27 Damage

[Congratulation, candidate! You have passed the first test!]

[The second test is meant to ascertain your mastery over array creation. Multiple arrays will be constructed in front of you. In the construction process, there will be intended mistakes which will make the creation fail. You have complete control over the construction process. You can alter it as you wish. However, the alterations can't exceed a certain threshold, for example you can't create the array from scratch yourself, you would have to leave the automatic generation to do as much as possible. Your goal is to make sure that as many arrays as possible are created.] the voice continued in Andrew's head.

[The test starts now.] as the voice stopped, three white lights appeared in front of Andrew. He immediately felt a close connection to those lights, as if he could change them at will. Tens of light strings extended from them and started taking different runic forms and forming all kinds of intricate patterns.

[These seem to be elemental gathering arrays, although for different elements...] Andrew thought. He tried his best to pay attention to every little change in the construction process.

"Oh that's not right..." he said before extending a finger to one of the patterns of the array on the left. He touched one of the generated runes and as he willed it, the rune changed to a different one.

He continued making small alterations from time to time to the three arrays. In the end, after a few minutes, the arrays were complete and disappeared before another nine lights took their place. The number 3 appeared above Andrew's head.

[Nine this time eh... Although, they are still grade 1.] He was making his changes faster now, as there were more arrays to be taken care of, but he was still finding it easy. This stage was passed perfectly as well and the number above his head changed to 12.

27 new lights appeared in front of Andrew, but they were still generating grade 1 arrays so there was no actual difficulty for him in this stage either. As the number above his head rose to 39, he was surprised to find that this time, there only 3 new lights that appeared.

[Ah, but they are generating grade 2 arrays...] he quickly realized.

The high intelligence stat proved its worth again as the next two rounds ,which consisted of 9 and then 27 new grade 2 arrays, were still passed flawlessly. After that, 3 new lights started generating grade 3 arrays.

[Hmm, this is a bit harder.] Andrew thought as now, the calculations he had to do in his mind and the knowledge he had to draw upon were a lot more complex.

He wiped the sweat which formed on his forehead as the number above his head rose to 81.

[This is too hard.] he thought as the looked at the new nine grade 3 arrays. After all, although his knowledge put him at the top of the Array Master realm, he didn't have a lot of practical experience with them. As such, his mind didn't have the automatic responses that would come from years of practice. He needed to do a lot more calculations than other people, and so far, his high intelligence helped with that.

[Accelerate.] he activated his skill. His mind started working faster, albeit the difference was not that significant. In the end, one of the lights broke and the number above his head only rose by 8 to 89.

In the last round he only managed to preserve 14 of the 27 new arrays, his final score being 103.

[Ah, it shouldn't be a bad score, right?] Andrew wondered as he sighed. He overexerted his mind a lot in the last test and that was the best he could do with his current abilities. He probably could have asked the system to keep an eye on some of the arrays for him, but he wanted to know the extent of his abilities.

...

"Wow, that's a really good score!"

"Yeah, he really is at the peak of the Array Master realm and he's just 17 years old!"

"To be fair I was really hoping he would get a perfect score at this test as well."

"Are you kidding? There were only three people in the past who got a perfect score in two tests, and only the fourth head of the association got perfect scores in all tests. He is already very capable with one perfect score."

The people outside were still impressed with Andrew's performance so far, although the commotion from earlier died down a lot.

...

[Congratulation, candidate! You have passed the second test!]

[The third and final test is meant to ascertain your potential as an Array Master. You have already earned your membership. This test will not change this result.] As the voice sounded in Andrew's mind, a crystal ball appeared in front of him. [The more information you can absorb and understand , the higher your potential. The information will disappear upon being absorbed. Please put your hand on the Runic Crystal to take the test.]

[Eh? So I passed already? Then what's the point of this?] he frowned for a second [Oh well, might as well finish this properly.] he thought as he put his left hand on the crystal.

As his hand came into contact with the crystal, his vision blurred and he found himself on a grass field. There was no sun, yet there was light.

"Is this like a vision...?" he murmured. [System? Can you hear me?]

[Affirmative, host.] the System replied.

[Do you know what this is?] Andrew asked.

[This is the projection of a bridge formed between host's mind and another mind or device capable of interaction.]

[So, what am I supposed to do here?] as he thought that, he was surprised to see the grass around him suddenly becoming brighter. The next second, runes made of light started rising up from the ground. As the runes reached Andrew's height, they started breaking up, transforming, multiplying before returning back to their original forms.

As Andrew was intently looking at one of these runes, he suddenly got an inspiration.

"That's the gamma suppression phenomenon!" he blurted out and as the rune disappeared he turned towards another rune "That's water freezing, and that one is a gravity formula...Wait, besides information about arrays, some of these are actually natural occurrences translated in runes!"

Tens of such changing runes appeared around him already. He was becoming more and more entranced in all of the information he was receiving. Some of it was new, some of it he already knew, but the runes he was interested in the most were the ones which were translating actual natural events.

He knew that it was perfectly possible to translate actual events into a flow of data, a rune flow, but that was an ability only Grandmasters could grasp. Array masters like himself were only able to memorize runes and use them to create something fixed. They couldn't take the properties of a material thing and the transformation it was going through and translate that into an actual rune sequence, not without special help. Grandmasters were able to translate the flow of existence into changing runes which they can use to simulate almost anything.

The opportunity to see such runes left Andrew very excited. He was trying his best to comprehend as much as possible. However, for every rune that disappeared, another ten took its place. It wasn't long before Andrew was submerged in all kinds of runes. However, his eyes were bright as he was having the same infatuated feeling as when he devoured more than four hundred books in the library.

[System...? Are you there..?] he slowly asked in his mind.

[Affirmative, host.]

[Can you infuse all this knowledge in my mind...?] Andrew asked expectantly.

[It is possible. However, currently, the amount of information is too great for host's mind. Forcefully infusing this amount of knowledge into host's mind will lead to permanent damage. Host will permanently lose 10 points in the Intelligence Stat and 3 points in the Wisdom Stat. Does host wish to proceed?] the emotionless voice of the System sounded in his mind.

[Right, when I got the system not too long ago my intelligence was around 15 and wisdom was about 8. Right now they are at 43 and 15, a small decrease won't mean too much. Do it...] In the state he was in, Andrew didn't think that much about it.

[Confirmation required.]

[Just do it...]

[Affirmative, host. Absorption process initiated. Host might experience high levels of pain.]

[Eh? High level of pai...]

"Aaaaaaaaarghh!!!" As hundreds of runes started disappearing around him, he felt like his head was being pierced by hundreds of needles. The problem was that as soon as a large number of runes disappeared, an even greater number seemed to take their place.

[Intelligence -1] The voice of the system sounded in his mind.

[Is that just the first point?!?!] Andrew screamed in his mind as the pain was rapidly increasing.

Blood started flowing from nose, eyes and ears as the speed of the absorption increased with thousands of runes rapidly disappearing around him.

...

"I heard when Ascendant Master Rouie had her potential tested she stood there unmoving for two days!"

"Yeah, this test might take a while."

"Wait, what is happening to him??"

"He's bleeding!"

"There was a mishap with the crystal! Look! It cracked!"

"He's bleeding from his eyes and ears, his mind might be affected!"

"Stop the test! Someone save him!!"

...

Back in the dark room, Andrew had his eyes closed and his hand still on the crystal. His face was all red and blood was continuously flowing.

Suddenly, the room trembled and the wall on the right of Andrew burst into pieces. Shawn quickly rushed into the room, followed by Sorin, both of them having anxious expressions.

"Don't touch him. He is on a mind bridge. Only a mind cultivator can help him." a hoarse feminine voice sounded in the room.

"But! Ascendant Master Rouie, this..." Shawn wanted to argue that there was no time for that.

"No buts! If you severed the connection now, he could be lost forever." she snapped back at Shawn leaving no room for negotiation. "I have already sent word to Sage Karovi. He should be here any moment now. " as she said that the space on her left seemed to distort as a middle aged man appeared beside her. The man's appearance was average in most ways, the only distinctive feature being the double pupils in both his eyes.

"Ascendant Master." he greeted her politely.

"Don't dally. Save the boy." she sternly said.

"Yes." he took a step forward and extended his hand towards Andrew's forehead. Just before his hand made contact, Rouie's voice stopped him.

"Wait!" she quickly moved closer to Andrew while staring intently towards his forehead. There, a small white rune seemed to be flickering in and out of existence.

"That's a Grandmaster's mind rune!!" her voice was full of shock. She couldn't believe a mind rune was appearing on a boy not even at the Core Formation stage.

The next moment though, Andrew's hand slipped down from the crystal as he collapsed. The crystal then cracked and broke into pieces.

At this time, three consecutive dings echoed out in the whole building.

"No way..." Rouie was dumbfounded. She knew what those three consecutive dings meant. It was something which only appeared a long time ago. It meant that this boy's talent for arrays is of the supreme grade! If he doesn't die early he is guaranteed to become an Ascendant Master!

"Save the boy, quickly! Use all means at your disposal, I'll cover all your fees myself! Make sure he receives the best treatment possible!" Rouie quickly said, leaving no doubt about how much importance she just placed on Andrew.