Chapter 343 Chapter342-The Puzzle Begins
"(Godslayer Continent, Year 328, the 32nd Papal Candidate of Storm Church, Tanros): Trust me, successors, never ignite the thunderstorm, no matter the cost. I'll never forget that agony in this lifetime."
"(Godslayer Continent, Year 1630, the 45th Papal Candidate of Storm Church, Vigour): The advice from my predecessors was invaluable, yet regrettably, I still stumbled into a dead end. I assumed that as a storm attribute player, I'd be immune to any thunderous force. I was wrong."
"(Godslayer Continent, Year 2800, the 54th Papal Candidate of Storm Church, Roland): Damn, that electric shock nearly killed me. Stepping out of the Thunderous Maze, I felt as roasted as the whole lambs they sell on the streets."
...
Past trialists, one after another, penned their sentiments upon enduring the strike of the thunderstorm within the annotations for the Thunderous Maze challenge.
From their words alone, John could almost feel the depths of their torment.
Gently stroking his chin, he contemplated the three passages in front of him.
By the looks of it, this maze was not something just anyone could withstand.
According to the trial guide, numerous obstacles resided within the Thunderous Maze, each presenting a unique puzzle.
Only by solving the riddles and producing the correct answers could one pass the obstacles.
Fail to do so, and you'd be teleported directly to a dead-end.
John skimmed through the described paths from previous trialists, only to find that none of their routes matched.
The guide explicitly mentioned the importance of initial choices.
If one picks the correct path at the outset, fewer challenges will be encountered.
Essentially, the puzzle starts from the very first step.
Deep in thought, John tried to recall strategies he employed in past games when faced with similar puzzle scenarios.
The key was to keenly observe the surroundings, search for distinct clues, piece them together, and discern a hidden pattern.
Stepping forward, he began to search for clues around the passages.
He quickly noticed that the walls of each passage in the Thunderous Maze bore engraved symbols.
Each symbol differed; some depicted lifelike warriors, some showcased lightning patterns, and yet others were merely crude lines sketched haphazardly.
John's brow furrowed, attempting to assemble these symbols mentally.
However, no matter how he tried to combine them, no clear message emerged.
It seemed as if these symbols held no significance, appearing more like whimsical doodles of the one who designed this stage.
But was that really the case?
John refused to believe that the creator of the maze, the god of storm, would be so frivolous.
Every move of a deity was fraught with profound intent.
The faint stormy divine power embedded within these patterns further confirmed John's suspicions.
No deity would whimsically imbue their doodles with divine power.
This solemn touch indicated that these symbols undoubtedly shared a connection.
John decided to change his approach, trying to combine the meaning and design of each symbol.
After deep contemplation, an idea began to form.
Re-examining the notes of other trialists in the trial guide, he noticed that many had observed these symbols.
Yet, no matter how they speculated, they couldn't extract any useful information.
It was important to remember that the trialists who came before John were prime papal candidates of the Storm Church.
In terms of intellect, they would hardly be inferior to John.
If none had discerned the pattern behind these symbols, it suggested that an external force was needed to unveil their true form.
Thus, John extended his hand, gently pressing it against the symbols.
As the energy from within him began to seep in, the once dormant symbols abruptly lit up.
John's eyes sparkled with realization.
So, they indeed required energy to activate?
He amplified the energy flow, and the glow of the symbols intensified, eventually breaking free from the wall's confines, suspended in mid-air.
John withdrew his hand, taking two steps back.
Astonishingly, the symbols which had detached from the wall began merging in mid-air, ultimately forming three distinct faces.
The one on the left grinned broadly, the right one bore a desolate expression, while the center remained emotionless.
So... what did this mean?
John felt as if his brain cells were burning furiously.
Even though he had discovered how to activate the symbols, he was entirely clueless about what these three faces signified.
There was no explanation in the trial guide either.
After all, no trialist before John had ever activated these symbols.
According to John's speculation, to activate these symbols, one would need energy equivalent to storm divine power, the power of a deity.
How could a mere mortal possess such prowess?
It's plausible that prior trialists had tried to channel their energy, but due to the inferior quality, it had no effect.
Without guidance from predecessors, John had to fathom this on his own.
He stared intently at the three faces, each representing an entrance.
Logically, the laughing face would likely correspond to the correct passage, as only the right path would bring about such hearty laughter.
But there was something eerie about this smiling face to John; it almost bore a schadenfreude tinge.
Hence, he immediately ruled out the leftmost passage.
This left him with the center and the right to consider.
After careful thought, John decided to trust the Fate's Choice.
With a flip of his right hand, a gold coin materialized.
"Heads for the center, tails for the right," John murmured, tossing the coin into the air.
The gold coin landed on the back of his hand, revealing its tails.
That settled it. He would take the path marked by the sorrowful face.
Without hesitation, John strode confidently into the chosen passage.
He had always had faith in his luck.
After all, ever since he started playing Godslayer, misfortune had never touched him.
Even when he was betrayed and trapped within the Godslayer Temple, facing a fate that usually meant starting over, John's luck had turned the tables.
This twist of fate even propelled him to become the Godslayer, soaring to unprecedented heights.
With a straightforward choice like this in front of him, what was there to fret over?
...
Meanwhile, within the Storm Church.
The many bishops watching John participate in the trial all wore peculiar expressions. Making decisions by tossing a gold coin was certainly an unexpected move.
"Symbols outside the Thunderous Maze can be activated?" murmured Pope Xitell, his wise eyes filled with astonishment.
Before he became Pope, he too had partaken in the Twelve Trials of the Hero.
He had a vivid memory of the second stage, Thunderous Maze.
Back then, Xitell had also noticed the symbols at the three passage entrances.
No matter what he tried, he couldn't discern any pattern or logic behind them.
So, it required energy activation...
When Pope Xitell saw John determining his choice by flipping a gold coin, he couldn't help but twitch a smile at the corner of his lips.
Having discovered the secret behind the symbols, why wouldn't one give it more thought?
Making a hasty choice like that seemed no different than blindly tossing the coin from the beginning.
...
Inside the Thunderous Maze.
After much contemplation, John chose the simplest way to decide and entered the far-left passage.
After only a few steps, he noticed the thundering overhead began to subside, a subtle relief settling in his chest.
It seemed he had chosen wisely.
As he ventured further down the passage, shrouded by the element of thunder, bolts of lightning struck out at him with every step.
However, to John, such lightning felt as trivial as a tickle; he felt nothing.
Soon, he entered a vast, plaza-like space surrounded by towering stone walls.
At the center stood an imposing, lifelike statue of a warrior.
Drawing closer, John noticed the statue held a longsword in its grip, the blade wreathed in a dance of electricity, as if being forged and refined by the thunder itself.
This was not a stone-crafted sword; it was a genuine weapon.
This, it seemed, was the first puzzle of the maze.
The trial guidebook mentioned that only by solving such puzzles could one progress.
John carefully examined the statue, noting five differently colored gems embedded within it.
He recalled a riddle from the guidebook: each gem represented a color, and they had to be activated in the correct sequence.
Upon closer inspection of the pedestal beneath the statue's feet, he observed five corresponding indentations on the walls.
He surmised that inserting the gems in the right order would break the seal.
After pondering for a moment, John decided to give it a try.
He first placed the red gem in the initial slot, followed by the yellow gem in the second.
He then inserted the blue, green, and purple gems in succession.
This order was based solely on how the gems were arranged on the statue.
The moment the last gem settled into its niche, the statue emitted a profound burst of electric energy.
As the power radiated, the statue's eyes began to move, taking on an eerie semblance of life.
The seal on the sword began to dissolve, revealing a blade shimmering with awe-inspiring arcs of lightning.
Suddenly, the statue lunged forward, its sword of thunder transforming into a bolt of electricity, thrusting straight at John.
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