Plant Tender

Rayne paid the fare and walked into Violet House.

Violet House occupied a vast area. The reception hall alone covered over a hundred square meters, yet the interior decoration was quite plain, giving the place a discreet but tasteful air.

As soon as Rayne entered, the eyes of several female attendants at the front desk lit up. One of them hurried over first and said with a bright smile:

"Sir, welcome to Violet House. How should I address you?"

She wore a simple, capable-looking uniform and resembled a white-collar worker from his previous life. Her hair was tied up, and she had a graceful figure. As she spoke, her gaze rested on Rayne's face, her eyes full of mirth.

One of Violet House's distinguishing features was that most of its employees were women, and all of them were above average in appearance. Any one of them would be considered a beauty outside.

It was said that the manager in charge of the establishment was an elf, though she rarely appeared before ordinary customers.

Rayne had been here before, so he was not overly surprised. He said directly, "My name is Rayne. I'd like to take a Soul Test."

"Certainly, Mr. Rayne. Please follow me."

The female attendant made an elegant inviting gesture, then led the way.

Rayne followed her through the hall and entered an elegant room at the back. The room was divided into two sections, separated by a glass window. Through it, he could see a recliner resembling a dental chair in the other section, with a device beside it.

The half-person-tall device looked like a metal cabinet. An irregular, oddly shaped stone sat on top, with its lower half embedded in the cabinet, concealing its internal structure.

A middle-aged woman in a lake-blue dress sat beside the device. She held the metal wires connected to it in her hands, seemingly injecting it with energy.

At that moment, someone was lying in the chair. He looked to be in his twenties and was touching the stone on the device. His eyes were closed, but his face had already twisted pale, and sweat covered his head as though he were enduring tremendous agony.

Outside the glass window, another female attendant watched the activity inside while timing the person being tested.

"How long has it been since he started?" the attendant who had brought Rayne in asked softly.

"He's already reached Intermediate Pain Sensation."

The attendant glanced at the clock on the wall, then turned back. "Please wait a moment, Mr. Rayne. This customer should be finishing the test soon."

"All right."

Rayne nodded. He had never taken a Soul Test, but he knew how the process worked.

The device was a Soul Grinding Stone. It contained a Soul Power transmission device, and a Transcendent would inject Soul Power into the stone on top. Touching it with one's hand caused intense pain, simulating the Soul Transformation Ritual.

However, the pain did not immediately reach the level of the Soul Transformation Ritual when the test began. Instead, it gradually increased as Soul Power was injected.

The first five minutes brought Minor Pain Sensation. Once one endured those five minutes, it would rise to Intermediate Pain Sensation. After another five minutes, it would reach Advanced Pain Sensation, which was the most agonizing stage of the actual Soul Transformation Ritual.

As long as one could endure five minutes of Advanced Pain Sensation, one would qualify to undergo the Soul Transformation Ritual, with a success rate close to fifty percent!

Of course, the longer one endured, the higher the success rate.

After only about two minutes, the young man being tested let out a scream, released the hand he had placed on the Soul Grinding Stone, and abruptly sat up in the recliner.

He looked at the clock and could not help showing his disappointment. Then he regretted not knowing why he had failed to hold on.

He had not even lasted two minutes under Intermediate Pain Sensation. If he underwent the Soul Transformation Ritual, his chances of success would be nearly zero.

The middle-aged woman responsible for activating the Soul Grinding Stone offered him a few words of comfort. A ray of green light flew from her fingers and entered his forehead. Only then did he stand up and stagger out of the partition to rest in a chair outside. The attendant assigned to him brought over a cup of tea, and after he drank it, his complexion finally improved.

"Mr. Rayne, you can go in for your test now."

Rayne took off his coat and handed it to the female attendant before entering the partition.

"Please lie down and relax," the middle-aged woman said gently. Her voice was melodious, as though she had some vocal training.

Rayne had already seen from outside that this woman was a Rank 2 Transcendent whose profession was Plant Tender!

Her profession level might not be high, but no one would dare underestimate a Plant Tender capable of casting spells.

The core element of Plant Tenders was plant affinity. They excelled at manipulating all kinds of plants and casting spells through them. Their spells covered nearly everything: they could heal, but they also excelled at destruction. Summoning and control were among their specialties as well. If one also studied alchemy and refined poisons, one could kill without leaving a trace.

Being able to hire a Plant Tender to provide customers with free Soul Tests was practically extravagant. Violet House's power made Rayne feel even more mysterious about it.

He lay down on the chair, took a deep breath, and placed his hand on the Soul Grinding Stone.

"I'm going to begin."

The instant the middle-aged woman finished speaking, Rayne felt a stabbing pain surge from his hand straight into his brain, as if his finger had been cut off. He almost leaped out of the chair.

His entire body went rigid for a moment. He clenched his teeth and took several deep breaths before finally managing to endure it.

Wave after wave of pain assaulted his mind, as though a knife were repeatedly slicing his finger—an extremely dull serrated knife that kept tugging at his nerves.

"Damn, this hurts way too much."

Rayne cried out inwardly. He could still bear it for now, but he could not be certain he would withstand it once five minutes had passed and the pain reached the intermediate level.

I have to divert my attention!

He began silently counting sheep, but every attempt was interrupted by the pain before he could reach ten.

Then he tried reciting texts from memory.

"Yuzhang, an ancient commandery; Hongdu, a newly established prefecture. The stars divide into Yi and Zhen, the land joins Heng and Lu. It girds the Three Rivers and belts the Five Lakes, controlling, controlling... damn it, controlling your head! It hurts like hell!"

"The setting sun leans against the mountain and disappears, the Yellow River's water comes from the heavens... No, 'Moonlight before my bed, a branch hangs southeast, a red apricot branch reaches over the wall...'"

Rayne's thoughts were completely jumbled. He could not recite a single line smoothly.

He struggled to let his mind wander aimlessly and even began recalling the various teachers he had kept stored on his hard drive for years: Teacher Ohashi, Teacher Takagi, Teacher Hatano, Teacher Matsushima, Teacher Mikami, Teacher Ishihara, Teacher Utsunomiya... But none of it worked. The terrifying pain affected all his thoughts, easily cutting short the teachers' magnificent performances.

Before he realized it, he had finally endured five minutes.

Then, even more intense Intermediate Pain Sensation surged into his mind. This time, it felt as though he had placed his hand over a fire to roast it!

"Who could possibly endure this?!"

Rayne bit down hard on his mouth to keep from crying out. Veins stood out on his face, and cold sweat soon dripped from his forehead.

A thought flashed rapidly through his mind. The person before me lasted two minutes? That's incredible endurance.

Then he remembered a heroic martyr from his previous life. What an admirable and truly great person!

Time passed second by second, and Rayne continued to endure. His right hand, resting on the Soul Grinding Stone, had almost gone rigid. The veins on the back of his hand bulged distinctly, but he pressed down on the stone with all his strength, refusing to let go.

He looked at the clock on the wall. Its pendulum swung rhythmically from side to side, and every swing marked the passing of one second.

Yet every second was a terrifying ordeal. Rayne began to suspect that the clock was broken. Otherwise, why was its pendulum moving so slowly?

Two minutes later, Rayne felt a surge of delight. I've lasted longer than the person before me!

Then he thought miserably, There are still three minutes left in this stage.

After that, another three minutes passed.

These were the longest three minutes Rayne had experienced in either of his two lives. Before he could even feel relieved, the pain suddenly rose to Advanced Pain Sensation—the most difficult latter stage of the Soul Transformation Test.

This time, it felt as if someone had driven a finger-thick steel spike through the crown of his head and into his brain, then twisted it around and around.

Rayne could not help letting out a muffled groan, and his entire body began to tremble.

"If you can't hold on, tell me," the middle-aged woman's voice sounded beside his ear. She was afraid that excessive pain would make his body rigid, leaving him unable even to release his hand.

"No... need..." Rayne slowly forced the two words out through his mouth.

One minute passed, feeling as long as a century to Rayne.

Then another century passed. His consciousness had almost grown hazy, and he was already on the verge of collapse.

During the third minute of Advanced Pain Sensation, Rayne's mind went blank. He could not even think. Diverting his attention no longer worked; he was relying purely on his willpower to persist.

Rayne did not know how he had endured the final two minutes.

When the clock passed the five-minute mark, his willpower nearly slackened all at once, and he wanted to pull his hand back.

"No! I can still hold on. I want to see where my limit is." After passing the five-minute mark, Rayne seemed to break through a boundary and managed to endure for another three minutes.

Everyone present watched tensely, afraid to make a sound.

Rayne kept his eyes closed, his attention drifting wildly. Just as he was about to give up, he caught sight of the Little Red Flower in the corner of his vision and opened the phone interface.

At that moment, he could not think at all and simply tapped around randomly on the interface.

By chance, he opened the music player.

A beautiful melody rang out in his mind: "The sunset at the horizon once again shines upon my face, once again illuminating my uneasy heart. What place is this, still so desolate? This endless journey is so long..."

Rayne was instantly captivated by the singing. What song is this?

Then he realized that the pain had weakened!

Overjoyed, Rayne hurriedly focused on listening to the song and silently hummed along with the lyrics. Sure enough, the pain gradually eased. Although it had not diminished to the point of disappearing completely—it had dropped from Advanced Pain Sensation to roughly Minor Pain Sensation—it was entirely within what he could endure.

Moreover, as he sang along seriously, the pain continued to fade.

After two songs, the pain had diminished to the level of having one's head caught in a door. It was even weaker than Minor Pain Sensation, and he could persist with ease.

I never thought that one day I'd feel so good after getting my head caught in a door...

Rayne thought helplessly, torn between laughter and tears.

After listening to several songs, he saw no point in continuing the test, so he withdrew his hand.

The pain vanished immediately. Rayne exhaled, returning to his senses, only to discover that the middle-aged woman sitting beside him was staring blankly at him as if she had seen a ghost.

It was not only her. The partition outside the glass window was already packed with people, including Violet House's female attendants and several customers from the establishment.

When they saw Rayne withdraw his hand, they all let out a gasp of astonishment, their eyes filled with disbelief.