Chapter 10: One Out Of Six

One hundred thousand pieces of spiritual knowledge encompassed Zax from every direction.

Since he began meditating, twenty two days have passed. Of the one hundred thousand fragments, it took Zax seventeen days to appreciate all the fragments, and in the past five days, he ceaselessly pondered and toiled to create the right combination of the great puzzle.

In the pitch black world of the violet stone, there were now individual pieces of spiritual knowledge, along with twenty seven combinations. The largest combination had three hundred and sixty nine fragments combined. The smallest combination had only the minimum two fragments connecting to each other.

It was much easier for Zax create many combinations than just investing himself on one. The implications were that his soul barely improved its cultivation. To form a largest picture of a sublime whole was the principle of Adraak Meditation, only like that a cultivator could better uncover and perceive the intimate spiritual knowledge from the subliminal mind. When instead of working to enlarge one combination, a cultivator chooses to create many, the cultivation of the soul will cease until combining all separated combinations or creating a new largest.

A simpler manner to explain the two methods ... Creating one combination will constantly improve the soul as the combination gets bigger. Creating many combinations and then combining them will improve the soul in one gigantic leap.

Currently, Zax preferred the latter method because his soul was at the Peak phase of the Mist Master level. Inside his sea of consciousness, the juncture that leads to the bottleneck of the Mist Lord level was in plain sight of his mind eye.

To pass the juncture Zax had to improve his comprehensive abilities, and to break through the bottleneck, he had to accumulate enough soul energy.

The twenty second day.

Zax stopped combining fragments, creating more combination of the great puzzle. A certain bright speck of light attracted his attention and did not let go.

The speck of light seemed outlandish in this world of pitch black. Zax detected it accidentally within one of the twenty seven combinations he made, when he looked for individual fragments for creating the twenty eighth combination. He did not know how he could miss the extraordinary speck of light. After looking at it for five and a half hours, the speck of light was clear to him like the brightness of a Sun Stone.

'That light ... did I not see it already?' After hours of spectating, Zax started to wonder. 'I did ... not see it, but perceived something that felt the same'.

The combination the speck of light appeared on was of three combined fragments. Holding this small combination, Zax looked for more fragments that could fit it.

'No'. He declared without looking at the individual fragment. 'No, no, no, no... ' There were many individual fragments, finding one for this three pieces combination was taxing. Moreover, Zax's gaze did not leave the speck of light and watched it as if afraid that it will disappear if his attention would waver.

'What are you?' Despite the arduous work of finding the right fragments, Zax was in a completely serene state of mind. Without even noticing, he stopped searching for fragments and just floated in the pitch black world with the three pieces combination in his hand.

'Ah ... such a wonderful, sweet smell... ' Zax's inner mind, inside the violet stone, suddenly became ecstatic. A fragrance Zax never smelled before in his life assaulted his mine and gradually took over, surpassing all his other senses. 'Nice, it's so nice, Ahmm... '

Inside the pitch black world Zax stopped seeing hearing, feeling, and if there was something to eat inside of it, then tasting, as well. All that was left were his sense of smell and enticed awareness of the inner mind.

Without realizing, Zax pressed himself against the three pieces combination. The intoxicating fragrance was oozing from the speck of light and inhaled into Zax's soul.

Inside Zax's sea of consciousness, the dark attribute that was merged with Zax's soul, released a black radiance. Zax's blurred soul trembled. It was being refined by the fragrance of the speck of light and the radiance of the dark attribute simultaneously.

'Here it is!' Zax was absent minded with regards to refinement process of the speck of light's fragrance. What he did sense, was the unexpected of activity of the dark attribute. 'Inside this radiance there is something exactly the same as the speck of light'. Zax rediscovered what made him feel familiar with the speck of light.

'But to what is the dark attribute reaction? It is actually doing something to my soul. My soul becomes less hazy, as if it has a shape behind all obscurity!' It was a moment of unprecedented novelty for Zax, the sensation of a forthcoming new birth.

BOOM!

A huge explosion erupted for Zax's soul. The juncture and bottleneck to the Mist Lord level were completely eradicated. The refinement process of the black radiance and the fragrance of the speck of light was finished. The fragrance had been integrated with Zax's soul and the soul itself was less blurry. But to Zax, who only sensed the black attribute in his sea of consciousness, the breakthrough to the Beginner phase of the Mist Lord level felt like a stroke of luck.

'The speck of light vanished?!' As his senses returned, Zax's inner mind regained its awareness in the black pitch world of the violet stone.

The three pieces combination was still in his hold, but the speck of light was nowhere to be seen and the fragrance was gone along with it.

'I haven't made any improvement in the combinations, but I still managed to break through the Mist Lord level. Was it really due to the dark attribute?' Zax wondered. 'I'll ask Laivien'. He decided.

...

Opening his eyes after twenty two days was a first for Zax, since he began his training. He raised his head from the violet stone and retracted his hand from it.

"Eh, this smell..." Upon gaining lucidity with his outer mind, Zax sense of smell suddenly picked an indistinct scent of unfathomable aroma. 'Where is it coming from?' He turned his head to look, but nothing was different in the surrounding since his awareness was sucked into the violet stone.

"WOW!" Zax could not hold in his bewilderment. The scent was too copious and pristine. It lingered in the air, yet it was unknown from where it was coming from, there was no trail to follow.

"Mmmm..." Beside him, Laivien murmured as if waking up from a deep slumber. She raised her head and neck.

"Laivien, hahaha, can you smell it? What is this smell? Does it belong to your valley?" Captivated by the unique scent, Zax had a profound desire to find its source.

Staring at Zax with a thoughtful look, Laivien carefully chose her words before speaking. "You actually broke through within the month, little Zax". She was pleasantly surprised, but her eyes flashed with a hint of greater astonishment than she let out in her voice.

"I did". Zax smiled back at Laivien. Though there were some questions on his mind about the event of his breakthrough, he was happy with himself. With this new addition in strength to his soul, he wanted to know how he would fare now against a soul attack or the Soul Sense of a second level Core Master. Well ... he wanted to know, after Laivien will answer him about the scent. "But, Laivien, this smell, can you tell me where is it coming from?" He continued to ask unrestrained.

"I can try, little Zax, but you will have to calm down first". Laivien instructed.

"Fine". Zax complied, a bit dissatisfied. The scent was so invigorating; he wanted to chase it even if he had to search heaven and earth to find its source.

"Little Zax, you are saying that you smell an alluring scent?" Laivien asked to confirm and think a little further.