Seeing the system's prompt flash in front of his face was a big surprise for Alex.
That was perhaps the last thing he was expecting to see in a moment like this, but since it asked, or rather told, him to step into the pillar of light, he must have somehow accidentally activated something good.
'Is this a way up to the island?'
His thoughts instantly drew towards his goal of making it up to the floating island thousands of kilometres above him.
And while he didn't know exactly where he was located, he knew that he was underneath it at least.
But what he failed to realise was that he was right underneath the centre of the floating island...
And with his stomp out of frustration, he had inadvertently activated a mechanism to bring forth this pillar of light!
With his frustration almost completely replaced with curiosity and confusion, Alex did just as the system told him to and made his way over to the pillar of light.
'What's so special about this?'
But before listening completely to the system's words, he wanted to test it out for a bit.
He placed his hand in the pillar of light, yet he felt nothing special going on from it.
In fact, he didn't even feel a thing at all. Explore more at m,v l'e-novelhall.net
It was like he had just waved his hand in the empty air in front of him.
If he did it with his eyes closed, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between his hand in the pillar of light and out.
'Seems like whatever the system wants to happen will only start once I enter the pillar of light with my whole body.'
Alex was naturally drawn to this conclusion with the small test he had just conducted.
And since there wasn't much else he could do, he decided that it was time to step inside.
Step.
Step.
With just two steps forward, his whole body entered the pillar of light.
"..."
But contrary to his expectations, nothing particularly special happened for Alex.
She was somewhere underground!
With no time to go searching for a cave entrance nearby to try and find Mira, Alex decided to take a much more brute force-like approach.
Taking Virtue's Edge out of his spatial storage, he assumed a slashing stance.
"Hyahh!"
He hacked directly downwards, aiming for the ground beneath his feet.
Rumble!
Crack!
The ground started to rumble as it was cleaved apart by Alex's strike, sending a crack over 50 metres long shattering across the landscape.
But more importantly, it was over 100 metres deep.
Mira's aura came from around 110 metres below him, so he was getting closer and closer to finding her!
He jumped down into the chasm he had created, and at the same moment, he felt another aura flare up, one that was combating against Mira's own aura.
'Another human!'
It was an aura he didn't recognise, but it was clear that it came from another awakened.
It didn't take a fool to tell that it was from another prodigy who had been sucked into this circumstance as well.
But Alex was confused and concerned by the fact that this aura seemed to contain some malice towards Mira!
This only increased the intensity with which he wanted to reach her.
With a much weaker cleave, he slashed at the ground once again, bridging the final gap of 10 metres between him and Mira.
Thud!
The moment he broke through the ceiling of the cave, he jumped right in, landing on the ground with great intensity as he made his entrance.
His arrival completely disrupted the battle that was going on inside, startling both parties that were about to engage each other in a life and death fight!
"Alex!?"
Both parties simultaneously called out his name in shock, jaws hanging wide as they never in a million years expected to see him popping out from the ceiling!