Chapter 320: 145 years
Dozens of years passed by in Cedric's solitude and training, and soon, it would approach the time limit.
Currently, Cedric can be found in deep meditation within his personal room. His figure was floating in the air as if lifted by an invisible force and a gorgeous lotus bloomed with him at the center beneath him.
This lotus isn't something that Cedric created on his own. It's also not a treasure that he bought, which could either aid him in cultivation or something else. No, this lotus manifested on its own.
The reason it manifested was due to a couple of reasons that happened to coincide with each other. First, Cedric's in deep meditation. He has blended perfectly with nature and reached a state where he's no different from it. One has to know that this is something that ordinary people could reach. It requires devotion and perfect control over one's self, and that's just the pre-requisites.
The more technical ways to enter this state are unknown to people.
Another reason was because of Cedric's achievements and mastery over concept laws.
Unlike most life evolvers, who pick one or two concept laws to master and later study the rest, Cedric dipped his toes into the deep and immersive waters of the Planar Laws as a whole. Yes, at first his foundations started with Fire, Astral, and Spacetime Laws, but as he spent time in the tower, he was exposed to grander concept laws, and he bravely studied them as a whole.
This was a very bold move. Even those who were born in worlds that's included in the Divine Council wouldn't dare do something like this because anyone could easily get lost in its depths. There have been countless people who tried to do so, but only a handful succeeded. Explore more stories at m-vl_em,pyr
Fortunately, Cedric's efforts were rewarded. Even then, he knows when to advance and retreat, allowing him to achieve something that not many people could do.
With his mastery over the Planar Laws, it could be said that so long as he's within a world that he refined on his own, he's technically invincible. There, he's a Planar Lord or a God.
And while he's only renting this dimension for the time being, it could perfectly assimilate what that's like, and in this state, he's the darling of this world. Everything that moves here only does so because he allows it to.
It would only take one thought for him to bestow life on something and another thought to take it away.
This, on top of the previously mentioned special state he's in, made Cedric no less than a divine being. The lotus blooming beneath him was, in truth, just a natural phenomenon that occurs when someone reaches this stage in their cultivation.
That said, while this lotus might seem special to the eyes of others, if the people in his world were to observe them, they too would receive enlightenment over some random thing.
This lotus contains and displays Cedric's sheer mastery over the planar laws too. And for people who don't have enough exposure to it, it's obvious that witnessing this miracle would be beneficial to them.
Cedric has been in the state for an entire year now. His thoughts were currently immersed in this special state, but a tiny part of his consciousness remained awake, and its function was to pay attention to the time.
Now that the time limit imposed on him by the tower to complete the second stage of the trials is fast approaching, he doesn't have as much leeway to simply completely immerse himself in meditation. He had to be cognizant of how much time passes at this point, lest he miss his chance to complete the trials.
After a couple of days, that small part of Cedric's consciousness that remained awake suddenly buzzed to wake him up.
A long sigh escaped Cedric's lips; his breath turned misty and transformed into a serpentine dragon that dissipated as soon as it took shape. It almost seemed that he had been holding that breath all this time.
The lotus beneath him dissolved into nothingness, leaving no traces of it behind. He unfolded his legs, which emitted a crisp sound due to his joints popping. When his foot made contact with the ground, a sense of presentness washed over him.
As if waking up from a long nap, Cedric yawned and stretched his body. This caused an intense shockwave, one that's strong enough to leave a web of cracks that extended for miles with him at the center. What's absurd is that this shockwave was caused by his joints popping all at the same time, coupled with his strong heartbeat and his loud yawn.
It's as if Cedric was a ferocious primordial beast that woke up from its hibernation—truly bizarre.
Cedric acted as if none of this concerned him. Despite waking up from his deep meditation, he still felt drowsy. However, he also knew that he had to wake up.
Therefore, he dragged himself back to his hut. The damage he caused to his surroundings was all forgotten and healing already as he walked away. In his hut, he had a simple meal. His actions made it seem that he's on autopilot, and that's not entirely wrong. Cedric's mind was still relatively empty. Not much is going on in there.
After consuming food, Cedric humped into the crisp and cold waters of the spiritual lake. But even the coldness of the lake wasn't sufficient to actually wake him up completely.
Cedric allowed himself to sink to the very depths of the lake. He simply lied down at the bottom with his eyes open. The water pressure and his inability to breathe didn't seem to bother him too much.
He spent quite some time like this, and after that, with a simple kick of his heel, he was propelled to the surface of the lake.
The spiritual waters gushed out like a geyser. Cedric swam until he reached the shore and stood there with that same gaze as before.
This scene has a heart-racing aesthetic that has a fatal attraction to those who are interested.
Cedric's thick but short blonde hair was absolutely drenched and glossy, forming gorgeous locks that highlighted his features. His wide shoulders, narrow waist, compact muscles, and rigid lines that emphasized his masculinity were made even more exaggerated by how the waters flowed in them.
His fair complexion glistened under the glare of sunlight, and the veins on his body were prominent and pulsed with vigor. And then there's his eye...
A pair of golden orbs shone with splendor; they're like a pair of suns, making it hard for anyone to maintain eye contact with them. Actually, compared to their usual appearance, his eyes right now are more dull simply because he hasn't completely woken up yet.
Cedric unceremoniously walked out of the lake in his birthday suit. Any woman who sees him in this state will find themselves unable to look away. If it were his girlfriends, they would've gotten their hands all over him already.
There's no such scene right now since he's alone, of course.
Cedric dried himself with a towel and wore a fresh set of clothes. He sat on the bed with a blank look on his face as he cleaned his ears. By now, he's at least 75% awake, and his mind is starting to become more and more active.
He looked outside the window and muttered, "I only have five more years left to complete the second stage."
Once he got used to long periods of seclusion, time seemingly flowed faster for him. Unknowingly, 145 years have passed since he returned. He doesn't have much time left. If he wants to retain his qualifications here, he must complete the trials soon.
If other challengers were in his shoes, they would've most likely been sweating and panicking by now. Five years might seem like a generous amount of time left, but it's really not, especially given how challenging the trials were.
The reason why Cedric himself isn't panicking is because he has simply no reason to.
Truth be told, if it's just passing the trials, he could've done so about 50 years ago. He already has the qualifications for that long, but he simply decided not to do it yet.
He opted to remain here and squeeze more benefits rather than rush out. It's not that he doesn't miss home. He does. He just wants to gain as many trial points as possible so that he has more to spend on gifts to take back with him. And if that means postponing the conclusion of his trials for a couple more years, he wouldn't hesitate.
Especially considering how time flows here and outside. Whether he leaves this place early or stays until the end, only an hour will pass on Prime Earth. Since this was the case, then why not endure a little bit more to gain more benefits?
But since he only has five more years left and he knows that any progress is practically impossible anytime soon, he figured that he might as well conclude it here.
Upon making that decision, Cedric began walking out of his personal dimension