The chamber shimmered with golden light, its walls vanishing into a boundless horizon of radiance. Jalen stood alone beneath a suspended sun—no illusion, no construct, but a condensed core of solar qi, pulsing with divine heat.
A voice echoed, calm and cruel: "Trial Seven: Solar Bath. Endure for three hours to be prepared for transformation. Failure means erasure."
Then the light descended.
At first, Jalen's body held. His fire qi surged to the surface, forming a thin veil of resistance. The heat was immense but familiar—like the Scorch Realm, like the divine flames he'd once wielded. His skin glowed red, his breath was steady, and his stance was firm.
But the sun did not relent. It intensified.
His robes disintegrated within minutes, reduced to ash. Sweat evaporated before it could form. The light began to pierce deeper—not just burning flesh, but probing bone, marrow, and spirit.
By the second hour, Jalen was no longer glowing—he was blackened. His skin cracked like scorched earth, his hair was gone, and his body trembled violently. Every breath was agony. Every second, a war.
He screamed—not in surrender, but in defiance.
The Origin Shard fused within his primary spirit core pulsed faintly, absorbing the most lethal rays. It didn't shield him entirely, but it prevented total disintegration. Some rays were diverted. Others were absorbed into his cells, catalyzing a slow, painful metamorphosis.
His body began to change—not visibly, but internally. The light was rewriting him.
By the final hour, Jalen could no longer stand. He collapsed, limbs twisted, breath shallow. His body resembled a corpse—charcoal skin, hollow eyes, no qi left to summon.
But he was still breathing.
And that was enough.
The sun pulsed once, then vanished. The chamber dimmed. Silence fell.
Then the voice returned: "Trial Complete. Solar Flare Technique Acquired."
Solar Flare—A seismic burst of solar qi that radiates outward in concentric waves, capable of vaporizing projectiles, destabilizing formations, and repelling enemies with pure light force. The technique draws from the pain of the Solar Bath, weaponizing endurance into devastation.
"Now on to the next trial, Light Physique. But first."
A wave of golden energy surged through Jalen's body, restoring him instantly. Skin regenerated. Muscles reformed. His clothing returned, pristine. But something had changed.
Jalen rose slowly, eyes gleaming with residual sunlight. His body felt lighter, stronger—not yet transformed, but primed.
The chamber pulsed again, and the scenery changed; it was empty with just a single pedestal, upon which hovered a radiant crystal containing a Light Spirit Seed. One that is far superior to the one he and Lloyd shared in the vault a few years back.
The seed surged forward, piercing into Jalen's chest and embedding itself within his primary core. There was no pain—only warmth. Within moments, his body began to change.
His qi channels expanded. His bones lightened. His muscles refined. Light qi flooded his meridians, replacing the remnants of flame and wind. The transformation was seamless—not because the trial was easy, but because everything Jalen had endured had prepared him for this moment.
By the hour's end, his body shimmered with radiant threads. He had attained the Light Physique—rare, revered, and perfectly attuned to the trials ahead.
"Trial Complete. Light Physique Acquired."
The ninth chamber was a sanctuary of healing. A glowing lotus bloomed at its center, pulsing with restorative light.
"Trial Nine: Light Lotus."
Jalen stepped forward, and the lotus dissolved into his spirit sea. A new technique bloomed within him:
Light Lotus—A self-healing art that restores qi and body condition:
100% restoration once per week 50% restoration on second use 20% restoration on third use
It was more than recovery—it was resilience incarnate.
Then came the final chamber.
"Trial Ten: Light Ascendant."
A staircase of light rose before him—ten steps, each one harder to climb than the last. With each step, his body weakened, but his spirit grew stronger. Pain gave way to clarity. Doubt gave way to surrender.
At the final step, he was weightless—no longer bound by gravity, fear, or ego.
He didn't ascend by force. He ascended by surrender.
Reward: Ascendant Form (Light State) A temporary transformation that enhances all light-based techniques and allows flight without qi expenditure.
As the final trial faded into silence, the light orb, Luminal Heart, descended slowly, pulsing with divine rhythm. Jalen stood still, his body battered, his soul tempered, his spirit ready.
The orb hovered before his chest, then surged forward—piercing into his dantian.
But there was no pain.
Only warmth.
It spread like sunlight through his veins, gentle and pure. His body glowed faintly, the light wrapping around not just his primary core but also his second spirit core like silk. Eventually it becomes one with both cores and the origin shard, making Jalen's light qi even more dense than even the other three elemental qi currently in his body. His primary core had doubled in size, and his dantian expanded with it. His realm also took another step, the mid-sage realm.
He opened his eyes. They gleamed with clarity.
The sub-realm shimmered once more, then collapsed into a single beam of light that carried him upward, back to the mist-shrouded island where it all began.
He stood beneath the open sky, the wind brushing his robes. Only three days had passed.
But he knew what that meant.
The Solar Clan's elite—those who he deduced were sent out to capture her—would already be on the Ruona Continent, where they believe she is staying, perhaps even nearing the Flare Compound.
But now that he possesses light qi even stronger than before, he is now able to use all the techniques he learned, one of them being the eleventh technique of the Light Art, Flash Reversion. After three usages, he should be able to get to his destination in a few hours.