Kai opened the door and came inside the room.
"Mom, can I start my training?" Kai asked as soon as he saw his mother. He didn't have the patience to wait anymore.
"Yeah, come and sit inside the formation," Riya replied with a faint smile after seeing the excitement in his face.
The formation was created by cultivators using their energy, which usually serves for auxiliary purposes.
The formation was a minor path of cultivation, unlike the major ones.
The cultivation in the Enlightenment World can be divided into two types for convenience, major path and minor path. The major cultivation paths are Qi, Body and Soul.
Reaching a higher realm in this path will give the cultivators more life span and other benefits, but that doesn't happen in minor paths.
The minor paths are mostly profession related like formation, sword, saber etc. Even becoming an emperor in the minor path won't have much benefits compared to the major.
Kai felt confused about the need for formation. He only wanted to experience the illusion. But, he still sat inside the formation as instructed.
"Mom, what's the need for a formation? Can't you directly apply illusion on me?" Kai asked Riya doubtfully.
"Baby, did you forget what my cultivation realm is? If you directly experience my illusion, you will die or become a mindless person."
Kai unintentionally overlooked the fact that his mother was a divine realm cultivator. He, being mortal, lacks such abilities. If he were to encounter such an illusion firsthand, it would undoubtedly lead to his demise.
Furthermore, he failed to consider that this world operates on the principles of cultivation, rendering the laws of physics ineffective.
'It seems I tend to forget that I reincarnated in a fantasy world.'
"Okay, Mom, I will remember this."
"Baby, I am now going to start the formation. You just need to sit down and relax your mind,"
Kai closed his eyes and relaxed his mind. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and nodded at Riya.
Riya smiled at Kai after his gesture and said "Baby, I am going to start the formation, and try to stay inside as long as possible."
Then Riya started the formation. Suddenly, a bright light flashed before Kai's eyes. He had to close his eyes because of it. When he opened his eyes, he wasn't in his room. His mother also disappeared.
Kai appeared in a dark room. It was as if the entire world was solely made of darkness, and there was not even a tinge of light.
'What happened?'
Kai panicked in this sudden situation, but then he remembered the test and thought it could be an illusion. He calmed himself by saying this.
'Since the whole world is dark and nothing is present here, the content of the test is likely to test my patience. It is really scary to live in such a dark and lonely place.'
Kai immediately came to a conclusion about the content of the trial.
'I should meditate and try to forget about the passage of time.' Kai closed his eyes and meditated to forget about the passage of time.
After a long period, he didn't feel anything, and his mind was calm. Eventually, he forgot about the passage of time due to his deep meditation.
But suddenly, he noticed a change in his body. Before entering the illusion formation, his height was around 112 cm, but now he is around 150 cm. He grew 38 cm inside the formation.
'How long I am in the formation' Kai thought and started to panic, but he suddenly remembered this could also be part of an illusion and made himself calm down.
Kai did not know that his decision to calm himself in this situation saved him from failing the trial. If he were to overreact in this situation, his test would not continue.
Likewise, time passed. Kai got older and older. He became a middle-aged man. He also started to lose his sanity in the darkness, and a lot of negative ideas began to form in his head.
He scratched the floor like a madman and made a lot of noise. Eventually, he began to lose consciousness. When he was about to close his eyes from fatigue, he remembered memories of the scene of his death in his past life.
'I don't want to experience the same feeling of dying, even though it was an illusion. I wanted to become stronger and break the limitations.'
He thought in desperation and tried to continue to trial with his Will alone.
With his newfound determination, he calmed himself and continued his meditation
Time passed like that, and he became an old man, but he did not panic like before and continued his meditation. After some time, he fell unconscious inside the formation.
Kai heard his mother cry. When he opened his eyes from sleep, he saw Riya calling his name and crying. His heart ached when he saw his mother crying, due to his selfish intent to persist longer in the trial.
"Mom, I am okay. I'm just tired, and I will be okay after a period of rest," Kai smiled and tried to comfort her.
"Kai, you don't need to experience this torture. What if something happens to you?"
Kai was sad as he saw his mother crying, but he didn't have any choice because everything comes at a price, and he had to pay this price if he wanted to become stronger.
Kai was not sure if this training will make him stronger. It's just a conclusion due to his reincarnation that he came up with. But he decided to believe in his intuition. The Will of a cultivator was very important for them to become stronger.
If a cultivator didn't even have a strong Will, then how were they able to compete with countless geniuses for good fortune and the battle for Destiny?
"Mom, you know my determination. I want to become the strongest; if I don't even dare to accept difficulty or pain, then how can I become a stronger person?"
Riya didn't reply to anything because she knows there are countless hardships in the process of becoming a strong person.
"Okay, but you can only do this after you have rested enough; you are spiritually tired now. After you finish this test, you can do the other test."
"Okay, Mom," Kai said, and he started thinking about his test today. He made a lot of mistakes in the test, and he needs to correct them because it will be helpful for his future cultivation journey.
First, he needs to learn how to be calm in critical moments. If he panicked in a critical situation, it would make the situation more dire. From the test, he learnt this, and it will also develop his patience, which was a crucial character for a strong one.
"Mom, how long did I take the first test?" Kai looked at Riya for a moment and asked, as he was curious about the mechanism.
"Baby, don't worry, it's only been 3 hours since you've been in the formation."
"Mom, how did that happen?" Kai exclaimed in disbelief.
"It was because the formation made it look like a lot of time had passed by speeding up your thought process, and I created the illusion of your aging," Riya smiled and calmly explained.
'This world is surely amazing. Just by speeding up the thought, it made me think that a lot of time had passed. This application is amazing; no, it's perfect. I can do a lot of things with this application.'
"Kai, now go and rest. After your rest, we can continue the next illusion."
"Okay, Mom, but I still want to do this illusion. Because this has a lot of potential, and I wanted to learn how to be patient with this illusion." Kai completed the test well. But, he is not satisfied with the result.
He only finished the test with luck and perseverance, not with patience. So he wanted to do it again until he completely mastered patience and mood swings.
"Okay, It is a good decision. I will support and take care of you,if any problem occurs."
Kai went to sleep after eating and woke up the next morning.
"Mom, I am ready. Let's do it," Kai said in confidence.
"Okay, but you need to be careful and don't overdo it. If there is any problem, just scream, and I will cancel the illusion."
Then Riya activated the illusion formation after Kai sat inside. The familiar darkness surrounded him, but this time he didn't panic and just started to meditate in silence.
The same process repeated itself, but he didn't panic and just continued his meditation. But at a later time, he started to get anxious, and it got worse and worse after time passed, and eventually, the illusion ended.
Even though he completed the test, he was still not satisfied with the result and did the test again and again.
A month had passed, and now Kai was able to stay inside the formation for about 12 hours. When it was compared to outside, it will appear to be about 400 years, but this is merely an illusion, not real time.
'I can proudly say I can completely control my emotions' thought Kai.
When a person is in a dark room alone for a long time, their mind will wander a lot and a lot of negative thoughts will appear, so it is very hard to control the emotions.
Kai's mom even had to rescue him sometimes because he was going to commit suicide due to the madness of being in the darkroom for a long time. She even persuaded Kai to quit, but he insisted on doing so. After a month of hard work, he eventually succeeded.
The major part of his success belongs to having a stronger soul, because a mortal isn't capable of being alone in a dark place for so long. Since his soul is as strong as a supernatural realm cultivator, Kai can pull that off.
At first, Kai felt disappointed because he lacked any cheat or heaven-defying treasure, but now he no longer feels that way.
'Only the things you acquire through hard work are beneficial for your growth. This lesson is profound. I learned it from this test. I am very grateful to my father. He is the one who decided on this test.'
He realized the truth about hard work and effort during this trial.
But now he only wants to sleep and relax for some amount of time because, even though it was an illusion, it took a toll on him. So, he is going to rest for a month before going into the next trial.