Chapter 51 - Forest Of Silencing Illusions (Part One)

Lucas proceeded forward and entered the forest. It was dark and eerily silent. "Let's find him quick and leave this place", he thought as he looked around the place. The tall trees were covering the sky, and the only source of light was the moon, which shone beautifully into the forest.

Lucas followed the mark on the maps, and he found the person he was looking for. The man was taller than Lucas, and he had jet black and gray streaks of hair. His body was toned, and his hands were plucking some herbs as he was humming a tune to himself. He had a dagger in his hands and a small pouch in which he stored his ingredients. "A space pouch?', he thought as he looked at the man.

"Hello. I am here looking for you", said Lucas as he neared the man. The man didn't hear anything and he kept doing what he did, picking out herbs. After Lucas placed his hand on the man's shoulder, the man turned his head to face Lucas. Lucas was stunned when he saw the face.

"He is me?", thought Lucas as he looked into the man's eyes. He had the same replica of Lucas's face, but the difference was his body. The man spoke in a monotonous tone. "Welcome, little boy. To the Forest of Silencing Illusions", said the man as his body began to disintegrate into dust.

The voice that spoke began to echo around. "The man you are looking for is here, in this forest. He is a regular of mine. If you can find the real person within two hours, you shall live. Otherwise, prepare for your", it paused. Lucas's face appeared in front of him again. "Funeral", it completed and disappeared just like it appeared.

Lucas began to sweat in fear. "What in heavens is this place? Where did I walk into?", he thought. And the answer came from Valentine. "This place has existed for a long time. In the history of this Earth, this place has had many names. Some people called it The Witches Nest. Thinking that some powerful witch resided here, and it was her work. But nobody knows the truth", he said.

Lucas was surprised at the information. "Then how is the man able to come and leave as he pleases?", he asked in hopes of getting an answer. And an answer he got, in the form of his face. "He cracked the formation, thus allowing him to see the way out", said Lucas's image, and disappeared again.

"What is this place? it's like straight out of a horror movie", he thought as he gulped his saliva down. "Now first, let's look at the information in my hand. The man that entered this place knows the way out, thus allowing him to come and go as he pleases. The second point is that this whole forest is in a formation, or maybe this forest is the formation. I don't know much about formations yet", he thought as he moved deeper into the forest.

He began to think about a way to break this formation. "Am I already in one? Because the location that is popping up is next to where I am standing, and I couldn't see the man anywhere", he thought as he looked around. All he could see was a thick mist surrounding him. He wanted to take a step forward, but the name of the forest still brought him the creeps from deep within him.

"Silencing Illusions. It seems that many people have died here. But what type of illusions did they see, for them to reach the death?', he thought. He was curious about the type of illusions this formation could create. He was about to take a step forward when he heard a voice.

"You will never be strong, Lucas. You are a disgrace to this kingdom", he heard Ben's voice. "To have a weak younger brother like you, I'm ashamed of you", he heard Sam's voice. "A disgrace! To this family! If I had known, I would have gotten a miscarriage instead of carrying you!", he heard Martha's voice. "Oh little brother, look at you. so weak that you need to hide behind a woman's back", came Kate's voice.

Lucas's body shook uncontrollably. "This is nothing but an illusion. An illusion", he began to convince himself. The more he was convinced, the less he heard their voices. "Stop messing with my head. I will break this formation, and when I do, you will know the truth", he bellowed to the mist that was surrounding him.

The mist began to get thicker. And within the mist, there was a raging fire burning. He began to run towards the fire, and he saw the palace he grew up in was on fire. Ben, Martha, Sam, and Kate were standing outside, and they looked at him with hatred and fear in their eyes. "You... Monster... Kill us...", they muttered.

Lucas's hands began to shake. He dropped to his knees. "No... No... NOOOO! This can't be! I am your son, Luca. Don't you remember me, mother?", muttered Lucas under his breath. His breathing changed as he watched the palace burn, and the eyes of his family members were killing him.

"I do not have a son like you. Get out of my sight!", bellowed Ben as he hugged Martha and held her close to his chest. Tears were flowing in Lucas's eyes. He began punching the mud to calm himself down. "No wonder this is Silencing Illusions. Anyone who is showed this would suffer a nervous breakdown, just as I was about to. I have suffered way more than you will ever know", he smirked as he stood up from the ground.

The illusion broke apart, and Lucas stood there with determination in his eyes. When the next illusion was about to begin, Lucas took out his blade. He then cut the tip of his index, ready to feel the pain to make him know that this was an illusion. This time, it was Leon. He stood there, and a blade was lodged through his chest, and the person was wearing a black hood.

Lucas watched the illusion and bit his tongue. He was willing to go to any extent, to make sure that he doesn't get consumed by the illusion. The man with the black hood removed his hood and revealed a sinister smile on Lucas's illusory face. "I'm grateful for everything Master, but you never taught me The Ultimate Secret. If I can't have it, then no one in this world shall", he said as he slowly removed the blade.

Lucas smiled when he saw the illusion. "The Ultimate Secret. It's no secret at all. That, in the end, is The Ultimate Secret", he thought as he watched the illusion ended. Lucas looked around to find the formation that the voice talked about. "Valentine, do you know of any way to find a formation? And how to break one?", he asked.

"To break a formation is to look for cracks in the formation, and that will lead to the formation being broken. But, if you can't find any flaws in a formation, then the only way is to create a counter foundation, which will act as the negative to the positive formation, thus rendering the formation useless. But it has a time limit. The maximum it can be held is for five minutes", explained Valentine, as he knew more about formations than Lucas did.

Lucas nodded his head and he looked around, ready to find the formation that was making this illusory thing that he was seeing. "Maybe it shows everyone's worst fears or something? If that's true, then this will be the death of many. But unfortunately, I do not have the power to shut this down for good", he thought as he began to look around.

Lucas looked at the trees and inspected them carefully. When he neared one of the trees, a vine slapped his back, pushing him forward into the mouth of the trunk. Lucas reacted instinctively and pulled out his blades. he activated his boots and armor, allowing him to kill the tree that was about to swallow.

"Now that I think about it, I never saw the stats for these two", he thought as he used [Inspect] on the items he was wearing.

[Transformable Armor Set 2/6]

[Equip the full set to acquire bonus effects

Equip 2/6 - Increase Strength by Twenty Percent when Activated

Equip 4/6 - Increase Stamina by Twenty Percent when Activated

Equip 6/6 - HP +350, MP +350. All stats Increase by Twenty Percent while normal, and Increase by Forty Percent when Set is activated]

[Transformable Body Armor (Upper Body) - King Tier]

[Once activated, it reduced the damage taken from enemies by twenty-five percent]

[Active Skill 1 - Aura Infusion]

[Once Aura has been injected into the armor, the Damage reduced is increased by twenty-five percent. A layer of protection surrounds the Armor, increasing the Durability of the Armor]

[Active Skill 2 - Mana Infusion]

[Once Mana is injected, the armor takes the properties of the Mana infused, thus creating defense or offense depending on the Mana infused]

[Transformable Body Armor (Boots) - King Tier]

[Once activated, it increases the agility of the wearer by twenty-five percent]

[Active Skill 1 - Aura Infusion]

[Once Aura has been injected into the armor, the Damage given is increased by twenty-five percent when kicking an opponent. A layer of protection surrounds the Armor, increasing the Durability of the Boots]

[Active Skill 2 - Mana Infusion]

[Once Mana is injected, the boots take the properties of the Mana infused, thus creating defense or offense depending on the Mana infused]

[Combat Skill - Dash]

[When the skill is activated, increases the agility by one hundred percent. Lasts for one minute. Skill cooldown is for fifteen minutes]

"Wow. So many bonuses", he thought as he read each of them one by one. "And a full minute of Dash. That would be very useful if used correctly", he thought.. He then began to proceed forward, deeper into the woods in search of the formation points.