Chapter 694 - Light and Dark

The fight drained more than a third of his Spiritual Energy, and with the addition of the continuous usage from before the previous floors, Alex had only less than a third of his Spiritual Energy. Hence, he decided to take a break for an hour.

"I never thought that I would fight like that." Alex shook his head before finding a green gem on the floor. It was dropped by the Dark Elf judging from the location. Alex furrowed his eyebrows and took the green round gem. "According to the sign, they would give me a key to the next floor. So, does that mean this is the key?"

His Spirit Eyes didn't tell him anything besides the fact that it contained powerful energy. He sat on the floor and looked at the ceiling. "I still need to complete the other two elements before fighting the last floor. According to Ryuu, there is no element on that floor, so what is the riddle there?"

Alex couldn't predict the riddle at all as the only thing he could do was to recover his Spiritual Energy. Alex wondered if this place had a timer or not and sighed. He forgot to ask Ryuu about this. No, this question didn't appear in his mind.

"It seems I can't stay too long here. If I am in the middle of Lightning Tribulation, the Lightning won't let me have the chance to recover my Spiritual Energy. Although this is a different tribulation, I still can't be here too long." Alex recalled that they were trying to recreate their own version of Divine Tribulation, the last tribulation to ascend to the God Stage.

After recovering for about an hour, he managed to reach forty percent of his Spiritual Energy and decided to continue his test. He stood up and started walking to the first passage, where he didn't find anything. No matter what, there must be a clue to put this key, and he might have missed it. He was going to recheck the passage and went to the eighth floor.

A few minutes later,

Alex was still wandering around the maze and had yet to find the entrance. Despite searching carefully with his Spirit Eyes, there was no secret entrance or whatever in the dead-ends until he finally found the last dead-end.

Whether it was his Spirit Eyes playing him or it was a reality, he could see an energy sign behind the dead-end. It was right behind the wall, so he was frustrated.

He ended up taking out his sword and struck the wall. However, nothing happened to the wall, not even a scratch. Alex twitched his eyebrows and wondered if he needed to turn around and search from scratch.

"If only Spatial Gate works here, I can bypass a wall like this in no time." Alex gritted his teeth before he remembered the riddle. "Wait, both worlds can influence each other, right?"

He straightened his body and waved his sword.

"Space Cut!"

The Sword Wave flew toward the wall and obliterated it. Alex could have such an idea because he found out that the energy in front of him was actually thinner than the other walls in his surroundings.

Little did he know that he could simply use his Spatial Gate here. Due to how he checked that he couldn't use Spatial Gate despite the tremendous amount of Space Energy, Alex forgot the fact that he had changed the world by touching the vortex's core. And there was nothing like this previously because the key actually absorbed the wall energy, making it thinner, so Alex had an easier time and gave him a signal.

Luckily, there was no defense mechanism that sent him out because of this, and Alex might probably not know about it for eternity. The wall that had been obliterated led him to another room like a hidden room, and he found another vortex there. Unlike the first vortex, this blue colored vortex was, in fact, a portal to the next stage.

Beside the vortex stood tall a podium where Alex could place the key, and he put the key down without hesitation. The energy that sealed the vortex disappeared. Alex passed the portal and stepped on the eighth floor.

The moment he stepped on the next floor, he was shocked by the blinding light and forced him to close his eyes. It was too bright to the point he couldn't force his eyes open.

In the end, he kept closing his eyes and only relied on his Spirit Eyes to look at his surroundings. No monsters came to his sight, so he was a bit relieved as he waited for the golden words to appear, but he realized he couldn't see right now.

Suddenly, a high-pitch voice resounded across the entire floor.

"The light is the one illuminating the world from darkness. Yet, too much light would blind one's eyes. At this point, where would humans live if they can't see anything? And how could they even search for their house without looking? Search the portal to the next floor. There won't be any monsters on this floor, and you will recover your Spiritual Energy depending on how much time you need to go to the next floor."

"!!!" Alex was surprised by the condition right now. If he knew there was no monster and the tower would recover his energy, he wouldn't waste an hour on the previous floor. Even so, he didn't regret it. His careful personality wouldn't let him go unless he was certain about it. This was why the ones that played the biggest part in his growth were actually the spies.

Their information let him make a decisive decision and advance faster than anyone else without being scared of trouble. If he didn't have them, he couldn't imagine where he would be right now.

Alex shook his head and sighed. "Anyway, I will do my best and search for the entrance to the next floor as soon as possible. I hope I can recover most of my energy, if not full recovery."

With that hope in mind, he began thinking about how to find the entrance. "Hmm… The normal answer will be to feel it, right? Maybe using my Absolute Blade domain to sense it or something, but if this place is huge, it will take a long time. I wonder if my Spirit Eyes can see the portal energy. Anyway, I can only start searching now."

Alex summoned his Firebird and let it stay here because he would know he came back to the original spot by using his Space Mark. After that, he flew to a random location that wasn't far from his Firebird because it would explode if he were too far.

The exploration started as Alex was searching in all directions with his Domain and Spirit Eyes, albeit he couldn't sense nor see a single thing. He decided to explore deeper in one direction until he reached the edge.

Whether he was lucky or not, he could see a vortex of energy.

"To think I found it this early." Alex entered the portal without hesitation. The brightness that forced his eyes closed suddenly disappeared, and he knew he had gone to the next floor. The Spiritual Energy started filling his body up, recovering all the energy he spent on the seventh floor. With the addition of the energy he recovered on that floor, his Spiritual Energy recovered to eighty percent. Alex was ready for another fight.

He then opened his eyes, only to find complete darkness.

"Where am I? I can't see anything." Alex thought for a moment before recalling the element. "I see. This must be the Dark Element floor. I need to pass this stage before I can reach the last floor. Still, Darkness huh… I can't see a single thing in this darkness."

He thought for a moment and used his Fire to light up the area. However, the bright flame could only light up a few centimeters of the ground. It was very surprising since his flame could usually cover quite a big area. It seemed that the darkness was a kind of swallowing the light.

The same occurrence happened as something whispered to his ears.

"Just as the complete light would blind everyone and make them unable to live. Complete darkness will also make someone crazy like there is nothing real in this world, only darkness. In the darkness, which one is actually real and fake? Answer this question, and the path shall open for you."

Alex furrowed his eyebrows and took a deep breath. "A complete darkness… Do you think this is a black hole? Though there is no gravity pulls in this place. Joke aside, it means I can't rely on my eyes again, right? I still have Spirit Eyes and Domain… Wait?!"

He suddenly felt something was wrong as the Domain that he used earlier was gone. He tried to release it again but to no avail. "My domain is sealed? That means I can't sense my surroundings?"

Alex furrowed his eyebrows before releasing his flame as strong as possible and brightening the area slightly.

"Fu." It took him a quite amount of Spiritual Energy, so he wasn't planning on doing that. Besides, he had completed his objective. He only had one path in his front, whereas the other paths were blocked by a wall. He thought, 'Although I don't know the answer to this riddle, I still need to walk forward, right?'

Alex thought for a moment, nodded his head, and started walking.

Suddenly, a creature crept in the darkness, flying toward Alex at fast speed. Unfortunately, Alex could see the sign of energy and slashed it like nothing. The creature didn't have the strength like the one he fought on the seventh floor, so he kept advancing.

There were more and more monsters coming toward him, but they all died in Alex's hand. Normal people would surely get in trouble for this, but they just had the wrong opponent. Alex's Spirit Eyes allowed him to walk in the darkness, and no one would be able to sneak attack him.

He could only walk forward anyway, so he kept walking blindly while recalling the question over and over again. However, the last two sentences confused him. He asked himself. "Which one is real, and which one is fake? Maybe it's a kind of physiological question? I heard that when someone can't see something that attacks them, their sense will abruptly feel like you have been attacked from multiple directions even though there is only one real attack, if not none.

"It's more like a fear state. That's why they are restricting the Domain in this place, like how they restrained my Spatial Gate on the seventh floor. Luckily, I have Spirit Eyes, so I have nothing to fear. The problem is how I will find the path?"

Alex sighed and pondered the question a few more times, but the result was still the same. There was no path or whatsoever, and he had walked for more than fifteen minutes. He also fought some creatures along the way, and all died the same way as the first one.

Suddenly, he saw a huge sign of energy in front of him and thought this must be it. He followed the path and arrived at a blue circle that appeared out of the darkness. It didn't glow or anything, but the scenery behind that gate allowed him to recognize it was a portal to the next floor. He then realized the problems.

"This riddle only wants to trick people. With a mentality like that, they will feel walking for fifteen minutes is like fifteen days with their sense of time going off because of the darkness. That's why normal people will usually get trapped here and why the riddle says complete darkness can make someone go crazy… Or at least that's what I think. The answer to this riddle is only my path is real. As long as I believe I am walking in the right path and advance in the right way, I can finally reach the goal."

Alex smiled and finally answered all nine elements' riddles. He was a bit proud of himself and went to the next floor.