BXBX NOVEL Chapter 125: They're Just Golden Core Enemies, So What?
"Sure. What am I collecting?"
"I don\'t know yet, but first you\'ll need to clear the first floor of the tower." he pointed to the doorway, where William could barely make out the ogre slamming down its club, killing half of the Cultivators in one move.
Is that a Nascent Soul Beast right from the start?
"I know what you\'re thinking, and the answer is yes. That\'s a Nascent Soul Beast, but you don\'t have any Cultivation. The beast you fight should be in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Not only that, but only one Magical Beast will spawn on this floor, no matter how many Cultivators there are. Its Cultivation will always be two Realms above the highest level Cultivator."
That\'s it? What\'s so impossible about this trial then? Clearly you can just send someone in with no Cultivation...oh wait.
William had completely forgotten the numerous enemies and traps he had avoided while entering the Labyrinth of Tears. Not only that, but there were an incredible number of Cultivators present both in the maze and at the entrance of the trial.
How could a normal person manage to get here without dying to something else first?
"So it shouldn\'t be too hard for me then, right?" William didn\'t miss the part where Glen noticed his lack of Cultivation despite the Stealth Talent. Was he just guessing, or does he have more inside information?
"It won\'t be hard, but it won\'t be easy either." Glen pulled out a small map from his Space Ring, which turned out to be the Labyrinth in its entirety, with a few greyed-out areas that he hadn\'t mapped out.
He pointed to the location in the center of the map, which was where they were currently standing. He traced his finger along the map, pointing to a few triangular shapes situated throughout the maze.
"We are in the very center of the Labyrinth, and those are Mana pylons, incredibly advanced for our world. They gather the energy of the Ruins and fuel the tower\'s Arrays. It seems each floor has a specific Array function that multiplies the difficulty."
William understood the premise. The Mana pylons sounded much different from the pylons he knew in the real world, but it helped him get an understanding of their shape and general purpose.
"So we just destroy the pylons, right?" William said, pointing at their locations on the map.
"They\'re indestructible. Many have tried, all have failed. It\'s not a matter of talent, but the trial creator didn\'t intend for them to be destroyed at all. They are guarded by the same barrier that kicks out trial takers after they\'ve spent two months inside.
What we need to do is exhaust the Mana fueling each floor, which seems to recover incredibly slowly. Every time we kill a Magical Beast on the first floor, it respawns at the cost of some Mana. Killing the Nascent Soul ogre wastes more of the Array\'s energy, but it takes too long to kill, we can\'t clear the floor in time." Glen looked at William with serious eyes.
So this is why it\'s the impossible trial, huh? I wonder what the reward is? His eyes turned greedy as he thought of this.
Perhaps this is why so many Sects went crazy over this trial. It was clearly the most difficult one in the Gravitas Ruins, meaning it should have the greatest reward. If B-Rank trials gave Star Ore, and A-Rank trials gave Mana Dragon\'s Blood Essence, what was the reward for whatever this was?
William looked back at Glen. "I can clear the first floor, but I need some help."
"I\'m all ears, what do you have in mind?"
"I need a Foundation Establishment Cultivator."
"Okay I can do that- Wait what?"
"You heard me. If we want to clear this floor faster, this is what I need."
Glen looked around. There were a few Foundation Establishment Cultivators, but all of them were from smaller Sects that didn\'t have many members.
William noticed his indecisiveness. Clearly the boy was clever and resourceful to sneak into the Gravitas Ruins but wasn\'t great in social situations.
He placed his hand on Glen\'s shoulder. "Don\'t worry, I\'ve got this."
William used the Earth Element to raise himself a dozen meters into the sky on a pillar, then cupped his hands around his mouth. "WHO WANTS A FREE RIDE THROUGH THE FIRST FLOOR?!?"
His announcement startled many of the Cultivators present. They looked into the sky and laughed, seeing William\'s odd gesture.
Someone called out to Will in jest, "You\'re going to take us through the first floor for free? What do we have to do for such generosity?"
William looked down at the man who just spoke, a Cultivator emitting an aura at the middle stages of the Core Formation Realm. "I\'m only accepting Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Just pay me ten Mana Stones each and I will take you to the second floor!"
"Hahaha! You expect us to believe you can carry us through the impossible trial? Buddy, no one in the last two hundred years has cleared the first floor. You really think you can do it today?"
William knew what was happening here. It seems these idiots weren\'t paying attention to my Puppets earlier.
He called the surrounding Earth and Fire Mana to himself, forming a Meteor Spell in the sky that was slightly larger than the ones used against the Ancient Gravitas Mummy. The Mana control improvement provided by the Mana Dragon\'s Blood Essence seemed to increase his strength another five percent or so.
The Meteor Spell barreled downward, turning the Cultivator\'s face pale with fright as it was headed straight in his direction.
At the last second, William controlled the Meteor to stop, hovering just a few inches from the Cultivator\'s face. The flames scorched off the man\'s hair and eyebrows, leaving him both bald and scared, the worst combination in William\'s opinion.
William controlled the Meteor Spell to touch down carefully just a few meters to the right of the Cultivator, making sure not to crush any innocents on the way down.
No one else bothered to question William\'s statement, his power clearly reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators began lining up, offering William the ten Mana Stone fee that he asked for.
The first person in line asked carefully, "Senior, what do we need to do once we are inside?"
William looked at the boy that was currently handing him ten Mana Stones with a smile. He accepted the Mana Stones, placing them in his Space Ring as he replied, "Nothing, I\'ll take care of the Magical Beasts inside."
"You by yourself?" the boy became a bit nervous.
William looked at him, "They\'re just Golden Core enemies, what is there to be afraid of?"
"Just Golden Core enemies..." the boy muttered as he walked off. He stopped abruptly. Does that mean he\'s only...
His eyes widened in surprise and delight. If that was truly the case, then they really didn\'t need to do anything!