The First Store System

Time flew by.

It has been around six minutes since Hartol had fallen into an illusion.

In the illusion, Hartol was facing his worst fears.

The worst thing for him was that he lost his cultivation, family, and a high-level cultivator chased him.

“Why are you chasing me?” Hartol cried out in anger as a hooded figure chased him.

“Puchi!”

In response to Hartol’s question, the hooded figure threw a knife. The next moment, it pierced the already bloodied back of Hartol, joining the other ten or so knives already plugged.

“Argh!” Hartol roared in pain, as this time, the knife also pierced his bone, resulting in unbearable pain.

Continuing to scream and roar in pain, Hartol ran for his life while the hooded figure chased him.

‘Why am I running?’ A question suddenly rang in Hartol’s head, bringing him to a stop.

“Puchi!”

Exactly at that moment, another knife came at him and pierced the back of his head, resulting in a scream louder than before, and Hartol also started faltering.

He grabbed the back of his head and cried out. His steps began faltering, but he didn’t give up on his escape.

‘Why am I running?’ The question rang again in Hartol’s mind. This time he ignored it and continued running.

As if it was an infectious disease, the question started bombarding itself in Hartol’s head, increasing his mental duress of Hartol.

‘I’m an Immortal. How can I run from someone?’ A new question emerged in Hartol’s head while he attempted to escape.

Time flew by.

Colors started returning to Hartol’s eyes as the questioning intensity increased in the illusion.

Finally, after eight minutes had passed since the illusion began, colors returned to Hartol’s eyes while his body exited the relaxing mode.

“Ugh!” Hartol groaned in pain as he grabbed his head.

Even though everything that Hartol faced was an illusion, his body still felt the pain, so after breaking the illusion, the combined pain attacked Hartol.

***

Votayl and his attendants heaved a sigh of relief seeing Hartol coming around.

“Young master, master Hartol would successfully pass the tribulation. For someone of his talent and capability, it isn’t difficult.”

“Yes, young master!”

“Yes, young master!”

One of the attendants commented, seeing the tense Votayl. The other attendants followed the lead and appreciated Hartol’s abilities.

Votayl ignored his attendants and instead focused on the sky.

George silently looked at everything happening. Since he would also someday attempt it, he didn’t dare to miss a second of the tribulation.

***

After Hartol successfully broke the illusion, a wisp of golden light arrived in the sky and proceeded toward Hartol.

Hartol, who had completely lost his mental strength due to the illusion, looked toward the wisp of golden light with tired eyes.Â

The wisp approached Hartol and then entered the spot between his eyebrows.

The next moment, a golden light appeared out of nowhere and engulfed Hartol.

The light didn’t even stay for a second as it disappeared. Hartol, who was just tired a moment earlier, felt his mind entirely relaxed due to the wisp.

At that moment, he felt that even if he fell into another Illusion, he would still have enough mental strength to face another one.

One second passed, two seconds passed…, and just like that, nine seconds had passed.

The dark sky suddenly turned red, as out of nowhere, balls of red flames appeared in the sky.

After his mental strength got an increase due to the golden wisp, Hartol was ready for his next stage.

“Chhiss!”

“Chhiss!”

“Chhiss!”

The red fire started raining down on Hartol as burning sounds rang in the area.

All the citizens who were watching Hartol going through the tribulation saw that Hartol was engulfed in red flame, but not even a hint of his body burning could be seen.

Hartol, who was ready for the second stage, had his face turned ugly not long after the fire attacked his soul.

If not for his mental strength growing severalfold, he would’ve already screamed in pain.

If the fire burnt his soul at a quick rate, the pain was still manageable, but things happened differently.

The soul fire burnt his soul at a very slow rate.

Thirty seconds had passed since the second stage began, but only half of his soul had burnt down.

Time flew by.

Finally, the soul of Hartol got burnt down to ashes.

Hartol’s eyes started losing their luster. Without the soul, the body cannot survive for even a moment.

“NO!”

Right at that moment, a loud battle roar rang in the sky as it completely shook the area.

If not for Aakesh’s aura covering the citizens, they would’ve burst into the blood.

Three seconds later, the burnt soul started restructuring itself.

Only the Immortals present in the area could see the scene of ashes of the soul reorganizing themselves to create a new soul.

The creation process took double the amount of time required for destruction, while the pain felt by Hartol grew exponentially.

“Argh!” A painful scream rang in the sky as only the start of the creation process resulted in unbearable pain for Hartol.

Time flew by.

Veins had popped out of Hartol’s face as the pain was unbearable for him.

More time flew by.

“Finally,” Votayl heaved a relieved sigh, seeing the process of creation of the new soul coming to an end.

“One more round left,” He muttered. If Hartol passed the next round, he would ascend, and if he failed, all his previous efforts would’ve been for nothing.

***

Hartol felt a new power spreading across him as he passed the second stage.

A red light had surrounded him at that moment. If not for the red light, Hartol’s body would’ve melted since the soul became very strong for it to carry.

Hartol continuously took deep breaths as the last stage was about to arrive. It would decide the success or failure of all his efforts.

The red light helped Hartol sustain his body, and it also healed Hartol of any mental or physical tiredness/injury.

Time flew by, and nine seconds were over.

The sky turned purple as thunder emerged out of nowhere and covered it for as far as anyone could see.

Aakesh’s aura suddenly started fluctuating. The third stage was the test by the Multiverse, not the dimension, so the strength between the first two stages and the last couldn’t even be compared.