831 Triggering the Divine Tribulation

Alex finished all his talk first before he glanced over them. "I am sorry for making you wait."

Rose shook her head and smiled. "No problem. I am happy to see Master smiling earlier, so I am glad that Master got a good thing."

Alex was slightly surprised to hear her saying that and immediately hugged her before patting her head. "Haha… You little girl. You have your way with your mouth now."

"Hehe…"

"Anyway, I call you here to see whether you want something from me. To be honest, you two don't need me anymore because you have everything to grow up…"

"Master wants to abandon Rose?" Rose turned around with a sad expression.

"There is no way I am going to abandon you. I just want you to grow up and become independent."

"Can't I be like this forever?" Rose pouted. "Just kidding."

Alex smiled over her cute expression and said, "I won't be able to shelter you forever, so it's necessary for you to grow independent. Besides, you are not planning to live with me forever, right? You will have your own family in the future, so…"

"Eh?! I just want to live with Master… That's right, I can be Master's—gya!"

Alex chopped her head and looked at her with a serious expression. "Rose… There is a line that shouldn't be crossed."

"Tch." Rose clicked her tongue before shrugging. "I know about it. I was just joking. Besides, I can choose if I want to stay alone or have a family, right?"

Alex widened his eyes and nodded. "At the very least, I wouldn't be like those people who marry someone off just for the sake of something greater. You can choose your own path, and I won't stop you unless it's forbidden."

"Hehe…" Rose grinned. "Since Master wants to grant me my request, I shall be shameless a little bit." Rose paused for a moment, making everyone wonder what kind of wish she would ask. And yet, the moment she opened her mouth, they were stunned. Rose simply said, "I wish that Master can live forever. Master is like an older brother and father figure to me, so I am satisfied if I can live like this forever… No, I will also work hard to ensure this can last forever."

Alex looked at this innocent and sincere little girl. He had been fostering her since she was a small child, but to think she had grown up to even say something like that. "You need to work hard then."

"Of course. Just you wait, I am going to surpass Sister Letizia and become a God Rank Expert before her." Rose grinned.

Alex patted her head gently and turned to Letizia. "You have been challenged, what are you going to do?"

"If Young Lady Rose wants to surpass me, I can let her—"

"Besides, you are like an elder sister figure for her… Are you going to distance yourself?" Alex's voice sounded like he was angry, but his expression looked so sad. These two somehow stabbed Letizia's heart, making it very painful. "I have said it myself in the past. Don't call yourself a slave nor treat yourself as one. You are one of my people that is closer than my friend. So, don't distance yourself…"

Anna furrowed her eyebrows and nodded. She had been troubled with this for a while because she felt like Rose seemed to slowly lower herself even further. And that somehow made them uncomfortable. After all, only Rose, his disciple, could follow him. Neither his friends nor allies can follow her or join as part of Spirit Nest, so her being like this made it awkward for everyone.

Alex only cultivated this whole time, so he didn't know it yet. She planned to tell Alex about this, but it seemed Alex had realized before he left this world.

Letizia's body was shaking as she looked down. She closed her eyes for two minutes before a smile appeared on her face, looking at Alex and Rose. "It's my pleasure. I won't lose."

'This… This is a family.' Letizia thought and smiled. 'Since she calls me Elder Sister, I will be one then. There is no way that this elder sister will leave her alone in this world… Although I can't lose in terms of cultivating, I can slow down my pace a bit… At the very least, I won't ascend too fast, so I can watch over her a bit longer. Maybe, I can ascend when she is 8-Star or 9-Star Martial Saint. This way, no one can threaten her in this world. Not that I can say to Master or everyone else though…'

Alex stared at her and smiled. "Take your time… You are a part of my Spirit Nest now, not my Spirit Nest's slave."

"Yes, Master. I was wrong." Letizia nodded.

"Then, do you happen to need anything?"

"No. I don't need anything. We have enough resources right now, so we should have no problem for the time being. Although there are a few missions to hone our skills, most of our time will be spent on cultivation, so I don't think I need anything." Letizia shook her head.

"Is that so? Well, if you need anything, just inform me through the system."

"Yes." Letizia nodded.

"Then, I think it's time for me to challenge the lightning tribulation." Alex rose from his seat.

"Master, I wish to watch you."------+

"What will you do to go back? It's quite a long journey, you know." Alex tilted his head before looking down as if he had thought of something. "That's right. I have many Teleportation Array Plates in my Inventory, so you can use them to return. Judging from the distance, I can say that you need three Array Plates. Remember, if I don't see the number of my Teleportation Array Plates decrease by three, I will…"

Rose and Letizia gulped down as they immediately reassured this doting person.

"Don't worry. Although I was poor in the past, I know how to squander now."

"I will protect Rose, so the safest route is Teleportation Array Plate. Even if she doesn't want to use it, I will force her." Letizia nodded her head.

"Yes, I am leaving her to you, Letizia."

"Yes, Master." Letizia smiled and bowed her head.

"Eh?! Master is not going to trust Rose?" She pouted.

Alex smirked and teased her. "If you can go independent that is… You need to grow up first, little girl."

"What…" Rose smiled, and the group decided to talk for a few more minutes. After that, Alex teleported all of them to the same coast they saw Firia off.

Alex looked around and sighed. "It's been three years since the last war, I have truly spent a long time in this world. Though, I don't regret it because I could get stronger, meet many people, and become mature. I have many things that I want to say, but for now, I shall focus on the last challenge in this world."

Alex's expression turned serious as he crossed the gate and stood in front of the array. Looking back at his group, he waved his hands.

Suddenly, the spirits returned to the cards, leaving only Letizia and Rose there.

Alex smiled and closed his eyes as the array teleported him to an unknown area.

He looked at this weird area and muttered to himself. "Where is this?"

There were many trees in his surroundings, but many of them bent in a weird way to the point he was wondering if these three were alive. Yet, the green leaves proved to him they still had strong vitality.

"The trees are tilting more than fifty degrees with some weird curves here and there, but they have no problem from what I see." Alex furrowed his eyebrows and looked down, finding a sand path that led him to somewhere.

It looked very artificial as if it was inviting him to go there. Hence, Alex started walking forward, following the path.

After a long one hour walk, he finally came out of the woods and found a huge lake right in front of it.

The lake looked weird as well. Although the size itself was only a few kilometers, there seemed to be an island in the center.

"That must be the place where I can cultivate to trigger my Divine Tribulation." Alex furrowed his eyebrows and stopped his step, noticing something weird with his surroundings. "There are a few cliffs around the area, but it looks like it has been broken artificially. Not many reports about this, so I don't know why there are so many cliffs. Besides, Firia didn't want to talk about it because every person's Divine Tribulation was different from others.

"And there are a few records saying the more you know, the more unpredictable the Divine Tribulation is… Hence, it's better to proceed as long as I know the route." Alex nodded and flew to the center of the island.

He contemplated for a moment and sighed. "I can't use arrays in this tribulation. Not only does the World's will not allow it, but I also don't know if I will have Lightning Tribulation except from the last one."

Alex shook his head and took a deep breath.

"From what I know about the clue, there are connections between all elements to this Divine Tribulation. In other words, I might be facing many things that I might not be aware of. Luckily, I should be immune to illusion due to my Spirit Eyes.

"As for the other elements, I believe my Pure Fire is enough to burn them down. Since this is unknown, both of you… Can you protect me while I am cultivating?" Alex didn't know whether this Divine Tribulation understood sneak attack or not, so he asked his two weapons to create a shield for him.

Seeing this sturdy shield, Alex finally calmed himself and sat on the ground.

'You, who wants to defy this world's common sense and challenge me to become a God, are going to face a challenge. I am this world's will, and I shall be the one testing you if you are qualified enough for the entire world lending its energy for you to reform your body and energy. If you succeed, you shall be granted strength that you won't ever know. If you failed, there is no road other than perish.'

Alex got this message while cultivating and somehow understood the concern. Even so, he wasn't distracted and continued his cultivation.

Three days later, Alex finally felt awfully full of Spirit Energy. Even though he wanted to breakthrough, there was a weird feeling that he experienced that was different from the usual feeling he got to trigger his Lightning Tribulation. It was as if he somehow got struck continuously by immense Spiritual Energy.

*Rumble Rumble*

The moment the rumbling sounds echoed in his ears, Alex opened his eyes and activated his Spirit Eyes. The Spiritual Energy seemed to be working weirdly since the rumbling sound, allowing him to understand what was going on.

"I see. So, this is what it means to be the Divine Tribulation… No, I should say the World Tribulation because the world is the one challenging me. The previous cliffs earlier and probably this lake came from the previous Divine Tribulation.

"In other words, the world changed the landscape of this island to fight Firia. In that case, I should get ready too." Alex nodded and raised his weapons. "Let's do this."

The moment he uttered those words, the world responded in kind. The lake water suddenly rose, forming into thousands of needles. This was like what happened when the sand on the beach got lifted up and formed into needles. They were basically uncountable.

And those needles suddenly flew toward Alex.

"!!!"