Alnea had stepped into the world of Wanderers for over a year. Two, if he counted his time as a Seed. And in those two years, there was hardly any lineage whose Mysteries he had not seen. Creation, Time, Good Fortune, Life, Day, Justice, Lies, Night, Death, Fate, Decay, and Destruction. He had seen Mysteries from all the lineages in actions. Mostly through the hands of his master. She was, after all, omnipotent. It was only natural that she knew Mysteries from all the lineages.

  Yet, omniscient and omnipotent as his master was, even she could not help herself from adding her bias to the Mystery she interpreted through her Arcanas. So, most of the Mysteries he had seen, he had seen from the perspective of other Wanderers. Other than the Mysteries from the lineages on which his Root was based upon, and the lineage he had chosen for his Glyphs, he had hardly encountered Mysteries from other lineages in the Origin Sea. And if not for his frequent exposure to the Mysteries of Life during his Spirit Forging sessions, he probably would have been limited to the three lineages that his Spirit was connected to.

  It was not a speculation. That was just how the Origin Sea worked. The Mysteries that Wanderers encountered in the depths of the Origin Sea were the ones that they had the affinity for. Either from the lineages their Roots were based upon, or directly related to the Glyphs they had carved onto their Spirits. Of course, there were exceptions to all things. Like his master. Even the Origin Sea could not restrict her brilliance. But the rule held true for most Wanderers, including him.

  Consequently, although Alnea had seen the Mysteries from the lineage of Luck, Good Fortune, and Chance in action, he had never experienced it in the Origin Sea. Naturally, he did not know what a Prototype formed by such Mysteries looked like, or at least did not used to know. Staring at the Oren cloud in front of him, he could not help going into a daze, and get lost in his thoughts for a few moments. It was not until he saw the rhythmic beat of the white light shooting off from the Oren cloud that he came back to his senses.

  Blessings of the Origin Sea… Since he knew the general direction of the Mystery, he could proceed to the next step. Checking whether or not he could induce the Mystery that the Prototype was based on to descend through the Oren cloud. Taking deep breaths, ensuring that his Heart was Serene as ever, Alnea turned around, and walked towards the sea of Oren fog.

  Stepping into the fog, he then proceeded to manipulate the Oren around him to simulate the Oren cloud. A tough task, considering that his Spirit could not leave his body. For that, he would have to reach the Mystic Rank. According to the rules of the world, before his Spirit could transform into a Mystic Spirit, it could not even extend from his body. While Oren, by itself, even if it was Artificial, could not react with worldly matter, including his body. To manipulate Oren in such conditions…

  Thankfully, it was not his first time facing such a situation. By focussing all of his Spirit’s concentration onto his palms, and actively trying to attract the Oren his hands were in contact with, he was able to direct them according to his wishes, arranging them in a manner mimicking the Prototype he had interacted with earlier, creating a miniature version of the Prototype in the form of a small spherical Oren cloud. Even the way it kept beating with a white light, illuminating the Oren around him every few seconds, was the same.

  Looking at the sphere in his hands, Alnea felt a little satisfied with himself. Perfectly recreating a Prototype that he had just come in contact with on his first try… His experience with the Mystery Trials had not been in vain. His work was still not done though. If he so wished, he could submit the sphere in his hand as his Arcana, and clear the Trial perfectly. But just Perfect Clearance was not enough.

  After confirming that he could summon the Prototype, Alnea let the sphere in his hand disperse, before reaching out into the Oren sea to mould another sphere. This time though, he deliberately left a flaw in the sphere, one that could potentially disrupt its equilibrium, and waited for the Mystery to do its work. It did not. Then, and only then, did he recognise his mistake.

  No matter how deformed the Prototype was, it was still a Prototype recognised by the Trial Space. It had its own stable structure, and a unique rhythm. Only the Oren structures that resonated with its rhythm would be able to summon it. By deliberating leaving behind a flaw in the sphere, he had also caused its rhythm to be affected. No wonder the Mystery was not summoned. It was as if he had put in the wrong key into the lock, and was hoping for the lock to open on its own. Of course, the sphere would not work.

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  Dispersing the second sphere back into the Oren sea, Alnea began thinking about how to clear the Trial. Inducing the Mystery behind the Prototype to manifest was not going to work. At least he had not found a way to do so. Maybe, if he kept experimenting, he might find way, but it was not worth it. So, he gave up on his first plan, falling back to his backup plan.

  Double summoning? Alnea pondered for a couple of moments, thinking about its feasibility, before nodding to himself, and resuming experiment. This time, he created two spheres, stopping right before completing their structure. Glancing at the inert spheres in his hands, he nodded to himself, before completing their structures, and observing the process of the Prototype being summoned.

  After a while, he dispersed the spheres once again, before recondensing them. This time, he completed only three fourth of their structure, just enough for them to not spontaneously deconstruct on their own. Different from the previous time though, the flaws he left behind in the spheres were designed to complement each other. So, when he brought the two spheres together, and let them merge with each other, two bursts of white light erupted from his hands, beating wildly for a few moments, before collapsing on their own.

  Unstable structure? No, there was no problem with the structure itself. It was how he had joined the two spheres that was the problem. They shared nearly half of each other’s structure. Consequently, the half they shared had to bear twice the burden. Of course, it was going to collapse. So, the question was, how to solve the problem.

  Reduce the common parts between the two spheres? Maybe, but that would be too inefficient. He could have used it if he did not have any other solution. Yet, it just so happened that he had an idea to try. Reaching out to the Oren sea around him, he grabbed a handful of the fog, and moulded it into three spheres, all with roughly a quarter of their parts left unfinished.

  Then, ever so slowly, he merged two of the three spheres with each other, leaving only eighth of their parts missing, which was soon complemented by the third sphere, making the three a whole once again. Almost immediately, three bursts of white light erupted from the mass of Oren in his hands, all beating wildly at their own pace, with no intention of supporting each other.

  Still, at least he managed to keep the spheres from collapsing. Next, he just had to find a way to make the projections of the Prototype being summoned cooperate with each other. Triple Resonance? Alnea thought for a few moments, glancing at the white lights beating in his hand, before shaking his head.

  Resonance worked only in cases where there was something to resonate with. How could he make something as ethereal as Blessings resonate with each other? Maybe, if he had enough experience with the lineage of Good Fortune, he could have made it work. As things stood though, that plan was not going to work. As such, he could only fall back to the next best option, and superimpose the projection of Mysteries on each other. But first, he had to get them in sync.

  Some ten to twenty experiments later, he finally found the best combination that could synchronise the three projections of the Mysteries, and superimpose roughly half of their effects, acting at least twice as effectively as the Prototype. Of all his attempts, this was his best result. And he did not see himself doing better any time soon.

  Besides, he had already wasted roughly an hour in the Trial, not to mention the twenty something attempts he took create his Arcana. So, after he created a version that he was finally satisfied with, he did not waste time in submitting it, and waited patiently for the result, as the Trial Space returned to darkness.

  “Congratulations, Blood Soldier N 06 08499, for passing the first level of the Initial Stage Arcana Trial…”

  “You have cleared the Trial perfectly.”

  “Time taken to create the Arcana: 57 minutes, 13 seconds.”

  “Tries taken to create the Arcana: 23.”

  “Estimated Grade of the Arcana: Transcendent.”

  “Records broken: One.”

  “Perfect clearance of Trials: One.”

  “Blood Soldier N 06 08499, you have been rewarded with twenty Blood Coins and a Low Grade Arcana Medal.”

  “Reminder: Arcana Medal can be claimed at only the reception of the Martial Hall.”

  “Do you wish to continue with the Trials, or do you wish to leave the Trial Space?”

  “Reminder: Regardless of how many Trials you challenge, you will have to pay ten Blood Coins every time you enter the Initial Stage Trial Space…”