Chapter 1114: Flame Sea

When Asher reappeared outside the Space Training room and before the dagger he had left outside, he was no longer within the second layer of space. He bent down, picked up the dagger, and held it in his hand. If he was still in the second layer of space, then his hands would have phased through the dagger.

’Hmm...’ Asher hummed in his mind as though deliberating something. He would have preferred it if teleporting to a Mark still left him within the second layer of space instead of forcefully ejecting him into the first layer of reality.

But he kind of understood the mechanics behind the reason why he appeared in the first layer of reality. The Mark was on the first layer of reality and not the second layer, so him teleporting technically meant he was teleporting to the first layer of reality where the Mark actually was.

He dropped the dagger to the ground once more. He then sat down and took in a deep breath, air filling his lungs once more as he exhaled through his nose and lips. Sitting in a lotus position, he started going through his new understanding of space, his mind still comparing the framework of the unstable spatial fluctuations and the current stable spatial fluctuations, trying to see if there was even a single thing he had missed.

Seeing that he had missed nothing, his mind shifted towards the spatial abilities he would develop and the new ones he could create from scratch, and even strengthening his spatial foundation as a whole. After sitting still for an hour, he rose to his feet, walked towards the door, and stepped into the Space Training room.

Entering, Asher found a good place to train. There, he started training his transition from the first layer of space to the second layer of space. It took him a couple of days just to perfect it, enabling him to halt his teleportation at will midway, then crossing into the second layer.

After that, he started creating new skills. Since portals could collapse and explode outwards, creating a gravitational blast, why couldn’t he do the same without having to create a black hole or portal? And not only that, instead of moving to kill his enemies, why not just explode the space that was within their bodies, hence exploding their bodies?

Days flew by, Asher only stopped training when he reached 24 hours, then teleported outside, enjoyed breathable air for a single minute, then went back to the grind. Anything that was beyond a minute of breathing time was unacceptable.

His phone continued to ping within the system inventory. It was his friends and Arianna texting, but he ignored it. He didn’t need to explain, as he was sure they would explain that he was too busy to be near his phone.

A week passed, then two weeks, then a third.

At this moment, he had spent three weeks here, barely eating only twice throughout the time. As for sleeping, well, he actually dared to sleep once within the Valley of Distortion. At this moment, Asher was standing at the highest valley he could find. Funnily, no valley here was whole; they were always destroyed or something similar.

"It’s time to leave," Asher spoke aloud as he stood on the valley.

His eyes shifted towards a spatial rift that was open at the side. He couldn’t help but feel tempted as to whether he should maybe take a look inside. He should be able to survive a few seconds inside, right?

The moment that thought formed, he shook his head as he killed the dangerous thought.

’That dangerous voice is whispering to me again,’ he sighed, as the dangerous voice he was referring to was the voice that had suggested the idea of strengthening and refining his Astra veins with Star Energy, causing his leg to swell and turn black.

He didn’t dare assume he would survive for even a second within these rifts that didn’t close at all.

His mind shifted to the moment when he had perfected stepping into the second layer of space, then arrogantly tried to enter the third layer of space. He had failed miserably. But he wasn’t bothered. His understanding of the second layer of space wasn’t deep yet, so how could he magically enter the third layer of space?

With that, he turned and walked away. As he walked, his figure vanished and appeared outside once more. He stared at his dagger, tempted to pick it up since he was done with the dangerous Valley of Distortion, but he gave up on the idea.

Who knew how dangerous the Gravity room, Light room, and Flame room were? His purple eyes turned towards the door. He thought for a moment, then chose the Flame room, walking towards it. He casually opened the door and stepped in.

The moment Asher walked in, intense heat slammed into his body. He felt as though he would die of dehydration just by standing here. Luckily enough, he was immune to heat- and flame-based attacks. His eyes trailed forward, and what appeared before him left him mesmerized, just like the other two rooms before now.

Where he stood could only be described as hell, the only thing missing being souls screaming for mercy because of the sins they had committed.

Asher stared across the Flame Sea, his gaze drawn toward the endless expanse of crimson and golden flames that stretched beyond the horizon. Waves of fire surged and crashed like an ocean, rising into towering walls before collapsing back into the burning landscape. In the distance, colossal mountains emerged from the flames, their peaks glowing beneath rivers of molten fire that poured down their slopes.

His head rose skywards, and there, one could see burning orange smoke that made up the clouds in the burning sky. It churned endlessly as though the entire smoke cloud was going to collapse.

He could feel the pure Flame Element dancing in the air, excited as though it were finally being put to use or something of the sort.

Asher’s knee dipped forward ever so slightly, and with a booming sound, he launched himself forward towards one of the volcanoes. Landing at the volcano’s base, flames erupted from his feet as he shot upward in a burst of flames. Within seconds, he reached the peak of the volcano.

Just by crossing the distance, the heat here had spiked to an unprecedented degree. The more one moved, the hotter it got. Asher knew that without his immunity to flames, he wouldn’t have survived here; he would have been burned alive. That was simply how hot it was at the Flame Sea.

Asher peeked into the enormous volcano, and deep beneath it existed an enormous reservoir of condensed Flame Element. The mountain continuously forced this energy toward the surface, where it erupted from cracks throughout the earth and spread across the surrounding region. This created the Flame Sea.

"Damn," Asher murmured at the sheer power coming from a single volcano.

Asher didn’t waste too much time looking around; he immediately shifted into his training. He had spent too much time within this specialized training facility. He had to leave, if not, he might spend six to seven months only training his abilities.

And in those six to seven months, he would have only broken through a single sub-Life Rank, which was a bit outrageous.