The realization flashed in Tharvonis’s eyes, but contrary to the sadness, rage, disappointment, or any other negative emotions that could have been expected from having ‘lost’, Tharvonis didn’t feel any of that; on the contrary, a hint of fierce excitement and respect flashed in his eyes as his gaze stayed locked onto Mikael’s back, and then—
“BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Tharvonis’s loud laughter resounded, the room seemingly trembling under the power contained in his voice, while Mikael remained unaffected as he continued to slowly but surely advance.
This laughter continued for a moment until he calmed down, “Bahaha… interessant, too interesting! You are really impressive, human! It would be a pity for this warrior to not even know the name of the one who bested me, what is your name, human warrior!?”
Stop.
Mikael’s movement stopped as he slowly turned to look over his shoulder, right at the Varnari behind him, “Mikael… Mikael Angelini is my name!” Mikael directly answered without trying to hide himself and with confidence.
“Mikael Angelini, huh?” Tharvonis passed the name through his mind but didn’t remember having heard it before, yet nevertheless he gave this respectable human warrior a serious and respectful nod, “I’ll remember you, Mikael Angelini, this one is called Tharvonis Venrakar Sar’thar, but…”
Boom.
With a single eruption of force, Tharvonis crossed another 2 steps, nearly catching up to Mikael as his loud voice resounded through the vast chamber, “I may have been bested, but it doesn’t mean that I will abandon! I will regain the first place and win!!!”
Boom!
Another explosion echoed as Mikael, in answer, also began to move, but just as it seemed he wouldn’t respond, his calm yet resolute voice drifted through the air, reaching Tharvonis. “We’ll see about that… may the best win.”
Rumble.
On that note, neither of the two warriors spoke any further; all that needed to be said had already been said, and now they could only compete with their wills to see who truly possessed the stronger mind and determination.
In a situation like this, no matter who won or who lost, neither would have the right to complain, for the one who failed would simply have been less determined than the other.
Mikael: 678th
Tharvonis: 667th
BOOM!
Mikael: 721st
Tharvonis: 703rd
As the two neared the two stone pedestals, Mikael’s advance continued to grow while Tharvonis continued to fall further and further behind, even though the latter was giving his all just like Mikael was doing, but—
It just wasn’t enough!
Mikael’s willpower and determination were the kind that were both born through solitary suffering to grow stronger but also through going through life-and-death situations and surviving!
And this was undeniably superior to Tharvonis, who, while having put himself through solitary suffering to grow stronger, had never truly experienced a situation of life and death, as because of his immense talent he was always protected by stronger cultivators—and that, that made all the difference!
In a way, Mikael’s willpower and determination simply proved to be stronger, and consequently, the gap between them continued to grow.
Mikael: 832th
Tharvonis: 790th
Mikael: 867th
Tharvonis: 812th
“NO, I WON’T LOSE!!” roared Tharvonis before drawing on the last remnants of his willpower, reaching his limits and pushing beyond.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Continuous ‘explosions’ resounded as Tharvonis pushed himself beyond his limits, forcing himself to do 3-step-by-3-step leaps one after another, and in this way he rapidly shortened the distance between Mikael and himself!
‘Seeing how he’s going all out, how can I not do the same?’ thought Mikael as he saw the Varnari’s determination before answering with the same ‘beyond-limit madness’.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Mikael also began to do 3-step-by-3-step leaps like Tharvonis, and in this way both men rapidly neared the two stone pedestals.
Mikael: 920th
Tharvonis: 870th
BOOM!
Mikael: 968th
Tharvonis: 925th
Swish.
As Mikael moved at an ‘insane’ speed he felt the ‘wind’ collide with him, like an invisible wind wall that was trying to stop his advance but he powered through and continued on undeterred.
He ignored the sensation of this ‘wind wall’ that while feeling real was actually nothing more than an illusion conjured by his tired mind to place a ‘name’ and a feeling on the unimaginable mental and soul pressure he was enduring!
Flash, Boom!
Contrary to the pain of tiredness that could be expected in Mikael emerald-purple galaxy like eyes there wasn’t anything like that!
In truth it was even the opposite as there was a certain vigor in his gaze as his attention was entirely focused on a point not far before him, this point being the two beautiful and magnificent stone pedestals.
At that moment every once of Mikael's attention was on his goal without sparing any part of his mental capabilities nor willpower or anything else on the rest, he was razor focused on his goal and placing a foot after the other again and again and again…
Near.
Nearer.
The stone pedestals grew nearer and nearer to a point he could nearly touch them and then—
CRASH, RUMBLE!!!
999th step.
He reached the last step and instantly he felt the pressure weighing down on him suddenly multiply by an untold amount of times.
Because of that he felt his soul and mind begin to bend under this unimaginable pressure and pain that just didn’t seem endurable!
“Argggghhhh!” a pained groan escaped Mikael as he felt like he was in a quagmire where any movement was entirely impossible!
‘So close but so far at the same time,’ this was the thought that passed through his mind and it perfectly represented the situation as while the two stone pedestals were near enough that with extending his arm he could touch them at the same time… it was like they were galaxies away from him.
Krrrkkk!
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‘MOVE DAMNIT!’ internally roared Mikael as he pushed himself even further, causing his bones and muscles to groan and began to crack and tear under the pressure.
For the first time the weight that was supposed to be only in the mental and soul domain began to attack his body and…he was getting absolutely destroyed!
Nevertheless Mikael wasn’t deterred and refused to yield, forcing himself to push through the pain, his body might have been breaking, but surrender was not an option—not here, not now, with the finish line just ahead!
“GRAAAAHHHH!!” A roar that sounded like a beast howling escaped Mikael throat as he pushed far beyond any reasonable limits and then amidst Tharvonis disappointed but impressed gaze—
Step.
Did it, he finally did it!
His foot finally landed outside of the trial zone, right before the stone pedestals.
Stumble.
Instantly the pressure that was burdening him and notably making his body groan under the strain abruptly disappeared, consequently because of the abruptness of the change in pressure his forward foot stumbled, making him stumble forward.
Instinctively to catch himself, his tired mind didn’t think and instinctively grabbed the nearest stone pedestal!
Freeze.
The handsome cultivator stiffened as he felt a small amount of information be transferred directly to his mind.
{Congratulations, Trial Taker! You have successfully completed the Trial!}
{Consequently the Trial Taker is eligible to receiving the Phase 1 reward which is (Low Level Soul Manifestation Art): Silent Tide Soul Tempering Method}
{Analysis of the Trial Taker performance in greater detail…}
{It is determined that the Trial Taker had shown an extremely impressive performance with an seemingly indestructible willpower as shown by the multiple times the Trial Taker did multiple steps leap…}
{Once the Trial Taker exceptional performance is taken into account the above reward is insufficient..}
Smirk.
Mikael lips curled slightly upward, if the smirk and the lack of surprise on his visage was to be believed it was clear that he was both happy with the situation while having expected it!
It was a suspicion of Mikael earlier that if somebody performed exceptionally well in this trial, that better rewards were possible, after all wasn’t it the principle of a trial like this one?
It was made clear earlier that the reason behind Lord Qe’thuun creating this trial was essentially a way to ‘pass his legacy’ otherwisely called searching for ‘inheritors’ in a way so wasn’t it logical for him to have created this trial in a way that it pay more attention to those that are talented and perform well?
Mikael had his suspicions on this subject which was why he performed above and beyond in this trial, trying to get the best ‘score’ possible, the competition with Thravonis was only a secondary factor behind his actions…
And if what was happening with the Trial Spirit was to believed, it was clear that his suspicions were true and his efforts weren’t about to be wasted…
{Searching for a solution…}
{...}
{Solution found by changing the Trial Type from Lord Qe’thuun Partial Inheritance to Lord Qe’thuun True Inheritance}
{Error!}
{The majority of Lord Qe’thuun True Inheritance has already been accepted by another Trial Taker hundreds of thousands of years ago…}
{Searching for a solution…}
{Second best solution, changing Trial Type to Lord Qe’thuun True Inheritance but only on the Soul Cultivation Methods still left!}
{Rewards from the Phase 1 increased from (Low Level Soul Manifestation Art): Silent Tide Soul Tempering Method → (High level Soul Manifestation Art): Phantasmal Core Consolidation Method}
{Transfer of the Cultivation Method initialized}
Twitch
Mikael's body slightly twitched as he felt a massive amount of information be ‘crammed’ in his mind but the way it was done allowed him to easily understand and memorize it.
At the same instant he felt a force wrap itself around his storage ring and then he sensed a ‘manual’ appear in his storage ring.
But Mikael ignored this ‘manual’, focusing his attention on the information that was being ‘crammed’ into his mind.
In this way, a couple of seconds only after the transfer of this Soul Art began he already had a total understanding of the Phantasmal Core Consolidation Method that he summarized in a ‘status window’ that manifested in his mind:
{Cultivation Art Name: Phantasmal Core Consolidation Method
Cultivation Art Type: Soul Cultivation Method
Cultivation Art Level: High Level Soul Manifestation Art
Description: A Powerful Soul Cultivation Method focused on condensing one Inner Soul(holding the most important aspects of the Soul) into a stable Phantasmal Core within the Sea of Consciousness which is the Soul.
This Core once formed serves as the spiritual nucleus of the practitioner's will, essence, perception, soul and more which greatly enhanced the cohesion and strength of the soul.
Through cycles of compression and resonance named Consolidation, the cultivator merges the ethereal and the ‘tangible aspects’ of their soul, creating a semi-material Phantasmal Core which will not only improve all aspects of the soul once improved but will also amplify soul-based Arts, strengthening spiritual defenses and also stabilize consciousness allowing a far firmer consciousness which will be harder to kill or disperse.
However while this Soul Art offers great benefits it also demands absolute precision, control and mental and soul stability as error in the Phantasmal Core creation or consolidation can lead to fragmentation or even death of one soul!}
Smirk.
Mikael smirk widened as he gained a satisfied expression and who wouldn’t have?
After all, he not only gained a Soul Cultivation Method which was his initial goal but it wasn’t all as it was a High Level Soul Manifestation one at that!!!
To understand the preciousness of this Cultivation Art, one needs to understand what exactly the Soul Manifestation Realm is?
The Soul Manifestation is the first of the two Realms of the Soul Phase, starting from the Soul Manifestation Realm cultivators get full access to their Soul and become able to manipulate it, hence the name of the Realm.
But this point is actually minor compared to the real reason behind the power of Soul Manifestation Cultivators, because it’s a change of phase, there is an unfathomable gulp between this Realm and even the strongest Foundational Phase cultivator who would be at the peak of the Core Perfection Realm.
And the main reason behind that is that cultivators at this level ‘fuse’ their Core with their soul in a complicated process that is still somewhat unclear to Mikael but he know that the end result is that their Qi will experience and unimaginably extreme qualitative leap, transforming into a new energy which is a mix of the Soul and the Core called Soul Qi!
Consequently any Cultivation Art who has the Soul Manifestation ‘tag’ also experiences an extremely large qualitative leap compared to lower ranked Cultivation Arts.
Because of that Mikael joy was easily understandable and this was even more so because the moment he knew what this Soul Cultivation Method entailed, multiples ideas instantly germinated, notably around the possibility of merging this Phantasmal Core and the one that would form during his Core Formation process…
Grip, raise.
Mikael's grip on the stone pedestal tightened as he regained his bearing and regained a more ‘normal’ position and at this moment the ‘messages’ coming from the Trial Spirit continued on, like it had been waiting for him to be ‘ready’...
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———
A/N:
Damn, that was intense wasn’t it?
A little ‘healthy’—not so much considering both are suffering tremendously to win this Trial but… anyways!
Mikael wins and ‘conveniently’ he obtains a Soul Cultivation Method, how lucky!
I mean he receive right what he needs, isn’t he incredibly lucky? Actually that was what I would said if he didn’t have his Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate but considering he has it, it can turn a ‘lucky encounter’
(This is clearly what could happen to a protagonist to luckily stumble on this Inheritance Site, it changes Plot Armor in a calculated decision and because of that I love Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate!)
Of course not everything is pink with this Cultivation Technique as the Calamity Sensing Part can be annoying as it needs to be taken in count when I write pretty much anything or else it creates Plot Holes but as annoying it is as a writer, this is definitively top tier use for Mikael.
———
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— End of Chapter —
