Chapter 1092: Pyramid Array

It turned out that this place was surrounded by arrays. Even below his feet was filled by at least ten arrays underground, yet, he wondered whether this place would become his burial place or not since the only person who should be able to enter this place was only him.

"System?" Alex called Lin Xingzhi but to no avail. Just like when he was in Encore, there was no response from her.

"It seems I am here alone. What will I meet during this time…" Alex narrowed his eyes and tried to look for the arrays specifically to discern them, but it picked up the energy from the black hole as the center array, right underneath his feet, glowed.

The Spiritual Energy spread to the surrounding, turning all the arrays in the area on.

"Seriously?" Alex gulped down before the ground was shaking.

"What is this?" Alex narrowed his eyes and tried to fly, but he realized that he couldn't properly utilize his energy. In other words, this place still contained the rule of the black hole other than its pulling force.

"Ugh, almost all my abilities are sealed. I can only use my weapons and Space Element." Alex muttered while trying to summon his Pure Fire. Unfortunately, that Pure Fire soon disappeared due to natural suppression.

The ground shook even harder before cracks started to appear on the ground.

When Alex was about to leap backward, the ground fell before a tower emerged from the ground. It magically rose from underground to the ground level, bringing him upward.

Not knowing what this tower could do to him, Alex leaped off the tower before finding four more towers all around him.

"What should I do now?" Alex looked around, watching how each tower finished its transformation.

The tower in front of him looked like a pyramid with black rock instead of sandstone like the one he saw on Earth. Although he wanted to see the inside with his Spirit Eyes, the situation required him to observe the others as well.

The one on the north was a giant cube. It seemed to be made of mirrors, tight enough to prevent anyone from peeking at what was stored inside.

The west building had a sphere shape, making it even weird. Alex simply couldn't predict what all these buildings had for him. Aside from that, the materials seemed to be made of Divine Rank Stones, strong enough to not be cut with his attack that easily.

Although Alex had confidence in cutting it with his Three Purities Slash, most of his power was sealed, so it wasn't possible at the moment.

Alex then turned around and looked at the fourth building behind him. It was a cone-shaped building. Even the coloring looked like a traffic cone that usually blocked traffic.

Last but not least, the last building was a cylinder. It was a normal tower that he had seen every now and then. In fact, Alex used this shape when planting his own dungeon.

Alex thought for a moment and sensed someone's presence in this place. His head turned to the right while drawing his sword. "Who?"

Surprisingly, he saw a middle-aged man. His body looked similar to him but aged. Yet, when Alex saw that this man was made of energy instead of a proper body, he knew that this was just like a summon.

"Nice to meet you." The middle-aged man said. His tone was flat like that of a robot and there was no change of expression on his face.

"Who are you?" Alex narrowed his eyes.

"My name is AI."

"…" Alex twitched his eyebrows. "Do you mean Artificial Intelligence?"

"Master said so in the past, but AI couldn't understand the word."

"So, do you want to say something to me?" Alex asked again.

"Master, The Dungeon God, ordered me to inform you everything you need to know about this place. First. There are five towers in this place you need to conquer before getting anything this place has to offer.

"The five tests are different from each other. The first test will be Array Mastery. The second test is the Space Element Mastery. The Third Test is a Trap Mastery, followed by the fourth test, Fighting Mastery. The last test is the Space Element Art Mastery. You can only leave this place after you have opened the last vault."

"So, I am stuck here?" Alex furrowed his eyebrows. "I haven't told anyone that I will be here for a long time. And with the world beginning to change, this will put me in a difficult situation."

"No, you won't be stuck here for a long time. It will depend on your speed to conquer at least one tower. In each tower, you will gain a special key to partially open the last vault. You are granted time to leave and continue your progress when you return to this place," AI answered.

"!!!" Alex widened his eyes and smiled. "This is going to be exciting then. My Array Mastery is quite good to be honest, so I think I can clear the first tower soon. I don't know if I will regret it, but I will only go out to tell Lin Xingzhi that I will be away for one or two years to challenge the second tower. Yeah, let's do that."

Alex nodded a few times. Not wanting to waste his time, he said, "Lead me to the first test."

AI nodded and looked at the tower. "This is where you will challenge the first test."

Alex looked at the pyramid as the gate in front of him opened, leading him inside.

"Please enter to start the test."

Alex entered the pyramid without hesitation while looking around with his Spirit Eyes. Although it was dark, he could see a small chunk of energy where he needed to stand.

Alex stepped on the small circle without hesitation before the door closed and the pyramid lit up.

"Hmm?"

It turned out that the pyramid was empty. There was only one floor and four diagonal sides, making him wonder what he needed to do.

Suddenly, a small podium appeared in front of him, where he found a few papers that seemed to ask him to read them.

"Let me see…" Alex took the paper and read it. "This place is called the Pyramid Array. It has a mechanism to change its landscape every few seconds and you are required to successfully create an array on the platform that emerges every change one hundred times in a row to exit.

"This podium has ten arrays that will be used for this test. Each time, the podium will show one name and you are required to create it in a few seconds. You are free to understand the arrays first before touching the button to start your test.

"You are free to use any method that you think is possible as long as you can clear the test. There is nothing such as too small and too big. You are to follow the size of all platforms coming out of this pyramid.

"If you have no basic knowledge, you can read a few papers after this note, which contain the summary of what you need to know."

Alex narrowed his eyes and read it anyway because he wondered how the Dungeon God saw the Array. Although he might not be as good as the Array God, the Dungeon God was still a top-notch Array Master.

It turned out that most of the lesson was similar to what Alicia taught him. He felt satisfied that he didn't need a long time to understand something.

After that, he took another look at the podium, showing ten names.

There were two for each Barrier Type Array, Illusion Type Array, Binding Type Array, and Attack Type Array. Other than those eight, he found Gathering Array and Teleportation Array on the list. Luckily, he had learned five arrays and had no problem creating these arrays. The study for each array would take him only a week.

His vision returned to the paper as he began studying all five arrays that he hadn't learned yet.

…

One and a half months later, Alex finally stretched his hand as he summoned each array in succession. He had mastered all of those arrays to the point he could create them in five seconds.

With confidence feeling his heart, he placed the paper next to the podium and looked at the red button on top of it. "It's time to start. I have wasted too much time here."

Alex took a deep breath and pressed the button.

Another paper suddenly appeared, floating above the podium.

"Your test will begin in one minute. You can't leave this circle no matter what."

"Well, I have no problem in creating an array from far away. Although it will take much longer, with this distance, even the farthest wall won't add one second from my personal best." Alex smiled and nodded.

Alex waited for a minute before the tower began to shake.

He opened his eyes with a serious expression, looking at the entire structure with his Spirit Eyes to see which one was going to move.

Zerg.

Zerg.

Zerg.

Alex raised his vision and saw a small slab emerging from the wall. The size was three meters on each side. Although it was tight, it shouldn't be a problem to create an array.

Alex lifted his hand and drew the array after seeing the podium showing one name. "Sun Moon Reflection Array."

It took him five seconds to build one array, which seemed to be accepted by the tower as the podium projected a number for him.

1

As soon as the slab returned to its original position, another one came out.

Alex flawlessly drew another array and got accepted.

"This is going to be easy." Alex smirked and planned to finish this test in this instant.

3…

4…

10…

Alex's streak wasn't broken yet and he kept drawing one after another like nobody's business. This showed his proficiency in arrays despite not using it as his main priority.

11…

12…

15…

20…

He still had no sign of exhaustion despite creating so many arrays in succession. Instead, he became even more fired up. "Alright. Eighty arrays to go!"

21…

25…

30…

When he succeeded the thirtieth round, Alex saw the next one coming out. "After the first ten, I noticed that the slab was getting smaller. When I finished the twentieth slab, the pattern started to change. First of all, the size was not going to be a square slab anymore. Instead, there were triangles, rounds, and so on coming out of the walls. This was a bit tricky, but I could still finish it without a problem. Now, what will this round give me?"

Anticipation filled his heart as he looked at a triangle slab coming out. Alex raised his hand and drew like how he used to be.

However, he faced another twist that this tower had prepared.

When he reached eighty percent completion of the array, the slab suddenly returned to its original position. The count on the podium was also reset to zero.

"What? It was only four seconds!" Alex exclaimed in surprise. "Does this mean the test wants me to increase my drawing speed? But this is going to be repetitive training…"

Alex remembered something written on the paper and looked into it again.

"To increase your speed, you can only find your own style that allows you to build something so fast. If you keep practicing, you will one day reach the one-second mark." Alex scratched the back of his head. "Is this trial going to force me to create an array in one second? But from the way it was worded, it's going to be either two or three seconds.

"And the only way to reach it is by continuous training, making the array creation process itself a part of my body that I can use with just a thought of mind. Even the Array God wasn't this fast. If I were to compare them, the Array God could create multiple arrays at once with the same speed, but this one asked me to draw an array as quickly as possible like a quick draw. So, this is the Dungeon God's style of array…"

"I take back what I said. It seems this test will take a while." Alex laughed weirdly as he wondered whether he could do it or not.