Neva was deep in thought. And indeed, very deep in thought about the choices she had made this morning. Her teacher had come to her and asked her to search for something he had left behind in the Denlog mountains in the past. He had given her a hand-drawn map and asked her to track it and bring it back. Thinking it was a routine task, she had agreed, and the next second, before she knew it, everyone had departed in different directions with different groups, and she was left alone. The method of contacting them was a small piece of paper in her hand, and it was only one way, so she could only wait for the reply from the other side.

  A small whale jumped from the fire lake below her, but she hurled her hand, and a small ice wall formed between her and the large creature. Colliding with the wall, the whale fell back into the lake. The reason she was stuck here was simple. Her teacher had serious issues with his drawings. Hills were drawn as rocks, forests as grass, and ponds as dew drops. She was completely and utterly lost in this place. And to make matters worse, there was no comfortable place to sit on the jagged rocks, and these fish were hell-bent on disturbing her every other second. Just then, a shark jumped out of the lake and tried to bite her. But one slap from her sent it sailing back inside. How could such animals even survive in such a place? Wasn’t there a food shortage here? She thought.

  Suddenly, she felt some strange fluctuations from the corner of the lake. Looking there, she saw the silhouette of a man, but before she could do anything, he had disappeared into thin air. Then she remembered that her teacher had said that there might be trails following them. The person had most likely used some relic or spell to escape, and from the looks of it, he seemed to be just a Paragon. But soon, some Ascenders might also come here. But instead of running, she decided to wait for them here. The map was already hard to decipher; she could use some help here.

  Just as she had expected, after a few moments, she felt slight fluctuations coming from the void. The space in front of her tore open, and a woman stepped out. Without exchanging any words, the lava lake below them began to churn. Large whips made of lava lashed out and targeted Neva. Slightly bending down, she dodged the first one and deflected the second one with her hand encased in ice. But upon meeting the whip, the ice on her hand had also melted.

  At that moment, the orange-haired woman was already above her. She punched down, and Neva, who was standing below, raised her hands, and several thick shields made of ice formed over her head. The fire and ice collided, and vapor was released from their collision. The ice shields were not able to hold on and were easily broken. Soon, the fist encased in fire collided with the hand encased in ice. Neva’s face, which had seemed emotionless till now, was a little tense.

  Obtaining no substantial advantage, the woman distanced herself from Neva and stared at her. Neva also stared back, her burned hand rapidly regenerating. This lava lake had a high concentration of fire elementals over it, which was an inherent disadvantage to Neva and a strategic edge to her opponent, who was a fire Soul Caster. Not wanting to lose this advantage in the Void Realm, the woman was not going all out. And to experience new and varied opponents, Neva also followed through and limited herself.

  At that moment, the aquatic animals in the lake started to come out and surround the orange-haired woman. They were feeling a kind of submission toward her. Looking at this, Neva was perplexed. Did Ascension also grant these kinds of abilities? She didn’t know about it at all. And the woman in front was only Rank Three, just like her.

  The woman just signaled with her hands, and the aquatic animals all rushed toward Neva without worrying for their lives. Bending her hand down, Neva spread the ice elemental energy stored in her Nexus Rings and rapidly froze the top layer of the lake. Nearly a quarter of her energy was used up, but it was worth it. At least for some time, she would not have to face sudden interruption from the fish. But to dash her hopes, the woman opposite her used the same trick and unfroze the lake. Now Neva was stuck dealing with the woman, the dancing lava whips, and the unpredictable attacks from below.

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  She was feeling a little pressure by now. Soon, there were already a few scorch marks on her hands and legs. The exhaustion of fighting in a disadvantageous environment was also slowly setting in. And from the looks of it, the woman opposite her was in top shape. She was certainly very much stronger than the man she had killed right after her ascension. However, Neva was enjoying every moment of it, and a slight smile clung to her face.

  Every time the ice covering her melted, and she had to make new ice, she discovered some small flaws she had ignored before and improvised on them. The shortage of ice elementals around her was forcing her to use them sparingly, which was, in turn, increasing her efficiency in using them. The elemental energy stored in her Nexus Rings was also depleting little by little, and only half remained. But the rate at which it was drawn out was reducing slowly.

  The orange-haired woman, realizing this anomaly, decided to end the fight on a short note without giving the girl in front of her a chance to counter. She activated her Ascension Spell and felt the pressure from the world. At the same time, Neva also felt the familiar pressure from the world and realized what was happening. If she resisted this pressure, the world would certainly not be able to forcibly throw her into the Void Realm, but it would impose restrictions on her in the material world, directly reducing her effective strength. And going into the Void Realm now, she would face the attack of her enemy’s Ascension Spell.

  In a split second, she had made her choice. Without much resistance, she allowed the world to throw her into the Void Realm. The surroundings around her lost all color, and only the all-consuming void was closing in on her. Suddenly, several fire rings appeared below her feet. She tried to dodge but found that she was locked in place. Fire whips suddenly lashed out from the rings below her feet and tightly bound her body. Then, as if receiving a signal, they started to incessantly attack and burn her.

  “Aarggg!” A shout of pain escaped Neva’s mouth. Her body was rapidly regenerating, but the fire was continuously burning it away again. The woman was standing aside, simply watching the ongoing process. Her Ascension Spell was strong, but the prerequisite was that no external interference should occur during that time. Otherwise, she herself would be inflicted with all the torment borne by the target. The whips not only burned the body but also the soul, hence they were very dangerous even for Ascenders above her Rank. And during this time, she would also be locked in place without being able to use her power.

  After undergoing the baptism of fire for quite some time, Neva was barely breathing. Her eyesight was also dimming, and her body was completely charred black, half of it burned away. Finally, after completing its job, the fire disappeared. The orange-haired woman started to walk forward toward her. But when she saw the smile on the face of the enemy, she caught the string of space around her and appeared in front of the charred body.

  But the body had disappeared from its place. “Got you,” a small voice fell on her ears, and a fist slammed into her back. She was thrown forward, and when she tried to turn back after using her elemental energy to stop her momentum, a fist was again slammed into her guts. But being prepared this time, she had already encased her body in a small layer of elemental energy, and the force of the attack was mitigated. Still, she was pushed back by some distance.

  Looking ahead, she saw the girl, whose charred body was now filled with ice elementals. A red gem had appeared in her dark hands and slowly dissolved into her palm. Her mind started to blare alarms, and she tried to move back to the Material World, but it was already too late. There was a flash of cyan light, and the whole void was frozen in ice. Her body, which was filled with fire elemental energy, was no exception. The fire inside her had been frozen in a single moment.

  The girl started walking toward her. With each step, the circulation of the elementals in her body was increasing. Her charred face, which was unrecognizable before, was now slowly becoming visible. By the time she reached the frozen target, her entire body was recreated rather than regenerated. A light-fitting blue dress woven from elemental particles was covering her body.

  Looking at the frozen orange-haired girl’s unwilling face, she just stood there. The orange-haired girl finally asked, with a hint of fear and puzzlement mixed in her voice, “What did you do? Your elemental energy must have already been completely depleted under my Ascension Spell. You shouldn’t have any energy left to use now, after all that regeneration!”

  Neva just tilted her head and said, “Why would you use elemental energy when there are so many elementals around to use?” Rather than mocking, her tone seemed genuinely serious.

  The orange-haired girl was left speechless, her mouth hanging open.