William asked the Artifact Spirit a few more questions about his potential status as a Disciple.
"Now that you know about being Master's Disciple, I want to explain the rules of the next fifty trials since you have still managed to come so far." the Spirit turned its back to William and made a few hand signs, causing an Array to appear that William hadn't even noticed before.
He would have taken the time to inspect the Array, but barely a moment passed before it disappeared again, replaced by a floating golden orb of unknown origin. William had no idea what he was looking at, so he asked the Artifact Spirit.
"This is one of Master's finest experiments, still in its testing phase. It will be the source of the last fifty trials."
"What does it do?"
"It simulates the abilities of the other Disciple candidates. All you need to do is survive five minutes and you can move to the next floor. Kill the simulated Disciple and you will skip five floors. Of course, if you choose to fight past five minutes and win, your reward will be slightly increased."
Sounds easy enough. This might be very good for me. William thought.
He nodded, signaling the Artifact Spirit to start the trials immediately. The Artifact Spirit disappeared, while the golden orb shapeshifted into a somewhat familiar man wearing a taut face, showing little emotion other than a soul-piercing gaze.
Is that...? William wondered. He wasn't entirely sure if his guess was correct, until the simulated man spoke, his rough voice the exact same as William remembered.
"My name is Gu Dianlong. I will be your opponent."
***
Outside the Gravitas Ruins, inside the Five Elements Sect.
Sect Master Gu Dianlong was seated at a desk, filling out some paperwork, when he sensed a slight tug at his soul. He recognized the feeling instantly, although it had been many years since he had entered that place.
A small smile crept on his face, "So he's already close to the top...He's much more talented than I thought."
A black-cloaked man standing nearby spoke up, "What is it, Gu Dianlong?"
If William were here, he would have recognized this to be the same man that applied the Enslavement Array to his shoulder. The man looked somewhat concerned at Gu Dianlong's smile, wondering if something had gone wrong with his puppet.
"Oh, nothing much. That William is about to clear the impossible trial." Gu Dianlong said as his smile widened.
"In that case, who are the most likely suspects?" he turned to face the other masked men next to him. He looked to the red-cloaked man first, "Region leaders, name your strongest representative, and anyone else of interest."
"Eastern Region. No representatives."
"Southern Region. One representative, Jack. He was ordered to clear the hidden Trial under the lake and a few others nearby. His mark was removed a few days ago."
"Northwestern Region. No representatives."
"Northeastern Region. No Representatives."
The black cloaked man spoke for himself, "Western Region. Four representatives. William, Glen, Laius, and Petra. William was ordered to clear the impossible trial, it might be him."
The others were surprised at the leader's ability, "As expected of you, Master Black. You've managed to sneak four into the Ruins."
The black cloaked man didn't respond, instead waving for the others to continue.
"Providence Zone. Two representatives, Tilius and Farbet. One person of interest, Fria. The two subordinates were ordered to tail Fria, who seems to be immune to even our strongest mark. Her soul strength is formidable, and her talent with the greatsword is immense."
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"Ocean Zone 1. No representatives."
"Ocean Zone 2. No representatives."
"Ocean Zone 3. No representatives."
The last three were mostly a formality, since they didn't have many subordinates in those regions as it was. Their group specialized in contracting powerful creatures that lived in the ocean.
Master Black nodded once the rest were finished. He looked at his subordinate, who was listening during the entire exchange. "You have what you need now, yes?"
"Yes, Master Black."
"In that case, I want you to communicate with Glen. If the challenger is one of our own, bring him back after he exits the Gravitas Ruins. If they aren't...you know what to do."
"Understood. I won't let you down." the subordinate left the room on the black-cloaked Master's order, rushing up the stairs and entering the portal that was still open for him.