Chapter 2289: Marking

*THUD* *THUD* *THUD*

Sam's footprints echoes through the hall. The mirrors are shining brightly and the golden flames are coming at him from behind.

The reflection that came out of the mirror is chasing after him.

Sam cannot attack, according to the rules. Even though he did attack by instinct in the snowland, he didn't want to push his luck again and get disqualified right now. The reflection that looked exactly like himself is taking full advantage of that.

As Sam ran around, he observed the surroundings.

Just like in the other rounds, there are various restrictions against his observation ability and his energy vision. He is unable to use them freely. So, he had to collect information while on the run.

*POOF*

After running for a couple of minutes, Sam disappeared into a puff of black smoke with his shadow ability.

The reflection stopped for a moment, the next second, it turned around and threw the fire ball in a certain direction.

*SWOOSH*

Sam who was hiding in the shadow of a mirror dodged the attack, the fire ball went and crashed into the mirror.

*CRASH* The mirror broke down instantly and the next second...

Sam felt a flash envelop him whole. When he regained his vision, he stood there at the spot where he appeared the first time.

He is sweating profusely.

He looked around to make sure that the reflection is not there again and then looked at the mirror that exploded because of the fire ball.

The mirror is there. There are no signs of attack, not even a scratch on it.

He carefully moved, making sure that his reflection is not fully and directly appearing in a mirror. He didn't even make eye contact with any of his partial reflections just to make sure. He slowly made his way to the first mirror that projected the reflection out.

The one from which that flaming maniac version of him came out.

He crouched down just to be more safe and placed his hand on it. His energy channeled into it and there it is, he could feel it. The mirror is not exactly a mirror. It is a formation. It is a formation that was created on the frame of the mirror. It manifests and captures an aspect of Sam.

At least that is what he understood by analysing it in the brief moment.

However, as for how the reflection managed to came out of the mirror itself? Sam doesn't know. That could be the part played by the much larger, greater and more complicated formation that was laid around the hall.

Sam tried to break a couple of nodes to deactivate a formation.

*CRACK*

The first one went well.

*CRACK* The second one didn't. As soon as he did, a crack appeared on the mirror itself and the next moment, Sam felt the flash again.

He reappeared at the center once again and this time he noticed something. Approximately five percent of his overall spiritual energy has disappeared.

He could feel it. When he tried to absorb the surrounding energy... he couldn't. He took out an energy capsule to absorb the energy, but he couldn't. A recovery potion also didn't work. Some uncontrollable force, just suppressed all the energy that came out of the potion and store it inside his stomach.

It felt a bit heavy and odd, making him feel uncomfortable.

Sam refrained himself from just swallowing one of the liquid energy capsules. That would be tantamount to a self-sabotage at this point.

At least, with this he understood two things. If he tries to the break the formation of a mirror, or if he breaks the mirror, he will return to the origin, everything resets and he will lose a portion of his energy.

And if he messes up enough times, he will run out of energy and fails the test completely.

If he sees himself in the reflection, the reflection will step out of the mirror and come at him with his own attacks.

Once again, following the previous patterns, Sam believed that the answer lies with the moving elements and the only moving elements are the reflections. After some contemplation, he just decided to take a risk with it.

He walked to the same mirror again and looked at the reflection.

After the eyes met, he didn't step back or look to the side, instead energy orbs left his body as they got embedded into the ground, creating a formation. The formation is completed in an instant. He took a few steps back, while still looking at the reflection.

He noticed that there is no change in the reflection. It should have become smaller, taking two steps back as well, but it didn't.

After a couple of seconds, it came out of the mirror. Golden flames emerged in its hands as it stepped forward.

*CLUTCH*

The formation is triggered and the reflection is captured. Ropes made out of energy appeared from within the formation and enveloped the reflection. Sam flashed like a shadow, avoiding the reflection and came in front of the mirror again.

Now, he can't even see his own reflection in it. He placed his hand on the frame once again to check its condition.

A smile appeared on his face.

There is a change in the formation of the mirror frame. The previously complete formation now appeared incomplete, revealing a glaring gap in the network. Even though it is

incomplete it still functions as a gateway.

A gateway to let the reflection come out.

However, just by judging the pattern and a couple of calculation in his mind, Sam could guess what the complete version will do.

It acts as a two-way gateway. Previously only the reflection could come out, but after the correction, he could go in as well.

*CLICK* *CLICK*

He filled in the nodes and a ripple appeared in the mirror.

Sam walked into the mirror without hesitation.

*SWOOSH*

He felt a whistling sound. He was falling in the void, but it is full of enigmatic patterns. He couldn't identify them, he couldn't register them to his memory. A dizziness invaded his

mind.

After a couple of seconds which felt like an eternity, he felt himself walking through a path involuntarily and the next second, he found himself in the same hall full of mirrors. However, he is far away from the central area that he was originally at. Right now, he is deep in the hall and didn't even know the direction of the central area.

He closed his eyes and felt the connection he had with the formation.

He couldn't sense its location. He can sense its strength, he can sense its existence, but not its location. Sam then turned around to look at the mirror he came from. He placed his hand on the surface. He could see his reflection in it. As soon as his palm touched the mirror, the reflection grabbed his palm and locked the fingers.

Sam dragged his palm back hurriedly.

*BAM*

A punch landed straight on his face as the reflection came out of it. At least, the hand wasn't locked anymore. Sam activated his shadow fusion and disappeared from there. The reflection

looked around and threw a punch in the air.

The force itself broke a mirror and...

*FLASH*

Sam disappeared from the spot and reappeared at the central area.

"Fuck."

He cursed in exasperation. He lost energy once again. Not just the one he used to place the trap formation, but also the energy he used to create the nodes and then some more energy on

top of that. That final part might be the penalty for breaking the mirror.

He sighed and looked around.

He kinda got the mechanism of it. The room is too big, there are too many mirrors. A reflection will come after him and if a mirror breaks, he will have to start again.

He speculated that the exit is through a mirror in the room. However, which one? He cannot

go by trial and error. He will eventually run out of energy. Even with his extended reserves,

this is not possible.

Sam looked around and an idea came to his mind.

He took out some color from his storage and threw a drop at the mirror near him. Nothing happened. There is no energy in the color. It is just some paint.

He took a few steps around and came back to the central area. The paint is still there. He

smiled

He closed his eyes and activated wind fusion, wings appeared on his back and he flew into the

air.

Just after a few feet, he couldn't go higher anymore. But that is enough. He started moving rapidly. And as he moved he marked every single mirror with the color. First he went in a straight line from the central area.

A straight line forward, all the mirrors are marked red, creating a divide line, then backward extending the line to the rear. The whole hall is divided into two halves.

He changed the pain and picked blue. He then moved to the right side as he marked every

mirror.

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