BOOM—!
The last lightning bolt struck Leo's Mind Sea and vanished along with the dark clouds.
The Mind Sea's waters were in rough condition with many areas having hollow, burnt areas. The sky was split apart in many places and cracks could be seen on the shell of the Mind Sea.
The tribulation this time was ten times stronger. With my current potential and barely built up foundation, I shouldn't have triggered such an intense tribulation. Then why? Why did it come so strong? Is it related to my regression? Does nature or the Will know?
Leo was thinking while slowly fixing his Mind Sea. He was zoned out and working reflexively, channeling the essences into the waters, sky, and cracks to fix them.
He failed to notice that the entire color of the Mind Sea had turned blue and was now changing to a dark crimson.
Leo had advanced from Jade-stage Rank 1 to Scarlet-stage Rank 1, skipping the Azure-stage after his successful awakening!
Only after feeling a slight tremor in his body did Leo snap out of his zoned out state. He noticed the Mind Sea and was baffled.
Scarlet-stage?!
In the previous awakening, he barely managed to reach the Azure-stage. Despite that, crossing one minor realm was an astonishing feat in itself, placing Leo in the top 1% geniuses.
Only a few could reach the Scarlet-stage and were highly sought after by every power in the world. Even if they belonged to some family, they would be given such a mighty offer that betraying their family would make them feel nothing.
Darker color signified the beginning of a minor realm with brighter color expressing the person as a master, someone possessing astounding understanding in that said realm.
The colors in Leo's Mind Sea did not show signs of halting. They grew brighter with each passing second and stopped only when it turned into a deep, crimson color. Achieving this color meant he was halfway through the next minor realm!
Leo was ecstatic. It felt unbelievable, but the results were right in front of his eyes. In another half an hour, his Mind Sea was fully healed.
Lightning flashed in the skies and formed a vortex. In the middle of it, a bright purple bolt of lightning sizzled and crackled as it lay fixed in its place.
Indeed. The stronger the tribulation, the better the rewards. I did not have such a thing in my Mind Sea before and had only heard tales of it from others. This is my Lightning Heart, something possessed by only a rare few.
Lightning Heart was the reward from the first lightning tribulation. It was highly coveted by the ones walking the Lightning Path, as it not only powered them up greatly, but brought them closer to the very essence of lightning.
Leo wasn't on the Lightning Path and this thing would not help him like it would to the experts on this path. However, he had the opportunity to harness its power and customize it to suit his path.
As long as he did not discard it, this Lightning Heart would stay with him till the end. Keeping it was risky as it was in the early stages and would resonate with the Lightning Path experts, but Leo belonged to a highly influential family. There shouldn't be any idiots who would try and harm him for it.
The Mind Sea was physically present inside the body. It was a tiny dot in between the brows that could be looked into through one's own consciousness. As one moved higher up in cultivation ranks, they could shift the dot to anywhere they liked and wouldn't be as vulnerable.
There was no other change in Leo's Mind Sea and as everything was fully healed, his consciousness felt a pull.
Looking up, a new vortex had formed in his Mind Sea's sky that was trying to pull him in it.
Leo resisted the pull from it and analyzed his Mind Sea. The pull got stronger after a few minutes, and such an amount of time was sufficient for him. He had seen everything he wanted to see.
Leo let his consciousness get sucked into the vortex, and after a flash of darkness in his vision, he saw dots. Bright white dots all around him.
The dots became bigger in a few seconds and began twinkling. Leo was in space, surrounded by millions of stars. It was a physical plane where his consciousness had gotten a chance to ascend to temporarily.
A person got such an opportunity only twice in his life and one of it was now. The other would take place after a really long time.
Reaching this plane was the most important part of the awakening. After an arduous journey through tribulations, Leo could finally reap his long-awaited rewards.
Leo avoided looking at the millions of stars and directly looked up. There was no sense of direction here, he tilted his head back and stared whatever void was above him.
"Administrator, I know you're watching."
Some stars in the void twinkled at his comment, as if feeling fascinated.
"Administrator, I want to see you. Please be magnanimous and grant this one's wish."
There was no response, but a few more stars had began blinking instead, joining the previous group.
Leo felt somewhat annoyed to see the Administrator not responding, so he decided to change tactics.
Smiling, Leo said, "Miss Neri—"
Leo's consciousness felt a painful pull as he uttered those two words. A familiar flash of darkness later, a field full of bright red daisies came into his view.
He felt suffocated and a sharp pain came from his neck despite a physical body. He looked down and saw a lot of red daisies and with a few white ones here and there.
Beneath this bunch was ash-colored hair and donning that was a crimson-eyed girl who seemed to be in her late teens.
"How do you know my name?" The cute girl said some not-so-cute words.
"Cough… I… cough… can't… speak…"
Leo really couldn't. The grip was too firm on his neck. It felt as if his neck would explode if she gripped him any further.
The girl knitted her brows, but eventually gave in and loosened her hold on Leo.
Leo coughed a bit and said with a smile, "Thank you for your grace, Administrator."
"Speak. How do you know of my istence and my name." The Administrator was not existence and my real name? I'll give you one chance. If the answer isn't satisfactory, I'll wipe out your consciousness."
The Administrator's eyes were fierce. Whatever she said, she would definitely do it. There was no doubt about it.
Her threat made Leo frown. A threat wasn't new to him. He had heard worse things than these and that too a million times. However, he just got a new chance at life, a chance to redo everything, and this woman here had the gall to threaten to take it away from him?
Take his life away and let everything that happened in the past repeat once again? Let his mother and sisters die in the second life too?
The flashbacks of the past where his mother had sacrificed herself to save him played in his mind and made his blood boil.
Leo's calm eyes turned extremely murderous. He wasn't even trying to hide his killing intent as he gazed at the Administrator with absolute anger.
The Administrator knitted her brows and was about to grip Leo's throat again. Before she did it, Leo said in a deep, hoarse tone,
"Nerissa, failure of the Heavenly Sect, do you think you have the authority to kill me?"
The Administrator's eyes flickered and widened in shock as she heard those words.
Leo did not stop and continued, "You barely managed to reach Rank 5 despite being a direct disciple. Hundreds of resources, countless hours of teachings and guidance… everything was wasted on you. Yet, you could not deliver one thing you were expected to. Do you still think someone like you has the authority to kill me?"
Nerissa's eyes were showing signs of terror as her body and hand gripping Leo's throat trembled.
Leo did not back down. He continued, "If you believe you can, go ahead. Kill me. Your Master would immediately descend and behead you after watching you accumulate an insane amount of negative karma. He was lenient when he banished you to this world. I don't think that'll be the case once again."
Nerissa let go of Leo and trembled profusely. Her hands were shaking as she hugged herself. The daisies on her head wilted and fell down. Her petite body seemed to have become more thin after this interaction.
"W, who… a-a-are y-you…" Nerissa asked, horrified.