Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"Hits below the elbow and knee won\'t give you any points. Hits on the thigh and arm give you 1 point. Hit to the torso gives you 2 points, and finally, hit to the head gives you 3 points."

"A single loss means you can\'t fight until the next challenge. You will have to win twice to move on. Finally, 3 consecutive challenges lost will send you back to the first floor."

"Please connect with your puppet."

A puppet appeared in front of everyone and they were all given time to connect with it.

Alex looked at the puppet, a 6-foot-tall humanoid piece of wood that seemed to have limber limbs and flexible joints.

\'How does one connect with a puppet again?\' he thought. He had never done it before, but he did know how it was done.

Every puppet had a core that required a master. To control a puppet without using your Qi, you have to connect with this core using your spiritual sense.

It was akin to forming a bond with a beast, but unlike that bond, this thing barely took a fraction of your soul. The best part was, one could take back that part at any moment.

Of course, if the puppet was destroyed for some reason, that part of your soul would be destroyed as well.

Alex reached out his spiritual sense and touched the core of his puppet.

The puppet was conveniently colored in black and white, to represent the arms and legs that could get hit without worrying about losing a point.

He let his spiritual sense linger on the core for a few seconds before trying to call to it to join it. The core easily accepted him as the new owner, and Alex found himself with a puppet he could control.

He moved his arm and the puppet followed him. He moved his leg and the puppet followed him as well.

"Wait no, I need to control without moving myself," he thought. He tried to control it for a bit, but he found it a bit difficult. It was definitely not something he was supposed to be able to do on the first try.

Once everyone had bonded with a puppet, they were made to stand near a corner along with their puppet.

Of the 8, two people were told to bring their puppets to the front. Then, they began fighting.

The fight would last for either 10 minutes or until someone ends up with 100 points.

Alex watched from where he stood as the two puppets fought each other. One of them had a better method of controlling the puppet than the other one, so they were easily getting hits in.

Hits to the face, the chest, the stomach, the back— everything was cleanly pulled off, and before 5 minutes even passed, the better one had won the round.

\'Have they practiced before this?\' Alex wondered. They were here before he came, so it was possible that the person had been practicing for the last round or two.

Another two people were called over, and their puppets started fighting as well. These two seemed equally talented at controlling, so the battle boiled down to simply who was better at fighting, rather than who was better at controlling a puppet.

The fight continued for 10 minutes without anyone winning, so when time passed, the one with the most points won.

Alex was next in line, so he sent out his puppet. The puppet moved rather awkwardly, but he was starting to get the hang of it.

When the fight began, he controlled it the best he could.

Since he couldn\'t see through the puppet\'s eyes, he had to rely on his own senses to control the puppet. It was a little awkward, but he was doing quite well for a beginner.

Unfortunately for him, however, his opponent turned out to be someone with experience. It wasn\'t even a minute in that Alex realized he was going to lose this round for sure.

So, instead of going for attacks or trying to win, he tried to delay the round as long as possible, while he got used to controlling the puppet. At the end of it, when he eventually lost, he didn\'t feel as bad as he would have otherwise felt.

The fights went on for 3 more rounds after him, and the 2 losers were immediately sent down to the 1st floor as they had been here for the last 3 challenges.

The 2 winners were sent up to the next floor as well. The puppets disappeared as part of his soul returned to him.

Then, they were forced to wait for 4 new people to come.

2 people came almost immediately, but the other 2 took nearly an hour to come. Once they were there, the entire thing began again.

The explanation came again, and the puppets were presented to them. Alex immediately took the puppet under his control and started moving it around.

He felt very comfortable this time around and got ready for the challenge.

Two people were called out first, whose puppets fought each other. One of them had experience as they were repeating, so the newcomer lost rather easily.

Alex was the 2nd one called, so he sent his puppet up to the challenge.

The puppet got into a fighting stance and the fight began.

The opponent came with a punch, so Alex ducked and gave the puppet an uppercut. As the puppet was thrown into the air, he kicked it in the back.

The puppet fell to the ground and white its owner tried to make it get back up, Alex punched the puppet relentlessly while it was down and easily won the round.

\'I got lucky,\' he thought. The owner was someone new and couldn\'t control his puppet. He looked to the ceiling and wondered if it really was luck, or was the spirit forcing older people to fight against newer ones so they could go to round two.

Whatever the reason was, Alex didn\'t care. He was only here to fight after all.

The other people were done fighting, and Alex was called once again, this time to fight the first round\'s winner.

The two puppets got ready and the fight began.

The opponent moved with two arms in a cross. It dashed towards him, so Alex had to jump to the side and punch.

The puppet quickly blocked the attack with its own, however, and punched back. Alex took the punch to the chest and used his other hand to grab the punching arm. Then, he pulled the arm and punched the puppet in the face before moving backward.

The score was 2 to 3 with Alex winning.

Alex attacked this time, starting with a kick. He tried to hit the puppet on the side of its chest while its arms were up, but the puppet realized and quickly brought down its arms to block.

Alex frowned. He needed to make his puppet react faster, but to do that, he needed to be able to see faster.

At the angle he was in, the fight was blocked by his own puppet\'s body and he could only view it with his spiritual sense.

Alex moved his puppet back, getting hit on his thigh in the process, and moved to the side. The other puppet followed, but at least now he could see everything.

He saw the most minuscule flinching of the puppet\'s left arm and realized it was going to attack. His own puppet\'s right arm moved to place its arm on top of its own.

When the puppet fully moved its arm, Alex used the action to propel his own arms toward its face.

The person controlling the puppet was surprised. He couldn\'t tell what had just happened.

Alex saw the left get start moving, so he went for the right one. As the left foot lifted, he swooped its right foot, making the puppet fall.

Then, he gave a few good hits to its face and chest before dodging to the side as its leg came attacking.

With his vision aiding him a lot, the fight became rather easy after that. Although he didn\'t get all 100 points, he did manage to gain a 60 points lead over his opponent, winning the match at 10 minutes.

After he had won, he had to wait for the next fight.

Once that was done, he and the new winner were sent to the next floor. On the 29th floor, Alex looked at the room that only had 2 spots left.

Without hesitation, both he and the new guy entered that room.

Alex found himself suddenly unable to use his spiritual sense, and then the explanation came.

"You will have to fight against your opponent without being able to see or hear where they are."

The challenge was weird, but Alex was sure he could win it.

The audience got to see everything, but the challenges inside a barrier seemed to be unaware of each other\'s position.

They threw their attacks randomly, hoping to hit someone.

Alex couldn\'t help but smile when he saw how the match would be played out.

"This is as good as done."