In a massive void stood the magnificent Temple of Origin, a structure worthy of worship enshrouded with starlight possessing an aura of magnificence.
Within its great halls stood five majestic gateways, each with a unique aura.
And before one of these gateways stood a masculine figure, engulfed by the aura of the gateway.
At this moment, the life aura fluctuations of this figure suddenly disappeared.
The sudden disappearance of the aura caused the aura from the gateway to tremble in reaction, as though the doorway also had not expected the challenger's aura to vanish so suddenly.
It began to roll over the figure before it, scouring the area in search of the suddenly lost aura.
Within the large hallway, a massive pair of eyes shook in shock at the sudden change.
"What just happened?"
The Temple Guard tried his best to approach the figure before the gateway with his senses, trying to understand what was happening. However, the formation of five gateways prevented any outside interference until the trial ended.
"That maniac!"
The Temple Guard fumed in rage as he thought of that arrogant trial guardian.
He better not have done anything untoward to this promising Young One.
A fierce glint flashed past his eyes as he swore to visit that guy with his fist had he broken the rules.
The Temple Guard's reaction was understandable. The trial guardian for the Trial of Intellect had always been the worst kind of asshole.
Outside the Temple of Origin, the two spectators, Felix and Gaya were unable to sense the intricate changes in the aura within the temple however they were alarmed by the temple guard's intention to interfere with the trial.
"Big Brother, what is going on? Why does the temple guardian want to interfere in the trial?"
"I don't know sister, we can't sense the complete situation from out here. All we can do is pray that everything goes fine.
After all, even if we were stronger, we still wouldn't be able to stop the Temple Guard if he intended to harm Alex while in the temple. That place is his home ground."
Felix replied and continued watching as the Origin trial was yet to end.
Up in the clouds above a massive yet incomplete tower stood an enormous palace with beautiful spires and engravings depicting the epic battles since the creation of the Myriad Realms.
Standing before the gate of this palace was a mist-cloaked crimson figure, and at this moment there was panic and confusion in his eyes.
"It has been over an hour, and that challenger is still seated there with no signs of resurrecting. Yet, the trial realm has not sent him out. Come to think of it, could someone die just because they were discouraged?"
The whole scenario was extremely bizarre.
Turning his attention to the palace behind him, he stared at the massive ornate wooden gates behind him. Wondering when, if ever anyone would be worthy to push them open.
While the crimson figure stared at the gate, he sensed a familiar aura. Quickly, he turned his attention back to the challenger in the tower far below him.
"He's back?"
The figure was puzzled, as although his aura of life had returned, its nature was intrinsically different from what it was earlier.
He, the Guardian of Intellect, in all his aeons of experience, had never come across such a case. Where for an hour, for no rhyme or reason a challenger would die and return alive with a different aura of life.
The Guardian even thought of undead resurrection and body swapping but for obvious reasons, these could not be the case.
It had escaped his notice that only individuals whose souls were severely damaged or destroyed would fall out of the trial realm as that was what physically manifested in the realm.
However, should the individual become unconscious, leaving only their subconscious to take the reins, as in cases when the challenger fell into a deep sleep [which had never happened in the Origin trials for obvious reasons.]
At such a rare moment, it would look like the challenger had become brain-dead. While it was hard for normal people to sense this, the perception of these supreme beings had uncanny precision in their domains.
With this inertia of thought the trial guardian became far more curious about what exactly happened to cause the sudden change.
He must obtain the details of this mysterious event by any means, or else he will be stuck in a depressing state of ignorance for a very long time, that is unless he seals his memory of the event along with these thoughts.
********************************
Alex suddenly regained consciousness, his back coated in a cold sweat as though he had just awoken from a terrible nightmare. Feeling around him, there were no new changes, just the massive stone door and himself in a simple sweatshirt and pants.
Still feeling strange Alex turned his attention inwards. The sight in the mental realm was very unexpected.
Alex noticed within his mental space, high up in the space stood a massive Sea of Consciousness wrapped in a now transparent barrier, and beside it, accompanying the Sea of Consciousness, was a speck of golden light radiating a calm feeling to the surrounding space.
Looking closer at the light, Alex soon discovered its true nature. It was a gold crystal with a small purple core.
Alex used his consciousness to touch the core.
[Ding...]
[Projection of the Mind Core]
[Name: Alpha replica.]
[Description: A simple replica of the mind core projected out of the soul body by the mind core]
[Function: A projection maintaining the mind core's independence from the soul body]
[Ability 1: Purifies the energy it absorbs for the mind core]
[Ability 2: Stores impure indices like unstable emotions and mental toxins while maintaining the purity and clarity of the mind core]
Alex took a deep breath in shock as he read from the red display the functions of this simple projection of the mind core pondering the implications.
"If the projection is this powerful how broken would the actual mind core be?"
Alex excitedly looked into the Sea of Consciousness.
Within the Sea of Consciousness, Alex noticed the massive changes.
A beautiful crystal blue lake now lies in the centre of the Sea of Consciousness where the central glacier once was. The lake appeared to be slightly more than a kilometre in radius with no idea how deep it went.
This new lake was surrounded by nine massive glaciers of compressed soul essence.
Alex approached the lake dipping his hand into the water.
"So cool!"
The water glided off his palm like mercury. It was still so dense even in its liquid form.
"I wonder how much soul essence is stored in my Sea of Consciousness."
Alex was worried, and for good reason. Should anything happen and the soul essence vaporises suddenly, his mind would immediately explode due to the excess energy. It was a ticking time bomb. Thankfully, his sea of consciousness could suppress it stably.
Looking over the lake, Alex noticed four massive ice blocks floating within it. They were the remnants of the central glacier. They stood still in four directions surrounding an object floating in the middle of the lake.
"What is that?"
Alex said as he moved closer to the middle of the lake, no longer a stranger to random things appearing in his Sea of Consciousness.
Going closer, there were shimmering lights reflecting off the objects in the middle of the lake.
Floating just above the Cup of Wills sitting on the lake's surface, a beautiful purple lotus flower bud stood.
Taking a closer look, he noticed the bud was emitting fumes of will into its surroundings creating a shimmer around it.
It was a tiny bud with a radius of less than a centimetre floating within the confines of the Cup of Wills.
Right above the purple lotus bud, a similarly tiny semi-transparent gem floated while rotating around its axis.
This gem was shockingly pretty, like a cross between a diamond and an amethyst.
Its outer sector was a hexagonal area as clear as a diamond, while its inner sector was a perfectly spherical opaque purple area like a purple pearl.
It was enchanting to look at. Drawing Alex in, he touched it softly and suddenly the red display window popped up once again.
[Ding ]
[Mind Core discovered]
[Description: A Grade 1 mind core of the highest possible purity, condensed from an astonishing amount of will and mental energy. It is devoid of all impurities such as emotions and frequencies of origin. A core condensed in the purest conditions, uncontaminated by abilities and unbound by the rules of existence.]
[Function: Due to its unique composition and location, it serves as the primary control centre for all actions and the source of all intent]
[Ability 1: Origin of intent; it releases the pure intent generated from its constantly generated mental energy and the will absorbed from the soul core.]
[Ability 2: Replica formation; using a trace of its inner core, the mind core can create a limited number of replicas that can replicate the functions of the mind core. Number of available replicas: 2 (Upgradable)]
[Ability 3: Replica manipulation; by sacrificing a trace of its outer layer, the mind core can manipulate its replica according to the will of its owner.
Tip: Each replica can only be manipulated a limited amount of times
Replica Alpha: 3 chances left.]
Seeing the elaborate display Alex was stunned for a moment.
"So powerful!"
Excitement flooded his mind as he thought of the various possibilities this fortuitous encounter had granted him.
"Especially Ability 2, this ability was too overpowered. Where others could only bind a single ability principle to cultivate their path, each mind core replica could bind to a new principle, granting me another three extra abilities even if the mind core's ability does not increase."
Alex felt giddy at these implications, only that it felt weird as he was yet to possess a single principle or natal ability, making the current setup useless to him. Realising this, Alex returned his focus to the purple bud below the new mind core.