Chapter 503: Another Challenge Rift

As they passed by the flowing waterfalls, he couldn’t help but reach out and touch the water. The pressure was much higher than he expected, and he almost found himself yanked downward.

The water didn’t seem to have anything too special about it, though. From what he could tell, there was a potent bit of water mana infused into it, but that wasn’t surprising. Other than the purity of the water, nothing else stood out to him.

They eventually reached the cliffs, and he slowly lowered them. The floating island was much larger than he suspected. It was an entire ecosystem up here, and he could sense powerful pulses of mana radiating from the whole island.

He wondered if these mana pulsations had anything to do with how the island was floating. His senses picked up half a dozen other people on this island. At least half a dozen that he had detected so far. There could be more, but he would have to explore to figure that out.

Aubrey didn’t waste any time; she was already swiftly pacing toward the center of the island where the mana pulsations were originating from. He followed right behind, making sure he had some defenses around them. With how many ambushes he had already experienced, it was better to be prepared.

Julius noticed one person in particular probing them with their senses. It didn’t feel quite hostile, but they were being a little too curious for his liking. Funnily enough, it wasn’t Julius this girl had their eyes on. It would appear that Aubrey was the center of her attention.

Julius hasn’t made any moves to intervene yet. For one, she wasn’t being aggressive or hostile. If anything, it was a bit annoying feeling his perception pinged over and over whenever she looked in their direction. But annoyance wasn’t a reason to start shit.

He let her be and expanded his senses toward the center of this island. He wanted to see what was going on. He couldn’t understand how an island this large was being supported in the air. He didn’t sense any large fluctuations of gravity magic, but for all he knew, there was, and he was just blind to it.

Finally, he and Aubrey approached something interesting. A swirling portal of rainbow light floated in front of a small, worn-down shrine. This was where the pulsations of mana were coming from.

He frowned at the portal for a few moments. If he was right, this portal led somewhere —most likely a rift. But that didn’t explain the strange pulsations he felt coming from the portal and how it connected with the floating island. The energy he noted coming from the portal felt dangerous and a bit unstable.

Did the island somehow draw some of the mana from this portal to support its floating nature? Or perhaps it was the other way around. Maybe the portal was a byproduct of the floating island, and the pulsations he felt were the excess energy from the portal’s existence.

He bit his lip as he examined it in closer detail. It was hard to tell; not even his senses could pinpoint an exact answer. It was both confusing and extremely exciting. He wanted to find out the answer even more now.

A small group of people gathered around this portal. From what he could overhear, they were talking about what they thought this portal was. Aubrey and he got closer to these people. They all stopped what they were doing to watch their approach, but once they sized them up and realized they were there for the portal as well, they continued talking amongst themselves.

Apparently, one of the guys had a pretty good analysis skill and was in the process of deciphering what this portal was. Julius watched as the guy’s eyes flashed with blue light.

After a couple of minutes of this, it would seem the guy had finally finished his analysis.

“It’s definitely a rift of some kind, but the actual specifics are hard to determine. It resembles some of the Challenge Rifts I have come across, but I haven’t seen a rift this color before. Also, the mana radiating from the rift seems quite dangerous,” the guy noted with apprehension.

“Dangerous?” One person asked.

“Probably. To be fair, we are still in the Secret Realm. I can’t imagine that a hidden rift like this one would be safe,” the analyst said.

“Okay… So who wants to go first?” A girl asked them all.

Not a single person moved or raised their hand. Nobody seemed willing to volunteer to be first. Julius didn’t exactly blame them for that either. The portal was emitting powerful and somewhat volatile mana.

However, before he could even realize it, Aubrey was already walking over to the portal. He chased after her, shaking his head. He had the same idea, but she was way more impatient than he was and didn’t want to wait.

The girl saw them approach and held out an arm to them. “What do you think you are doing?”

“Didn’t you just ask for volunteers?” Aubrey asked her. The genuineness in her voice must have confused the girl because she quickly backed off with a frown.

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“Let them be, they can test out the rift for us,” a tall blonde-haired guy stated before turning to look at the guy who had analyzed the portal. “Will it disappear if they enter, or will it stay open?”

“It should stay open. That’s why I think it’s a Challenge Rift or something similar. Multiple instances should be allowed to run simultaneously. We don’t have to worry about them stealing the opportunity just because they enter first. I am more worried about what is inside and if it’s worth it. We can’t be sure that something of value is inside, we don’t have much time left, and we still need tokens to advance,” the guy with the glowing blue eyes stated.

They all started to discuss the risks and benefits of heading inside, while Julius and Aubrey stood near the portal, looking at each other awkwardly. It was like these people had already forgotten about their existence.

“Do we just go?” Aubrey whispered to him.

“Yeah, I mean, they basically gave their permission,” he whispered back.

She nodded and started to walk over to the portal with Julius right on her tail. The iridescent coloring of the rift was unique; he also hadn’t come across anything quite like it. He was more interested than cautious, and he believed that Aubrey shared similar feelings.

He turned to her. “I don’t know if we will be transported together, so good luck,” he said to her with a grin.

She grinned back at him and extended her hand. He grabbed a hold of it, noticing that she squeezed it harder than needed. But he was alright with that. Then they both reached out to touch the portal.