59 Competing

Adolf Gary and Kael immediately started circulating spiritual energy into their fingertips and started inscribing patterns into empty air.

It was obvious right from the start that Adolf Gary and Kael were different Spirit Array users. Adolf Gary was fast and aggressive, stroking through the air with strong and forceful swipes. On the other hand, Kael had a measured pace and in the midst of the stability, there was a sense of confidence in his strokes.

Wallie Dawson nodded his head in approval. Adolf Gary let his youth and the pressure of time affect him in his drawing of the Spirit Array, whereas Kael displayed maturity and composure.

Five minutes passed in a flash. By now, the basic framework for the Spirit Arrays were fleshed out for both sides. Judging from the rectangular shapes and emphasis on the skeletal structure of the Spirit Arrays, the more experienced cultivators could tell that both Adolf Gary and Kael drew defensive Spirit Arrays.

That was a given, since the test was to see whether the Spirit Arrays could be broken through attacking the weak points. It was natural that both users would opt to draw defensive Spirit Arrays which as the name implied, was known for their defensive purposes. The weak points of the Spirit Array was thus harder to find.

Of course, the flipside was that Kael and Adolf Gary showed that they had experience in defensive Spirit Arrays, hence both of them knew the inherent weaknesses of such a type of Spirit Arrays. It was thus hard to tell who could gain an advantage until the testing stage.

The rest of the ten minutes was spent making the Spirit Arrays complex by inscribing patterns and runes on them. Each different inscription gives rise to different permutations and effects, and there has to be a fine balance between adding complexity to the Spirit Array, enhancing its intended usage, and to make sure that the additional inscriptions don't ruin the structure of the Spirit Array itself.

Due to the difficulty of creating your own unique Spirit Arrays, users would opt to use one of the fixed formulas that were passed down in their sects or organizations. If a Spirit Array user had more knowledge of more formulas, then they would have an added advantage in battle since they were more aware of the weak points of the Spirit Arrays and exploit those weaknesses.

Of course, Kael knew that was what Adolf Gary was thinking as well, that was why he was now drawing a Spirit Array that was exclusive to himself. It was a basic defensive Spirit Array which he invented while cultivating towards the path to become the Invoker in the past. Comprehending the Spirit Array would require a level of knowledge that the Myriad Lower Region was not exposed to.

Finally, they were down to the last minute. Both parties were roughly done and were checking through the patterns and runes, making sure that they had inscribed correctly.

When there was ten seconds left, Kael suddenly took out a stabilizing rune from his item bag and placed it on the very top of the Spirit Array.

That sleight of hand was noticed by Adolf Gary. He immediately protested. "You are cheating!"

"Since when? You didn't state the rules that forbid the use of external items. We merely had to finish drawing the Spirit Array." Kael rebutted.

"You…" Adolf Gary was fuming on the inside till his face turned slightly purplish.

"Kael is right. The rules didn't forbid the use of stabilizing runes." Wallie Dawson interjected.

In the midst of their conversation, the ten seconds was up and the last grain of sand went through the other end of the hourglass.

"Time is up! Now both parties are to test the integrity of the other party's Spirit Array."

"Since you are the guest here in Fledgling City, I'll let you have a go at my Spirit Array first." Kael offered Adolf Gary.

"Hmph. Fine." It was clear Adolf Gary was still angry over the stabilizing rune.

He walked towards the defensive Spirit Array laid out by Kael and started observing it from head to toe in every single tiny detail. That was the basic step to do to try and break down the Spirit Array into parts which he could understand and try to find its weak point.

Adolf Gary spent ten minutes observing the Spirit Array, however he couldn't come to any conclusions. By now, he was sweating profusely and beads of sweat were falling off his face.

"What kind of damned Spirit Array is this? How come I've never seen it before in all the manuscripts I've seen? Could this be from another ancient manuscript which this lucky bastard found?" Adolf Gary cursed inwardly.

He thought himself knowledgeable in the way of Spirit Arrays. Since young, he had displayed talent in the area of Spirit Arrays, and his father, the City Lord of Anchorage City, had spared no effort to groom him and help him get exposed to as much Spirit Array knowledge as possible.

There was thus an inborn pride and arrogance around Adolf Gary that couldn't be concealed. It stemmed from the notion that he was an existence that was a cut above the rest of the younger generation in Myriad Lower Region.

Today, he was finally stumbled. The Spirit Array laid out by Kael had a certain degree of complexity, which he expected. However, the way it was arranged was so erratic and out of the norm that he couldn't make head or tails about the logic behind the structure of this Spirit Array.

Another ten minutes quickly passed. Adolf Gary was under intense pressure and scrutiny.

"Hey, are you going to start attacking the weak points of this Spirit Array? Stop wasting our time…" The representative from Fairview City poked at Adolf Gary.

Irritated and angsty by now, Adolf Gary decided to risk it. He used his spiritual energy to deliver a punch towards a random point of the Spirit Array. He thought that the Spirit Array might look complicated but it's defensive power was actually weak.

"Boom!" Kael's Spirit Array received the punch and reflected the power of the punch back to Adolf Gary, who was sent flying through the meeting room from the rebound.

Kael chuckled. "Sorry, I didn't tell you the reflective property of this defensive Spirit Array..."