Polarised

Alex had no idea what were the implications of this ability.

Using the indestructibility quality of his will as an arrowhead, he found the weak point of the restriction by observing the web's intricate pattern. Using the self-developed skill of Total Calm, directly using the abundant mental energy in his mind as a launcher, he fired the arrowhead at the web like a beam of light. Alex breached the restriction and got to the Origin particles.

With the mirroring ability of his sea of consciousness membrane, he saved the frequency and resonated with the hex, activating it.

It was a successful operation. However, the time it took to accomplish this was nothing to scoff at as he was forced to spend 5 hours on the whole process.

Alex began to examine the next hex and as expected there was a similar restriction on it.

Without wasting any more time Alex came up with his training target

One, continue to activate the hexes no matter how long it takes.

Two, make every effort to shorten the time taken to activate each hex.

Three, train his intent to draw farther and higher from his body in a straight line.

At this point, Alex could only extend his intent to a distance of 3 meters away from his body.

With these three goals, Alex continued to activate the hexes one by one.

Half a day went by and he was far from getting to the halfway point, barely covering one-third of the door.

The slow progress and the mounting pressure of the impending disaster brought Alex deeper into the abyss of frustration.

"I am not getting anywhere at this pace. I need to do something."

Taking a deep breath Alex began brainstorming on how best to achieve his three goals in the shortest amount of time.

After pondering over the matter for a good half hour he arrived at one factor that can influence his speed unlike any other-

His ability to resist the free particle's influence on his intent.

Once that was resolved Alex would find himself on the highway once again.

If there was one thing Alex knew how to do almost too well, it was the act of letting his mind and thoughts wander in every possible direction seeking a solution while performing a repetitive task. And so that was what he did.

Alex took his time activating the hexes while he pondered endlessly on the possible methods he could use to improve his intent's resistance to the free particles.

Soon he arrived at the last 8 hexes on the door. This meant that he had cleared a whole one-tenth of the hexes in slightly more than a day.

At this point, Alex would have been worn down in mental exhaustion if not for the vast amounts of mental energy he had stolen in the corridor earlier.

Suddenly a strange line of thought entered his mind.

The moment he tried to grab onto it, he felt a trembling deep within his sea of consciousness and the thought escaped him.

Stunned Alex failed at his compression and immediately began retracing his thoughts.

"I was thinking about why hexes could command these free particles, while they were non-living things without an intent.

Then my thoughts wandered to the origin of hexes, who created hexes, how were they discovered, and from my inference, it was likely an advanced and efficient means of using intent without constantly inputting mental energy.

It was likely found as a result of research done on the burdens of using supernatural abilities on mental energy over long periods or as a by-product of armament makers who unintentionally willed their intent into their products, forming hexes as an unexpected by-product.

Consequently, the hex is a creation of intent, will and the Sands of Reality, with mental energy serving as the primary catalyst.

With this quality, how can the hex that exists because of intent, be immune to the effects of free particles on it, and even bear restrictions built from it?

Stuck at this point, Alex could not think of a reason. It appeared the solution had come to him at that previous moment but it quickly vanished.

With no further progress, Alex streamlined his thoughts to focus on this problem.

Meanwhile, he continued to activate the hexes following the pattern of, compressing the rod of intent, forming an arrowhead of will, focusing on the restriction weak point, and then firing at it, immediately capturing the Origin particles, and resonating to activate the hex.

A six-step process looked simple to follow, but the time it took to compress the intent into a firm link was simply discouraging, not to mention the amount of mental energy it consumed.

Even with Alex's reserves, it would be a miracle if he could clear the 5th floor without running out and needing to spend hours of rest to recover.

Unfortunately for Alex, he still could not find the final answer.

Although he could not come to a conclusion, he still found a viable answer- aura.

The aura present in his intent was inherently attractive to these free particles, causing them to damage it when they sense it passing by, unlike the restriction that attacks any immaterial entity that touched their area of effect.

If he could find the source of this aura and block it, he would be halfway out of the crisis.

While pondering this, the door ahead of him released a spectacular light that washed over him, as the stone door blocking him vanished alongside the powerful aura it emitted- which was targeted at the opposite door.

Turning around, Alex walked towards the next doorway which was still releasing its aura in this direction, now with even greater force.

Brushing off the aura as it breezed past him, Alex stood in front of the door on the left and tried to begin the established methods of activation.

After compression, he released the intent at the weak point on the restriction, which to his joy and relief was very similar to those on the previous door.

However, to his dismay the moment he released the intent at the origin particles, there was a soft explosion and the particle directly shattered his intent instead of resonating with it.

Alex was once again stunned.

His face turned pale as he attempted to resonate again, only to waste his mental energy after the intent was shattered by the Origin particles.

At this point, a feeling of desperation fused with frustration had built up in him.

After all the incessant challenges, with unrelenting difficulties that could not be resolved with brute strength like in the trial of determination, but required an on-the-spot solution or the fate was death in the end, Alex's mind was approaching its bottom line.

Unknown to Alex, the current hindrance he was facing could be attributed to his lack of formal education on the art of hex mastery, as in formal institutions, teachers and mentors would guide their students on the core knowledge of hex mastery that went beyond that which was made known to the general public.

The problem Alex was stumped by could be summed up in a single word - Polarized.

When resonance occurs, the frequency of origin of that hex leaves an imprint naturally on the entire intent of the individual, making it easier for that person to activate that frequency on their own to form the same hex again.

However, when this frequency marker is not used for a long period, it will gradually fade off. But if the intent of an individual should resonate with one frequency, this marker makes it much harder for them to resonate with those of a different frequency.

Alex had previously faced such a hindrance earlier on the previous floor, however, he had powered through it without knowing the solution.

Although, at the time the reaction was not this violent and could not shake his intent, unlike the current setback.

Alex sat on the floor weakly, dropping his head in defeat due to the burden on his shoulders, the thought of giving up crossed his mind.

But the moment that notion appeared, it seemed to provoke something within Alex and he recalled all he had already passed through. Alex immediately recovered his resolve.

Closing his eyes Alex began to use his perception and not sight to sense the doorway ahead, activating Total Calm.

In the silence of his focus, he began to notice the strong sense of rejection he felt from the door on his perception.

It was pushing against the perception he extended out of his body, like a steady gust of wind.

At this, Alex had an idea he needed to verify.

Gradually he extended a strand of intent out of his body while maintaining his perception. Immediately, he noticed the increase in pressure the instant the intent neared the doorway.

The door was rejecting his intent.

With this discovery, Alex began to search for what part of his intent was rejected by the doorway.

He tried his will and noticed the rejection was not as strong, and slowly attempted to fuse a little mental energy into the strand of will outside his body to form intent.

Only for him to be hit by a brutal surprise when the gusty aura from the door directly obliterated the mental energy.

Immediately, Alex began to trace the problem within the mental energy, and soon he had the prime suspect.

While he was resonating with the hexes on the previous door, his intent had not only been marked by the frequency of those hexes, but the aura of the hex had directly infected his intent when they connected.

Now he was faced with a new challenge.

How to purify his mental energy.