Chapter 134: Illusion Resistance?
’So, there is a limit,’ Dhruv thought as he looked at the barrier in front of him.
To tell the truth, he couldn’t exactly see the barrier at all and could only deduce that it was there. The reason for that was that the barrier in front of him was entirely transparent.
So, how did he know there was a barrier in front of him, you might ask?
There were two reasons. First, he was forced to stop, which meant there was something in front of him. And from this, he deduced that there was a barrier in front of him.
The second reason was even more bizarre. Occasionally, he would notice that the jungle beyond the barrier would momentarily glitch out for a very short period. This happened multiple times, and from this, he knew that something was amiss.
With these two points combined, he knew that there was a barrier in front of him.
’Why is this thing glitching out?’ Dhruv pondered.
As he thought it over and tried to understand the reason behind this glitching, he suddenly remembered something.
’"Isn’t the effect of glitching used when I use the magic of the Illusion domain? Does that mean the forest in front of me is just an illusion created by someone?..’ Dhruv came to a conclusion.
’...And the reason I can see the illusion is that I have illusion resistance, and my illusion resistance is countering the effect of whoever created this illusion. If my skill were at a higher level, maybe I would be able to look directly past this illusion.’
After coming to this conclusion, Dhruv nodded, thinking it was the best answer for the situation, and began to walk toward the center of the jungle. He had just taken a few steps forward when he remembered something.
’Wait, could the premonition I’ve been receiving about this jungle not being natural also come from Illusion resistance?’ Dhruv was forced to stop in his path when he thought of this.
’But why would that be the case? It’s not like the jungle in front of me is an illusion. It’s clearly real and I can interact with it, not something just created by my mind. Then why is illusion resistance affecting the jungle as well?’ Another question came to his mind.
After thinking for a while he even found the answer to this question,
’Maybe the reason for that premonition is that someone is trying to sell this jungle as natural, and the fact that this isn’t natural created an automatic illusion of some sort. Deception is also a form of illusion, after all.’ Dhruv smiled when he thought about this and was once again proud of himself for his deductive skills.
With a smiling face, he looked at Vexar who was just standing beside and said,
"Vexar, head south from here and see if there are any other villages of goblins. If you find any, do not attack them; just take note of their location. Afterward, meet me at the center or where the portal is. Understood?"
"Okay, master," Vexar nodded in approval and began walking south.
Observing Vexar’s departure, Dhruv also selected a location for himself and headed there. The direction he had chosen was west.
While walking, he continued to ponder various problems and their solutions. These were not of grave importance and consisted of questions like, who would be responsible for building homes and whether they would be able to construct houses out of wood. His mind was filled with questions like these.
After walking for twenty minutes in that direction, Dhruv encountered something once again.
"So, there are other goblin villages in this jungle," he thought out loud as he looked at the village in front of him.
This village was an exact copy of the last village he had found. It also had the same design of huts, the same boundary, and the same plants atop that boundary.
Taking note of this village on the map as well, Dhruv continued on his journey.
After traveling for another thirty minutes, he didn’t find any other villages on the way, but he happened to find one thing interesting.
As he looked at the tree in front of him, he couldn’t help but salivate because the tree bore many fruits. A mere glance at the fruit would let anyone understand that it was going to be very tasty. It was dark red, almost like blood, and was the size of an apple.
Dhruv wanted to taste the fruit, but it was very high in the air. Not wanting to damage the tree by firing spells on it, he tried to climb it.
No matter how talented he was in spell casting, Dhruv found out the hard way that he didn’t know how to climb a tree.
Remembering the fact that he indeed was talented in spellcasting and not climbing, he created a metal platform under his feet and stood on it. After standing on the platform, he created another spell under it. In just a few seconds the platform began to rise up in the air, reaching the fruit.
With the help of this contraption, he finally reached the fruits and plucked one of them. Looking at the fruit in his hand he first wiped the drool from his face and then took a bite out of it.
As Dhruv savored the fruit, a burst of heavenly flavor surged through his mouth, leaving him pleasantly surprised by the fact that even a simple fruit could be so incredibly delicious.
"How sweet and delicious," he didn’t hesitate to praise the fruit.
He took another bite, and before he could notice, the entire fruit was gone from his hand. He plucked another one and began to eat that as well. And just like that he forgot the counting and was just eating them one after another.
When an unknown number of fruits got eaten, he suddenly heard a notification ring in his head.
[You have gained 1 essence point.]
