Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

"Could it be alphabetical?"

"Based on our alphabet or the original language of the deities?"

"Isn't the it the same?"

"No idea. You saw the original text right? I have no idea what kind of language that was. What if it works differently?"

"How would it work differently?"

"I don't know. Just forget it. According to size maybe?"

"The size of the statues or the size of the deities?"

"The statues. No, wait. The deities."

"Alright. Which one is the biggest, the winged snake, the minotaur, or the horse?"

"The minotaur maybe? I'm pretty sure the cat is the smallest, at least."

"Oh, good. I wasn't sure about that one."

"Guys, they're deities. They might not be as big or small as their physical forms indicate."

"What do you know about deities?"

"Nothing. And that's why I don't think sorting them by size is the right order. Besides, they're arranged in a circle. It feels like there should either be a clear start and end to the order or a repeating pattern of some kind."

"Like what?"

"There's seven humanoids and five non-humans. So, start with the sun and end with the moon deity, every other statue being a non-human."

"Try it."

Zach stepped back and let Violina take over the console to shuffle the statues around in the order she suggested.

They had quickly figured out that there was no end to the number of attempts they had at getting the correct order. There also wasn't a time limit. It was just that twelve different statues could be put in twelve different locations. The number of possible combinations was so large that they might grow old before finding the correct order. Your journey continues at empire

That was why they were trying to figure it out or guess the correct order instead of systematically going through all the possible combinations.

Considering that they didn't know if there was a difference in the twelve spots, it might not even be enough to try all the possible combinations. The statues might have been in the correct order but in the wrong places.

It shouldn't matter since the Trial was to arrange the deities in the correct order, not place them in the right spot. But Zach had found multiple ways to survive in the first Trial but had still been forced to cheat to finish it. They shouldn't thoughtlessly assume their interpretation of the Trial was correct.

The other entrants also came with suggestions for orders and possible ideas about what the correct order might be. Almost everyone was cooperating, whether it be investigating the stony plaza that the soldiers and entrants were gathered on or writing down the orders they had already tried.

Zach looked at the large stone statues moving around as Violina shifted the miniatures on the console.

It was a strange Trial. Trials were tests. The first one had tested their ability to look for things and wander around the city. Someone with a good sense of direction, good legs, and a keen eye would pass the first Trial without much trouble.

But what was the second Trial's goal? It couldn't be that it was just a difficult Trial that the Labyrinth gave them to compensate for the first Trial's failure. Besides, the first Trial had failed because Zach was too strong.

Was the second Trial chosen to be the statue-sorting puzzle because it couldn't be solved with brute force?

Zach's thoughts wandered as he pondered on the trouble.

'If brute force can't solve it, there has to be a way to solve it with intelligence.'

They had to have missed something. There had to be some kind of clue somewhere.

Nessa and the other entrants looked on strangely as Zach crawled along the floor with his eyeball almost pressed against the ground. He scrutinized the floor as closely as he could. He studied the console and its stand with all five of his senses. He climbed the statues, looking for anything that might denote the correct order.

It would have been helpful if there was something like a number scratched into their heads. Unfortunately, he didn't find anything like that.

After a while, Zach found himself in front of the name plaque at the base of the statue of Soara of Death and Transcendence. A tall figure whose features were completely hidden by a large robe.

It was the deity with the most powerful-sounding title. Death and Transcendence sounded a little more domineering and overpowering than something like Submission, after all.

That had been an idea for an order. But it was difficult to determine which title was the strongest and how to properly sort the twelve who weren't the strongest.

Still, they had tried to arrange the deities in accordance with the strength of both the deities themselves and their titles. It hadn't worked.

Zach looked at the name plaque. Death and Transcendence certainly sounded strong. But what did Transcendence mean?

Since the other title was that of Death, maybe it had something to do with transcending life.

'Something like immortality?'

Zach furrowed his brow. He didn't much about deities or gods. It wasn't exactly something many in the Empire believed in. They believed in the royal family or themselves.

'Shouldn't gods already be immortal?'

In Zach's understanding and opinion, deities, gods, whatever, should already be transcendent beings. What was the point of having that be their title?

Zach knelt to get a closer look at the plaque.

'Soara of Death and Transcendence.'

Zach looked up. Even from where he was looking, he couldn't even see the stone behind the shadows of the robe's hood. It was like Soara had gone one step further than the faceless deities and completely hid their face.

He turned his gaze to the winged snake. Boa of Rain and Lightning. It was the only other deity with two titles. Why only these two when they seemed to have nothing in common?

It was a confusing situation.

Zach squinted and looked at the word 'Transcendence' again. He reached out to brush it with his finger.

His vision flickered.

Zach blinked, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a battlefield.