Wain stepped forward and stepped into that eerie gate, exuding abnormal cold. Like the last time, there was only darkness around Wain again. He walked forward for a very long time. It seemed to him that at least several days had passed.

However, this was an illusion. In fact, only a few minutes had passed. Wain realized this as he never once felt thirsty or hungry during such a long journey.

At one moment, Wain took a step, and the space around him began to change. It all shook, and in an instant, the darkness changed to one of nature's most common phenomena: fog.

"What? Where am I?" mumbled Wain, puzzled.

Wain looked beneath his feet and saw land and green grass, nothing unusual, but the fog around him was thick. Wain could only see a few meters around him.

"Just like the last time, I found myself in some zone. But, is it Void or is it something else?" Wain muttered.

'It's not like what Sven told me. Perhaps it's something deeper and rarer? Or even Sven doesn't know of the existence of such gates? Ah, too many questions, yet so few answers.' Wain thought.

"At least I'm standing on the ground, though. I need to find a way out of here and get soul, after which to get out of here. That doesn't sound very difficult." Mumbled Wain.

Wain focused on his goal, namely the Swordsman's Soul, which he needed to discover the second form. This was where the energy he felt led him.

'Damn, I don't know where I'm going. Perhaps the energy flows are blocked by this fog. But, I feel that the soul I need is in this space. It definitely is.' Proclaimed Wain.

Wain turned around and decided to choose his path at random. In any case, he could see nothing and had no way of knowing which way he had to go. First, he had to figure out what was around and then make plans.

"It's pretty chilly out here, but I can't see anything but grass and this fog. Hopefully, it'll be over soon." Wain muttered.

At one point, he saw a tree in the distance. Wain approached it but didn't notice anything strange. However, as Wain was about to leave, he heard a muffled crack and sounds of movement.

Wain turned around and saw the tree come to life. He didn't immediately attack, Wain assumed the tree might be friendly, and it turned out that way, to his surprise.

But the tree didn't talk or anything like that. It moved on its roots as if on its feet to another place, and then its leaves on the crown became golden and brightly lit. Then glowing leaves began to fall from the branches and fly in different directions.

"It's very strange, but that's not what's important. I hadn't noticed it before, but there's less fog near this tree. This tree can be used as a safe zone for more visibility if someone attacks me here." Mumbled Wain.

Most of the leaves headed to the left, where Wain decided to go. But, before he did, he left a big mark on the ground. He wondered if this tree would be here when he returned.

After a while, Wain began to see more golden leaves. Each one was headed in one direction. But, Wain was not going to hurry. He walked forward in a measured step and kept his eyes on his surroundings.

He admired the beautiful golden glow gradually disappearing into the dense fog, but he was mindful of his safety. Wain was a stranger in this area and thus the easiest victim.

After about five minutes, Wain reached the spot where all the golden leaves had accumulated. To his surprise, it was an azure pond. The gold leaves landed around it, gave their power to the ground, and then quickly rotted away.

But, there was more than just a pond.

"Hmm? Are those some debris? Why are they floating in the air? What kind of place was I lucky enough to be in?" Mumbled, Wain was looking up.

Above the pond floated a multitude of stone debris as if from some ancient ruin or road. It was strange, but nothing more, until Wain noticed something.

"At the very top, just above the pond, is a pristine piece. There's a golden glow coming from it, but I can't see what's there. I need to check it out." Said Wain.

He then walked over to the wreck hovering below everyone else and jumped abruptly onto it. Wain wanted to jump on the next one, but suddenly the wreckage began to fall, and Wain was along with it.

"What the hell?" Wain said grudgingly, but as soon as he stepped off the wreckage, he flew up again to the same height.

'I see. It looks like it won't be as easy as I thought. If that's how it works here, it makes sense to go upstairs and find out what's glowing there. It reminds me of a challenge.' Thought Wain.

Wain began to count the number of debris. There were a lot of them, but he needed to know the exact number to make tactics.

'There is only 31 debris, but the higher they are, the greater the distance between them. It will be easy to climb the first fifteen debris, but further up, the difficulty increases. Fortunately, there is no fear of falling as a pond at the bottom.' Wain muttered to himself and jumped onto the first rubble again.

Then Wain quickly jumped from one splinter to another until he gradually reached the twentieth. But as he tried to jump to the twenty-first, the debris suddenly rose a little higher.

Wain hadn't expected that, but he managed to react and grabbed onto the ledge, then climbed sharply to the top and jumped onto the next debris.

Wain knew that he would have quickly jumped to the top if he had used Code of Light and Darkness. But, in his mind, it was too silly to waste so much energy on a simple jump over flying rocks.

With some difficulty, but Wain eventually made it to the last piece, from which he jumped to the final part. Unlike the soaring debris, this place didn't fall if he stood on it for a while.

"So this is what I climbed up here for?" Wain muttered, looking at the yellow crystal in the center of the small, stone altar.

Wain decided to touch the crystal, and at the exact moment, the rubble stirred. Wain looked around. He was puzzled. It looked like some magic or a very tricky mechanism.

'Am I sinking?' Wain noticed that the main platform and the rest of the wreckage were approaching the pond smoothly.

Then the main platform with the crystal touched the water and hovered over the pond. The rest of the wreckage made up four stone bridges leading from the platform to the ground outside the pond.

"Beautiful," Wain commented and removed his palm from the crystal. Just then, a pillar of light flew out of the crystal, piercing the mist and clouds.

'And what does all this mean?' Wain wondered as he looked around. Suddenly, he noticed a few blue ones among the many golden leaves. They had definitely fallen off from other trees and had been brought here by accident.

"I see, most likely if I follow the path of the blue leaves, I will reach the territory of the next challenge. When I complete all the trials, something will likely happen, and maybe I'll find my way out of this fog. But, should I do that?" Wain muttered.

Wain also had another option. He could have just walked into the fog and thus hoped to get out of this area and into some other place. But, Wain gave up on that idea right away. There were too many downsides.

It was dangerous, and he wasn't sure he could find his way out that way. In fact, going straight one way was tough, especially when there was fog all around the man.

Wain could not see anything, the height of the ground occasionally changed, and occasionally trees moved around. In such crazy conditions, it was impossible not to get lost without reference points.

But, Wain could not hope for any signs, for the only signs in this foggy field were the running trees. It was not the most reliable source.

"All right, then, I'll follow the trail of blue leaves. Apparently, they're flying in from the north. Hopefully, there aren't too many trials in this place." Said Wain and followed the trail of blue leaves.

...

In the courtyard of a Japanese-style manor house, not far from the misty forest. A silhouette sat, brewing green tea and looking in wonderment toward the mist. In the courtyard were several sakura trees, their pink petals fluttering in the wind.

The silhouette stared intently at a beam in the sky breaking through the fog.

"Could it be that someone was able to get in here...?"

...

After a while, Wain reached the second test. As he had anticipated earlier, the blue leaves led him to the right place. The second test was located in a clearing and was a massive platform with a blue crystal in the center.historical

'All I have to do is put my palm against the crystal. But, it can't be that easy, I'm sure.' Thought Wain and picked up a small pebble from the ground.

He threw it on the platform, but nothing happened. Then, Wain stepped on the platform, and over twenty spheres simultaneously rose into the air. But, they immediately fell back into place as Wain anticipated it and instantly retreated after he took the first step onto the platform.

"I see, I don't know what these spheres do, but they probably won't let me touch the crystal so easily. Otherwise, though, it would be too easy and boring."