Chapter 3692: Earth or Fire
Chapter 3692: Earth or Fire
Between the five of them, to be accepted and rejected by the platform in the combination that they were, there could only be a few possibilities.
It was not their cultivation base. Liz’s cultivation base was clearly higher than Helen’s, and she hadn’t been allowed in.
It was not their battle power, for Ronron’s battle power was higher than everyone’s but Alex’s.
It was certainly not a lack of Origin, or some other thing that the platform could recognize immediately, as they all had those.
Combining that with the knowledge that the platform’s aura was focused around his dantian, Alex had a certain thought.
Was it perhaps testing one of his spirit roots?
If that was the case, then which one was it testing?
He and his mother had all spirit roots, so they could not be used for this comparison at all. So, he would have to look at Battlesage instead.
’Battlesage has Metal, Earth, and Fire roots,’ Alex thought.
The old man originally had Metal and Earth roots, with Fire root later being added by Alex when they were still in Hell.
’If he was allowed in with only three, then it has to be testing for one of these roots,’ Alex thought. ’Since Aunt Liz also has Metal root, along with Wood, Water, and relatively weak versions of both Yin and Yang, it has to be testing for Earth or Fire root. If it is testing spirit roots at all.’
Alex couldn’t guarantee that any of what he had thought was true, but there was a chance it was, so it may be worth the risk to act upon it.
’If it was testing for the quality of my roots, it wouldn’t have me cultivate for so long. Chances are, it is testing how well my spirit roots perform when I’m cultivating.’
As soon as Alex thought as much, he changed his cultivation technique immediately.
While Five Yang Divine Path was the best technique for him when it came to cultivating quickly by having the technique absorb thicker Yang Qi than a regular technique, it did not help either of the two roots he was thinking of.
So, he changed to the regular cultivation technique he had gotten from his mother and continued his cultivation. As soon as he changed, the aura from the formation platform flickered for a moment, noticing the difference.
’I was right,’ Alex thought.
While he was still unsure if it was Fire or Earth root it searched for, Alex told the other two the situation, asking them to use cultivation techniques that benefited both.
Alex cultivated for a rather long time. He had been forced to sit there for nearly half a day before the formation did anything at all.
A slow voice spoke in his mind.
"The testing is complete. You have received 23 stars," the voice said, and the stars flashed into existence before him.
Alex blinked in surprise. He had been hoping he would be told what the test was about at this point, but it seemed the formation had no such plans. It simply gave him the stars and asked him to leave.
Alex shrugged and made his way out of the formation, meeting with the bored Liz and Ronron.
"Finally! It’s already close to evening. I was worried you were going to make us wait much longer," Ronron said as she sat up from the rock she had been sitting on. "What exactly is going on in there?"
Alex shrugged. "I still don’t know. But I suspect it was testing our Earth or Fire root and how well they perform during cultivation sessions."
"Really?" Liz asked with a slightly frustrated look. "No wonder I wasn’t allowed in. I don’t have either."
Alex nodded.
"So there are formations like that inside here, huh?" Ronron asked as she scratched her chin. "I wouldn’t mind finding one such place that dealt with Wood root."
Alex nodded. "I’m sure one of these many red spots will be such a place. I don’t see why they wouldn’t do so for the rest of the red spots."
Ronron agreed. "But we can’t go to too many of these. I only have one root after all," she said.
"There may be trials that deal with space manipulation. If we find one, you can succeed easily," Alex said.
Ronron nodded.
"I’m a little worried that we wasted half of the first day in here instead of going around looking for more stars. We might run out of them soon," Liz said with a worried look.
"Really?" Alex asked with a hint of surprise in his voice. "I don’t think it will be like that. We should find plenty more stars in the coming days. I don’t see there being a scarcity in the amount of stars this early, not if they want us to only start challenging each other for them once the first year is complete."
Liz gave his words some thought and nodded. It made a little sense that would be the case.
"Why are they still in there though?" Ronron asked. "How come you didn’t end at the same time?"
Alex looked back, wondering the same. He scratched his chin as he thought about how he could have been tested.
"Maybe the test was based on the amount of Qi we gathered of that very element in the shortest time possible," he said. "My spirit roots are better than theirs, so I finished early."
Ronron accepted that answer.
Half an hour later, Helen walked out with 19 stars in her hand. She was quite excited to receive so many stars for doing practically no work at all. While others would be busy cultivating to restore their Qi soon, she could continue hunting more stars if need be.
Battlesage took much longer than the two. He took nearly another six hours to get out of the platform, earning only 14 stars in total. Despite it being a small amount, he wasn’t disappointed at all.
He held his star and looked at the colors in there.
"Alright. Where to next?"