Azalon stopped in his tracks as he felt something more when he heard the faint cracking sounds. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the fleeting sensation within him. When he concentrated on that feeling, he found out that the way he perceived the world changed slightly.
Along with the cracking sounds, within this new sensation, he could feel some faint pulses and ripples of energy spreading out from the location where the cracking sounds were being emitted. And the ripples were growing in number and power as the cracking sounds intensified.
The more he concentrated, the more clearly he could feel the pulses and ripples of Energy spreading around him, but that’s all. All he could feel was the ripples of Energy moving around him but he couldn’t follow their movement or trace the ripples back to their source. It was only because of the cracking sounds that accompanied the ripples of the Energy could he make the connection between the two.
It was so peculiar that Azalon couldn’t help but wonder about this new sensation. He was sure that this was related to the dream world and the way he changed. In there he felt something change within him but he couldn’t find out what it was.
But now that change he felt should be the reason for this mysterious feeling he was having!
It was like he could see the world around him in a new way. It was not like his physical senses but something more!
Something like a intangible sense that he could use to ‘see’ the world around him!
“This feeling… it is somehow similar to the [Beast Vision] that I have inherited from Raka, but it is also different!” Azalon was completely immersed in this new feeling and it was only after this that he could feel that this feeling was very familiar to him. This was the same way he could see the world when he used the [Beast Vision] but it was also completely different.
[Beast Vision] enabled him to see the world the same way a Spirit Beast would view it as, a mixture and motion of Energies. He could even see the Soul Energies of the Spirit Beasts he killed using this ability.
But this new feeling was similar to [Beast Vision] in the regard that he could see the world differently, but it was not in the view that there were slight differences the way he could perceive the world.
As Azalon was immersed in this new sensation, the two people watching everything going below them were having two completely different reactions. The Elder Vanko had an unsightly expression as he watched the symbol arrays below the candidates started weakening one by one.
By the time the sand in the hourglass was about to completely fall, around 8 of the symbol arrays were producing cracking sounds! And there was already one who shattered the [Dream Rendering Array] he had personally set up! Now, there are even more who were about to break out from their dream world!
The old Elder Paul standing next to Elder Vanko had an enigmatic smile as he watched Azalon and the other 8 who were about to follow in this small boy’s footsteps! Just as he was about to feel satisfied with this group of seeds from which the true legendary geniuses and leaders of the next generation would crop up from, he sensed something and his head whipped about only to land his eyes on the body of Azalon who was just standing there with his eyes closed and his brows knitted!
“This… This…” Even him who had seen some heavenly treasures and mysteries couldn’t help but stammer out as he could feel a very peculiar aura that shouldn’t appear on the body of a Spirit Sense Realm Cultivator on the body of this small boy!
Elder Vanko suddenly felt something wrong seeing the astonished expression on this old man’s face and followed his sight to Azalon. He concentrated his Core Sense and it was only at that moment that he could feel what made this old man so shocked! He eyes widened and his jaw dropped to the ground!
“How is this possible!!!” He could only scream in his mind as he never could have imagined that this group of children that he considered no more than mere peasants in his heart gave him these many shocks! Especially this child… First he shatters the [Dream Rendering Array] before the time even finished and by looking at him, there was no signs that he had suffered in the illusionary realm like he was supposed to!
And now this! This is surely, surely… He turned around to face the old Elder Paul only to see the eyes of the old man glittering brightly like they were stars. Clearly, he was using his [Heaven’s Eyes] to check out this child. He took a deep breath and controlled his raging astonishment and shock. Rather now, he was filled with traces of jealousy and envy! But there was also some anticipation mixed in within! He could see that this child was in the middle of enlightenment and if he could come out of this successfully, he will get something that no other Spirit Sense Realm Cultivator could possess!
Innate Spiritual Sense!
A Spiritual Sense was something that would exist only at the Spirit Condensation Realm! It was something that clearly divided the mortals from the Immortals. Only by possessing the Spiritual Sense could you be considered a true Spirit Cultivator and you will take the very first step on the path of Cultivation with the final goal of Immortality.
But now they were seeing a cultivator and that too a small child about to condense his consciousness to form a sea of consciousness, even a prefatory level, when he was just in the Spirit Sense Realm! How couldn’t they be amazed by this brilliant display of shocking talent!?
“It was said that a human with a powerful Soul and an unwavering heart could form his sea of consciousness and possess Spiritual Sense if he could tap into that potential of his Soul. But look at that child! How old could he be? It was something if he possesses a powerful Soul. In fact there are many families, sects and clans that have some legacies that could strengthen one’s Soul. They would use these methods to strengthen the Souls of their younger generation before they undergo their Spirit Awakening so that they would Awaken a powerful and rare Soul Spirits! But how could this child from a corner of a kingdom could have this powerful of a Soul? And how could he have that strong of a heart, strong enough to force the consciousness to condense to form the sea of consciousness, at this age?” Elder Vanko couldn’t help but ask the old Elder Paul who was watching Azalon with his glittering [Heaven’s Eyes].
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“… I don’t know. But as I said, there is something special with this child. Vanko, I want every bit of information you can gather about this boy! Clearly he should have had a fortuitous encounter or he should be the descendant of a powerful family that was degenerated.” This time the old Elder Paul commanded Elder Vanko to a task and not like before where he just gave a casual request.
Elder Vanko immediately sensed the change in his superior and he bowed with obedience. He was completely different from the haughty Elder from before.
As the two Elders were discussing about him, Azalon was simply standing there with his eyes closed as he pondered…
“Ah, right! What would happen…” Suddenly, Azalon’s mind clicked as a good idea popped in his head when he felt the mysterious feeling slowly recede back and fade away. He slowly opened his eyes and small golden veins snaked in his eyes making them look somewhat amazing.
He wanted to see what would happen if he could use the [Beast Vision] in tandem with this mysterious feeling! In his mind, they were similar in their functions so in his view, and he had an idea to try this!
But he could never have expected that the moment he used the [Beast Vision] ability it would be like pouring fuel on a dying ember of fire!
The mysterious sensation suddenly flared up and Azalon felt as if his head was going to split into two! But he could feel that the previously fleeting and intangible sensation he had gradually become more and more… solid like a physical entity in his mind!
It was like a wild beast that was rampaging inside his head roaring to be let out! Azalon gritted his teeth in pain and he was somewhat panicking inside at this abnormality, and he tried to resist the bubbling intensity of the mysterious feeling!
He tried to shut off the [Beast Vision] but he found out that he couldn’t do it! He could even feel Raka and Merup’s Soul Embryos tremble along with the intensification of the mysterious feeling!
The pain in his head intensified the more he struggled, so Azalon had no choice to give up his idea of resistance. He was really panicking right now, but suddenly he felt something warm rise up from inside him and he completely relaxed!
Now that he had calmed down, he thought it over and he decided to do the very opposite of what he intended to do, to give in to the mysterious feeling and let it out.
He loudly exhaled and imagined the mysterious feeling was like a bubble that was inside his head, particularly between his eyebrows as that was where he felt the feeling more concentrated or settled. The bubble right now was expanding and grating against the mental shackles that he constructed to obstruct it.
Gradually, he took off the shackles one by one and imagined the bubble constantly growing up and finally leave his body. As he immersed in this type of self – hypnosis, the pain lessened even though the burden of the feeling rose up sharply!
Suddenly, he heard a loud crash as he felt something broke inside him and the mysterious feeling was like a flood that finally broke through the dam that was containing it.
It spread out and continued to spread…
20 feet…
30 feet…
It showed no signs of stopping as it spread out continuously…
60 feet…
100 feet…
150 feet…
It slowed down when it reached 250 feet but it still spread…
285 feet…
300 feet…
and it finally stopped at the borderline of 324 feet or in another words, 99 meters!
Everything within this 99 meters were branded onto Azalon’s mind with crystal clear clarity. He could feel the fluttering of the leaves due to the gentle breeze, he could hear the insects scurrying on the ground, he could smell the aroma of the flowers even more powerfully than before, he could see the tiny antenna on the head of the bees and butterflies that were at the very edge of his perception!
It was like he had suddenly opened up a new gate and was seeing the world with new eyes. There were no words that could describe what Azalon was feeling right now. It was like within this 99 meter range, everything was under his control! There was nothing that could hide from his senses! Even the slight fluctuations of Spirit Energy could be felt by Azalon within this 99 meters!
It was at this moment, the warm feeling that was still rising up from within him made its way to between his eyebrows and quickly condensed to form a red colored elliptical shaped object, much like an eye that was placed vertically between his eye brows!
If the two Elders watching Azalon develop his sea of consciousness and possess Spiritual Sense that could spread over nearly 100 meters could see that the consciousness that Azalon developed was not a sea as they thought but rather a solid looking eye, what sort of expressions would they have!? What sort of emotions would they feel!?
The moment the vertical eye formed completely, Azalon felt his mind relax and his mental powers increasing at a alarming rate! He could feel his mind becoming more active and the connections between his neurons more dense and firm. It was at this moment that an announcement rang in his mind.
[Abnormal brain activity detected. Scanning for the causes and the changes. Scan complete! The system detected a sharp increase in the brain activity. Source is an unknown form of Energy but the system deemed it harmless. At present the host’s brain activity is at 12% and stabilized. But there is a slight increase of the brain activity every few cycles of the Energy in the Host’s body. Increase rate detected at 0.0000001%. Could be considered negligible. System also detected an increase in the Host’s sensory range. Range calculated at 99 meters. Modifying and calibrating the system sensors with the new data. Calibration complete. Auxiliary System going to shut down. Restoring the Integral A.I. LILY. Restoration Complete.]
It was the early warning system of LILY that was automatically triggered whenever there’s a danger for his life.
Azalon was amazed that this new feeling could give such a boost to his brain activity. But now was not the time to think this over. Right now he had to find a way to deal with this mysterious feeling and shut it down! He concentrated on the vertical eye that was formed between his eye brows.
Azalon felt a sort of connection with this vertical eye and he had a feeling that this vertical eye was just like his real eyes. He thought the eye closing its eyelids. The vertical eye trembled slightly and really dimmed down just like its eyelids were closed and the eye was resting!
Instantly, the mysterious fluctuation disappeared as soon as the vertical eye closed. Azalon gasped when he felt the feeling of control disappear and he felt like a blind man that suddenly had his vision restored only for it to be taken away once again!
He stabilized himself and quickly got over the feeling of control he had experienced before. He took a deep breath and once again made a mental addition to the list of things he didn’t understand in this world.
Suddenly, he heard a loud crack to his left and he turned towards that direction only to see a pillar of white light shoot out from below a candidate that was seated on a cluster of symbols. It was the pillar that cracked and the candidate opened his eyes suddenly. Azalon recognized this one. It was that Kazan Hin that was the first one to pass the Preliminary Test within their group.
His face was pale and he was shivering lightly but his eyes were filled with determination and fierceness. Clearly whatever he experienced within that dream world took a massive toll on him psychologically, but looking in those determined eyes, Azalon could feel that this boy cleared it without fail.
Kazan felt a gaze and lifted his head to look at Azalon who was lightly smiling at him. He saw that boy lift a thumb at him and smirk at him. Kazan couldn’t help but smile at this childish gesture and his tight heart loosened with that smile. He too gave a thumbs up to Azalon and got to his feet.
In but a few moments, Azalon and Kazan could hear the same cracking sounds Azalon heard before but this time, it was not one but many. Clearly the candidates were trying to get out from the dream world but who would pass this test?