"Wha- I- I failed?" Leo asked in disbelief. It wasn't like he never failed before, but it wouldn't be arrogant for him to say that few could take him on in any category. He was not a born genius, but he crossed the bridge of his lacking cognitive abilities with knowledge and diligence.
He trained every aspect of his body even his mind with extensive meditation sessions, dual n back and memory techniques since he was young. He might not outperform human calculators, but his memory and his thinking speed were still phenomenal.
He couldn't beat specialists in their field but everyone else would be free game for him. In fact, his extensive variety of abilities made him one of the most sought-after for special agencies back on earth after they had found out about his capabilities.
To have failed like this without him knowing what happened was devastating. He believed that he could come out on top in almost any situation. He only remembered that his body practically shut down without him being able to do anything.
"How- what happened?" Leo asked in a whisper.
"There is this thing about anima. It has a will of its own and it deemed your mind as unsuitable." The words of the nurse sting as it stirred a fear inside him.
"What doe-" Leo cleared his throat before he continued his question, "What does that mean the anima deems me unsuitable."
The nurse looked at him remorsefully and he really didn't like that look. The dread of several possibilities wormed themselves into his mind.
"The anima rejects you… You won't be able to cultivate it." The nurse said as professionally as she could as she hid away the pity in her voice. Still as perceptive as Leo was, he heard it as clear as day.
It ticked him off that she spoke to him with this pity in her voice. Even the look in her eyes screamed how pitiful she thought he was. He didn't need her pity, he was a young man, filthy rich with three loving girlfriends. His health was top notch as well.
There wasn't anything he lacked!
"I won't be able to cultivate?" He asked quietly, more to himself than to her. He looked at his hands before turning his arm to look at his watch on his wrist.
"I want a redo." Leo finally said, making the nurse smile bitterly in response.
"I am sorry to say this, but I won't allow it." The nurse said with pity, but her voice indicated that she wouldn't budge on it.
"Why?" He slowly asked with anger in his voice, even though he was trying to calm himself. "The anima of the world is now hostile towards you and will attack you if you tried any form of cultivation. It will kill you."
Leo slowly stood up as he heard this. The nurse tried to persuade him to lie down, but he had none of it. He pushed her aside to stand up.
"Bring me to that room again. I want to see it for myself."
"Sir, you can't go there! It will kill you!" The nurse said trying to block his way but was shoved away.
"Fine, I will find it myself." Leo stepped outside and it seemed like a silent alarm has been rung since the police was running towards him. Leo quickly turned towards the other direction and started running.
The police were pursuing him stubbornly through the hospital building. After turning at a corner, Leo quickly turned to the side and entered a room. He quickly closed the door in hope to lose the police. After seeing their shadow run further down the hall, he relaxed a bit.
Afterwards he stepped into the hallway again and headed the opposite side down some stairs. He followed some arrows on the walls as he searched for his destination. The room that would determine if he could cultivate.
In front of the door of his destination he saw Alina Magenda, who was blocking the way. She was folding her arms in front of her which emphasized her breasts. However, Leo couldn't enjoy the view as he was sure that she was here to stop him.
Before she could open her mouth, he pulled out a small knife that he held onto for emergencies and threw it at her. She quickly reacted as a forcefield sprung forwards blocking the knife only for her to get body slammed by Leo.
He quickly entered the room and locked the door. He found himself back inside, however what greeted him was his girlfriend, Laura.
"You figured it out rather quickly, didn't you?" Laura said as she stepped forward. Her eyes started glowing silver as a fire storm started to form around them.
"It was too obvious. Not any different to normal dreams." Leo said as he tried to rush her, but she had none of it as he hurled some fireballs at him. Leo conjured up a shield and let it fly forwards, smashing through the fireballs until it crashed into Laura.
The firestorm around them quickly vanished as if it hadn't existed in the first place. Leo stepped over Laura's downed body and quickly opened the exit of the room. After opening the room, a bright light blinded Leo. His body, and his surroundings slowly started to blur before vanishing completely.
Leo slowly opened his heavy eyelids. The surrounding was as bright as the exit of the dream. He slowly stood up and looked around, while still slightly dazed from the sudden dream.
A dream, even if it was induced with illusions were easily discernible to Leo. He wasn't a lucid dreamer for years for nothing. Even if the timeline of the dreamworld fitted and made sense from start to finish there were still a lot of things that just didn't made sense.
When he looked at his watch on his wrist, he knew that he had to be dreaming. In the past he had used the numbers of the watch to realize if he was dreaming or not.
A short reality check by trying to read the numbers of his watch, better by reading it twice. If something changed between the two readings, he knew that he was dreaming. Nowadays he just had to look if he wore a watch at all, since he doesn't wear one since a couple of years ago.
There were also the people in his dreams wearing attires from earth which he would have missed if not for the watch setting the foundation of the idea of him being inside a dream.
Frankly, that the one thing he feared happened just after he stepped inside a test room was another dead giveaway. If he was any less confident in himself than he was, he might have fell for that simple illusionary dream.
Additionally, Leo was certain that if he wasn't suitable for cultivating no one else was either. Certainly, that kind of attitude would only be described as arrogance by normal people, but it wasn't arrogance when one can back it up.
Which fighter wasn't teeming with self-confident when they stepped into the ring, knowing that they could defeat their opponent, that in the distant future they would become The World Champion?
It was those fighters that made it to the top. It was those that knew that they could win because they knew of their full capabilities. If one didn't bring that attitude into the ring, if they stepped into it thinking that they would surely lose, then they had already lost half of the fight.
Leo didn't really understand it in his past. He gave up on his dream to become the best because it would be too difficult to achieve, because he would have to give up too much of his life to achieve it. He had consciously decided that the sacrifice was too much for the glory his dream would give.
Anima rejecting him because his mind was unsuitable for cultivation? Just an old fear trying to convince him to give up on his dream to reach the top, that he should rather live with what he already got.
What if this had been just him not accepting the truth, him throwing a child's tantrum? What if the dream wasn't a dream and reality instead?
What if he was wrong?
Those questions can be left unanswered for all Leo cared, because these questions didn't apply to him. What if the sky was pink, dogs can talk, and your hot teacher was into you? The reality was that he wasn't wrong and that was all that matters.
There was no point fantasizing about possible different outcomes when one was sure to become reality. The reality was that he can and will cultivate to achieve power unimaginable.
He looked around and saw a gray orb not unsimilar to the other one in the room before this one. He approached it and picked it up.
It felt the same in his hands, but his senses told him that there was something fundamental different about this orb. It was like comparing two cubes that hold different liquids inside them. One of them was holding water and the other oil.
One had to look inside it to discern what liquids it was holding and so Leo peered into it. The light of the room was a little bit blinding but with the contrast of the grayness of the orb, the orb stood out because of it.
Leo's focus pulled into a point, gazing at the orb as he took away the anima that was powering the laws. Stripping everything away until only the law remained, the law to influence the mind.
Like before, after Leo took away the anima the orb crumbled a few moments later. Once again, he changed, although the change was not as prominent as the first.
His perspective of the world had changed with the first orb, even though he knew of the supernatural being real, so the understanding that the new orb gave him wasn't a fundamental change of his perspective.
He just learned something that was supporting his new perspective. If he would enter the same room with the illusionary dream again, he knew that he wouldn't fall asleep. The law held no power over him as he understood it in its entirety.
He stepped through the next door to find the sitting pink-haired receptionist welcoming him with a surprised expression. She quickly stood up and approached him.
"You are out already?" She asked clearly surprised going by her tone.
"Yes? So, did I pass?" Leo asked. Although, he knew that it was just a dream, it was based on a fear that he held since encountering the supernatural.
"Did you pass?" She muttered in disbelief. She looked at him in daze before snapping her focus on a plastic paper she was holding. Leo walked next to her to look at the paper as well.
He saw some stats and graphs about his performance. This paper looked like it was a hologram or an ultra-thin tablet, which confused Leo a lot.
He still couldn't accurately tell how far technology went in this new world.
"Full marks." She muttered after a brief silence.
"So, I am in, right?"
"Y-yes!" She almost screamed in disbelief. "Of course, you are in! I- I sorry but I must report this. This is above my paygrade."
"Oh? Seems like you believe me now if I said that I never cultivated before?" Leo asked teasingly only for her to straighten up more.
"Yes, of course! And I am sorry for doubting you, sir!" She said and it wouldn't surprise Leo if she suddenly saluted, but she quickly bowed before running off into the distance.
Leo was fairly amused by it, but it seems like the pink-haired receptionist forgot to mention something. He had finished his test and it seemed like he was a member now, but what was he supposed to do now?
"I should probably follow her." He started sprinted after her, making it seem like he was chasing her…