Affinity:Chaos

After much convincing, three of the five agreed to help Grey and the golden robed man.

Grey stood at the center of the array and drew a hexagram in the sky with his energy. While standing in the middle of the hexagram, he made the golden robed man and the other three stand in four strategic positions.

Having six people would've been better, but Grey wasn't certain he would be able to control it with six people, so he went with what he knew he was capable of doing.

He instructed them on what to do and they carried out the instructions perfectly. These people were, after all, old fogeys with hundreds of years of practice with arrays under their belt. The only reason Grey was able to get the method of cracking it was due to the vast variety of arrays he had encountered over the years.

From the beginning of his journey to becoming an array master, he had been learning, and even to date, he was still learning new arrays and creating new ways to get past them. The method he thought of to break the array was from one of the books he had read about arrays from the past, while he was still in the Azure Continent.

Surprisingly, although that place was the smallest and most mediocre place he had been to compared to the other places he had explored, it still managed to bring some things that were valuable. It is as they say, no knowledge goes to waste.

Grey was standing in the middle of the hexagram as he gently channeled his spiritual senses into the array, carefully removing the overlapping arrays.

The first attempt made the hearts of the trio who were working with the golden robed man at the edges jump. The array showed signs of instability, and they knew what followed after that.

But for some reason, the previous result was not the case. There was no explosion, and neither did they see Grey running for his life like the last time. They've all come to terms that Grey's ability to detect danger was superior to theirs, so they all kept their eyes on Grey, while also doing as they were told.

Before long, the first overlaying array was broken without any reaction. Compared to what happened when they broke the first one, this one seemed relatively easy.

Grey and the other four heaved a sigh of relief. The golden robed man was once again impressed by Grey's abilities, the same could be said for a few others as well.

"We can break it. There should be three more." One of the trio said.

"Yes, but it's not any easier, it will only get harder since these are more complex." The golden robed man didn't need Grey to tell him this. He was also a master of arrays and had seen it.

They nodded and turned to Grey, awaiting his order like the previous time.

Grey calmed himself and focused on the array, after studying it, he gave them instructions and they followed. This time, there were some changes in the instructions which came as a surprise to the golden robed man, he wanted to ask if the same method as the first time wouldn't work, but as they were midway through breaking the array, he understood why.

Thirty minutes later.

The five of them fell to the ground, all gasping for air. Even the golden robed man was no exception. Other than Grey, he was the one who took on the most pressure and it took a toll on his body.

The other three were tired and almost had the urge to sleep. After using much of their spiritual energy, they all felt exhausted even when they didn't engage in a long battle.

"Should we advance?" Someone from the group asked.

"We can't fight now. Unless you're certain of whatever lies ahead, I'll suggest you wait for us." The golden robed man didn't look at the person but still replied to his question.

The others could only wait for them. While they were waiting, Grey sent the bunny leader to search the buildings once again. They advanced further into the place and were already in front of the castle. If not for their exhaustion, they would've gone in by now.

He hoped the buildings close to the castle would hold valuable items or information. Void couldn't leave Cori's side now, so the bunny leader went alone.

Grey couldn't communicate with it telepathically like Void, but Void could, so they used him as a way to communicate.

Ten minutes later.

The five of them had gone back to their normal state. Grey recovered before any of them, but he realized he had been too dazzling since he encountered the golden robed man, it wouldn't do him any good, so he still pretended to catch his breath while listening to what the bunny leader was saying.

"Are you sure you're okay?" The golden robed man asked, he was a bit concerned about Grey's well-being.

Grey was important in this expedition and was indispensable due to the abilities he had shown.

"I can manage, you don't need to worry about me." Grey didn't speak fast, trying to put on his best act.

The golden robed man nodded and turned to the others, "Let's go."

The group advanced and headed to the castle.

Like the golden robed man, everyone felt the treasures were in this place. Not everyone was like Grey who wouldn't mind getting a book at the very least, the people who came here all had the same motive, to grow stronger with the aid of the treasures they might find here.

The golden robed man was the one taking the lead, after ascending the short flight of stairs, he grabbed the large handle on the door and pushed it open.

The door creaked, giving the sound of extremely old wood. Dust came out of the small opening after the first push, and they all felt an archaic smell hit all of them along with the dust.