The drilling capsule cabin was wrapped in a suffocating silence. Every instrument panel and digital indicator light sat dead, leaving only the dim blue glow of the ancient crystals outside piercing the thick window glass. The air inside felt bone-chillingly cold, sharp enough to turn every breath into a wisp of mist.

Naya pressed close to Zulfa’s seat, gripping the youth’s jacket sleeve with a slightly trembling hand. "Zul... what's happening? Why did the entire electrical system of the capsule suddenly shut down completely? It feels... it feels like something's watching us from the dark."

"Don't move and stay calm," Zulfa whispered firmly. Though his tone sounded steady, his own heart hammered wildly against his ribs. He stared straight ahead toward the crystalline barrier wall outside. "Our capsule didn't malfunction from a mechanical short. The psychic wave that slammed into us just now was a form of... consciousness scanning."

"Consciousness scanning?" Captain Danu echoed from the rear seat, furrowing his brow as he watched strange shadows begin writhing outside the glass. "You mean that crystal wall is alive and reading our minds, Engineer?"

Before Zulfa could answer, a low-pitched humming voice echoed inside all three of their heads simultaneously. The sound didn't originate from the capsule's speakers; it resonated directly within the chambers of their consciousness, sounding like thousands of ancestors speaking in a single, heavy harmony of an ancient tongue:

"Who dares step across the sacred gates of the earth's core nexus...? Who dares bring the burdens of the mortal world before the throne of the Arkian kin...?"

Instantly, the golden-purple luminescence from the crystal barrier wall expanded, piercing the capsule's iron hull to enshroud Zulfa's body in a cocoon of pure light.

"Zulfa!" Naya cried in panic, reaching out to grab the youth's hand, only for her body to be gently repelled by an invisible energy shield.

"Don't touch me!" Zulfa called out swiftly, clamping his eyes shut as his consciousness was forcibly yanked out of his physical frame. "This... this is a mental trial I have to face alone."

In a flash, Zulfa’s consciousness was hurled into a hollow dimensional chamber surrounded by giant crystal pillars floating in mid-air. Before him, shadows of the past began materializing one by one to form vivid holographic projections: memories of being scolded by his late father for failing to draft his first machine blueprint, standing over his parents' graves amid a torrential storm, and the grueling days when his family was branded as corporate traitors.

Mocking whispers from those doubt-filled shadows echoed loudly all around him: “You're just a failed engineer who brought ruin upon your own family...” “Why protect a city that never appreciated your sacrifices...?” “Come back... surrender to the weight of your past, Zulfa...”

Zulfa clenched both fists tight, grunting against the suffocating pressure crushing his chest. Those dark phantoms strove to drag him down into a profound vortex of guilt. This was the true internal war—a mental trial before the remnants of primeval consciousness to prove whether a young engineer like him was worthy of touching the earth's core nexus.

"No..." Zulfa rasped out, firm and resolute within his inner sanctuary. He opened his eyes, glaring sharply at his own past phantoms. "I don't regret my past. The failures, the pain, and the burdens I carry... those are the foundations that make me stand right here today. I'm no longer a child hiding behind the shadow of fear!"

Suddenly, amid the storm of mental trials, a warm, brilliant white light cleaved the gloom of the empty void.

From behind that radiance, a sharply suited transparent shadow stepped calmly toward Zulfa. It was the projected consciousness of his late father, Dr. Aris Arditama.

"Dad...?" Zulfa murmured in disbelief, tears spilling slowly down his cheeks.

Dr. Aris's apparition smiled warmly, opening his arms to gently rest a hand upon his son's shoulder. His voice echoed softly, guiding Zulfa's soul through its most critical hour:

"You've come a very long way, my son... Remember, a true engineer never builds a bridge to dwell on the past, but to cross over toward the future. Show them that human resolve is far stronger than any stone on earth."

The warmth of his father's voice seeped straight into Zulfa's soul, igniting a fresh blaze of spirit that incinerated every shred of doubt and dark shadow around him. Zulfa drew a deep breath, straightened his posture, and radiated a wave of pure willpower that shook the entire dimensional trial chamber.

Bzzzt—Whoosh!

In the real world, inside the drilling capsule cabin, the purple light cocoon enveloping Zulfa abruptly mutated into a brilliant, soothing sapphire-blue.

Zulfa blew his eyes wide, exhaling a long breath with a rising and falling chest.

"Zul! Are you alright?!" Naya cried out anxiously, immediately wrapping her arms around the youth's shoulders the moment his consciousness fully returned.

"I'm... I'm fine, Naya," Zulfa answered with a weak yet relieved smile. He shifted his gaze back toward the capsule viewport.

As Zulfa's consciousness recovered and the Arkian primeval entity accepted his mental trial, the crystal barrier wall before them slowly slid backward and mechanically folded away. The golden-purple glare gave way to welcoming streams of blue light, parting a secret pathway previously bolted shut.

"Incredible..." Captain Danu murmured in awe, staring in disbelief as the cave path yawned wide before them. "That crystal wall... it genuinely paved the way for us."

"The ancestors' echo has granted us passage," Zulfa said quietly. He re-engaged the capsule control console, which automatically powered back to life. "Let's move forward. We're very close."

Zulfa piloted the drilling capsule slowly past the ruins of the parting crystal wall, navigating down a giant cave tunnel choked with increasingly dense Ley-Line energy streams.

Yet barely had they rolled a few dozen meters into the expansive chamber beyond the crystal wall, the sight greeting their eyes caught all three of their breaths in their throats.

At the center of the magnificent underground cavern hall floated a giant, pulsing cosmic energy sphere—the earth's primary Ley-Line heart.

The energy ball cast a mesmerizing rainbow luminescence, yet across its surface, jagged black fractures gaped wide, spewing anomaly shockwaves that slowly tore away at space and time all around it, forging a miniature dimensional vortex poised to swallow anything drawing near.