From Player To Npc

Shingi stored the remains of the phylactery to research later. Then, they went outside the cave and toward the stairs to the next floor. The stairs weren't too far from the cave, and they actually had passed them since they wanted to clear the entire floor. They were certain they had succeeded, as they had searched everywhere at the best of their abilities and had found no other undead.

The next floor was going to be a change from the usual monster-filled ones. Instead, it would be a Maze Floor.

Those were tricky, as the maze didn't have any monsters but only traps that could delay or harm anyone activating them. Moreover, there was a time limit of one hour that somebody could stay in the maze. If one stayed over that limit, they would teleport to the center of the maze that they would be put at the center of the maze where they would have to pass a special test.

If they succeeded on the test, they would teleport at the start of the maze and have an hour again or will have to complete a tougher test. There were various tests. Some were simple as having to win a fight, or others more complicated than solving a challenging puzzle.

To get out of the maze, they had to fight chests spread through the maze. Those chests could either contain a stone enabling them to Teleport at the exit of the maze, or they would be trapped or even mimics ready to take a bite of them when Shingi and the others would try to open them.

The Maze kept changing every day, and only with the stones in the chest could one reach the exit, as no path of the maze lead to it.

Another detail that made this maze annoying was that one couldn't choose to use the stone, but the first one to touch would automatically get teleported. So even if he picked it using gloves or even a MANA HAND, it still would teleport them, as the glove was in touch with him, and the MANA HAND was connected with the user so that they could control it.

Before they started moving, Shingi spoke with Sinhunter to pass a message to Dark Shadow. He could speak himself to Dark Shadow, and he understood most of the things said to him, but it was safer to do it that way.

Dark Shadow cast FLY so that he can go up and take a look from above, as the ceiling for tens of meters above the ground. It was like the max was into a vast dome.

After taking a good look from above, Dark Shadow landed in front of Shingi and cast another Spell. This time it was MAJOR ILLUSION, and he made a top view of the maze. It also added and pointed the chests it detected by making them a different color.

They started moving with Price and Hineko at the front, with Shingi and Little Phoenix behind them, looking for traps on their way for the nearest chest.

After reaching it, Shingi told them to move onto the next one. This was a mimic chest, and he had enough experience with them, with his time with Benjamin while he still was a Player, that he could detect one even when it was at its item appearance. The mimic didn't attack them, as they wanted to get a surprise attack when they were closer.

The next one was just around the corner and wasn't a mimic this time, but it could be a trapped one. This was where Hineko took the lead. Even if both he and Price had Rogue-Based classes, Hineko's supported disarming more than Price's, but neither was focusing on that Skill too much.

Still, Price was more knowledgeable since he was playing the game longer, so he helped Hineko, but still, Hineko was the one in charge of the attempt. The chest was locked and seemed not to be trapped.

Shingi and Little Phoenix and Syra, to be safe, checked for any magical traps, but it was clear. Hineko carefully picked the lock and opened the chest, revealing a stone in it. The first one to go would be Wild Tycoon, as she would be useless in the Maze, and it was safer for her not to take part in the tests, in case it was a puzzle-solving one.

The order would then be Little Phoenix, An, Syra, Dark Shadow, Price, Hineko, and Shingi. It could be wiser for Hineko to be the last to go since he picked the locks, but Shingi insisted on being the last one when they discussed of what was the plan for this floor.

They continued searching, and the next two chests were mimics, so they passed them, while the two after them were empty and four had a trap. The trap was mostly an explosion or poison cloud that would either stun the one it breathes or poison and weaken them.

Finally, they found another one, and Little Phoenix was outside the maze. Fortunately, people could wait as long as they wanted at the exit without worrying about any time limit.

They found the chest for An faster, as it took them only three tries. Moreover, their speed going around increased as everyone in the party had high AGI, except for Syra, but Shingi could carry her while at her sphere form. As for traps, they became quickly familiar with finding them, which increased the way they could move through the maze.

Soon, they found the one for Syra, which Shingi was surprised that she could use it, as he wasn't certain of what her Spirit Form allowed her to do and what not.

Dark Shadow was next, and he seemed reluctant to leave Shingi. But after promising to give him some Mana Gems to eat, he changed his mind right away and touched the stone, getting himself at the exit.

Almost fifty minutes had passed since they got into the maze, meaning they had close to ten minutes left. Shingi was certain that the three of them each could successfully complete their tests, as they were individual tests. But even so, after completing the test and the time reset, the maze would change.

It could be smarter to keep Dark Shadow so that they can reexamine the maze from above if they failed, but still, Shingi wasn't certain if Dark Shadow would succeed in the test, same as Wild Tycoon. Dark Shadow was a lot smarter than before, but he still had significant progress to make.

It took them five minutes to find another stone with a teleportation stone for Price. There weren't a lot of chests left. It probably would be wiser for them to separate, as they had almost five minutes left. But only Shingi could tell the mimics apart from normal chests, and if they had to fight one, they would lose some precious time.

Shingi had also helped Hineko with picking the locks of the chest to open them. The locks weren't too complicated, as the key concept of the maze was mostly to test your luck to find the right ones and some abilities like detecting the mimics and not wasting time fighting them.

It took them two minutes to find another stone, leaving the only Shingi in the maze and less than three minutes left.

The Maze was huge as still he barely had covered half of it.

He moved with everything he got and worked on unlocking a chest that wasn't a mimic or found any trap. It didn't take him long to open the chest, and it seemed like it was his lucky day as a stone was inside it.

He grabbed the stone, and he got teleported, but when the Teleportation finished, there were no signs of anyone else from his party.

Shingi then looked at the stone in his hand. There was a rune on it that was slightly different than the one that the others had. This was a trap stone.

A trap stone looked almost the same as the teleportation stones the others used, but instead of teleporting to the exit, it got you to the failure room to take your test.

Finding a trapped stone in the maze was a sign of bad luck, as this maze had only one trap crystal. Others above the current floor had more.

In front of Shingi, there was a desk, and on top of the desk, there were pieces of a puzzle. There had to be at least one hundred pieces.

He had to finish the test in ten minutes, or else he would get teleported into the maze. But the time he would have to complete the goal set would be half the one from before. If the time decreased to less than a minute, he would die.

Shingi wasn't disappointed but instead excited, as he hadn't had the chance to have this type of test for some time. It would be harder for him to find a stone by himself, but he was confident that he could do it.