Eminira Dungeon Again (3)
Today, we’re camping near the entrance to the 8th floor.
Since we’re in a cave, it’s hard to tell the time, but it seems to be evening. It looks like we’re proceeding slowly because of us. Thanks to Linka’s defensive wall, we’re able to set up a tent.
Once the tent was set up, a defensive wall was placed around it. It really is convenient.
We had sandwiches made with flavored thinly sliced meat and vegetables stuffed in bread, along with some fruit. We poured hot water and used tea bags to have some tea.
“This—where do you buy it? It’s so convenient.” Linka asked.
I told her that soon it would be available at the Adventurers’ Guild, the Merchants' Guild shops, and other stores.
On the 8th floor, the only change was that bronze had turned to copper, giving the cave a copper color. The pattern of fighting mini copper golems, 1-meter-tall copper golems, and the giant copper golem boss room was the same.
We decided to tackle the 8th floor using the same strategy as today.
Now we’ve arrived at the 9th floor.
We cleared the 8th floor together in half a day. Salem said that usually it would take a full day or two because of the large number of enemies.
Well, the adults with us are B-rank, and we’re moving in two big groups, so that probably makes it faster.
The 9th floor is a glass labyrinth—a maze made of glass.
I thought it was more of a maze than a labyrinth, but if we don’t clear it today or if we damage the glass walls, we’ll get sent back to the entrance of the 9th floor.
There’s no sun here, so there’s no blinding reflection, but the transparent walls keep reflecting our figures—not quite like mirrors, but enough to feel strange.
Anyway, we moved forward because they said we’d figure it out by moving on.
When we hit a fork, I asked Atre and Ripka, but they both replied, “Don’t know.”
Maybe because it’s not a forest? … Well, it can’t be helped.
Canal and I both pointed to where we wanted to go, and we both picked “left.”
Going down the left path, we hit a dead end where there were transparent orbs on either side and a pedestal placed between them.
It said, “Move the real crystal ball to the central pedestal.”
I looked back at the adults, but they didn’t say anything. I guess that means it’s not dangerous.
I decided to pick up the orb on the right side first, then the one on the left, but I couldn’t tell any difference between them. Canal said he couldn’t tell either.
Since Canal told me to choose, I placed the right-side orb onto the central pedestal—and we were immediately sent back to the entrance of the 9th floor labyrinth. And in front of us, there was a small bag.
“Eh, what’s going on?”
Canal and I exchanged puzzled looks. The adults were watching us with amused expressions.
“Pick up the bag and get back into the labyrinth.” Brother Gerald said, urging us forward without explaining anything.
Tilting my head in confusion, I moved forward.
When we got back to the previous fork, we chose “right” this time, and another fork appeared.
I asked Canal which way he wanted to go, and se picked “right” again, but it turned out to be another dead end.
Again, transparent orbs on either side and a pedestal in the middle.
It said, “Move the real crystal ball to the central pedestal.”
I asked, “So unless we get it right, we can’t move forward, and if we get it wrong, we start over from the entrance?” and Brother Gerald confirmed it.
If you place the wrong orb on the pedestal, you get sent back to the entrance.
Apparently, that bag from earlier contained powder used to make glass, which can be sold at the Adventurers Guild.
Unless we take notes, we’ll never clear this.
They said the maze would change after a day passes, too…
I took out a notepad.
First fork: “right,” orb: “left.”
Second fork: “left.”
I’ll only write down the correct answers.
Since I made the last choice, this time I let Canal pick.
Canal picked up the transparent orb on the left and placed it on the central pedestal.
Then the wall at the dead end crumbled, letting us proceed forward.
A small bag had dropped ahead of us.
Inside were ten transparent balls, each about 5mm in diameter.
When I asked Brother Gerald, he said they were crystals.
Crystals could be dropped as crystal balls or small lumps of crystals, but you never know exactly what you’ll get.
If you pick correctly, you get crystals; if you pick incorrectly, you get glass powder.
And if you choose the correct path at the fork, there’s no loot… meaning we have to aim for dead ends to collect loot?
If we mess up, we get sent back to the entrance, and if we don't clear it today, the memo will become useless. There's less than half a day left now.
The best way is to secure loot while moving forward.
I wonder if there’s a way to tell the real ones apart?
For the paths we already know, we should go for the dead ends to gather items while thinking about a way to distinguish them.
After that, each time we hit a dead end and picked wrong, we got sent back to the entrance again and again.
“Reinhardt, don’t you have some way?” Canal asked as we returned to the entrance again.
Even when I asked the Golden Wings, they said there was no solution but to advance one by one.
A way to distinguish them… a way to distinguish them…
I wondered if there might be a hint in the books from the Royal Capital Library.
I had stored the blank book in the magic bag so I could read it at the inn.
“Status Open.”
I pulled out the stone tablet and tried to look for books about ores, but there were too many and I couldn’t tell which one to choose.
I was thinking it’d be nice if there was a search function, and just then, a message popped up on the stone tablet screen saying that the E-rank promotion bonus could be a search function, with “Yes” and “No” buttons.
I pressed the “Yes” button, and a magnifying glass icon was added next to the buttons.
I pressed the magnifying glass icon and typed in “How to distinguish real crystals.” It said “6 matches found.”
I tapped the top book and downloaded it.
I copied it into the blank book, opened the table of contents, found the section on crystals, and read it.
It said that if you place a hair underneath a crystal ball and look from above, it will appear as two hairs.
Alright, let’s try it.
What do you think about this chapter?
