"…Then let us try."
Richard slowly cracked his neck to the right, then to the left, the dull sound echoing faintly in the stillness around him. He exhaled, steadied his breathing, and then sat back upright, settling into a perfectly balanced meditative posture, his spine straight and his presence calm yet resolute.
(…Are you truly ready? Are you mentally and physically prepared to undergo the Trial of Worthiness?) Juri asked hesitantly, her voice carrying a rare trace of concern. (Only those with near-perfect affinity can even hope to break through to a World Cataclysm for a reason. And moreover… only a single individual in the entire recorded history of the Young Sector has ever succeeded in breaking through to a World Cataclysm for a reason.)
It was a well-established and unforgiving rule: only those whose affinity approached or exceeded 90% could even attempt a breakthrough to a World Cataclysm.
