A Fortuitous Discovery

This time, Marcius was in a pitch-black room. The environment in the possibly enclosed room was pure darkness.

The only bright part of Marcius's surrounding was a bright white circle at the center of the room.

The circle was made up of runic words which were shining in bright white light.

"This is the Test of Will. The rules of the test are simple. You will walk into the runic array at the center and stay in there. I'll be releasing spiritual pressure into the perimeter of the runic array. You just need to endure it. The pressure will increase as time goes on, and your achievement will be measured by the amount of time you managed to stay within the array." The voice explained.

"I understand."

Marcius replied as he slowly walked into the bright array.

'Well, I should be thankful that at least this part of the trial was the same as the original storyline of the novel.' Marcius thought.

And, the Test of Will being the same as the original test from the novel gave Marcius some relief.

It meant that the totem just gave out different tests to different participants. It also meant that there would be no big changes in Marcius's future knowledge, unless he did change it himself.

Marcius comfortably sat down within the circle, and prepared himself to brave the incoming spiritual pressure.

"I'm ready." Marcius notified the totem.

"Then! Let the second test of the Trial of Sol begin!" The voice loudly announced as per usual.

And then, there was eerie silent.

The silent continued for a long time, as Marcius waited for the incoming spiritual pressure.

The silent stretched to a great length that, Marcius could imagine hearing some crows in a distance.

"Why hasn't the test started yet?" Marcius questioned after an extensive silent.

"What? No… The test has already stated." The voice replied awkwardly.

"What do you mean the test has started? I cannot feel a thing." Marcius replied with an obvious frown.

"Mabe the pressure is too weak for you? I start out slow after all. Wait, let me up the level." The voice replied.

And after waiting for a while, Marcius started to feel something.

It was like someone was holding his shoulder, and pushing him down with slight effort.

It was not unbearable. He just felt it and it was kind of uncomfortable.

"Alright, I think it is starting to affect me. Please up the level again." Marcius said.

"Very well."

The pressure increased again.

And this time, Marcius felt like he was underwater, and the current was pulling him downwards.

It was still very much bearable.

"It looks like you can still take it. I'll be increasing the spiritual pressure regularly from now on, until you couldn't withstand it anymore." The voice stated.

True to its word, the totem started increasing the pressure in regular intervals.

After sometimes, the pressure was starting to put a strain on Marcius.

It felt like Marcius was shouldering a small hill. It became quite hard for Marcius to sit still.

He felt his body being pressed down, and had to put his hands forwards to keep himself upright.

Then, it got worse. If what Marcius first felt was a small hill, this time he felt like a great mountain was weighting down on him.

He could barely move his body parts, and his muscles were screaming for release.

Yet, he held on.

Because he had to.

Marcius had to pass this test.

All of his gambles depended on this moment, on this test, on this trial.

The pressure increased time and time again. But Marcius just gritted his teeth and braved on.

In the end, Marcius could not feel anything else, except for the great weight of spiritual pressure bearing down on him.

He felt like dying. He felt like giving up and accepting the pull of gravity. He could imagine his bones close to breaking from all this pressure.

It hurt.

Hurt.

Hurt.

Hurt.

Pain.

Pain.

…

...

Then, the pain stopped.

Marcius felt as if he narrowly escaped death.

All he could feel was agony.

Agony from every part of his body.

Marcius sucked in a large breath. His hand shakily moved and Green Blood potion appeared within his grasp.

'I feel like a drunkard right now.'

Marcius thought as he drank the bottle. Indeed, he had been drinking a lot of potions.

"Why did you stop? I can still go on."

Marcius asked with an unsteady voice.

"You could have. You would be in even greater pain, but you could have. Luckily, you don't need to." The voice replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, so you didn't notice."

"I didn't notice what?" Marcius asked impatiently.

"The amount of spiritual pressure pressing down on you, it was enough to knock out a cultivator of True Lord realm. The entire room was shaking form the pressure alone." The voice answered.

"What?!"

Marcius was surprised. It was strong enough to take out a Ture Lord realm?

That was a ludicrous amount of spiritual pressure. No wonder the room was shaking.

But, how? Marcius wondered.

He had no prior training to withstand spiritual pressure. He didn't even have a cultivation base.

At the start of the test, Marcius was ready to cheat.

He had already browsed the items to help him pass the test.

The totem did say artifacts were allowed. So, technically, he was not cheating.

Still, to be able to endure that much amount of pressure, Marcius was certain there was something else in play here.

Even Logan, the protagonist of the novel, only managed to endure until the limits of a Foundation Lord realm. And, he had a higher cultivation than Marcius.

Had Creto messed with his body somehow, while merging the two souls?

"Thus, out of interest, I scanned your body for further explanation." The voice spoke.

"I really don't appreciate you intruding my privacy, without my permission." Marcius countered, his frown deepening.

"You can get mad at me later. But right now, I think you may want to hear the results."

"Fine. What is it?" Marcius asked with a sigh.

"You have Soul Devouring King physique." The voice replied.

"What?!"

*** *** ***

Author Notes

Hello! MidnightMK here!

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Please enjoy the chapter! And please vote if you do!