The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Once Ava Jones finished with her explanation, the doors around the crystal room began to shine to beckon the students to come forth and enter. She spread her arms wide, gesturing toward the doors with a smile. "Choose the door you want to enter; only one person is allowed per door. If there are any disagreements, settle them peacefully without fighting. If you choose to break the rules, you can be disqualified."

Oscar did not move, as did the other students. They all scrutinized each door, trying to gleam any information from it; it wasn't out of the question that the exam was starting now, and choosing a particular door could lead to an unknown advantage. Oscar's eyes narrowed as he activated the purple circle in his Prinstyct to see if there were any illusions.

However, Oscar did not see anything. He concluded that it was either not an illusion or too powerful for him to see through. Seeing nothing else to be done, Oscar walked over to a random door of his choosing and turned back at Ava Jones, who gestured for him to wait.

The other students noticed Oscar's movement and clenched their teeth, hurrying over to any of the doors. If there was an advantage to these doors, then they had to rely on their luck.

"Took everyone some time. Thank goodness one of you moved before the end of the day." Ava Jones smiled brightly. "By the way, there's nothing special about a particular door. It's simply for the sake of separating you all."

Mary Jones looked frustrated as she stared daggers into Ava, who ignored Mary's provocation.

Meanwhile, Serena draped her long wavy hair back with a serious face; a hardened look replaced the earlier teasing display.

Oscar waited a moment before all the doors flung open, revealing a strange black emptiness.

"Oh, right! Before you start, take these!" Ava Jones threw small scrolls and badges at everyone.

Oscar looked at the badge with the number nine on it, unfurled the small scroll, and saw a list with glowing text that displayed numbers one through ten with a zero next to each one.

"The badge represents your examinee number. The list will record and update the points you accumulate and lose, constantly changing your placings until the end of the labyrinth. That is all. Enter the doors, and the exam will start." Ava waved widely to all the students.

Oscar brandished his new buckler, made with Draven's finishing touches, and took a moment to catch a deep breath, calming himself. As he stepped into the darkness, his obsidian eyes opened with renewed focus and clarity. He disappeared into the darkness.

After everyone had entered inside, the doors shut tight and vanished, leaving the room as clean and enclosed as before. Ava Jones smiled and hummed as she prepared to leave for the monitoring room.

Elder Dustin coughed and stared at the spot Mary Jones had vanished in. "That one was a member of your family? She had quite the face when looking at you."

Ava Jones lost her smile, looked weary and tired, and rubbed her head as though it was aching. Her black eyes were trembling before she calmed herself down. "She is my niece."

"Ho ho. I am jealous of the Jones family for fielding many talents like the Raevens. Austell is the Director of the Record Hall, and you are a rising elder straight from the Legacy Hall. Now, this young one is trying for the Inner Hall promotion at the Greater Apprentice Exalt realm." Dustin scratched the wrinkles on his brow and coughed. He had been in the Pavilion for a while but was stuck at the stage he had been in. At a certain point, advancing had become extremely difficult.

He looked at Ava Jones with a hint of envy. She came from the powerful Jones family, one of the most powerful noble families, next to the Raevens.

"I would have preferred if she did not." Ava Jones was still in her weary state.

"Some family trouble? Is that girl not up to your standards?" Elder Dustin was intrigued like a nosy grandfather and probed for more.

Ava Jones stared daggers at Elder Dustin as Mary had done to her. She turned around and made her way to the exit. "I don't hate her. She's my niece, but she's too eager to the point it makes one worry."

Elder Dustin followed after and smiled with his gums showing. "I see."

…….

Oscar felt a strange sensation as he continued to walk through this bog of darkness; it was like his skin was being irritated by coarse cloth and was extremely inconvenienced. This uncomfortable situation continued until Oscar finally saw the light in the darkness. He rushed ahead and dove straight in.

"Where am I?" Oscar looked around cautiously, moving with his buckler at the ready to block any incoming attacks. "This is the labyrinth?"

It was different from all the other labyrinths he had read about in the stories. Those labyrinths were made up of large walls that intersected and were placed weirdly into a confounding puzzle. But that convention was twisted in the Spire of Ascension.

The labyrinth, if it could be called that, did have walls but also doors and stairs that lead up, down, and sideways. The walls, floors, ceilings, and stairs were made of some kind of limestone with an orange tinge.

Oscar's face darkened, seeing this strange view that oddly reminded him of the Elire Mansion. It wasn't just the hallways and corners; he had to consider the doors and stairs while keeping a note of where he had been. He recalled how troublesome it was to figure out the mansion's confusing structure for the false 'Floor is Lava' game.

"Elder Ava Jones said there would be clues as I make my way through the labyrinth, but how useful would it be?" Oscar did not move and continued to ponder, but a light shone from his pocket. "What is this?"

Oscar pulled out the small scroll that was the leaderboard for the exam. It was glowing on and off like a flickering fire. He unfurled it and widened his eyes at the contents.

"It seems everyone's already getting busy." Oscar watched the numbers going up as points accumulated and places were constantly changing, but his number nine remained at the bottom. "This is no time to be thinking so hard. I just need to keep looking and getting points."

Oscar decided to enter the door on his left. Once he entered, he nearly broke out into a burst of laughter at the situation. There was a sign in the room saying to defeat three waves of enemies and earn points. "What kind of event is this?"

As he said so, three gates opened, allowing three unusual figures to enter his room. Oscar's eyes narrowed as his Ein surged out like hot flames in an intimidating manner.

The figures did not respond to Oscar's Ein. They were strange enemies made entirely of stone; their hands, feet, and featureless faces were carved out of stone. However, they wore a complete set of gray armor, and their tridents were real and sharp.

Seeing these strange stone figures, Oscar felt they resembled the great statues of heroes past outside the Palace of Receding Tide. Frederick had mentioned them as self-moving statues that would fight if the Pavilion ever needed them.

As the statues remained still, another banner swooped in from above, saying, "The constructs will be attacking soon."

It said soon, but the constructs all turned to face Oscar with their eyeless faces and took up stances with their tridents. Then their stone figures were set ablaze by Ein that came from within them.

"Constructs. I read about them in Art of Automatons and Constructs Volume I. An artificial core should be inside them, fueling the Ein they are displaying now. But…."

Oscar stared at the constructs who were waiting for him to make a move. He knew the artificial core was their weakness, but it was well hidden in their stone bodies and protected by the armor. "Tough defense, and there are three of them to cover for each other. They haven't even started attacking yet, but are waiting for me to strike."

He took a step forward, and the stone constructs shifted their feet to react to sudden movements. Oscar knew he only had a week and a half to get as many points as possible and leave this labyrinth, but it was also the first time he had seen moving constructs. His mouth curled up as his eyes held great interest.

In the next moment, Oscar disappeared from where he stood, shocking the stone constructs if they could be shocked, and appeared right in front of one of them. His explosive speed was thanks to the completion of Adamasreis on his feet, amplifying his physical agility.

The stone construct tried to react, and its trident slashed forth with a torrent of Ein, Oscar was too fast and punched out with his buckler.

'Shattering Wave'

The stone construct was blown back and smashed into a wall. Cracks appeared all over its hands, feet, and smooth face, but it was still intact and leaped off the wall with its broken body.

"Sturdy." Oscar eyed the armor the construct wore; it had protected the construct well. "Giving these stone constructs grade-one armaments for defense and attack, how many students would grieve over that?"

Then the other two constructs came swinging down on Oscar in a pincer attack. But Oscar smiled and went to face them.