Core of Knowledge

The cave Pos found himself in was quite pleasant. After stepping on the spell circle, the dwarf found himself standing in a small natural cave, one with a floor of bare sand and a low ceiling of rough rock. The walls are glowing faintly, giving the scene an eerie greenish tint, but the cavern appears to be fairly open and spacious. Pos couldn’t help but think of home whenever he found himself in a cave like this. The other five adventurers with him were less enthusiastic.

The exploration team was standing around a central pillar of smooth grey stone, and the cave appears to have three exits. There was no way back to the first floor, and only the three exits loomed ahead of them. Each went in a different direction.

As Pos was looking around the cave, the elf steps forward and pointed up at the numbers over the exits. “What are these numbers?” she asked. “I assume they mean something. I would appreciate some information.”

“They mean something to those who know, and nothing to those who do not,” says Father Raul cryptically.

Talata frowned, but the rest of the team had a good laugh at the elf’s expense. Pos looked from one exit to the other. Of the three exits, one had the number ‘1’ on top of it, another had the number ‘2’, and the last had the number ‘4’. Everyone knows only one of the exits will lead to the end of the floor, and fortunately the adventurers had a way to know the exit to take.

“Father Raul, which way is it?” Bazel asked.

The [Priest] murmured a prayer. One of the strange things about dungeon cores is that they do not just use Mana. They can do so with no issue, but like priests, dungeon cores could also use divine power. According to scholars, dungeon cores use divine power, which everyone called DP for short, mainly to create their dungeon.

That was a good thing for adventurers. Most priests can cast a prayer to sense areas with high concentration of DP. Usually, priests cast the prayer to know the direction to the nearest holy land, because they can only recover their divine powers in an area with a high density of DP. In a dungeon, the prayer is almost a cheat.

Father Raul was visibly surprised by the result of his prayer. “The flow of the divine is the same through all three exits. I think all three exits can lead to the Boss room.”

The members of the exploration team looked at each other in puzzlement. Pos did not need to be a delver to know that was unusual.

“That’s…rare,” Fabiana finally said. “The dungeon fairy should have told the core not to do something like that. Do you think this dungeon core lacks a fairy, or is it just ignoring the advice?”

“Or there is a trick to this floor that requires you to go through all three exits.” Bazel said, something all the members have to nod in agreement to after some thought. Even to Pos, that would make the most sense.

“Does that mean we need to check them out one by one? This is going to be a pain.” Talata groaned.

“Nothing we can do about it.” Bazel said as he walks calmly over to the exit marked ‘1’. “One exit is as good as another.”

Pos watched as the [Dragoon] head down the tunnel and grunted. He never understood why some human adventurers always take risk and try to act like some [Hero] in a bard’s tale. The dwarf wished that he could ignore actions like this for once.

Unfortunately, children of the Stones do not leave comrades behind.

Pos started after Bazel but slowed after a few metres to glance back at the cavern behind. The rest of the exploration teams were still hesitating at the entrance of the tunnel, but before Pos could think about shouting at them, they decide to enter. Careful not to let his relief show, Pos hurried after the leader of the exploration team.

Unlike the tunnel leading to the first floor, this tunnel was much shorter, and the team soon walked into another cavern. Bare black stone lined the walls of the cavern, and the floor had green grass with broken patches of flat stone all around. Ahead, the cavern opens out to a small lake. The water was light green and strange-looking leaves were floating on the water. Pos had never seen the leaves before, but the elf had.

“Lotus leaves. More common in the far west. I wonder how a dungeon core in the Bright Kingdom even knows of this plant.” Talata asked.

Pos did not know, and barely cared. He was far more interested in the eight small strange looking pavilions situated in the middle of the lake. Each pavilion had four wooden pillars with a strangely sloped roof, and Pos could see a low table in each of the pavilions. Eight separate wooden footpaths lead to the pavilions, each only wide enough for one person to walk on. On the other side of each pavilion was another footpath that led to a rocky shore on the other side of the lake. Pos could see a huge boulder wedged in the far wall.

That got everyone’s attention.

“Ten gold says that boulder is blocking us from the exit.” Heathon teased.

No one was foolish enough to take the bet.

“The tunnel was marked as ‘1’,” Fabiana said as she pointed at the footpath, “I take it that means we are each to take a separate footpath.”

“Split up the team in a dungeon?” Heathon shook his head, indicating how he feels about that. “Can we just fly over the lake?”

The team look at Fabiana who tilted her head. “I don’t sense any magic damping field or dispel effects. So, I don’t think there’s anything to stop us from doing that, but...”

“Except the fact that the core will probably consider that a failure, and that boulder probably wouldn't move unless we complete whatever is in those pavilions.” Bazel said.

“That boulder does not look that tough. We should be able to blow it up with a spell or two.” Heathon shrugged away Bazel’s concern and Pos got the feeling the [Knight] was one of those humans who always look for the simplest way to solve a problem.

“It will just piss off the core. Besides, we are not here to beat the dungeon. We are here to explore it, and that means we need to inform the guild what is in those pavilions. Most probably some sort of puzzle since this is a Trick Dungeon. Talata, any traps?”

The [Explorer] answered Bazel’s question with a shake of her head. “I don’t see any, but there is some sort of magical enchantment on the footpaths. I believe they will activate once someone step on it, allowing only one person to be on each of them.”

“Very well then. Everyone pick a path.”

Pos was less than enthusiastic about Bazel’s order. “I’m not really good with puzzles.” Pos complained.

“And we don’t know what will happen if we fail to complete it.” Heathon added.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Let’s get moving.”

Bazel brooked no complaint and immediately moves to one of the footpaths. Seeing the rest of the team following their leader’s example, Pos had no choice but to do the same. He selected the footpath furthest to the left. It would give him a view of everyone.

Standing before their own individual footpaths, everyone looked at each other for a moment before wordlessly stepping onto them together. The moment he did so, Pos felt an immense weight descend on him. Pos stood still and looked at the others for an explanation. It was clear everyone felt the same pressure, but no one was sure what the pressure was for because nothing happened. The pressure wasn’t even that uncomfortable. After a few moments of standing still, Pos saw Talata turning back. She reached out, and there was a shimmer in the air.

Pos immediately did the same. The shimmer appeared behind him as well, preventing him from retreating. That was the reason for the pressure. There was no way back. Pos looked back at the exploration team and saw Talata dip a boot into the water.

Surprisingly, she managed to touch the water.

The trap on the footpath only prevented them from turning back but did not prevent them from leaving it. That made no sense to Pos. What is to prevent them from swimming to another platform?

The answer was obvious. Pos looked into the water of the lake and wonder what was down there.

Pos looked up at the other members of the team and saw that everyone was experienced enough to suspect there was something in the water. They stayed in the position for a few moments before Pos saw Father Raul begin walking towards his pavilion. Nothing happened. Seeing that it was safe, Pos started the walk to his pavilion as well.

Like the footpath, the pavilion was made of wood and there was a low wooden table sitting in the middle of it. A big carpet was laid out, and Pos did not need to be a [Rogue] to know this was a trap. There was nothing to stop the dwarf from continuing to walk towards the other side of the lake, but that would mean abandoning the challenge of the floor.

As if knowing what the dwarf was thinking of doing, Bazel shouted out. “Everyone, step on the carpet!”

The dwarf sighed and did so. He looked at the others and once everyone was on their carpets, a box appeared out of thin air. It landed softly on the table. Then, a painting dropped from the ceiling.

Hanging from the top of the pavilion, the painting showed a red dragon laying on a sea of gleaming gold. As Pos looked at the painting, wondering what was going on, the dragon turned his head to look at him.

The dwarf could not breath. The still air turned heavy, carrying an aroma of death to the dwarf. Pos did not know what to do and stared at the dragon with a vacant stare. The dragon’s eyes were that of a predator, and Pos could feel himself cowering under its towering, ruthless gaze. It was a being of unimaginable power that promised a wave of death.

He almost missed the words that appeared on the side of the banner.

“A dragon that once was whole,

Now shattered into many pieces,

Its original state forever lost,

Waiting for someone to make it whole.”

Then, another thing appeared on the painting. It was a countdown, starting from sixty minutes. The dragon’s head had turned back to its original position, and Pos could breathe again. It was a casual gaze that drilled fear into the soul of the dwarf.