar.

At the place Aurus was a while ago, it would look like the light was the result of the collision of the rock-like object and the Spirit Spears, but it was only a farce, causing Aurus to gradually lose motivation on the third method.

He tried using the third offensive Spirit spells he had, in consecutive order of power, but alas to no fruition as well. Letting out a soft sigh, Aurus couldn't help but use the first method instead.

"I don't know if this will work...but it's worth a shot. If I don't escape this world, then how would I evolve to S-grade?"

Aurus casted [Gale Hover] as he gradually hovered off of the seamless black ground and started to head towards the boundary of the illusion world he was in.

A few minutes in, he felt that he was in for a long ride, considering that the only experiences he had with illusions and illusion worlds spanned for kilometers beyond end.

But this was going to be broken by the illusion world itself...

Poof!

At the 4 minute mark of his [Gale Hover] spell, Aurus felt a vortex sucking him in as his surroundings was gradually being filled with light until...

Whoosh!

With a gust of wind, Aurus appeared back within the green jade hall as he continued to hover over the green jade hall's ground. Aurus looked at his surroundings and casted [Spirit Detection (Wind Variant)] a few times to see if he was hallucinating.

He also went closer to the walls and shot a few Spirit Spears, determining its authenticity. After doing all of that, Aurus landed on the center of the green jade hall and only muttered one word.

"H-How..."