"Welcome to the origin realm, Champion of Gemini." The three eyed demon said, as the only thing going on in Rocky's mind, was how three eyed demon's were supposed to be long extinct.
He still remembered studying about it clearly in the Monsters and their Weakness's class, just a couple of days ago, that one of the races in the universe that had gone extinct due to evolution were the 'Three Eyed Demon's'.
Having an incredibly low success rate of reproduction, with the women only being able to conceive children for 1 day in every three years, the Three Eyed Demon's were a race that had been wiped out from the Tower, after the Olympian Generation.
There had not been a single Three Eyed Demon spotted over the last 6000 years and they had been officially declared as an extinct race.
To see such a being now alive in front of him, Rocky understood that the place he was in was nothing simple, as apart from the freaky atmosphere charged with mana, even the inhabitants of this place were extremely special individuals.
"Origin realm you say...." Rocky murmured, repeating what the demon said, as he looked around, trying to understand why this place was given a name as grand as 'Origin Realm'.
"You're much calmer than I expected. Is your mind already attuned to primal chaos at such a young age? Usually tier0 champions would start hallucinating by this point" The ancient demon said in awe, as Rocky frowned deeply hearing her words.
Although he felt greatly uncomfortable with his back sizzling and emitting purple smoke, he did not feel like his cognitive and critical thinking abilities were affected, as despite being dizzy due to shift in mana concentration, he was feeling rather sharp overall.
"Have you perhaps undergone some severe mental training that has driven you to the edge of insanity several times? Because that's the only explanation I can think of as to why you might not be affected by the thick chaos energy surrounding you-" The three eyed demon asked curiously, as Rocky's frown deepened.
The purple smoke covering him was chaos energy?
He thought that because it was originating from his tattoo, it was bound to be a good thing, however, it now seemed like something dangerous instead.
He had indeed been driven to the edge of insanity several times, during his time inside the snake-men ancestral chamber, where he was tortured and mentally broken down every single day.
After surviving that experience, his mental fortitude was unlike any common person, as although he was only a floor 9 climber, he was stronger than most floor 20 climbers in physical and mental strength.
"Are you my test administrator?" Asked Rocky, as the ancient demon smiled.
He had decided to conveniently ignore the demon's doubts regarding him and had instead countered her with a question of his own.
"No, I'm only a guide here. Who is completing a quest necessary for my own promotion.
I'd have been kind to you had you indulged me and my doubts, however, since you're one of the more rude Champions Of True Gods, one's that think that the whole universe revolves around their feet, I'll reciprocate in kind and only tell you the bare minimum that's required of me" The ancient demon said, as she tried to play mind games with Rocky, trying to make him feel guilty for being so rude to a lady.
"Unlike the other climbers, who face evaluation tests on the special floors, you shall instead walk on the Originators Path.
A journey that will see you slowly get closer and closer to the Originators Castle, where you shall either perish or flourish with all your dreams coming true" The demon said longingly, as she smacked her lips just dreaming about the promise of having any wish one had come true, when one reached the legendary floor 101.
"For your first test, you will have to take a plunge into the cleansing pool and survive in there for 30 minutes.
If you survive the test, you will earn the right to walk down the Originator's path, however, if you fail, you shall lose your soul to this land and your divinity shall be consumed by it. Weakening your patron gods significantly" The demon said, smacking her lips with joy, as she desperately hoped for such a scenario to come pass.
"Follow me to your first test, Champion Of Gemini, for I've been given the quest to be this realms guide for the next 400 years.
I think we shall be seeing more of each other over the years" The demoness said, as she slowly began leading Rocky towards the forest in the distance.
Rocky followed her very cautiously, his hands tightly gripped around his dual swords, as he tried to make sense of the information just dumped onto him.
The origin realm?
The Originator's Path?
The castle of the Originator?
The heart of the Tower? The spot where first life was born?
These were all groundbreaking revelations, one that most factions across the tower would pay their entire fortunes to secure, however, even if they were privy to the knowledge of this place, it seemed like only a chosen few actually had the qualification to enter it.
While all other climbers faced a promotion test where their basic abilities were tested, Rocky was instead supposed to survive a plunge into some cleansing pool.
A test that seemed extremely suspicious to him.
As he followed the three eyed demon, she slowly led him into a thick forest, where under a clearing not very far from the initial tree-line was a clear water lake that sparkled under the twilight sky.
Looking like the most clear spring with the most ethereal waters, the lake looked calm and devoid of any fish or lifeforms, as standing before it, the female demon gestured for Rocky to take the plunge.
"May the Gemini Gods be with you-" she said with a sarcastic smile on her face, as she once again stared into the distance behind him.