CHAPTER 319: PRIMORDIAL CHALLENGE

Darian felt everything around him twist, like he was submerged in rough waters deep under the sea. He had the sensation of falling... it took a whole minute before the space started to stabilize and things became clear.

His feet touched the ground, and at the same time, he managed to take in his surroundings. He was inside a small, completely dark space. No sun, no moon, no stars. But two directions stood out clearly.

One was the entrance high above, where a spatial vortex could be seen. The other was way, way ahead — also a vortex, but thousands of times larger.

The small runes around him glowed, and then the three returned to their humanoid forms, wide smiles spreading across their faces.

[Primordial Challenge started!]

A green screen popped up in front of each of the four at the same time.

[Objective: Survive for seven days]

[NOTE: After completion, you’ll receive a reward based on your performance. Then you must leave the challenge zone.]

Darian narrowed his eyes. "Survive for seven days... but the reward depends on performance?"

That Aberrant had entered this place and found that technique. Maybe the system gave it to him... or maybe he discovered it here. It was clear this challenge wasn’t just about surviving; they’d have to figure out the truth for themselves.

The space was so vast he couldn’t see the end. The only option was to search around and hope to find something.

"Alright, let’s get moving." Darian said, turning to the three.

They radiated excitement. Darian understood why — this place was completely different from the desert.

Here there were plants, trees, mountains, and countless other things ahead. The three had been born in the desert, knowing nothing but that barren wasteland their whole lives. Now, they stood in front of a brand-new, magical world.

Darian let out a faint smile. It felt like taking innocent children out of their homes to show them, for the first time, the vastness of the world.

He moved forward without any set direction, while the three followed closely, carefully observing everything around them.

Strangely, Darian couldn’t sense any karma, nor any sign of life here. Only after they entered a forest did he hear movement nearby.

He gestured for the three to sneak quietly. They nodded exaggeratedly and, almost playfully, copied his movements.

As he approached, Darian spotted a bear-shaped beast over five meters tall.

"This thing... it doesn’t have a soul, no life force at all. It’s like... an illusion, just like those array beasts I fought in the past." Darian concluded.

So, this little world was made up of illusions, created for the challenge. But it definitely wasn’t safe or easy.

They had barely arrived, and even that seemingly simple bear already gave off a sense of difficulty. They could probably take it down, but only by ambushing it and giving it no chance to react. Further ahead, far more dangerous things were bound to appear.

Could they just hide and wait out the seven days? That would be a foolish choice, he thought.

Since everything here was an illusion, the challenge could definitely track their location and send beasts after them. There was nowhere to run. And if they acted cowardly, that would definitely be seen as a weakness, and the place would try to eliminate them.

The safest choice was to keep moving and exploring. That way, the system would recognize they were playing within the rules. At least in the beginning, it wouldn’t deliberately make things harder.

Darian guided the group down a different path, avoiding unnecessary fights.

Now, he was on high alert. Since these illusions had no karma, he couldn’t sense them — leaving him almost blind. The three behind him picked up on his concern.

"Brother Darian, I can help," Tir murmured.

Darian turned to him, remembering that ability. Since he rarely used earth, he hadn’t thought of it before. That element could connect to the ground and sense everything it touched.

Tir could easily identify everything in a wide area.

So, he activated his power and began pointing out the location of anything moving nearby.

Darian set his goal: reach the far end of this space and see what was there. They kept pushing deeper, moving in perfect sync, avoiding danger.

On the second day, they reached a swamp. Suddenly, strange fluctuations rose ahead — and Darian, curious, moved toward them to take a look.

A roar echoed. Soon after, he spotted a beast that looked like a three-headed tiger, several meters long, chasing after a tiny white rabbit barely thirty centimeters tall.

The rabbit was small, but incredibly fast. It kept a safe distance from the "tiger" the whole time.

They were hiding and watching from afar, but suddenly, the rabbit bolted straight toward Darian.

He froze in surprise — the rabbit definitely knew they were there. When it noticed Darian wasn’t showing any fear, it was like it had found its lucky star, and without hesitation, it leapt right into his arms.

Darian was stunned, instinctively catching it. The rabbit then hopped onto his shoulder and hid behind him.

*Slash!*

Eleri appeared behind the tiger, sword flashing with a precise strike.

The blade left only a small wound, but that tiny opening was enough for her power to flood in, freezing all its energy. The next instant, the creature was killed cleanly.

Darian nodded in satisfaction. A bit of his power was still lingering in her, and that boosted her strength — and the other two’s — quite a lot.

Meanwhile, the little white rabbit started crying on Darian’s shoulder, apparently trying to say something, but he couldn’t make sense of it.

"It’s asking you to take it home. Says it’ll reward you," Awel translated. "I don’t know how, but I can feel what it’s trying to say..."

Darian turned to the rabbit and sensed its energy. He quickly understood — it was made up of primordial Yin runes.

That illusionary creature was very close to the three of them, creating an advantage for Heavenly Elemental Spirits in this challenge. Most likely, they could communicate with half the beasts here, which gave them a special scenario only their race could benefit from.

"Home?" Darian asked. "Isn’t this already your home?"

The rabbit seemed to understand his words and cried again.

"It’s saying this place isn’t its home. It ended up here by accident. It can see the way back, but there are too many predators waiting to devour it, so it can’t return," Awel explained.

As soon as she finished, the little rabbit rubbed its tiny head against Darian’s neck, looking at him with a pleading expression.

"Where is your home? How do we find it?" Darian asked quickly.

The rabbit spoke again, and Awel translated: "Its home is at the end of the vortex. Looks like there’s an exit there. From how it describes it, it sounds like the entrance we came from. It lived in another place, and one day got sucked into a portal and ended up here. It’s begging for help, saying... it’ll try to give you something to make it worth your while once you get there."

Even the three youngsters could tell the rabbit didn’t have anything valuable to offer. It looked weak and insignificant — and in a wild place like this, being weak was basically a crime.

But... seeing the little thing staring at him with such desperation, and noticing the three youngsters’ eyes also on him, Darian sighed helplessly: "Alright, we can try to help."

He simply couldn’t harden his heart enough to reject the pitiful thing. Since they didn’t have a fixed goal anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to take that path and see where it led.

The rabbit immediately lit up. Its body shrank down to squirrel-size, crouching obediently on Darian’s shoulder.

Awel exchanged a few more words with it and confirmed the center of the massive vortex really was an entrance connected to another place.

That smelled like a side quest leading to a hidden area. But nothing like that ever came easy.

Even though Darian knew it could be anything — even a trap — he decided to take the risk. Besides, even if it was just an illusion, he couldn’t just abandon the little thing... he wouldn’t feel right with himself.

’Damn it... Niara always told me I was too soft, that I’d end up doing stupid things...’ Darian found himself caught in that exact dilemma — and worse, thinking of her again, with a subtle emptiness pressing at his chest.

The little rabbit stayed on Darian’s left shoulder. Along the way, it gave instructions while Awel translated. Bit by bit, they were guided deeper into that world, moving slowly forward.