With one last effort, the spirit extended the storm to a size much larger than before. The students who were at the edge of the cliff had to move a few hundred meters away to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
That didn’t do anything. Kayden continued to defend the rays perfectly. No matter how much time passed, he was sovereign. His hair was floating because of the surrounding energy, his body was bleeding in several spots and yet he was above an entire storm.
"Bend or die, this is the last chance." The mana pressure intensified and acquired a certain degree of killing intent. This time, the spirit was frightened. He had never faced anything before.
Something that few humans were able to do at the same level and had never achieved while being a kingdom below was done at that moment. The spirit appeared in its physical form to Kayden. It had the same shape but was made of small visible clouds this time. Then he tilted his torso signaling his submission.
At this point, Kayden completed everything he needed for the concept of sovereignty. His completely bruised body demonstrated how he fought for it. Almost magically, the concept came naturally to Kayden.
The moment he learned the new concept, he used it to subdue the other two and tie them to his path. Kayden could feel inside his mind the five concepts he learned, two being interconnected and three loose, but one of them was special.
Kayden forced one of them to suppress the others. In just a few seconds, he had all his concepts interconnected. The rope that tied them was strong and did not seem natural.
Kayden used the impulse to learn the concept of sovereignty to tie all the concepts together. More and more he understood what the impulse was. It felt like a glimpse of something higher, but at the same time, it felt like nothing.
The boy just gathered some mana and watched the sky darken for his ascension test. Within seconds, a golden beam fell upon him. The lighting was magnificent and imposing, it seemed like a divine punishment to mortals.
The entire region shook from the lightning. The sound was deafening and it traveled several hundred meters. The gym would normally seal with runes so the sound wouldn’t spread, but now Kayden felt the power firsthand.
Kayden countered him just using a lightning bolt of his own. This cost half the mana he had at his disposal, but fortunately, the area was flooded with mana across the world for Kayden to perform the ascension.
The boy was floating in the air as he faced the heavens. Today he would overcome five lightning bolts or die along the way. There were no alternatives and no middle ground. It had to be done now for him to take advantage of the momentum of the five concepts being tied together.
The next beam came with twice the force and Kayden once again easily countered it using mana from the environment. As long as there was mana, he would be a living god, and the amount under his control now was far beyond ridiculous.
The sound of lightning hitting the ground reached the people who were coming to Kayden’s rescue. Instantly, they recognized that it was an ascension challenge. The person in charge immediately sent word to the dean and broke the electrical resistance in the area on his own so he could make the connection.
Before the third ray arrived, several renowned entities were already floating in the air. One of them was the dean and at his side was the king himself. No one believed it when they heard that Kayden had entered an ascension process within the storm. It was unbelievable to think about.
"Kayden’s condition..." Leonardo commented as soon as he arrived. He was in shambles, one of his arms didn’t even exist and yet he was floating in all his glory as he faced the heavens.
The third beam came again with twice the strength of the others. This time, Kayden was unable to fully defend him, as it wasn’t just the strength he needed. There seemed to be something missing in the process.
The lightning passed through his body, burning everything in its path. His hair simply disappeared, and his clothes were completely charred, leaving the boy naked in the air. During this pain, Kayden tried to understand what exactly this lightning was, as it did not have any electrical characteristics.
Kayden realized he couldn’t get out of the challenge. He felt that the next lightning bolt would come regardless of his will. Within seconds, he understood that this was because of his path. For some reason, the heavens would not accept mediocrity from him.
The third beam fell to the ground after passing through Kayden’s entire body. The shaking and noise were even louder, taking those who had seen dozens of ascension processes by surprise.
"This is at least 40% stronger than normal," the king himself commented on this anomaly with surprise.
Meanwhile, Kayden was thinking hard about what to do to overcome the fifth lightning bolt. The third one did a lot of damage to him and the fourth one would severely damage him to the point where he wouldn’t be able to continue the test.
A faint pulse of mana began to come out of the boy. This pulsar was traveling dozens of kilometers, attracting powerful mages even from far away. Few knew what that was, but everyone went after it with all their strength.
As incredible as it may seem, the world was giving Kayden time to rest. The boy didn’t notice time passing, but there were a few minutes between each lightning bolt. Since the third, 10 minutes had already passed.
Slowly, Kayden began to use his way past the limit, similar to what he did in the gym test. His control spanned dozens of meters, an absolute control that once again shocked all the fourth realm powerhouses who were watching.
Practically all the fourth realm wizards in the region came to see what the pulsar was, and no one could fully understand what it was. Furthermore... two figures were standing in the air everyone, with no one able to detect their presence.
"Why are you in human territory?"
The response one of the men received was a frightening mana pressure that prevented him from being able to speak.
"Don’t touch that boy, I want him. If you try anything funny, I will decimate your organization without caring about the deal with the god."
That was the other answer. This time, the two remained quiet, as the fourth ray was coming.