Chapter 2195: The Obstacle Hall

A/N: Have y’all checked out my new story ’Superpowered Firecracking in the 80s’?! It’s a wealth-building period story that would likely span a few decades (Story-wise, of course). Hope to see you there, too~

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While Althea was playing with her children, Garan was checking out his pet project, which had been opened for use while they were away.

It was one of the aether buildings they decided on, the Obstacle Hall.

This one was a joint project not just by the Design and Construction Department, but also by the array scholars. It seemed like Lady Naia also sent some references to them.

The guilds were also privy to this project, and some scholars from Holt had appeared to join in.

The guild hadn’t been publicized yet and was known only to locals and associates. However, who told Alterra to have so many foreigners?

Cauis, a.k.a. Dudu, had dragged some of the tool makers that served his family here. He had just returned to Alterra after ’depositing’ his toolmakers when he encountered the lively babies...who ended up ripping a small part of his ear.

Fortunately, his level was very high, and the bit that was removed was just a tiny speck, so he recovered in a day.

Speaking of this, his body as a strongman should’ve been sturdy. Even if a level 30 pulled his ear, he might not be able to do so.

It seemed like the children could also ignore the defense passives of people. He should take note to mention this to Althea and Lady Naia, and that they should watch out for the babies interacting with unknown powerhouses who might realize their specialness.

Anyway, Cauis’ toolmakers soon integrated into the guild’s groups. There had been some friction between toolmakers from different areas, but the guild buildings had a lot of hang-out places for people to rest, have tea, or even to play and relax.

Combined with the show of power by guiding them around the aether buildings in Alterra, the newcomers quickly settled in.

Anyway, with the various architects, engineers, and array scholars, the progress for new and unique aether blueprints that should’ve taken much, much longer had been expedited.

In exchange, they were to give a copy of the blueprints to Holt, and the latter would convert them into aether blueprints using their own resources.

Basically, it was an upgraded somewhat-magical obstacle course inside a building.

The mechanisms could be made manually if one had engineers, but that had a limit if they were training powerhouses. The items here were not only strong and sturdy enough (as needed) to handle the rough use of the fighters, the building itself could also self-repair, provided that all the materials were inside the hall.

Most importantly, people’s aether was suppressed by several levels here, making sure the person was mostly dependent on their main physique and reflexes rather than their levels and the amount of aether they could mobilize.

It was not completely suppressed—after all, people had to train all facets and advantages—but it would be suppressed enough so people would explore other avenues than going at things with brute force.

There were also certain sections where aether was completely suppressed as well, and they could only get out of it and regain some control of aether when they escaped that section.

There were plenty of instances where one can no longer depend on aether. One was when they were completely tired, and another it could be the environment.

If a place like the Thorn Forest in the Orc Region existed, who was to say there wasn’t a place without aether? Who was to say there wasn’t a place where aether was constrained?

Who was to say there wasn’t a skill or a tool out there that would do so? Wasn’t the anti-aether pearl that held down even the likes of Virion just an example of this?

The building also had its own protection mechanisms, lest enemies decide to take advantage of the suppressed state of those inside. Of course, the enemies would also be affected by the limitations.

The downside was that it could not be made too big. All aether blueprints naturally had some size limitations and maximum effect limitations, though this limit depended a lot on the Architect themselves.

Anyway, this Obstacle Hall was designed to improve the reflexes of people above level 20, and still useful for those around level 40. Although their physique and their senses sharpened as they leveled up, actual combat ability was something developed separately.

What was the use of a stronger body if one could not react to a strong attack? What was the use of sharper sight or hearing if one didn’t even know how to react properly?

If they died because of that, then weren’t they just akin to bigger gugu birds?

As one leveled up, unless the gap was large, the weight of raw physique would become less than the actual fighting experience.

People grow older and it becomes extremely difficult to level up above level 30, so many people remain stagnant after a certain level. Hence, if two people of the same level—and therefore similar aether output and reserves—fought, everything could be a variable for gaining victory.

This was also where the gap between those dependent on aether crystal and those with superior foundational training would appear.

The Obstacle Hall might’ve been inspired by those in Terran, often used in reality shows and the like, but this was designed to be much more than that.

The development of this aether building also became a stepping stone to create more prisons via aether blueprints.

It wasn’t that the system prison wasn’t enough, but the high level of tourists and guests in Alterra meant there were high chances of someone getting into trouble because they didn’t read the local rules. So, even if their actual crime rate among the locals was nearly non-existent, their prisons were still filled up thanks to these foreigners.

And now, some of these foreigners had arrived at the Obstacle Hall, waiting to test it out.