Akata had completely immersed himself in meditation so when he went back out he had forgot to change into some fresher clothes. His plant arm was almost visible and if anyone was really paying attention, they would be able to see that his arm looked sort of green.
On the other hand he had also forgotten about the huge impact that he had had on the Tenth Cabin Trial. As soon as he got close to the trial grounds he was bombarded by disciple after disciple.
“How’d you pass the trial?”
“Your time was too fast did you cheat?”
“Show me what you did to get that far.”
Multiple comments and questions rang into Akata’s ears. He was surprised and taken back by all of the attention that he was receiving at the moment. He gave a wry smile and then said, “I’m focusing on the trials right now so would you all please make way?”
But his words seemed to have been unheard by anybody as they kept pestering him. Akata tried to force his way through the crowd but instead felt some resistance. He took in a deep breath and with a quick release of his breath he instantly traversed multiple meters toward the Ninth Cabin Trial. He looked back to see the crowd confused as to where he had went.
To them, Akata had just vanished out of nowhere. If it wasn’t for the face that they all have experienced teleportation and were very familiar with the power of it, they would’ve thought that he was teleported away from them. They looked around until they saw Akata some distance away from them making his way to the Ninth Cabin Trial.
Seeing that the crowd was heading for him again, Akata quickly activated his Lunarsun Steps again and flashed toward the Ninth Cabin Trial. Within a few breaths he was already in the door and being teleported to the trial grounds. The crowd could only look on helplessly as he entered the trial.
Some of them walked away, others sat down and meditated, and the rest began to enter their own trial. Who knew how long it would take for Akata to finish this trial? Although they were dejected they still had their own paths and needed to rise in power quickly. If Akata wasn’t there to quickly give answers then all they could do was train like they had been doing.
Whoosh. Akata appeared in a dark place. He could see nothing but pitch blackness from where he stood. It actually reminded him of the time that he was facing the Hellhounds. With but a thought a massive amount of nature sense exploded out of him to cover the area.
Akata already had a great amount of nature energy and mental strength to control it. Coupled with the fact that when he was blind and constantly using his nature sense to see, it improved to a whole new level. Merely sending it out to look in the dark was as simple as opening his eyes.
However, when Akata sent his nature sense out, his eyebrows furrowed a bit. “There’s still nothing in the area.” He frowned slightly and spread his nature sense out farther and farther. But, no matter how far he stretched it, there was nothing around him. His nature sense could spread out to 299 meters which was his limit. He spread it out as far as he could but still couldn’t find anything.
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Retracting his nature sense Akata’s frown deepened. “This place is completely empty. I tried to get an edge over people but it seems as if I have to wait for instructions.” Soon enough, a voice could be heard.
“The 9th Cabin Trial. Trial of mental fortitude. Last as long as you can.” That was it. The pitch black area became deathly silent. If it wasn’t for the anticipation people felt for the trial, they would’ve gone insane from the sheer loneliness and utter silence.
Akata could hear his heart thumping in his chest. There was complete silence so the only thing he could hear was the noises his body could make. He was waiting for the trial to start. But soon minutes passed without any change in the area.
As the time passed, Akata could soon hear his blood moving throughout his body. “Hello? Is the trial broken or something.” He called out but nothing happened. He eventually sat down and found out that he could hear his muscles move.
With each second that passed, Akata would hear his heart thumping, his blood pumping, and his muscles moving. It got to the point that these sounds even overpowered his own thoughts. Sitting in this silent area with nothing but the sound of his own body started to make Akata anxious.
Soon half an hour passed by and there was still nothing. By this time Akata found out what exactly the trial was testing. ‘This mental fortitude trial tests how long I can handle this extreme silence and loneliness without going crazy. Well now that I know I should be able to hold on for a bit longer.’
This was exactly what the trial was. For those that couldn’t even last long enough to figure out what the trial tested would obviously have weak minds and a weak mental strength. Those that had stronger minds would last a bit longer, but for those that could figure out what the trial tested could mentally prepare themselves.
This tested how much you could endure before giving up. Sure some might say you could just meditate, but that was extremely hard to do under these circumstances. Even though peace and quiet was needed to meditate properly, one would still be able to hear the ‘sounds of nature’ in the air. Those sounds would soothe you and help to bring you into a deeper meditation. But in this place, there were no sounds. It was utter silence. And with the sounds of your body obstructing your focus it made it even harder to just meditate.
On the other hand however, if one was able to meditate in this environment, they would have an extremely resilient mind and focus. In fact, they would be considered a genius in the path of mental strength. But Akata didn’t know any of this. All he knew was that he needed to last as long as he could in this place.
He sat there unmoving so as to reduce as much noise as possible. These sounds would spark his mind and slightly drive him a bit crazy. By reducing the noise he made, he could clear his mind. Gradually, Akata became much more still and his breathing became much more slower.
His heart beat less and his blood pumped a lot less more. With his still body his muscles wouldn’t creak and it became quieter for him. This was actually kind of serene for him at the moment. He felt much more calm, in fact he felt that if he was in the outside world, he would sense many new things.
An hour passed. Two hours. Three hours. Six hours. Akata sat still and would barely take a breath of air. Even when he did breathe it was so soft that it was barely noticeable. Naturally, Akata had fallen into meditation. He was completely at bliss right now. Eventually, half a day passed by for him.
At this time, a voice rang out in the dark abyss. “Awake. You have passed the trial.” Akata slowly opened his eyes and found himself in the same dark place. But he found something different about himself. “I’ve broken through?”
Standing up and inspecting his body, Akata found out that he had broken through to the 8th Grade of the Mortal Rank while he was calmly meditating. He had already been at the peak of the 7th Grade and had just needed a bit more to break through. Who would’ve thought that he would have done so naturally.
“You may now leave.” The voice called out once more. The power of teleportation sprang up around Akata as he was teleported out of the dark place. When he reappeared he was in front of the Ninth Cabin. It was now nighttime but there were still a bit of disciples trying out the trials and training. Akata had just broken through naturally and was in a deep meditation so he didn’t need to consolidate his foundation.
He looked around with a calm face and noticed his name was now number one on the top ten list. He then strode over to the next cabin. The Eighth Cabin Trial. Stepping into the doorway he was teleported away. With a whoosh he reappeared on an island that was floating in the sky. Far off in the distance there was another island that was also floating in the sky. Akata stood there and waited for instructions to begin.
“Walk toward the other island. Make it as far as you can.”