29 150 Galaxies sensed (1/2)

In the world that existed in the depths of Mao Lu's mind and soul, the Realm 145's information had compressed into a seed that was now rooted inside Mao Lu. The surface was cracked and sprouting from that crack were four leaves. They were silver and coated with stardust.

As Mao Lu gazed upon these leaves he felt the whispering of the universe. Each leaf held countless of lives, held countless places, and held countless experiences.

This growing plant represented his power.

The more he improved the more it would grow with him. As his sense of the realm developed the form it took would also develop.

As his strength grew a qualitative change occurred in the very making of his being.

He felt a frightening amount of power at his fingertips, he felt himself being transformed by it and yet again he wasn't sure if he liked this transformation.

\”When you achieve Sense of the Realm you will be 50% closer to the Merging stage. I'm sure you can already feel it. That you are slowly losing yourself, and becoming more than just Mao Lu, but also this entire Realm. You are becoming it....Do not fear this feeling, it is necessary in the process of merging.\”

Gates attempted to reassure him as it noticed Mao Lu's building apprehension.

\”I am becoming this realm, then does that mean I will lose myself? If I become this realm, what becomes of I, Mao Lu then?\” Mao Lu felt a slight chill in the depths of him. As he gained more and more power and awareness through this training, the more and more he became afraid and humbled.

\”It is up to you to remember that you are Mao Lu. Many have lost themselves to the Realm and forgot their past selves, but only the truly strong Gatekeepers never forget their roots and always keep their identities. The power can be so overwhelming, but you must remember that the power is yours, and you are the one that overwhelms the overwhelming. You are in control.\”

As Mao Lu heard Gates words he calmed himself and subdued the shiver of unease that had ran across him. \”You are right Gates. I am in control, and I will not lose myself to this Realm, it is this Realm that will lose itself to me.\” A hardened resolve filled him, \”I have 390 galaxies left to sense. Let's get on with the training.\”

If Gates had a tangible body, It would have had an expression of admiration. In all it's time of being Gates, never before had it had a Gatekeeper so strong willed and flexible. \”He absorbs everything I teach him, he adapts to it and thinks freely, and he is determined. This time I have made an outstanding choice in choosing him. I'm glad I had Wang Cao meet this boy back then, my instincts definitely weren't wrong.\”

Mao Lu was momentarily distracted as he witnessed this. He saw a young alien girl, with four horns, wailing in her mother's arms. In the same moment her planet was blown up by some type of death ray, killing billions.

Mao Lu could only watch on in horror, Sense of the Realm only made him a helpless observer. He could not intervene.

It wasn't just in this border. All across the realm, all across this universe, Mao Lu could sense countless atrocities, war and strife.

There was a saying that humanity could be cruel, but that statement was wrong. It wasn't just limited to humanity, every existence, every civilisation, every process has a cruel and dark side towards it.

Yet alongside this darkness there was also a beauty towards it all, in the midst of the ugly ambition and the fights for survival, there was passion, and love and peace.

When Mao Lu saw all these scenes and events all at once he felt humbled by the complexity of life and existence itself.

\”The Creator, One, must be such an unbelievable being to create all of this. I wonder what the Creator's intention is? I wonder if I'll ever see the day when these intentions come to light.\”

As Mao Lu briefly pondered this subject, he focused on spreading his consciousness further and further.

Initially it was a smooth ride. A lot smoother than last time, he felt his consciousness break through the walls of the galaxies as easily a breaking the wall of a bubble. POP and he sensed yet another galaxy, POP and he was in the next one.

As he sensed more and more, the seed of information in his soul sprouted more leaves. The leaves that were initially silver and covered in stardust, became gradually more transparent.

As that transparency increased the particles of stardust coating them became brighter and brighter until they looked like small stars. And as they twisted around they began making a map of the universe across the surface.

It was as the leaves began to transform that Mao Lu felt the backlash again. All of a sudden his body felt like it had been hit by a truck. He hurt all over, and his skin became so overwhelmingly hot that it began to peel and flake off, and all kinds of impurities that were still hiding in the depths of his bones were forced out through his pores.

Soon enough he was covered in yellow gunk and peeling skin.

His bones became sturdier and he felt them harden to an unbelievable degree. As his bones became tougher he felt a searing pain, as if he was being burned alive. It was so uncomfortable that he began squirming and wailing louder than he ever had before. Yet he couldn't stop it, he had to endure it as his consciousness broke into various galaxies like a flood.

It wasn't until every bone had transformed into this hard material, did the pain finally stop and Gates, halted Mao Lu's training.

\”Congratulations Mao Lu. You have now sensed 150 galaxies, only 250 to go. You have made outstanding progress.\” Gates praised.

Mao Lu couldn't even comment before he collapsed in exhaustion.

...

Meanwhile outside the door of Mao Lu's room, Chàng Bo hovered. His hand rested on the door but he didn't dare knock or enter.

Such ungodly sounds had come from there and he was generally feeling more and more shocked. He'd heard a rumour once that when Gatekeepers trained they suffered unbearable pain each time. Chàng Bo had thought it was just nonsense, and since not many people were personally close to Gatekeepers and Gatekeeper servants are loyal and secretive, this rumour had never been confirmed.

Yet after hearing such horrendous sounds for the second time, for several hours, Chàng Bo had come to the conclusion that Mao Lu must be training. That this was somehow linked to how Gatekeepers improved themselves.