Chapter Twelve
TRIAL OF INTELLIGENCE
A wheel was in front of Dionysus again. It was the same one that had declared him arrogant, something that Dionysus didn't take that badly.
'So, is this the thing that decides what trials I'll be going through?'
Dionysus walked around the wheel and began to inspect it. It was around the size of him, and had some perplexing patterns on the back of it, but besides that, it was just a wheel.
You have been determined to be arrogant already. Now . . .
WHIING
It once again began to spin. Dionysus couldn't even interfere with it, as everytime he brought his hand close to it, there seemed to be an invisible barrier that would repel him. His fate truly was left up to the wheel before him.
In a similar fashion to last time, it spun for half a minute before stopping. This time, it had landed on . . .
IRRATIONAL
'I'm pretty rational, or at least I think I am . . .'
Dionysus looked over the life that he hadn't even lived a year of. He hadn't had many social interactions during that time, but through the ones that he did have, he didn't consider himself to be irrational, or at least to a significant degree.
RUMBLE
A large vibration shook the oval room that he stood within, and soon after, three stands rose before Dionysus. Each of them had a singular item on them, all of them visually appealing.
Behind them, Asclepius appeared before Dionysus.
"You! Oi, get me out of here!"
After experiencing just a single trial, Dionysus already wanted to exit the dungeon. Sadly, with the way that Asclepius stared at Dionysus in disappointment, it seemed he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.
"I thought you said you would do it? Or are you simply a man with a mouth that promises too much?"
Asclepius purposely threw out some bait to lure Dionysus into his trap. Of course, being the type of man that he was, Dionysus had no intention of not taking it.
"I can fulfill everything that I set out to do, it's just that I'm not interested in doing this little dungeon of yours. In the first place, why is a person like you questioning me? Moron."
Dionysus threw out some bait while taking a bite of the bait that Asclepius had thrown out. He was too prideful to just let his comment slide, but he also saw it as a chance to make the man feel bad so he could leech of his emotions.
'If this goes according to plan, then his negativity should help me throughout the rest of the trials.'
In short, Dionysus was trying to manipulate him.
"Oh? What's this? A participant of my own dungeon is trying to manipulate me, the boss?"
Asclepius dared to mock Dionysus for attempting to provoke him. Little did he know that the mockery that was being unleashed unto Dionysus through him also helped Dionysus grow his little cloud.
"Hah, I feel more at ease now. You can head out now, Asclepius."
Dionysus gestured for Asclepius to get out of his sight with a wave of his hand. Asclepius, however, had other plans.
"Sadly, I'm required for this current trial."
'Oh . . . well that's fine.'
Dionysus sighed, but then gestured for Asclepius to begin the trial. Asclepius cleared his throat and then proceeded to begin the trial.
"This is the trial of intelligence. On these three pedestals are three separate items, each of them worth thousands."
Asclepius did all this while gesturing at them as if they weren't obvious to see.
"On the first one is a pure gold necklace with a ruby in the middle of it. On the second one is a ring with a diamond imbued into it. As for the last one, it's a key to something in this world. You can take it, but it might or might not be utilized in this dungeon. For all we know, it could be a door all the way in the royal palace of the empire."
'The wheel declared I was irrational, so this trial is probably one that attempts to make me rational. If that's the case, the key is already eliminated.'
Dionysus understood that the key most likely led to the best reward, but that was in due time. If one were to think rationally, nobody would take a risk such as taking a key that might not even lead to somewhere impressive when they had the other two options before them.
'The key does sound appealing, but it has to go. As for the last two . . .'
Dionysus stared at both of them, and although he couldn't confirm if the resources he said they were were actually true, he trusted Asclepius to not lie. After all, he had assured Dionysus that this was a most difficult dungeon, so he was still most likely gambling on the fact that Dionysus would die.
"Am I allowed to go up to them and touch them?"
Although Dionysus thought he already had the answer in the bag, he still would've liked to confirm it.
"As long as you don't tamper with them, you can touch them all you like."
Asclepius bowed to Dionysus in a respectful manner, which somewhat made Dionysus feel good. However, it didn't distract him from the fact that because of his respectful demeanor, Asclepius had lowered the amount of negativity in the room.
'Damn you to hell.'
Dionysus went up and inspected both of them. To be more specific, he shook both of them to see what kind of sound emerged from each one.
After jiggling both of them, the natural answer that the necklace was louder emerged. At this point, Dionysus had it sealed. Although it seemed that the necklace would be worth more, he knew the correct choice was the ring.
"I have decided upon the ring."
"Oh? Care to explain why? If it isn't a rational, thought through argument, a punishment might await you."
THUMP
Without his approval, Dionysus' heart began to go faster.
'Huh? This wasn't explained by him to be a part of the trial.'
Dionysus didn't realize that he could somehow be punished by this trial which didn't seem to be dangerous at all. However, considering that it was a dungeon, Dionysus did realize that quite literally anything could happen within this oval room.
AHEM
Dionysus cleared his throat so as to not mess up while speaking, and then proceeded to explain why he picked the ring.
"I picked the ring because of two different reasons. For number one, I compared it to the key. While the key was slightly tempting, it wouldn't be rational to pick something that may not even have a reward when I can get something guaranteed. For number two, the ring is the most inconspicuous. With the other two, you can shake them around and they'll produce a heavier sound than the ring. Along with that, it has the smallest size, so it would attract less attention."
HAAAH
Dionysus spoke of everything with a singular breath, so he was somewhat exasperated. However, nonetheless, he thought he had conveyed his points perfectly. He looked up at Asclepius, who was currently rubbing his beard.
"Hmm, you truly did think rationally during this."
'What's going on?'
While on the outside, Asclepius was calm and unemotional, he was currently having a mental breakdown.
'Why is Dionysus being rational so easily? Is the wheel broken? Can a man such as this really be considered irrational?'
Asclepius has heard of cases where a person's bad traits are removed very easily, but those cases usually took at least a day to deal with the negative traits. Yet, the man who stood before him seemed to erase his irrationality in a split second.
"You are correct, so you may proceed to the final trial. Let's hope that this one is at least a challenge for you."
Asclepius looked back and waved at Dionysus as he was walking away before randomly disappearing into thin air. Dionysus assumed it was just a special feature of a dungeon that only the master can utilize, so he left it at that.
'Alright, one more trial and then I'm out.'
The end was in sight for Dionysus. All that was left was a singular wheel spin to determine the end. No matter the result, Dionysus was confident that he would be able to beat it.
'So far, the two I've been through so far are nothing impressive, but more similar to things I should scoff at.'
The wheel came down before him, but this time there was nothing on it. That was, nothing on it except for one option and an arrow.
"Huh? Oi, Cockroach. Your wheel busted or something? Thing looks like it's seen better days."
Dionysus tapped on the wheel once, twice, thrice, but nothing happened. There truly was only a single option to be picked. As for Asclepius, the man had snuck off to someplace.
'That goddamned scoundrel . . .'
You have arrived upon the final trial. Finally, you have been deemed to be . . .
WHISH
For the last time that he would ever hear it, Dionysus listened to the wheel as it spun round and round. Of course, he already knew what it was going to land on.
'Of course, it's going to land on . . .'
HINDRANCE
He somewhat understood the previous two, but he couldn't understand the point of this one. When it came to hindrance, it could mean a lot of things.
'Does it mean I'm a hindrance to others? That others are a hindrance to me? That my mentality is a hindrance to my progress?'
Dionysus was left with a guessing game as the wheel rose into the roof and disappeared. The room began to vibrate for the closing time, and Dionysus watched as the room slowly morphed from an oval into a cube.
After that, a pyramid type thing rose into the air, with him all the way on top of it. There were stairs on all four sides, all of them leading down to the ground of the room. However, the stairs weren't the thing to worry about, but rather the beings at the bottom of them.
CHING
It felt as if the world had slowed down, including himself. Dionysus looked around, trying to see what made that sound.
'Just what do I have to dea- . . .'
He saw it. His eyes finally made contact with the thing that made the sound. It wasn't an organism, or anything even close to being alive.
It was just a simple chain. Yet, the second that Dionysus saw it, his eyes, nay, his pupils swelled to an extremely large size. And then . . .
"HA-AH-AHHHHHHHH!"
Dionysus didn't know why, but he was terrified. He was utterly horrified at the sound and sight of a chain flying by him. He curled up into a ball and began to bawl like a baby. He held his legs with one hand and then began biting his nails on the other one.
'Go away, go away, go away, go away, go away, go away, go away . . .'
Dionysus muttered this within his mind. The words seemed to echo from within, and his fear only continued to rise and rise. After some time, his mind just became an echo chamber in which nothing else could be heard.
'N-No, what's there to be afraid of. It's j-just a chain . . .'
Dionysus, who was currently curled up and covering his head, dared to peek above his knees to see what or who lied before him. The results, however, were not as optimistic as the thoughts that Dionysus had.
Before him, a throne made of chains was floating in the air, suspended by even more chains that appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Sitting on it was a man who also had many big, medium, and small chains attached to him. The man had long, grey hair, and a fair face.
"You . . . have not changed at all, young Dionysus."
The man spoke. Dionysus understood that the man had just spoken up, yet he couldn't reply. All he could do was stare in awe and terror at the scenario unfolding before him.
"This dungeon was made so that people could better themselves and emerge stronger. Yet, you haven't changed . . ."
"Did I, perhaps, imbue an evil within you worse than what I imagined I had actually implemented?"
While saying this, he stroked the bottom of his chin with his left hand. Dionysus was still paralyzed to his spot, unable to move even an inch.
"No, you can't be evil. Are you, perhaps, insane?"
This time, the chained man stood up and began to seemingly walk on air towards Dionysus.
"If that's the case, I'm going to need to see you. We are brethren, one of a kind, birds of a flock, and so on, Dionysus."
After all, you are my successor..