Around two hours had passed since Sansara Sage's test began.
And things weren't looking rosy for Eren.
'Damn it. I hate running. This is such a fucking waste of time.'
Eren thought to himself as he ran away from another horde of shadow creatures trying to box him in. He had a nasty expression on his face as he did that.
He had been preserving his mana as much as he could since the test began. This was the reason he had kept his elemental spells to their minimum and focused on close combat attacks to take care of the city residents.
However, he felt like he wasn't progressing at all in his search for the array key. He was unable to conduct his search efficiently due to the array traps. The spatially altered maze layout made him double down on his previous path. And the shadow creatures were getting more aggressive by the hour.
Sage Yuffie's test invoked almost the same kind of frustration in the participants. However, the risk of dying for real in this test made everyone even warier of the obstacles.
'I can't do this all day.
I need to see what other fuckbiscuits are doing.'
Eren realized that Sansara Sage's test couldn't be aced with brute strength alone. That's why he decided to check out what his fellow participants were doing at this point.
The butcher got rid of all his pursuers using Blink and Blitz Steps and found an isolated building he could use. He entered the building and quickly found what he was looking for.
It was a spectral display that was asked to be paired with the participants' Sansara interface. Participants were required to pay for the services they could avail of through the spectral screens using accumulated Karma points.
The butcher chose a random participant and asked the spectral screen to show what he was doing in real-time in a bird's eye view. The spectral screen blurred for a fraction of a second and deducted a significant chunk of Karma points from Eren's Sansara interface. This was before the ranker's whereabouts and activities were projected.
Eren had used the spying services offered by the test just when the ranker was about to get killed by a horde of shadow creatures. He died a gruesome death and his body was smashed into a pool of blood and flesh by human dolls and shadow beasts working together.
"Ouch. That must have hurt like a bitch."
Eren scrunched his nose and made a peculiar expression on his face before deciding to spend his Karma points some more.
"That was indeed terrible. Anyway, let's move on."
Eren saw another ranker trying to get rid of her pursuers. She was also conversing with her mana and dealing with the shadow creature only when she needed to.
She had also kept her elemental spells to a minimum. However, instead of focusing on close combat attacks, she preferred using AoE-like Sansara Perks to get rid of multiple shadow creatures at once. Of course, she had to spend her accumulated Karma points on that.
"Not an ill-conceived strategy at the beginning. But how long will the Karma points last? I still have to be inside this shitty test for another 20+ hours."
Eren shook his head and decided to scrap the strategy the female participant was implementing. The butcher used the spectral screen to zoom in on her cleavage as she ran desperately for her life. An under-the-breath "nice" was blurted out before he decided to change his target.
Eren found out that there was one more ranker who was using her soul sense to her advantage. Additionally, she used array traps, faux constructions, and spatial channels against shadow creatures just like him.
"Not useful. Next channel."
Eren decided to change his target. He spent another chunk of Karma points spying on Gondel the geek. And what he saw next blew his mind.
Gondel the geek was able to access and modify the nearby arrays that had been used to construct the city. He was also able to alter the shadow creatures' behaviors through the arrays in the region, which had been used to manifest them.
Eren saw that a group of shadow creatures was fighting with another group of its own kind because Gondel had messed up their operating logic. His obstacles fought with each other while Gondel the geek carried on with his search for the array key like a sneaky little raccoon.
Gondel could tap into the spectral array fabric of the buildings and make them disappear into thin air. He could also make them change their shape and use them as obstacles to prevent hostile city residents from approaching him.
Gondel the geek was using various tricks up his sleeves to carry on with his search. He was the only one who could afford to perform a systematic search. He had also received a bunch of clues regarding the whereabouts of the array key. And slowly but surely, he was moving in the array key's supposed direction.
In short, Gondel the geek was hacking his way through the test. And it was a legal form of hacking considering Maya hadn't taken any action against him.
Eren spent almost all his Karma points observing Gondel's moves. He concluded that he couldn't use Gondel's strategy even if he could tap into the array fabric in the same way. He did not have sufficient knowledge of such a vast field after all.
The butcher had to change his position mid-spying, rushing outside the building before using Blink. That's because another horde of shadow creatures was starting to surround the isolated building he was in.
'This test… it was rigged for guys like Gondel from the beginning.
It wasn't about brute force. It wasn't about individual strength or battle tactics. Sansara Sage was looking for a capable array creator like himself to pass down his legacy to. It was either that or no inheritor at all. No middle ground.
I… I need to change my strategy. Instead of working against the wave, I need to fucking ride it.'
