Four Split Personalities

The array’s light extinguished, and simultaneously, the combat puppet in the center of the stone chamber, heroic in appearance and exceedingly impressive, burst two blue lights from its eyes. With a shake of its arms, the two giant swords slung behind it slid down, landing steadily in its broad palms.

But after that, the double-sword-wielding combat puppet, resembling a demon god descending to earth, did not immediately charge at the two people. Furthermore, the beast-like, man-eating aura emanating from it had significantly weakened compared to before.

Meanwhile, Motan, who was intently maintaining vigilance, heard a series of system notifications and quickly opened his task list...

[Pass the Dragon King’s test 3/5; Reach the deepest layer of the tomb 0/1 (Note: This section is vastly beyond your current strength. Please proceed with caution, and it is advised to greatly elevate your level, equipment, and combat specialization before attempting.)]

"So that’s it."

Motan was initially stunned, then he seemed to realize something, nodding thoughtfully. He sheathed his longsword, much to the surprise of Ji Xiaoge, who was still on high alert beside him.

However, trusting the former, the tense girl subconsciously relaxed and turned to Motan, asking, "What’s the situation?"

"The system notified me that I had completed another test, and the progress became 3/5."

Motan did not keep her in suspense, explaining his thoughts immediately: "Do you remember when I first left that illusion? The sixteenth shadow left by Boss Dragon said I passed the first test, but the actual task progress was 0/5."

Having occurred only a few hours ago, Ji Xiaoge naturally remembered and immediately nodded, "Yeah, you even mentioned it to me back then. What about it?"

"It’s this, when we passed the test of knowledge and appearance, my task progress was immediately updated. The score became 1/5 after you finished the paper, and after you blew up that mirror, it turned to 2/5. And just now, when we temporarily turned off the magic array that leads to the vault for the first time, the task progress updated again."

Motan stroked his chin, addressing Ji Xiaoge who was squinting at the combat puppet from a distance: "So I made a somewhat hindsight guess, that the first test set by Boss included three components, which must all be completed to pass. It seems they were character, will, and courage, with the first two being what I initially experienced. As for courage, it was the decision we just made to activate the test."

"Really?"

Ji Xiaoge’s comprehension was excellent, so she quickly grasped the meaning Motan was trying to convey, yet still found it somewhat incredible, hesitating to say, "But isn’t that too lax? The character and will parts are fine, I think they were quite well designed, but courage... that... feels a bit far-fetched?"

Motan slightly nodded, speaking softly, "You’re right, after all, the session just now had too many variables, and it wasn’t very rigorously prepared either. However, if we consider it from another perspective, it might not be unreasonable."

"What perspective?"

This time Ji Xiaoge couldn’t follow the thought.

"Boss’s physical condition."

Motan sighed and spread his hands, "Do you still remember the first shadow we saw? Although it was just a recorded phantom, Boss looked quite healthy at the time, at least we couldn’t spot any issues. But the subsequent shadows..."

"More and more obvious, not to mention the last flicker of life, he looked like he could drop dead at any time during his second-to-last appearance."

Ji Xiaoge nodded vigorously, pondering, "So you mean, the worsening condition of Boss’s body was much more severe than he anticipated, such that he couldn’t pay attention to the details when setting up the final test?"

"It’s just speculation."

Motan didn’t give a definitive conclusion, merely calmly analyzed, "But the likelihood of this guess isn’t low, the test that probably had something to do with courage felt like it had the intention to either kill a thousand by mistake rather than let one slip by."

Ji Xiaoge shook her long hair, which reached down to her ankles and stole the spotlight with a sudden smile, "Whatever, I think your guess is quite reliable, and regardless, that thing didn’t immediately rush up to kill us. The array at the door can be restarted at any time, it’s the best outcome."

"Also, maybe it’s just my feeling, but the oppressive aura emitted by that ’combat puppet’ seems to be much less than before."

Motan squinted his eyes like Ji Xiaoge, carefully observing the clearly activated automaton nearby, stating uncertainly, "Moreover, if my judgment just now was correct, then after passing the test of courage, not only did the combat puppet suppress its power, it might also not be out to kill the test taker. It’s merely there to prevent us from passing through the door behind it. Step back a bit, let me go up and try."

"Wow, are you serious? Are you confident?"

"Serious, but absolutely not confident."

"Hey..."

Ji Xiaoge widened her eyes and glared at Motan.

"After all, it’s just a guess. We didn’t have many other options, and you were also quite concerned about the sound just now, right?" Motan smiled and gripped the Justice Mandala tighter, cautiously moving forward while calmly stating, "If we want to figure out what’s going on, we have to test it no matter what."