The island with a towering tower once again appeared before them.
After many years, they returned to the place where they had greatly improved their strength and mastered various combat techniques.
The Island of Trials.
The Voice of Dawn slowly approached the island, stopping at the shattered harbor.
Alka and the others jumped off the boat.
Gazing at the ruins of the harbor before them, they felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
They had spent the better part of six months here.
"Finally, we're on the island," Jason couldn't help but say.
They had been drifting on the sea for nearly a year.
"Ha!"
The crystal dragon soared in the sky, landed beside Jason, and yawned.
"Are you about to enter a deep sleep?" Jason asked, turning his head.
Urulius nodded.
Their strength was almost reaching the perfection of the fourth stage. Even a slight increase would likely cause Urulius to fall into a deep slumber, not awakening until he reached the fifth stage.
"Alright, let's go in," Alka said, leading the group through the ruins of the harbor and into the ruins of the central town.
"Welcome, everyone! We meet again."
The floating triangle appeared before them the moment they entered the city.
"Long time no see."
Hearing this, the triangle floated around them, circling several times.
"It's amazing! Your strength has increased so quickly. It's much quicker than I expected," the triangle couldn't help but exclaim.
Alka smiled.
"Come on, I'll take you there."
The triangle said, leading Alka and the others through the ruins and along the main road to the tallest building on the entire island.
It was a nine-story tower.
"I'll go first," Alka said, stepping forward.
"Huh?" Such speed surprised Triangle.
Aka and the others had only just arrived on the island. So impatient?
The lights on both platforms lit up. Alka didn't immediately begin the Clearance Trial, but instead switched to training mode.
He vanished from the teleportation platform.
Triangle remained completely still.
Sofia approached and said with a smile, "It's okay. It's mainly because his strength has completely stalled at the fourth stage of perfection, just for this trial."
Hearing this, Triangle swayed. So that's what he meant.
Then he turned to Sofia and the others. "Are you guys going to proceed directly to the Clearance Trial this time, too?"
Sofia and the others nodded. They all agreed.
"That's right."
"Oh, that's great."
This time, only Matresa and Juanlu were the runners-up.
However, they could also enter the Trial Tower and seek guidance from the instructors.
After all, these were rare opportunities.
Everyone set up a simple camp nearby.
They had arranged their order before arriving, and the last few followed the triangle directly to the intact building where they had rested.
After all, the trial lasted almost a full day, and the previous few had only been the first few floors.
This time, everyone could potentially spend several days on the trial.
There was no difference in time between inside and outside.
Soon, night fell.
A black curtain instantly obscured the bright sky.
From light to darkness, it took only a moment.
At this point, Alka had already quickly cleared the level and reached the eighth floor. The immediate challenge ahead was almost entirely overwhelming power, which didn't cause Alka much trouble, or even any obstacles.
Seeing the massive stone door numbered eight before him, Alka stepped forward and pushed it open with all his might.
As he entered,
The surroundings transformed in an instant.
It became a winding maze, its passages only two to three meters wide, exceedingly narrow.
As Alka entered, a mist began to emanate from him, spreading through the passages and into the distance.
The mist penetrated every corner and gap, quickly filling the entire floor.
Through the pink mist, the entire maze's topography was imprinted directly in Alka's mind.
All Alka had to do was draw a correct route within the map in his mind, just as he'd drawn a maze as a child.
Of course, everything wasn't quite that simple.
Having just mapped out his route, Alka took a quick step forward, dodging the sudden attack from behind.
The entire attack was invisible and colorless, completely unseen.
Only when the smoke suddenly shifted did something completely invisible become visible.
A shield of mirrors suddenly appeared around Alka's body. Then, with a crackling sound, cracks began to spread from a single point.
Another invisible attack came towards Alka.
Then, it dissipated.
Alka frowned, and just as he turned a corner, another attack struck.
"This is a bit annoying."
After a moment's thought, the mirror world flipped.
Alka entered the mirror world, which then expanded to its maximum extent. In this deserted world, Alka began to walk quietly along the planned route toward the distance.
The attackers from the outside world were already somewhat dazed.
They had lost their goal.
When Alka reached the end of the mirror world, he flipped back into the outside world.
He was almost at the exit.
He already held a coin in his hand.
Mirrors of all sizes floated around him, forming a spiral shield with no blind spots.
There was a crack.
An invisible object was struck.
Another crack, and a mirror shattered.
But none of this affected Alka, for he was already at the end of the maze. He watched the door before him open, then turned and waved with a smile.
He exited through the door and instantly returned to the starting point.
The door before him was numbered 9.
He pushed it open.
The world changed again, this time into a vast circular training ground.
In the center of the training ground, the long-missed instructor stood there once again.
Looking at Alka approaching, he smiled.
Looking at Alka, he took a closer look and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "The speed at which your strength is increasing is truly beyond my expectations."
"Your divine power is practically reaching the level of a demigod. Why don't you just start the trial?" the instructor asked, looking at Alka.
Hearing this, Alka smiled and said, "Of course, we have to make sure everything is foolproof."
"Hahaha, interesting."
The instructor chuckled and then launched a magic ball towards him.
"Let's just have a fight."
"Just what I want."
Alka replied, and then a large amount of fog instantly engulfed the entire field.
He himself was hidden within the fog.
Observing this, the instructor smiled. His eyes flickered slightly as magic bullets floated around him.
These floating magic bullets stood poised to strike at any moment.
A mercury-like mirror began to spread beneath his feet. He watched the mirror creep towards him.
The instructor first struck with his magic ball, but found it had no effect, like hitting water. Besides creating a splash, it was meaningless.
Using magic power to block the flow would only temporarily. He instantly understood that such obstruction was a waste of magic power.
He watched the mirror, like a stream of water, completely envelop the entire field.
"Your ability to create fields is truly remarkable now. There's absolutely no way to resist."
The instructor couldn't help but exclaim as he observed the surrounding situation.
If he were truly outside, he could still escape Alka's advantageous position by moving away from this area.
But within this training ground, he clearly didn't have such a skill. He could only endure the potential disadvantage. "Thank you for the compliment."
Alka's voice suddenly echoed from one direction, followed by a barrage of magic bullets hurled toward the direction and surrounding areas.
The sound, almost piercing the air, was accompanied by extreme speed, instantly pushing back a large amount of fog. However, the area the magic bullets struck was empty.
"It seems my fog is quite effective at concealing you. You can't even detect me."
Alka had experimented with the fog many times, and its concealing effect was practically top-tier. At least, even those of his own level, or even higher, would have difficulty determining where he was within the fog.
As for the subject he was using for his experiment, it was naturally the demon Devouring Mouth he had fought.
Alka felt relieved when he saw that the instructor before him, a being from the Golden Age, was still unable to pinpoint his precise location through the pink fog.
"Don't worry about your pink mist being too low-level. After all, you're the king of dreams. Distorting the surrounding environment towards a dreamlike state is indeed difficult to detect.
Unless I'm also familiar with, or even possess the power of dreams, it would be difficult to see.
But I believe that if I truly possessed dream-related power, it would make it even harder to defeat you, wouldn't it?"
Alka nodded.
However, breaking the mist is actually quite simple. It only requires a large-scale, forced scanning method.
Among them, only Sofia possesses such an ability, using a complete light wave scanning technique, radiating it outward frantically.
Unless Alka has no physical form or sneaks into the mirrored world at the moment the spectrum is transmitted, he will inevitably be scanned.
Seeing that it was indeed extremely difficult to locate Alka, the instructor closed his eyes and used his mind's eye.
After using his mind's eye, he began walking through the mist with his eyes closed. Magic bullets flew around him in increasing numbers.
Suddenly, the magic bullets hurled themselves in a single direction, as if they had a target. A flood of them instantly poured out.
Mirror after mirror appeared before Alka, each one shattered and pierced by the magic bullets.
The mirrors shattered with a crackling sound, transforming into a sky full of brilliant light.
At least it had blocked all the attacks.
The shattering of the mirrors didn't cause Alka any pain.
It didn't take much magic power for him to create such a strong, defensive mirror.
"Your mind is too strong, isn't it? It doesn't seem like an ability one should possess at this stage," Alka said bluntly.
"Facing extraordinary players, of course, we must employ extraordinary methods," the instructor admitted without reservation.
He had indeed used an ability he shouldn't have at this stage.
You should know that Alka frequently trained with Pororo and Sofia, both in his dreams and on the deck.
Both of them were considered gifted at the mind's eye technique.
Even after learning it, it still wasn't enough to accurately detect Alka's position within the fog.
Unless Alka revealed a significant flaw or acted drastically.
A surge of magic power surged forth once again, but this time the instructor froze in his tracks. The magic bullets floated around him, missing their target.
Because even his mind's eye had missed Alka's location.
Alka vanished from his detection range, but he didn't appear outside the pink fog.
Completely vanished.
"You're a real surprise."
At this point, Alka had already entered the mirror world, and not just the mirror world. Like a layer within the mirror, he arrived next to the instructor in the mirrored world.
Of course, he couldn't attack the instructor at this point, unless the instructor had the means to break through space.
Otherwise, he posed no threat to him. Although the two stood together, they were separated by two worlds.
This mirrored world stemmed from Alka's growing power and his control over the Heart of Vastva.
The Heart of Vastva was, after all, a scepter-level spatial artifact. While its greatest power was a space resembling a small world,
It's undeniable that spatial functions still fell within its scope.
This was a skill Alka had constructed by combining the mirror's and spatial abilities.
Even within the mirrored world, where he couldn't be attacked, he could still observe the outside world, effectively achieving another level of complete invisibility.
The instructor simply closed his eyes.
The power of the mind's eye expanded once again: "It seems I'll have to use even more unnatural powers against you."
Alka in the mirror immediately retreated, feeling a sense of blurring. After all, the world in the mirror was under his control, and he could sense that the power of the mind's eye even penetrated space.
"Is this power really that outrageous?" Alka exclaimed in surprise.
Isn't this mind's power a little too outrageous?
It seems I'll have to spend more time mastering this technique.
The instructor outside finally discovered Alka's location.
"Amazing! Truly amazing!" he couldn't help but praise him.
"You actually hid in the interlayer space. This is completely beyond your capabilities at this stage."
"Come out now! The power I used was completely beyond my current capabilities. I've already lost."
However, Alka didn't come out. Instead, he said, "How about using a power beyond your capabilities? At least let me see it and give it a try. It'll give me a sense of awe."
"Haha, good!" the instructor exclaimed.
Then he suddenly opened his eyes, peering through the mist and the interlayer to locate Alka.
Alka, clearly within the interlayer space, felt completely trapped, a heavy pressure instantly pinning him to the spot.
The space instantly shattered, and Alka vanished.
Then, the instructor's hand pierced through the space and entered the interlayer.
Had Alka been even half a second slower, he would have been caught. At this moment, Alka suddenly appeared in the outside world.
Lines of pink mist swirled toward the instructor.
It was pointless, unable to even hinder him in the slightest.
The instructor pierced through space and emerged once more, appearing directly before Alka, grabbing him with one hand.
"A fake body from a dream?" He became the first person to recognize Alka's fake the moment he touched it.
However, the moment he touched it, he stopped.
"How's it going? Do you feel awe for the strong?"
Alka nodded and pulled back the spreading mist.
"Impressive! Is penetrating space so easy? So what level of power did you use?"
The instructor pointed at himself. "This level of mind's eye, let me calculate."
"It's equivalent to the seventh level of cultivation in the outside world. Of course, I have a bit of talent for abilities like mind's eye.
A normal mind's eye cultivation requires perfection at the seventh level, or even the eighth level, to reach my level."
"Unless it's a god-level shield, my mind's eye will inevitably see it."
He pointed at Alka. "Sometimes you have to admit there are some barriers to talent, so if you want to cultivate a mind's eye like mine, you need to at least reach the eighth level.
But your female companion's mind's eye talent is better than mine."
Alka nodded. Could it be possible to avoid such a mind's eye with a shielding effect used by a god himself?
What a powerful ability.
"What about the strength I used?"
"You're unlucky. I only used less than the sixth stage of strength, mainly because my attacks are essentially space-destroying.
I can disturb the fluctuations of space, penetrate spatial barriers, and even use brute force to freely travel through space."
"Wait, you said you used brute force?"
"Right. Don't let me pretend I'm using some technique. My strength comes from brute force."
I don't understand. I don't understand at all.
I used brute force to break through space, but Alka didn't sense any trace of brute force at all.