Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 247: Book 4: Chapter 12: Foolish

Read chapter 247 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Chapter 12 “Sorry, Holly, I think he’s right,” Cole said as he raised his hand. They were doing the vote after Alex had explained his idea. Of course Alex voted that he was correct, and so had Kate, after only a bit of convincing. With Cole, that brought them to three votes. Holly wasn’t convinced. And Garret, as it turned out, wasn’t into the idea of risking a massively painful death by poison, so he voted against. That meant there were two “No” votes. That left only Devon, who could possibly bring the vote to a tie and muck everything up massively. Alex watched as the man’s face went through a laundry list of expressions as he thought things over. He knew that Devon was analytical, almost to a fault sometimes, so he could only guess that he was doing a mental pro and con list, and weighing the two options side by side before coming to a conclusion. At least he looked to come to a decision and frowned. “Look, Alex is crazy sometimes, and his ideas… well they border the line between torture and… something else I don’t really know how to name. But he’s never been wrong, so far. If there’s anything I know, it's that I trust him with my life,” he said, finally raising his own hand as well. “That settles it then.” Alex smiled. “Damn it,” Holly cursed under her breath and shook her head. After an exasperated huff, she gave a single nod. “Fine, fine, let's do it. Luckily, Kate didn’t give them much time to change their minds as she stepped toward the intricately carved pedestal and basin before cutting her hand with her sword and hovering above the container. A small trickle-stream of crimson splattered against the smooth stone, bringing it to life in a sudden glow of aether energy. The blood swirled and moved to the center of the basin before it looked to be slurped up by some sort of mouth hidden at its underside. They waited, breath held tight in anticipation for what came next. There was a sudden shudder as the stone in the walls moved about, and Alex almost thought for a moment that the opening to the room would close shut just like he saw in the aether slate, filling the entire area with the lethal gas and ending them all right there and then. Instead, the entire back wall of the room opened up like a giant stone hand unfurling its fingers, revealing a small interior room with an arched secondary doorway within. The archway was filled with a shimmering light purple energy, the exact same energy that Alex had faintly seen around the basin. It had worked, he had been right. “Well, call me a hedgehog,” Garret mumbled. “Why do I hate that you’re right?” Holly asked with a scoff. Alex only shrugged. “Sorry, not sorry.” “Let’s go then, yeah?” Kate stepped into the newly opened area with a surprising display of confidence, as none of them knew that the next part of the chamber wasn’t also trapped. Though, that would have been rather redundant, in Alex’s opinion. They all piled inside until the each stood only a couple feet from the glowing archway. Even with his [Aether Sight] Alex couldn’t see what was on the other side, the density of the energy was too much for him to glimpse past it, like a window heavily stained to the point light had trouble reaching through. Devon was the first to approach and hold out his hand, something Alex guessed was due to his curiosity around the effect overpowering his caution. But just as his skin neared the surface of the energy and looked like it was about to pass through his hand stopped as if he was pressing against a sheer wall. Alex raised a brow at this. Why open a passage if we can’t go through it? What’s the point of the blood test then? He watched as Devon quickly performed the worlds greatest mime performance, pressing on, leaning into and searching around the apparent non existent obstruction. Whatever the energy field was, it didn’t want to let him through. “Weird as hell, I don’t see any enchantments in the archway, so I don’t what its doing and why we can’t pass,” Devon said, after fina