Restrictions

Walking through the white light barrier, Alex was welcomed by the sight of a well-lit corridor.Taking a few steps into the passageway, Alex noticed a clear difference in the air around him.Just taking a few breaths within the space cleared the headache he had as a result of the continuous resonance and the training he did on his intent.Breathing deeply Alex began feeling the changes within him. The effects of the aura finally made Alex realise what a massive bounty he had stumbled across.The air was filled with a form of purified mental energy. This kind of essence can only be gotten when beings in or above the Grade 7 Divine Will realm die under some very specific conditions.Although Alex had no idea what exactly he was consuming or how valuable and how rare it was.Sitting cross-legged on the spot, he began performing the basic breathing technique he learned in high school and quickly drew more energy into his body.As he did this, his mind and especially his physical body, which had begun to feel weary from the constant consumption of mental energy while activating the hexes, instantly became rejuvenated, like the bottom of a lake in a drought finally meeting a massive thunderstorm.The effect was astonishing. Alex joyfully drew in the abundant energy within the passageway.His mental energy storage was quickly filled to the brim and even overflowed into the sea of consciousness.However, the energy was directly absorbed by the barrier and stored within it. This prevented Alex from overdosing on energy and causing damage.However, Alex failed to notice that the moment the energy overflowed, it was suddenly more difficult to draw in more of it.When the energy met the barrier of the Sea of Consciousness, it was immediately absorbed and like it was an instinct, all the mental energy that overflowed within Alex's body was sucked in by the barrier and stored there.One hour, two hours, four hours and a good 6 hours passed while Alex entered a dream-like state.He felt like he had turned into a transit point of some sort, drawing energy in via the breathing technique and fusing it into the greedy membrane.On the membrane, Alex noticed the formerly light blue barrier had turned a solid deep blue as though the barrier had been reinforced."What if the barrier does not release energy back?"Alex was stumped by the storage capacity of the barrier wall as the energy within it would refill his mental energy reserves about 11 times already.Around the barrier which was previously as clear as the sky on a sunny day, Alex saw a now deep blue barrier decorated with numerous tiny hexes. The sight of which was breathtakingly beautiful.Alex was shocked by this occurrence as he continued to channel the bounty. Soon the energy store reached an estimate of 108 plus units of mental energy before slowing down and gradually stopping.It is of note that one unit of mental energy in this case was the energy needed for Alex to refill his entire mental energy storage.Meaning he now had enough energy in store to train as he wished.Seeing the outpouring of energy gradually stop when he could no longer store it, Alex stood up and took a look around him.He was still in the passageway, however, the barrier he had walked through to his shock was now pitch black.It looked extremely menacing, but strangely no aura fluctuations could be felt in the passageway. It was as though they were separated by a greatdistance.With nothing of note in the passageway, Alex walked further into the hallway.These trials are truly a massive treasure trove. A random test had the potential to plot a marvellous future and still make it up by providing rare resources as rewards for those who completed its challenges.Alex wowed by the trial's generosity sprinted forward in the passageway towards the brighter space ahead of him.Bursting out of the Ascension corridor onto the 5th floor of the Labyrinth.And standing there in the hallway, were two massive stone doors that faced in opposite directions. Unlike the ones on the previous floors that were targeted in the same direction.There seems to be an active force field flowing between both doors.Without wasting any time Alex walked to the door to his right. He felt the aura wafting out of the door and to his shock, there was a hint of hostility emitting from the door.However, it was not targeted at him but rather at the opposite door.Alex knowing the danger was not far behind him anymore, decided to clear this floor at his fastest speed. After all, he had completed the required foundation building on the previous floor.He could now activate the hexes as fast as he could, making sure to gain as many Trump card skills along the way until he completed the trial.With that in mind, taking a deep breath to focus he activated the Realm eye, only to be stunned by the state of the particles.Unlike on the previous floor, where the Sands of Reality were relatively spaced out, where if he wanted to he could directly single them out.In this hex, however, there was a complicated web of particles covering the inner one. Sometimes they might even swap positions.Alex tried using his intent to probe the hex but the moment his intent neared the edge of the web, it was immediately engulfed by the other particles in the web.Instantly the rod-shaped intent Alex formed with his Instant Resonance technique fell towards the ground while gathering free particles along the path of its descent.It gathered momentum onto it and the moment the intent hit the ground it shattered into many particles.This was the first time Alex's intent was destroyed and the connection severed.Stunned, Alex looked at the area where his intent landed and noticed the particles that surrounded them previously did not disperse but were gathered around the fragments of his intent. However, he was unable to reconnect with them.At this moment Alex remembered the ability he obtained when he became the owner of the Cup of Wills.His will was indestructible, and his intent was a fusion of will and mental energy making his intent also indestructible.However, that was of no help as although he did not receive any backlash from severing his connection to the intent, it had tied him down.Alex tried to reform a new intent rod but noticed it was just as difficult to do that as when he first formed it from the sphere.Taking a minute to think, Alex soon found the reason.As his intent was still trapped by the free particles on the floor, unless he resolved them he could not reshape a new intent rod.Alex began to strengthen the connection he had with the pieces of intent while he meditated under Total Calm.Soon, he felt the weak connection and instantly dissolved the solidified intent separating it into his will and ownerless mental energy.After resting for a moment Alex decided to try again. He activated Realm Eye. Alex noticed the web had formed around the hex again.Slowly approaching the hex with his perception, Alex noticed changesin the web of particles.They were arranged in an array so that once it was touched by any intent the web immediately reacted and adhered to the intent.With this knowledge, Alex began a series of experiments and made several discoveries.First test, Alex tried to directly form his intent within the hex as he did initially with the intent sphere, but the moment his intent manifested behind the web, the particles in the web reacted as though they were magnets and were drawn over drowning the intent that was just formed in an instant.On the second try, Alex decided to make the intent he released as thin and short as possible by bringing his head as close to the hex as he could, before releasing the intent. However, the moment he formed the intent outside his body within the scope of the web, it was immediately detected and engulfed.With this Alex knew the only way he could resolve this was by brute force.How to do that was the problem. Calming himself down for a moment, Alex considered all he knew and came up with a plan.He gathered the intent he wanted to use into a simple rod and using a little force he began to compress it. Making it more sturdy and imbibing as much mental energy into it as he could, fusing his will into it, he slowly refined the tip of the rod into a firm arrow tip.When he could no longer compress the intent anymore, Alex engaged his Realm Eye and Total Calm, focusing wholly on the particles behind the web that contained the hex's frequency of origin, and with all his strength of will projected the compressed intent directly at the origin particles of the hex.WooshInstantly like a sharp arrow, the intent shot out of Alex's forehead, broke through the web's restriction and touched the Origin particles behind.The head of the arrow-like intent instantly shattered once it hit the target and enveloped the origin particles the next moment.On the membrane of the sea of consciousness, a clear seal appeared and the frequency of origin for the hex appeared on the seal and was recorded instantly achieving resonance.Excitement filled Alex's mind as he felt the hex activate.He had broken the restriction on a hex for the first time.