William collected a few hundred Mana Stones, a group of fourteen Foundation Establishment Cultivators now following close behind and ready to enter the first floor.
Glen looked at William in amazement, not expecting the man to suddenly recruit a dozen random Foundation Establishment Cultivators from other Sects. Not only this, but he earned Mana Stones while doing so!
The power of his Meteor Spell was incredible, especially for a non-Cultivator. Glen now understood why William wanted to recruit Foundation Establishment Cultivators. They would boost the power of the Magical Beasts from the Foundation Establishment Realm to the Golden Core Realm, allowing them to exhaust the tower's Mana faster.
Maybe I don't need to pay off my quota to them after all. With William leading the way, I can keep my treasures!
Glen watched as William finished storing his Mana Stones, then followed behind as the group entered the first floor of the trial.
William spoke to Glen while still looking towards the entrance to the trial, "You said the door would suck you- owaaaaaaaaaah!" For origınal chapters go to ɴovelfire.net
He couldn't finish his sentence as a heavy gravitational pull sent him flying towards the entrance of the trial tower, pulling him inside. William rolled across the ground a few meters before catching himself, propping his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.
He looked at the doorway, where an illusory barrier was now raised. It was only an Intermediate Barrier Array so it wouldn't be difficult to break, but William didn't intend to leave the tower. Glen and the others stepped inside, passing through the Intermediate Barrier as if it wasn't even there.
"What is the point of that?" William glared at Glen who currently had a wide grin on his face.
"It's one of the mechanisms of the tower. It used to pull you in the moment you opened the door to the tower so you couldn't leave midway, but some idiot decided to steal the doorway a few decades ago, so now we have to deal with the consequences.
I can't lie though, it's always hilarious to see people like you get pulled in without warning." Glen laughed.
"You talk as if you've been in here a lot." William replied flatly. He thought about how to get Glen back for laughing at him.
"I have. I've probably been in here a few dozen times." Glen replied with a shrug.
"A few dozen times? How do you always manage to sneak in?"
"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Depends on how I feel." Glen was starting to sound like a stereotypical thief.
William would have asked more but his thoughts were interrupted of the sound of an ogre's roar in the distance. He turned his head just in time to see the last Cultivator of the previous group dying to the Nascent Soul ogre's club, their bodies turning into pixels and teleporting outside the tower.
"Huh, this is the first trial I've seen so far where we don't die for real..." William muttered.
"Who knows, maybe only the first floor is an exception. I'm not willing to find out." Glen responded from his right.
The two watched as the ogre turned into tiny particles of Mana that floated upwards into the ceiling that was thirty meters above them. In its place, a new ogre spawned, emitting the aura of a Golden Core Beast.
Everything in this trial is created using Mana? William marveled at the complexity of the Gravitas Ruins. It probably took the trial creator hundreds if not thousands of years to create this massive area.
Who would spend so much time on this? Perhaps it used to be a treasure vault and was now repurposed? William's questions continued to grow, but he couldn't find any answers just yet. The System was no help as usual, charging hundreds of points even for some of the simplest answers.
It's not worth thinking about. William focused on the Golden Core ogre a few hundred meters in front of him. The big green creature with horns noticed William as soon as it spawned and was currently running this way.
Destpite its bulky frame, the ogre was quite fast, reaching the early stages of the Golden Core Realm. What was truly threatening about it was its strength. One swing of its club and all of William's Foundation Establishment helpers would die.
"Get back! Stay as far away from the enemy as possible!" William yelled to the group behind him, Glen included. He didn't want his potential helper to get killed on accident.
William pulled out five Array Puppets from his Space Ring. He could control ten of them simultaneously now with his Array Talent upgrade, but it wasn't necessary right now.
He gave each puppet one of his throwing knives, then the Array Puppets were arranged in a V-formation, rushing forward to surround the ogre.
The ogre tried to swing its club around it in a circle when the Puppets came close, but it was stopped by the first Puppet. It grabbed the club with great strength, holding its ground as the full force of the ogre had no effect on the Puppet.
Glen and the others gazed in awe as the Array Puppets proceeded to slice up the ogre dozens of times until it fell. The Magical Beast didn't even damage a single Array Puppet. William made sure to take the last hit by launching a giant fireball while the ogre was on the ground, finishing it off.
Its body turned into particles of Mana like before, but instead of rushing to the ceiling, it entered the floor. In its place, a second ogre spawned, just like the first.
No Bestiary notification, and no Potential Points for killing it...damn. William half-expected this, since they were artifically formed by a Cultivator. Perhaps he would only gain Potential Points from killing Magical Beasts formed naturally by the world?
William didn't bother changing the order he gave the Array Puppets when the ogre respawned. They attacked the same way they did before, rendering the ogre completely powerless before their successive attacks.
This time, the ogre didn't even have a chance to attack before it was killed.
Glen and the Foundation Establishment Cultivators watched as ogre after ogre was killed, a crowd even appearing at the entrance of the doorway from outside the trial tower. They used special methods to reflect the scene of the inside, or indirectly look through the doorway to watch the fight.
"Shouldn't we stop him?" someone asked amongst the crowd.
"I would, but no one has ever cleared the first floor. When would we have another opportunity to see the second floor than now?"
"That makes sense, but he's going to get the reward if there is one."
"I doubt it. Do you see how many floors the tower has? How can a group like theirs clear so many in succession?"
They watched in silence as ogre after ogre was slain in the trial tower, the Mana provided to the first floor decreasing with each kill. The Cultivators could sense the barrier separating them from the inside weakening further and further, until it was barely a Basic Barrier Array.
Finally, someone decided they needed to do something. A Core Formation Cultivator stared at the doorway, allowing its gravitational pull to send him inside the trial floor.
The ogre that was currently being targeted suddenly turned into particles of Mana and rushed towards the ceiling, replaced by a new ogre at the Nascent Soul Realm.