Chapter 1845 1845. The Essence of the Trial
Jack spent hours trying to hit Elder Maniac with his sword, but he failed every attempt. Tired and frustrated, he sat on the ground panting.
"You are missing the point," Elder Maniac said.
"Can you give me a clue, elder?" Jack asked. "Just a tiny itsy-bitsy clue will be appreciated."
Elder Maniac shook his head. "I must say, I am rather disappointed. I have high hopes after your first slash. I guess you will be another disappointment."
The elder stood up.
"Huh?" Jack was confused seeing the elder's action. This was the first time the elder moved. Did his request for a clue angered the elder? It was just a small request, Goddamnit!
"You won't succeed if you keep doing the same thing again and again. Let's change the game a little. Find me. If you can, we will resume the trial."
"Find you…?"
While Jack was still making sense of things, the elder took one step back and vanished.
"Huh?!" Jack jumped to his feet and ran forward. He was now standing where the elder was a moment ago. He looked around. Nothing but darkness and void all around. No trace of where the elder had gone.
"Are you f*cking kidding me? I'm already confused as hell from that trial. Do you have to add another puzzle for me to solve? This is f*cking great!"
Jack turned a full circle. No reference points. Everything was the same. There was nothing! He didn't know where to go.
He closed his eyes. Elder Maniac vanished after taking one step back. Maybe he simply turned invisible. Jack swept his mana sense around. His mana sense had a very wide range. If Elder Maniac was simply invisible, he should be able to detect his presence. However, he sensed nothing.
He opened his eyes and made another circling sweep.
"Shit…," he cursed.
He continued to stay in his position and scanned his surroundings using mana sense. After having no luck in finding anything for almost one hour, he started walking. No sense staying in one place and hoping for something to happen. He didn't know which way to go. He just randomly picked a direction.
After walking for a few hours, he still saw no change in the scenery. Everything was still the same dark void. There was not even an edge to this place. He had been walking in the same direction, and he didn't bump into anything.
"F*ck… This is worse than the Time Sage trial," Jack muttered. At least there was still a scenery during the Time Sage trial. There was absolutely nothing here.
He continued to focus his mana sense while walking but detected nothing.
After having no results for such a long time, he decided to go back to the most basic method of searching technique.
"Elder Maniac…! Hellooo…!!! Where are you? Can you please come out? Let's go back to the I-slash-you trial. I don't like this I-find-you trial!"
Jack continued to shout while he walked. After a few hours of constant walking and shouting, he got the same result. Nothing.
"Crap," he sighed and sat down to rest.
He did not doubt things would continue like this if he just did the same thing. Based on his experience during the Time Sage trial, he could walk for years and discover nothing. During that trial, he only found a way to pass the trial after he discovered the essence of time.
"The essence…," Jack muttered. He had to find out what this trial was all about. Otherwise, he wouldn't get a result. He had tried walking aimlessly. That didn't work, so he had to try a different method.
He sat cross-legged and let himself relax. "Let's see what this place is truly like," he closed his eyes and focused his mana sense.
His consciousness started to drift out. He felt his being expand. During the incorporeal state, his mana sense was enhanced. He could sense further than he normally could. He could also better interact with the outside mana.
"Huh?" With his enhanced mana sense, he could sense that the space here was unusual. He explored further and discovered that he could connect with the mana here like the time when he was exploring the Lost Forest.
He sensed that the structure of this place was similar to the Lost Forest. It was not a single space. It was a lot of small spaces linked to each other. But this place was much more complex than the Lost Forest because the small spaces kept moving. It was like a vast assemblage of compartments that randomly changed places
'I don't even need to touch the space's edge to connect to the mana of this space,' Jack thought. 'Maybe this is the advancement for training how to camouflage my mana with the foreign mana. Hm…?'
As he let his mana sense merge with this space's mana, he could sense further and further. He sensed a unique presence in one of the spaces.
'Found you!' Jack exclaimed in his mind. After locking into that unique presence, he identified it as the mana signature of Elder Maniac.
When he was about to return to his body to start navigating towards the space the Elder Maniac was in, the space where the Elder Maniac was suddenly changed places.
'What…?'
He remembered now about the special characteristics of this place. The compartment spaces kept on moving around. It never stayed in one place. The space where Elder Maniac was in had now changed places to someplace completely different.
Jack stayed and waited. In less than a minute, the space changed positions again. The elder maniac was at another place now.
'F*ck…,' Jack cursed in his mind. With such a short interval, there was not enough time for him to return to his body and travel to the space where the Elder Maniac was.
'What kind of trial is this?' He thought. Should he just wander around until he luckily stumbled upon the space where the elder maniac was? He would rely entirely on his luck if that was the case. That couldn't be the essence of this trial, could it?