Chapter 686 - Potential Tower

"We have arrived," said Ryuu after going through the portal, looking at the white temple in front of him.

Alex activated his Spirit Eyes to see what kind of tower was known as Potential Tower. However, he was disappointed when he saw so many symbols around the area, jumbling around each other.

'What is this array? I can see many arrays inscribed in the tower, but the placement doesn't make sense.' Alex thought while looking at Ryuu's and Maya's happy expressions.

"We will need to wait until the Great Elders arrive. This tower is always open for Elders, but this time, the students finally get the chance."

"Hmm? Always open for the elders?" Alex glanced and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yeah. They encourage the disciples this way, like saying, "If you want it, come and get it with your effort." Ryuu nodded. "Besides, the elders should have refined their power to a high degree, so it will be more satisfying to see their performances. Of course, I'm not saying the test is related to the Cultivation Stage, but the elders should have more wisdom than disciples, right?"

"I can understand what you are saying." Alex nodded. "Just say that they have more possibility of success."

"Yeah. That's correct." Ryuu nodded. "Anyway, no matter if I have 1-Star Martial Saint cultivation or your 7-Star Martial Monarch cultivation, the chance to succeed in that tower is the same… Albeit, there is one thing that can increase your chance of success."

"That is…"

"Experience. Know yourself, know the tower, and you shall succeed." Ryuu smiled.

Alex felt he had too little information about this Potential Tower, so he asked. "Ryuu, can you explain this tower a little bit?"

"Sure. I will tell you everything I know." Ryuu nodded. "This tower was built by nine first Great Elders. In other words, your master is also involved in the creation process. Why do you think there are nine temples in this place?"

Alex contemplated for a moment before he looked at Ryuu as if he had figured out the answer.

"That's right. We will be tested by the tower, and every floor will contain each element. The order of the elements is random, so you shouldn't expect me to say what element you will get first. I myself don't know."

"Wait… Nine? The Potential Tower has ten floors, right?" Alex furrowed his eyebrows.

"You are right. I heard this from my master, but there is simply no element on the tenth floor. Of course, this comes from a record. As for whether there is an element or not, we don't know because Great Elder Maxwell refused to tell us back then." Ryuu shook his head and sighed.

"So, I should climb the tower as high as I can?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. I want to tell you about my experience, but Master said you shouldn't know first." Ryuu closed his eyes. Aileen had instructed him to not say anything unnecessary to Alex because she wanted to witness whether Alex really had the potential of being a God or not. There was once a doubt about Maxwell and thought he passed the tenth floor because he was one of the people who created it. Different from him, Alex still had no clue.

She wanted to see whether the tower was a real deal or not. However, having him go inside without preparation also didn't bring him justice, so she allowed Ryuu to tell Alex to a certain extent.

"It's alright." Alex nodded.

"Anyway, I will explain how this tower works first. The Great Elders usually tell the disciples before opening the Potential Tower, but the explanation is not full. I can tell you to a certain extent if you don't mind that is." Ryuu studied Alex's expression to see whether he was dissatisfied or not.

"I would love to hear the explanation." Alex agreed without hesitation.

Ryuu looked at him in astonishment before coughing. "Ahem. Firstly, each floor will give you a riddle. You need to answer the riddle to proceed to the next stage. At the same time, you can't break the illusion because you will be teleported outside as soon as you break the illusion. I have seen a few occasions where the tower actually did it, so this warning is a real deal."

'A riddle on each floor, and my mission is to solve the riddle? However, it will be hard to pass it if I can't break it. After all, illusions are never effective against me due to my Spirit Eyes. If I need to seal my Spirit Eyes… No, I should be able to use it as long as I don't break the illusion.' Alex thought and nodded repeatedly.

"When I first entered the tower, the elder wanted to see all of our potential from heart, cultivation, element, will, or even wisdom. That's why you are required to use your power and wisdom in this tower if you want to reach the peak." Ryuu looked at Alex with a solemn expression.

"I am fine with the test since I also want to see if I have a brain that I can be proud of." Alex nodded. "Anyway, this is the first time I experienced this type of trial, so I'm looking forward to it. Not that I want to be arrogant though."

"We understand your character, Alex." Ryuu nodded and glanced at Maya. "You are not someone who is arrogant and reveals your power right and left. That's why we are not offended by that."

"I have learned it in a painful way though." Alex smiled as he recalled how he acted in the lower world.

"I also want to warn you about another thing. Although this is only an illusion, just make sure you are not too deep inside the illusion, alright? It will be hard for you to dispel the illusion, and the tower will expel you after the time limit. I mean, you shouldn't think too hard about the riddle because the answer might be in front of you. If you encounter a problem, just take a deep breath as you usually do." Ryuu gave another piece of advice.

Alex nodded with a serious expression. "Don't worry. I will be careful."

"Good."

'Still, to think the elements will come in random order.' Alex thought while using his Spirit Eyes to observe the tower. 'That must be the reason for how horrible the layout of this array. No, I should say it's starting to make sense if I think the nonsense symbols placement is to make a random order. There is also one array that tests one's element, so I am sure of this.

'The problem is how to measure my talent? Seeing I have two elements: Pure Fire and Space Elements. Then, I have the possibility of encountering these two on the first two floors, I guess? After all, this should be the easiest for me.' Alex scanned the tower from top to bottom.

"Look!"

"It's the nine Great Elders."

"Uoh!"

Not long after, nine Great Elders appeared to the sky, slowly descending on the tower.

"Who will give the speech this time?" Viola asked. "Whose turn is it?"

"It is my turn." Licht stepped forward.

"Disciples, I want your attention please." Licht stood on top of the tower along with the other elders, looking at the disciples in front of the tower.

The disciples started gathering around the tower, including Alex, Ryuu, and Maya.

"As usual, we will open the Potential Tower for the disciples again. Use this time to test your limit, challenge your limit, and surpass your limit. This is a precious chance for you to be noticed by Great Elders or Elders. That's why don't waste your talent and slap us that I'm worthy to be your disciple. We will see everyone's progress and result from outside." Licht paused for a moment before looking at the other Great Elders. "Does anyone want to say something?"

They shook their heads and asked him to continue. He then nodded and started talking. "I won't say much, but I'm still required to inform you about the rule here. Firstly, no one can attack anyone because you will be expelled from the tower. We will usually learn about the qualification from the outside, so it's easy to see you attacking someone if you are out of the tower.

"On the other hand, I also want to enforce you from not breaking the illusion. The tower will create a Teleportation Array by itself if you finish your task inside the illusion. Last but not least, use everything you have in this tower, and we shall meet again later. Now, go inside the tower!" Licht finished with a wave from his hand. The gate began to open as the disciples got excited to go inside.

Alex furrowed his eyebrows and waited. "I will go last, Ryuu. If you want to go first, you are free to go. But I can't stand the crowd that much… I mean, it will feel very cramped if you enter that tower with a few thousand disciples at the same time.

"Haha… I can understand your worry." Ryuu laughed. "The others are doing it as well, so it's not you alone. We usually wait for fifteen minutes, and many should have reached the second floor. After the first floor, we won't be disturbed anymore because we are deep inside the illusion."

"That's right. No one would take advantage of our body from the second floor." Maya nodded furiously. "I can still remember where someone dared to touch my ass when I was a normal disciple. Master took me in after that, and nobody dared to do it again. Unfortunately, I didn't know who did it because I was inside the illusion. If I knew him, I would surely skin him alive."

Ryuu chuckled before looking at Alex. "We will enter in fifteen minutes, are you alright with that schedule?"

"Yeah."

On top of the tower, Licht furrowed his eyebrows, observing Alex with his own eyes. No matter how hard he tried, Alex looked like a normal disciple. He didn't have an aura of an expert to show dominance over others, so he somehow doubted Aileen's claim about how genius he was.

Nonetheless, Aileen had told Alex that she would tell everything if Alex finished the Potential Tower, so he would make the appearance at that time.

"Old Licht. I have warned you! Dare to do anything underhanded, I will surely fight it out with you." Viola's voice resounded from his back.

"I know. I also want to see the power of that man in front of this tower. After failing more than a hundred times, I have given up on challenging this tower, so I myself want to see hope appearing right in front of my eyes. Maybe I will find my answer." Licht nodded as he turned around.

"Fufu… Alexander Sirius is like a family of Space Element. He is really good to my disciples, so I will back him up. In fact, why don't you let him go, Viola? You have no b.o.o.b.s and talent to teach him due to the fiery personality of yours. And you are old." Aileen smirked and joined their conversation.

"Aileen. Do you want to die?" Viola looked at her with a cold gaze. Unlike her usual fiery temper, her tone was murderous and scary at this time, making the others feel chill down to their spines.

"Unlike you, I still have a few thousand years ahead of me. Of course, I don't want to die." Aileen shrugged.

"Well, well. You both should stop right now and settle your boob conflict another time." Licht sighed and walked back to the other Great Elders. "Elder Melva, I want you to help me create an illusion later if that person really beat the entire tower."

"Sure. I'm quite interested in this boy anyway because I can see that he is hiding too deep. I'm afraid that he actually has the power to kill a 1-Star Martial Saint with his 7-Star Martial Monarch." Melva smirked while licking her lips.

"Don't you dare to seduce him, Succubus! His master is still Great Elder Maxwell," Viola snarled.

"I'm just saying my opinion. He is too young to fit my taste anyway…" Melva shrugged and looked away.

"Anyway, let us see what will happen to the disciples right now." Licht nodded and waited.