Dexter contemplated his option briefly before going back scraping his shoes on the floor. It had been squelching nonstop – from the big cockroaches’ entrails stuck on them – when he killed and flattened them.
Most of his leg from under the knee had also been splattered with it, and he wasn’t sure that even a super strong detergent could clean his pants out of the cockroaches’ gunk. Still, even if there’s nothing he could do about the liquid that had been absorbed into the fabric, he could at least try to make it less like he was wearing filthy wet clothes.
So after he was done scraping the sole of his shoes on the floor, he squeezed out his pants leg while walking and wiped the liquid and crushed innards he could separate from it on the floor. There wasn’t much body fluid he could extract from the clothes, but he did make a disgusting trail from where he was toward the place that was formerly blocked off by the barrier.
Fortunately, there were no other side effects from the insects’ liquid except making my foot slightly itchy and filthy...
My pants look disgusting now. I kind of regret jumping on those cockroaches... Dexter inspected his legs forlornly for another moment before crouching down near the threshold where the barrier and the fence had been before.
What’s the parameter that activates the barrier? The presence of hostile creatures?
What’s the point in barring the entrance when those cockroaches still skittering around? Dexter inspected the place where the barrier had shimmered into existence.
There were no obvious signs to differentiate it from the wall and floor around it except for a long continuous groove and the series of parallel holes where the fence came out.
If I jammed this part, would both of them broke down, or would it only affect the fence?
This was a fantasy world though, so maybe it would work as intended while the jammer fail to do anything?
...It doesn’t actually matter to me right now...Dexter moved his attention toward both ends of the hallway and tried to remember the direction given by the one who summoned him.
I was going to The Blue Tower, and he said it was to the left, right, left and all the way forward, so reversing and then going right, left and right would get me back to the start...
I am pretty sure that I took the correct series of turns, but I got into a hallway instead of the previous four-way intersection...
More like, if the instruction was correct, how come I didn’t arrive at The Blue Tower, but some kind of dead-end?
Dexter looked alternatingly at the place he entered from and the exit across the hallway. There’s no door barring it, but he couldn’t see anything beyond the threshold. It’s like there was a layer of opaque boundary that split up the hallway and the place outside of it.
Should I go forward in that direction, seeing what lies beyond that threshold, or should I double back and use the previous dead end as my starting point?
...now that I think about it, what if the previous dead-end were actually the path to Blue Tower?
Maybe the statue was the lever like object that needed to be activated to open the pathway. It’s not too implausible seeing that there is this fence and barrier mechanism...
At the very least, I haven’t tried to push or pull the statue... Dexter concluded inwardly before doubling back to walk toward the dead end he previously arrived at.
....
Dexter had already had an inkling that the place wasn’t so simple when he failed to reach The Blue Tower before. There was a possibility that either the summoner guy was trying to fool him with bogus direction – which was only possible if he was not afraid of the consequences of directly defying the command of his teacher – or there was something else that made him fail to arrive in his destination.
It made him feel very annoyed that he hadn’t considered the possibility that the terrain might not be static. The passage and corridor moved around without his knowledge, and even moving through it using the same series of turns didn’t guarantee that he could reach the same place every time.
At first, he only felt that there were places that overlapped with one another and corridors that were similar to the previous corridor he had used before. But after he had walked through another couple more killing cage area and looted makeshift weapons from objects decorating some chambers, he saw that there was only a limited variation of rooms.
He didn’t have any marking tools but Dexter had concluded that the terrain was rotated and cycled with a consistent pattern instead of something procedurally generated through a random terrain generator.
It might have been impossible in the real world, but Dexter had entertained the possibilities that ‘it might have been plausible since this was a fantasy world...’
Only a minuscule part of him felt disappointed with that conclusion.
And then he remembered that this was not a VR game but a real world, and there wouldn’t be any achievement at all even if he had 100% in map progression. And then that minuscule part died suddenly, along with an upsurge of tiredness that he had ignored in his quest of ‘Finding The Blue Tower’.
So Dexter picked up a safe room to rest, waiting for his stamina to refresh. Some part of him also hoped that anyone would find him soon, or at least tell him off and point him to where he should be heading to.
...
Dexter sat down leaning on the wall while playing with a steel cane he had liberated from one of the chambers near the third killing cage area. He had used it to bash and crush more than a hundred big cockroaches, and it made a satisfying sound every time he swing it around.
He mulled over the rudimentary map he had made in his mind while idly tracing the bump and dent that now decorated the previously pristine iron cane.
If I was not feeling dizzy and sick... if I had a notepad and pencil at the very least...
Would it be possible for me to find a path all by myself?
If I wasn’t wrong, there was twenty-five variation of the corridor, fifty dilapidated and empty rooms, and about thirty or so small chamber that would have been filled with treasure chests if it was inside the game...
It might not have been all that this building had, but if I had a note and a pencil, I could map what chamber can only be connected to which pathway. And then I could find the pattern of room displacement...
Dexter lazily waved the iron cane around him, lost in thought. His face was calm and neutral, and there’s no trace of impatience he had when he was busy finding a path thirty minutes before. But suddenly Dexter jolted and sat stiffly because he realized something strange.
I had walked for too long and passed many monster corridor, but I only ever reached dead ends and statue chambers at the end of the path...
What if the moving corridor wasn’t connected at all with anything but dead ends? What if the exit path was disconnected from the room’s movement pattern?
I would have been lead around by the hope of finding the exit but would never reach it...
When he thought about the scary possibilities that the moving corridor might have been maliciously designed, Dexter lost the urge to laze around. He stood up and pace around inside a room thinking furiously.
Looking at the uniform worn by the one who summoned me and those people that had stood beyond, this place was some kind of school or academy.
That old man also called out loudly, something about first years and contract...
The chance that I would be lost forever and died of starvation would be minuscule, so I should calm down.
Sooner or later, someone would find me...Dexter smiled slightly. His calm regained, he smiled and walked out of the room to continue exploring, this time he did it aimlessly.
....
It was another hour before something broke the monotony of finding which way a new room connected to and how many cockroaches he found in the kill zone. When he turned toward the left of the armor exhibition corridor, the two individuals - or more like someone and his might-be-a-familiar.
They looked surprised to see him and paused before answering his greeting-hand-wave with an amused lopsided smile (the androgynous young man) and rhythmic body tremble (the earthen colored golem?)
Hey, aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else?” the young man paused, visibly looking around, “Where’s that one you were with?”
“No idea.” Dexter shrugged. “He only told me the direction of where I should go and left.”
“I thought I saw him escorting you...” the young man said with an inquiring expression.
“Yeah, he did. Until we reached a four-way intersection, and then he left in a hurry.”
The young man made an unbelieving expression after hearing the answer, before asking, “...Was it the one with green and white beast statuette above a pillar? Or the blue dragon one? Or the red armored person?”
“One of them, I think.”Dexter thought briefly, but the image of the intersection was blurry “Don’t remember. Probably.”
“Well, what’s your destination?” the young man paused, “Where did Old Luga tell him to bring you?”
“Either Hall of Healing or The Blue Tower.”
The young man made an incredulous expression, muttering “...how did you even reach here?” the golem behind him shook rhythmically like it was someone laughing.
Before Dexter could decide which kind of flippant answer he would use, the young man continued,”...well, who are you anyway? In terms of a name is what I was asking.”
Dexter tilted his head slightly and paused before answering the question with the nickname he preferred to be called with instead of his full name.“Dexter”
“I am Arga, and this is my friend Charble.” Arga introduced himself with a friendly smirk while his golem bobbed up and down at the sound of his name.
“Nice to meet you.” Dexter automatically replied like how it was in foreign language conversation class thoughtlessly.
“Ha. Me too” Arga laughed briefly, and continued,” How about you follow me for a while and I’ll get you to the Hall of Healing after I was done with my current duty?”
“...Sure, why not?” Dexter shrugged.
Arga smiled lopsidedly and turned around, and he inclined his head, gesturing toward Dexter to follow him while Charble just walked without any other reaction but a brief wobble.
...
Arga walked confidently, moving forward without outward sign of confusion on which way to go, while Charble used his big size to keep pace even when he moved with a languid gait like a cat.
“How do you find which way to go?” Dexter asked after a long period of silence.
“Hmm?” Arga made an inquiring expression.
“Doesn’t these corridors moved around?” Dexter expounded his question.
“...” Arga looked at Dexter with an incredulous expression, before answering using his own question “what do you mean moved around?”
“I keep circling around and retracing my steps, but I can’t find the blue tower.” Dexter paused, “It’s always a different room and another hallway no matter which way I go.”
“That’s strange.” Arga stopped his march and looked at Dexter closely.
“...The corridor didn’t move at all? No maze or labyrinth?"
“It did move. After all, this was an amazing fortress, back in a day.”
What’s it got to do with fortress... Dexter complained inwardly.
“No, I mean, even if the maze hallway moved around, it wasn’t to the point of making anyone lost...”
Dexter made a gesture of ‘go on!’ while Arga contemplated something in silence.
“...Ah, you are not a student here, huh. But you already had a contract, though?”
“I don’t think so.” Dexter was going to describe the finger poking through the space crack before he changed his thought and just told things vaguely. “ Something happened, and then there was space crack and the old man said ‘everybody, go back home, fun canceled!’ Or something.”
“...I thought this was just the usual abyss of eternity invasion drill. So this was related to your summoning, huh.”
“Probably. Most likely.”Dexter concluded.
“Then it was easy. Non-affiliated personnel had to wait for guidance or the Academy building will hinder you.”Arga answered with a teasing smile.
“I’m being led around in a circle by the building we’re in?” Dexter made a skeptical expression, “Just like that?”
“Just like that.” Arga answered, before continuing laughingly,” At least you weren’t categorized as a hostile invader, haha. But still...”Arga looked at Dexter appraisingly.
Dexter curled down his lips and look away while sighing.
