Maximilian entered the room and paused. It was a cultivation chamber, no doubt in his mind about that. It was the same as his own, more or less. It was made out of the same stone as the rest of the building. It was twice as big as his, which was nice. In the middle was a mat with arrays sewn in. He wasn't sure if it was better than his own, but it looked nicer. It had been handcrafted from high-quality materials. There were four altars in the four cardinal directions. Three of which were empty. While the fourth held a chrysanthemum the size of his head. It was this irredescendent flower that called to him. He was about to collect it when an idea came to him. As soon as he touched the flower, it would go into the bag. What would happen if he tried to use it? Or at least use some of it. He was pretty certain he couldn't absorb that right now. At least, not without sacrificing a significant portion of the next week. He should be able to do some of it. He wasn't sure what the flower was supposed to do. He didn't sense any dao from it. It reminded him a bit of spirit stones. Only much stronger. Either way, he decided to test his theory. He sat down on the mat and sent a bit of energy it its array.
When the array was activated, his smile grew. He took a second to relax before the surge of spiritual energy arrived. When it did, he grimaced. It was more than he expected, both in quantity and purity. It felt like he had put on an oxygen mask. It was amazing, but too much. He circulated his technique to take control of the energy before it could hurt him. If he had to estimate it, he could handle this for two hours. After that, he would need to take a break. He wasn't sure if there would be any changes in the trial, so he would sacrifice five hours to cultivating here. That should be just enough time to get a level and recover. He would then collect everything and get out of here. He took a breath and sank into his meditation. He stayed aware enough to notice if something changed in the room, but everything else was ignored. He tried to understand more about the treasure. Even after the time had expired, he had learned nothing. Well, almost nothing.
He was somewhat certain the flower was weaker than it was supposed to be. As he absorbed the energy, some of it drained into the environment. He had no idea how long it had sat here, but it would be gone in a decade or so. He would need to see if he could fix that. Either way, he needed to get moving. He opened his eyes and cut off the flow of energy. His five hours had bought him another level and thus three more attribute points. Points that he put into Intelligence. As much as he wanted to spread them out. He was in a life-or-death trial. He needed things that would amplify his combat strength. His recent death sprint made the argument for Agility. If Prismatic Barrier were stronger, he wouldn't have been in that situation.
He had spent the points already, which meant there was little reason to debate it further. He got to his feet and collected everything. He wanted to steal the array, but it was carved into the stone, and he wasn't going to carve it all out. He wasn't sure if there would be any consequences to doing so. He also wasn't willing to waste the time. He did commit them to memory. He wasn't sure if that would be enough to recreate them, but he would try. Last but certainly not least, he collected the flower. He hoped the Network's bag would help him protect the item or at least slow its drain. With that taken care of, he swept through the rest of the house. There were two more cultivation chambers. Neither of which had powerful treasures. Both had mats that went into the bag. He had hoped to find more clothes, especially something fancy, but there was nothing. He collected the beds and other pieces of furniture. He would keep the harem bed. The rest would be dealt with later. With that taken care of, it was time to go. He braced himself for another round of chain dodging as he stepped outside. Only to realize it wasn't necessary. He hadn't been the only person to find this place. He had been the only one to make it to the door.
Several bodies lay scattered across the lawn. A lawn that was more battlefield than anything else. He was pained when he realized all the bodies were human, but only a few were from the other world. He sighed and collected all their tokens. Ten in total. Their bags turned into beams and entered his bag. He tried to find any differences in the lights. Anything that would indicate how much loot the person had. As far as he could tell, there was nothing. He wanted to collect the bodies, to give them a burial on Earth. At least that way, they could be on their home planet. Unfortunately, he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, the bag wouldn't accept them. He swore at the Network before he made his exit. The array failed to activate even as he passed over the gate. He wasn't sure if that was because it was out of power or if it wasn't designed to stop people from leaving. Either way, he put the death trap out of his mind and headed deeper into the city. He needed to collect more tokens. He doubted he could rely on people getting themselves killed, so he could loot them. Which meant he needed to be active. He ran through several options and quickly realized that his best bet was to hunt people. Even if he spared the people, he knew most would die. This place wasn't safe. Being trapped here was going to kill people.
He was given the chance to prove himself less than thirty minutes later. He came across another group of soldiers. They had the same configuration as the first, only they used spears instead of swords. Maximilian watched them gather items from a building as he considered what to do. He was sure he could take them out at range. He could take half the group before they knew he was there, but that was wrong. He wanted to give them the chance to surrender. That way, they could stick together. They could watch each other's backs. He tried to convince himself that it would go that way, but deep down, he doubted it. Sure enough, he had made his offer, and they ignored it. This resulted in them being defeated. Even after they lost their tokens, they wanted to fight.t They refused to just go away. He was forced to kill them. He chose to kill them.
He stared at their bodies for several long minutes before he sighed. He hated this. Yet, he had no real choice. He couldn't save someone who didn't want to be saved. This time, he went a bit further. He collected their weapons and armor. He left them the dignity of their underclothes, but the weapons and armor could be used. He looked toward the house he had left earlier and the bodies there. He could go back. He shook his head. It wasn't worth it. The city should have a barracks or a guard station, or an armory. Somewhere, he could loot weapons. He would just need to find it. He took one last look at the bodies and departed. He raced through the city streets in search of either people or more places to loot.
As he ran, he started to piece together a bit of the city's history. There had been a large-scale battle here. There were scars spread throughout, as well as battle flags. At first, he thought they came from the other army, but the colors were wrong. The other army wore red and gold. Which was different from the trial takers. He wasn't sure why they fought, though. He figured that whatever that was would be related to the trial. Part of him wondered if it was an item. If so, he figured that item was still here. That it would be some sort of treasure that he would need to find. As the centerpiece of the trial. He would need to head to the core of the city. He had already leaped to the top of one of the large buildings to get an idea of where to go. He wasn't sure how or why, but it was a bit like the city was a labyrinth. At first, he thought it was something the Network had done. That was a part of the challenge. Though the more he thought about it, the more another option became viable. It was the city's defenses. It was designed to force an army into the streets. If he operated with that assumption, then the flight restriction made sense. It would force people into the streets, where they would be killed. He pulled himself back to the current moment when he arrived at his new destination.
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The building reminded him of the Parthenon. Only the building was still standing. It was the size of a football field, and it still had items inside. Despite that, he wasn't in a hurry to move forward. Five people stood just past the temple's threshold. At first, he thought they stood there talking, but that wasn't it. They didn't do anything. Having already dealt with something like this, he was pretty sure he knew what it was. There was an array. The last piece to the strange puzzle was the identities of the people. They were all from Earth. They were all lizardfolk. Admittedly, he assumed that first part. There was always the chance that the other planet had lizardfolk, but he was going to assume they were from Earth. He could just kill the group, but he didn't want to. He wanted to both save them and test himself. He wanted to break them out without getting trapped. He just needed to come up with a way to do that. He couldn't see the array, which meant it was carved facing the inside of the chamber.
He doubted he could destroy all the stone. He also knew he couldn't do that without harming the people. That option was out. Which left his Dao and his killing intent. He could likely release his Dao fields to combat the effect. Only he wasn't sure that would do anything. The Dao of Rain helped him, but only when he circulated it internally. Could he do that to someone else? His killing intent faced a similar issue. He wasn't sure what it would do. It could kill them. Granted, the lizardfolk seemed more warlike than humanity. At least the parts of humanity he encountered. They might survive. He could try to target the energy itself, but he wasn't sure how. He couldn't draw it in. Not unless he found the source of the array. He was willing to bet that the source was inside the building. The more he went over it, the more he realized he had no idea what he was doing. Which made it fun.
He could try to pull the group out. He wasn't sure if his dao would let him either suck them out or grab them. He had never tried that level of control. He cracked his neck and leaped down to join them. He had thought about it; now it was time to try something. He walked to the entrance and then reached for his dao. He started with his Dao fields. He unleashed one after the other. He quickly realized the problem and withdrew them until they were an inch or so from his skin. His Dao fields weren't harmless. Rain was, but Static was hurt, and Squall did to a lesser extent. The people in there were stuck. They could muster no defense. On the bright side, that brief attempt did show something. The people reacted. Which had to mean they could feel. He just needed to use that to break them out. He tried with his Dao fields a few more times before he was forced to give up.
The lizardfolk were covered in shallow cuts. Not only had he hurt them, but he wasn't able to wake them up. He took a step back and decided to approach the problem from a different direction. He formed tendrils of wind and tried to wrap them around them. The first few attempts didn't work. The wind didn't have a physical form. Or rather, a physical enough form. It was like trying to hold something with a stiff breeze. He could shape it into blades, so he knew it was possible. He just needed to keep trying. After an hour, he decided to spread the attempts across all three of his dao. After two hours, he decided to seek help. Not from a person but from his skill. He sat down in front of the building and activated Storm Manipulation. That was when he saw some progress. It wasn't enough to do what he wanted. It was enough to accomplish the goal. After another thirty minutes, he swatted his thighs and stood up.
He sent a burst of wind forward and then snapped it back to himself. It took him three tries to balance the power he used, but he was able to do it. The five lizardfolk tumbled out of the room and onto the stone. As soon as he was sure they were safe, he tried to help them. He had little hope that the group was still alive after that, but he still pushed his dao into them. After ten minutes, he sighed. They were dead. Though it was a mental death or a soul death. Their bodies seemed fine. Not counting the wounds he caused. As if the Network waited on that realization, their tokens floated, and bags beamed into his own. The lizardfolk wore cultivator armor, but he decided not to steal that. The robes weren't designed for humans, and he wasn't sure they would work right.
He also didn't want to see what a naked lizardman looked like. With that part dealt with, he turned his attention to the building. Now that he wasn't trying to help anyone, he braced himself. He realized his Dao fields and killing intent. Hoping to use them as a buffer against whatever happened. He took a breath, calmed himself, and stepped across the threshold. As soon as he had something slammed into his mind. The world swirled as if he were being pulled down a drain. This time, he was ready. Before the illusion could take hold, the dao of rain surged through him. He gritted his teeth as a trickle of blood ran down his face. For a moment that seemed to last forever, he fought the array.
It felt like he had stood there for days before the array popped. As if he had been trapped in a soap bubble, the world rushed back into focus. He staggered forward a step. His head ached as if he had just gone ten rounds with a professional boxer. He reached up to wipe the blood away, only to remember his dao about halfway through. He summoned the rain to wash away his blood. An act that only worsened his headache. He wanted nothing more than to sit down and rest, but he knew that wasn't wise. He had already proven that he could be attacked from the outside. The last thing he needed was some opportunist coming along and killing him while he rested. He moved out of sight of the entrance and then behind a pillar. Only when he was certain someone had to enter to see him did he take a seat. He wished he had his soul stones to speed up the recovery, but he didn't. Instead, he sat with his legs folded and started up his cultivation technique. The spiritual energy in the air wasn't enough to make real progress, but it calmed his mind. Which, in turn, improved the recovery of his mental energy.
He decided to rest until he felt comfortable enough to fight. He doubted there would be another array here, but he would rather be safe than sorry. If taking a few more minutes would increase his survival, then he would. When he was ready, he got to his feet and looked around. He thought it was a temple at first, but now that he was inside, he realized it wasn't. It was a training hall, or more accurately, a meditation hall. There was a row of statues along the middle of the building. Each one held a different item in its hands. Items that ranged from weapons to elements to things he didn't recognize. All of them were made of stone. Yet, they carried a palpable power. Each statue had two circles of mat around it. With one circle inside the other. The mats were placed equidistant from each other, and each one was covered in arrays similar to the ones on the mat he found in the house. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this place was meant for Dao. Just looking at it made him feel closer to the Dao as if he could get insight into a new one if he just waited for a few days. None of the statues he saw were related to his, but that wasn't a bad thing. The building was far larger than he thought. He smiled to himself as he started walking. This was going to be his favorite one yet.
