27 Chapter 27 - The Mysterious Exercise of The Hale Family (5)
Theodore gazed at the stair; he took a deep breath before he took a step up. No matter the result, he had already made considerable progress compared to his previous life.
Theodore instantly felt a pressure crushing on him when he took his first step on the stair. It was light compared to his willpower test the previous day, so he continued.
With his second step on the stair, Theodore felt a noticeable increase in pressure. He could not help but stare up at the top of the floor.
'It's still a long way to go.' Theodore sighed when he saw how far he was from reaching the top of the platform to get the exercise.
Theodore persisted, walking his way up.
Nathan's eyes lightly flashed as he watched Theodore's endurance when climbing up the platform.
He could see the stubbornness in his disciple's eyes to get the exercise on top of the platform. However, Nathan felt it would be difficult to achieve this goal with Theodore's current ability.
He was a little concerned that this setback would hinder Theodore's future road.
Meanwhile, the two spiritual weapons did not notice Nahan's worry at all. They were, instead, competing in who would make a louder buzzing sound to cheer Theodore up.
Nathan briefly glanced at the two armaments and shook his head wryly, lamenting their carefreeness, before turning back to focus on Theodore.
...
Theodore had only walked almost halfway up the stair, but the current pressure he endured was already roughly equal to the maximum coercion he experienced during his willpower test.
Feeling tired and breathing heavily, he looked at the platform's top again; Theodore faintly groaned that there was still a long way to go.
He took a deep breath before taking the next step. Simultaneously, a doubt silently emerged in his heart if he could really reach the top.
As he continued his path, he began to lose focus again. The further he walked, the more blur his vision became.
Theodore then noticed that his other senses were not much better. Previously, he could still hear the buzzing sound from the Impending Doom and the Misty Blade, but now he could barely hear anything.
He was familiar with this condition as he had just recently experienced it when losing consciously. He felt that he could fall at any moment from now on.
Nonetheless, the exhaustion he encountered this time was far from being so simple.
When progressing forward, Theodore seemed to hallucinate and saw something that made his eyes gravely narrow; it was the figure of his future self when he was dying.
His dying self was one memory that Theodore did not want to recall. One reason was he was too complicated and miserable.
The imaginary figure similar to the future him, who was close to perishing, stared intensely at him. Theodore could feel many familiar yet unfamiliar emotions in his eyes that he could somewhat relate to.
There was sadness, regret, happiness, relief, and many other complex traces of emotion.
Looking at the figure and contemplating its existence, Theodore took another step up in a daze, not wanting to linger and see it.
As Theodore walked forward, the figure of his future self remained frozen, with his gaze remaining on him. He originally wanted to turn and continue looking back a little, but something in his heart alarmed and stopped him.
Although Theodore was reluctant, he still trusted his sense a lot; it had saved his life countless times. Therefore, he ignored the gaze lingering on his body and started distracting himself by judging the change in pressure pressing on him.
Theodore felt that the coercion on him increased again. It was not much, but he could still sense it. It was similar to the previous steps he experienced before.
'How could anyone even walk to the end and reach the top?' Theodore doubted as he complained in his heart.
While Theodore was contemplating, the figure resembling his future self disappeared, replaced by the duplication of his parents that he remembered.
He paused his step as he looked at the replication of his mother and father, feeling flustered. No matter how much he cursed them, he could not deny that he yearned for them and wished they were still alive.
He hoped that he could make his parent regret leaving him. He wished to tell them about his grievance and the hardship he suffered.
He also had many things he wanted to ask them, but he never had the chance.
That was one of the reasons his future self risked his life to investigate his parent's situation in a dangerous place, even though the hope of them surviving was slim.
Theodore paused at this step for a long time as he stared at his missing parent. He did not know how long he lingered, but it was long enough for Theodore to feel that the longer he remained still, the stronger the pressure pressed on him.
Soon, Theodore sensed that he must move on. He took a last look at the family he longed for before he continued upward with decisiveness.
Seeing that his disciple could still persist and walk forward, Nathan lessened the power in his hand, but he still did not dissipate the mana he gathered.
When he saw Theodore pause for a time, he was ready to move to rescue his apprentice; it turned out that he had just overthought.
From the situation he saw, Theodore could reach the top as long as he did not give up.
The reason for Nathan to have this conviction was because of his recent discovery.
Every time Theodore passed to the next step, pure mana gushed out from the formation would infuse into his disciple's body; it was also why Theodore could persist for so long.
This mana not only replenished Theodore's energy but also slightly improved his body by expelling the filth in his body. This filth was what remained from the previous meridian opening.
Regular mana users could only cleanse their bodies again once they broke through to the new realm. The higher the rank of the mana user, the purer their body was.
The infused energy was barely noticeable initially; Nathan only detected it after Theodore progressed up for some time.
Watching Theodore's expression, he guessed his disciple could not have noticed the supporting mana. What Theodore could rely on now was his pure willpower.
Originally, Nathan intended to remind Theodore; however, judging from Theodore's current situation, his disciple would not be able to hear him.
'I hope you can hold on.' Nathan thought, and anticipation rose a little in his heart.
...
Theodore did not know how long he had walked. He also did not know how far he was from his destination; Theodore only intended to continue until he fell.
Some time ago, he initially thought he would fall soon; however, after so long, he was still advancing, despite very slowly.
His vision was so muddy, and his hearing was so obscure. The only clear thing Theodore could glimpse was those annoying figures that showed up from time to time to disturb him.
The figure Theodore saw ranged from his miserable self, his enemies, his friends, his acquaintances, and even the dying figure of his teacher in his previous life.
Although he was numb to a certain extent, he still paused occasionally at the sight of some people.
When Theodore wondered when he would reach the platform's top, he almost stumbled because there was no further stair's step.
'Did I really just reach the top?!' Theodore thought, stunned. Question marks floated throughout his head.
He tried to balance himself before feeling all his senses and energy restored. He finally clearly saw the mysterious exercise he had taken so much effort to reach.
It was an old but clean monument made of a mysterious material; it seemed sacred and inviolable, with characters written on it.
Before walking to the exercise, Theodore turned to look at his teacher and the two spiritual armaments; He waved to them, telling them that he was alright before seeing them waving back at him.
He smiled before looking back at the monument.
Theodore slowly and alertly walked to the monument before trying to interpret its information.
Strangely, although Theodore recognized every word, he could not extract anything; it was as if everything was messing with his brain and obscuring the knowledge.
Theodore continued trying with various methods only to fail, but he was unwilling to give up lightly after going through so much to get here.
Just when Theodore contemplated more methods he could use, he heard a voice interrupting his thought.
"Welcome, the descendant of the Hale family, to the inheritance sight. Please touch the monument to start the trial when you are ready." A voice sounded from the monument.
The voice was very familiar to Theodore, but no matter how he tried, he could not recall where he had heard this tone before.
Nevertheless, the most important thing now was the trial.
Theodore planned to ask for more information about the trial before starting, but things never went as expected.
"Since you are ready, may the trial start..." The voice from the monument sounded again.
Theodore was puzzled. He did not yet touch the monument, so which part of him indicated that he was ready?
He did not even have the chance to argue before a bright light flashed through his eyes, and his mind went blank.
Theodore had lost his consciousness. When he fell, one of his hands touched the altar, and the monument on top shone dazzlingly.
