Unli continued to thrash Delton around, whose soul body grew fainter and fainter. Unli stopped beating Delton up to ask, “What the hell kind of path did you even give them, Fate?”

Taking this pause as an opportunity, Delton, weakly, also asked, “Old man! What’s going on?”

Fate and Unli both snapped their heads at him and shouted out, “Don’t call us ‘old man’!”

Fate, then turned to Unli, and shouted in response, “I don’t need to teach them anything because my path is extremely easy to learn.”

Unli raised his chin and squinted his eyes, “Is that so? Huh? Then how come none of them were able to succeed?”

Then, the two started to argue with ever raising voices. Lucius went up to Delton’s extremely faint body and directed some of his energy to Delton, allowing for his body to reform back to its original density.

Lucius said, “They’re both colleagues I met on the path of cultivation. Don’t try to look into their identities too much. The less you know, the better.”

Having gone back to his corporeal form, Delton spat out, “What the fuck, old man?! I agreed to do your training without complaining, but I didn’t agree to get beaten up by any of your friends. That’s just not even training.”

Lucius closed his eyes and shook his head in rare humbleness, “I understand. But these colleagues of mine are interested in my memories, too. So as much as I hate to say this, we’re going to have to deal with them for a while.”

“But can’t you just kick them out?”

“Here’s my first advice for you on the road of cultivation. No matter how strong you are, there will always be someone stronger. If you ever meet them, it’s better to be submissive, then survive, than to be aggressive, then lose your life.”

Delton, now wide-eyed, “You’re kidding?! How could they be stronger than you? You’re like the strongest person I know. How much stronger even are they?”

“Don’t ask anymore about their power. I won’t even tell you what level I am because your head will blow up once you get expounded on levels, hahaha! That knowledge isn’t easily available, for people to know.”

Lucius looked over his shoulder, while grumbling, and saw that Unli and Fate are still arguing with each other.

Bewildered at Lucius’ words, Delton then felt a sudden pang on his head, as a vertical slit split open on his forehead, revealing a third eye.

Feeling the weird sensation coming from his forehead, Delton poked it, but immediately reeled in pain and covered his forehead. He felt liquid from his forehead, but he was not sweating or bleeding. He quickly looked around and saw a mirror in Fortissimus’ house. Staring at his reflection, he saw a vertical dual-pupiled, one orange and one gold, eye, right in the middle of his forehead.

This caused him to fall down on his ass, clutching the recently hardened mud floor with his hands. He asked, “What the hell happened to me?”

Noticing the commotion, Fate ignored what Unli was saying and leapt over next to Delton, saying with a prideful tone, “Haha! Congratulations. You’ve just awakened your 3rd ' god-given’ Talent. You should be proud. Not too many people have done that in this iteration.”

“Ba!” An exclamation that cracked halfway came from Unli. He continued, “He wouldn’t have been able to do that without my trial!”

“That you broke! he probably could have gone through his Second Awakening if it wasn’t for your brutish ass! It’s just like that time when were were pillaging Adam’s grave!”

Suddenly, thunder resounded and lightning flashed. Fate quickly bit his tongue to stop himself from speaking any more. The air around them started to crack, revealing a space full of darkness and something that looked similar to the static of an old television screen.

After a moment of silence, the cracks repaired itself, bringing back the originally somber atmosphere of Fortissimus and Caelus staring seriously at the child Lucius, who was in turn, staring into the tablet.

Unli smacked Fate at the back of his head, saying, with his voice cracking half of the time, “Yeah. For someone who rarely talks, you sure do have a big mouth. Your big mouth will probably lead to more destruction than my strongest muscular punch! Such an amazing power you have!”

Confused, Delton watched on as Unli and Fate started to argue again. Then, Lucius took Delton out of the house, causing Delton to snap out of it and ask, “Why do your friends speak and look so weird? And what the hell happened to me?”

Lucius waved his finger, “First of all. They’re not my friends. They’re colleagues. In the long-winded path of cultivation, you’ll be bound to meet at least an uncountable amount of people. Some you’ll meet for only a small fraction of your time. Others you'll meet and they’ll be part for the majority of your life. Regardless of the length of time, each meeting is a serendipity. Good of bad. Lucky or unlucky. Destiny is agnostic to these things. It is up to the two who met to decide what kind of serendipity it is. You should have an idea of how strong these people are. I suggest you take advantage of it, like me.”

Delton nodded in agreement, staring back into the house, while Lucius paused to drink a cup of water. Lucius continued, “What you just went through is what we call a trial of inheritance. Some paths of cultivation can only be passed down via these trials. The Limit Breaker Path, which is what that tablet talks about, is one of them.”

“That doesn’t make any sense though. How would it affect me? Isn’t this from your memories?”

“Haha! Again, memories are much more than you think. You’ll learn in time.”

After the loud shouts died down, Lucius said, “Looks like they stopped arguing. Let’s see if we can get some justice for Master Unli interrupting your trial and beating you up. Simulate Caelus’ mind to get some ideas.”

Going back into the house, both Fate and Unli had their arms crossed, staring at opposite sides of the room. Lucius then hailed, “Master Unli!”

Unli’s gaze turned softer and asked, “What is it, Lucius?”

Lucius then pointed towards Delton and said, “This kid’s name is Delton Cloud.”

Delton stretched his hand out for handshake, saying, “Nice to meet you.”

Unli looked back at Delton in incredulity. He did not stretch his hand out and instead nodded towards Delton. “Because you have granted me this chance of meeting Fate, I shall remember you.”

Lucius spoke, “That’s great and all, Master Unli. But you really ruined Delton’s chances on going down the Limit Breaker Path because you know. You broke the trial itself.”

Fate looked over and egged on, “Yeah. You already stole him away from my Path, why not just go all the way. Or are you too scared that one of mine will fare better than all the others in the Grand Harmony?”

Veins bulged on his forehead, as Unli responded, “Fine! Kid Delton! Tell me. What do you want as compensation for breaking the trial? Believe me I am not unfair.”

Delton pulled back his hand, and since he was simulating Caelus’ mind, he responded without hesitation, “I want another chance at the trial.”

Unli, surprised at the response, said, “Alright. I’ll grant you one more chance. Even though your mantra’s so perverse, I’ll be gracious and let you go again.” Unli appeared in front of Delton and picked him up from the back of his shirt. He, then stuffed Delton, back into the tablet.

Now that Delton was no longer there, Fate asked Lucius, “Now, how much longer till we see the moment the one who succeeded reached that level?”

Lucius looked up in reminiscence. After a minute of no response, Fate snapped him out of it, eliciting a response from Lucius, “My apologies. It’s gonna take quite a while.”

Unli spoke, “Well I’ve already argue enough with Fate for the time being. What do fellas like us need to do to entertain ourselves? Fate? You interested in showing me your world?”

“I have no interest in giving you a tour. Show yourself.”

“Oh that’ll be too boring. Exploring is better with more people.”

Lucius interrupted, “You ever heard of a television show?”

Fate responded, “A what?”

Unli snapped his fingers and said, “Oh! You mean like those grand plays that we can see at the main cities with all of those props and large musical pieces?”

“No, they’re much less grandiose in nature. In fact, they’re actually much simpler in comparison. But there’s just something about them that really keeps me hooked. Wanting to watch the next episode. Wanting to know what happens next,” Lucius said in return.

Unli slapped his legs and said, “Alright. I’m interested. Show us this television show.”

Then, Fate chimed in, “Where would we go to even watch it?”

“Oh we just use this phone,” Lucius responded, then took out the cell phone.

Staring at this piece of technology, Fate had a blank look on his face. “What’s a phone?”

Unli said, “It’s your world and you don’t even know what the technology is, Fate? You’re way too hands-off!”

“Hey! I got other things to do, too. This is just an experiment. I’m not gonna waste any more time than I already have on this. So, Child of Energy, how do we actually watch this?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll just project it into the night sky. I haven’t seen this one either, so I have no promises for how good this one is.” With a wave of his hand, a screen projected itself upwards. The three of them moved through the roof and lied on it. The big white, flowery words, Mother’s Wishes covered the sky. As the show started to run, Lucius asked, “Have any of you ever heard of chips?”

...

Delton reappeared at the middle of the purple mountain. Unlike, right when he left, the purple mountain seemed to still be untarnished and in its original condition.

Knowing what to do, he recited the chant he made, and soon, his body entered a daze-like state, as he hiked up the mountain, accompanied with countless other silhouettes.

After an uncertain amount of time, he reached the peak of the mountain again, and a familiar golden and orange light bore down upon him. His heart rate increased again, breaking the previous record. His third eye opened wide, as well, and sucked in a large portion of the colored lights. The colors of the dual pupils grew a deeper and bolder hue.

After the light dissipated, his third eye closed and his heart rate went back to its original rate. Delton exited the daze and looked towards the bridge, where many silhouettes were crossing it. He looked behind him and found that the purple mountain had not even started to crumble, yet.

Still simulating Caelus’ mind, he said to himself, “I should be able to make two more hikes up the mountain like before. But this energy, I can feel an explosive force in my third eye growing stronger. But I don't even know what this Talent does.”

He opened his third eye and immediately the silhouettes in front of him cleared up, revealing their original human figures. The first one he saw was a muscular man wearing furs. Another figure he saw was an old woman wearing a suit. The figure after that was a thin young child with a metal arm. The humans he saw encompassed a wide range of ages, colors, physiques, and backgrounds.

He then walked down the mountain, inspecting each of the humans and listening to their chants. Every time he felt the need to chant with them, his third eye released a golden light, freeing himself from that need.

Having arrived at the base, that was now beginning to crumble, he looked towards the rotten bridge. Shining his third eye, the humans that reached the base and the humans that fell down the bridge had much variety, with no particular bias towards a certain kind. Even incredibly old people were able to cross the bridge that much more fit people were not able to do.

Delton muttered, “What’s causing them to fall down the bridge?”

Looking back at the base, he caught sight of a young man, around his twenties, with silver hair tied up in a ponytail. He was wearing a chrome metal armor, that covered everything except his head. Focusing on his face, Delton noticed an eyepiece, similar to the previous version of the AI chip implanted onto their brains. What caught Delton’s attention of the man was that instead of hiking up the mountain with the other humans, this chrome-clad man was watching them intently and was muttering to himself as he made his observations.

Delton walked up to him, causing the young man to step back in slight fright. “Hi there. The name’s Delton.”

Hearing these words, the man smiled and said, “Pardon my earlier outburst. I am Rokex-451, but you can call me Rokex. I hail from the planet Alteron from the Janus star system. From where do you hail?”

“Pardon? I don’t know what you mean.”