After a while of solving the cube and suppressing its power from the world, Remuel had went off to the dungeon guided by Bethany alone. The king offered multiple guards to accompany them but Remuel refused saying that nobody in the country can parallel him.
Now the two of them looked towards the large door which opened the dungeon completely. Remuel's eyes were still glowing from absorbing the magical energy of the cube. He was exuding a powerful aura which was even capable of instilling a little fear on Bethany. She asked Remuel if he could do anything about it but he gave her a clear answer. "No can do, if I release it now in this state, it would make it too destructive. In fact, I'm still absorbing its energy as it continues to accumulate more." Remuel was still highly focused on handling the cube as the two walked into the hallway.
Eventually, they found a large pedestal which contains a small square hole which was meant for the cube that was on Remuel's hands. "Seems like it's meant to be placed here, better step back in case it blows up." After giving instructions to Bethany, he then placed the cube right into the square hole and released his suppressing of the magic power. Just as the power surged around completely in the cube, it was quickly sealed by a barrier that seemed to be enough to control the magic in there. It was then the pair were able to see the door slowly open right in front of them. "Now this is something that will definitely excite anybody." Remuel smiled as he casually walked into the door. Bethany was quickly alerted as Remuel was walking down in a dungeon filled with endless traps. "Remuel, you shouldn't walk in so-" Just before she finished her sentence, Remuel was seen being attacked by hundreds of arrows. Bethany widened her eyes as she was worried that Remuel will be punctured by arrows. But the fact that he didn't dodge at all caused her to panic. However, that panic was pretty much unneeded as all the arrows that were meant to pierce him, simply passed through him as if they were illusions. "As expected of a dungeon, starts the fun part right away eh?" When Bethany took a second look, most arrows were blocked by some invisible barrier that's covering the entire door. "What... Did you just do...?" She was shocked at Remuel's capabilities scaling beyond her expectations. "What do you mean? This much stuff is pretty simple on our part. Besides, I know there's gonna be a quiz at the very least." Remuel waited for the arrows to end. What Remuel did was to create an invisible field that will only stop physical objects. This would make any magical object made by illusion pass through without issues. The idea he had was that, the arrows he stopped may be a possible hint to clear the room.
After the traps stopped throwing illusions and actual arrows, Remuel advanced into the room. He looked around as he saw a similar view of the entrance he was seeing. "Hmm... Design wise, it's not pretty good." Remuel started thinking about the design which made Bethany retort on his words. Bethany herself looked around for the question to advance to the room. "Oh! A magic stone! And this is..." She started reading the text next to the magic stone. "Out of the one thousand arrows shot out from the entrance, how many of which are illusions...?" She turned to Remuel as he displayed a smug expression. She then turned back to read the instructions on how to answer. "Pour mana into the magic stone while thinking of the answer to submit. Making a mistake will forcefully teleport you to the entrance and restart the dungeon." She groaned in discomfort about being teleported back to the start whenever they make a mistake. Remuel then chipped in with the answer after he counted the arrows that were shot at him. "Two hundred and seventy-five were stopped by my field. So the answer should be seven hundred and twenty-five illusions." After being told by his findings, Bethany poured some mana into the mana stone while thinking of the answer. The door then started to open right in front of them.
They entered the second room which did not have any traps. They looked around and realized that the room was handled a little better than the first room. Which meant that preservation magic was used for the entire dungeon, but couldn't reach the first room that well. Before long, Bethany had found the pedestal containing the next question while Remuel was adding some lighting by summoning fire wisps. The issue that the room had was too dark for their liking. "Push this button after getting the correct combination of levers to proceed to the next room." At first, there were no hints that could be found in the room. This caused Bethany to scratch her head while complaining. She looked around and couldn't find any lever hanging on the wall.
After a while, Remuel finished lighting up the entire room and found the levers. It was a five by five grid which made him groan in displeasure. The worst part is that, some of them were already already flipped down which made him question which is which. "Criminy, second room and I'm already stumped." Remuel started thinking deeply while Bethany was somewhat losing hope. She muttered something while sitting down on the ground. "Just how are we able to even..." Remuel then looked around while thinking about the possibilities. There were literally zero hints that could be found for his wake. That was until he looked up, the ceiling was still pretty dark for him to be able to see clearly. He wore a pair of glasses which used to improve his eyesight, but magic was simply used to amplify his vision. Now, he uses the glasses to translate any written language he sees. "I see now... That's how they want to play it." He found a hint and quickly went to work with pulling the levers. "Eh? What did you see Remuel?" Bethany stood up as the light in her eyes returned. "You see, the ceiling had symbols of an [X] and a diamond gem shape. The [X] one had a symbol going upwards, while the diamond one had it downwards. As Remuel pulled the lever down to start working on the diamond shape of the grid, he felt a stop at the very middle of the pull. "Then, what about the empty space?" Bethany asked a question which could pretty much make him think about it more. Even Remuel wasn't going to be happy of being teleported out of the dungeon. But he quickly dismissed the issue as he got an idea. "Well, there was a stop at the middle as well, so it should be like this." Remuel pushed the lever up on one that should be an empty space. It was stopped at the middle and almost didn't budge any further. Remuel decided to keep it at that and continued working on the levers.
Eventually, he finished setting up the levers the way he wanted and prompted Bethany to press the button. Nervously, she pressed the button in a gentle manner, and hoped for the best to not get teleported out.
Nothing happened for a while. A minute had passed awkwardly as the pair waited for the door to open, or for them to get teleported out. Without telling her anything, Remuel was listening to the mechanical parts turning around and slowly reaching the point of activation. Eventually, the door finally opened, removing the nervous behavior coming from Bethany. She sighed in relief as she was really hoping for Remuel's idea to succeed. But as she saw Remuel's expression of indifference she pretty much muttered as a complaint. "Geez... You're quite amazing you know? To be that confident in an answer and not be nervous in a dungeon. Makes me think that scholars of our stature can't even win in terms of common knowledge against a noble of your land." Remuel simply shrugged his shoulders as a response while helping her clear her mind. "It's just the way things are. But you should at least shoulder the pride of gaining the experience to enter a dungeon that allows you to think broader. Besides, you're with me, I'll be able to solve most of these puzzles with ease. So be sure to take some notes aight?" Remuel smiled as he stood in front of her. Bethany widened her eyes on Remuel's proposition, and asked him by reaching her hand out. "Help me up." Remuel sighed and took her hand to pull her up to a standing position. "Here you go." He then walked towards the entrance of the next room they will solve.
The room had similar design than those preceding it. However, it wasn't as dark as the last room and as old as the first room. As for the main difference, it has a large wire that's ignited as the two walked into the room. The rope was slowly being burnt out right in front of them. They quickly figured that the rope was a timer that ignited upon their entrance. The two started to run towards the pedestal in the middle but the ground started to shake. Since Remuel was ahead, the two were separated by a wall of dirt that was suddenly erected. Bethany looked around and noticed a ladder to climb up. Eventually she was able to step on a floor made up of glass. She turned her gaze to a pedestal nearby and read the instructions. "This puzzle requires two people, a runner, and a navigator. The runner must reach the end of the maze before the rope is burnt out. Failing to reach the end will cause the navigator's... Death..." Bethany's jaw lowered down as she realized what the two had brought themselves upon. She tried to look for the ladder that brought her up, but it was already covered by dirt before she even knew it.
Bethany was simply a daughter of a count. She became a scholar that lived for the knowledge of magic to improve the lives of people of the country. However, her pursuit of knowledge caused her to be completely detached from her family, as they were framed by a crime done a higher noble and pushed to one innocent person. She was starting to remember the struggles of her life but she was suddenly brought back to reality as Remuel's voice came into her mind. "Bethany! Can you hear me?!" Remuel's shout was something that completely interrupted her from having her life flash before her eyes. He was already trying to navigate the maze on his own as if he was listening to what the instructions and punishments are. "Sounds like you can, your wailing stopped there. Listen, can you come around and identify which routes have a high-risk and a high-reward. If you wish to live, then you better come around now. Trust in me and you'll live." Remuel was still frantically dodging the arrows that were coming out as traps in the maze. Even the runner was having a major risk as he was constantly being shot with arrows or illusions.
Eventually she rushed to Remuel and helped him progress through the maze swiftly. But there was a slight issue. "I swear on my life if you look up, I'll kill you." When Remuel heard that declaration, he quickly understood the reason why. Bethany was wearing a skirt while currently guiding him over a glass floor. Despite such a handicap, Remuel actually finished the maze by taking the riskiest routes, and avoiding them all with ease. They finished it in just half time and reunited on the lower side.
Bethany sighed out of relief as the anxiety of dying in vain had disappeared. Remuel understood her feelings as she was suddenly brought to a room that could potentially kill her. "Let's take a break here aye?" Remuel pressed the button which lowered the entire maze and the two sat down for a break.