Mystical Journey

The hall was empty and deserted, no sounds could be heard.

The statues were seated high above in a circle, overlooking the entrance where Garen was standing. He felt as if his entire body was being cut, their horrible vision like a searchlight focused on him.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Hu…

Snap!

He took his first step and as his heavy step made contact with the ground, a crisp crumble could be heard.

He made his way into the center of the hall, his wide white cape moved along with his movements, just like a cloak. At this moment, the Crystal Pauldron suddenly lit up like it was signaling his Three Hearted identity.

As he reached the center of the hall, Garen got down on one knee. It seemed as if he was burdened by a thousand grams worth of weight on his shoulders as he fell to the ground. It was so heavy that even the ground made a sound as if it was protesting against the heavy burden.

Traces of energy fields with various properties were jumbled up and fiercely smothered Garen until he was crushed to the point where he could hardly breathe.

He could already feel the main subject of this sense of power letting him go easily, but this terrifying energy field still had an overwhelming effect on him. His muscles, bones and blood were trembling under the high pressure, his heart beating rapidly, pushing his bloodstream forward repeatedly to defend himself from the high external force.

Garen could only feel his body cells quivering and an excruciating pain was spreading on his skin as if it was being torn apart or being skinned alive.

Inside the hall, traces of white frost were slowly forming cohesion under the effect of different energy fields, forming a light swirl of white whirlwind around Garen.

Outside the hall, an old and week elderly woman appeared at the entrance, she held a walking stick and was dressed in a white robe and she stood there, staring at Garen silently.

"How long do you think he will be able to withstand it?"

"Usually I'd say about ten minutes. However, his determination is quite solid, so I think he can go up to twenty," the pale woman who appeared earlier on was floating behind the elderly woman.

"Ancestral shrine visits, baptism always comes first, then a life-changing of oppressive exercises. The more one can withstand, the more improvements in one's Scarlet Snow Technique, setting a strong foundation for the next advance. There's about a thousand years worth of Cold Radiation accumulated in the ancestral statues. If you have enough determination and your body is strong enough to bear, you'd be able to exceed your limits and increase your powers," the old woman spoke. "Eva chose him among all the other Two Hearted disciples, it's not just that simple. Twenty minutes is too little."

"It's not little, he'd be able to raise his Scarlet Snow Technique to at least a Level Nine," the pale woman responded in a hushed tone.

"Thinking back, I only managed to upgrade one level of technique here to enter the Half-Moon Level, but it's easier to increase your level when you start off low. I think he is able to pass five levels, he'll reach Level Ten!" The old woman spoke calmly.

"Even Carthage only went up three levels, and that's a talented prodigy you only see once in a hundred years," the pale lady cast a glance at the old woman.

"Just see for yourself."

Boom!!!!

Inside the hall, the ground suddenly split open like a spider web with Garen at the center.

A vast amount of Frost surrounded him, dancing around him rapidly, almost forming a white frost column.

Countless frost air rushed into Garen's body, boosting the Cold Scarlet Snow within him. These frosts were the purest Scarlet Snow Techniques without any Willpower, just that they seemed slightly agitated which meant that he needed to endure a large amount of pain to support his body.

Snowflakes were cutting all over his entire body. These snowflakes seemed to have a form but they were actually unrealistic objects made up by an illusion and they were not causing any harm to Garen's clothing, but they pierced through his clothes and shot through his body, causing him unbearable pain.

"My powers… They're leveling up!!" Garen could feel something out of the ordinary. His Scarlet Snow Technique which was originally a fresh Level Eight, the standard of a Level Four Energy Machinist, was now steadily heading towards Level Nine under the support of the strong frost.

The Cold Scarlet Snow Technique originated from the same root as this trace of frost, even though it was nothing compared to the Peacock Technique, he felt an immense force within hiding his Peacock Technique entirely.

At this moment, Garen could feel his entire body being instilled a vast amount of Scarlet Snow Technique frost. He felt his body absorbing the frost greedily like a sponge but also felt agonizing pain at the same time.

After traveling through different worlds, Garen had gone through numerous pains of reforming his body, he had experienced the pain of rotting in the Mother Stream for numerous months, different cruel battles, killings and the misery of mutilation. In comparison, those torments did nothing to shake his determination.

All he needed to consider was how long his body could handle this.

The huge amount of frost was still entering his body. From the need of accumulating skills in terms of years, right this moment with the aid of the frost instilling his body, his skills were increasing rapidly and in just a few minutes, Garen had saved up at least a couple years of hard work.

The frost was increasing by the second and getting tyrannical, Garen could feel his body getting weaker, he felt as if his body was a balloon filled with air, already expanding to its limit and close to exploding.

Finally, he let go the absorption of frost and turned to fight against it, a thought of retreating crossed his mind.

Suddenly, the frosty snow cleared the sky and the second he thought of retreating, all traces of frost vanished instantly, as if everything earlier on was just an illusion.

A beam of red glow spurted out of Garen's mouth with a sputter and circled him once before disappearing into his mouth again.

That was the new Scarlet Snow Technique Imprint, which meant that he managed to break through two levels of Scarlet Snow Technique and had reached the standard of a Level-Five Energy Machinist! Only a breakthrough of one level was able to form a new Scarlet Snow Technique Imprint.

A sudden blur of sight, Garen disappeared inside the hall and reappeared at the dark hallway outside the hall.

He still remained in the same position with one knee on the ground, but this time with a force of energy field holding him up.

It was the old lady standing at the side, Sister Rainy, and the pale lady who guided him earlier on.

"You managed to break through two levels of Scarlet Snow Technique, that saves you ten or more years of hard work, not bad, not bad at all! You've almost reached the elderly First Seat, Ron Belle, and the third elderly First Seat, Cargus. We know about the Spirit Mothership incident, your determination and your physique are your strengths, and that is why you'll be able to benefit a lot over here, or else third sister Eva wouldn't have pulled so many strings to let you advance to Three Hearted that early," Sister Rainy smiled at Garen.

"I will always remember what third sister did for me," Garen said solemnly. Paying respects to the ancestors this time around helped him a lot by saving him at least ten years of hard work!

To able to instill power directly, he had never heard of such a valuable place, so he could hardly imagine the sacrifices sister Eva had paid to make this happen.

"Third sister did all this for the future of our sector," the pale lady explained. "Master is old and weak already and although her body is not failing, after so many years, the highest level is only the Inherited Level disciple. The new generation never succeeded in replacing the older generation. Luckily, we had Carthage and perhaps we shall be calling him Great Brother soon, once he breaks through the Inherited Level and increases his combat power, with the addition of his born talent he'd be able to skip levels and even battle those above Level Seven. By then he'd be able to share the other masters' burden."

Old woman Rainy continued, "But unfortunately, sister Eva never really took a liking towards Carthage and his arrogance, they just can't get along well. She's been putting in so much effort all these years in discovering new talents to find someone capable of going up against Carthage, so that life wouldn't be hard when Carthage takes over a high position in the future. Just because Master adores her, she was allowed to have her friends over at the Central Metropolis look out for disciples recruited by the big sects."

"So she found me slightly better than all the other chosen people?" Garen could feel the completely new Level-Five energy within him, the Scarlet Snow Technique was layering thick within his body like a surge of strong tide, it was even a level stronger than his Willpower back when he was a Pilot.

After upgrading a level in his Willpower, his evolved creatures were sure to increase in power as well, especially the wolf pack, they were originally at their Peak Level Three, so now they would be able to reach Level Four, an Energy Machinist's increment was actually joined.

"You're more or less her only hope left. You're not just someone slightly better. It's like she found something precious to save lives and she's holding onto it tightly," the pale woman shook her head helplessly.

"To be honest, even though Carthage is a bit too arrogant, he treats his men well, especially towards sister Eva, but sadly, she doesn't accept his friendliness."

"Alright, we have all the information and rules explained in the library, you can help yourself with the trophy classics collection stored on the third floor. There are other skills and techniques of other sects that you can look at too. Although they're not as powerful as my Scarlet Snow

Techniques, you can still have a look," the old woman said.

Garen nodded in appreciation.

"However, instead of doing all this, I'd like to first steady my own level, get used to my current strength and power, I'm wondering if you have the suitable facility here."

He had already fused the Winter Night Wolf Pack that third sister gave him before he came, this Energy Machine Imprint was able to nurture Level-Four based wolves, which were also known as Black Wolves, just that they were smaller in size but stronger. Now that he had reached Level Five and was able to produce his own defensive energy field, his combat power had taken a great leap in improvement. Furthermore, the larger the number of Winter Night Wolves, the higher his comprehensive quality.

"You want to test out your new Winter Night Wolf Pack?" A gleam of light flickered through the old woman's eyes.

"Yes," Garen nodded.

"Alright, I can accompany you," the old woman let out an eerie laugh. She was also curious as to which level can Garen achieve. With the increment of Garen's current level and his Energy Machinist biochemical pool along with his Winter Night Wolf Pack, his wolves must have reached resonance stage already, as to which stage, she was still unsure. Every level of the resonance stage differs greatly, but every increment has its own limits and restrictions, so it was impossible that they could improve continuously.

This was a great opportunity to test out Garen's true capabilities.