Gacha Sovereign

As soon as he passed the gate, he arrived in a place like the previous floor. The difference was there were many trees around him, unlike the previous barren land.

Suddenly, a dark cloud started forming into a massive entity. The thunder started clamoring around the area.

Alex narrowed his eyes while observing his surroundings with Spirit Eyes. He thought, "I am on the sixth floor right now. There are only four elements left, and this time is surely Lightning Element judging by the cloud above me alone. Still, Lightning huh…"

As usual, the golden words appeared before his eyes.

"The thunder comes before lightning, but the answer lies in between. Go seek the path of Heaven and Earth."

Alex frowned upon seeing the riddle and couldn't help but comment. "What the heck is this riddle? No, I should say that this might be the first riddle that has more mystery behind it."

He thought for a moment as the thunder became louder. Knowing that he only had a little time to think before something big would happen, he muttered to himself. "Thunder comes before lightning is a natural phenomenon. However, what does it mean the answer is between them? Is there something between them? I don't recall a single thing from my knowledge.

"Besides, there is still that last sentence. Seek the path of Heaven and Earth? Is there any path like that?" He was utterly confused by this riddle. Looking at the previous riddle, he realized that each word contained a clue, but this time the answer he sought must be quite exceptional. He could see this from the word choices of this riddle.

*Rumble!*

A thunderous sound echoed across the region before Alex looked up and found powerful energy inside the cloud.

The powerful energy formed a bolt of lightning inside before striking forth. Alex was wondering whether he should destroy it or avoid it due to the experience he had on the previous floor.

In the end, he decided to avoid it by leaping to the side. However, something ridiculous happened. Right before the lightning hit the ground, it turned and chased him as if it had a consciousness.

Alex turned around while flying backward before he decided to stop and raised his sword. After measuring the energy inside the lightning, he waved his sword and released a powerful Sword Wave.

"Blade of Conquest."

The Sword Wave and Lightning clashed against each other, resulting in an explosion. He leaped backward as he found something was wrong. Although it was already too weak to kill him, Alex was still surprised to see the Lightning could win against his Blade of Conquest. This was especially true when he saw the Lightning that seemed weaker than his Blade of Conquest shattered his attack.

Alex thought for a moment before letting the attack him. This time he slashed his sword with Heaven Light Slash and completely destroyed the Lightning.

"Thunder and Lightning…" Alex looked up as soon as he destroyed the lightning and tried to find anything between both of them. He thought he could find something with his Spirit Eyes, but it was futile. Other than the lightning flash, he couldn't find another clue.

"Or maybe the real lightning is in the Space Realm?" He thought for a moment before raising his hand and channeling his Spiritual Energy. "Spatial Gate!"

Yet, another attempt failed as the Spatial Gate couldn't be summoned. There was simply no Space Element around the area like the previous floor. He thought for a moment and looked left and right, wondering if he had something he could use.

"Other than the field being 250x250 meters wide, I can't see anything else." Alex narrowed his eyes, but before he could do anything, the lightning flew down once more.

He tried to avoid it again to see whether it chased him again or not.

As he expected, the lightning followed him again, so Alex had no choice other than striking his sword toward this lightning.

"Triple Draws and Heaven Light Slash!"

These two techniques shattered the lightning in an instant, but he suddenly looked at his hand and realized the power behind the lightning became stronger.

"So, is this like a time limit or something? The moment I can't pass this floor within the time limit, I will be expelled?" He muttered to himself before flying around the area while staring at the cloud. "The black cloud is the most suspicious right now. Although I can't see anything abnormal inside the cloud even with my Spirit Eyes, I feel this cloud will be the clue."

The next bolt arrived after another minute and flew to Alex. Having troubled with the lightning that gradually increased its power, he decided to flee from the lightning as long as possible while thinking about the solution. Unfortunately, the lightning speed was faster than him, so he needed to destroy it after another minute.

He continued flying for another few minutes and started becoming frustrated. "The answer lies between the Lightning and Thunder, but I can only see the flash of the lightning before the actual lightning strikes forth… Wait, a blue flash from the lightning? Is that the answer? Should I go inside the cloud first to see the flash, or do I need to strike it right at the flash?"

After contemplating for another minute, he nodded. "I will try the second option first. If nothing happened, I would try risking myself inside that black cloud. Still, I need prediction and precision to strike at the flash."

Alex took a deep breath and flew right below the cloud as he waited for the lightning to start to appear. He waved his sword a few times when the flash appeared, but to no avail. His accuracy and timing were too off as he couldn't hit the flash a single time. Even so, Alex didn't give up and sent a few more Sword Waves before one of his attacks finally hit the flash.

This was not a simple flash without a body. Instead, the real body was the lightning itself traveling around the cloud. The moment his attack hit, a series of explosions occurred behind the cloud and blasted him away.

"!!!" He was startled for a second and flew down a little bit. Looking up right after, he found that the Dark Cloud was dispersed before slowly trying to fuse once again. At this time, there was no lightning that he could exploit, so he could only think about his next move.

"What shall I do to pass this floor? Earlier, there was nothing behind the cloud, no portal or whatsoever. However, the proof that I can do something as ridiculous as that means there is a chance for this to be the answer." Alex contemplated for a few seconds before he narrowed his eyes. "I might have missed something. And there is still that second sentence. What does it mean to seek the path of Heaven and Earth? This is simply an illusion world, not a real world.

"If this is a real world… Wait!" Alex gasped as he focused on his Spirit Eyes to see the cloud. When he didn't find a single clue inside the cloud, he looked down and finally saw what he needed. "This is really the meaning behind the second sentence. Heaven means Sky, while Earth means Ground. The sky is related to the first clue where I need to strike the flash between Thunder and Lightning. The earth is related to energy underground."

He descended while observing the energy. The shape of the energy indicated an item or something from its size and characteristic, but Alex chose to be careful in dealing with something like this. He started digging the hole and realized there was a very thin line connecting him and the ball.

"I didn't notice this." He thought for a moment, and the lightning struck forth. Without waiting for the answer, he quickly came out of the hole and prepared his sword.

Due to how close the ball with him now, he somehow realized there was another string connecting the ball with the lightning.

"Don't tell me!" Alex gritted his teeth in annoyance as he shattered the lightning strike. He then looked at the palm-size transparent ball and realized why the lightning chased him. "This ball produces that energy to make me a Lightning Rod."

Although he wanted to destroy this ball right now, he restrained his hand and flew to the sky. The ball started glowing brighter as he flew closer to the cloud until he stopped right in front of the cloud and raised the ball to the point it touched the cloud.

It didn't have any reaction, and Alex realized that he needed to use it another way. He waited for the right time before throwing the ball to the flash. His timing was perfect and impeccable after the training to strike the flash earlier.

Suddenly, the ball shone and the clouds dispersed to the side, creating a huge circle in the sky. Light flew out of the ball and created a powerful reaction not far above it.

Alex smirked as he saw a portal being opened. Without wasting a single second, he decided to go through the portal and arrived on the seventh floor.

The portal immediately closed itself as soon as he arrived. Alex was stunned by what he saw next. "This… Isn't this a Space Realm? Although the realm is red, I can feel a powerful Space Element around this place. In other words, Space Element is my Seventh Test… I don't know if I should be happy or not.

"On one hand, I can reach this stage, which is good. On the other hand, to have Fire Element first while Space Element seventh, does the tower indirectly insult me that I still have a long way to go in the way of Space Element? Well, I can't really complain though. I still have many flaws and need more practice." Alex sighed, shook off the idea of insulting him, and started looking around.

Walls and walls filled his vision. The red path looked like it was dyed by blood and made it look eerie. Still, Alex put his poker face, not afraid of something like this. Instead, he was waiting for the golden words to appear before moving.

After another minute, the golden words finally appeared.

"Which one is our reality, and which one is our illusion? The two worlds can't meet but can influence each other. Reach the end of this labyrinth and find the portal to the Eight Floor."

Alex narrowed his eyes before glancing at the four paths he could try. Thinking for a moment, Alex imagined a sword to appear. It wasn't his usual sword, but a really ordinary sword.

This sword had a use for him as Alex stabbed it right in the ground on one of the paths. He decided to walk to the path on his left after he couldn't find a single clue with his Spirit Eyes.

"I can only try I guess." Alex took a deep breath and walked inside it.

Turning to the left, turning to the right, he kept advancing like crazy in this three-meters wide path. Suddenly, he found energy moving around.

It was invisible for the naked eyes, but he had his Spirit Eyes. He was surprised to see a minotaur shape energy carrying a huge club moving toward him. Not wasting a single second, he took out his sword, preparing to fight. Yet, the minotaur walked past him. It literally walked past him as if Alex wasn't in his way.

Alex was confused with this matter too, but he quickly recalled the first sentence of the riddle. 'Which one is reality, and which one is the illusion? Does that mean I am in reality right now while the minotaur is in the illusion? Still, there is no way the riddle will be this easy. I assume the minotaur might have something to do with this test."

Having no clues on what was going on, he decided to proceed toward the end of this path. Of course, he left his swords in every single path he had gone through to make sure he didn't go to the same path twice, especially dead-ends.

This test took him around ten minutes before he finished exploring the entire western area from his original position. In the end, he only found a dead end without a single clue there. He even checked it with his Spirit Eyes and left with disappointment.

"I need to try again in another direction." Alex shook his head and walked back.