In the ruined temple of the Shadow Nation, Todd sits cross-legged on a stone platform, feeling everything around him.

The voice of Skaha, Queen of Shadows, rang in his ears, "Tell me how you feel. ”

"I can see the colors of the world, hear the small sounds in the air, smell the scent of earth and plants, feel the touch of the air moving. ”

"Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, that's what the world calls the human senses," Skaha said. But to strengthen your soul, you must first set aside these senses and learn how to use the power of soul perception, commonly known as the sixth sense. ”

"Sixth sense, you mean extrasensory perception?" Todd wondered, "Shouldn't that be an ability?"

Skaha walked up to Todd, "No, perceiving souls is an ability that every living thing possesses. From legendary ancient creatures to small ants shaped like gravel, as long as they are creatures with souls, they all have this power. ”

"It's just that human beings rely too much on their eyes and ears when they perceive the existence of the outside world, and have long forgotten this innate power. ”

Hearing this, Todd was a little speechless: "Well, how exactly should I get this 'forgotten' perception?"

Skaha tapped Todd on the top of the head with a stick in his hand: "It's easy, just blind your eyes and shield your ears......"

"Wait! I've never heard of training like this!"

As soon as Todd shouted these words, his eyes suddenly fell into darkness, and he could no longer hear any sound in his ears, and there was no touch on his skin.

Skaha cut off all of his sensory organs.

Todd tried to scream, but found he couldn't make a sound. Having lost all his senses, he found that the only organ in his body that was still functioning normally was his brain.

After an unknown amount of silence, a faint glint appeared in Todd's eyes.

It was a pale blue grainy glow that slowly drifted through the void.

Todd recognized the pale blue particles of light, which were exactly the same as the substance that appeared when Deirdre summoned the soul in the soul space.

Todd tried to touch the light, and it was like metal meeting a magnet, and the blue light entered his body in an instant.

Maybe it was just a thousandth of a second, maybe it was a whole century, and a door suddenly opened to him, and he 'saw' a completely different world.

Grass, trees, birds, and beasts, all of which remain in their original form, but are all composed of blue bodies of light.

Meredith and Skaha's figures also appeared in his "field of vision", the former resembling a giant blue light, while the latter resembling a huge orb that emitted blinding light.

In an instant, the sight, hearing and other senses returned to Todd's body, he looked at the two women in front of him, and said excitedly: "I see, I see! I see another world!"

Meredith brushed the hair from her ear and asked with a smile, "Do you know how long it has been since you entered meditation?"

Todd looked at the frost and fog around him, and replied uncertainly, "One day, two days?"

"Two months. ”

Meredith's answer frightened Todd into jumping from the ground.

"Two months?!And everything out there?!The war, and the kingdom, how is it now?"

Meredith raised an eyebrow and said, "These are the things you care about first, don't you want to know the role of soul perception?"

Looking at Todd's anxious appearance, Meredith shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "Just a few days ago, your original companion, a woman named Richel, came here to look for you. ”

Todd stood up: "Where's she?"

"When she learned that you were meditating, she went back first, and you also know that the environment here is not suitable for ordinary people to stay for a long time. She brought the news that the Church had officially declared war on the city of Twilight, and that more than twenty kingdoms had joined the war with a total of 16,000 troops. The battlefield was set up in the Holy Acropolis, and war was expected to break out in a month's time. ”

"I need to rush back. ”

Meredith's eyes widened: "Your training isn't over yet!"

Skaha suddenly said at this time: "Todd, you have mastered the basic method of soul perception in this meditation, and it can be said that you have taken the first step on the path of soul strengthening. This is a remarkable achievement, and many humans who have passed the trials have spent years or even decades on this step alone. ”

Skaha's words changed: "However, you should also understand that this return will be the last time you step into the human world. I suggest you take care of all the chores and make sure you have no worries before returning here. Like I said before, your time is running out, and soon you will no longer be able to maintain your human form. ”

Todd looked down at his hands, and nodded.

Watching Skaha slowly leave, Meredith beckoned to Todd, "I hope to talk to you before you leave." ”

When the two of them reached the open space at the back of the temple, Meredith sat down on a broken pillar and said to Todd, "You are different from the trialists I have seen. Those who wish to become demigods do so for power, for revenge, and for eternal life...... You're the first trialist I've ever met, forced to walk the path of demigods in order to protect others. ”

Todd sighed softly, "Everyone has a different reason. ”

Meredith looked at Todd and said quietly, "Although your intentions are noble, your efforts may not necessarily lead to a good result. ”

“...... I don't understand what you mean. ”

Meredith held his chin in one hand and whispered, "The famous historian Mosiris once said: What is a hero? A hero is a person who saves people from suffering and calamity. There are two main points in this sentence, I don't know if you understand it?"

Without giving Todd a chance to answer, Meredith continued, "One, the hero saves the civilian population from the calamity, and two, the hero must be a human being. People in the world often mention the first half of the sentence repeatedly, but they always forget that the second half of the sentence is the main point of the problem. ”

Todd chewed on the woman's words, "Heroes have to be humans?"

"You can think of humans as narrow-minded creatures who are afraid of the unknown, even if it saves their lives and eliminates the threat of the world. They will still look at everything with scrutiny and even hostility. No matter how much this thing contributes, humanity will still come together to talk about the catastrophe that this kind of thing may cause in the future. ”

Meredith gently combed her feathers, looked at Todd and smiled, "Xenos are a prime example. I've seen too many cases of an xenomorph who stood up for the safety of humanity and exposed his identity, only to be betrayed by humanity in the end. ”

Todd looked at Meredith and was silent.

"You have now mastered the ability of soul perception, and as long as you no longer use the power of the tyrant, you can be a human in peace. Meredith rolled over and jumped off the pillar, shaking the feathers off her body: "Todd, remember my words. The word hero, the reality it appears in the real world, is sometimes darker and more desperate than it literally. ”

Looking at Meredith's back, Todd suddenly asked, "Why are you saying this to me?"

"I just don't want to see the tragedy happen again......"