"It's been so long since someone was able to see through my final illusion. Impressive!"
Unlike Ayla's other illusions, which were much more focused on affecting you on a physical level, the last one was focused on your subconscious mind.
All beings have some things that they can just do subconsciously and don't even need to think about.
Ayla used that fact to her advantage. Being a great illusion master, she used the surroundings and created the background of an arena to make the participants think that they had no choice but to fight.
This is a subconscious response.
A rank SS is encouraging you to showcase your skills, and because you have a large arena and an opponent, you may subconsciously believe that you must fight and win.
But all of this is a planned illusion created to influence the participants.
"Once again, it's a pleasure to meet you two. I am the real Ayla; the previous one was an illusion too..."
Lia glanced at the old lady and asked,
"You look much older compared to the version of you in the illusion..."
Ayla nodded her head and said,
"Well, I am more than a millennia-old kiddo, which illusion showed how I used to look in my younger days... Moreover, I have fought many battles in my time, which has also affected my life span..."
"But forget about that; that's not what the main topic is here; what I want to know... is how you two figured out the perfect solution to this illusion?"
A look of interest appeared on Ayla's old face, which was covered in several scars.
Selain smiled at that question and said,
"First and foremost, you never said that we need to 'Fight' to showcase our talents; you only said, 'Show me your talents', which doesn't mean that we 'Need' to fight..."
"That was already a good enough clue..."
After Selain finished talking, Lia continued from there,
"Then the second biggest clue was that you mentioned that two other participants also made it through to the third illusion trail, but they failed the last one..."
Lia smiled and said,
"You said both of them failed, which should be impossible; if the two of them had fought, then at least one should be the winner and the other one should be a loser unless they both had a tie and ended up passing together..."
"That just shows that the two of them lost because they 'fought' each other and fell for the obvious trap..."
Selain nodded her head at Lia's words and said,
"Moreover, the arena you created also had a more 'unique' architecture in it... No, that place can't even be called an arena; it was more like a stage, which means that it was not really necessary to fight..."
After analyzing this far, Lia and Selain also mentioned the fact that the two people that Ayla mentioned that came before them might just be a lie too.
There might not have been any other people before them, and Ayla likely just made up about all that on her own to give hints to the participants.
In other words, from the start to the end, there were hints all over; only someone with keen observation can figure out all this.
Lia trained her observation skills enough by trying to observe and figure out Rio's emotions just by looking at his expressionless face.
And Selain, on the other hand, has the amazing intuition of a golden dragon; she was already feeling that something was amiss the moment she saw Ayla at the start.
"Hahahaha! Amazing! This is amazing!!"
Hearing Lia and Selain's explanation, Ayla laughed happily, and then she said,
"Ah, yes, it's all true; you two are the only ones who have ever completed my four trials... Sigh, it's been so long since I laughed this much..."
A happy smile hung over Ayla's old face as she nodded her head at both Lia and Selain again and again.
"You two have amazing observation skills, and your mind is firm; indeed, you two are 'Excellent'!"
"This is the first time I am giving someone an 'Excellent' evaluation; it's a great day indeed..."
Hearing Ayla's words, Selain frowned a bit and asked,
"Uh, didn't you say you were looking for a true 'genius'... Won't it make sense to give us a higher evaluation now that we have passed your whole trail?"
At Selain's words, Ayla sighed.
The underground cave suddenly disappeared, and the trio suddenly found themselves standing on a giant cloud in the sky, where the golden rays of the sun shone brightly at them. Seeing that sudden change, Lia and Selain were both extremely shocked and lost for words.
"T-this is!? Don't tell me-"
Before they could even ask a question, Ayla said in a calm voice,
"Actually, the whole 'Forest of Chaotic Illusion' and all of the creatures in it... it's all an illusion..."
"This illusion indeed is the real evaluation ground, but... this place is not real; it's just an illusion created by me..."
"You two actually never took the teleportation altar; you two are still sleeping back in the Dragon Palace, and you are experiencing all this in a dream-like state along with thousands of
others..."
After hearing that, Lia suddenly asked,
"Then what about the rest of my teammates? They are also in an illusion?"
Ayla shook her head and said,
"No, they got teleported to their respective evaluation sites in the morning... All evaluators have their own way of doing things; I didn't need to teleport you... I just created an illusion
and put you in the dream world..."
Ayla smiled and glanced at the clear blue sky before speaking,
"The thing is... a true 'Genuis' would have already realized that this is an illusion the moment they got here, and they would have snapped out of it instantly..."
"You two are indeed 'Excellent'; you figured out all four trials exceptionally well and became the first to clear all four trials..."
"But the thing is... the moment you started to head towards the core area, you were already
lost from the start..."
At those words, Lia was quite shocked; a confused look appeared on her face as she
murmured,
"But Kai suggested that we should go towards the core... wait! Could it be-"
Ayla nodded her head and said,
"Ah, yes, I need to thank you for your cooperation, Divine Spirit. General Kai, I appreciate the fact that you didn't reveal anything to them and went along with their choices..."
"If you hadn't cooperated, it would have been impossible..."
Kai suddenly appeared on Lia's shoulder, nodded his head at Ayla, and then said,
"Actually, she contacted me via telepathy and asked me not to tell you about this illusion; I actually already knew it all from the start, but I didn't tell you because it's a test for your own
talent, Lia..."
"Now that you have finally figured it all out, I believe you understand yourself much better and have a stronger mind. Don't worry about not being considered a 'genius'..."
"All that matters is that you learned a lot from this experience..."
Upon hearing those words, Lia glared at Kai and said,
"Yeah, I learned that even your own familiars can sometimes betray you... Hmph, I am not
helping you next time Rio threatens you with his 'Sword Intent'..."
Hearing Lia's complaints, Kai laughed awkwardly and didn't say anything else for fear of
angering Lia even further.
Ignoring everything else, Selain glanced at Ayla and inquired.
"So, in other words, only we two are in the dragon palace now, and the rest of the group got
teleported... But why only us?"
Ayla sighed at those words and said,
"Well, I tried this same illusion on the rest of the group too... Link, Rio, and even that weak- looking girl Riya are extremely resistant to illusions; this illusion never worked on them..."
"As for that kiddo called Liam, he was teleported to his evaluation before I could even use my illusion on him, so he escaped early..."
"Thus, only you two fell for it... But still, you did quite well in the evaluation; there is no need
to blame yourselves..."
The reason why Link, Rio, and Riya didn't get affected by this illusion is obviously because all three of them have a legendary skill that makes them highly resistant to illusions. Moreover, Lia herself has the 'Absolute Precognition' and she could have avoided this illusion, but she isn't yet strong enough to keep that power active all day every day. Unlike Rio, Link, and Riya, whose legendary skills dwell within them and are always partially active, Lia only uses her precognition when it's needed.
After this incident, Lia figured out that she needs to train her precognition sense more so that she can keep it active for longer and predict if something like today happens in the future. Selain, on the other hand, sighed at all this and decided to train her mind more and try to aim
and learn 'Sword Intent' just like Rio.
Her mind and goals became even more firm after this experience.
Although Lia and Selain didn't get the highest possible evaluation, they still learned a lot and figured out their own weaknesses.
This alone is a great benefit for them.
Kai didn't interfere with this, as he wanted Lia to realize her own weaknesses and improve
further.
Although it did offend Lia a bit, it's still more important to improve her abilities than to help
her out every single time.
Kai doesn't want Lia to become overly dependent on his abilities, as that will be
counterproductive for Lia's own growth.
"Well then, now that the evaluation is complete, you can go back; the time in the outside world moves faster compared to this place, and you two have been sleeping for a whole week
now..."
"It's time you wake up, or you will miss the rest of Dragon Festival..."
Lia and Selain nodded their heads and got ready to leave.
Ayla waved her hand and said, "Let's meet later in the banquet of admiration... Enjoy the festival, my 'Excellent Disciples'..."
With that wave of her hand, the illusion broke apart, and Lia and Selain finally woke up and
found themselves on their beds in their respective rooms.
...
...
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
Question of the day:
Did you expect that the whole place was an illusion?
1. Yes
2. No
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.