After the fire soul art finished forming itself, Lucas snapped out of his daze.
"I have to stop here."
Feeling reluctant, Lucas forcibly stopped himself from continuing any further.
Unfortunately, as much as he wanted to devour all the knowledge contained within the fire stone, he did not have much time.
The time limit was only two hours—and there were still nine other monumental stones to go through. If he were to get absorbed in one of the stones too long, he might fail the test.
Although there were no mentioned consequences when he fail the challenges, anything associated with failure surely would not result in anything good.
And then there was also the Book of Souls mentioned that piqued his interest.
So if he was being forced to participate in this test, he might as well get the best out of it. That meant he had to control himself.
Lucas restrained his desires and directed his gaze to the deep blue monumental stone next to the fire stone.
If the colors of these stones each represented a different element or aspect, then he had a good guess that this one should be the water monument.
Without waiting any longer, Lucas read through the first passage—immediately being absorbed to the contents of the stone.
His soul, body and mind that were unsatisfied quickly switched into devouring the knowledge pouring into him.
***
After an hour, Lucas reached the seventh monumental stone.
As he read through the contents of each stone, he formulated a conjecture that each of the powers contained within the stones were aspects that made up the world.
For example, the first five stones were knowledge about the four elemental aspects that composed the world.
Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Lightning.
Then the sixth and the seventh stone were about the universal lights.
Light and Darkness.
The sixth was light and what he was going through in the present was the seventh, the darkness.
Out of all the stones, this darkness stone was the one he was compatible with the most.
It was as though darkness was his innate affinity, the runic language was more clearer and easily digestible compared to the other elemental stones.
Maybe it was because his Soulcraft was related to darkness, but he didn't know for sure. All he knew was that he was going to devour and devour until the time limit ends.
After all, every fabric of his being was still hungry and unsatisfied.
And soon enough, as though a newly formed bud, a darkness related soul art silently erupted within him as he continued.
***
In an hour and a half, Lucas had already finished going through the nine monumental stones with only one stone remaining.
Recounting his experiences so far, the eighth and ninth monumental stones were about the state of life.
Life and Death.
While the final tenth stone, the one he was currently reading, was about the cosmos.
Spacetime.
Among the other stones, the state of life and the cosmos stones were the most difficult to understand and digest.
However, Lucas adapted quickly and soon enough understood each passages. While he was absorbed in his own reality, time continued to pass.
***
The sparrow deity's sharp voice resounded:
[The time is up, Seeker of the Soul. You may stop.]
However, as though Lucas did not hear anything at all, he continued being absorbed from the contents of the monumental stones.
[Seeker of the Soul. The time is up.]
Crack—!
A loud crack suddenly echoed on the room.
"Be quiet for a moment."
Lucas snapped back, annoyed. His hand destroyed the ground beneath him, spreading debris around.
"I already passed the test some time ago, so let me use my hour preparation time for this."
Uncaring of his demands, the sparrow deity continued:
[Even if you know yourself that you passed, unfortunately I must still confirm your words. I am only following the rules set up by our Master. It's merely a quick process so do not worry.]
Hearing that, Lucas emotions calmed down a little.
"...Ha. You're right."
Lucas sighed and shook his head. That was truly uncharacteristic of him.
Facing the massive sparrow deity, Lucas stood up and cupped his fist before bowing slightly and speaking up in an apologetic tone:
"Forgive me. I just lose myself sometimes in front of greater knowledge. I find it hard to restrain myself in front of such a treasure trove."
From his past life to his present one, his obsession for knowledge did not change in the slightest, even increasing to an extent.
There was a saying that humans were extremely greedy creatures, Lucas was the embodiment of that saying.
[I understand that very well, Seeker of the Soul. A knowledge seeker or a scholars heart and soul always seek to acquire knowledge, beyond life, beyond death and even beyond limits.]
The sparrow deity understandingly said.
[That aside, the process of confirming if you passed or not will be quick and simple.]
At that moment, from the sparrow deity's statue beak, a colorless orb rose and floated in front of Lucas.
"This is..?"
Lucas furrowed his brows, staring at the orb curiously before directing his gaze to the statue.
[It's called the Mirror Orb. If you put your hand on top of it, it will reflect the aspects of your soul and measure how much you comprehended or learned so far.]
"Fascinating."
Lucas commented.
[Worry not, there is no danger in the process. You may put your hand now.]
Lucas nodded before raising his arm and putting his hand on top of the Mirror Orb.
As soon as his hand landed on the top, a change occured within the orb.
Crack—!
The orb faintly cracked.
[Huh? This is..!]
The sparrow deity suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
Lucas widened his eyes in shock. Within the orb, a magical illusionary sight was manifesting.
It was as if a scene from the beginning of time itself, when the world was first being created. Multiple aspects rose and manifested in the orb.
At first came the five elements, then the universal lights, then the two states, and finally the cosmos.
All of the aspects closely linked itself one another and intricately worked with each other, offering their powers to create a world from nothing.
Lucas watched the scene with intense fascination. The process itself didn't take long, after half a minute it was already done.
At the end of it, an unfinished world was formed within the colorless orb.
After realizing it was finished, the sparrow deity's voice came back:
[How is that possi—!]
However, before the sparrow' deity could finish its words a loud crack echoed.
Crack—! Crack—! Crack…!
As though unable to contain the reflection of Lucas soul, the orb cracked a few times before completely shattering.
As soon as it shattered, the half-finished world abruptly vanished into nothingness.