Chapter 380: End of The Tunnels

Violet watched as the bashful jacklekin led her further down the winding tunnels, he had thankfully not been unconscious for all too long, still Violet was more than ready to leave this strange person behind.

She had been tempted to simply blast her way through the walls in her impatience, yet after one such episode were her powerful void cannon failed to dig more than a few feet into the heavily reinforced stone she had given up on continuing to do so.

As a result Violet was forced to rely on the ever unreialable beastkin lord to lead her through this maze of stone.

It reminded her of the environment around Craigkieth underneath the spine mountains, its dark twisting tunnels devoid of much life and shrouded in lingering shadows.

Occasional noised rumbles down the tunnels, distant sounds of ferocious battles undoubtedly taking place somewhere within this zone.

The pair traveled in subdued silence, Violet working on manipulating her domain, with the suppression of her domain within this strange island she found great benefits to continually working in keeping it up.

It was an encapsulation of her path in some ways. Reality and the void were two sides of the same coin, one could not be present if the other held dominion.

Her own magics were naturally suppressed under the existence of reality, likewise within her domain of nothingness, reality was eroded away once within her authority.

She worked on expanding her domains influence on the mana reinforced walls that constantly surrounded her, they acted as a near impervious barrier, blocking her influence and reducing the range of her domain.

It was a frustrating experience, having her domain restricted so. Violet longed for when she could leave this place, be that the tunnels or the island as a whole.

The longer she spent here the more she felt that nebulous rejection of her magics. Like the world itself was denying her, restricting her, suppressing her ability to thrive.

It irked Violet, the fact that some invisible thing could hamper her growth so.

Still she also understood intellectually that this could actually be considered a good training exercise for her. To learn how to counter such a restriction, to endure under the pressure of something greater than herself.

Yet despite knowing that in her mind, her instincts and heart rejected the idea. She wanted to lash out at something, whatever it was that was trying to exert it’s influence over her.

Saddly their was nothing for her to lash out at, all she could do was endure and work. Constantly training, constantly growing, working towards reaching a point where no one and nothing could deny her will.

In the 3rd day since she entered the stone tunnels that made up this third zone the guild finally brought Violet to the exit.

A shimmering walls of energy stood at the end of the tunnel before her. It sliced straight through the floor and walls at a slight angle.

As had been her practice her domain tried to reach out and investigate the barrier, yet she felt her will simply slide off the barrier as if it were not even there.

As if the shimmering wall was an impassable obstacle that could not even be comprehended.

Yet that was only her magical perceptions, her physical senses told her a different story.

Beyond the barrier glinting sunlight could be made out, speckled green shifted along the bottom of the barrier, as if looking at a lush forest through foggy glass.

Upon reaching the barrier her guild, Kalvin the jacklekin stopped and stared at it, a slightly forlorn yet relieved look on his face as he tried to subtly glance back at Violet behind him.

She was back in her true form, towering above him and standing almost 50 meters long. She liked this current size, it was still quite massive, large enough to comfortably fight against other beasts around her level, yet small enough that she could still easily navigate the tunnels without issue.

That was one factor that she didn’t mind so much about this zone, the runners were indeed quite massive, easily large enough for Violet to both walk through and fight within whilst in this size.

Were she to return to her full size nearing 100 meters long then it would become more of a struggle, not exactly impossible yet annoying as her head would near the ceiling as she walked.

Regardless, now she was at her goal, relief washed through her at the prospect of leaving this accursed maze of tunnels, finally she could once again move forwards with alscrity, no longer would she have to slowly make her way forwards.

She looked down at the peculiar beastkin that had led her so far, she reached out with a mental bridge and spoke to him.

"I thank you for leading me to the exit, I wish you good fortune on your journeys... also, it might be worth you seeing a healer once you get out of here. I do t think it is right that your fainting so often."

The man seemed happy at first but towards the end of her short speech gained a consternated look on his face as he lowered his head and stared at the ground.

Still he did reply after a moment. "Thanks... I wish you luck too noble dragon. May your journey be fruitful."

Violet didn’t bother delaying any longer, she walked forwards and passed smoothly through the shimmering barrier and entered into the 4th zone of this trial island.

She was initially blinded by the bright sunlight that suddenly assaulted her eyes. It was bright and harsh, beating down at her with unnatural intensity.

Slowly her vision settled and she could once again see out at what exactly it was that lay before her.

A clear blue sky with its bright sun flew overhead. A dense tropical jungle with exotic trees lay ahead, the trees were closely clumped together, less than 3 meters between each one.

She grumbled slightly at that, knowing that she would be forced to return to her humanoid form if she had any chances of traversing this jungle.

Violet didn’t even bother considering flying up high. For one she would be unable to encounter other beasts as easily, restricting how easily she would be able to gather the next batch of tokens she needed to pass to the 5th zone.

Secondly from prior experience she knew that this trial ground did not like its participants to avoid all conflict by flying high in the sky.

As such she resigned herself to moving about in her humanoid form. A flash of purple light enveloped her and she was once again clad in her combat kimono.

With a wide smile and crouched slightly, her legs tensing and the ground below her seeming to flex under her immense power.

Then with a small explosion of force she shot forwards, racing into the woods in search of prey to hunt.