Chương 27: Chapter 26 - Another White Room (I)

As he took the last steps, the staircase vanished behind him. Alonso was left alone in the usual white room. The lights did not go off; there was no cage, no circle on the floor, no buttons on the wall, nothing. He walked around with the sword in hand, scanning the room for any oddities but found none. It was exactly the same as the first room, the first trial. At least to his eyes, it was. He moved closer to the walls and used his domain to sense anything beyond them.

He was unhurried and calm, taking his time to scan the room thoroughly. He finished with the walls and then turned his attention to the floor. He had no trouble leaning his head down to the ground, methodically moving from one zone to the next, covering the entire area. The room was not large, but his domain was limited, so he spent about an hour mapping the entire space. He found nothing. Next, he stared at the ceiling. It was three meters high.

He sighed, put his sword down, and began jumping on every spot of the internal grid he had used to map the room. He jumped hundreds of times, leaving no zone unscathed. He found nothing. He frowned slightly. After making one last look around, he picked up his sword and walked to a corner, sitting down with his back against the wall. Just as he rested his head, he felt uncomfortable. The familiar need to relieve himself came over him, and he saw the black ooze starting to seep from his skin again.

Shaking his head, he quickly undressed to avoid soaking his clean clothes and rendering them useless like before. He placed his clothes in a corner, keeping the shirt and his sword with him, and walked naked to the other side of the room. It was regrettable that he didn't have water to clean himself, so he used the shirt to rub off the ooze as best he could. Nevertheless, it was disgusting. After he finished, he put the clothes back on and returned to his resting position.

He closed his eyes as he leaned his head back. Time slowly passed as he remained in the same position, his breathing shallow and steady. Minutes merged slowly into hours. Nothing happened. He managed to enter a half-sleep state, with his body resting but his domain on standby, prepared to alert him to any fluctuations in his surroundings. Like that, he remained for several hours, doing absolutely nothing. It was then when he sensed it. There was something here!

He quickly got up, sword in hand, and looked around, but there was nothing in plain sight.

'An invisible enemy?' He then closed his eyes and saw … He took a step back, shock appearing on his face, his heart thumping. He opened his eyes again but saw nothing. It was only visible to his EM waves. There, in a corner of the room, sleeping in a fetal position, was… a human! His breath caught in his throat as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. He slowly walked forward to see it better. But each step he took only made the image more clear. Another frown appeared on his face.

'Since when are my EM waves so detailed and precise in mapping an object so complex? The red orb? Was it real? Did I...?' He shook his head and decided not to give it much thought. Instead, he had to know what this was. As he took several more steps, he reached the figure lying down. He crouched and sensed it clearly.

"What…" he whispered in shock. The figure was unmistakably himself, every detail identical, even the prosthetic leg was still there. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. He then stretched his arm forward and motioned to touch him. The arm went through. He kept looking at the figure but did nothing. This was unmistakably him in the first trial. The moment he fell asleep before finding the knife. The knife?

He got up and moved to the center of the room but did not manage to...

'Wait.' His face turned serious, and he went exactly to the center of the room. There he detected it in his domain. Several centimeters below the floor, there was the knife—the same knife he had seen in the first trial. As he stared at every detail of the knife and then back at the figure sleeping on the ground, an idea of the purpose of this trial started to form in his mind.

"Ridiculous," he muttered, gently shaking his head as he sensed the knife. Even so, he knelt down and rested his head on the floor. The closeness to the knife made its shape more refined. He clearly saw the EM waves deflecting around it, mapping its structure perfectly in his domain. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, focusing his mind. He had always used his electromagnetic domain to sense and detect, but now he needed to find a way to manipulate objects using the same waves.

His physics background provided a foundation, but applying theoretical knowledge in such a direct, practical manner was new territory. He began by recalling the principles of electromagnetism. He knew that moving charges create magnetic fields, and that magnetic fields can exert forces on objects. If he could somehow generate a strong enough electromagnetic field with his brain waves, he might be able to move the knife. The problem was, his EM waves were too weak. He needed a way to amplify them.

He recalled an experiment from his physics classes where an external magnetic field could enhance the effect of a weaker one. But he had no external device here, only his mind, his body, and… his sword. He stared at the sword, contemplating how he might use it to augment his abilities. The sword was made of metal, and metals could conduct electricity and magnetism. If he could somehow induce a current in the sword, it might generate a stronger magnetic field that he could then manipulate with his brain waves.

The idea was risky, and the practical application was uncertain, but he had to try something. He stood up, gripping the sword tightly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on his brain waves. He visualized them as tiny, synchronized pulses of energy. He concentrated on directing these pulses into the sword, hoping to induce a current. He imagined the neurons in his brain firing in perfect harmony, their electric signals resonating through his body and into the sword.

He visualized the sword becoming an extension of his mind, amplifying his electromagnetic output. Minutes passed, and Alonso felt a faint warmth in the sword's hilt. He opened his eyes, focusing on the knife embedded in the floor. He willed his brain waves to intensify, channeling them through the sword. Nothing happened. The knife remained still. He tried again, concentrating harder, pushing his mental limits. The knife didn't budge.

He recalled the principles of electromagnetism and decided to approach the problem from a different angle. He needed to fine-tune his brain waves, adjusting their frequency and intensity. He spent hours experimenting, but each attempt ended in failure. His body ached from the strain, and his mind felt like it was on the verge of breaking. He was becoming tired, hungry, and thirsty. The room seemed to close in around him, the silence amplifying his frustration. But he couldn't afford to stop.

He sat down, exhausted, and closed his eyes, trying to calm his racing thoughts. He stared at the EM version of himself, still sleeping in a fetal position. He guessed that nothing would change until he made the knife appear on the floor. He needed a new approach. He remembered how his professors always emphasized the importance of persistence in scientific experiments. Sometimes, the answer lay not in brute force but in subtle adjustments and patience. He took a deep breath, clearing his mind.

He decided to try a different method. Instead of trying to lift the knife directly, he would use his EM waves to create a magnetic field around the knife, similar to how magnets attract metal. He focused on the knife, visualizing a magnetic field forming around it. He concentrated on his brain waves, trying to synchronize them with the natural frequencies of the knife's metal. He imagined the tiny particles within the knife aligning with his EM waves, creating a bond that would allow him to manipulate it.

Minutes passed as he kept his eyes closed and focused on the knife. He finely tuned the frequency, little by little, until he felt it. The knife moved.