Chapter 2285: Basics
Sam placed his hands on the snow.
He used the observation ability and once again, he was greeted with failure. With the
observation ability he couldn't see anything. It just felt like he was waving his hand in the complete void.
Sam with the rock nearby.
Sam sighed. Until now, these two abilities haven't let him down even once. They always came through. They always worked, even when they didn't unravel the things as they were, they at least gave him a clue.
For the first time he had back to back failures with these abilities. The tunnel was one thing, at least, he could see the rationale of why his abilities didn't work. But now... it is just frustrating. A million things went through Sam's mind as he looked around.
*SWOOSH*
As the club came at him, he just jumped up without even looking at the Jotnars. They tried to beat him up, but he all he cared was to dodge and to take a good look at the surroundings. He is trying to see if there is any clue.
Just like the sequence of the tunnels and their appearance in the previous challenge, there should be something here.
Right now he is trying to identify all the moving elements.
First one that is constantly moving are those white winds. They are carrying snow as they moved in huge currents. They are not stopping just like a snow storm. Then there are these Jotnars which are coming at him relentlessly.
Apart from that, there are not really any moving elements in this space.
Sam then started moving around. He just dashed through the snow lands as if it is his own backyard.
*CLICK*
Around ten minutes later, he suddenly sensed something and dodged to the side.
From a snow mound, another Jotnar arrived with a huge club in its hands. He looked behind to see the first two still running towards him. Now a new one is here.
He is at least glad that they are slow. And judging from the timing it seems like the next one might come another ten minutes later.
As stepped aside and ran forward, he noticed that no matter how much he ran, nothing is changing. There is only that vast expanse of snow and occasional rock in between. He decisively turned around and dashed in the opposite direction.
He went past the Jotnars that tried to hit him once again and ran forward. At least, he didn't have to walk against the white winds at the moment. His running became a bit easier. Soon, he is at the point where he landed.
The origin point of the challenge.
Sam frowned a bit as soon as he reached here. There is something off about this place. At least that is what he felt after he went out and came back. He waited for a moment, but was unable to put a finger on it.
He activated energy vision.
He saw the overwhelming amount of frost energy which is effecting him, but he couldn't do anything to it.
He tried to use the observation ability in the surroundings and once again, he felt like he was standing in the void.
Nothing conclusive.
Only now did Sam realize how much he is relying on these two abilities. Even though he kind of understood they wouldn't work, he still went for them. Hoping something might appear. He shook his head and dashed forward.
One thing he could appreciate in this whole test is that for him even if he couldn't attack, the current number of Jotnars are not a threat.
They are slower than him by a lot and the expanse is huge enough for him to dodge easily. He ran straight, without thinking much, keenly observing everything. After some time, he turned around and came back to the origin point. He then took the right and did the same, after which he did the same with the left side.
After some time, he came back to the origin point and sat down in the middle.
*THUD**THUD*
He could hear the foot prints of the Jontar coming from all directions. There are now six of them. Which means, it has almost been fifty minutes since Sam came here. And all he did was look at the vast snow land and dodge these dumb brutes' attacks.
*SWOOSH*
He jumped straight into the air as he dodged the coming clubs and levitated there.
The Jotrans also leaped into the air and started attacking him. Their levitation is clumsy at best compared to Sam. It seems like whoever designed this test had some conscience. These Jotrans are clearly nerfed.
If not, then Sam would have some really hard time.
As Sam flew in the air, playing the game of tag, he noticed something else.
"The wind speed. It changed."
He could feel it. He didn't notice it because the speed at the start of the challenge and now didn't really bother him that much. Apart from the slight annoyance from this wind speed because of the snowy lumps it is carrying, he didn't have much trouble with the weather.
However, after noticing this much, he decided he might as well look deeper into it.
*SWOOSH*
Wings appeared on Sam's back and he dodged another attack from the Jotnar.
He kept on dodging as he manuevered around. His focus was mostly above the origin point only. The more he observed the more he felt like he is missing something obvious. However, there are not many elements that are in this place to begin with.
The wind, the snow, the rocks, the giants....
What could he be missing? Sam started going through the memories of the past one hour in
his mind. Again and again and again.
He felt images go one by one. The arrival, the hits of the stone club, the cold wind on his face.. Hm? The cold wind on his face.
*CLICK*
Sam realized something and he opened his eyes.
*SWOOSH*
The club hit him in the face. However this time, he controlled himself easily. A new Jotnar appeared. A total of seven. Indicating the completion of one hour in this wretched place.
Sam started channeling water elemental energy and then tried to compress it making it into ice element. Not all over his body, only to his eyes. Even though it is not the perfect and the most natural ice element, it never bothered him in combat, so it didn't bother him in
detection either.
He activated energy vision from that altitude. Still he couldn't get the picture that he wanted, so he flew higher and higher until he got the picture he desired.
He could see it now.
The flow of the wind... it was such a basic thing that he missed. When he ran in the first direction, straight ahead, the wind hit him in the face. When he came back, it was behind him.
It was only natural.
However, when he ran in the opposite direction, once again the wind hit his face, he didn't
feel odd at that moment.
Sam thing happened when he travelled right and left.
Sam wanted to verify something. He let the Jotnar's tail him as he flew diagonally. Once again,
the wind is hitting him. With the help of wings, he could feel the subtle fluctuations of the wind. He changed directions multiple times. But as long as it can be considered away from the central area, the point of origin, the wind is hitting his face.
It is definitely by design.
And with the windspeed increasing every now and then, it is clearly giving resistance to Sam
as if to make his stay in the central area.
It could either be a good thing or a bad thing. It could be a clue, like it is saying that Sam
should stay in the center to get out.
Or it could be trying to make it hard for Sam like opposing to move away.
However, if it is the second case, everywhere other than the central area will be an exit... which
is idiotic if you wanted to test someone on formations.
So, it is probably more suitable to think of it as former.
Which means, the answer should like in the central area.
Sam activated energy vision once again. He observed the movement of the ice elemental
energy. He could see it. The movement of the wind very clearly.
Sam is focusing on it to look beyond the energy carried by that wind. After all, it is not natural
for the wind to flow from all the directions.
It has to be artificially created and there is only one way to do that. A formation that is located
at the center. In the central area.
'I can't believe I wasted one hour for such a basic analysis.'
Sam thought to himself and went down. He cannot use energy vision or observation to get a
clear glimpse at the actual formation nodes that are creating this situation. He has to go find
them himself.
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