Level 1 Fallen

Chapter 202: Self Study

Throughout the foggy terrain, there was an immediate scramble to find the remaining entrances. At first, those who heard the information had collectively decided not to reveal it to those who hadn’t attended. If they didn’t want to listen to someone’s words, then they could remain ignorant.

However, mobilizing more than a dozen people from their small ‘community’ was bound to be noticed. Within a couple of hours, even those who hadn’t come to listen to Diane’s speech had discovered what was going on, and were frantically joining the search.

The one who I had spotted coming out of another entrance seemed the most panicked. He made his way to his ‘secret entrance’, only to find three other people waiting outside the now-uncovered cave. This entrance was both the closest to the main cave and also one of the least concealed, so it had taken less than an hour for people to find it after dedicating themselves to the search.

By the time Diane emerged from her own entrance again after eating, four of the new paths had been found. This already cut the queue for each dungeon entrance down to the single digits, if people chose to be satisfied with this.

However, they knew from our reveal that there were still three more left uncovered. These players, who had been idle for so long that they treated it as a matter of course, finally saw a way for them to shorten their stay and rejoin the other players actively enjoying themselves.

Unfortunately for them, there was only so long that they could play per day, and many of them needed to log off. As for those who remained, they had no need to continue the search when there were already so many paths waiting for them.

This gave Diane one last chance to use her own secret entrance when she logged on in the morning, after which she found that even that path had been discovered while she was making her attempt at the dungeon.

Throughout all of this, I had been keeping an eye on the situation, just in case anyone tried to use underhanded means to either extract information from us or fight their competitors in the search. In the process of doing so, my new Fixed Sentry skill had ranked up to Roaming Sentries.

With Roaming Sentries, I could now control multiple sensors, and could direct them to move. However, the commands that they could accept were very rudimentary. At this level, all that I could do was to create a path that they continuously flew along at a constant speed. If that path created a loop, I could have them constantly patrolling that path, but there were no conditional commands like I could give with the master rank.

From my perspective, I sat within the basement of our house, transformed into my dragon king form, with multiple screens in front of me. I had my sentries patrolling all of the entrances, as well as one that had been sent to the outer perimeter of the foggy terrain.

Seeing that Diane had emerged from her entrance and now had to properly rejoin the queue, I transformed back into my normal form and went to meet her. “Any progress?” I asked, and she briefly hesitated.

“Like they said, the layout changes each time. However, the overall objectives aren’t any different. Depending on the layout, I can now reach the final level of the infiltration trial, and I’ve passed the eighth level of the others. There really was a hidden book in the killing trial that discussed poisons.”

Nearby, Bella beamed happily. “In that case, we should be finished here soon, right? Did you encounter another problem in the dungeon?”

Diane pursed her lips, before nodding her head. “On the final level of the killing trial, you have to perform a locked-room murder. The exact specifics change each time, but the general gist is that you have to kill someone who is in a sealed environment, with all entrances locked from the inside, and then leave that environment the same way when you depart.”

“And this is still without any skills or anything?” Bella asked with wide eyes, to which Diane nodded. “Is that even possible?”

“Theoretically, yes,” Diane confirmed, seeming lost in thought. “For instance, you could poison the food or water as it is sent in for the target, or set up a poison in the ventilation system. Some locked room murders contain a secret passage that the assassin could use to get in or out, or a hiding place where they remain until it is safe to leave.”

“There are also times when wires could theoretically be used to relatch a window after exiting, and other such methods. However, with a new layout each time, all of the information has to be acquired in a short period. And this time, I checked to see if there were any hidden guides such as house blueprints that could be used or guard rotations, but there was nothing.”

“It looks like the final test wants you to go all-out, huh?” I chuckled. “So, if you get lucky and figure out the last trial, you could complete the dungeon whenever you get the chance?”

Diane gave a small nod of her head. “The tracking trial is hit or miss. There’s no real roadblock there, it just depends on the guard placement. If I can get the other two trials to line up properly, and find out how to do the locked-room murder, I should be able to pass all of the trials.”

Though she said that, it was definitely not that easy. Going by what she had said previously, the first two trials were ones that she could only complete some of the time. Her results with these two would likely get better with practice, but that would still take a while.

Judging by the current pace of the other players, Diane would only be able to get one attempt a day, severely limiting how much she could practice. Still, once a day was preferable to only once a week.

Later that evening, as I was idly watching my sentries patrol the surroundings, I heard a knock on the door to the basement where I lay for my ‘training’. “Drake, do you have a minute?” Bella asked, opening the door and stepping inside.

“I’ve got nothing but minutes,” I joked, earning a small chuckle from her as I transformed back to normal once again. “What’s up?”

“I was thinking. You said that your World Walker skill can take you anywhere that you’ve previously been, right?” After receiving my confirmation, she continued. “In that case, could you go back to the Sage’s Sanctum whenever you want?”

I couldn’t help but blink at that. “Possibly, but we’d need to leave the normal way, since skills are restricted inside.” Of course, that also depended on how they handled the skill restrictions. If skill effects were unable to manifest in that dungeon, then it might be able to block World Walker from getting in. I wouldn’t know until I tried.

“That’s fine. Getting out doesn’t necessarily require fighting the boss monster, after all. We can just go through whatever library is currently connected to it and teleport back,” Bella said, sounding relieved. “I was thinking that I could go and read more about dungeons while Diane is doing her training.”

“You have your dragon form and your simulations, so you can steadily grow stronger without needing any specific environment. However, for Diane and I, dungeons are our main path of growth. Whether it’s looking for skills or just training with the hordes of monsters, we need suitable dungeons.”

Looking at Bella, I could tell that she wanted to find her own path forward as well. The library hadn’t contained many books about firearms, but that was bound to change eventually. And she certainly wanted to be ready when it did. “Alright, I’ll take you to the Sage’s Sanctum,” I smiled, agreeing to her request. “But I’ll stop by to pick you up when it is time to eat. I don’t want you to lose track of time while reading.”

Bella quickly nodded her head to this condition. “Deal!”

With that, I reached out to grab her shoulder and focused. The air shifted around us, and I felt a small resistance to the skill’s activation. Yet, the resistance was weaker than I expected, allowing me to teleport the two of us after a few extra seconds of effort.

Space rippled, and we were once again in the immaculate library. One of the nearby scholars looked surprised at our arrival, walking over to greet us. “If I recall, you were from the group that left just last week, no? And, it seems that you didn’t come in through the traditional method. Could you have trained a grandmaster skill related to spatial travel?”

I blinked, nodding in response. “That’s right. I have the World Walker skill. I assume it’s not a problem for me to bring her back to study more?” I gestured towards Bella, who offered a small wave.

“Certainly, anyone seeking to learn is welcomed,” the scholar admitted. “It is just that people entering through nonstandard means are quite rare. Only a grandmaster skill can pierce the layered space around this dungeon. Is there anything in particular you are hoping to research?”

I looked at Bella, who took a deep breath and stepped forward. “First… How often are the books in your library updated? There should be some rule about that, right?”

The scholar was more than happy to answer Bella’s questions. “Of course. Our collection updates once a month, scouring the various libraries to look for unknown texts. Many of us who remain here don’t simply do so for the dungeon trials, but also to read the new texts as they appear. Given that today is the third, we should have just received a new update a couple days ago.”

Bella’s eyes widened at that. “In that case, are there any new books about firearms? Whether it’s training methods, skills, dungeons, anything is fine.”

The scholar smiled beneath their hood. “I believe I heard a few acquaintances mentioning such books yesterday. Since it was such a novel invention, the memory stuck with me. Do you want help looking for the relevant texts?”

“No, I’ll find it myself,” Bella said in a determined tone. Then, she turned to look at me. “Thanks, Drake. See you in a couple hours for dinner?”

I was about to agree when the scholar spoke up in surprise. “Are you planning to come and go frequently?” he asked, to which Bella confirmed. “In that case, perhaps it would be better to show you two to a private room first, and that can be your rendezvous point? Having you teleport into the middle of the library every time would get quite distracting for the other readers.”

Bella blinked, looking over at me for my opinion. I simply shrugged my shoulders. “It shouldn’t matter to me. Though, even if I can bring us in, I still need to use the normal gate to get out.”

The scholar hesitated for a moment, before ultimately choosing to speak. “Actually, that is not the case. The effect to seal skills only applies when you enter through the gate. It is part of the entrance mechanism to begin the scholar’s trials. If you teleport in like this, your skills will remain unaffected. However, if you cause any trouble in the library, you will be blacklisted. After that, even if you teleport in, restrictions will automatically activate to seal your senses and teleport you elsewhere.”