The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1431 Location Matters

Karl watched intently as the intruder examined his options. Karl’s voice had seemed deliberately designed to make him doubt himself, but there was still a chance that it was telling the truth.

So, he went with the first option that he was going to pick.

The golden chest revealed an inner circle piece, one of nine. That would make things relatively easy on him, as there was only one layer of stones with that shape, while the other stones made multiple concentric rings around it.

{Choose the correct location. This is your first Magical Theory challenge.} Appeared on the wall.

That was a trick question, Karl knew. It was the inner ring, and the first piece placed.

It didn’t actually matter where he put it, all the other stones would be placed in reference to where it was.

However, the Immortal didn’t know that, and he immediately began taking out various tools to assist his decision.

A compass, protractor, a textbook in the Runic language, a tape measure, ritual candles, incense, and an entire carafe of coffee.

“Oh, this one is a professional researcher.” Cara laughed as she saw the massive container of coffee appear.

“Yep, and it looks like he might be able to read the runes on the stones. I wonder how much sense he’s going to be able to make out of them when they’re only coming out one stone at a time?” Misty asked.

The Immortal was writing down every rune on the stones, but Karl knew that they weren’t in order, and only a fraction were visible from the outside. However, that shouldn’t stop a trained researcher at his level.

Once he began to examine the magical links, he would begin to understand how the stone was intended to work.

But after an hour, he was still staring at the mass of runes and incomplete magical links.

“There has to be a better way to do this. There is definitely a right and wrong spot, and it only fits one of the nine central spots, the outer rings have differently shaped stones. But there are no marks to tell me what way the array is intended to be oriented, or what it does,” he grumbled.

Cara broadcast herself laughing, and the researcher turned to glare at the walls.

“I knew it, there is an obvious answer, and I’ve just missed it.”

Again, he examined the room, then studied his tools.

“Dammit. If this is not a directional array, I am going to scream.”

Cara laughed harder, while Misty broadcast a message.

“Do you scream pretty? I bet you have the best screaming voice.” She whispered in a sultry tone.

The researcher choked on his coffee.

“What sort of twisted trial is this? Is that a succubus voice? Or did she mean actually screaming? Is it those Dark Elven Priestesses again? I almost lost my train of thought there. This place is insidious.”

“I wonder if I can get another stone, so I have something to refer to?”

{Trial Taker is requesting a second piece?} Y/N

“Yes, please.”

Cara nodded as a second golden chest floated over to his hands.

“Well, he asked for magical theory. Wait, we should be studying what he’s doing. We can probably learn magical theory from him.”

Karl frowned. That was good in theory. But he had no idea what the guy was doing half of the time. His way of researching the stones didn’t make any sense.

They watched in silence for about an hour, when Karl realized what the issue

was.

“He doesn’t understand Mana Manipulation. He’s trying to decipher it using just the words and energy links within the stone.”

Misty nodded. “He’s so not going to win this challenge. But his theory knowledge is strong, he might get a consolation prize. I think that Matilda used [Chaotic Zone] on the room, so he should get a reward if he gets anything right.”

The second stone was from the third ring, and none of the connections led directly to the first stone. Not just that, but the clauses in the runic writing were completely unrelated.

“Dammit. They’re obviously part of the same array, but this doesn’t tell me anything.

Now, I have two stones and no idea where they go. Unless I take all of them out and study them, I don’t know what to do.

No, I think I have this.

The links all lead to other stones, and there is no reference to directionality. So, if I place the first one, and ask for another, I might be able to use a triangulation process to locate it properly.”

With shaking hands, he set the inner circle stone in place, and the spot on the array lit up.

“Alright, that’s a relief. Now that the first one is set, I just need to find the right spot for the next one. Let’s see, it doesn’t have any links to the initial stone, so we can rule out any of the spots that do.” He mumbled as he worked.

But there were still too many spots left, and he couldn’t completely eliminate the chances that he would pick the wrong one. Plus, he didn’t know what would happen if he guessed wrong.

“I wonder if it will let me pick another stone?” He asked hopefully.

A random gold box lit up, and floated to his hand.

This stone did link directly to the first one, he discovered after a few minutes of examination. But he couldn’t tell which side of it was supposed to be up. The rune that linked the two was in the centre of the narrow side of this stone, so it

could be either way.

“Orient them to each other. That’s the best option. The end cap runes on both

face the same way if I set it like this and… There.”

The second spot lit up as he set the stone in it, but then disaster struck.

He had forgotten that he was holding a stone in his other hand, and

unthinkingly used it for support to stand back up.

The location where the third stone touched the ground lit up red, and a new

string of text appeared on the wall.

{Incorrect Placement. Magical Theory Trial Failed.}