Chapter 10: A mediocre physique.
1467 Words
Seventy feet tall. Twice as large as a basketball field. This was the chamber where they stood. Its ground surface was even smoother than polished stone, flawless in every direction, except at a certain area in the middle.
There, a structure stood, a building that resembled the exterior of an elevator room, though its form was round. Its walls were seamless and unbroken, curving like the body of a colossal pillar carved with unseen precision. It stretched upward from the floor level, reaching all the way to the ceiling, a perfect cylinder of unknown craft. Its circumference was vast enough to house ten people within, the hollow space inside echoing with a strange stillness.
Like a room housing an elevator, it possessed multiple floor levels, much like a tower. But it bore only a single entrance, a solitary door fixed at the first floor. No windows marked its surface, no balconies broke its form, it rose plain and unadorned, a silent sentinel in the center of the room.
And yet, despite this structure, the chamber itself had no other levels. It was a vast hall, open, immense, as though carved for the banquets of forgotten kings.
Its size was impressive, but its color was not. A deep, r****h red coated the expanse, dulling what might otherwise have been awe-inspiring.
Before they had come into this place, before they stood in this room, one-quarter filled with spiritual workout equipment of the Light attribute, they had walked in a corridor. A corridor they had entered after emerging from a different chamber, right after their arrival upon one of the greatest of the floating islands.
That chamber had been immense, so immense it could span five international football stadiums. There, upon walls painted in stark white, mysterious text sprawled across every surface, sacred and enigmatic. To most, it might have been ancient wisdom, but to Ngwan Le, it was nothing but mystery. The walls themselves were fashioned of brick, yet the ground, the ground was another matter entirely.
It was a crystalline surface, forged of countless particles. But unlike glass or diamond, it did not shine, nor did it reveal reflections.
As they walked, she began to share some information with Ngwan Le.
“As a disciple of Light, you should be aware of this upcoming trial that will be taking place in three months’ time,” she asked.
'You’re going to make me even crazier. First a disciple of Light, and now this, a trial?' The thought struck him like a hammer, heavy. His expression remained clueless as he looked at her, eyes searching for a meaning he could not grasp. The silence between them thickened, the very air quivering as though reality itself expected his answer.
“Hum. It seems that apart from your mediocre physique, your intelligence is also lacking,” she replied insultingly, her words sharp as blades, spoken a moment after she had seen the expression on Ngwan Le’s face. Her tone, beautiful yet cruel.
Then she ordered, her voice as beautiful as ever. “Listen very well. Disciples of Light are those born with the seed of Light, which may grant them the power to form a Light soul.” She stopped, silence weighing the air, then took a second look at Ngwan Le before pointing out an aspect, as though etching truth into his very bones. “But in order to do that, you would first need to have the appropriate physique.” Her words lingered.
'To say my intelligence is not that high is acceptable. But to even insult my physique, that’s too much,' Ngwan Le thought, his pride trembling under her calm disdain. Before he asked, his voice low but steady, “The appropriate physique.”
She replied, as if the matter were trivial. “Yes. What do you think?”
Then again, with her beautiful voice, she proceeded, words like light threading through darkness. “This specific physique is called the Crystalline Light Physique. And as you build up this physique, construct or acquire it, the dormant Light seed that dwelled in you will grow with it and mature, transforming into a flower ready to bloom.” Her voice painted the image in his mind, a crystalline body, radiant and pure, with a blazing flower of light unfolding within.
She paused for a while, her eyes glimmering, then said slowly, each syllable deliberate. “Let’s first restructure your body.”
'Restructure my body. Is that how I will acquire that physique?' He thought, but remained silent.
This brought some thought to her, *What a strange person, dumb sometimes and smart.* Her gaze lingered on him.
She stopped her long walk. In front of her, a space opened, rippling in the air like a veil being torn, right after her body emitted a Light sound. The note was pure, otherworldly, and the fabric of reality obeyed. This space brought them inside a corridor, shimmering like a passage between realms.
A corridor which led them inside this seventy-foot-tall spacious room.
Though it could not be seen, Ngwan Le was amazed at what he saw as he stood inside that room. Being someone who had walked the path of martial arts, mostly as someone who had once used the power of Light, to him this room was like paradise.
'With those equipment scattered all around this place in hand, if I could cultivate the power of Light in this world, within a year I would stand at the peak of the Eleventh Cycle Realm.'
The thought stirred old wounds, memories. But even so, Ngwan Le couldn’t help the thrill rising in his chest. Joy flickered there, sharp and undeniable. He was glad to have witnessed this.
Yet he did not regret his choice. Not once. His refusal to come here before his death remained firm, even when Light, his own spiritual entity, had urged him otherwise.
“What are you waiting for?”
The angel-like figure’s voice split the silence.
Ngwan Le flinched. The sudden words nearly sent him tumbling to the ground. 'Has she seen through me?' His heart clenched. Instinctively, he dropped into a stance, ready to fight. Ready to fall. For he knew the truth, he could not win.
But a fearless man must remain fearless, even staring death in the eye.
He was just about to strike when she moved first. With a gesture, a crushing power surged out, vast enough to tilt the heavens, enough to turn the earth itself. It seized him like a doll and hurled him toward the towering structure ahead.
The very one that stood at the center of the room, its frame like the chamber of an elevator. The doors yawned open at his approach, swallowing him whole.
Thrown into the strange room, Ngwan Le stumbled slightly, his eyes scanning the confines. 'So this is how she wants to play it, no need to dirty her hands,' he thought bitterly.
The room wasn’t suffocating in the way a sealed chamber might be. But the heat, the heat was different. It was a living thing, pressing against his skin, melting his clothes, weighing him down as if the very air had turned molten. Every breath felt like inhaling fire.
The elevator-like chamber hummed with an invisible intensity, radiating a heat that made Ngwan Le’s vision blur. Dizziness threatened to topple him, but he forced his legs to hold.
'So this is my second death,' he thought, swallowing hard. 'To be melted alive.'
And then it struck the angel-like figure observing him. A small sigh, almost a whisper, escaped her.
'Tsk, I forgot to tell him.'
She looked toward the eastern wall, where the equipment waited, neatly hung from iron bars, supported by thick, sturdy pillars. The armor, or whatever protective gear it was, shimmered faintly, untouched. He was supposed to wear that before entering.
Her lips curved slightly, a hint of amusement and annoyance mingling. 'Why bother now? It’s his fault.'
Ngwan Le, meanwhile, was hyper-aware of the heat. He expected his skin to blister, his flesh to burn under the furnace-like intensity, but nothing happened. Not a mark.
Yet he was sweating.
His body was fully exposed, but he remained, whole.
“My body, why isn’t it melting?” He exclaimed. 'Contrary to that, my physique seems to have improved,' he thought.
“Is this how my physique will be reconstructed?” He asked her.
“Soon the system interface will appear. And by that time, everything will become clear.”
She paused. Then concluded as she walked out. “Come meet me as soon as you’re out.”
'The system interface,' Ngwan Le thought.
Then, after a tickling sound pierced through the room silently.
“Now that I heard it more clearly. This sound is just like that of a clock.”
- Writer
