Chapter 718 - The Array
"Nicole, I am going out." Alex glanced at the corner of the room before using his Teleportation Array to go toward their base.
A few minutes later,
Alex already arrived in front of their base and met Anya and Firia. Firia was in the base for the past few days since she was refining some pills.
"Alex… I want to reject you since I need to think about your safety and the fact that my master is a G.o.d Rank Expert, but… I think there is no need for me to reject you, right? You are very adamant about it, so I will just respect your decision. However, if I deem the situation is not favorable, can you promise me to teleport back to the surface? Just like how I believe in your decision, can you also respect this wish of mine?" She smiled gently, looking at Alex with hope.
Alex was surprised to see Firia giving the "go" sign just like that. He had prepared several arguments to persuade her, but it seemed none of them were useful. He closed his eyes for a second and thought. "I understand. I will go back as soon as you say so. But… Suppose I find a way out, I would like to refuse and try my best."
"Alright. We have a deal." Firia nodded. "Now what you need to do is to check the array inside the Ancient Ruin. I know it must be a Divine Array Level, but altering or bypa.s.sing it shouldn"t be a problem even for you, right? Even though you are only a rank 8 Array Master at the moment, I am still confident that you can find a gap. I will be waiting for your good news here."
"Yeah. It shouldn"t be that long to understand the reason. But I might need a bit more time if I need to alter it or something." Alex smiled before creating a rank 8 Teleportation Array. He waved his hand and disappeared.
He still had the map for the Ancient Ruin and set a Teleportation pretty accurately. Usually, he would need to fly one or two hours before arriving at the place, but it seemed he had almost arrived, only five or so minutes of flying.
In the middle of the forest stood a white building. The building itself was like a single-story house with that pointed roof. However, it was all white, whether it was the pillars, the walls, or the roof. Even after a few thousand years, the building didn"t have any signs of aging. Instead, it looked like it was just built not long ago.
Alex activated his Spirit Eyes and checked his surroundings. "According to the information, there is no problem entering the building itself before five hundred years pa.s.s. Nelson has checked this place and found nothing suspicious other than a platform that had an Array to teleport them.
"There is also protection from a rank 9 barrier array to make sure no one ruined the portal to the world below." Alex thought for a moment and walked around the building, observing every single thing that caught his eyes. As soon as he lowered his vision, he found a trace of Spiritual Energy and realized there was an array, not too deep underground. However…
"The depth is not too deep, and the size is not that big. I think it is the main array that teleports people to the bottom. Meanwhile, the symbols that I have been observing from the start are a rank 9 Barrier Array that protects the teleportation array and the Myriad Soul Body Array. Still, it"s really impressive to see these many symbols." Alex let out a breath of amazement.
He stroked his chin and stared at the symbols. "The symbols needed in rank 1 Array are ten symbols. It then leaps to fifty for rank 2 Array. Continuing these two, it becomes one hundred, one thousand, five thousand, ten thousand, and finally, my rank, one hundred thousand symbols. But the Divine Rank Array takes another step further and reaches millions. It needs around one to ten million symbols… To see it with my own eyes is indeed amazing."
Alex suddenly shook his head and sighed. "I need to study the array first and seek the gap before I can admire these rank 9 Arrays and probably study it for myself later."
Entering the building, Alex found the platform almost immediately. He took a look at it and checked whether he was missing or something. Nevertheless, the biggest clue was the array underneath this place, and he was planning to dig the ground after checking everything.
"Hmm…There is no abnormality inside the building. Except for the many symbols around and the fact that the altar is blocked by a barrier, I can"t find a single thing. Beneath the ground under me, there is a huge array under me. However, the concealment array is also a Divine Rank Array. It"s truly hard to see it even with my Spirit Eyes. I might need to focus all my attention on learning all the symbols there…" Alex thought for a moment and summoned Neon.
"Young Master." Neon cupped his hands politely.
"Go search around our area. Make sure no one is around, including monsters. What I am going to do is very taxing, so I won"t be able to sense them." Alex commanded.
"Understood." Neon then vanished into thin air.
Alex then dropped on his knees and opened his eyes wide, trying to see the symbols underground. On one hand, the sight of the symbols was very vague, making it terrible for his eyes. On the other hand, he couldn"t dig down without studying it in case the array would break or something, and he had no way to fix it.
He patiently crawled around. His head almost touched the ground as if he was trying to sniff the ground. It was a pitiful appearance, but Alex had no care about it. The wonder of the array and the symbols beneath the ground mesmerized him.
A few hours later,
Alex finally rose from the ground and looked up as he let out a long sigh. "That was very taxing. I am sweating all over right now…"
"Although the array itself is hard to see, I can somehow understand the meaning of each symbol due to my knowledge. This array contains around five million symbols divided into cl.u.s.ters. Each cl.u.s.ter contains one hundred to two hundred thousand symbols. I have located where I need to change, and it should be fine if I dig around that area and change those parts. This will allow me to enter and exit freely…
"The problem is there is a possibility of s.p.a.ce Monsters to come out through this gap. It will be catastrophic if that happens… I wonder if I should close the gate first after entering the realm or not. Still, the promise with Firia is hindering me from making that decision, not that I complain. I think I will just let it go. Even if the s.p.a.ce Monsters go out of this place, it will probably be in a small number.
"Although I will dive inside that place for a few months to a year, I can still check the gate from time to time. It is not like traveling would be an issue for me." Alex nodded, agreeing to his own plan. "Alright. I will leave it at that. Time to work."
He then started his job by digging the ground carefully, so he didn"t break something. It turned out there was a small room inside the ground. There was no decoration or whatsoever, making it look like a dark cave. Luckily, he didn"t need any light since he could see all the runes from their energy alone.
Almost a day later, Alex finally went back to the surface and leaned on the building. His body was covered with sweat as he was panting. "That was really hard. To ensure that I didn"t break anything, I needed to speed up and focus all of my attention just to change a single symbol. And I needed to change around ten thousand symbols just so I could slip in."
"Anyway, I have finished my job. As long as I enter it with my Spatial Gate, there should be no problem. After that, I can leave my s.p.a.ce Mark there, so I know where to go back. In that case, I will need a token and give it to Firia, so I can find her later." Alex thought for a moment and nodded. "I will recover my Spiritual Energy first before going back."
After another two hours, Alex finally stood up and called Neon back as he teleported to their base. He gave a token to Firia and told the plan. Firia made sure to keep it, and in the worst case, they could talk with each other through the spirits.
He remembered that he couldn"t exactly leave the flying s.h.i.+p later, so he decided to call Sherry, Kyle, and Stina, hiding them inside his body. Meanwhile, he also teleported Firia and Anya to the forest near the ruin.
Finis.h.i.+ng his business, Alex finally returned to the Blackwade Clan and waited for another day.
The next day,
Song Jiaoren walked into his room and smiled. "Sir Alexander. We are ready to go."
Alex nodded and followed him. He actually didn"t need to follow them since he wasn"t going to enter in the first batch. However, it would be weird for Song Jiaoren if he didn"t come together, so he needed to do it no matter the ha.s.sle.
The flying s.h.i.+p had been floating above the Blackwade Clan mansion, ready to set off any moment. Alex and Song Jiaoren flew to the sky and entered the s.h.i.+p. To his surprise, the Patriarch and the Grand Elder seemed to not want to meet him since they were nowhere to be seen.
Little did he know that the situation might become awkward if they met Alex, considering the star that wanted to get closer to him was Song Jiaoren. If they met him, he would be more conscious of them rather than Song Jiaoren. It might seem to be rude, but that was the best solution for them.
Song Ling"er greeted him as soon as he boarded the s.h.i.+p before they guided Alex to his room since they had nothing to say.
As soon as they arrived, Alex flew down along with Song Jiaoren and Song Ling"er and met all the geniuses of their generations. As he predicted, the Fire G.o.d Clan didn"t send a single person to this ruin. Not many people knew about this anyway, so there wasn"t any damage to their reputation.
Evelyn immediately ran toward him. "Big Brother!"
"Evelyn." Alex smiled and patted her head again before looking at Astennu and Elizabeth. The two only cupped their hands as a greeting gesture. He could also see Snow White Mountain"s heiress and Ancient Blue Family"s heir.
"Haha… It seems we are the last one to arrive." Song Jiaoren laughed to lessen the mood, albeit it wasn"t taken well by the others. He then turned serious and announced. "I am not going to partic.i.p.ate today. My sister will be replacing me for today"s occasion."
The people widened their eyes as they were wondering whether this man was insane or not. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and to think that Song Jiaoren wanted to abandon it just like that. Or his sister"s love already reached his head enough to make him crazy. There was also a possibility that their family didn"t know this, so they thought this was the case.
However, Song Jiaoren also made a confirmation. "Don"t worry. My family already knows about this decision. My sister is also a talented person, so I will just give this chance to her."
"Are you that confident?" One of them asked.
"Haha…" Song Jiaoren didn"t answer the question and only shrugged.
Alex looked at him and added. "Well, I also won"t go with this batch."
"What?!" They opened their mouths in surprise while Song Jiaoren shouted. "Is this because of me? I…"
Alex only looked at him with disgust. He shook his head while sighing. "Of course not. My wife will be attending this one."
"Your wife? Where is the honored person?" Song Jiaoren asked while Evelyn thought it was Anna or Anya.
He simply pointed to the right as a woman walked toward them. They glanced at the direction and were surprised.