Doomsday Pillars

Alice Springs, one day later.

After the battle on the 30th floor of the last pillar ended, Alex and everyone in the Star Army there gathered again in the city of Alice Springs. A total of 485 troops gathered together in the city hall.

Theo, his childhood friend and pastor.

Cindy, a short-haired American woman who was also an assistant professor at Harvard University.

Jerry, Alex's first spirit enhancer from Bali who was also the leader of the Black Snake Gang.

Oscar and Oliver, the young twins known as the Lightning Twins.

Dinda, a woman in a jilbab and a former Olympic archer.

Ark, a young boy from Surabaya who was also a rapper and a singer.

Sergei, a large Russian man who was a former Russian wrestler.

Raufgar, a fat man who loved to cook.

Arief, a colonel and a high-ranking commander of Death Squad.

When they were gathered, there was the sound of a vehicle approaching the city hall. Soon after, a few people entered the room.

"You guys are finally here," said Alex.

It was two men, two women, and a young child.

[Tommy]

[Male - 14 years old]

[Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]

[Spirit Energy - Darkness - High stage]

[Spirit Talent - Level A]

[Daisy]

[Female - 18 years old]

[Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]

[Spirit Energy - Light - High stage]

[Spirit Talent - Level A]

Daisy and Tommy were teenagers from Jakarta who joined Alex's group in Java City.

[Darius]

[Male - 40 years old]

[Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]

[Spirit Energy - Darkness - Middle stage]

[Spirit Talent - Level B]

Darius was one of the first fighters that Alex found in the city of Bali. Darius was a man who had the same misfortune as Alex. They both lost their entire family to the plague of the apocalypse. He was someone who was known to have mastered the skill of gravity in Alex's previous lifetime.

The three of them had just come from one of the other pillars because they still hadn't finished practicing their spirit element to the peak stage like the others had. The main reason was that the elements of light and darkness were significantly more difficult to understand than any other spirit elements.

The fourth figure who was present with them was a beautiful black-haired woman who usually stood next to Alex most of the time.

[Aria]

[Female - 28 years old]

[Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]

[Spirit Energy - Water - Peak stage]

[Spirit Energy - Ice - Peak stage]

[Spirit Talent - Level A]

A dual spirit enhancer.

A person who was talented in wielding two types of spirit elements at once. In Aria's case, they were water and ice. Alex himself just found out the secret of Aria's true strength. It was no wonder that in Alex's previous life, Aria could become a very famous fighter.

"Aria, you've made it to the peak stage for both of your spirit elements. You're really amazing," Alex praised sincerely. Indeed, it was no wonder that she could become a very famous fighter in Alex's previous life. Her sharpness, added up with her talent and perseverance, really made her growth inevitable.

Hearing Alex's praise, Aria only remained silent and immediately walked to stand behind Alex once again. It had been quite a while since Aria, who had always been beside Alex as his bodyguard, had to leave Alex for training. This was one of Aria's motivations to train hard. She wanted to return to continue fulfilling her duties as Alex's bodyguard.

It had been a few weeks since Aria last met Alex. Alex didn't realize that the compliment he just gave her made this woman's face slightly blush.

The last man to come with them was Dario, one of the leaders of the Death Squad guarding the city of Surabaya. He had been part of Aria's team since the early period of the apocalypse.

[Dario]

[Male - 34 years old]

[Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]

[Spirit Energy - Earth - Middle stage]

[Spirit Talent - Level C]

Such a great commander and veteran fighter, it was such a shame that he only had a level C talent. No matter how hard he worked to train his spirit element, in the last 3 months, he had only been able to reach the middle stage of understanding.

Cindy approached Aria and began to tease her.

"Wow! Why is this world so unfair? Not only do you have A-level aptitude, but you're also a dual spirit enhancer and are so beautiful... You can really make people jealous," Cindy exclaimed, hugging Aria's arm. This American woman's habit of being so open still felt extremely unusual for Aria that she felt awkward.

Cindy then began to pester Alex when she saw that Aria wasn't going to respond.

"Come on, Alex, why don't you feel bad for me at all? Not only do I have a low spirit talent, but you also don't give me any good artifacts either... Just look, this whip you gave me is only a Tier 1 artifact... It's so unfair! Not fair at all!"

"...Okay, okay… If the reward for completing the next challenge is suitable for you to use, then definitely I'll give it to you," Alex relented with a forced smile. If he didn't say that. Cindy would never stop bothering him.

"No! I want to be the one to choose first!"

She was on fire for a moment, but a second later, Cindy approached Alex silently.

"That, or you can just tell me the secret for how you can level up your spirit ability so quickly, Alex. How is it?" she whispered, "offering" him another option.

"Hahaha… I don't even know how to explain it," Alex only dryly laughed.

"Huh! Liar!" Cindy said, clearly not believing and thinking that Alex wanted to keep it all to himself.

Alex didn't respond anymore and checked the bracelet on his wrist to look at his status again.

[Alex]

[Male - 36 years old]

[Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]

[Spirit Energy - Light - Peak stage]

[Spirit Talent - Level B]

Since the first time Alex entered the Doomsday Pillar and checked his status, he was quite shocked. In his previous life, Alex was only someone who had a C-level talent. With such a low aptitude, he couldn't even be included in the spirit enhancer category. It previously took Alex, who only had a C-level talent, 4 years to reach the peak stage of the light spirit element.

This time, with only 3 months with a spirit talent of B, Alex was able to reach the peak stage of the light spirit element, while Daisy, who had A-level spirit talent, had only recently reached the high stage. This was what caused Cindy to always force Alex to tell her his "secret" to reaching the peak stage so quickly.

This seemed to be possible because Alex already had experience with the Earth Realm light spirit element before, so it didn't take him long to remember how it was and adjust it to his current body. But still, this couldn't explain the upgrade in his spirit talent from C-level to B-level. Alex was smart enough to realize that this was not an ordinary problem. Only something extraordinary could possibly change the nature of a person's talent, and the only extraordinary thing that had happened to him was his reincarnation. At this moment, only that could explain what happened to him.

All the members of the Star Army were gathered here. Even the people who were sent back and forth to look for artifacts around Australia had returned.

Now, this Star Army consisting of 485 people was already at the peak stage of the Mortal Realm. They were equipped with a few Tier 3 artifacts and dozens of Tier 2 artifacts.

What was their main strength was their ability to fight as a unit. And of course, the Magi battle formation that multiplied their fighting prowess. This was a deadly combo.

As the most veteran commando, Arief asked Alex about their strategies in order to face this second challenge.

"For this second challenge's battle, we won't attack with everything we have all as one, but we'll divide ourselves into three groups and we'll attack the three pillars simultaneously."

"..." 

Some of them seemed to be worried that this plan might not go very well, so Alex continued, "For this challenge's battle, you don't need to worry so much. Just like in the battle of the first challenge, this challenge won't cause our lives to be at risk. But if we can't complete the mission, it means that the facility of the second hall won't open. Of course, I hope that we'll not only be able to complete the mission, but also manage to get the highest points in order to get the best reward we can get. And to get the maximum points, we have to attack with a minimum number of fighters, which is why we'll divide ourselves into three groups."

Alex divided the big group into three. Group A was led by Arief, group B was led by Jerry, and group C was led by Alex himself.

Alex realized that ever since this Doomsday Pillar came, his fighting ability had been left behind in comparison to the main fighters of his army. Since the very beginning, his main strategy was to form a super team. But ever since he realized the "upgrade" in his spirit talent's aptitude, Alex hoped to be part of the main fighters who would fight in the front lines.

Thinking about this, Alex thought of the wooden sword on his back that the mysterious old man had given him. Until now, even the bracelet on his wrist was still unable to identify the sword. Apart from its sharpness, there was no other thing that was special about this sword.

[Wood sword]

[Short sword - ???]

[90 centimeters long, weighs 12 kilograms]

[???]

Alex was sure this sword had a special secret, but for the past three months, he still hadn't managed to figure it out. Alex hoped the second hall would have an answer or at least a clue. But for him to find out, he had to complete the next challenge first.