Dozens of years passed by in Cedric's solitude and training, and soon, it would approach the time limit.
Currently, Cedric can be found in deep meditation within his personal room. His figure was floating in the air as if lifted by an invisible force and a gorgeous lotus bloomed with him at the center beneath him.
This lotus isn't something that Cedric created on his own. It's also not a treasure that he bought, which could either aid him in cultivation or something else. No, this lotus manifested on its own.
The reason it manifested was due to a couple of reasons that happened to coincide with each other. First, Cedric's in deep meditation. He has blended perfectly with nature and reached a state where he's no different from it. One has to know that this is something that ordinary people could reach. It requires devotion and perfect control over one's self, and that's just the pre-requisites.
The more technical ways to enter this state are unknown to people.
Another reason was because of Cedric's achievements and mastery over concept laws.
Unlike most life evolvers, who pick one or two concept laws to master and later study the rest, Cedric dipped his toes into the deep and immersive waters of the Planar Laws as a whole. Yes, at first his foundations started with Fire, Astral, and Spacetime Laws, but as he spent time in the tower, he was exposed to grander concept laws, and he bravely studied them as a whole.
This was a very bold move. Even those who were born in worlds that's included in the Divine Council wouldn't dare do something like this because anyone could easily get lost in its depths. There have been countless people who tried to do so, but only a handful succeeded. Explore more stories at m-vl_em,pyr
Fortunately, Cedric's efforts were rewarded. Even then, he knows when to advance and retreat, allowing him to achieve something that not many people could do.
With his mastery over the Planar Laws, it could be said that so long as he's within a world that he refined on his own, he's technically invincible. There, he's a Planar Lord or a God.
And while he's only renting this dimension for the time being, it could perfectly assimilate what that's like, and in this state, he's the darling of this world. Everything that moves here only does so because he allows it to.
It would only take one thought for him to bestow life on something and another thought to take it away.
This, on top of the previously mentioned special state he's in, made Cedric no less than a divine being. The lotus blooming beneath him was, in truth, just a natural phenomenon that occurs when someone reaches this stage in their cultivation.
That said, while this lotus might seem special to the eyes of others, if the people in his world were to observe them, they too would receive enlightenment over some random thing.
Cedric's thick but short blonde hair was absolutely drenched and glossy, forming gorgeous locks that highlighted his features. His wide shoulders, narrow waist, compact muscles, and rigid lines that emphasized his masculinity were made even more exaggerated by how the waters flowed in them.
His fair complexion glistened under the glare of sunlight, and the veins on his body were prominent and pulsed with vigor. And then there's his eye...
A pair of golden orbs shone with splendor; they're like a pair of suns, making it hard for anyone to maintain eye contact with them. Actually, compared to their usual appearance, his eyes right now are more dull simply because he hasn't completely woken up yet.
Cedric unceremoniously walked out of the lake in his birthday suit. Any woman who sees him in this state will find themselves unable to look away. If it were his girlfriends, they would've gotten their hands all over him already.
There's no such scene right now since he's alone, of course.
Cedric dried himself with a towel and wore a fresh set of clothes. He sat on the bed with a blank look on his face as he cleaned his ears. By now, he's at least 75% awake, and his mind is starting to become more and more active.
He looked outside the window and muttered, "I only have five more years left to complete the second stage."
Once he got used to long periods of seclusion, time seemingly flowed faster for him. Unknowingly, 145 years have passed since he returned. He doesn't have much time left. If he wants to retain his qualifications here, he must complete the trials soon.
If other challengers were in his shoes, they would've most likely been sweating and panicking by now. Five years might seem like a generous amount of time left, but it's really not, especially given how challenging the trials were.
The reason why Cedric himself isn't panicking is because he has simply no reason to.
Truth be told, if it's just passing the trials, he could've done so about 50 years ago. He already has the qualifications for that long, but he simply decided not to do it yet.
He opted to remain here and squeeze more benefits rather than rush out. It's not that he doesn't miss home. He does. He just wants to gain as many trial points as possible so that he has more to spend on gifts to take back with him. And if that means postponing the conclusion of his trials for a couple more years, he wouldn't hesitate.
Especially considering how time flows here and outside. Whether he leaves this place early or stays until the end, only an hour will pass on Prime Earth. Since this was the case, then why not endure a little bit more to gain more benefits?
But since he only has five more years left and he knows that any progress is practically impossible anytime soon, he figured that he might as well conclude it here.
Upon making that decision, Cedric began walking out of his personal dimension