Marlo opened the emergency exit and jumped out of the plane, followed by the pilot and everyone else. Larry morosely followed. A few moments later, the private jet went through the illusion formation and crashed against whatever was behind it, resulting in a shockwave that was much stronger than a plane crash should have resulted in!
A few seconds later, the illusion formation failed and showed Larry the result, allowing him to suddenly reach a conclusion. The plane they had been riding… had been lined with explosives!
*****
With a sharp, electronic wail the massive spider Lex was fighting finally crashed and exploded! He had to erect a shield around himself to protect his clothes from the flames. The fight had been fiercer than Lex had expected.
Thinking that he was facing a machine and that it would be weak against electrical attacks, Lex had once again relied on using the array he used to summon lightning bolts. Unfortunately, while the spider was indeed a machine, it was not built based on engineering from earth. It did not run on electricity, and none of its internal components, whatever they were, were sensitive to an overload of electricity. In fact, the spider had only become more energized after suffering from the attack and started shooting its lasers much faster.
Avoiding those had been extremely annoying. The thing was, no matter how fast Lex moved, he could not compete with the speed of a laser. The only thing he could do was use his intuition to move out of the laser's trajectory before it even fired - which was easier said than done!
He had only been able to avoid approximately 20% of all lasers, even with the forewarning. The problem was, the spider was actively aiming at him, even if he was moving. Even if he suddenly changed his trajectory, the spiders would continue to aim at him even as he moved along his new path.
He had to rely on various shields and defensive techniques to avoid having his clothes damaged. All the while, he had to retain focus on the arrays he was forming and make sure that he didn't ruin them.
Imagine being required to code a piece of software in the middle of a war-zone, threatened not only by the incoming artillery but also being vulnerable to his computer suddenly blowing up if he so much as used an unnecessary semicolon, let alone writing faulty code. That was literally what Lex's experience was.
Fortunately, his newly enhanced multitasking skills ensured that he never lost focus on his arrays. It took a few different tries to take down the spider, though. Lex's usual reliance on elemental damage, such as the use of fire or lightning, seemed not to work. In the end, he actually discovered how to defeat the spider by accident.
He had spent so long knowing that his defense was strong but his actual strength was weak, that he had forgotten that he had recently undergone a huge boost in strength! After the Lotus had recently remade his body, his strength had grown so much even the Host Attire couldn't perfectly help him regulate his strength.
On top of that, he had undergone a growth in his realm. Suffice to say, Lex could now pack a punch. It was through sheer coincidence and perfect timing that Lex had to block one of the spiders' legs using his arms after the lasers broke through Talk to the Hand. Instead of being pushed back by the attack… Lex crumpled the spider's leg as if it was paper.
It was only afterwards that he recalled that he was actually strong. Defeating the spider suddenly became extremely easy once he changed his tactics, though he was slightly disappointed that his arrays hadn't been as useful.
Next time, he told himself as he climbed to the next floor.
The Midnight Inn received thousands of new guests every day, at the very least. Although most of them arrived at the Inn through the use of golden keys, enough of them came from golden doors that opened randomly for Lex to have realized that the occurrence of those doors was not truly random. Although he had yet to figure out the pattern with which they opened, he could determine that they were more likely to open up in areas where they were likely to be discovered.
There was a part of him that suspected there was even more to it than that, as he had seen a few odd patterns in the kinds of guests that arrived through the golden doors. Suffice to say, they were more likely to be interesting or significant characters as compared to those that arrived through the spread of golden keys.
Yet, there was still another subset of guests who came through another method, who often tended to be of even more significance than guests who normally came through the golden doors. They were the pro bono guests!
The golden doors of the Midnight Inn opened, but instead of opening near the ground, as they usually did, they opened up high in the air. An injured Sol bird fell through the door, landing directly on the nearby spaceship. The Midnight Inn's incredible ability to control passive influence from guests and their cultivation kept the temperature from rising around it, though it would not have been enough to leave a single mark on the ship even if it didn't.
The door immediately shut right after the bird fell through, preventing whoever was chasing it from following. The bird took one look to see it was no longer being followed, before it collapsed and lost consciousness.
*****
Lex was thinking over why his arrays had failed to get a result. It was not that they were weak, but that the enemy was uniquely immune to elemental attacks. He had other forms of attacks available to him that he had planned out, but he was too used to relying on elemental attacks so much so that it didn't occur to him until much later.
If there was one thing he was pleased with, though, was the speed at which he formed the arrays. It was finally getting to the point where he could use them quickly enough in battle. While Lex's repertoire of techniques was very limited, his versatility was definitely not low. Not only was he incredibly strong and tough now, his mind worked fast enough to finally turn arrays into an actual viable solution.
Still, just because he liked using arrays it didn't mean he should avoid his other abilities. He quickly went over everything he was capable of before he reached the next floor. Although it did not seem like it, Lex had to admit that the difficulty of each floor was growing pretty quickly.
Although he was unharmed so far, he suspected it wouldn't stay that way for long.
The moment he stepped onto the fourth floor new information was deposited in his mind. Interestingly enough, it was a new array character. However this character was slightly unusual. Unlike other characters which brought about a set and specific change in the universe, this character meant "I". Its effect would change depending on who used it, and how.
Lex stopped inspecting the new character and turned his attention back to his surroundings. Unlike previous floors, which took the form of a massive hall, this floor took the form of a narrow corridor. If Lex spread his arms out, he would barely be able to touch both the sides of the passage.
He smiled because he immediately took in everything this new floor had to offer, and he genuinely did not expect what it had instored. At the end of the corridor he was facing was a swarm of small feline robots rushing towards him.
From the sounds he could hear, he could tell that the same robots were rushing at him from the other end of it as well. But he turned to look back anyway.
Right behind him stood another man. He was the same height as Lex, and like him had a very lean build. Like himself, he had turned around and was looking at Lex. Unlike Lex, who looked like he was on a casual stroll, he had equipped an exosuit and had 6 swords floating behind his back.
"Alexander Morrison," Lex said, a hint of surprise in his voice. "I really didn't think I'd run into you here."
𝓁𝘪𝒷𝘳ℯ𝘢𝑑.𝒸𝘰𝑚
"Do I know you?" Alexander asked, a hint of wariness in his eyes. While previously he cultivated his spirit and his body, under the guidance of the empire, he was now cultivating his body, spirit and soul! As someone who had cultivated only two paths before, he knew exactly how much of a difference his new cultivation path had made on him, and his senses. That was exactly why he trusted his instincts when they told him that the man standing in front of him was extremely dangerous!
"Ah, no we've never met," lied Lex. Well, at least Lex had never met him when he wasn't acting as the Innkeeper. "But who on earth doesn't know you?"
"You're from earth?" Alexander asked, even more surprised. "It's strange then that I don't know you." He could tell that Lex was fairly young, and his cultivation level was on par with him! There was no way someone like that should have been below his family's radar!
Lex shrugged and said, "A lot has changed since the Midnight Inn showed up. I wasn't worthy of your notice before. Though, I believe we have shared the same teacher. I was briefly enrolled in one of Marlo's self defense classes."
Both Alexander and Lex continued to stare at one another, content to ignore the incoming enemies.
"My name is Lex, by the way," he said, extending his hand.
"Lex? Is that short for…"
"Ah not really," Lex said with a short laugh. He knew what Alexander was going to ask. "People often assume that Lex is short for Alexander, but that's not it. My older sister named me after her favorite… uh well, it doesn't matter."
By now, the robots were coming dangerously close, but the two still didn't break eye contact. To Alexander, Lex felt a lot more dangerous than the entire horde
One of the most frequent questions Lex faced when he was young was what his name meant, or was short for. Depending on his age or mood, Lex would give different answers, ranging from it meant absolutely nothing, to that it was an acronym for 'laudably exquisite xebec', to the name of a famous hero or villain. Many people often assumed it was short for Alexander, though that was not the case.
The truth of the matter was too embarrassing to be spread. When he was born, his parents were having a discussion about what to name him, only to find out that their firstborn, Belle, had somehow managed to fill out the paperwork and had his birth certificate issued with the name Lex.
As absurd as it sounded considering Belle's young age at the time, she had been a little different from birth. She could not be compared to others her age. When they asked her why she chose the name Lex, she claimed that he had been named after her favorite wrestling move: the suplex!
His parents had found the story endearing. He had found the story mentally scarring. His sister had taken the story as motivation to master the suplex, on him no less!
"You know it occurs to me that we actually have a lot in common," said Lex as he turned around and looked at his side of the corridor.
"We're both from earth. We both had the same teacher. We both have similar sounding names. We both are pretty strong, and we both have weird families."
The last part Lex almost whispered. Had it been anyone else, they would not have heard his words against the backdrop of the approaching robots, but Lex had Alexander's undivided attention so he heard the words.
"You know I saw your fights back during the Midnight Games. You were quite impressive back then," said Lex.
"Some say I'm the best on earth around my age," replied Alexander with a sly grin.
Lex almost chuckled at the provoking remark, but he had no time to retort. The feline robots had arrived!
They were not too large, more like a slightly larger house cat. But while their size remained inferior to the more aggressive feline species, the robots were far from weak!
Their small, agile bodies were perfect for maneuvering in the cramped corridor while at the same time making it hard to hit their bodies. To top it off their speed was incredible, their fangs and claws were incredibly sharp and, as robots, they had weapons coming out of unexpected places!
While Lex may have been acting quite casual in his conversation with Alexander, the truth was that he was immediately put to the limit of his abilities as soon as he was attacked! There were too many attacking too fiercely and too fast! As much as Lex wanted to continue the challenge of leaving his clothes untouched, he failed after only a few seconds! While they had not yet penetrated his skin, the robots were definitely strong enough to cut through all of Lex's outdated defensive techniques.
He was forced to resort to blocking attacks with his limbs, immediately entering the flow state and making the best of his limited mobility.
The difficulty of the pagoda was no joke!
He spread his spirit sense along the hall, both to keep an eye on how Alexander was faring and so that he could use it to interfere with any long range attacks. To his surprise, despite the fact that Alexander lacked his immense physical strength and speed, he was faring much better!
Unlike Lex, who was relying on his instincts to defend against the onslaught, Alexander was using his training and prior experiences to deal with the enemies with remarkable efficiency!
Although many thought he had lived a pampered life, that was far from the truth. He was too used to facing enemies with much greater numbers and far greater strength than himself. In this situation, where he was practically alone against a seemingly endless number of overpowered enemies, he was not pushed to his limits. If anything, he was right at home!
All six of the swords were moving in conjunction with his every step, either fending off attacks or cleverly striking at enemies themselves. It was like each sword was controlled by a separate person, meticulously taking advantage of the situation with perfect teamwork and coordination.
Considering that Lex had recently unlocked amazingly overpowered multitasking abilities, using multiple weapons in such perfect conjunction should have been what he was pursuing. Instead, he had been forced to rely on his own physique, unable to deliver even half as good a result as his peer, even with greater capabilities.
For a moment, Lex was humbled. Although he had grown strong quickly, and it seemed like he had mastered his strength, he was far from achieving the best he could do - even in his flow state!
But then the moment passed, and Lex was filled with competitive spirit! From flow, he entered the overdrive state as he turned his attention back to the robots on his side.
He moved his left arm behind his back as an array began forming around it, while he only used his right arm to attack.
Although he had recently had a realization on how he could improve his performance, he had not yet had time to master it, so he went back to his old way of doing things. He relied heavily on his body's endless tolerance for suffering attacks and stopped blocking. He used each opportunity presented to him when an enemy attacked to counter attack, channeling his herculean strength through his fist.
His clothes were torn and his skin covered in white scratches, but in exchange he was smashing robots with every move. As if that was not enough, each robot he punched or kicked would launch into the horde behind it, crashing into its comrades with devastating might.
If not for the fact that Lex had resisted the urge to growl and roar, he would have displayed the perfect image of a savage barbarian hunting wild beasts!
For a few dozen seconds, it seemed like things were under control. They had reached a climax, but the two of them had managed to hold back their respective wave of robots. Now they would silently compete over who defeated their side of the attack first.
But despite how simple and easy as the pagoda had seemed at first, it was no mere childsplay. Things changed suddenly when the seemingly random actions of each robot suddenly changed into an incredibly coordinated and strategic attack.
It seemed as if they were not facing off against multiple, individual robots but an army of robots, all with a connected mind. It was like… they were facing off against a hive mind!
Instead of focusing solely on the two of them, some of the robots actually circumvented them, and appeared behind them.
Suddenly, the two went from having each other's backs to both being completely surrounded, and under attack from every direction.
While Lex was largely okay, the number of attacks he began to suffer increased tremendously. While he was still not hurt, the threat that the robots might break skin soon was immense.
Alexander too came under great pressure, but not only did he have a vast array of techniques at his disposal, his exosuit was no joke. He seemed to be surviving.
Still, it became clear to both of them that they would need to work together if they wanted to survive the entire round!
With an unspoken understanding, both of them acted at the same time. Alexander's suit suddenly rippled with a blue light, though more important was the fact that he suddenly became more powerful. The air seemed to ripple around him, before an explosion threw back every robot near him.
Lex, on the other hand, did something much simpler. Since he already knew that the robots were immune to elemental attacks, he had used a different one. Inspired by a video of a devastatingly powerful volcanic eruption, the array he used was one of the few he had already planned out before. It was called shockwave.
Simply said, it sent a shockwave in a specific direction. Practically, the shockwave was so strong and abrupt, it could easily kill. Moreover, it was the perfect area of effect attack!
The momentarily lull in the robots attacks caused by Alexander's explosion and Lex's shockwave allowed the two to close the gap between themselves and truly have each other's backs.
"So Mr. Best-at-his-age, think you can keep up? If you need any help just let me know, alright. It's not a shame to ask your elder for help."
"Tch. You need a bandaid for that scratch on your face?" Alexander asked, instead of replying.
Lex snickered. Indeed, his entire body was scratched up. But not a single attack had managed to pierce his skin so far. Instead of feeling like he was being attacked, it felt more like he was receiving a special massage designed to scratch an itch.
The Regal Embrace, even in its mutated form, was not a joke. Although Alexander seemed to be making fun of the fact that Lex suffered multiple attacks, internally he was flabbergasted at his resilience. He had seen actual armors weaker than Lex's skin!
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"Their coordination is incredible," said Lex, no longer wasting time with jokes. In fact, to speed along the communication process, he was no longer speaking with his voice but directly transmitting the message through his spirit sense.
They had barely a couple of seconds before the robots attacked again and they needed to get on the same page before then. Lex could probably brute force this floor because of his incredible defense, but if they became overwhelmed, there was a very real chance that Alexander could die. Of course, there was a chance that Alexander had a way to protect himself in such a situation, but the point was that these trials could be lethal if taken lightly. The fact that even Lex felt overwhelmed on just the fourth floor spoke of how difficult it was to overcome it. Although Jotun did not guarantee that this pagoda was exactly the same as the one he visited, he had to overcome 99 trials to reach the top of the pagoda.
"Their claws and fangs are sharp and are resistant to blunt force damage, but are slightly weaker than sharp or cutting attacks," informed Alexander. Unlike Lex, he had not suffered a single attack yet as his 6 swords cut down any threat.
"I don't have any weapons but I am excellent with arrays," volunteered Lex. By sharing something about himself, he hoped that they could form a cohesive strategy.
"Then you should have no problem surviving while I take care of things," said Alexander with a smirk. For some unknown reason, he was feeling extremely competitive. No one from his generation on earth had ever given him any pressure before. The fact that Lex, who shared so much in common with him, was able to threaten him, awoke something in Alexander that had never existed before.
For someone who was always serious all the time, a juvenile desire to show Lex up had taken hold of him for the first time. Since Alexander had never felt anything like that before, he didn't know how to navigate it, so he allowed it to take hold.
As if to indicate the seriousness of Alexander's claim, a change overcame not only him, but his weapons as well. Lex immediately recognized the phenomenon.
Alexander's grandfather, upon becoming enamored by anime, changed some of their spiritual techniques to give birth to visual effects similar to the aura displayed by anime protagonists.
But while Lex could identify the anime which inspired Alexander's previous visual changes, this one did not bring any prominent anime to mind. Hmm, maybe it wasn't just for show in that case.
Like embers flying with the wind, small red grains started leaking out of Alexander's body and weapons. Although the color evoked images of fire, Lex felt to no heat. Although, as more and more red flakes began to come out, Lex's intuition gave him a firm warning - in his current state, Alexander absolutely could hurt him!
Of course, there was a massive difference between hurt and kill. But even managing to cut Lex's skin deserved recognition!
Unfortunately, they had no more time to chat amongst themselves as the robots reached them once again.
Four of Alexander's swords revolved around him, cutting anything that tried to attack him from his back or his sides while he used the other two to coordinate with his attack! Though, despite his eagerness to prove himself, he retained the good sense to not rush into the horde. Lex and Alexander stayed closed.
Unlike Alexander, whose lethality had shot through the roof, Lex was pretty much the same. He immediately felt the pressure of the robots attack, and was left to crush them one by one using brute strength. Yet a part of his focus remained on Alexander. He could not figure out what it was that had empowered him, and if it was an element, it was not one he was familiar with. He had a feeling that instead of artificially trying to look like a protagonist, whatever training the empire had given him was further pushing him along the lines of actually becoming one. He suddenly had an idea, though that would have to wait till he was done with the pagoda.
The robots had started latching onto the walls and ceiling as well, completely threatening to crush the two under their numbers. One of them even fell onto Lex's head and tried to claw at his face, to no real success.
Every fiber of Lex's being was equally tough. He had no 'weak points' at all whatsoever. Still, the psychological alarm of something scratching at your eyes was not easy to overcome! Lex was immediately alarmed, and then pissed! Just because he didn't have anime effects didn't mean he could be picked at!
Lex immediately entered the overdrive state again, and analyzed the horde. If he assumed they had the same strengths as the spider he faced, neither electricity nor fire or any of the common elements would be able to harm them. Or at least, it would require those elements in with a stronger kick.
But the beauty of arrays was, reality was literally in the palm of his hands. He could manipulate the elements as he desired, even into becoming things that didn't naturally exist! Or at least, into things he had only imagined and never seen!
With a decision made of what he wanted to do, an array began to form. But since he needed both his hands to fight off the horde, he decided to form the array at his feet. Technically speaking, now that he was in the golden core realm, he could even form arrays away from his body as long as the flow of energy was never interrupted. But considering the current circumstances, it was best that the array be as close as possible to him.
The shape arrays took was usually in the form of a circle. The main character or attributes of the array would be in the center most of the array, after which would be surrounded by a circle. Then the many layers and nuances of the array were written around that circle, adding as many circles as was required.
The greater the complexity of the array, the greater the number of circles. When he was at the Foundation realm, although the complexity of the arrays he could form was far beyond what normal cultivators at his realm could do, he was ultimately limited by the capacity of his own mind. That was why the array he formed to defeat so many nascent cultivators was so incredible.
But now the same array wouldn't cut it. It wasn't because the array or attack was weak, but because it was mismatched against the kinds of opponents he was facing. Conversely, although the array he had in mind was technically as destructive as the former, he had a feeling it would be a lot more effective.
The array under his feet quickly expanded from a single circle to two, then to three, and then four. In a few seconds, the entire width of the floor was covered by the array, but unfortunately Lex needed to grow the array further, so it began to crawl up the walls. But even then it kept growing as more and more circles were added, until it eventually started to creep across the ceiling.
Alexander, who was busy slaying the robots, suddenly felt something and scanned the area behind him, and was taken aback. When Lex had said he was good at arrays, Alexander did not expect he was able to sustain such a massive array in the middle of combat.
Moreover, while usual arrays looked ephemeral, and almost transparent due to the fact that they were made only of spirit energy, Lex's array carried a tinge of silverish gold. A somewhat serious expression donned Alexander's face. This was an indication of an affinity, and a very strong one at that if it could color his spirit energy in such an obvious way!
Before he could continue to observe, Lex suddenly moved towards him and grabbed his collar.
"Hold still for a moment," was all he managed to transmit through his spirit sense before suddenly surrounding the both of them with a protective shield. Then a few more. Then a few more again!
The thing about the array Lex just used was… it was an omnidirectional attack! There was no distinction between friend or foe!
There was an explosion of white, and the ground beneath them actually trembled. Since the shields Lex had formed were made of inferior spiritual techniques, they could not survive the strength of his own attack!
Lex groaned in frustration and suddenly forgot about defending himself and instead covered Alexander with a strengthened version of Talk to the Hand. The barrier came up just in time before Lex's last shield broke.
Snowflakes as large as Lex's hand started cutting his body, thoroughly shredding all his clothes. He released another groan as they actually started cutting his skin! Though, of course, the cuts were miniscule, and barely allowed a drop of blood to drip.
Lex had used the characters for storm, sharpness and snowflakes together to create an explosion of ridiculously sharp, and extremely cold snowflakes! Not only could they cut through the robots, the moment they lost their integrity and broke, all their 'coldness' would be channeled into whatever was cut.
Lex planned on using this to not only damage as many robots as possible, but also freeze any that survived the storm so that they could be picked off easily. The problem was, he forgot to consider that his defensive techniques would fail and his clothes would get shredded!
The explosion lasted a couple of seconds at most, but its devastation could not be understated! It was not just Lex's clothes that had ceased to exist, but so had the robots closest to the epicenter!
Cut and frozen over and over again, the closest of the felines had been reduced to nothing but frozen metallic dust. In fact, even the walls of the corridor seemed to have suffered from the battering, though they were only slightly worn.
But while the epicenter was a zone of utter destruction, further down along the hallway Lex could see the diminished effects. The closest layer consisted of metallic dust that the robots had been ground into. A small distance away from it was the largest region, which consisted of robots which had been chopped into the small frozen pieces.
But farther along, the pieces got bigger and bigger until whole robots finally started appearing. These were also destroyed, as was evident from how they were lying still, but only a small distance from them were robots that were heavily damaged, but still functional.
It was here that the second effect of his attack began to show. Not only were the robots hurt, their internal mechanisms were frozen. Even if they suffered no actual harm, having their components frozen prevented them from moving properly.
If there were any unharmed robots left, they were hidden from sight behind the injured one. Speaking of whom, they were still making their way towards Lex and Alexander, slow as they might be.
"The number of robots is a little ridiculous, don't you think?" Lex said, completely ignoring his nudity. He could not, in any way, show that he felt embarrassed or it would only get worse.
"Each floor of the pagoda is targeting one of our weaknesses. Every time you show some new strength, the pagoda alters something in the next challenge to limit your strength as much as possible."
Lex paused and realized that Alexander was right. On the first floor, he was given a seemingly random challenge, but on the second floor, he faced multiple enemies instead of the one who had excellent coordination. The purpose seemed to be to prevent Lex from dismissing a single, unprepared enemy the way he had done on the first floor.
After he made use of evisceration to get rid of those enemies, the enemies he faced afterwards all lacked souls! Moreover, although Lex had not tried it, he had a feeling that they would be able to resist the teleportation effect of his golden key if he were to use it.
Then, when he used his ridiculous strength to finish off the spider, he faced a seemingly endless horde of smaller enemies. Although his strength was still overwhelming, it wasn't as much of a clear advantage against their endless numbers.
If the pagoda kept getting harder in such a targeted fashion, how was anyone supposed to reach up to the top floor? Not only did this information bring a new perspective about how difficult it was to Lex, he also gained a new respect for Jotun. Lex himself had a number of unfair advantages, yet even he was suffering so much trouble. He could only wonder how exactly Jotun overcame the pagoda.
Still, it wasn't as if Lex was at the end of his rope. If he insisted on continuing, he bet he could continue to climb a few more floors. The reward he got for clearing each floor was also nice. But… he wasn't about to go fight a war naked!
"Let's just get this over with," said Lex as he picked up the frozen frame of a broken robot and casually fashioned it into a makeshift undergarment. Alexander nodded, and refrained from making a comment.
For better or worse… Lex had killed more robots than him and had taken the lead. Such an overwhelming advantage had washed his initial drive away.
With the immense momentum of the robots broken, defeating the remainder was only a matter of time. It was more tedious than anything and by the end of it, Lex was fairly certain that there had been exactly 2000 of them.
While he did not bother counting them himself, his mind was strong enough. The way he did not need to count when he saw a pair of enemies, he did not really need to count for his mind to automatically come up with the appropriate number. This meant that there was 1000 for each of them.
Not bothering to debate against the logic of a lone man fighting 1000 enemies with the pagoda, Lex grabbed the last robot, but did not destroy it yet.
He turned around and began walking towards the other side, where Alexander was killing the remaining robots on his side.
"I have a question for you," Lex said as he leaned against the wall near Alexander, not really helping him finish the rest. In fact, the reason he was holding onto one of the robots was so that the current trial wouldn't end until he was done.
"If my intuition is correct, and it usually is, you're cultivating all three paths, correct?"
Alexander didn't show a reaction, but his guard went back up. Although he and Lex had worked well together did not mean they were allies.
"Perhaps. Why do you ask?"
"Because I am the same, all three paths. It got me wondering, that red stuff you were using earlier, was that from one of the so-called 'true path' techniques or professions? I've never seen anything like it."
Alexander narrowed his eyes and looked at Lex, letting his flying blades do the work while he continued the conversation.
"I'm not sure if you know this, but it's quite rude to inquire about someone's techniques."
"Oh right, sorry," said Lex as he held up his arms, showing he was harmless. "I just thought that, you know, since we're both on a similar path, we could help each other. I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff I know that you haven't been exposed to yet. For example, have you developed your soul sense?"
Alexander did not immediately reply, which caused Lex to grin.
"Oh right, shouldn't ask about techniques. I was only mentioning because soul sense is hard to come by, but it's a really great tool. Very useful."
As if to demonstrate his point, Lex spread his soul sense and covered Alexander for a single moment. The teenager was secretly alarmed when his instincts suddenly warned him that he was surrounded by an unknown force, but fortunately, it disappeared as quickly as it came.
Yet the problem wasn't that there was a force that enveloped him, but that he didn't know how to counter it!
"I haven't really gotten my hands on any true path techniques or professions yet, but I tend to be exposed to some very… unique situations. As a result, I can usually grow in strength very quickly. But as a result, I really end up lacking in more traditional training and experiences."
"You want to do an exchange?" Alexander asked, quickly understanding what Lex was getting at. "You do know that even if I want to, I can't share classified techniques."
"Yeah, I guessed as much, but that doesn't mean you have nothing to share. Besides, the Midnight Inn's library has an increasing amount of techniques, so I can always find something there. But, your training and insight are things I can't find in a book."
Alexander did not immediately reply, as he went over the proposal in his mind. The fact that this Lex had appeared out of nowhere clearly indicated that he had some unusual experiences. Although his moves were very clean and efficient during the fight, they also betrayed his lack of systemic training. For him to be able to grow so strong so quickly, the things he had to offer might really be worth Alexander's time. If he could gain the same boost, he'd be able to exhibit a lot more strength than Lex himself. Not to mention, if Alexander was able to develop a defense as strong as him… even he could not estimate how lethal he would become.
"You don't have to answer immediately," said Lex and he straightened up. "Think about it and get back to me. You can reach me through the Inn. Just tell your personal hologram to deliver a message to Lex Williams."
Lex crushed the robot in his hand, just as Alexander's sword killed the last of the robots on his side. Two sets of staircases appeared, and Lex began to climb one without wasting any more time.
He stopped, however, on the last step before the next floor. Through this step, he could choose to exit the pagoda. If he took another step, however, the next trial would begin.
Lex chose to exit the trial without any regret. Even if he didn't get to experience more floors, his 6th sense told him that Alexander was likely to agree to his deal.
That was good enough for now anyway.