Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-972

A Ruin Master's Matrix had to be calibrated to the world they were in. Unless it was created in the True Martial World, even if it somehow held the same calculation prowess, it would still be useless.

When you faced hundreds to even thousands of Ruins in a short span like a Ruin Master, you couldn't possibly be expected to have an expertise on every Dao you came across. This was where a Matrix came in.

Using your own comprehension or computational prowess, you would fuel the Matrix with your own understanding to output the comprehension of a path you didn't comprehend. The Matrix would then output a likely outcome or a list of them, and it was a Ruin Master's job to interpret and act on these results.

A true Ruin Master would be able to clear a Ruin no matter how obscure the path the Sky God that formed it followed. This was the true might of a Ruin Master.

Unfortunately, Ryu didn't have such a Matrix, not even a crude one, that he could use. While it was true he was lacking in power to come to this place alone, maybe the main reason was because he didn't have a Matrix to rely upon.

However, with Selheira, there were less things to worry about.

"Alright. It should take about six hours to make it to the core. You'll have to forgive me, I don't have a Matrix to use."

Ryu's Void Spiritual Sense shot forth and he seemed to make a choice instantly.

Selheira was stunned. Six hours? That was about how long it would take her… With a Matrix.

Selheira flipped a palm over and a radiant blue orb appeared. All sorts of complex runes and gears floated within, dancing and moving in relationship to one another.

She tossed it over to Ryu who subconsciously reached out and cradled it with his qi. A Matrix was something that you should keep away from the touch of a human as much as possible, or else it could mess with the calibration.

'A spherical Matrix?'

Ryu's brows rose. He was very much used to cube shaped Matrices. They were easier to create, easier to calibrate, and far easier to use. He had posited that a sphere might be more effective when he was around 200 years old in his first life, but by then, he had gotten so used to relying on his eyes instead that he didn't care to waste his time on engineering a completely new path.

Seeing it here now, Ryu realized that he had likely been very correct. And, since it worked on principles he had thought of already, this made things even easier.

On top of that, this Matrix seemed capable of feeding off of his soul as well despite the fact it wasn't bound to him. It was only about half as effective without it being bound to him, but it was still enough for him to shave the original six hour estimate down to just two.

Of course, this was also because the Flowing Frost Sky God's Dao was quite in line with Ryu's, making it even easier.

Selheira watched as Ryu sped through trial after trial. It was as though he was incapable of making a mistake, something that she found hard to wrap her head around.

If others knew that an Immortal Ring Realm expert was clearing a Perfect Sky God Ruin, and so quickly at that, they would curse at her for speaking nonsense. Quite frankly, even she was having a hard time believing it.

'His Dao… Just how powerful is it… Could it be…?'

Selheira looked toward the head band still wrapped around Ryu's forehead. It was easy to ignore because Ryu's face was so much more interesting to look at, but she wondered if the fact it was easy to ignore was a function of its ability rather than a coincidence.

But, despite her curiosity, she didn't ask.

In just two hours, the two of them had made it to the very same location Ryu had attacked Jeneless from. The platforms were here, the cold was even greater, but the Flowing Frost Yin Water was already long gone, obviously having been taken by Ryu.

"This is necessary anymore, here." Ryu handed the Matrix back to Selheira, but she only shook her head.

"It's clearly better used in your hands than mine. Ruin Mastery is just a hobby of mine, I'm sure this little one will be far happier in your hands."

Ryu raised an eyebrow.

Even after these two hours, he couldn't sense the limits of this Matrix. And, he didn't know enough about this world of Ruin Mastery to understand just how valuable it was. But he felt that it should probably be a rare item. Wasn't this Selheira being a bit too casual?

"Keep it." Selheira repeated.

Ryu looked toward Selheira deeply.

"Not this time," he said lightly, tossing it back over without a second glance. He didn't seem to care whether Selheira caught it or it fell to the ground.

Selheira, though, of course caught it, looking toward Ryu's back with the same gentle smile. It seemed that she was getting very close to annoying him. What an interesting man.

Ryu walked around the statue of the Flowing Frost Sky God and found the entrance to the final test. This final test was definitely related to potion making as everything else had been heavily battle related. Here, there were no tricks needed.

Ryu stepped into the corridor and felt the lights blink out.

Everything to his back was suddenly dark and forward there was only a single section of light. Beyond that second of light was more darkness.

A looming danger lay in that darkness and even the singular light here was flickering in and out of existence. It looks as though it might blink out at any moment, and Ryu knew that if it, he would definitely die.

'A speed and competence test. Not only do I need to concoct the potion, I need to do so faster than the light can give out, and only then will the next light appear and allow me to take a step forward…'

Ryu's gaze flickered… 'Too easy.'