Chapter 323.1: Item Trial: Chaotic Silk Part 1
Once Mira and Rhydian met up with Elenei, the latter transferred the High-Grade Spirit Stone Mine Source to Mira and then they set off to find a place where Mira can enter seclusion and complete her F.LD.I.L tests.
Luckily, Elenei can fly incredibly fast so it barely took them a few hours until they found a nice secluded cave with no signs of life in the nearby area.
Once they entered the cave, they immediately sealed off the entrance so no unwanted visitors entered the cave, though it was unlikely such a thing would happen with Rhydian and Elenei here.
"Okay, I'm going to enter the space of the inheritance I received about a year ago to complete a few tests. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but if my estimations are correct, I shouldn't be gone longer than a few months to a year. If I'm not back in a year or maybe a little longer, then you can assume the worst, though I'm sure Elenei will immediately know if I were to die." Mira briefly explained her circumstances to her two beast companions.
Rhydian didn't quite understand what Mira was saying and just knew that she was going to be gone for a while, which she was somewhat happy about. She's been tired of the endless battles over the last year and felt like she needed a well-deserved break.
Elenei, on the other hand, was a little shocked that Mira had access to a place she could teleport into to complete a few of her inheritance trials. Though, she wasn't too surprised because she could tell that whatever Mira received about a year ago was anything but ordinary.
The two of them nodded which elicited a faint nod from Mira before she vanished into thin air.
***
In the F.LD.I.L, Mira was teleported to the hall where she received the Orb of Limitless Death and Infinite Life, except now instead of an altar being there, it was replaced by a throne made of ice and skulls.
It seems it was tailor-made to Mira's preferences...
As if it was natural, Mira walked up to the throne and sat on it before mentally accessing the 'Item Trials' that are available to her.
She quickly found the trials for [Chaotic Silk], [Blood Essence of a Legendary Ice Beast], [World Tree Seed], and [Samsara Dogwood Tree]. Unfortunately, she wasn't given any info regarding these trials, so she decided to call out the Guardian.
"Hey, old man, what exactly are these trials, and what do they entail?" Mira shouted at nothing, but she knew her words reached the Guardian.
Almost instantly after she said those words, he appeared right in front of her, almost like he was always there just hidden.
"Oi! You should really learn to respect your elders! Don't you know how much you hurt my feelings by saying things like 'old man'? I'll have you know that I'm still in my bachelor years by God standards!" The Guardian pouted, but Mira wasn't amused as her eyes narrowed and the limits of her patience were about to be reached.
The Guardian sighed and put his hands up to surrender then said, "Geez! You're no fun. How are you supposed to get that Maria girl to go on a date with you if you keep that nasty attitude of yours... Ugh! Whatever!"
"In regards to those 'Item Trials', there's not much to say, or it's more like there isn't much I can say. You just need to know that each trial is unique and that the instructions are generally unclear. For example, in some trials, you might need to gain the trust of someone or something in order to pass, while in others you might need to slaughter galaxies. Some are extremely simple and just want to test certain aspects of yourself, while others are far more complex."
"All you need to know is that every trial is different and that there usually isn't a time limit placed on them. If there is a time limit, the trial should tell you. Though, that might not always be the case as there are probably a few trials in there that have time limits and won't tell you about them..."
"Let's see... What else is there...? Oh, that's right! Don't worry too much about how much time you spend in the trials. One day in the outside world could very well be equivalent to hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years. Just focus on completing them. Okay, that's all I can share with you for now! Good luck!"
After saying all of that, the Guardian disappeared, but Mira wasn't upset by his behavior. She was too busy taking in all of that information. Just from that little amount of information, Mira knew that these trials are definitely not simple. Although she already guessed that, it was nice to have some confirmation.
Unfortunately, even though she learned a bit more about the 'Item Trials' she still doesn't know much.
Despite that, Mira has never been one to shy away from a challenge and decided to immediately start her first 'Item Trial'.
The first item she chose was the [Chaotic Silk]!
When she mentally selected that trial, Mira's consciousness was pulled from her body and dragged into a different space where she will undergo her trial.
***
When Mira was finally able to regain some semblance of her consciousness, she realized that she was in a very peculiar state. It felt oddly similar to when she was dead and was in the process of being reincarnated but different at the same time.
She couldn't quite figure out how it was different, but she knew that it was.
Other than that, Mira immediately noticed that her thoughts, emotions, and desires were all in a very chaotic state! Not just that, but her 'body' or whatever form she was in currently, was also seemingly ever-changing!
One second she'd notice that she's in the form of a flame while the next second she took the form of thunder. This continued for every other element, but it didn't just stop there. Sometimes Mira felt like she was brought back in time to experience exactly what she just went through while other times it felt like she's been through thousands of years of being in this state.
To make matters worse, Mira could hardly form a single coherent thought without her emotions going out of control.
Sometimes she'd feel extreme hatred, while other times she'd feel lust. This lust wasn't directed at anything in particular, but two things did pop up in her mind when she felt this overwhelming amount of lust: herself and Maria. The former is obviously because she felt the need to please herself, but she had no idea why she had lustful thoughts toward Maria.
However, that wasn't the end of it all as Mira would also feel extreme hatred for everyone and everything, including herself and Maria.
This was something Mira was not used to at all. For nearly her entire life, she's always been one to compartmentalize her troubles and handle everything with a rational mind. These raging thoughts and emotions, which were out of her control due to the trial, were already something that she didn't know how to deal with.
She also couldn't keep a single thought for longer than a split second before she was forced to think of something else or feel something else.
Her form was also constantly shifting between realities, dimensions, timelines, universes, elements, and bodies.
She literally couldn't make heads or tails of this situation, but fortunately, she's always had a strong mind that was only further tempered by the F.LD.I.L trials she had to do in order to become its successor. If it weren't for that, Mira might've never been able to figure out the objective of this 'Item Trial' and most likely would've lost her mind immediately after beginning this trial.
Although it took her a while to form a single coherent thought in her mind, Mira finally understood the meaning of this trial: To not lose oneself.
That may sound extremely vague, but Mira felt like she was right. She assumed this was a mental endurance test so as long as she kept her wits about her and devolved into a chaotic mess who can barely differentiate between life and death, then she should be good.
Mira also knew that this trial was going to be anything but simple and if she's learned anything about F.LD.I.L trials, it's that they get worse over time.
Will she really be able to keep her sanity after going through whatever shit this trial is going to throw at her? Or will her mind crumble, essentially crippling her? Right now, just after experiencing a few minutes of this nonsense, Mira wasn't too confident in her ability to not become mentally handicapped! That's simply because each fraction of a second her thoughts, body, emotions, and desires changed.