Darius opened his eyes and smiled with satisfaction. The Test of Vision was something he had technically already completed in prior tests, as it aligned with his nature and his preferences. Darius was less of an action guy and more of a preparation/planning guy.
Since the Test of Vision required intricate planning, it was like throwing a cat in a room full of women and asking it to become the center of attention. It was too easy.
Darius looked to his left and was not surprised to see that Gunner failed to wake up. Gunner was incredibly firm, resilient, and bluntly fair, but he had never been much of a visionary nor a planner.
Xela by the side was stunned once again, looking as if she had seen a ghost. Then the trio noticed that the last constants rose to his feet and left the room slowly.
As for Gunner, he rose to his feet and shook his head, clearing his mind. He then nodded to Darius moved over to sit with Xela, while the entire tower trembled.
Darius looked before him to see that the chamber was shifting. An altar rose from the northern end of the room that was soon followed by a strange throne that was styled after a sand dragon coiling around a bed of sand.
Darius rose to his feet, and took out the Desert King Turban that had been in his Inventory all this time. The tower trembled as the turban left his hand and floated towards the altar.
It exploded into a golden light that increased in quantity by more golden light that was also generated by the altar. It stopped once the golden light formed a solid orb the size of a football.
Soon, a whirl of sand formed that turned into the form of a traditional jinn that was connected to the floor. It looked just like genie from the Aladdin movies, only with a graver countenance.
"Congratulations, Trial Taker. You have obtained the qualifications to become the 4th Desert King of Ludo, an Origin Lord." It spoke in a deep baritone.
Darius rubbed his chin. "What is an Origin Lord and how it is compared to a True Lord?"
The Jinn was startled. "Hm? You know of the True Lords? Then that makes things exceedingly simple for me."
"An Origin Lord and a True Lord are one and the same. Origin Lord is the official name given by the Goddess Vena whereas True Lord is more of the unofficial title they use locally." The Jinn explained.
Darius' eyes flashed. "What exactly is that energy on the altar? Is that what grants an Origin Lord their power?"
The Jinn nodded. "That's right. According to the laws of Faust, once a denizen enters the local system of power, they start from an Amateur, Journeyman, Adept, Master, and Grandmaster. The 5 stages are set into the core of the laws and are not negotiable. The only variations concern the various specialized power systems of the continents as well as the power of various races."
"Parallel to the Grandmaster stage, yet with significantly more power is the Divine stage, which is influenced by the Faith System and Divine Domains. Divine Power has no theoretical limitations in terms of quantity, but is limited in terms of output or power."
The Jinn looked down and folded its arms. "In other words, a 'God', as they call themselves, can accumulate an uncountable amount of Divine Energy, if they have the resources, but the power of their 'punches' so to speak, would always remain at the same level unless they empower their Divine Domain and Divine Attribute which is heavily dependent on other factors."
"The power of the Origin Lord resides at the top of the pyramid. It is an artificially created stage by the Goddess a few millennia after creating Faust for reasons she didn't share with us. It is a power just below that of a Supreme, a theoretically omnipotent being that is destined to rule over Faust."
The Jinn gestured to the ball of golden energy. "This is Origin Essence. Upon integrating with it, a being would climb from whatever stage they are and attain the power of an Origin Lord."
"They would then be blessed with the opportunity to meet with the Goddess in spiritual form, who would grant them an attribute and Origin Domain, which would become the source of their power." The Jinn concluded.
For the first time since this talk began, Darius showed an intense reaction. His aura fluctuated as a reddish-black aura manifested around him, his eyes turning into serpentine slits that chilled the hearts of onlookers.
Darius held his chin as if in thought and smiled softly.
"Meet the Goddess you say? Interesting. That is something I would definitely love to do." Darius spoke with amusement.
The Jinn felt like something was wrong, but it wasn't its place to decide something like this. It simply gestured to the ball of Origin Essence.
"Assimilate with the Origin Essence and after you meet the Goddess, tell her your desired domain is the Sands of Ludo. If you choose anything else, the Origin Essence you assimilate with will reject it and you would end up with nothing, so don't try to be smart."
Darius nodded obediently and climbed atop the altar and sat in a meditative position. He felt the ball of golden energy enter his body and course through him, making him feel like some form of electricity was coursing through his system.
Its circulatory speed increased greatly to the point where Darius felt numb. His entire body glowed golden as his eyes burst open with a golden beam that illuminated the entire tower.
Darius' body was being thoroughly baptized, but what was going on in his mind and soul was vastly different. From the moment the Origin Essence had entered him, he was pulled to a different place.
It was an astral plane, a world that stood in the middle of space with countless stars shining in the background like he was in some sort of space museum.
Before Darius could analyze his surroundings further, he heard a lazy and youthful voice speak out.
"Hm? Whozzat?"
