Villain With The Strongest System

"So I'm just supposed to fully immerse myself into the pool, there's no other catch?" Rocky asked, wondering if the promotion test was supposed to be so simple?

"Yes, you only have to slowly immerse yourself into the water up till your neck and survive for the next 30 minutes. It is really as simple as it sounds-" The three eyed demon said, however, the way she said it with a sinister smile on her face, made Rocky feel like there was definitely more to this challenge than what met his eye.

According to the book of champions, the challenges that one faced in the Origin Realm, 'Vorithra Slyithen', were much more dangerous than the normal promotion exams faced by other climbers, so although this pool of water seemed innocent and harmless, Rocky was sure that it most definitely hid untold dangers.

However, with no better option than to try, Rocky eventually took a deep breath and decided to wade into the lake water.

As he stepped into the water, the cold of the lake sent shivers through his body as he realized immediately that this lake water was barely a degree above freezing point.

"Will I get hypothermia if I stay inside this lake for too long?" Rocky murmured to himself, unsure if he could survive such biting cold for 30 minutes, however, he still continued going deeper.

As he cautiously waded deeper, each step that he took made him increasingly aware of the temperature biting into his skin, as while when he took the first step, the temperature of the water seemed barely above freezing point, the deeper he entered, the colder the temperature became as by the time he was knee deep into the water, he could feel the temperature difference between the top and the lower layers acutely.

Somehow, this lake water did not obey the laws of physics as the water in the deeper layers felt much cooler than the top, as the water below felt wayy under freezing point to Rocky.

With every inch that he further took into the lake water, his nerves tingled, and he felt the icy embrace slowly creeping up his body.

Although the surface of the lake was calm, reflecting the twilight sky above, beneath the clear waters, he sensed a concealed threat, as once the water rose above his hips, he felt his toes going numb and becoming unresponsive to his commands.

Looking back at the three eyed demon who was still smiling sinisterly, Rocky realized that whatever the real threat was, it had not materialized yet, as although the cold in itself seemed like a major problem, it was not the real thing.

As he waded deeper, reaching a neck deep level into the lake, he suddenly felt uncomfortable as his body began trembling violently.

Despite his nerves, Rocky held his ground, remaining vigilant and wary. However, it was to no avail. The cold of the lake numbed his limbs as he felt the air around him suddenly thicken, making each breath a struggle.

Suddenly, his vision began to blur and alarm bells started to ring in his head as he attempted to swim back, but unfortunately, found himself unable to move.

Darkness swirled around him, and his limbs grew impossibly heavy. Panic clawed at him as he tried to will his body to break free, but it was as though he was paralyzed.

Little by little, his consciousness faded, making his head spin and his vision dim out, as he found himself blacking out.

********

When Rocky came back to his senses, he found himself floating in a void stretching into infinity.

At the center of this darkness glowed a bright ball of light inside a transparent vessel.

The ball of light was purple in color, and looked like a floating flame, whereas the container around it looked like a glass vessel.

As Rocky tilted his head, he saw his own reflection in the glass, as he was surprised to see himself within it—not as his usual adult self, but as a helpless newborn.

'What? What just happened to me?' Rocky wondered as he tried moving his limbs, however, just like a newborn who did not even have enough control to roll over to their belly, Rocky could hardly control movements.

He struggled hard to move his small limbs, but coordination eluded him, leaving him unable to sense his surroundings as well as he should.

It was like the nervous connections required to create movement were missing from his body. While he could see and think, he could not do pretty much anything else.

*SWOOOSH*

*SWOOSH*

Suddenly, spectral shapes swirled around him, as Rocky could not understand what was going on or where he was.

Usually, climbers below floor 50 were never supposed to enter this special space, until they learnt how to control their bodies in here, however, Rocky after stepping into the soul lake was transported into the fabled Soul Realm.

In this realm, the spectral shapes that swirled around him were the ghostly remnants of champions who had failed at this very step of ascension, being unable to survive the soul lake and having been consumed by its powers.

Their twisted forms circled Rocky's vessel, eyes glinting with greed as they pounded against its surface, determined to break through and push Rocky's soul out of its vessel and claim that empty space as their own.

From time to time, his soul vessel did send out small shockwaves of energy that repelled the ghosts clinging to his soul vessel away.

As although Rocky himself did nothing consciously, his own soul fought tooth and nail for its life and managed to damage and diminish the brightness of the spectral souls trying to attack his soul vessel with every repellant wave that it produced.

While for a few seconds, Rocky could not understand what was going on, after his purple soul sent out a third repellent wave, destroying a few enemy souls while weakening many more, he finally realized that this was a battle of attrition.

His own soul was also slowly losing its luster with every attack wave that it sent out, diminishing its brightness slightly.

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