I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 199: Is That All?

“Myriad Void Dimensions…” Listening to the name of the first stage, Aurus started thinking up of the mechanics of the stage, just like what he used to do when he was attempting the trials in this inheritance before he obtained a Ruler title. In a matter of an instant, multiple mechanics that seemed to resonate with the name of the stage had surfaced in Aurus’s mind. All of the mechanics had differing instructions and goals, but one thing was for sure in his thoughts. The end goal of this stage was to escape something.

“Are you finished pondering on what mechanics this first stage has?” Inhee asked Aurus, who had just finished pondering over mechanics, with a teasing tone. In response to this, an aura of shock radiated from Aurus. Fortunately, just as Aurus was about to ask how Inhee knew about what he was doing before trials, Inhee took the initiative to answer the unspoken question, continuing, “I’m the Inheritance Ruler. If I don’t even know what’s going on in the mind of the inheritors before they take their trials, then how can I possibly call myself an Inheritance Ruler?”

“Anyways, since this trial was not something I created but rather by the Supreme Ruler of the Void, I’ll tell you the mechanics and the way on how you could finish the trial as fast as possible,” Inhee soon added, to which Aurus radiated an aura of curiosity as he wondered if the mechanics he had in mind were the same as the real one.

Taking in another deep breath, Inhee went ahead and explained the first stage to Aurus, saying, “From the name itself, the stage ‘Myriad Void Dimensions’ is set on a place with myriad dimensions made out of the Void element…if that wasn’t obvious enough already. You start on one of the corners of this room, with the stage starting once you enter the Void Dimension in that corner. Inside it, you only have four choices in which direction you’d like to move: forward, backward, leftward, and rightward.”

Inhee then continued, “Your goal is to reach the center of the myriad dimensions through the Void Dimension you entered. Once you reach the center of the myriad dimensions, you shall be teleported out of it, as well as marking you to be someone that has finished the first stage.”

‘Hmm…this Myriad Void Dimensions stage is quite similar to the second stage of the trial I took here back then,’ Aurus thought to himself as he listened to Inhee’s words. ‘Although there is no decision-making process when it comes to the choices of movement I have, which makes it look like I would eventually get to the center of the myriad dimensions eventually, since I’m being tested, there would definitely be a twist.’

“To be honest, I was just getting to the twist,” Inhee said as it sighed after Aurus had finished thinking. It then added, “As you’ve said, it seems you like could go and move towards a random direction and you’ll eventually reach the center of the myriad dimensions. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, with three out of four directions leading towards a dimension filled with the intent of destruction, easily decimating your body to shreds.”

“In other words, if you don’t rely on your control over the element of the Void through the title, you have to rely on your instincts if you wanna clear this stage unscathed,” Inhee continued before letting out a sigh. Aurus pondered over Inhee’s words for a bit in silence, wondering if it was really worth doing this for a title. Eventually, he finished pondering, looking up at a certain direction and asking, “Can I ask what the rewards are after I finish this stage? I need to have some incentive, you know.”

“Since the trial is something the Supreme Ruler of the Void made up, I’ll allow you to choose any reward you want,” Inhee replied to Aurus’s words, instantly stimulating his imagination on what reward he could ask Inhee. Unfortunately for him, Inhee’s next words crushed his hopes of asking for some incredibly powerful thing, saying, “Of course, I have the right to say whether the reward you want is truly befitting for the current you. In other words, ask for a reward that is beyond your scope of power and I’ll decline.”

In response to that, Aurus let out a sigh inwardly before saying, “Alright, alright. I get it. I won’t ask for anything stupid.” He then said as an aura of seriousness emanated from him, “Anyways, let’s start the first stage.”

“Wise choice,” Inhee uttered as it lightly chuckled, instantly teleporting Aurus from where he was towards a corner of the large stone room he was in. A few seconds later, a near incessant amount of black spheres appeared in the stone room, originating from the center before spreading out towards the corners of the stone room. These spheres emitted an aura that was akin to the feeling of nothingness, with each sphere being the size of a decently sized boulder.

Eventually, the spheres stopped spreading, with the sphere Aurus had to enter radiating an aura that said ‘Enter here’ as it appeared a decent distance away from him. While looking at the sphere, he could not help but notice a glistening star hover above the sphere, prompting him to ask Inhee, “What’s the star thing on top of the sphere, Inhee?”

“That’s a sign that you’ve entered the correct Void Dimension,” Inhee soon responded to Aurus’s question before adding, “It also has something to do with how you could clear the trial as fast as possible. At the very instant you enter the starting Void Dimension, everywhere you look will be covered in a shroud of darkness…except for the star at the top.”

“These Void Dimensions are actually transparent, allowing you to look at what is contained in the Void Dimensions surrounding yours. But since the safe ones do not contain anything while the dangerous ones contain a black haze, there’s more or less no difference between the two if you rely on your eyesight. The only way you’ll find out that it’s a safe one is when a star appears above it,” Inhee continued before saying, “Now go. Go and clear this stage to prove the Supreme Ruler of the Void wrong.”

Aurus then went closer to the sphere that had a star on top of it, feeling a suctioning force come from the sphere not long after. Since he knew what was going to happen to him, he did not resist the suctioning force, signaling the start of the first stage as he had officially entered the Myriad Void Dimensions.

…

In a place incredibly far away from the Area 52 inheritance, a beautiful woman was sitting on a chair as an orb that showed an image of a glowing wooden sculpture entering a black sphere floated in front of her. This woman wore a white robe that seemed to be too big for her, yet radiated an aura that seemed to fit the power she held. This woman was none other than Inhee, the Inheritance Ruler that was talking with Aurus before he entered the Myriad Void Dimensions.

Step. Step. Step.

While she was attentively looking at the orb, keeping an eye on Aurus’s progress, her hearing had picked up the sound of faint footsteps gradually becoming louder as it got closer to her, prompting her to look behind, a light smile on her face as she hastily recognized who was getting closer to her.

“To think that you’d come here out of your own accord, Supreme Ruler of the Void,” Inhee said with a light chuckle as her eyes were focused on the man that had finally arrived in front of her. This man, just like the title he held, wore clothes that seemed to have no dimension due to the sheer darkness of the fabric. Of course, just like how Inhee’s robe complemented her aura, this man’s clothes complemented the aura he radiated, an aura of nothingness.

“How’s that Assistant Ruler of the Void doing, Inheritance Ruler?” the Supreme Ruler of the Void opened his mouth to ask Inhee, a dry yet deep voice coming out of it not long after. In response to this, Inhee hummed a simple tune for a while as she turned her head around to look back at the orb floating in front of her.

“Well, the Inanimate has just entered the Myriad Void Dimensions. Knowing your prowess over illusions very well, this Assistant Ruler of yours might just—” While she responded to the Supreme Ruler of the Void’s question with an answer that favored his side rather than Aurus’s, Inhee’s response was interrupted before she could finish, her mouth agape as she looked at what had happened through the orb. An expression of disbelief was written all over her face as she muttered, “Impossible…”

“What’s wrong, Inheritance Ruler?” the Supreme Ruler of the Void instantly felt the weird aura radiating from her, prompting him to ask her this question. In response to this, Inhee slowly turned her head around before saying, “I don’t know how it did it…but it passed through the Myriad Void Dimensions.”

“Are you serious?” the Supreme Ruler of the Void could not believe what he was hearing. He then went closer to Inhee, allowing him to see what was happening in the orb, leaving him speechless as well. He was about to tell the Inheritance Ruler to disqualify the Inanimate from the stage for cheating, but after looking a bit more closely, he found out that there was no way for him to do such a thing.

“Lighting up all of the stars at that sort of speed…” the Supreme Ruler of the Void muttered in disbelief. He then continued to mutter, saying, “Does this Inanimate have all of the good luck in the world given to it or something? How can an Inanimate, a being that doesn’t even have an incredibly strong soul like us, be able to clear such a confusing stage without making a mistake?”

“I have no clue at all,” Inhee replied to the Supreme Ruler of the Void’s question before letting out a sigh. She then asked him, “Do you really want this Inanimate to not have your title? What’s your problem with the Inanimate anyway?”

“Well, the problem with the element it specializes in is the least of my problems,” the Supreme Ruler of the Void said before continuing, “The main problem I have with the Inanimate…”

“Is its existence level.”

…

Whoosh!

A few seconds later, just like what Inhee had said to him, Aurus was surrounded everywhere by a shroud of darkness, with only the star at the top being the other thing that he could see clearly other than his body. Oh, right. Theresa was something he could see clearly as well.

It took a while for him to adapt to the pure darkness surrounding him, eventually letting out a sigh as he muttered, “It seems Inhee was telling me the truth. Everywhere I look is pure darkness that I don’t even have a smidgen of a clue as to what direction I should move.”

“Should I just go ahead and move in a random direction? I could just teleport back to this place if I enter a Void Dimension that would kill me,” Aurus muttered to himself, only for him to realize what Theresa was currently doing. Surprisingly, while Aurus was talking to himself, Theresa moved from his left shoulder, distancing itself from him for a bit before taking a look at their surroundings as it closed its eyes, seemingly thinking about something.

After a while, Theresa went back to Aurus’s left shoulder, which was around the time where he was finished talking to himself. At the instant Theresa had returned to Aurus’s left shoulder, it scratched its head for a bit before letting out a sigh of contentment, looking at Aurus with a gaze of slight excitement as it said, “Master, I seem to have found out the truth regarding this Myriad Void Dimensions thing.”

“Hm?” Aurus’s interest was instantly piqued, prompting him to ask Theresa, “What do you mean by that?”

“Hmm…how should I explain this to Master…” Theresa muttered as it heard Aurus’s question, eventually finding the right words to say as it replied, “From what the voice had said before, there are only two types of Void Dimensions, right?”

“Yeah, the safe ones and the ones filled with the intent of destruction,” Aurus replied to Theresa’s words, asking not long after, “What about them?”

“There’s nothing weird about the safe ones. I’ve checked that once you enter them, a star manifests on top of them and that’s it,” Theresa replied to Aurus’s question. It then added, “But there’s something peculiar with the dangerous ones.”

“They do indeed have the intent of destruction that could easily destroy your body at any time, Master. But there’s something more to them than just that,” Theresa said, increasing Aurus’s level of curiosity as he said, “Just tell me already, Theresa!”

“Master is really impatient but alright.” Theresa puffed its cheeks as a slight frown appeared on its face. It then let out a short sigh before saying, “In actuality, the intent of destruction hidden in those Void Dimensions is only a strand or two. What’s making up most of the pure darkness surrounding us, Master, is…”

“An illusion!”

“So? What are you trying to tell me?” Aurus replied to Theresa’s words, slightly confused at what it was trying to convey. He then rummaged through his memories, wondering if what Theresa was trying to convey had something to do with a memory from his past. Fortunately, a memory that had a relation to what Theresa was trying to convey had surfaced in his mind, allowing him to realize what Theresa was trying to say.

“[Penultimate Veridical Spirit]…does it have something to do with that?” Aurus asked Theresa, to which Theresa profusely nodded in response as it said, “Exactly, Master! [Penultimate Veridical Spirit] is the fusion of [Undeceiving Sight], a far stronger version of [Illusion Nullification], and [Unified Soul Control], allowing Master to see through all lies without any difficulty!”

“If that’s the case, then why is everything surrounding us is still pure darkness if I can see through all lies?” Aurus asked this question while wondering whether what Theresa was saying was the truth, to which Theresa replied, “Of course, Master can activate or deactivate this skill at any time. All Master has to say is the phrase ‘All falsehood shall be negated’ and [Penultimate Veridical Spirit] will do everything else!”

“All falsehood shall be negated?” Aurus asked Theresa, only for a notification sound to respond to his question instead. A few seconds later, a monotonous voice resounded in his mind, saying, “[Penultimate Veridical Spirit] has been activated. All falsehood shall be negated in front of the user.”

Whoosh!

Not even a few seconds later, the pure darkness that was surrounding Aurus had been replaced with the clear sight of the walls of the stone room. Of course, if one looked closely, one could see a few hundred strands of dark energy roaming around in a fixed area, as if they were guarding something. Undergoing through a drastic change of what he was seeing, Aurus was left at a loss for words as he wondered as to what direction he should move to head towards the center of the myriad dimensions. Even though he could now see the center clearly, he still did not have any idea as to what direction he should move.

“Although my vision is now clear, I still don’t have any idea as to what direction I should move to get there,” Aurus muttered, only for the monotonous voice in his mind to respond with, “The intensity of the [Penultimate Veridical Spirit] has been adjusted. The path towards the center is now clear for the user.”

Swoosh!

Not long after the monotonous voice said that, a black outline surrounded the spheres that seemed to lead the path towards the center of the myriad dimensions, leaving Aurus at a loss for words yet again as he could not believe that it was this easy to clear the first stage.

Letting out a sigh of disbelief, he muttered to himself, “Is this really all the first stage has in store?”

After saying that, he then went ahead and moved through the outlined spheres, lighting up stars along the way as he made his way towards the center of the myriad dimensions.