Tower of Heaven

'The Second Prince came to this forest to investigate the core of all happenings in this world. Despite being an incredibly dangerous starting point, it is also arguably the best one.'

Here, Atlas could find the crux of the issue. He could find the reason why the Third Prince suddenly changed and why he poisoned the First Prince and killed the Emperor.

Atlas wasn't aiming for the bad ending. He had no connection to this world, but that was his character. Despite being selfish in the smaller things, he couldn't stop himself from wanting to preserve the bigger picture.

He couldn't allow the Third Prince's plans to unravel. And, he couldn't allow the other Ascender to ruin the scenario.

'For me to plan a course of action, I must first find what the Second Prince failed to discover.'

Instead of returning to the capital, Atlas delved deeper into the Dark Forest. He was not the Second Prince. He did not have the same flaws as that person.

But, as he inhabited his body, he also inherited his goals.

'I cannot become invisible, but I am a Sky Sage now. My concealment abilities can no longer be questioned.'

Atlas drew his qi into his body until it was almost imperceptible. He usually wore white clothes, but as he was in a dark environment, he took a moment to change into darker clothing before moving.

The Dark Forest, according to the Second Prince's memory, was a mostly unexplored region.

There were routes cutting through it that led out of the capital, however, most people chose to take longer routes around the forest instead of moving through it.

It was a place where powerful beasts ran wild. They were all in the Sage Realms, whilst the empire was ruled by people with Sage Realm cultivation at the highest.

'Mortal Empires are like that. Back in my era, the secular world existed separately from the world of cultivators despite being on the same soil. It was rare for powerful cultivators to ever interact with these mortals, and when they did, they were treated like Gods.'

When cultivators reached a point around the Sage Realms, they'd make their journeys to different continents with more opportunities. Places like the Desolate Dragon Continent that Kallos once ruled were much more favorable and filled with opportunities, so they became a natural destination.

Continents like the one mirrored in this trial saw Sage Realm cultivators as powerful and undeniable existences. They didn't even know about the world above that stage.

'Sage Realm Demon Beasts, if they are equivalent to Sky Sages or Law Sea Realm cultivators, are difficult to fight quietly. However, I can hide from them without a problem.'

Atlas wasn't in his own body. He did not have his special dantian or his qi and spiritual affinities.

'My arsenal at the moment is the Dao of Wood and my physical body.'

If he had to rely on the same comprehensions he had when he last faced Cain, the situation would have been different.

'But the Second Prince was a person who wanted to cultivate the wood element to its limit. He put in effort to understand the basics.'

The basics were all Atlas needed. The information was placed in his mind through the Second Prince's memories, and with it, he could use the skills that were previously unavailable to him.

He snuck through the forest like a dark fox hiding from predators. His body moved as fast as it could without making noise until he found what the body's original owner was searching for.

'Tents.'

Signs of life.

Hiding behind one of the tents, he quietly waited for the people inhabiting them to arrive.

They were silent. They moved in groups of two, but they did not speak to each other. They were people who moved more like puppets who were being controlled from afar.

'Tch.'

It took time before Atlas could find a person who moved alone, but he didn't miss the opportunity when he did.

He dashed out of the shadows and wrapped his arm around the hooded man's neck. He crushed the man's throat so he couldn't scream and dragged him into the bushes.

'I will be borrowing your clothes.'

After observing the mysterious people for enough time, he understood that the majority of them were either unable to talk or not allowed to do so.

This made it easier for him to blend in. He put on the robes of the deceased man and walked out of the bushes, smoothly becoming a part of their operation.

His steps matched theirs. It was a very orderly pattern with a few variations as if their movement pattern was meant to separate them from imposters.

Still, when Atlas mimicked their patterns, they didn't raise any questions about his identity.

He walked alongside a partner who started walking beside him at a random point in time and moved to that person's destination.

'This is not a small operation.'

They passed by at least several tens of other hooded figures who were just as lifeless as they were before arriving at another camp. Unlike the stray tents Atlas saw previously, this camp was orderly and seemed to have purpose.

Atlas and his partner arrived before a man standing in the middle of the camp. The other person stopped for a moment before bowing.

'Huu…'

Atlas took a deep breath internally. If it weren't for that moment of hesitation, Atlas wouldn't have been able to read and copy the movement precisely enough.

"Take these to the Khan."

The man was large like a bear with the mane of a lion. He was human, but he was covered in scars that made him seem more like a war-scarred tiger.

He gave succinct commands to the beings he saw as lowly slaves. The documents were handed to Atlas' partner before they pivoted sharply and started walking again.

Beneath the cover of his hood, Atlas glanced at that person.

'This…'

'Is this person also an imposter?'

It seemed that he wasn't the only person trying to discover more about this mysterious force.

'I cannot tell if that person knows that I am also an imposter, nor do I know if we are enemies or allies. It is best to remain vigilant.'

As they walked deeper into the forest, camps like the one where they received the documents became more common. Atlas started to understand the true scale of the operation he was facing, and eventually, he saw something that could hardly be considered a hidden lair.

It was out in the open, in a place where they knew nobody would find it regardless of its size; a castle of such proportions that it matched and even outscaled the Imperial Palace in the capital.

The dark castle was surrounded by an ominous malevolent aura that made people want to stay away, but it was also the very destination where Atlas and his companion were headed.

'I am getting a trip to the final enemy from the very beginning.'

It was very convenient that this was a trial. It was as if Atlas was being led to the final goal without having to work for it.

'Nevertheless, it will not be simple to find information without alerting anyone.'

This was only the first step of the plan, but he still approached it as carefully as he could.

Because this time, in this trial, Atlas wanted to create a perfect ending that nobody had ever seen before.

And for that purpose, he could not misstep even once.