Chapter 2297: Golden Pillar Mechanism

*SWOOSH**SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

Sam moved at a rapid pace. He landed on one tile after another. Each tile erected a pillar and the space between each tile is very long. The pattern also appeared a bit random. However, all of them are on the left side of the room.

While doing that, Sam also kept his eyes on the petals of the lotuses. By now, he activated around a dozen red pillars in the past three to four minutes.

In that time, nine lotuses had their second petal lit up and the next three are well on their way. He could see their radiance increase with every passing second.

He increased his speed and landed on two more pillars one after the other.

The puppet is still moving around trying to kill him and Sam managed to keep it hooked to him while still dodging all the attacks. Now there is only one pillar left to achieve his desired result. But before he that, he has to lure the puppet in.

So, he stood there on the pillar and waited.

*BAM* *BAM* BAM*

As the lightning bolt were shot at him, he clung to the pillar and moved around it avoiding the attacks. Soon, the puppet is very close to him. It is standing right next to the pillar and extended its hand to hit Sam.

Sam kicked the pillar and jumped away from there.

He landed on a different red pillar on the side. The puppet turned around and ran towards him.

At the last moment, before it could make contact, Sam jumped on to the last red tile.

*GRRRR*

With a loud rumbling sound, the pillar came out of the tile. And the red energy thread was connected to that pillar from the last pillar that Sam activated.

*BUZZ* With a moderately loud buzzing sound, the red pillars all glowed much brighter. The energy dome is created from the pillars within which the puppet has been trapped.

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

The puppet hurriedly attacked the barrier with lightning bolts. But there is nothing. Except for the slight ripples on the barrier, it held on really strong. Sam sighed in relief. What he created here is not exactly a very powerful formation.

However, he is confident that it can handle a cultivator who is just a couple of levels higher than him, which means a Peak stage cultivator wouldn't be able to easily escape it. After all, even if it is a basic formation the power of it is almost always proportional to the person who created it.

Unless they are deliberately trying to create something that is lower than their original strength. Of course, here Sam couldn't inject any of his own energy into the pillars.

He has tried it.

However, the energy reserves contained within the pillars are extremely high and he figured it would definitely be enough to block the puppets even if it is a basic formation and it worked.

Just like he wanted it to.

With a sigh of relief, Sam looked at the golden pillars. Now, there are twenty-two lotuses glowing their second petals.

He didn't have much time before the twenty-eight will have their second petals glowing and he figured there would be another puppet coming at him. With the huge number of tiles in the floor and the vast floor space, Sam believed he can handle quite a few of them, for hours or even days.

But, eventually, he wouldn't be able to do it anymore.

First of all, he cannot recover from the atmospheric energy. And he doesn't know if he can recover with his own resources. Judging from the trend in the competition, it wouldn't be wise to think it is possible.

Even if he is able to overcome that possible problem, what he is more scared about are the compound and complex formations that might come after all the thirty six simple combinations that could be possible with the lotus petals are over.

With all the set up, the intricacy, he would be an idiot to believe if they didn't set up that part as well. So, he knew he had to speed up and figure a way out. The only way to do that is to check the golden pillars.

They are the core to bringing these puppets out and they should be the key to getting out of here.

Sam went to the closest pillar, clinging on to it and then started fiddling with the pins and the grooves. The first thing he did was analyze the inner mechanism of the pillar. Just make sure that it is not the mechanical lock.

It didn't take long to confirm that.

After checking from the four sides, he concluded that there are a few possibilities.

One is that the internal mechanism could be accessed by the external formations that could be created with the pins and grooves. The second possibility is that it is locking formation that will allow him to access the internal formation.

The third one is that he can directly control the lotus on the top.

The problem is he could sense the presence of energy inside the pillar and he could sense that the energy is flowing in certain way. But he couldn't sense the patterns or the functions, even with the observation ability.

The only saving grace is that he knew that the energy sources on the surfaces are connected to the energy inside.

Sam started up with a casual formation on one of the surfaces. This formation doesn't have any purpose except that is it is used for learning the art of formations. Beginners practice this before they could go for the real formations.

The goal of this formation is to create a closed network that stays stable while the energy is circulated within it. It doesn't have any function other than staying stable while making the

energy move.

Sam laid down that formation and there it is... he sensed the change inside. Just like what he guessed, the energy inside started changing. A stream of it is diverted to the surface that he just interacted with and that made the existing energy circuits a lot more discernable. Sam used his observation ability to the fullest, while increasing the energy consumption of the formation on the surface.

The more he did, the clearer the circuit has become.

It seemed like the core on the surface is programmed to always have the same amount of energy. So, the more energy the surface formation consumed, the more the core has been dragging from the pillar's inner mechanism.

Because of the increased energy density from this excess circulation, Sam is able to clear that blur he got from when he examined the pillar before.

After around ten minutes, he finally got it.

*BOOM*

In the excitement, he didn't realize that the second puppet has already landed and it is already

close to him.

A fire ball came at him, which he dodged at the last moment. He got a slightly charred smell from the tip of his hair. It was close.

Sam turned around to look at the puppet and was stunned. He realized why he wasn't able to

sense its approach.

What he saw was a puppet modeled after a serpent. It looked like a real giant serpent except for the metallic structure and the obvious intention to make it known that it is made of metal. If not for that excessive sheen, the intricate detail could easily fool a lot of people. Sam thought what these academies are doing by hiding this level of technique in these hidden traps. He knew what the puppet making and weapon making programs of the Thor academy are like and they are absolute shit compared to the level of finesse he is seeing on these

puppets.

Not just that, this snake puppet despite having such a huge body has been intricately designed to be a stealth weapon. Even though it is directly in front of him, he couldn't sense its presence. He couldn't feel the energy emanating from it. He could smell that giant metal

hunk.

He could hear even the slightest creak as those joints moved.

If it didn't attack with the fire ball and instead chose to slowly bite Sam, it would have had a

better chance to dealing with him.

Sam dodged the snake hurriedly as it came at him.

He didn't hesitate and jumped to an empty tile.

The red pillar came out and a new formation has started. This time, Sam had a much easier

time and his actions are much more decisive. He also used a lot less nodes and made the snake

coil inside a barrier formation.

However, even the golden lotuses also increased their speed. The third petal has been active

for fourteen lotuses already.

It is way too fast and he could guess that it will only become faster.

Sam came back to the golden pillar and started moving pins along the groups.

*CLICK*

A formation was placed and a click was heard.

One of the corners of that surface gave a hissing sound. That is just the first lock. There are

eight more before he could unlock the whole surface. And judging by the network inside, he believed he has to unlock all four before he could stop the lotuses.

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