Earth's Greatest Magus

The grand magus' voice that went straight into and reverberated inside his mind was like an absolute order, forcing his feet to move by themselves and bring him into the abyss-like crack in front of him.

As his body rapidly dropped down through the pitch black hole, Emery started to hear unfamiliar voices.

They all came in the form of soft whispers in his mind, as if they were trying to seduce him; and the deeper he fell, the more voices he heard.

Just like the voices he heard from the other restricted islands, Emery couldn't understand a single word of what they were trying to convey. Not with his Spirit Reading nor the translation function the symbol etched on his palm possessed.

When he reached thirty miles deep, his feet finally touched the ground once more. Once he landed Emery immediately felt bone-chilling air in his surroundings followed by multiple eerie-looking forms made of white mist.

"Is.. that.. Human?"

These mist forms were quite abstract in shape, but most were in humanoid shape.

It took Emery a few seconds to realize that the voices echoing in his mind actually originated from these mists, and as more mist came closer to him, the voices only got louder to the point of becoming unbearable.

Arrghhh!!

The incomprehensible whispers affected his mind, and he found his consciousness began to gradually slip away. At this moment, Emery knew that he was in danger.

'I have to get away from this place!'

Immediately, Emery attempted to cast Spatial Gate to create a portal that would bring him out of this bizarre place. But then, one powerful voice – that of Grand Magus Lilith – reverberated in his mind, causing the dozens or so incomprehensible whispers to become silent.

"Just follow my voice.. Come here!!"

"Yes... Elder"

Emery walked through the dark underground cavern under the guide of the grand magus' voice. He saw the presence of the hundreds of bones strewn across the area, huge and small scattered all over the ground and embedded in the walls.

The further he traveled through the cave, the more mist existences Emery encountered. All of them were trying their best to block his way, and with their increasing number, he could feel the stronger the gravity pressing his body became.

Emery realized that this place was truly terrifying, and the fact that he would not be able to stay here for more than a minute were it not for the voice of the grand magus leading and blocking the incomprehensive voices from affecting him.

Following Grand Magus Lilith's instruction word by word, Emery made his way through one of the multiple tunnels he encountered at a crossroad until he finally found a huge cave with a dark shining crystal whose light covered the entire place.

There, the female grand magus could be seen standing still in front of it.

Looking in the direction of the grand magus, Emery's eyes were quickly attracted to two humongous bones seen embedded on the left and right walls of the crystal. A flash of recognition appeared in his eyes.

'Dragon bone?' was the first word that came to Emery's mind when he saw the two sets of bones. The grand magus seemed to hear this thought of his as her voice echoed through his mind the next moment. "Yes they are. Magnificent, aren't they?"

Emery slowly approached the elder, stopped a few feet away, and gave a sign of respect to the other party. It only then did he realize that there was some kind of energy channeling from the female grand magus to the dark crystal.

Before he could do anything else, the grand magus slowly turned her head to him. He could feel the existence of a slight probe into his mind before the latter spoke to him.

"Good.. You have progressed as expected. Now come here."

Grand Magus Lilith beckoned Emery to sit next to her in the lotus position. She then told him to focus his mind on the dark shining crystal, instructing him to see beyond and what was inside the crystal.

In this cave, the gravitational pressure was manifold stronger than the outside exerted, and Emery felt even more pressure when he focused his concentration on the dark crystal.

He quickly realized that the additional gravitational pressure actually came from within the crystal his attention was currently on, and it seemed like it was testing the capabilities of his Spirit Reading.

Knowing roughly what the female grand magus wanted, Emery accepted the challenge and tried to peer deep into the dark crystal. But then, much to his surprise, the two entire weeks' worth of training his Spirit Reading under the restrictive gravitational pressure only allowed him to pierce five meters into the crystal.

"Don't worry. That's good enough." Grand Magus Lilith said when she saw the look on Emery's face.

She then nonchalantly went behind Emery and placed both her hands on his head.

"Now try again."

Emery immediately did as asked, and in that instant experienced a sudden boost to his Spirit Reading. In that moment, his consciousness broke through its limit and went deeper into the mysteries of the dark crystal.

10 meters,

20 meters,

And he still continued.

To be honest, the deed was quite a painful process to go through. However, just as Emery was about to stop, the grand magus' words once again roused and forced him to continue, until his consciousness eventually reached a dark space inside the crystal.

What Emery found there was shocking to behold. The bones and flesh of a humanoid giant, at least twenty meters tall. As he observed the corpse from the ground up, Emery was shocked when he sensed there was still energy lying within.

At a glance, he could tell the energy was the powerful and terrifying kind. Just a slight, brief contact it had with the consciousness of his Spirit Reading was enough to instantly terrify him.

"Keep going... What you sense is the soul of a Celestial, but it's dormant."

There were many doubts in Emery about what the grand magus wanted him to do. Alas, all his will was rendered useless under the control of the other party. He could only grit his teeth and march forward as instructed.

Finally, when his Spirit Reading entered the soul and looked upon it, Emery felt as if the creature's soul was looking back at him, everything of him was laid bare before this gaze.

In an instant, Emery felt excruciating pain enter his whole body. A spirit attack that felt as if thousands of sharp needles pierced straight into his brain. A loud scream involuntarily escaped because of how painful it was.

"ARRGGGHHHH!!!"

Emery immediately turned tail and tried to get out of this space. Unfortunately, the grand magus blocked his way out, forcing him to stay and suffer this torturous sensation. Her voice sounded again amidst the excruciating pain.

"You will hold on until I say otherwise."

Left with no other choice, Emery could only give his best to withstand the torment. It was such an agonizing process that lasted for days and only through the thought of his friend and girl that he could resist the pain.