“Oh the great Lord of the Moon, grant me flames beyond pyro!” 

 

The cultist chants and then unleashes several fireballs that fly through the tunnels. They light up the surrounding walls wherever they go, and they turn and twist at each intersection of the cave as if looking for someone. 

 

Under the floor of the cave, a small pocket is dug out. A young man and a youthful-looking woman stand on each side of a single torch. 

 

It's quite a strange torch, the flame doesn't burn, and the smoke doesn't choke. Corcell has a strange feeling that it can burn indefinitely. 

 

But there's a more important thing to focus on at this time. 

 

“I do not have any means to attack, do you?” Feng asks. The two have formed an alliance against their common enemy. 

 

Corcell closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths. It is by now that Feng notices that underneath the smell of blood and dirt, Corcell emits a slight but soothingly fragrant scent. 

 

After feeling her own energy for a bit, Corcell replies: “Not at the moment. I have lost a great amount of my original power, and have been badly wounded. But if I can have some time to recover, I can gather some strength.”

 

“Basically we're no match for him face to face, got it.” Feng analyzes. Fan-f*#king-tastic. “He put you through a really bad time, eh?”

 

“It was a bloody battle. They struck when I was at my weakest.” Corcell says. “Buy me some time, I think I can charge up a single strike! A direct hit should be able to take him down!”

 

“How long are we talking?” Feng asks as his brain gears are turning faster than they ever have before. 

 

“I can be ready in… 5 minutes.” Corcell pauses for a bit mid-sentence. 

 

“Will that really be enough?” Feng questions. 5 minutes isn't even enough to recover from stubbing a toe, much less whatever this girl has been through. 

 

Corcell of course would prefer a longer time to recover, but from her battle with the cultist, she doesn't think that the young man before him can survive any longer. 

 

To be honest, she never planned to get him involved to begin with. But because Feng is insisting, and because of his mysterious confidence, Corcell decides to trust him. 

 

“How long can you give me?” Corcell asks. 

 

Now Feng falls silent. In Terraria, fights usually end in about 2 to 5 minutes. They feel much longer because the game designs its progression really well to make every boss a thrill to fight. 

 

And also an ass-clench on harder difficulties. 

 

However, Feng doesn't think that game logic is fitting for his planning. Everything he has been through in the last 4 hours has informed him that he is not in a video game. This is real life. It has elements from video games, but it's still real life. 

 

First, the cultist doesn't instantly know where he is. That's already different from the game where the boss just knows the player's location at all times by default. 

 

Second, this cultist is wandering around and turning left and right in those tunnels that he has dug. This probably suggests that he can't see or go through walls like how the bosses can phase through blocks. 

 

There might really be ways that he can hold the cultist off for that long. 

 

“Keep yourself safe and run away if you need to.” Corcell reminds. Feng's silence is making her uncomfortable. She still blames herself for dragging Feng into their current predicament. 

 

“Yeah right.” Feng scuffs. If the cultist wants him dead, there is no running away. So the cultist must be defeated or else. 

 

He literally has no accessories right now, so he stands no chance out running someone who probably can fly. 

 

“I'll buy you all the time you want, just make sure you can defeat that guy.” Feng affirms.

 

A brief discussion later: 

 

“Alright, so that'll be our plan. I'll buy you 10 minutes and provide you a distraction at the end so you can take him by surprise.” Feng receives a nod from the Archon and takes the torch into his inventory. Apparently, the Archon can see in the dark, which gives them an advantage.

 

“But first, we will need a deception for that surprise.”

 

Some digging and building later, Feng digs down back to the tunnels. Right before a fireball could spot him, he digs more to go under the floor and seals the entrance. The clicking noises made by his pickaxe attract the cultist’s attention, and a slow but firm-sounding footstep is heard approaching Feng’s general direction. 

 

“Gotta do something about the noises. Can’t I dig quieter? Wait!” Feng suddenly thinks of something and opens his inventory. 

 

“Settings!” He thinks to himself, and as luck would have it, he does open a menu. The setting page has a lot fewer options compared to the real game, probably due to many options not applying in real life. 

 

There’s no cursor, for example. Also no quit button.

 

However, there are sounds.

 

Feng selects the volume option and sees two bars: one for music, and the other for sounds. The music is at 0%, and the sound at 100%.

 

Feng slides the dial for the sound until it too is at 0%. He then digs up a single block, and there's indeed no sound made. 

 

Sneak 100.

 

Even his footsteps are muted. 

 

He widens the space he has. The one that's one block underneath the general location of the cultist. 

 

Right now he has reached different corners of the tunnels. Feng takes out his Portal Gun and shoots an orange portal onto one of the walls. 

 

The cultist comes to a halt; the sudden quietness makes him feel quite uneasy. Even though his eyes can see his targets in the dark, it won't work if they are hiding behind walls. And there is an unexpected amount of walls in this cave. 

 

No matter how the cultist looks, the layout of this cave doesn't make sense. 

 

Inside the base of this mountain are countless tunnels each intersecting with the rest. The tunnels are all perfectly square-shaped. Periodically there will also be pockets of space, as if that part of the mountain has had a chunk of it taken out. It's also vast, the tunnels seem to reach on indefinitely. 

 

Furthermore, for a layout this convoluted, there is not a single sign or any landmark to be found anywhere. Chaotic is the sole definition suited for its layout. It is like a maze designed by the most proficient and sadistic engineer while they're drunk. 

 

The whole thing was, of course, dug out by Feng. And he was, naturally, not doing it with the intent to confuse people. He simply dug wherever he went randomly. After all, he didn’t expect anyone to actually enter those tunnels, and he has a map from his system.

 

The thought of retrieving begins to sprout within the cultist’s mind, but he resists the urge against his better judgment. Capturing the Cloud Archon and obtaining the location of the Shimmer is a mission that he must not fail. 

 

Feng is currently below the cultist with a single layer of stone block separating the two. 

 

He has moved quite far from his first portal and is now ready to deploy the second one. 

 

Without torches, Feng can hardly see anything. If the cultist wanders for too long, then Crocell will surely be found. 

 

“If only I had some potions…” Feng wishes in his mind. Just as he is strategizing, looking through every item in his inventory, he suddenly sees, in his field of view, an icon of a bunny wearing a hard hat begins to vaguely emerge. 

 

Feng is shocked. He recognizes that icon from the game. That Bob the Builder Bunny Button is the Power Menu. The Power Menu is a feature of Terraria called Journey Mode. Basically, think of it as the game's cheat menu. 

 

However, compared to the rest of his inventory, that power menu is significantly more translucent. 

 

Feng imagines opening the power menu, and sees the various frames of the options within. Every option appears vague and translucent that Feng can't tell one from another. 

 

Opening the option with the largest interface, Feng deduces that that must be the item menu where he can obtain an infinite amount of anything that he has researched. 

 

Good news, the menu appears full with a tiny scroll bar. It would appear that a large number of items has been researched, perhaps even all. 

 

Bad news, with each new layer of options Feng opens in his power menu, the icons become more and more blurry. 

 

Right now that item menu appears closer to what people use to censor stuff on TV. Feng has seen games from 20 years ago with higher resolution than this menu. 

 

But Feng isn't discouraged from trying out this new feature. Even though this Journey Mode power appears a little unusual, if it can work, the rewards would be immeasurable. Feng begins to test it out, and he imagines searching for a dangersense potion. 

 

In Terraria, potions are another way for the player to power up. Some potions increase the player's stats, like attack, defense, and speed, but usually, potions can bring various intriguing effects. 

 

Superpowers in a bottle that you can drink. 

 

Feng stares unmoving at that blob of pixels that is the item menu, spelling Dangersense in his mind. 

 

The items in the menu begin to flash. The more Feng spells the name of the item, the fewer items appear on the menu. Until he finishes the name of the item, and there's only one single orange icon left on the screen. 

 

While Feng can't tell even the shape of the icon due to the low resolution, Feng knows that it must be what he's seeking. 

 

The cave is dark, while Feng has the map of its layout, he can't quite see where the cultist is. Yes, every one of the cultist's attacks lights up the surroundings, but being only able to see after an attack will put Feng at a very reactive spot. 

 

Considering how he has no armor and no accessories. Feng needs to be more careful. And a dangersense potion will help with just that. 

 

He imagines taking the dangersense potion out of the power menu and into his inventory. The blurry icon soon begins to become more and more clear. Then suddenly: Dangersense Potion.

 

Feng sees a string of texts indicating that the potion has indeed been added to his inventory. However, before he even has the chance to be excited, the area around him gets brighter and brighter then suddenly:

 

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

 

A scorching incineration suddenly covers Feng. Every inch of his body suddenly sprouts out flames of orange, purple, blue, and green. Feng feels as if every hair on his skin, even the ones he can't see, are becoming wigs like that of a candle, and the wax is the fat underneath his skin. 

 

The pain strikes fast and hard, taking over his mind in an instant. Feng wants to tear up his own clothings and throw them as far away from himself as he can, and the idea of doing that to his own skin also soon emerges.  

 

Feng looks around in his panic, not knowing what to do yet not stopping to look for anything that may help him in this situation. A red debuff icon is spotted under his inventory. Feng inspects: 

 

Otherworldly Alignment: effects of Hellfire, Shadowflame, Frostburn, Cursed Inferno. “You have used the power that belongs neither to you nor this world, the flames shall cleanse what ought to not exist.”

 

His cry echoes throughout the tunnels. Corcell’s expression appears colder than ever. She knew that she shouldn't have let the young man face the cultist alone. Before Corcell dashes out of her hiding though, she suddenly calms down and thinks. The screaming came from quite far from her location, and that can mean many things. 

 

First, Feng could have been defeated by the Cultist. In which case she wouldn't be surprised if he has given out her hiding spot. 

 

But second, this could also have been Feng trying to distract the cultist and lead him away from her. Corcell thinks to herself, trying and failing to ignore the fact that the cry she heard was too real to have been acted. She has heard her citizens cry just like that when her Cloud City crumbled in the hands of the Lunatic Cult. 

 

She continues to focus on gathering elemental power, all while focusing on any more noises around her. If she detects the cultist approaching her, then she’ll reveal herself for her final battle. 

 

The cultist, on the other hand, goes toward the source of the screaming. The flames did not last long, and afterward Feng does not spot anywhere on him that was actually burned. He collapses to the ground and breathes heavily. The pain was real, but as far as he can tell, he received no physical damage. 

 

Feng is excited. Being in journey mode is significant. Not just because of the various powers that it can bring, but more importantly, if he is in journey mode, he should be able to respawn after death. 

 

But at the same time, he is also scared. The debuff he just received is one that he has never seen before. Because of that, right now Feng can no longer be sure that this Journey Mode is safe to use. 

 

He wishes to test out his power further, but first, he must take care of the cultist. 

 

Down the orange potion, Feng is now able to see a robed figure highlighted in red approaching him one layer above. This is the power of the dangersense potion: it reveals to the drinker sources of danger, like enemies and traps, even through blocks. Or in this case, through walls. 

 

The cultist arrives near Feng, still seeing no one around. Feng, on the other hand, can see exactly where the cultist is. He shoots his Portal Gun at a far edge of the underground tunnel away from the first portal, and readies his pickaxe.

 

“Inconceivable! How come they have both disappeared!? Could that brat be digging into the ground like those Geo lizards?” the cultist wonders out loud.

 

“Bingo! Ugly!” 

 

The cultist hears someone speak underneath and looks down. The ground below him is cracking up at an incredible rate, and before he could even react, the cultist begins to fall. 

 

He looks up to see that a young man now stands at the edge of the hole he has just fallen into, torch in one hand and an orange glowing pickaxe in the other. 

 

The cultist falls fast and for a long time; Feng has dug quite a deep hole right below the cultist. Feng himself has ascended to the surface by the stairs he dug beside the hole. He sealed off the stairs afterward of course. 

 

The cultist chants to his amulet, but Feng isn't gonna let him. While he doesn't have any powerful, usable weapon right now, he has nearly 1000 silt blocks from his mining. 

 

Feng quickly places down his silt blocks with the hand speed of a gamer with 20 years of lonely training. The cultist has just began to speak when he feels a sudden heavy weight smashing him straight to the bottom. 

 

The hole is soon filled to the brim with silt, and Feng even jumps onto it a bit as if that could further compress them. 

 

He seriously doubts that a late-game boss can be defeated with silt blocks, but even if the blocks can slow him down for just a bit, it could mean the chance for victory. 

 

Feng quickly envisions the power menu again, this time he searches right for the Zenith. However, even after checking the spelling over and over again, the search yielded no result. It'd appear that the Zenith has not yet been researched by his Block System. 

 

Disappointed but not surprised. It is the most powerful item in the game (besides boulders) after all.

 

Feng immediately begins to search for nukes instead. Nukes are rockets that can serve as ammunition for his Celebration Mk2. Luckily for him, this time he sees a couple of blurry icons appearing. They must be nuke 1 and nuke 2, one will destroy the surroundings when it explodes, the other won't. 

 

He can't tell which is which, and has no time to figure that out. Therefore Feng simply starts to grab anything he could obtain. The Otherworldly Alignment debuff returns, and Feng once again collapses onto the ground screaming at the indescribable pain he is feeling. Unlike the potion, the rocket is manifesting very slowly. 

 

Within seconds Feng sees that shade of red around his field of view. This happened before when he received too many hits from that water slime, and Feng suspected it being an indication of low HP. 

 

Feng can't see his own HP amount, but that red shade is hard to ignore. As the color continued to brighten, Feng decided to stop his retrieval. Disappointingly, after cancellation, Feng is left with nothing. 

 

“OW! SHI- SH KEBAB!!!”

 

Meanwhile, down the hole.

 

“Oh the great Lord of the Moon, grant me winds beyond Anemo!” A sound is barely heard from the bottom of the silt hole, so muffled it sounds like the guy swallowed an entire wardrobe's worth of socks while speaking.

 

A powerful windstorm blasts the silt out of the hole, filling the tunnels with dust. The cultist steps on the wind and levitates back out to the surface. His eyes are blood-red with rage, and he even sneezes out a puff of dust that formed into the shape of a dramatic angry skull. 

 

“Wow, that was a huge fart.” Feng thinks to himself. 

 

“Alright you son of a b*%ch! Looks like I underestimated your little tricks.” The cultist declares, but he sees no one. Feng has once again dug underground. 

 

Feng quickly moves to the other far end of his tunnel and reaches the blue portal that he has set up earlier. Stepping through it feels like nothing; the portals warp the space perfectly. Now that Feng sees his setup has been completed, he returns to his enemy from the new direction. 

 

The cultist chats to his amulet, and quickly manifests a golden transmutation circle. Two clones of the cultist fade out of his body, each standing at the rim of the circle. The cultist isn’t feeling the happiest, as he is now using the move that he originally had saved for the Cloud Archon. 

 

“Guess I’ll have to tear you to pieces before I tackle her!”