Once again, in the Formations Guild...
Turin was taken aback for a moment. Usually, they would leave the best Formation Masters of previous phases for last. Rean got a 'perfect' score together with Havek, so he would select Fire, Earth, and Wind Fields first. Still, since the Guild Head gave her orders, he could only comply.
"First, the Lightning Field! We will test the formations closest to the target first."
As soon as Turin said that, everyone looked at Rean. After all, he made his Formation right on top of it.
However...
"Oh! So I'll be the last person to be tested then?"
Turin looked at Rean, responding with a question.
"What do you mean?"
Rean shrugged his shoulders as he said.
"Well, my target is the Water formation on the Water field, so I'm the furthest one from my target."
Only then did he remember that it was true. Everyone could tell that Rean wasn't aiming for the Lightning Protection Formation but for another one. In the end, no one was further away from their target than him.
"Errr... Ahem... Even so, you are the closest one to the Lightning Protection Formation, so I will start with yours. Are you fine with that?"
Rean didn't seem to care, though.
"Sure. I thought it might have been wrong to use mine first since that was not my target. I don't really mind if you want to test it first."
Turin then looked at Saya, who nodded at him.
"Alright, you can activate your formation first. By the way, what do you call this formation of yours?"
Rean pondered for a bit before saying.
"Well, I didn't really think of a name, so let's just use Lightning Shot."
"That's... quite straightforward."
"Yep. Simple is best."
Rean didn't waste any more time and immediately placed his hands on the formations. After adjusting the aim of his Shooting Formation, he activated it.
*Shoo*
Just like that, the stone was shot in the distance while the thin copper wire followed behind. That was quite unappealing and lackluster, though. Alright, it was utterly and inexplicably boring...
However, Havek's eyes shone as he saw the stone flying in the Water Myriad Elemental Protection Formation's direction. He then looked at Rean on top of the Lightning Myriad Elemental Protection Formation with an idea in his mind.
'So that's what you're up to!'
Rean didn't care. He was more worried whether such a thin copper wire would break on the way there. If it was normal copper, he was sure that the pressure would have been too great. However, this was Spiritual Copper Wire, so it was many times more resistant.
Fortunately, it reached the target without any problems. However, just as the stone was about to smash against the protection formation's wall, Rean activated his Lightning Strike Formation.
"It's now do or die! Hahaha!"
The Lightning Strike Formation immediately came back to life. Spiritual Energy in the surroundings disappeared in a flash as everything entered the Formation. Not only that, but the Lightning Element Absorption Formation was also activated, absorbing all the Lightning Element in the surroundings.
Until there, everything played as the Formation Masters expected. However, what happened next shocked everyone. They thought that Rean selected the top of the Lightning Protection Formation because of its altitude advantage. That way, he could save Spiritual Energy after shooting the Stone with the copper wire.
Unfortunately for them, they only had time to hear a cracking sound when all of a sudden, the entire first layer of the Lightning Protection Formation shattered. All the Lightning Element contained on it was then absorbed into the Lightning Strike Formation Runes. It wasn't over, though. The second and third layers also crumbled right after. Before Rean's attack had even started, he had already destroyed three layers... it's just that this one wasn't his target.
The Lightning Runes finally reached their limits and released the Lightning Strike!
*Zap!*
For a second, the world around everyone turned a bright blue thanks to that one Lightning Strike. It was also the first time in their lives that everyone had seen a Lightning Strike follow a straight line. Even Lightning Strikes conducted by Spiritual Energy didn't move that perfectly.
Everything took some time to explain, but just like thunder, it all happened in a flash! In the exact moment that the stone smashed and crumbled against the Water Protection Formation, the Lightning Strike arrived, guided by the Spiritual Copper Wire. During its way here, the copper wire was pulverized, just like what Rean saw in his previous life on TV.
*Kabrum!*
*Shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter!*
Water Element was weak against Lightning. That was common knowledge. Naturally, the Myriad Elemental Protection Formation that used the Water Element to strengthen itself suffered from this option. The Spiritual Energy in the surroundings of Rean's Formation wasn't of much use. His Formation's real attack power came from the three layers of the Lightning Myriad Elemental Protection Formation. The Spiritual Energy was only there to make sure the Formation wouldn't go out of control.
That's why Rean became so tired after completing the Triple-Layered Lightning Strike Formation. In normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been something hard for him to do. However, he had to build the runes in a way where they would break apart after taking in so much Lightning Element at once. It was a must for that Formation to be at least resistant enough for a single strike. Naturally, it was a big challenge even with his greater talent for Lightning Formations.
From the twenty layers of the Water Myriad Elemental Protection Formation, seventeen of them shattered almost instantly. Only the three innermost layers were able to stand after it ended. Nonetheless, the third outermost one had several cracks on it, showing that it would have collapsed if just a little bit more power was applied.
"Hahaha! There are no rules stating that I can't use the Lightning Myriad Elemental Protection Formation's layers to charge my Lightning Strike Formation. Thank you for the support!"
The test field went silent once again as the same thoughts appeared in everyone's minds.
'Is that really, reaaaally valid?'
