561 What happened to you?
Every year, the awakeners would search for different things in Trian Ruins.
Even if you were an awakener who entered the ruins for a treasure, there were forty-five days.
Getting the treasure you wanted was hard enough. It required a lot of preparations—research, groundwork, setting up a proper team, suitable weapons, and more.
But once you did, there was no guarantee that you would get another valuable treasure.
So, most people took up a mission or two to raise their earnings.
The ones who couldn't enter the ruins by themselves would give out missions and thus, there were always missions.
It could be for deva technology, ecology, or history.
It happened last year, the year before it, and literally every year.
But not this year.
The awakeners all searched for one thing. From the northern cold areas to the southern plains, the western forests to the eastern deserts, everyone searched for one thing.
The keys!
Last year, a partially explored location was explored further and a gigantic floating palace was found.
When it was seen, the palace gave an announcement that rang directly in the heads of every single awakener in the ruins.
[Oh proud devas, the keys have been sent to every corner of the capital. Find one and you will be allowed into the Ruler's Abode.]
That message sent ripples not just across the Trian ruins, but throughout the solar system.
That's precisely why not only were awakeners participating this year, but they were all focused on finding the key.
"Is this Sia's test or rather…her last resistance?" Varian muttered as his body appeared and disappeared in the wilderness.
Every time his feet landed from the air, they kicked the ground and pushed him forward. He crossed a few dozen miles in the blink of an eye and kept moving like a bullet.
It was incomparable to his level 6 speed. In fact, it was like comparing a plane to a rocket.
Whenever Varian teleported, he easily crossed the distance of 50 miles.
Every few minutes, he passed through one area and reached another. It was equivalent to crossing a state every few seconds.
The scenery also kept changing. At one time, it was a beautiful red garden full of roses that would literally kill you with their scent.
Then, it was a lake of sirens that seduced you through their mental charms and gave you both happiness and an ending.
The other times, it was a group of fellow humans who were either fighting monsters or other humans.
Sometimes, these humans were on the verge of death.
In the two hours since Varian started this journey, he encountered at least a dozen ravishing women on the verge of death.
Whenever he passed by them, they always called for help with pitiful eyes and even promised themselves to him as thanks.
If it was a normal man, he'd have helped them out of either the temptation or simply chivalry.
After all, which hero doesn't save a helpless girl?
Varian.
He didn't save any of these women.
For one, even without thinking, he knew that most of them were acting. They weren't really injured. They were just waiting for him to lower his guard before they killed him for the loot.
But of course, there were women who were really on the verge of death.
Varian left them too.
He was too preoccupied to think about others. He was thinking about the one question that recently popped up.
Sia would appear in the Ruler's Abode. That was the only thing he knew. But it was also the only thing she wanted him to know.
Why couldn't she meet him anywhere else?
Perhaps because she had important work to do.
But Varian strongly believed in another reason.
'Sia still wants to run away. She's sure I can reach level 7, but she's also sure that I won't be able to get the keys.' Varian took a breath as he landed on a mountain.
"Roar!"
A lightning bolt shot at him from somewhere as a gold-scaled tiger rushed at him.
It was a mid-level 7. Significantly faster than him.
But he didn't need to run.
Blink!
Varian's body disappeared and he teleported fifty miles away.
Blink!
Blink!
Blink!
In no time, he was out of the gold-scaled tiger's perception.
'This is Sia's last resistance, but also her last test. If I go through this, she won't run away anymore.' Varian's heart grew heavy.
He worked so hard to reach this step. Yet, she was still unwilling to meet him halfway.
If it was anyone else, Varian would've been angry.
But it was Sia. Her behavior didn't make him angry, instead, it made him sad.
'The Sia I knew wasn't like this.'
She was bright and cheerful. Whenever he was down, she lifted his spirits. Living with her for almost a decade, he knew her more than anyone else.
If she was confronted with a problem, she'd face them head-on. When she dealt with his bullies, one of the bullies had a senior in the third year.
Sia had to fight that senior girl.
Varian could still remember the back alley they fought in.
It was an unfair fight from the start. The girl was not only older but also significantly stronger than Sia.
But Sia didn't give up. Even as injuries piled up, she bit her lip and swallowed her pain.
That same girl who had an unyielding look in her eyes even when her chances of victory were non-existent was behaving like a girl who was so scared of her problem that she'd rather run away than confront them.
"What happened to you?" Varian asked the snow.
Blink!
Snow changed to red soil.
"…Did the pain Roxanna inflicted on you…broke you like mom's death broke me?"
Blink!
The red soil changed to green grass.
"…Did I hurt you so much that you can't smile anymore?"
Blink!
The green grass changed to yellow sand.
"…I will find you and this time, I will never let you go."
