Realm Eye
Standing before the stone doorway, Alex began his preparations to clear the last doorway on the fourth floor of the trial.
"Although the tests on the fourth floor did not take much time to complete once I started, had I been unable to see the Sands of Reality, there would have been no way forward whatsoever."
Alex still reeling from the excitement that had built up in him at the success of his Instant Resonance plan watched the stone door before him.
"Instant resonance, I bet even veteran Hex Masters can't do it."
Alex moved on to the next hex, glee bubbling in his chest as he continued with the activation process comfortably.
However, although the hexes instantly resonated, Alex still spent more than a minute to activate each hex.
With the newly dubbed hex Instant Resonation Technique, Alex discovered a new problem, his expression dulled drastically as he continued activating the hex on the gate.
Although he can instantly resonate with the origin particle, and record their hexes Frequency of Origin, there was still one step he failed to shorten any more than he already has.
As a matter of fact, it was the most troublesome aspect. However, the problem was just too simple to address, but the simpler it was, the more of a hindrance it formed.
Alex was stuck using as long as 50 seconds just to see the particles affected by the hex before using his intent technique to link them to his mind and save their frequency.
Alex stood with his hand on his chin as he started brainstorming possible methods he could apply to improve his resonance technique to make it truly instant.
To the point where all he needed was to glance at the hex to achieve instant resonance.
However, before he could think further about it, a sinister aura rushed towards him from behind sending a shiver up his spine, and drawing him out of his thoughts as though he was splashed with a glass of ice water while daydreaming.
The sinister aura engulfed the entire space and began growing stronger with every passing moment.
Alex had no alternatives, he was running out of time he had to work with what he had.
"What the!!..."
Alex furrowed his brows in annoyance, as unlike in the previous environment, he found it much more challenging to see the floating particles after the aura arrived.
The previous stillness in the hall was gone, and the sinister characteristic of the new invading aura had directly slowed down his progress considerably.
Alex took a deep breath and tried to regather his composure as he worked to speed up his clearing of this floor.
Time was no longer on his side.
However, the more he tried to rush it, the longer it took for the particles to appear.
Soon, Alex due to the distracting nature of the environment, had to take a break and meditate. At this point, he had only cleared seventeen hexes out of the massive one hundred and eight, it was a massive difference from his expected progress.
Alex opened his eyes and a brief flash of a violet flame appeared in his pupils.
He was determined to complete this trial, one way or another.
Shelving his training of intent for the moment, Alex focused on the hex before him and began to pay much closer attention to the changes that occurred whenever he began to see the particles.
Under his close observation, once then twice and then multiple times over, he began to notice the effects.
His thoughts were silenced under his will, his entire focus was trained like a needlepoint, aiming for the precise moment the change in perception occurred.
It was at this moment the changes that occurred within him on the previous floors showed their benefit.
Most persons would be typically unable to silence the background noise in their thoughts, and the changes that occur within them would be drowned in endless cacophony.
But Alex was different, after the previous refining, his thoughts underwent on the last three floors.
His thoughts had evolved into visible winds within his Sea of Consciousness, which made it easy for him to utilise his will for inner silence to calm and eradicate all stray thoughts.
It was an unexpected benefit from the attacks of the thought-stilling winds.
When all his thoughts were intentionally silenced, and his focus was aimed at one thing only, Alex entered into an extraordinary mode he decided to call, Total Calm.
Just like the sounds of his thoughts, the sounds in the surroundings and even normal sounds of life like breathing were blocked out leaving only what he wanted to observe.
Although this state is very dangerous, especially due to the total lack of awareness he had making his guard completely nonexistent, it gets the job done.
In this state of Total Calm, Alex took his time and sensed the changes that occurred the moment he began to see the normally invisible Sands of Reality.
Soon he noticed that the moment the sands became visible, a slight ache was felt in his eyes and at the back of his head.
Apart from these changes, there was no other adjustment in his body.
To further understand the reason for the changes, Alex used Total Calm to focus on another spot in the hallway away from the hexes and to his surprise he was able to see the free particles floating in that area clearly.
Alex took a full moment to understand this new discovery and to his joy he came up with the reason fairly quickly.
Intent was really the cornerstone of strength. The ability to see the free particles was built on three things.
Firstly and most importantly was the focus. The state absolute focus was the first factor that came into play. Then came the intent to see the free particles, and lastly mental energy was consumed during the act of viewing.
The Sands of Reality draw heavily on the individual's mental energy.
With these findings, Alex quickly began experimenting with other methods of boosting his viewing of the free particles, as he continued to activate the hexes calmly, not the least bit worried about the approaching danger.
His calmness in the face of a potential crisis was simply praiseworthy.
Soon Alex discovered the best method to boost his viewing of the particles,
He created a mental lens built from his intent to see the hidden free particles. This intent was then wrapped around his left and right eye connected to a spot at the back of his head via his optic nerve.
The next step was to apply focus, the moment he applied 90% focus on the lens and viewed the outside space with it, he could clearly see the free particles.
He decided to give the new technique a new overbearing name- Realm Eye.
Although the only thing he could see was the free particles in the space around him, he could feel a massive potential in this new prototype technique
Indeed, Alex had no idea that the skill he subconsciously named Realm Eye would become a symbol of peerlessness in the future.
With this tool in his hand, Alex began integrating it into his Instant Resonance Technique.
Alex stood boldly before the final doorway with his handsome features and chiselled jaw, his confidence building up as he overcame one setback after the other, undaunted by the stone door before him.
Alex returned to activating the hexes one after the other, with his staff of intent reaching out on command.
His black eyes were rimmed by a faint violet halo, as he activated his Realm Eye.
Quickly, Alex sped up becoming much faster at the motions.
Relm Eye, then Staff of Intent, Instant Resonance, and finally Activation. On to the next hex,
rinse and repeat
His pace had exploded, spending nothing more than 30 seconds on each hex.
Gradually the massive door began to light up.
50 hexes... 60... 75... 89..
the number kept climbing higher and higher 90 hexes... 97... 100... 105.. and finally, 108. The hexes were cleared.
Boom
The massive stone door emitted a glorious light and began to dissolve like ice cream under the blazing summer sun leaving only a simple white barrier before him.
The fourth floor was cleared.