Chapter 297: Strange Town.

Gazing around at the broken stone walls, partially faded murals, the random bits of sunlight peeking in through the gaps on the roof, and the damp and mossy tiles underneath her feet, Olivia felt a strange case of déjà vu.

'Strange…Wasn't I in a fight against that Stage 3 b*tch just a moment ago? What is this place and how did I get here? Is it a dream?'

'Unlikely, everything feels too real and I get a strange feeling that I've been here before. Better confirm it.' Thinking as such, Olivia moved to release her soul power to create a Boundary. 

However, to her absolute shock, she realized that her body did not contain a single iota of soul power!

It wasn't that her soul power had been drained and was thus empty but rather, her body seemed to be absent of any amounts of soul power at all. Olivia's current state seemed to have returned to the time she was an Unawakened.

A mortal human with not a single trace of supernatural power.

'Where is my soul power?!' feeling the greatly weakened state of her body, Olivia panicked. 

Power was the basis for confidence and the current lack of it made Olivia terrified. Any person would be if they were to wake up one day and find themselves limbless and paralyzed.

Her breaths became shortened and hurried as Olivia lowered herself to the floor and vigilantly looked around. Her nervousness was palpable and the unfamiliar surroundings only served to heighten it.

'Calm down and gather yourself. Remember what you learned in Survival and Hunting. Having a calm mind and an alert perception is essential in a new environment,' Olivia encouraged herself.

Eventually, her breathing became normal and Olivia's tension also seemed to reduce by a great extent. Lucius' lessons continued to echo within her head, giving her confidence in this strange situation.

'Firstly, analyze the surrounding environment. Get an idea of where you are and what kind of place this is.' 

Having a goal in her mind, Olivia started to act. 

With soul power being absent, she could only rely on her five basic senses to scout her surroundings. As such, Olivia pushed her senses to the extreme and collected all the information she could from the surroundings.

The temperature within this dilapidated stone room was rather cool, being around 24-26° C. The humidity, however, was rather high causing Olivia to start sweating despite the coolness.

The clothes on her body consisted of the purple armor set gifted to her by Lucius. Strangely enough, the armor seemed to lose all of this tech capabilities and extra gimmicks, making it indistinguishable from actual leather gear. Her sword also seemed to be missing.

Focusing on her ears, Olivia tried to make out any traces of sounds coming from her surroundings, outside this run-down stone room. However, everything was strangely quiet and there were no sounds other than the ones caused by Olivia herself.

Remaining in the same 'crouched' position until her legs grew numb and noticing that there were no other signs, Olivia finally relaxed her guard. 

There seemed to be no signs of life in the immediate surrounding causing the level of danger to drop by a lot. As such, judging it to be somewhat safe, Olivia rose to her feet.

There was only so much she could hear and feel from inside a room. To truly make sense of her environment, Olivia would have to look outside the room. 

Fortunately, it was daytime, seeing how rays of sunlight fell into the room from the cracks in the ceiling and by the scene outside the door.

When the initial sense of danger and fear had passed, a sense of curiosity rose within Olivia's heart. 

Looking around the room, she searched for any items that would give her a clue of what this place was, or of how she had gotten here. Olivia was extremely careful with her actions, taking care to not carelessly disturb or trigger anything. 

As run down and broken as this room looked, it would pay to be extra safe with her actions.

The room wasn't very large, taking Olivia only a few minutes to scrutinize every inch of the room. A few minutes later, she stood at the center of the room, disappointment evident in her face.

'There is nothing but dirt, moss, and broken stones. The murals have faded too much to make sense of the images.'

Still, it wasn't a complete waste of time as the existence of the murals suggested the existence of an intelligent civilization. Building houses was easy, but drawing colorful and intricate images was hard.

With nothing worthy of attention inside the run-down house, Olivia naturally moved her focus to the door leading outside. 

Walking towards the door, Olivia observed the doorframe to check for any hinges or locks that would suggest the existence of a door. 

Unfortunately, there was no such evidence on the doorframe, making it evident that this room never had a door in the first place.

'They could paint murals but not put doors? Strange.' 

Shaking her head, Olivia exited the room with utmost vigilance. The instant she took a step outside, Olivia could feel the hot morning sun bear down upon her.

The surrounding temperature immediately rose by a few degrees, reminding her of the hot summer days on her home planet. The layers of leather armor served to intensify the heat, causing her to sweat even more intensely. 

'Ah, this is unbearable.' Olivia then removed the outer coat, rolled up the sleeves on her arms and legs, and even unfastened the buttons on the chest part of the armor.

Protection was important, but even more so was conserving the fluid reserves of her body. 

In a situation where soul power was absent and her current state was no different from a powerless mortal, she had to consider these rather forgotten-about factors to stay in top condition.

Feeling the air touch her skin and dry the sweat, Olivia felt a huge sense of relief, 'This is much better.' She then tied the overcoat around her waist and started to venture out.

The immediate surroundings around the stone room were filled with thick, green vegetation. Tall trees, dense thickets, and overgrown weeds were the first things to come into notice.

Fortunately, there existed a clear path adjoining the entrance of the door. The path was dry, beaten, and most importantly, absent of the dense vegetation. Another sign pointing towards intelligent existence.

'It's great that a path already exists. Trekking through that forest would've been a nightmare.' Olivia thanked her lucky stars.

While she was unable to hear and see any large movements from the surrounding vegetation, who knew how many poisonous plants and murderous insects lived within those thickets.

Walking at the center of the path, as far away as possible from either side of the jungle, Olivia followed the route of the path. She warily observed both sides of the jungle and mentally prepared herself to face ambushes. 

That sudden attack by the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel had inflicted quite the trauma on her.

'I wonder if that b*tch died. I killed her, right?' Olivia pondered. 'I recall the execution of [Final Verdict] being successful and I think I chopped her head off.'

'But still, what is this place and how did I get here? Did Lucius and Ka'lor'ah leave me here when I was unconscious?' Olivia despondently thought.

She then immediately shook her head and denied it, 'That's impossible. They wouldn't put me in another test immediately, without any information….right?'

Olivia's conviction fell through halfway when she recalled the personalities of both her teachers. Ka'lor'ah was sadistic and Lucius was cruel.

Dropping her into another test, one that seemed to rely heavily on Survival and Hunting seemed exactly like a thing that they would do.

Hitting her cheeks, Olivia forced herself to think positively, 'Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about it like that. Think positively!'

'Right! Since I managed to kill that Stage 3 hussy, my evaluation should've been bumped up into S tier. It's a shame that I was less than a hundred kills away from completing the second requirement'

Rubbing her chin, Olivia pondered, 'Actually, the riots within that city should've killed a good number of Stage 2 beings. Since I played a direct role in its causing, shouldn't those kills be counted as mine?'

'I must ask this to Ka'lor'ah when I meet her. If she agrees, that first place reward is definitely mine!' 

Just thinking about that S+ reward, caused Olivia to fantasize. Although it only granted her three wishes to be fulfilled by Lucius, it would nonetheless cause the distance between them to be closed by a large amount.

'I need to be smart about those wishes. Small, temporary gains would be useless. I need to ask for something that's more impactful and meaningful.'

'Something that would make Lucius look at me and rely on me. Especially so, when there's this sudden competitor called 'Aurora'?' 

Olivia loved Lucius a lot and for a very long time. She wasn't willing to give up just because a new competitor had shown up, and was even more unwilling of sharing him with some unknown woman.

After all, she had known him and been with him for the longest time. The two grew up together since childhood and were inseparable for the longest time.

Why should she be willing to share him with some unknown woman who had suddenly shown up and couldn't have known him for more than a year? 

That wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all.

Fifteen or so minutes into her journey, Olivia had to put a pause on her thoughts. Slowing her speed, she eventually came to a stop and looked at the scene before her with amazement.

'What the…? Where is this place?'

In front of her was a large clearing with dozens of small, dilapidated stone houses. Each house was 3-4 four times larger than the first stone room she found herself in. Apart from that one difference, they seemed to be the same.

Broken walls, run-down rooftops, and absent doors. Olivia could even vaguely see the faint murals inside the house closest to her. 

Finding herself at the entrance of this 'town' of-sorts, Olivia's foot hovered above the entrance feeling hesitant to take a step and enter. 

'Should I enter?'

She vaguely felt that the moment she enters this strange town, something would forever change.