Chapter 289: Tes
289 Tes
Alex was surprised a bit by his att.i.tude. He thought he was going to mock him too. At first, he was wondering if he should make a fake beard and put on makeup, so he looked like an old man. n.o.body will suspect him.
But it seemed, he didn"t need to do such a thing.
"Sure." Alex nodded and handed him twenty thousand Spirit Stones.
"The fee is for the monster skin and blood that you will use in this test. Do you have any badge previously?"
"No. Is there any problem with that?"
"No." He shook his head. "Please wait for a while. I will call my master to report this. He will be one of the examiners."
"Sure."
Not long after, the gla.s.ses guy came back with a middle-aged man. He had spiky black hair, and judging from his expression, he seemed to be a strict man.
"I am Bazza, the first elder in this guild. Follow me. I have informed the other examiners."
Alex nodded his head.
"You get the blood and the array paper (monster skin)."
"Yes," The gla.s.ses guy left.
Alex followed Bazza to a huge room. It seemed to be a 100x100 meter room. When he reached the room, he found two other men.
"This is our guild"s second elder, Olaf." Bazza pointed at the purple-haired man and then introduced the one beside him, "And he is the fifth elder, Stig."
Alex nodded to them.
"A young man? Are you sure you can complete the test, or are you just wasting your twenty thousand Spirit Stones?" Stig asked Alex while narrowing his eyes.
"I can. Elder don"t need to worry about it. I know what I"m doing."
Stig didn"t say anything else but kept his eyes locked on him. Olaf also thought Alex was too young. Even an average rank 3 Array Master was usually a middle-aged man, and rank 4 Array Master was filled with old men.
It was only a special person like Bazza who could become a rank 4 Array Master at his age. Especially after they saw Alex"s cultivation was only 7-Star Martial Grandmaster. Although a Martial Grandmaster could make a rank 4 array, they were usually a peak Grandmaster, unlike Alex, who was a 7-Star Martial Grandmaster.
Not long after, the gla.s.ses guy finally came back. He handed Alex a spirit ring, which Alex politely accepted.
He looked at the Bazza and the others.
"Alright. You can start."
"Should I make the Array with Spiritual Energy first, on the ground, or make the array plate?"
"You can start with whatever you want," Bazza affirmed. His disciple informed him that he didn"t have a badge, so he was sure that Alex didn"t have any experience in this.
Alex nodded his head. He chose the last array he made, Jadeite Mirror Array.
He raised his hand to the front while opening his palm. He made symbols one after another. Bazza and the others spectated this to see whether this young man could make a rank 4 Array.
100 symbols...
200 symbols...
500 symbols...
800 symbols...
1000 symbols...
Their eyes widened when they saw Alex made a peak rank 4 Array right out the bat. All of those symbols were made in a span of a minute. They didn"t care about the time, though. After all, making an array with this method would take the same amount of time.
What shocked them was the peak rank 4 Array that contained a thousand symbols. Their reaction was the same as Darma back in the Southern Kingdom. Although they didn"t exaggerate it because unlike in the Southern Kingdom, Alex didn"t use his s.p.a.ce Element or anything.
The array then activated, making a barrier in front of him that could protect him from a good attack.
"Did I pa.s.s this one?" Alex asked since the elders didn"t say anything.
Bazza snapped back. "Y-yes. You are good at this one. You can start with another method."
Alex nodded his head, then grabbed the monster blood. It was only a 1-Star Lord stage monster blood. It was enough for him to make it as long as the blood came from a Lord Stage monster.
Alex then started painting the ground with the monster blood. He took a portion of blood and shaped them into a symbol with his Spiritual Energy. He put it on the ground like using a stamp. He stamped the blood made by blood to the ground.
After he got comfortable with it, Alex made ten symbols at the same time. Alex didn"t know why, but he could use the same approach as he was refining the pill.
When he was refining a pill, Alex could split his focus so he could refine many ingredients at once. He also used this method to make the array faster.
It seemed that Array and Alchemy were complementing each other.
On the other side, Those three elders were shocked beyond doubt. They couldn"t believe the person who most unlikely couldn"t make a rank 4 array suddenly made an array faster than them. Of course, they didn"t know it was because he had gotten used to doing this as an Alchemist. If they were also an Alchemist, they might be able to do this too.
After around fifteen minutes, Alex finally finished his array. It was very different from the one he made back to ma.s.sacre the Kasmanan Family. After all, Alex had to hide from the guards that were patrolling around the family.
As soon as he activated the array, the barrier appeared again. After letting them see for a while, Alex then erased the array from the ground before taking the array paper out.
It was a 10x10 meter array paper. He made a 50x50 meter Array on the ground, but this time, he would shrink it. This was a bit challenging as he could not make it the same way he did on the ground.
Alex needed to concentrate on making the small symbols. It had been a long time for him to make an Array Plate. He took the brush and the blood.
He looked at the paper first for a while. He was picturing how big he needed to shrink the symbols.
After the picture came to his mind, Alex then started making symbol after symbol. At the same time, he was controlling the blood so the blood would continuously be flowing to his brush, so it didn"t break his concentration.
Alex"s method surprised the examiners once again. But after witnessing Alex split his concentration to make ten symbols at a time. They were not that surprised... but rather, they were impressed by his technique.
Alex was only a young man, and he was truly able to make a rank 4 Array, it was a peak rank 4 Array to boot.
His strokes became faster and precise as he made more symbols. When he made this array, it seemed the outside world didn"t matter to him. His focus was occupied by this array alone.
Alex started sweating as he really used his full concentration. Luckily he had leveled up his Mental Energy a few times. If not, he might not be able to make the array this fast.
Finally, after a long one hour, Alex finished drawing the Jadeite Mirror Array. Alex took a deep breath to calm himself down.
"I have finished. Please check."
Bazza and the others walked toward him and his Array Plate. After checking the array plate, they knew there was nothing wrong. They tried to activate it. The barrier seemed to be working just fine.
Bazza suddenly grabbed his shoulder. The strictness in his eyes was replaced by a star as he said while shaking his shoulder excitedly. "Young man, who is your master? Can you introduce me to him? I want to be his disciple."
Alex was startled when Bazza suddenly did this. Alex didn"t know what to do.
"Ehm... My master..."
"Yes... yes... What do you want? I can give you everything. I just want to be his disciple." Bazza was mesmerized by Alex"s skill. To teach such a young rank 4 array master, Alex"s master must be a person with high skill.
He shouldn"t be from this continent. To have a master like that, it was a good fortune. But what Alex said next broke his antic.i.p.ation.
"My master... is in another world (literally)," Alex said.
But it was different in Bazza"s ears. He could only interpret it as Alex"s master had died.
Even Alex didn"t know where he was since he was... G.o.d. So, Alex could only say that, and luckily others will misunderstand it.
Bazza froze for a second before taking his hand off from Alex"s shoulder. He made a step back awkwardly. Even the other two elders didn"t know what to do.
"I"m sorry."
"It"s fine. Then can I continue?"
"Ye-yes. You can continue." Bazza looked at the other elders and decided to retreat to their previous location. They antic.i.p.ated the next array he would make next.
Alex had shown his monstrous skills in front of them. So, this excitement was justified.
Alex then made his second array. They immediately recognized this array as they were pretty familiar with it. It was the Pollen Illusion Array.
It was an array that contained eight hundred symbols. Alex succeeded in making the array in less than a minute.
"It is Pollen Illusion Array." Bazza nodded his head. "By the way, what is the first array you make?"
"Jadeite Mirror Array," Alex replied.
"Jadeite Mirror Array... I seem to hear this name from somewhere..." The fifth elder said while trying to recall it.
"Jadeite Mirror Array!" The fifth elder finally remembered it. "Long lost Jadeite Mirror Array. A peak rank 4 barrier-type array. The barrier was made up by jade that looked polished enough that people can even use it as a mirror!
"I encounter it when I am reading an ancient book. But I only found the description of the array. I didn"t know how to make the array. So, I have witnessed the long lost Jadeite Mirror Array. Young Man, I want to buy that Array Plate.
"I can give you two hund- no, three hundred thousand Spirit Stones. Please sell it to me." He said excitedly. After all, he could learn how to make it too with the array plate.
Bazza and Olaf were confused by his statement as they never heard about this array. According to Stig, it was a long lost array.
"!!!" Bazza and Olaf looked at each other, and their brain seemed to click at the same time.
"Young Man, just sell it to me. I can give you four hundred thousand Spirit Stones." Olaf said hurriedly.
"No no. I can offer you a better price, how about five hundred thousand?" Bazza said.
"Long lost?" Alex tilted his head in confusion. He sighed inwardly, "As expected of Master. After living for a few thousand years, your array is old enough to be a long lost array."
Looking at these three excited men, Alex shook his head. "I"m sorry, Senior. I can"t sell it to you."
"Why? Is it not enough? Then I can give you seven hundred thousand Spirit Stones for this array." Bazza said.
"It is not. I can"t say the reason, but I truly couldn"t sell it to other people." Alex said. Since the array was a long lost array, the people from the Southern Kingdom might know about it and realized it was him that ma.s.sacred the Kasmanan Family.
Well, when he was strong enough to topple a kingdom, he might sell them, though. Of course, in the auction, since it might give him a higher price.
Looking at Alex"s serious expression, they misunderstood him once again. Maybe it was his memory to his master, so he didn"t want to sell it to them. Although there was an option to s.n.a.t.c.h it from him, Alex was also a rank 4 Array Master like them, and he was young to boot.
It was not a wise decision to offend this person. If he did not die, then it would become their doom.