Like before, William tackled the Cycling Array with hundreds of Basic Runes of Slowing. It was easier to slow this Array down, since there were more Stability Runes that made up its surface. William disabled the Cycling Array in only half an hour, leaving just the Barrier and Absorption Arrays.
William was very familiar with both Arrays, so disabling them was a piece of cake.
With the Arrays down, William had finally completed the trial. He looted the 500 Mana Stones and the chest that fueled the Array Formation, then approached the stone pedestal that was waiting on the other side.
He picked up the black box and opened it, revealing what appeared to be a black metal plate with thousands of tiny Runes inscribed on the edges. Seated on the plate was a single piece of dark-blue plastic shaped like a pizza slice, but there seemed to be many pieces missing.
-Completed an S-Rank Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +1000 PP
-Acquired Damaged Mythical Array Wheel: +2500 PP
-System Quest Completed: +1000 PP
William recognized the piece of plastic immediately. He pulled out the three Unknown Disc Fragments he received from earlier in the trial, then placed them against the piece of metal to fill some of the gaps.
The pieces fit snugly into the Array Wheel, restoring the Mythical treasure to half of its capacity. There seemed to still be four missing pieces, which William didn't know where to find them.
You've completed a trial I deemed nearly impossible for someone below the Golden Core Realm. You've earned one of my personal treasures as a reward. The voice resounded directly in William's mind. His voice seemed somewhat pained to lose one of his precious treasures.
This Array Wheel will allow you to store your Arrays to be instantly cast on use. Of course, I have broken the Array Wheel up and scattered its pieces to the other trial takers that have cleared at least 3 levels of the trial. Restore the Array Wheel to its full power and you will be greatly rewarded.
System Quest: A backer has presented the Host with a difficult quest. Collect the remaining Array Wheel fragments and restore the Mythical treasure to its former glory.
Difficulty: Impossible
Fragments Collected: 4/8
Rewards: 50000 Potential Points
The Cultivator said a few more words, but William's focus was on the fifty thousand Potential Point reward for the most recent Quest. With that many Potential Points, William could probably upgrade most of his Magic Talents to S Rank.
William recollected himself, but the Cultivator had already finished speaking. He had to go back through his memories to recall what the man said to him afterwards.
The unknown Cultivator switched to a more serious tone. Your Array Wheel will react in the presence of the remaining fragments, but it will be dangerous of course. Some of the fragments were collected thousands of years ago, and these Cultivators are bound to be quite powerful by now.
The voice subsided, allowing William to ponder on what the man said. Danger wasn't a concern for him. He was accustomed to these situations, and more than prepared to be bombarded by enemies by the time he left the Gravitas Ruins.
William tested the functions of the Array Wheel. He dripped some blood on the Wheel to imprint it to himself, then tried storing a few Arrays inside. Read full story at ɴovelfire.net
After a few minutes he discovered that any Array he formed while the Array Wheel was out would be compressed and automatically stored. The functions of the Array Wheel were obviously above the Perfect level.
Since he had four total fragments added to the Array Wheel, William could store four Arrays at a time. Each fragment represented a storage slot for the Wheel, which was made this the most valuable treasure William had found yet.
The Mana Dragon's Blood Essences were very good, raising William's maximum Mana and Mana Regeneration, but the Array Wheel was both an offensive and defensive treasure that would scale with his strength. It was clear to him which was more important.
He looked back at the group of Cultivators, who were now working on the fifth Array. Their speed was a bit better than William expected, but there was no chance of them clearing it. Their Array Master, an old man with a weak aura, was currently propped up on one knee while he caught his breath.
The fifth Array didn't seem even close to being disabled, and the Lightning Array was slowly wearing down the rest of the group that served as the old man's protection.
William planned to confront the group for one reason only.
His Array Wheel was reacting to their group, suggesting that they had received one of the fragments as a reward just now from clearing the third Array. If he could retrieve this fragment, William would only need three more to complete the so-called Impossible Quest.
According to the System, the Quests were rated based on their current difficulty to William when he received them. Since the Quest was labeled impossible, it just meant that Will wasn't strong enough yet.
He waited a few hours for Atticus to recover his Mana, then had the snake conceal both of them with his Illusion Magic. William walked past the group of Cultivators, then stopped at the entrance to the trial and asked Atticus to stop concealing their presence.
William didn't want the group to think he had just cleared the trial. It was better to pretend he had just entered and see what the group thought. He didn't plan to attempt the reformed Arrays again, rather set up a small resting area where he could wait for the group to give up.
While waiting, William created a set of the most complex Arrays he knew and stored them in the Array Wheel. He planned to use this treasure specifically for emergencies, so he made sure not to spare any effort in the process and also added an Array based on the ones he saw in this trial.
By the time the group decided to turn around, William was considering returning to the desert. There were less than 16 hours before the desert trials would open, and William didn't want to miss the big event.
Thankfully, the Cultivators realized they wouldn't be breaching the fifth Array any time soon and decided to cut their losses and head back.
One of their members had noticed William a few hours ago, but they weren't worried. William was alone and it looked like he was just trying to escape from the Labyrinth for a few hours. One of the Cultivators even suggested killing William just to prevent anyone from finding out how close they were to clearing the trial.
The group approached the exit to the trial, so William stood up from his chair made of the Earth Element. He walked over to the exit staircase and stopped in front of it with his arms crossed while facing the Cultivators.
"What's the meaning of this? Are you tired of living?" the old Array Master asked in a serious tone. He was not in the mood to joke around with children after wasting thirty years of his life just to fail the Array trial he had an eye on.
William kept his arms crossed, "I'm here for that thing you got after breaking the third Array."
The Cultivators were surprised. How long has this kid been here? We broke that array half a day ago!
A middle-aged male with light-green hair and thick brown eyebrows smirked. "So what if we did? Do you seriously think you can take it from us by yourself?"
A female in her twenties that was standing behind the green-haired man laughed out loud. She pulled the pizza slice piece of plastic out of her Space Ring and gave a flirty smile while waving it in the air. "You mean this? You'd have to come take it from us!"
William wasn't sure why the girl openly showed him their prize, but he wasn't going to miss out on this chance. He used the Space Element to teleport behind the girl and take the fragment from her still-waving hand, then teleported back to his original position.
"Oh, very neat. I'll hold onto this for now, thanks!" William stuffed the fragment in his Space Ring.
The green-haired man gave the girl an angry look. "Agnes, are you an idiot? A future Array Master like you is supposed to be smart, why would you show him where we are keeping it?"
William sensed something was wrong with their conversation. It was a bit too set up, and none of the other Cultivators had surprised or angry faces.
William quickly pulled the fragment out of his space ring, inspecting the surface. As he touched it, the surface of the fragment heated up and it turned slightly red.
He threw the fragment out of his hand, shielding his eyes as the fragment exploded in midair.