The Shadow Trial

Warren, looking through his memories, found one inconsistency-the Dark Kingdom was founded a little more than 1,300 years ago. At the same time, Adrian Weitz spent at least 200,000 years in the Divine Realm of the Stars, and maybe more. But how is this possible? After a few moments, the realization came to Warren and his eyes lit up, he turned to the man as if asking for confirmation of his guesses. He nodded and chuckled-"You're not that stupid!"

"But how is this possible?! To even slightly change the flow of time requires a huge force, and even more so to do it for the whole kingdom, even if it is lower... Even the Absolute God of Time can hardly do that! "-exclaimed Warren.

"You're right about that."-the man agreed.

"So how is this possible?!"-Warren was inherently curious.

"It'll be too boring if I tell you, and besides, you haven't passed the Shadow Test yet."-the man snapped.

"What exactly is this test going to be?"

"As it begins, you will know." - the man evaded the answer and disappeared into the darkness.

Warren shouted, but when there was no answer, he realized he was alone.

"Apparently the test has already begun. But why hasn't anything changed?"-the guy asked in his heart. He was still in total darkness. He tried to use his light element, which was available to him after the changes in his body. But what happened next surprised Warren. The light that he was trying to pour out of his hands did not affect anything at all, it was still dark around.

"The Domain of Darkness!"- exclaimed Warren in surprise. In the domain of an element, you couldn't use another element unless you had more power than the domain master.

"So I need to overcome the darkness with the help of the darkness!"- the guy found a solution. What was required of him was to understand the principles of the surrounding domain and either merge with the domain, or find the vulnerabilities of the domain and leave it.

"The problem is that my understanding of the Principles of Darkness is quite superficial, yet I only gained control of it a few days ago. Being inside the domain will be difficult to understand the principles of this energy..."-the guy thought about the situation.

"Being inside the domain... Being inside the domain... Stop! Why not?.."-Warren decided to take advantage of his body. He decided to pass the surrounding energy through his meridians and observe it when the energy is inside his body.

"Argh!" shouted Warren, as this energy entered his body, he experienced incredible pain, it was due to the density of this energy and the depth of the underlying principles. The pain almost caused him to lose his mind, but gritting his teeth, he began to recite the "Hundred Hearts Mantra", a soul technique that strengthened the will and mind, it was inferior to most soul techniques when it came to soul cultivation, just unable to match them in the speed of development. But of all the soul techniques he knew, Warren had always used the Hundred Hearts Mantra. Why? The reason was that it was this seemingly weak technique that could help practitioners in the most difficult moments of their lives.

The "Hundred Hearts Mantra" helped to adapt to any external stimuli, simply strengthening the willpower of the practitioner to unimaginable heights. If you ask Warren "What is the most important strength for a cultivator?", he will not hesitate to answer "Willpower!". In his opinion, a person with a strong will has much better than the most incredible talents. It was with this technique that Warren was able to resist the pressure of the Emperor of Terror before his death.

"My will is unbreakable!"- he roared, and then, ignoring the unimaginable pain, he began to explore this energy of darkness in his meridians.

"How is this possible?!"-Warren exclaimed in shock when he saw that this energy of darkness possessed some of the principles of light. It didn't go against everything he knew, the number of those who could combine two opposing energies even in the Divine Realm of the Stars did not reach even a few dozen, but used the principles of the antagonist energy in the energy... Warren had never heard of anything like it. He soon remembered that the man he had met seemed to radiate darkness from his eyes as if the eyes were GLOWING with DARKNESS. Everything that was happening around him piqued the guy's interest.

Right now, he was focused on understanding the laws behind this phenomenon, because even though he had seen these principles, it didn't mean that he understood them. If you see the solution to the problem, it does not necessarily mean that you understand how the problem was solved.

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It seemed to Warren that he had been in the dark for a very long time, but at the same time, there was a feeling that only a few moments had passed. But Warren wouldn't regret it even if he'd spent millennia here. The benefits he gained from the trial itself exceeded his expectations. But he was sure that in addition to this, he still owed a reward for passing. That's right, he completed the test and understood the principles of the surrounding energy, so that he could see his surroundings. Warren was in a grand circular hall that was completely different from the ruins he had seen before entering the hall.

There was also a throne in the hall, where the man sat bored. When Warren looked at him, the man immediately felt the gaze and seemed stunned, but after a moment, he laughed.

"Ahahaha! I didn't expect you to finish so quickly!"

"How much time did I spend?"-asked Warren.

"11 minutes."-the man said in a voice that made it clear that this speed really surprised him.

"Ahem, ahem..."-Warren even coughed, not expecting such an answer, but quickly regained his composure and asked- "So what's next? "

" If you want, then the next test will begin." -said the man.

"Wait, did you say the next test? Isn't there only one test?"-Warren expected to receive the reward, but instead, the man spoke of the next challenge.

"Yes!"- the man replied as if he was talking about something obvious.

"But what about the reward?"- asked Warren cautiously.

"But you only passed one test."- the man said in the same voice.

"How many tests do I need to pass?"-Warren continued to ask.

"All seven."- said the man.

"What if I decide not to take the tests any further?"

"Nothing, you can leave this place. "

" Wait, you told me that there are only 7 tests, does this have something to do with the name of the forest? Could it be that I have to overcome the seven trials of the shadow? "- Suddenly remarked Warren.

"No." - but the answer did not coincide with Warren's thoughts- " The next test is the test of death.

"Yes."- Warren replied.