Preparations for the trial chamber were underway.
In the core of the Shadow Trial Ground, the stone hall known as the Will-Breakthrough Altar had been completely sealed.
Several assistant technicians in white alchemical robes bustled around the central stone platform, adjusting potion concentrations and temperature controls.
Faint white mist began drifting through the altar chamber. These were aerosolized Shadow Moss spores, slowly fed into the air circulation ducts as the room's temperature gradually dropped.
This space had once been the main ceremonial hall of the ancient Snow Oath, and damaged ritual patterns covered all four walls.
Rings of ghostly blue phosphorescence flickered in the thick mist, creating a mental pressure that felt almost tangible.
Amid this unnerving atmosphere, several knights attempting their breakthroughs sat on the floor, absorbed in painful struggles and utterly unaware of what was happening outside.
Battle aura flickered around them. Some trembled uncontrollably, while others murmured under the influence of hallucinations, their foreheads drenched in cold sweat.
This was the mental disruption zone at work, forcing them toward a breakthrough.
In principle, the breakthrough process consisted of three stages.
The first was stimulation through fumigation.
The aerosolized spores entered the body directly through breathing, stinging the nerves and amplifying mental perception, forcing the subject's core of will into a state at the very edge of its limits.
The second stage was potion catalysis.
The knights were injected with a catalyst blended from azure-pattern honey and Frostblood Redberry to stabilize their internal battle aura circuits, ease the spores' side effects, and activate latent bloodline factors.
The final stage was guidance through the Tide Breathing Technique.
This technique required intense mental concentration. It guided battle aura throughout the body, enabling the final breakthrough under the combined conditions of extreme cold, high pressure, and hallucinations.
In practice, however, none