As the darkness faded, Alex was hit with the fresh air, thick with the scent of damp earth and lush vegetation. Opening his eyes, he found himself standing under the clear blue sky in a forest surrounded by towering trees.
The air quality was unlike anything Alex had ever experienced, and the reason behind it was the overwhelming mana density, which was off the charts, at least double, if not triple, that of the Domain.
As Alex examined his surroundings, he could hear faint sounds of rustling leaves and distant animal roars echoing through the lush green forest.
Alex took a few deep breaths to get comfortable before he used the void step to swiftly reach the top of the nearest tree to get a better view of his surroundings.
The surroundings were nothing but a waste of trees and mountains, but Alex could tell that the forest thinned out to the northeast side.
'It seems I have gotten lucky and dropped into the perfect place to get comfortable with my strength and the changed surroundings,' Alex thought, seeing hundreds of blazing red aura in his black and gray world.
Alex had found a great start, as the air was clean, the sky clear, and the temperature was pleasantly mild, and from what he could tell, the forest did not house any overwhelmingly dangerous creatures that he needed to avoid.
The realm's gravity was slightly higher, close to 1.75 times that of the Ancient world, but with his strength, it was not even noticeable.
"TTTTTTRRRROOOAAAAARRRRRR"
'Perfect timing,' Alex thought as he heard a bone-chilling roar shatter the tranquility, reverberating through the forest, before thick vines covered in barbed thorns with pointed ends zoomed through the air, ready to tear into his flesh.
Alex landed on the floor, and in an instant, A towering creature crashed through the trees, its massive frame colliding with the trunks and sending chunks of wood flying everywhere.
The monstrous beast was reminiscent of a T-Rex yet eerily different, as it stood over ten meters tall and had thick, spiky hairs covering its entire body except his underbelly.
The hair shimmered in shades of green and brown, shifting colors like a chameleon trying to blend in better with its surroundings.
While the pointy vines that shot at him were actually the creature's tongues, tentacle-like appendages stretching from its wide-open mouth.
The inside of its mouth was a gruesome sight, lined with countless rows of razor-sharp, poison-covered fangs, with half a dozen barbed tentacles gushing out, creating a nightmarish and horrifying spectacle.
Alex quickly used appraisal skill to gather its details and discovered that it was a middle-stage Sixth-Rank creature known as a Chameleosaurus, a normal creature and not some bioform that had taken over an unlucky beast.
The Chameleosaurus roared as the barbed spikes on its tounges released thin streams of gaseous toxins that corroded the surrounding land and trees at rapid speed.
'I should have my time skills back in a few days, and then I can leave this forest in search of a city,' Alex thought while seated atop a massive beast that was a mix of lion and boar with razor-sharp tusks.
Alex felt his instincts go on alert as he felt the approaching danger, and he instinctively used the void step to change his position.
In the next moment, a thundering sound of an impact tore through the forest's silence, and looking at its source, which was the place he had been seated moments ago, Alex saw a large dent in the ribcage area of the fallen beast.
It was a bit surprising for Alex because the flesh appeared barely damaged while the ribcage was entirely shattered, and having fought the creature, he knew how much of a tank it was, and to do such damage to it, the enemy must be really strong.
Alex had his void sense active, so he had instantly picked on the unknown attacker, and the moment he moved, he activated the Ruler Pride skill and the eyes of ancient.
Alex did not stop moving because the skill needed a moment to take effect and push him to his physical peak, and he could see that the enemy, who appeared to be a human, had no intention of giving him a breather.
The noise from the first impact had yet to settle when the entire space of close to two hundred meters, both in area and altitude, thundered with tens of explosions that sent shocks of distorted sound, making the entire area a big attack zone with no safe place.
Alex was forced to stop and create a darkness shield to defend against the shockwave, but in the small window, he had completed his preparation to take on whoever had come looking for a fight.
'I got worried for a moment, thinking a realm inhabitant had decided to kill me,' Alex thought, feeling relieved that his enemy was not an Elemental Ruler, and even better, it was an adventurer just like him.
Alex could confirm that it was an adventurer because of the unique aura he emanated, a slight golden glow surrounding the human who stood with a bright smile stretched across his face.
"I am known as Tsolmir Telli," The man said, with an air of confidence oozing from him, his smile showing that he was not affected by his ambush not working. Updates are released by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁
The man stood over 6.3 feet tall and had a well-built warrior's physique, and his defining features were his bald head, slightly narrow eyes, and crimson tattoos of half-crescent arcs covering his eyes, four on each side, facing away from each other.
He wore a white robe reminiscent of Chinese culture and wielded a bone-white staff topped with a circular ring that had a barrier in the middle, with four smaller crimson rings on each side.
"You don't look surprised, so It is clear that you are familiar with the strange effect on language, and you are not from my world," Tsolmir said, referring to the common language effect that made it so that all realm inhabitants could understand each other in their common language in real-time.
"I have been monitoring you for a week, and while your magic is similar, it is very different from my world, and then there is your monstres strength that is nothing like that of a knight,"
"What I am trying to tell you is that you know nothing about me, while I know a lot about you, and if we fight, your chance of victory are none,"
"So it would be in your best interest that you tell me everything there is to know about your world power system and about the people who came with you, and then I will allow you to leave," Tsolmir said, but his face no longer carried a smile; instead, his killing intent and aura were leaking out.
In time, information on the power systems of various worlds and key figures that stand out would become common knowledge.
However, at this early stage, everyone knew little to nothing, and in a battle, understanding one's enemy could be considered half the victory, so obtaining such intel was more crucial than gathering law tokens at the moment.
"I don't think so," Alex said as he cracked his neck, feeling happy that he would be fighting an enemy in his own league, something that had not happened in the past few months.