He wanted to settle things right then and there, but William decided he should rest first while keeping an eye on the Demon's movements. He didn't know whether he'd have to start the next trial immediately, or if he would get another break. It was best not to test his luck.
He sealed the Lesser Demon in another improved Perfect Confinement Array, making it completely unable to move or even think since its power had been reduced greatly. The Demon's eyes glowed ferociously, but it couldn't fire off a laser beam even if it wanted to.
To prevent the Lesser Demon from regenerating back to full strength, William created an Advanced Lightning Array that would continuously damage the humanoid creature. Just to be extra safe, William made sure to check on the Demon every five minutes while recovering to make sure it hadn't loosened its restraints.
After four hours of rest and a few minutes spent testing the Lesser Demon's resistance to Magic, William was back to peak condition. He had cleared the last three floors much faster than he expected, but he wasn't too happy with the current scenario.
I'm still going too slow!
He launched a Light Beam spell at the Demon, finishing it off instantly.
This battle was much shorter than the fight against the Forest Dragon and even the Nemean Lion, but that was only because William had the knowledge of the System and the perfect skills to counter both the Demon's insane regeneration and its powerful attacks.
If he wasn't given six hours to prepare, William probably would have had to fight a long and exhausting battle, with little chance of success. If the Lesser Demon was a bit smarter, it wouldn't have had such a difficult time destroying the improved Perfect Confinement Arrays. Instead, it tried to brute force its way through the Array with little attention on how he was doing it.
Regardless, William was impressed by the Lesser Demon's ability.
And to think that Demon is only in the Golden Core Realm...
If this was a Lesser Demon, William didn't want to meet a Greater one.
He teleported to the 151st floor, met by the Artifact Spirit once more.
"You made it through all of those trials by yourself, and on your first try at that!" the Artifact Spirit was surprised.
"When else was I going to do it?" William replied.
"Fair enough, but I'll have you know that even thousands of years ago, when we trained our Sect Members in this Ruins, there were only a few that were able to reach this floor. None of which made it in their first attempt."
"Master did, yes. It was quite the powerful one at that."
"Was? What happened to it?" William was confused. If the creator of the Gravitas Ruins had a Sect where its members were on par with him, and they even had access to such an amazing training ground, what could possibly cause its downfall?"
"Betrayal, mostly." the Artifact Spirit replied. "A thousand years ago, Master's Sect Elders planned to form a coup d'état, aiming to usurp his power as Sect Master to claim access to the many personal treasures he had stored over the years.
You see, Master used to be quite the hoarder, even storing many treasures that were useless to him such as the ones you earned from clearing the lower-ranked trials. The Sect Elders didn't and begged him to share some of his wealth with the rest of the Sect, but he was too stubborn and refused."
William understood. After all, he was the same way. Even if it were a blade of grass, if it had some value, William would keep it. He only sold items when he had a specific goal in mind, such as earning enough money for a Cultivation Technique.
The Artifact Spirit continued. "When Master killed the traitorous Elders, he decided to disband the Sect, which lost him the trust and support of the remaining Elders. He holed up in these Ruins, having completely given up on managing a Sect and performing experiment after experiment with his nearly boundless wealth." Official source ıs NoveI★Fire.net
William nodded, "What happened to the other Elders? Are they still alive?"
"Many of them are. Cultivators have a very long lifespan, and unless they do something stupid or provoke someone even more powerful, they are bound to live until they can no longer progress in their Cultivation.
I'm sure the Elders have all formed their own Sects by now, seeing as many of the emblems on the younger generation in this Ruins are very similar to those of our subsects or the various factions within the Sect."
William didn't understand much about subsects or factions, but he got the idea. The Artifact Spirit's mention of the other Cultivators reminded him of something though.
"If your Master doesn't care for Sect matters, why does he allow other Cultivators to enter these ruins? And why is there a time limit to how long they can remain?"
The Artifact Spirit's eyebrows rose, not expecting William to think of this. "That's easy. Like I said, Master loves to experiment. There's only one issue, he needs a suitable disciple who can both learn and assist. For a man that has no contact with the outside world, this is the most difficult task, more difficult than any experiment he can come up with." the Spirit waved his hand as he spoke.
Something tells me they have me in mind.
"And we've chosen you to be that disciple, among other candidates."
And there it is... William wasn't even surprised at his guess.
If you were a powerful Cultivator and you saw generations of Disciples fail the same trial for thousands of years, then a single man came along and cleared over a hundred of them in just a few weeks, you might also be desperate to recruit that man.
While William was definitely flattered, he didn't think that experimenting for who knows how many years was meant for him, especially if it was for the sake of someone else. Maybe his feelings would change, but the only thing William had to gain from such a powerful Cultivator were his treasures, which would earn loads of Potential Points in a single wave.
He took a deep breath, choosing his next words carefully, "Sir, that's very generous of both him and you, but I'm not sure I have what it takes. What if your Master decides he doesn't want me anymore?"
The Artifact Spirit wasn't surprised at William's hesitation. Who would believe the words of a stranger immediately?
"You'll have plenty of time to think about it. Master won't be able to leave his work for a while yet. If you decide you want to accept Master's offer, come back to the Ruins in eight months. For now, please accept your reward for clearing the last fifty trials."
William nodded while accepting another silver box. This was the best course of action, giving him plenty of time to figure out what he wanted, while also improving his strength so he wouldn't be completely powerless if something happened.
I came this far in three months, who knows how strong I'll be a year from now? With the help of the System, anything was possible!