novelraw Chapter 993: Journey through the In-Between
Chapter 993: Journey through the In-Between
"My dear, if you're unlucky enough to fail, try asking the gatekeeper about the course advancement trials. If they agree, you'll have another chance."
Recalling Professor Kris's advice, Lu Li asked the gatekeeper before he could leave:
"Can I apply for the course advancement trials after failing the main trials?"
"Course advancement trials are senior-level assignments. No contact with anyone, no outside assistance," the gatekeeper stated.
The only penalty for failure was failure itself.
Lu Li decided to accept the course advancement trials and remained in the corridor, waiting for the gatekeeper to go to the Senior Course Quest Hall to retrieve an assignment.
But it seemed Lu Li's luck had run out—the senior-level assignment the gatekeeper randomly selected was: [Acquire Treasure from a Dungeon]
[Intermediate Gloom Level]
"You don't need to know the reason... Do I have to write this? Fine, it's a trial from my family, and I can't be bothered to waste time looking for a dungeon. Find one, and then you'll have my friendship. Simple as that."
[Task: Retrieve a treasure from any dungeon][Advanced: Not Required]
[Hint: Find the treasure and bring it to me]
[Base Reward: 8 academic points; 8 team points]
Coincidentally, Lu Li knew of one such dungeon.
Since the course advancement trials carried no penalty, failure wouldn't extend his recovery period.
Lu Li took stock of the Sequence Potions in his stomach.
After the Secret Cult Duel, Kiruet had returned the unused potions to him. These included Sequence Potions No. 19, No. 34, No. 39, and those numbered above 50.
Given the impossibility of a direct assault on the dungeon, Sequence Potion No. 39, "Silent Forest," had already proven ineffective. Even if it could help, Lu Li had to consider whether it could conceal his aura of humanity.
Sequence Potion No. 19, the Shadow Potion, should help him infiltrate the dungeon.
But there was the matter of the trade-off—in terms of pure value, the dungeon treasure was worth about as much as a Sequence Potion No. 19, perhaps even less.
That's why no one ever did this, not even the scions of bloodline families or the chosen of the cults. Or rather, if a 6th-level trial required the help of expensive Sequence Potions, then those scions and chosen ones weren't worth training in the first place.
In any case, thanks to Sequence Potion No. 19 and the gatekeeper's protection, Lu Li chose to take the course advancement trial.
If he failed, Lu Li would have no choice but to wait out the two-week recovery period.
After taking the hollow-tree elevator to the Intermediate Gloom Level, Lu Li found the dungeon entrance from memory. The crack in the rock face still had their previous camouflage in place. Lu Li moved the stone aside and peered through the opening.
A fire burned dimly inside the karst cave, illuminating the vague shapes of buildings and numb silhouettes; this sealed dungeon still existed.
He continued to move stones from the crack until he could squeeze through sideways.
As Lu Li intended to enter the dungeon in secret, the gatekeeper stayed behind at the entrance—a risky move.
If Lu Li were spotted by the dungeon's anomalies, they wouldn't arrive in time to protect him.
Holding Sequence Potion No. 19, Lu Li squeezed through the crack and, once inside the dungeon, drank the potion.
As if in one of Lu Li's strange dreams, colors vanished from his sight, sounds were cut off, the world grew dim, the air stilled, and shadows enveloped him—before emitting a faint shimmer.
This was the Intermediate Level of the In-Between, or more precisely, the first In-Between discovered by humans—a reflection of the real world, the Intermediate Level of the In-Between that belonged to ghosts.
Lu Li watched the shimmering aura around his body. It was depleting—a countdown timer on his freedom of movement.
He released the empty bottle from his hand. The bottle lost the protection of the shimmer, instantly lost its color, and merged with the faded, gray world. Or rather, it left the In-Between and returned to the real world.
In the distance, the dungeon's motley colors merged into one. The gloomy karst cave seemed frozen in time.
They didn't seem to notice Lu Li.
As Lu Li entered the village, the ghostly figures belonging to the Distorted Figure still drifted past in a stupor, just as they always had.
Watching the much fainter shimmer on his body, Lu Li quickened his pace, heading toward the core of the dungeon—
Lu Li walked through the In-Between, the realm belonging to ghosts. Everything here matched the descriptions in the book, matching the dead world Anna had described to him.
If all life in the real world vanished in an instant, the landscape after a few decades might look just like the In-Between.
Black, white, and gray were the eternal hues. The gray world was silent, dulling Lu Li's senses. By the time he realized he'd been exposed, the ghostly figures of the Distorted Figure had already gathered behind him, and the villagers were slowly closing in from a distance—
This was a dungeon, and its lord must have detected the "ghost" that had invaded its territory.
They were like nightmares; the Distorted Figure collected the most terrible things. As projections of the real world, their forms were also reflected in the Intermediate Level of the In-Between.
However, they merely followed him, doing nothing more.
Perhaps it was an illusion—
After all, by the measure of 'humanity,' Lu Li was nearly on par with an evil spirit. The lord of this place was perhaps wary of him, or maybe it wanted to communicate. But since Lu Li wasn't a true ghost, he couldn't perceive any of it.
Ignoring and taking advantage of the dungeon lord's "benevolence," Lu Li hastened toward the dungeon's core. The village houses and residents gradually faded away, and the shimmer resisting the corrosion of the In-Between had almost run out.
At the same time, the last stretch of gray, dilapidated buildings gave way, and ahead, down the revealed dirt path, Lu Li saw the dungeon's core, where the treasure was kept.
A prominent blue stone platform rose there, resembling an altar.
And on the edge of the stone platform sat a silver-haired girl, resting her chin on her hand, lost in lonely, quiet thought.
The intrusion of an uninvited guest made the silver-haired girl break from her reverie. Her gaze fell upon the running Lu Li and the flickering shimmer around him.
After a brief exchange of glances, the silver-haired girl grabbed the dull treasure lying beside her and tossed it to Lu Li.
Lu Li reached out to catch it. The instant his fingers made contact, the dim shimmer enveloping him dissipated entirely, and he vanished from the In-Between—
Colors and sounds rushed back into the world. The shuffle of footsteps and the crackle of torches filled his ears, and the ferocious, stupefied villager-anomalies had surrounded the area.
Lu Li reached a hand into his stomach, and two figures suddenly emerged from the shadows, accompanied by strange, illusory prayers.
The villagers, wrapped in strange carnivorous plants, stopped their approach.
The gatekeeper, shrouded in a faint prayer, watched Lu Li:
"Lu Li, your course advancement assignment—"
"Is a success," Lu Li said calmly. A clay pot rested serenely in his palm.
He glanced toward the dungeon's core; the stone platform was empty.
The standoff didn't last long. The commotion raised by the stupefied villagers gradually died down, and they retreated, clearing a path to the outside. It was as if an unseen force controlled them, allowing Lu Li, who had taken the treasure, to leave.
Considering the treasure had been placed in the dungeon by the Academy of Giant Trees, was this the dungeon lord's doing, tacitly allowing them to take the treasure for the sake of self-preservation?
However, until Lu Li had left the dungeon through the crack, the supposed lord never made contact with them.
Standing outside the rock formation, Lu Li observed the karst cave through the narrow crack.
But a greater question was forming in Lu Li's mind, one that overshadowed the mystery of the lord who had let them go.
Recalling his infiltration of the dungeon. Was what he saw the soul of Margaret, or the dungeon lord's true form?
Is Margaret still alive?