Chapter 6: Taking the Three Cultivation Trial
Chapter 6: Taking the Three Cultivation Trial
When the angelic voice replied, a crimson torii-like gate suddenly appeared which showed the road going to the pyramid-like tower.
The scenery shifted as Ai Zhen passed through the gate. He was now at the top of a barren mountain. At the top center, a spiral stairs that goes down to the core of the mountain or beyond can be found. A frightening heat as you go down and a terrifying inverted gravity that pushes you away from the core can be felt in it. The center of the mountain was like a mouth of a certain mythical beast which was telling that even your bones won't be spit out once your inside it.
<Descend the Stairs of Doom. The further you descend the higher the result you will be able to reach. To pass the trial, one must pass 33 steps. Good luck!>
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The 33 steps was just a breeze for Ai Zhen. Even though the gravity was thrice heavier than the normal gravity of the Earth and the heat was like the dessert in Egypt as one further descends, it only made him remind of the time when he started cultivating the divine art which made the cultivators in his previous world go mad from jealousy. Almost five minutes only passed by as he leisurely went down and passed the 33 step
Distinct changes to the gravity can be felt as Ai Zhen reached the 34th step as it becomes much heavier as he descends further. This time, because he was now able to feel the pressure mentally, his SP started to get depleted at 10 per second. This changed into 30 per second when he reached 56th steps which took him roughly 2 seconds per step, and then into 90 per second when he reached 78th steps for 5 seconds per step.
When Ai Zhen reached the 99th steps, the angelic voice congratulated him.
<Congratulations for passing the Stairs of Doom. You were able to get the result of Diamond III Grade therefore you are eligible to challenge for another cultivation trial and may be able to choose one of the three items that are presented in front of you.>
At the bottom center of the barren mountain, three broken pillars can only be seen. On each broken pillars, you could see that there are three clumps of sphere that were glowing in bronze silver and gold color respectively.
<The three spheres can be used for cultivation and to power up items. The bronze sphere was the [Earth Essence], the silver one was the [Metal Essence], and lastly, the gold, which was the [Fire Essence].>
Just like the angelic voice have said, Ai Zhen have learned from the books in the library that elemental essences are very useful resources on the path of cultivation especially on comprehending Heaven and Earth Laws.
Essences are also considered as items that's why they are also ranked from rare to divine in order to classify the effectiveness. Some of the Essences also can be used for some specifics. Just like the Earth Essence, it is a perfect catalyst for creating an alchemist furnace or a cauldron for blacksmithing, and it is also one of the best material for making shields and armors. Metal Essence however is the ideal material for creating spiritual weapons. Lastly, the Fire Essence is the most sought out Essence since this is the one that helps a cultivator develop their own dao fire which is one of the requirements to become an alchemists or a blacksmiths.
With the fire essence in mind, Ai Zhen had this thought of being a tycoon since he have already a dao title which ables him to create a cultivation art which he was thinking of selling it for a high price, he was also thinking of becoming an alchemist or a blacksmith or much better both, so that he can monopolize all of the trades of this game. A wicked yet charming expression can be seen on his face as he thought of all these which took him aback because he's not like this. Sure, he was ambitious during his previous life, however, he was not this kind of ambitious that can be identified as crooked. Maybe, this is an influence coming from the inherited memories of Ai Yun, he doesn't know and he can only smile wrily about it.
Even though a lot of thoughts are going on in Ai Zhen's mind, he still didn't hesitate to choose the Fire Essence.
As Ai Zhen opened his system panel, there he saw the Fire Essence in his Inventory Tab which was still locked due to the requirements that needed to be met first. The only thing that he can do is view its description.
Fire Essence [Epic]
Description: When a fire keeps burning for hundred years, an essence will be formed. When a fire keeps burning for thousand years, the essence becomes an embryo which becomes a spiritual fire after ten thousand years. This fire essence is already in embryonic stage and can be used as a core to be embedded in any kind of formation as of the moment.
<Would you like to continue to take another trial or exit for now?>
"I don't have anything else to do so lets take the Sea Trial." Ai Zhen playfully responded, agreeing to proceed with another trial.
<Very well.>
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The scenery in the Sea Trial was a place perfect for comprehending Heaven and Earth laws. Ai Zhen was floating in a vast open space where he could see different kinds and colors of stars. As he was marveling about that he's in, the angelic voice sounded, explaining what the trial was all about.
The goal of the Sea Trial was to attract the elementals which were the assumed stars that were shining beautifully in this open space. It is a point system which based on how many elementals you were able to attract. The trial taker must diffuse his or her mana in the surroundings in order to attract different kinds of elementals.
The elementals were divided into four kinds — Primary Elementals, Secondary Elementals, Elemental Lord and Elemental King.
Primary Elementals are the four basic elements — Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind. These four are equivalent to 1 point each. Secondary Elementals are the so called byproducts of primary elemental fusion which are Metal, Ice, Lightning and Leaf for 3 points each.
Elemental Lords consist of two elements only which are the Sound, Light and Dark. The points that these three gave are 9. While the Elemental Kings which are the Space and Time gives 33 points.
In order to pass the trial, one must be able to get a minimum of 15-20-30 points and this is the equivalent of Bronze I, II, and IIII. In order to achieve a Silver I, II, III grade, one must be able to get a result of 50-70-100 points. Gold I grade needs 150-200-350 points. Lastly, Diamond I, II, and III grade needs 500-700-1000 points.
As Ai Zhen started diffusing his mana in the surrounding, his mana started to deplete rapidly. The depletion of mana was 1 MP per second. Fifteen minutes have passed by, two-thirds of his mana have been depleted, there were still no signs of any reactions from the stars that were in his surrounding. He knew that his talent when it comes to spiritual cultivation was poor but he can not agree with this game's evaluation for his spiritual talent so far.
A stubborn look surfaced on his face as he exerted more effort in diffusing his mana in the surrounding. This move made the stars in the surrounding quivered in excitement however, this only happened for a second which made Ai Zhen expectant but to be disappointed in an instant. He can only sigh in resignation as his mana was about to be completely depleted. However, when his mana was about to turn to zero, a deformed colorless star and a grey formless star appeared beside him.
<Congratulations for attracting the Space and Time Elemental. For attracting the two Elemental Kings, you have automatically achieved the highest result, Diamond grade. No specific grade for this special instance.>
As Ai Zhen's mana was depleted into zero, the angelic voice sounded over.
'No wonder the space surrounding the deformed colorless star gets bended. While this grey formless star gives me a vague feeling of the law of life and death.' The two strange stars silently vanished as the angelic voice continued with its dialogue.
<..You are allowed to take the last trial which will test your soul talent. Also, you are qualified to take the hidden [Genius] trial for achieving the highest result for the two trials. Which trial will you take first?>
"Hmm.. I'll take the soul trial first." Ai Zhen thought of taking the cultivation trial for soul first because he wants to know for himself first wether he has a chance to take the hidden trial for trinity cultivation. If he was able to achieve the highest result for this trial then he would go all out for the [Genius] trial in order to achieve the highest result too.
<Very well.>
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The stars in the surrounding slowly vanished as the void only remained. In this void, a ring that was glowing with blue, gray and violet. The ring was bending and cracking its surrounding as if the nothingness of the void was being devoured. This kind of concept frightens Ai Zhen who was once a legendary expert. How can something that is nothing can be devoured?
Ai Zhen thought he have already experienced every anomalies that can occur in a universe. What really frightened him though was that the ring that he was looking at right now was imposing a thought in his mind to let his existence to be devoured which gave him an allure feeling.
<Welcome to the trial for Soul Cultivation. Get as near as possible to the ring and once you stopped, resist for nine minutes. Note: In every step that you move, the countdown would go back to zero. Failure: Enter the ring.>
The thinking that the ring was imposing in Ai Zhen's mind and the feeling that it was radiating still continued even though the angelic voice was still explaining about the trial. This feeling also doubled when the trial started.
The ring looked near yet was far, and when Ai Zhen was already two-thirds on his way to the ring, he suddenly wasn't able to control his mind anymore. As if there was another entity that was taking over his mind and he have to struggle on taking back control of himself. This entity though, felt familiar yet still completely unknown to him.
After struggling for a while, Ai Zhen was only able to take control with his self back when already directly facing the ring. The "entity" which was the imposing will of the ring was still trying to take control of Ai Zhen however, he was still able fight back. He was almost able to let go of control though because of what he saw inside the ring.
Ai Zhen was shaken when he saw what real nothingness was like. There were no other words that can describe what he saw except for just two words. True Nothingness!
'Nothing! Nothing!! Nothing!!!' This word kept reverberating inside his mind. As the word kept repeating in Ai Zhen's head, it also kept getting faster and louder as it was drowning his mind. At the same, his heart kept pumping harder and harder.
Ai Zhen felt that his mind was about to go insane as his body was about to burst from the feeling of being overwhelmed. Thankfully, the time limit ended and the angelic voice saved him from the terrifying experience.
<Congratulations for passing the trial! You have attained the Diamond III grade. [Divine Soul Art Genesis Chapter] has been awarded for the first ever cultivator to attain the highest score.>
The scenery warped Ai Zhen back in front of the torii-like gate which also warped his state of mind also. He deeply exhaled in relief as he felt his drenched body in cold sweat. He never thought that after all the things that happened to him, there would still be something that can shake him. This reminded him again to let his feet still stay on the ground. And this event also reminded him that this is more than just a game.
<..For passing all the trials of different cultivation path with the highest grade, you are now eligible for the legendary dual cultivation path without going through the [Genius] trial. You are also qualified to take the [Prodigy] trial for the mythical trinity cultivation path, however, once you decide to take this trial, you must take the [Genius] trial first. You have a minute to think about it. Choose wisely!>
Ai Zhen took a long moment to choose from the two options that was given to him. From what he went through in the Soul Cultivation Trial, he was having a second thought of just taking the eligibility for dual cultivation path. That trial really shook him hard.
But, then again, in order to fight back from that kind of feeling, he has to have an ultimate power, and he felt that he can only achieve that in this so called trinity cultivation path. This thought has also been bolstered up from the results that he got from the three cultivation trials. He really detest the feeling of fear that's why he said, "I choose the Prodigy Trial."
<Acknowledged.>
Black and white lights appeared out of nowhere and started interweaving at each other creating a gray portal in front of Ai Zhen as the angelic voice replied to his decision.
<Genius Trial activated. Please enter the portal and good luck.>
"Good luck, heh.." Ai Zhen playfully grinned at what the angelic voice have said.
"I sure do hope I have that." As he said this, he calmly stepped into the portal.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
HeavenSeizer
HeavenSeizer God’s Realm is just a fictional idea for another game with no intention of plagiarizing other’s work.
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