MAZE - The Endless Quest 79 The Arcanist's Lookou

"Let me say what I have from cla.s.s first. If anyone has something else, we add to our notes," Alex said, looking at the group, "Dungeons are similar to rooms, in the way that we pa.s.s through transportation to enter them. However, unlike rooms, they have their own rules and structures. In contrast, the rooms follow the laws of the world more closely. An example would be that we can't breathe underwater, but inside a dungeon, we might."

"Most dungeons are private areas. Even if two groups enter, they will be sent to different places. The dungeon will be the same, but with no other group to interfere. In some cases, various groups can join the same area. Those are called shared dungeons, raids, or battlefields, depending on the specifics. This doesn't seem to be the case here. If it were, the area type would be different," Leo added.

"Inside a dungeon, it's common to find traps and hazards made to stop people from advancing. There will also be monsters and other creatures. If we kill them, they don't resp.a.w.n, but if we leave the dungeon, the whole area resets," Bonnie said.

"There is more. The dungeons are always controlled by something. It can be a creature, an object, or even a skill. There is no rule for that, but to beat the dungeon, we need to either defeat its ruler or complete whatever task it gives us," Blue chimed in.

"There is also the story," Hera said.

"Story?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, all dungeons have a story, a reason why they are there, and why everything inside it is there, like the group test. We were inside a castle with the remains of the king's army. They were inside the castle because the king was holding them there. If we can understand the what and why of the place, we might have an easier time going through it," Hera explained.

The group nodded. Aside from Bonnie, they all had witnessed the figure of the skeleton king. If there was a story here, it could have a hidden reward as well.

"Ok, and how about the loot? Dungeons are said to be amazing places to find items and make money. How are we splitting that?" Bonnie asked.

"I guess the gold we can split it evenly. And items we don't want, we just sell and split the money later. The problem is the things we may want," Leo said.

"What if we do a finder's keepers rule?" Blue suggested.

"Bad idea, if we find something too valuable or too interesting, someone might try to get it in the middle of a fight," Alex said.

"We could draw straws or something random like using dice," Leo said.

"I don't like that idea. My luck is terrible," Bonnie said.

"What if we do an auction?" Hera suggested.

"Like between us?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, like the one who wants the item buys from the rest of the group. I used to do that in a game when I was younger."

After thinking for a moment, the group nodded, approving her suggestion.

"I wasn't expecting you to be a gamer, Hera," Alex said.

"I'm not one, not really. I played a bit because I could look around the maps. It's been a few years since the last time I used a controller."

"Ok, but before we go in, I think we should eat. Also, Alex and Leo, keep cycling your mana with the walls, try to unlock your stat," Bonnie said, picking up some of the rations she had brought.

"That's a good idea. We are going into a place that used to belong to a mage. I'm guessing that mana will be used a lot down there," Hera said.

"But couldn't mana be a problem too? What if there are traps that only trigger if you have mana," Blue asked.

"Well, then we have to deal with the traps. I mean getting the mana stat is something we all need, I'm not sure if staling for one dungeon would be worth it," Bonnie replied.

The group ate and spent another 30 minutes using the walls to increase their mana. During that time, Alex unlocked the stat. Going down to the entrance, Hera went in first, spearheading the group.

They descended a long dark stairway. Luckily, Bonnie had figured out how to use the light spell that Helena sent to Hera. If it weren't for that, they would need to use torches or flashlights.

Hera thanked her friend for using the spell. Even if it had a low consumption rate, it wasn't small enough not to matter. Hera knew that the more the researcher stayed with the light on, the fewer attacks she would be able to do.

After walking down a few minutes, Hera started to worry that there was a different way to get inside the dungeon, and they were wasting their time. Almost as a reply, a system notification popped in front of her.

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You have entered the Arcanist's Lookout

Dungeon Quest:

The magic used for experiments mutated with time. It grows stronger every day, leading to unpredictable results. Find the reason for the mutation and deactivated it.

First completion rewards:

5 000 gold, basic arcanist lookout compendium

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"Did you guys get that?" Blue asked.

They all confirmed and looked forward. There was a small glint of light a few meters down. Taking a deep breath, Hera moved towards the light, chuckling a bit with the notion.

"What's the matter?" Alex asked.

"We are literally going to the light at the end of the tunnel."

"Oh, G.o.d, really?" Bonnie said, rolling her eyes.

Blue started giggling with her friend.

"Guys, we need to say quiet," Leo said, holding back a smile.

They stopped laughing and kept moving toward the newly discovered hallway. The area after the stairway opened in a large circular room, with small globules of blue light floating near the 5 meter high ceiling. The floors were made with the same light grey stone that they saw outside. The main difference was the spiral pattern that was under their feet. With various shapes and lengths, the rocks were likely carved out to form this odd shape that reminded Hera of a whirlpool.

As they got closer to the center of the room, Hera could see four other doors around the chamber. Not only that, but with each step she took toward the middle, the globules of light lowered. She made a motion for her friends to stop. The closer she got from the center of the room, the closer the light would be to the doors, but if she took a step back, the glowing spheres would go back up. However, moving from the sides didn't change the height of the dancing lights.

"Ok, I have no idea if going in the middle of the room is a good or bad idea," Hera said.

"Me neither, it could help. But it could trigger an alarm or something," Bonnie said.

"Leo, try walking, maybe its mana sensitive," Blue suggested.

The man walked by Hera, but the effects were the same.

"Should we just go back and try to buy a compendium for this place?" Alex said.

The group nodded. There was no reason to risk themselves like this. They walked back towards the door they had just left, but an invisible wall blocked Alex, who was in the rear.

"c.r.a.p."

"What's the matter?" Bonnie asked.

"There is a wall here. We can go out but.. check it for yourselves."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you wish to leave the Arcanist Lookout

By leaving the dungeon, you will forfeit the first completion rewards. Additionally, you will face a higher challenge the next time you enter.

[Yes] [No]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bonnie let out a sigh, "So, not only we lose gold, but we also would have more problems if we want to come back here?"

"What do you guys think? I want to see what's around here. If we get hurt or we see it's too dangerous, we can leave. But I don't want to run away without even trying," Alex said.

"Same here. If we don't know what might happen, we just avoid it," Blue said, agreeing with her friend.

"Hera? What about you?" Bonnie asked.

"What? Sorry, my mind was someplace else."

Leo looked at Hera with a confused expression, "Really? How can you think about something else right now?"

"My bad. I was just thinking. Could this be a way to trigger a hard mode?"

Blue waved away the notification, "Hard mode, is that a thing?"

"Yeah, in cla.s.s, Mr. Greyson mentioned it at pa.s.sing, and I asked Helena about it later. Some dungeons have a harder version. As fas as I know, the rewards are at least five times better, but the difficulty rises a lot. The first struggle is to find how to trigger it. Some require you to finish the quest in a specific time, while others ask you to trigger certain events. Since we are just in the first layer, this could be more straightforward."

Bonnie's eyes were glowing with the information, "Five times? Like 25 000 gold? Should we go for it?"

Hera shook her head, "I don't think that is a good idea. We have no way of knowing how hard it will be. We should try to keep going here. Even with a smaller reward, we might find a lot of exciting things here. After all, it was an arcanist tower."

After thinking for a moment, Bonnie gave up the notion of pus.h.i.+ng for the hard difficulty. Not only they weren't sure if that would lead to a hard mode, but they also had no idea what to expect inside this dungeon.

Hera tried to use her [Observe] in the room. The only things with names were the lights called floating lights. Sadly, her [Inspect] gave no information about them. The explorer told the group to split up and look at the doors, before deciding where they should go.

The door all looked the same. They were wooden with iron handles and no windows. As Hera looked at the disposition, something clicked in her mind.

"Bonnie, doesn't this look like a pentagram? If we make a line connecting the doors."

The researcher looked around, confirming what Hera said. She then picked her tablet and started to go through her notes.

"Yeah, it looks like a pentacle. In magic, they use it for energy gathering, and to represent the five primal elements Water, fire, earth, air, and spirit. There is even a specific order. The north point would be spirit or magic, the east water, the southeast fire, the southwest earth, and the west air."

"Ok, so we came from the point. So that's spirit. What is this door then?" Blue asked, pointing at the door in front of her.

Bonnie rubbed her eyes.

"If what you say is right, that would be fire, but the pentagram can be in any orientation. We might have come from the earth's point since it was underground."

"Since this was built before, wouldn't that be earth? Since it leads to the underground?" Leo asked.

"Or maybe air, because the exit was built before it turned into ruins," Alex approached the exit, trying to feel the wind.

"It can also be water because of the lake or fire because of whatever reason. We don't have enough information to figure out," Bonnie huffed.

Silence fell to the group. They had no idea the entrance of a dungeon would already give them trouble deciding where to go. Hera looked around, trying to see if there were any markings on the floor or around the area. Sadly, there was none.

"Since we have no way to figure it out, does it matter which one we choose?"

The whole group stared at Blue, who just spoke.

"What? I mean seriously. Does it matter? Like Hera said, this is the first layer. Yes, it is dangerous, and yes, we can get hurt, but remember what Mr. Greyson said?" Blue raised one finger and started speaking in a bad Scottish accent. "When ye go to the first layer of the MAZE, ye will find dangers, but the place is more of a beginner area. Ye have some leeway to fail without getting too hurt. Later on, even opening a wrong door can get ye killed," she dropped the accent, "So like, what is the point of bas.h.i.+ng our heads in the wall to figure out what's what? Let's just go, and we will find out."

The group stared at each other for a moment.

"Fine, as much as I hate to admit the muscle head right. Sometimes overthinking is bad. Someone just pick a door, and we will go."

Hera got worried when she saw Bonnie's expression. Agreeing with Blue made it look like the researcher was taking some bad medicine. Hera wondered if the two would ever stop fighting so much.

"If no one wants, can I pick the door then?" Alex said.

The group stared at the a.s.sa.s.sin and agreed to her suggestion. It seemed like a big decision, and they were glad to have someone pick for them.

"Ok, so let's go through the one Bonnie is in front," She said, walking towards the researcher.