The next day, Theron finally learned about the gathering and its rules. Aligning with the concepts of the Hall, there was the Forged Ice trial and the Forged Heart trial.
The Forged Ice trial was a battle trial, one where the groups of various sects entered the Forest of Ice and played a ga of survival.
It was said that the Forged Ice trials were drowning in beasts of a rare ice affinity. This wasn’t to say that the affinity of ice itself was rare, but instead that the type of Ice affinity was.
These creatures weren’t of flesh and blood, but were instead entirely ford of ice. Their bodies, as a result, were highly resistant to damage and also capable of completely reforming with Mana alone.
Rather than saying they were just Ice Mana beasts, it was closer to the truth to say that they were Ice Soul Beasts. In fact, this was the official na.
According to what Theron had learned, Soul Beasts were beasts completely ford of their Mana of choice. They were usually far stronger than normal Mana Beasts, though that ca at the cost of their intelligence.
In the rare instance that you ca across a Demonic Soul Beast, though... it was best to run in the complete opposite direction.
It was said that Demonic Soul Beasts were evolved Soul Beasts, ones that managed to awaken their intelligence. They worked on more than just instinct alone and had the ability to think, to chase evolution, and to feel desire and emotion.
These Demonic Soul Beasts were truly feared, but there was another reason for that as well...
It was because they were the only known creation of the Heavens that were capable of increasing their talent through the act of devouring.
While it was technically possible for any living creature to do this, it required rare chances and stumbling onto even rarer opportunities—not to ntion actually coming out alive.
But Demonic Soul Beasts could do this through the simple act of cultivation alone.
All of that said... Soul Beasts in general had a great weakness, and that was that they couldn’t survive in environnts that weren’t perfectly tailored to their Mana of choice.
At the sa ti, they were often hunted and devoured by humans and other creatures because of the purity of their souls and Mana. A single Soul Beast was worth far more than any Mana Crystal, and using them to cultivate left no ill effects behind as well.
One could imagine, then, the point of this gathering.
The Soul Beasts of the Hall of Ice and Heart were located at the core of Planet Ice and Heart, a hub of strong Ice Mana. Every few cycles, they grew to a point where they needed to be culled, lest they cause a problem for the Sect.
As a result, this gathering was held and an opportunity was given to the youth.
Even for non-Ice Mancers, the Ice Soul Beasts were great boons as they could refine the body and expel it of impurities when matched with the right technique.
It could be said that they were basically here to help the Hall of Ice and Heart prune their rose bushes and harvest their crops. Though, it wasn’t all bad.
They got to keep a lot of the Soul Beasts they killed after handing over a specific quota. And Hall of Ice and Heart disciples were also participating, so at least they had so skin in the ga as well.
The Hall also rewarded well, and one of those rewards happened to be the second of the two challenges they would face:
The Forged Heart trial.
If it could be said that the first trial gave you a chance to refine impurities from your body, the second trial was an even rarer chance to refine impurities from your soul.
This part confused Theron a bit because it held concepts he wasn’t familiar with, but best he could tell, the Hall of Ice and Heart was also enamored with temperant and perfecting it.
The Forged Heart trial tested your temperant, and the further you made it, the more purified your soul would beco. It was said that this had even allowed many to forge a Third Eye beyond their cultivation level.
The thing was... Theron already had a Third Eye beyond his cultivation level.
Most had Third Eyes beneath their cultivation level. Only geniuses had ones that were nearing or equivalent.
Theron was a wild exception because he had actually opened his own Third Eye in the Bronze Resonance Realm, while everyone else had to wait for the Silver Resonance Realm—the real reason their Third Eyes lagged behind.
It had been a long while of Theron’s Third Eye being stuck at the Quasi Cloud Realm, though. Maybe this would be a chance to break free of that barrier.
However... it could be said that the Forged Heart trial was even more dangerous than the Forged Ice trial.
Sure, the Forest of Ice had so truly shocking Soul Beasts within it. So said that there were even so at the Do of Heaven realm already in regions that were marked highly dangerous and to be avoided.
However, it was said that if you stepped too far into the Forged Heart trial and lacked the capacity to withstand it, your soul could be frozen forever, leaving you in a coma you would never awaken from.
In fact... the na of the trial zone for the Forged Ice trial was known as the Forest of Ice, while the trial zone for the Forged Heart trial was known as the Forest of Heart.
Why?
The Forest of Ice had trees carved of ice and Mana Herbs ford of blooming snow.
As for the Forest of Heart? It had this na for reasons that were far more eerie.
Its trees were none other than the participants of the past, those lost on the trial ground forever, frozen in ti... their arms and legs being the branches, their heads becoming the crown of their canopies.
The true Forest of Heart was a cetery.
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