Chapter 1589: Unsolvable
Sam just walked out of the room they were sitting in and arrived at the large backyard of Old man"s estate.
It is peaceful and there is not a single lifeform insight.
He looked at the large empty s.p.a.ce and thought for a moment before he waved his hand and let the beasts out.
They were trapped for so long because of Sivan, so he has been trying to find time to let them out as much as he can.
Since he is going to stay here for a while, he decided he might as well let them loose.
As they are playing around like kids, Sam focused on the cub.
The first thing he wanted to do is figure out if this cube is just like a Rubix cube even when it comes to the solution. So, he examined all of the rune patterns on each block to see any similarities between the patterns that would go for one side to create a proper inscription.
Even though it is the simplest solution anyone could think of, sometimes, the simplest solution is the right solution.
After figuring out the patterns with certain similarities and making sure that there are six types of patterns that would form an inscription on the six different sides, he started solving it.
Sam never worked on a 6X6 cube. Even though puzzles are fun, he was never really a person who explored the normal puzzles that are popular in the world. But it didn"t take too long for him to figure out how to solve this.
And as he started moving the patterns to their respective sides, he started seeing the inscriptions coming into the picture.
Along with that change, he also noticed another major change and that is the energy flow within the cube. Whenever he turned one of the faces of the cube, the energy inside reacted. It started becoming chaotic as if it is trying to find a way to escape.
Luckily for Sam, nothing of the sort happened as there are no anomalies until then. And the more he progressed towards the current goal of moving the same patterns to the same side, the more confident he became since there are no ma.s.sive changes in the cube.
But right when he was on the last line of solving the puzzle, suddenly some chaotic shadow elemental energy come out of the cube.
The energy is so eerie and dangerous that Sam started sweating instantly. He didn"t know what to do. The energy came out of the cube in the form of black smoke which seeped into his body.
Sam instinctually activated shadow elemental fusion.
The smoke started invading his body and even when he had the fusion, he still felt the pain. It is like the pure raw energy inside the smoke is trying to occupy his body. He gritted his teeth and tried his best to endure it.
He looked at the cube and still decided to try and finish the last line.
But as he tried to turn the face, he could sense the energy fluctuations becoming chaotic. Sam hurriedly activated the energy vision and he was stunned.
Under the guise of the black smoke, the energy ma.s.s inside the cube is slowly trying to slip out and not just slipping out, it is acting like some kind of live slimy creature that wants to devour him.
Sam instantly stopped turning it that way. He started messing up the cube again as even he felt the excessive shadow elemental energy invading his body is way too painful and torturous.
"So, the simplest one is not the right one, I should have guessed."
He muttered to himself and started thinking of different ways.
The first method that came to his mind is to try and see how many proper inscriptions he could make with all of these patterns. But when he thought of the number of possibilities based on the order of these inscriptions and how many iterations he would have to go through, he felt his throat run dry.
That would be an impossible task to do so. It will literally take years for him to go through every iteration there is.
He held the cube in his hands as he carefully examined it. This is just like a normal cube puzzle, but the only problem is that he cannot identify the "colors" of the cube. As long as he has the colors he would be able to solve the cube pretty easily.
But identifying them is the problem.
As he was thinking, he took a deep breath and decided to just work on it as it is.
He didn"t want to waste too much time thinking this time. He just wanted to do it and solve it as it comes.
As he tried random combinations, he let his thoughts wander. For the whole night, he didn"t move from the spot he sat on and just stayed there. The beasts ran around and enjoyed the outside air for a while.
After that, they sat near Sam as he constantly messed around with the cube.
Time pa.s.sed slowly and the next morning, the old man and the three powerhouses from the Gaja clan came out to see Sam still working on the cube.
He appeared so concentrated and lost in it.
They didn"t disturb him and let him be. But by evening, Gail was concerned and went to ask the old man.
"Is it going to be alright? He is way too into it, isn"t he?"
"Don"t worry, it is going to be okay."
"Why is that puzzle so difficult though? Do you think he will be able to succeed?"
"I don"t know. He might or might not."
"Even you are not sure about his success?"
"Yeah, if success means completely solving the puzzle then I don"t know. But if all he needs is to pa.s.s the test, then I am sure he will."
"So, solving the puzzle is not the test?"
"No, enduring the shadow elemental energy is. The leakage of the shadow elemental energy along with the rest of the traps and a long exposure for all of these harmful things, that is the actual test."
"So, is it impossible for anyone to solve that puzzle?"
"I don"t know. Maybe the person who created it can do it. I have never seen anyone else solving it. No one ever came close."
"Then why did you tell him to solve the puzzle instead of telling him what the actual test is?"
"Just for the sake of it. I wanted to see how long he will endure. If just say he needs to endure for a fixed amount of time, he might just pull it off through sheer grit.
I don"t want that. Anyone can do that. I want to know exactly how long he is going to keep up."
"Then what if he doesn"t give up and just endure it as it comes?"
"That is not impossible. Every person should feel exhausted at some point. The constant pain is not something that could be overcome just through the sheer grit."
"We will see then. I am also curious now.
But since it is going to take a long time anyway. Do you want to spar a bit?"
Gail asked with a slight grin.
The old man looked at him and chuckled.
"You are still in your prime and you can"t control that rush for the challenge. I miss those old days. But I don"t think I will be a match for you. You want me to be that big of a challenge."
"I doubt that."
Gail said as his grin widened.
"Your mouth says one thing and your expression says otherwise. Why are you feeling so proud, just because you got some compliments from a has-been like me."
"Go find some challenge from your peers."
"Please, sir. It would be an honor to spar with you. You will also be bored for a long time with Sam going at it."
After some thought, the old man sighed and agreed.
"Alright. But I am not going to go easy on you. Don"t you dare complain to me if I really beat you up?"
"But you just said you are not my match."
"That is because I wanted to avoid fighting you. Don"t tell me you really believed that."
"I mean, you already complimented, there is no use in taking it back."
They started bickering and arguing as they walked to an empty s.p.a.ce within the Blood Iron League estate.
Gamin and Yuvana exchanged a glance and immediately ran after them to spectate and if they could, they want to get a chance to spar too.
Sam was left there along with the beasts who looked at him silently without disturbing him.
He just kept on going at the cube without caring for anything else in the world.
Hundreds of calculations are going on in his head at the same time as he tried different ways to figure out the best iteration of this cube.