CHAPTER 45: MODIFIED: CHAPTER 45 MAZE

In the underground hall

The spacious hall seemed a bit crowded with so many Explorers.

The early bird catches the worm, even the profession of an Explorer follows this principle.

Most Explorers were heading towards the Dungeon, and Kane’s group began to orderly proceed to the Teleportation Stone Platform.

The four stood closely together; otherwise, amid the crowd, they might be perceived as individuals and be teleported separately.

A familiar sensation of weightlessness.

Once again, they arrived at the floating platform in the starry sky.

It was Meizike’s first time entering a Dungeon, and he had never seen such a sight.

"It’s beautiful, isn’t it?"

Hearing Kane’s words, Meizike nodded in agreement.

"However, let’s enter the Fog Gate first. This view can be seen every time you come in; you’ll often greet this starry sky in the future."

After speaking, Kane was the first to enter the Fog Gate, followed closely by Kreya.

Longbei looked at Meizike, who remained motionless, and tilted his head to signal him.

Meizike arrived at the Fog Gate, took a deep breath, and entered with his eyes closed.

After watching Meizike go in, Longbei entered last.

After all the team members had gathered together, Kane walked forward along the dark hallway.

"Beyond this corridor is where the monsters appear."

Exiting the corridor, it was still the familiar arena, seemingly no different from the previous levels.

Just thinking that, the arena began to shake violently.

Kreya and Longbei directly blocked in front, shielding Kane and Meizike behind them.

Everyone immediately became vigilant, and Meizike even threw out three Potion bottles directly.

The blue bottles floating around Kane and Kreya were for increasing agility, the Spirit of Swiftness.

While the earth-colored bottle floating around Longbei was for a heavy aura, increasing the user’s physical resistance.

These bottles merely floated around them, the Magic Potions inside not pouring out immediately.

These bottles were controlled by Meizike, and since the potion’s effects were limited in duration, they couldn’t casually be applied for Enhancement.

When needed, he could control the bottles to instantly apply Enhancements to Kane and the others.

Along with the arena’s tremor, the area began expanding as countless stone walls rose simultaneously.

By the time the ground stopped shaking, Kane and his team were already trapped by these high walls, and the entire arena had transformed into a Maze.

Already dim, the arena now became even darker.

A flash of light streaked across the sky, causing Kane and his team to shield their eyes with their hands.

The familiar Crystal Hourglass appeared in the sky once more, but this time it didn’t hover in place.

Instead, it shrank into a streak of flowing light and slipped away.

A prompt appeared in the minds of the four teammates: getting the hourglass meant passing this level.

Torches began appearing on the walls of the Maze, illuminating the surrounding paths.

Longbei looked at the surrounding stone walls with discomfort and said, "I hate walking through Mazes the most."

"Have you explored this kind of Dungeon before?"

Kane asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Many Dungeons have Maze-like properties. The first Dungeon I ever encountered was the ’Forest Maze.’ I was trapped inside for three days, not killed by monsters, but nearly starved."

It seems I’m not the only one who’s been afraid of starving to death in a Dungeon under the same circumstances.

However, Kane didn’t mind these things, even if it was a Maze.

"Yuyu, can you map out the terrain here?"

"No problem, Master. I’ve been recording, and when the Maze generated, Yuyu had already mapped out the surrounding terrain."

Kreya embraced Yuyu, "Yuyu is amazing."

"Hehe, Yuyu thinks so too."

This assistant robot, what’s with this vanity?

Longbei looked at Yuyu, eyes widening, exclaiming in surprise, "Ah! I just realized, this little thing is an intelligent machine. I think I saw it in a magazine."

Then he looked at Kane with a gaze like that of an Emperor of Luck, incredulity in his tone.

"At your level, did you really get such a rare item?"

"Yes, indeed."

"By the Mist above!"

Longbei’s expression clearly showed he was somewhat disheartened, to get something that typically only appears in Silver or Golden Dungeons at a Copper level. Such luck made him wonder if Mist’s Warrior had increased Fortune.

However, Meizike didn’t find anything wrong because he didn’t know what it was or what it was worth.

Waving his hand to drop the subject, Yuyu projected the already recorded terrain.

Floating in the air, Yuyu projected a map after leaving Kreya’s embrace.

From the map projected in the air, there were already three dead ends in the terrain surrounding Kane.

After carefully inspecting it, they found a way out, and the four-person team started moving.

This time, Kane activated his Eagle Eye to check if there were any monsters attempting a sneak attack.

Pushing along the walls carefully, the Maze’s walls had no carvings, just rough surfaces.

"Wait a moment, there are monsters up ahead."

Kane noticed two humanoid monsters hiding at the corner.

Trying to ambush us, are they?

He gestured to his teammates, pointing at the corner.

Longbei patted his chest, indicating it was up to him.

Kane held up two fingers, and the Dwarf nodded, acknowledging he understood.

Such tasks were not suitable for the Centaur; the Dwarf, however, was very appropriate for this.

Longbei took out a long-handled halberd and crept along the wall.

Kane followed behind him.

Once poised at the wall’s edge, both the Dwarf and Kane lunged out.

The two hiding figures were actually two Skeleton Soldiers, both wielding axes, waiting for an unlucky soul.

Unfortunately, against X-ray vision, such insidious acts seemed slightly comical.

Kane’s Long Spear and Longbei’s Long Halberd each pierced through a Skeleton Soldier.

The Skeletons shattered to pieces, but the bones were magnetically drawn to each other.

In such cases, Kane stomped on the Skeleton’s skull.

Indeed, with the skull shattered, the surrounding bones stopped trembling.

Longbei looked at the scattered bones in confusion, "Huh? Why aren’t these monster corpses dissipating?"

"Those bodies will conglomerate to form a treasure chest after clearing the level," Kane explained.

The Dwarf nodded in understanding, "No wonder so many people come to this Dungeon, because of this."

"What do you mean? Is there something different about this Dungeon?"

Kreya and the others arrived at that moment.

"These treasure-chest-climbing Dungeons are relatively popular; most Dungeons only offer two or three exit opportunities before completion.

And each monster might drop something, leading to more loot, albeit of lesser quality.

These treasure-chest-climbing Dungeons, however, offer more exit opportunities, and though the energy-converged treasure chest may contain less, the items are generally of good quality."

Kane nodded in agreement with the explanation.

After hearing the explanation, they were about to continue forward.

They continued along the walls, avoiding several intersections as they headed down the only path that wasn’t a dead end.

"We’ve arrived, master; from here, there’s no recorded terrain," Yuyu announced.

Faced with three forks in the path ahead, Kane felt a bit overwhelmed.

It’s impossible to navigate through a Maze without encountering dead ends or backtracking all the way.

"So, which direction should we take?" Kane asked his teammates.

Kreya shook her head, indicating she didn’t know.

"You’re Mist’s Warrior, so Mist will favor you. Go on, make the choice."

Seeing that none of them would choose, Kane decided to take the lead.

He stood his Long Spear upright to see which direction it would lean toward.