When Phaistos regained consciousness, he found himself lying on a cold stone floor. The intense pain had vanished, replaced by a dull ache that throbbed in his head. As he slowly rose, he became aware of his new surroundings. The room had changed. Gone was the sterile, white environment; he was now in a vast chamber with high vaulted ceilings, illuminated by the soft golden light of the sun that had appeared before his fainting.
The walls of the chamber were decorated with ancient frescoes depicting scenes of elemental magic. There was now a fountain at the center of this room, and on the sides stood several cabinets with glass doors. Some of these cabinets contained food, while others housed books.
However, this was not what caught Phaistos' eye. What interested him was the countdown high in the sky.
[160:00:00]
"I've slept for 8 hours. It seems the gift given by the voice is something important," murmured Phaistos. At that moment, an unusual iconography of the human body appeared in his mind. This iconography showed a translucent clone of Phaistos' body. Inside this body, he could see different pathways that eventually converged at the center of his body. Around the diagram, there were various annotations. Thus, he learned that these pathways were called "magical circuits," while the area at the center of the body was called the "spiritual core."
The magical circuits glimmered faintly, as if they were waiting to be activated by his spiritual energy. In the spiritual core, his light and water energy would gather. This would make his spiritual core the nerve center of his power. While Phaistos was lost in thought, a voice he would have preferred to have dreamed of reappeared.
[Now that you have acquired the basics, meditate to consolidate your core.]
Not daring to go against this voice, Phaistos got into the position described by the "Dawn Vigil" technique. The meditation position of this technique was very particular. Indeed, his father had taught him that meditation was often practiced sitting on the ground with the hands turned against the thighs. However, in the context of this technique, Phaistos had to place his hands facing the sky while stripping off the upper part of his body.
As Phaistos sifted through his memories, he stumbled upon a disconcerting detail. "However, I will never accept becoming bald." Indeed, if the practitioner became bald, they could commune more easily with the light element.
He smiled despite himself, imagining this absurd idea. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Phaistos felt the tension in his muscles ease slightly. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate, recalling the steps of meditation. He visualized the first rays of dawn piercing the darkness, filling him with light and warmth. The different rays of energy converged very slowly towards his body, but he noticed they couldn't penetrate his skin. Fortunately, this situation was explained in the meditation technique.
Indeed, the body of a practitioner was gradually tempered by magical power. The higher our spiritual origin, the easier it was to commune with the elements. His spiritual origin gave him the ability to easily feel the light and water elements, but it remained difficult for him to absorb them effectively.
Little by little, Phaistos lost himself in this comforting warmth. Without him noticing, time passed faster and faster... 1 minute... 5 minutes... 1 hour... 5 hours. The counter continued to silently tick above him, relentless. After 5 hours, a change occurred in Phaistos' cultivation. A strand of light managed to penetrate his skin and entered one of the magical circuits in his body. It completed a full circulation and found itself in his magical core. A strange phenomenon then occurred.
"What the..." exclaimed Phaistos. He started trembling suddenly as his body transformed completely. The changes mainly occurred within his magical core. In its center, Phaistos could now observe two orbs facing each other. The first was large and colored a deep, calm blue. This structure was very special, as it didn't seem to have a fixed shape. It oscillated between different forms: puddle, block, orb, etc. It seemed to be everything and nothing at once. Without thinking, Phaistos understood it was his affinity with the water element. The second, however, was much smaller than the first. It was of a white that could be described as divine. This orb seemed immutable, as if nothing could question its pride. The slight warmth emanating from it seemed to calm the spirits. Phaistos understood it was his light element.
Thanks to the knowledge acquired from the voice and the training manual, he understood he had just opened his magical core.
[Analyzing host....]
[Phaistos Astraeus]
[Magic Power: 6]
[Combat Power: 11]
[Light initial stage - 5%]
[Water initial stage - 50%]
[Spiritual Origin: B-]
[Lineage: ???]
[Talent: ???]
"It seems that my magical power is correlated with my understanding of the different elements. However, I cannot be sure, as I have no indication of how to increase it," pondered Phaistos.
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Aldric, who was bored to death in front of the screens, raised one of his eyebrows and said, "It's surprising. With his level of spiritual origin, it should normally take double the time to open his spiritual core. It seems this child is a bit special for a lowly being from the inferior worlds."
Aldric, who had not been interested in anyone for thousands of years, unconsciously started to glance more frequently at Phaistos' screen.
------------------------------------------------------------
[154:55:48]
It had been 5 minutes since the voice had recorded the changes occurring in Phaistos' body. He could finally begin to move. The first thing he did was stand up. Sitting for hours was still a complicated task, especially for someone who wasn't used to it.
"It seems that a difference of 1 in magical power doesn't have a significant effect, as I can't feel any change. Fortunately, it seems that physical power is easier to feel." Indeed, even though the difference was slight, Phaistos felt he was slightly stronger than before. This difference would not be noticeable in a fight, but he felt he could get 1 or 2 more points. He would be invincible among normal humans.
At that moment, Phaistos noticed the room had changed again. In fact, it would be more accurate to say it seemed brighter than before. Phaistos thought it must be related to his understanding of light.
"The world seems so much more beautiful now." Phaistos felt intoxicated by this new feeling. He didn't even notice that his fear seemed to have disappeared and that his distrust of his situation was diminishing by the hour.
Phaistos felt revitalized by the energy he had absorbed. The desire to discover the outside world and prove his worth burned within him more intensely than ever. His exhilaration turned into a sudden urge to see the real world around him. This gave him the strength to continue training in the hope of passing this test and honoring his family.
"However, I need to give my body time to digest the elemental light energy it has absorbed. It's better if I find a way to train for my water energy." Phaistos suddenly remembered there were new elements in this room. Given the intelligence of the gods, Phaistos was convinced they wouldn't have done this for nothing. He began by inspecting the various elements.
This allowed him to quench his thirst and satisfy his hunger. He vaguely felt that his body's need for food had increased. Having finished eating, he decided to resume his research.
In the different cabinets, he saw a plethora of books, but what he found incredible was that he couldn't take any of them. The problem wasn't that the books were chained or that the cabinets were locked, but that his hand literally passed through the different books.
"This makes no sense. Even if the gods can be cunning, I don't think they would stoop to such baseness during an official trial." Phaistos began touching all the books in each cabinet. Finally, he managed to extract 4 different books from the cabinets. Once again, a strange phenomenon occurred. The books, which were clearly written in a language he didn't know, resonated in his mind like Greek. He thus learned the names of the 4 books in question:
[Light Element Training Manual: Dawn Vigil]
[Water Element Training Manual: Fluid Arcana]
[Light Rank 1 Spell: Light Orb]
[Water Rank 1 Spell: Water Bubble]
He immediately noticed that the various books he had managed to take were related to his spiritual affinities. The first book was useless to him, as the mysterious voice had already granted him all the knowledge contained within it.
Phaistos was excited at the prospect of obtaining new magical knowledge. He exclaimed, "Mysterious voice, grant me the knowledge contained in these books."
[You did not understand. You must read the books if you want to acquire their knowledge. This is part of the test.]
"Damn it," Phaistos exclaimed. He then took the "Fluid Arcana" manual and began to read avidly.