Nathan felt the energy of the trial wash over him as he took a step forward. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he looked upwards toward the peak of the mountain he was currently ascending.

The peak was still a good distance away, but he could already make out the cottage perched on it.

Taking another step up the stairs that had been chiselled into the mountainside, he shivered briefly. Even with his unnatural resilience, the temperature was starting to affect him.

As he continued, he counted the steps in his mind.

"7197, 7198, 7199, 7200," he counted, and then his foot hit air. "Huu, finally."

Tom had told him this was the method to enter the trial—apparently, multiple people had ascended the mountain before, but only those who counted the steps would gain access to the trial of the Third Eye.

Nathan took a few moments to appreciate the landscape; from this elevated position, he could see kilometres in every direction, the rolling hills and small forests stretching out below him far into the distance. Small settlements dotted the land, their inhabitants claiming little stretches of wilderness for themselves.

During the last timeline he had seen spires that pierced the clouds, had stood on floating islands, and had climbed trees that sheltered whole cities, but he still enjoyed views like this every time.

As he turned around, his eyes pointed upwards. The mountain he was currently standing on was already considered large by Earth's standards, but compared to the giants whose peaks were invisible even from his current position, it seemed tiny.

These mountains seemed impossible to scale, their proportions so immense that they boggled the mind. Nathan was just fine leaving them undisturbed, it would not do to wake things better left asleep, after all.

Finally inspecting his immediate surroundings, Nathan found himself on a plateau that could not possibly be natural—its shape too much like a circle and its surface far too smooth. No plants grew here, but in the middle of the plateau an inviting cottage was placed, smoke lazily drifting from a chimney as a delicious smell wafted over from it.

Nathan lifted his eyebrows. I doubt there’s lasagna in that hut. The trial must take something I'd like to eat right now and replicate that smell. Probably a bit of mind magic, considering which trial this is.

He walked up to the door, which swung open on its own, revealing a small room decorated with rugs and hunting trophies. Most prominent was a table with only one chair, a hot cup of tea placed on it.

Well, at least it's pretty obvious what I have to do in order to enter the trial.

Nathan sat down, appreciating the comfort the chair offered after the long climb, and picked up the cup.

He blew on the tea to cool it down, smirking as he noticed the fluid ripple in the cup. "Shadow of an echo," he mumbled. "Annoying immortals."

He took a small sip of the tea, savouring the bitter taste as his arms fell limp to his sides and his eyes closed.

Nathan woke up in a room identical to the one he had just been sitting in, but he noticed a hallway extending outwards that could not possibly fit into the actual cottage. Exploring the location of the trial, he found a bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen. So this trial is meant to take some time. Only one door left then.

Walking up to the front door and opening it, he took a look outside. Instead of stepping out onto the mountain peak, he entered an entirely white space, where a black cube split into multiple segments was placed on the floor before him.

A system message appeared in front of him, explaining the current situation:

Congratulations, Nathan Andrews

You have entered the Third Eye’s Trial

Solve nine consecutive puzzles to clear the trial

He closed the message and picked up the cube, first testing if he could enter the living space while carrying it, but being unsurprised when a barrier stopped him.

Setting down the cube, he tried to leave the white realm again and succeeded this time.

So I have to solve the puzzle in the white space but can take a break whenever I want. There’s also no time limit. The only question is how many stages of the trial I have to solve before qualifying for a skill.

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Finally, Nathan decided to actually start progressing in the trial and picked up the cube once again. Despite its monotone black colour, he could make out nine different cubes on each side.

"It's a Rubik's cube, but the colour is black on all sides," he mumbled.

Taking a moment to concentrate, Nathan stared at the cube with utmost determination until he started to feel weak energy emanations coming from the different faces.

The sides give off different amounts of psi. So I guess I have to match the faces by the energy they give off instead of their colour. Makes sense if you consider this trial grants the Resourceful Telepath class. It's just a shame that I have absolutely no talent when it comes to psi, but this puzzle at least is solvable.

It took Nathan multiple hours to finally solve the cube, the process straining his sanity until he was completely exhausted.

When he was finally certain that everything matched, he set the cube down again and watched as it sank into the surface of the room as though moving through water. Mere seconds later, another Rubik's cube replaced it, making Nathan groan out loud. "Should have learned how to solve damn Rubik's cubes when I was younger. At least it's still the same size."

Urging himself to keep going, he picked it up, but no matter how much he tried, he could not feel the difference in energy the individual sides gave off. This is going to be a pain in the ass.

Deciding that this was enough thinking for the day, Nathan entered the kitchen, surprisingly actually finding a fresh lasagna waiting for him. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell it gave off. Ripped straight out of my memories then. That's damn scary, but I really do love lasagna. I take back what I said—this trial is so much better than all the other ones.

He thoroughly enjoyed his meal and was even more amazed when he took his first hot shower since entering the tower.

While lying down in his incredibly soft bed, he finally came to a conclusion regarding the strange generosity of the trial. It's another test of the mind, isn't it? I could stay here forever, eating my favourite food, living so much better than outside of the trial. God, mind trials are so much more annoying than the other ones.

In a repetition of the first day, Nathan spent hours until he was finally able to feel the difference in energy of the second cube. He sat there, eyes closed and posture relaxed, but his mind was strained the whole time. Even in his last life, Nathan had not honed his energy sense—there was simply no practical reason to train like this unless one gained a specific class that required it.

When he was finally happy with the result, he opened his bloodshot eyes and stumbled back into the cottage, falling asleep after eating a couple of energy bars provided by the trial. It's absolutely crazy that someone finished all nine puzzles. I'm not even sure I can solve three of those.

The next day found Nathan once again struggling with actually solving the cube, but with the hardest part out of the way, he succeeded in less than an hour.

The following cube, however, promised to be much more of a problem, as it consisted of 25 squares per side, in comparison to the previous nine. In addition to this, Nathan was barely able to feel the energy of the cube at all, much less differentiate between the levels.

After one of the most frustrating experiences of his multiple lifetimes, Nathan went to bed that day with an enormous headache, feeling as though he had made no progress at all.

Three days later, Nathan sat on the floor of the white room, his face scrunched up in concentration as sweat slowly trailed down his features. The third cube was held in his hand, his grip tight around it and his fingers white from the strain. He had already spent hours in this position, at first relaxed but growing more and more visibly exhausted as time passed.

Suddenly, he sprang up, raising his fist and pumping it into the air. "Yes!" he shouted. "Take that, stupid cube!" I've improved my energy sense by at least ten times already! This is just about the hardest thing I have ever done.

Compared to the previous part, solving the cube felt almost trivial, and Nathan left the white space before even so much as glancing at the next puzzle.

As he entered the kitchen, a huge smile spread across his face. Before him was a giant pizza, complete with ham and pineapple of course, and a full box of chocolate ice cream. "Today I'll eat pizza, ice cream, and the sweet taste of victory! Compared to this, the assassin's trial was a damn cakewalk. I'll never do a damned mind trial again—this is literal torture."

He took his time, having one last shower and spending one more night in an actual bed, before heaving a sigh.

"I'll miss the accommodation, but I would have stayed on earth if a warm shower was all it took to hold me back. Back to wiping my ass with leaves again, I guess. I give up the trial of the Third Eye," he declared.

Just as always, space broke apart and Nathan found himself standing in the void, reading the floating text with trepidation.

Unfortunate, Nathan Andrews

You have failed the Third Eye’s Trial

Choose a general Skill of those presented here

Moment of truth. This had better been worth it.