"A being born from the secret plane, huh?" Adam stoked his chin in understanding. "Well, that would explain why you could suddenly appear in this room and even have the ability to alter the runic formation to your liking."
He looked at the Joker with bright eyes. "So you're the spirit guardian of this secret plane!"
The Joker's eyebrow rose in surprise. He glanced at Adam and nodded. "Not bad, young lad, you're quite knowledgeable for your rank and age."
"Hehe." The teenager laughed smugly.
Thanks to the memories of the experts he had absorbed, there were some things he knew that even the most powerful Magi on this planet might not.
The Joker found the youth to be more and more interesting by the second. Suddenly, he thought of something, and his eyes lit up. He turned around and saw the distance left to the pedastal.
His lips curled up into a smirk as he glanced back at the youth, "Let's spice things up, shall we?"
Seeing the clown-looking fellow's smirk, Adam had an ominous feeling. "Y-Yeah, I'd rather not—"
But the Joker interrupted him with his loud laughter. "Fafafa, how about this? If you manage to reach the bronze pedastal within one month, I will give you a special reward. Say, young lad, are you up for the challenge?"
Adam was about to refuse, but after some thought, he asked, "What type of reward are we talking about? Monetary reward?"
The Joker looked at him and mischievously said, "Guess."
The teenager's lips twitched. He complained, "How would I know—"
SNAP!
With a snap of his finger, the Joker vanished along with his chair. His voice echoed inside the hall. "Fafafa! The reward will be better than the one in this hall. That's all I can say."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})However, Adam didn't even have the time to reply to him because he was already slammed to the floor by the increased gravity.
"Damn you!" He struggled to spit the words out of his mouth.
With great difficulty, he got back up to his knees and supported his body with his hands on the floor. He raised his head to gaze at the bronze pedastal where the ancient book lay, seemingly waiting for him.
"One month, huh?" He muttered to himself. "If I go all out and spend less time working out, I might just make it in time. But it's still cutting it close."
But when he recalled the Joker's statement about the reward being even greater than the book in this room, Adam's eyes flashed with greed as well as excitement. He always did like a good challenge.
He licked his lips and grinned. "Hehe, how can I just give up? What if the reward is a million gold coins? Or perhaps… platinum coins?"
"Huehehe~" With a shady laugh that could send chills down anyone who heard it, Adam slowly got to his feet and walked with great difficulty toward the pedastal without wasting a single moment.
"Alright, let's do this!"
…
In the two months that had passed inside the House of Cards, Adam wasn't the only one who had made progress. It was the same with Edward and Lisa and the vast majority of the participants that had entered.
However, many had died as a result as well. The trials inside each room of the pyramid were all life-threatening, to say the least. One mistake could cost the Magi their lives.
Edward had still not managed to swim through the sea of merfolks and make his way to the other island where his reward—the spear—lay.
There were many occasions when he was fatally injured, but he always made it out on top and managed to survive through it. In the process, he too had improved as a Magus and a warrior.
Similarly, Lisa was also unable to fight through the wooden golems and reach the ancient temple. As she continued to kill golems, more and more of them appeared, filling in the gap.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Slowly but steadily, her fighting prowess improved by leaps and bounds.
The House of Cards was a burial ground for some Magi, but at the same time, it also served as a smelting trial for others.
Only the strongest would survive and be rewarded. Whereas the weak failed and would perish.
As the Rank 1 Magi shed their blood, sweat, and tears in hopes of getting rewarded and soaring through the skies, the sands of time continued to fall through the hourglass slowly.
One week.
Two weeks.
Three weeks.
Until finally, one more month had passed!
Today was the deadline that the Joker had given to Adam. If he could reach the pedastal by the end of the day, he would give the youth another reward, one that was supposedly much better than the one he was already getting.
Inside the dimly lit hall, Adam was only a couple of meters away from the bronze pedastal. By now, he no longer had the capacity to stand.
All he could do was crawl.
The gravity in the last few meters was so terribly high that he believed if it wasn't for his superior physique, he would have already turned into mince meat.
Adam's bloodied fingers dug into the floor as he crawled like a snail. His entire body was drenched in sweat and the parts that were rubbing against the floor had even turned bloody.
However, despite all the pain and suffering, he grit his teeth and continued to move forward.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"That… Joker… better not be… playing… games with me! Ohhhh!" He roared as he slowly approached the pedastal.
Considering that guy's eccentric personality, Adam wouldn't be surprised if he ended up saying something along the lines of:
'Oh, complete the rest of the distance within one month? I was just kidding! Fafafa!'
If the Joker really did that, Adam wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry. However, as long as there was a sliver of hope that he would be rewarded for his hard work, he would not give up on it.
This was how persistent—no, greedy he was!
After what seemed like forever, Adam was able to stretch out his bloodied hand with intense struggle and finally touch the bronze pedastal.
As soon as he did, the gravity ruthlessly pressing down on him vanished instantly. Adam involuntarily took in a deep breath. He could swear he had never felt so light before.
Taking in large mouthfuls of air, he laid on his back for a very long time, recuperating. After about more than ten minutes, he took out a barrel of water from his earring.
He drank some of it and poured the rest on himself. After drying himself up and changing into a new pair of black robes, he finally focused his attention on the ancient-looking book lying atop the pedastal.
Its leather-bound cover was weathered by the vicissitudes of time and one could smell the scent of old parchment wafting from it.
Its cover was carved with intricate geometrical patterns that resembled a spell model. Adam's eyes lit up when he saw them. This was more advanced than any Rank 1 spell models he had ever read!
The youth stepped forward and picked up the tome with trembling hands. He carefully lifted the cover, revealing the first page.
The text was, unsurprisingly enough, written in the language of the Southern Federation. When Adam read it, he was first taken aback, but then he couldn't help but smile in understanding.
He should have already expected it.
"Gravity Magic!"
