Amon walked with Hauka down the tunnel and waited for something to happen, but there was nothing. Only rocks, dirt, and walls.
He wondered if this was part of the test or not. His thoughts went wider, and his gaze met every detail. Until he met a wall right in front of it.
The wall had many symbols and writings on it. Amon examined them; he had never seen these signs before. He didn't know what to do with them, but without any hesitation, the symbols and writings moved, and he could read them. At the top, it said bold.
"Rules of the Game. Jeanne automatically read out loud what was written on it and continued.
"There are several flags hanging in the rooms. The red ones mean you can't use magic or anything else. The blue ones mean you can't use items, and the green ones mean you can use whatever you have. No flags means that you have to find out for yourself what happens in the room."
"Make your way through the first room with this knowledge. Young warriors."
As Jeanne spoke the last word aloud, the door disappeared into smoke and sound without even a hint of what was to come.
To waste any more time, however, was unacceptable to Amon and Jeanne. They wanted and needed to move on.
Amon was the first to go on and saw the corridor slowly widening and widening.
Earlier, there was just enough space in the corridor for Gunnar and Leif to walk side by side. But not much more; no cat could have walked next to them.
But the corridor was now wide, and strange white slime-like things appeared to be spreading on the floor. They were everywhere, covering about 30 cm of the floor with their white slime.
Slowly, the slime disappeared a bit, and the corridor looked as if it were completely normal.
Jeanne suddenly grabbed Amon's arm, trying to stop him from going on.
"This is magic; it's called a step bomb."
Amon didn't know what to do with this information and kept asking.
"And what does that mean now?"
Amon got this short gaze that made him understand that Jeanne looked at him as if he were an adult who still didn't know what 10 + 10 is.
Then she remembered that she once got told that Amon has no interest in magic and wouldn't even know how the basic spells were named or looked. He would, of course, recognize them, but naming them would be impossible for him.
Amon rejected everything that had something to do with magic or mana long ago; he only knows what he needs to know. Things that would be a life savior in battle, but in any other kind of way, he would not even think of studying magic. He would rather get tortured for days than study it for even a second.
"Right, you can't know that. Let me explain. Step bomb is a way for us magicans to store a magic spell or blessing spell into one of these white slime things."
"They work like this.
They can be triggered either by ignition from the magician or by physical contact with a living being."
Amon remembered a mage who once did similar things in battle against him. This mage did not survive the fight. But he left Amon with wisdom. No matter how stupid they may seem, every spell has a meaning and a use, and he should never underestimate them.
"So in a nutshell, they work like a glass bomb. Right?" Amon asked, and Jeanne answered back with a short yes.
Glass bombs really worked almost exactly like this magic. The only difference was that it was an item that looked like a glass ball, and secondly, it only ever caused an explosion. The explosive power varied from sphere to sphere, but there was always an explosion.
Jeanne looked at the ground and could at least feel the mana traces, and this test was harder than she originally thought. The traces were everywhere; they were on the walls, the ground, and even at the top of the tunnel.
"Good listen; I will lead, and you will follow my exact steps. The distances between step bombs are extremely tiny, and if you make even one mistake, you could kill us. Especially when we remember that this bird set these traps."
Jeanne really didn't want to find out what kind of overpowered spells were stored in these things and tiptoed slowly forward.
Amon followed her and made sure to always step on the exact same spot Jeanne stepped on. The whole thing was quickly confronted with a problem when Jeanne said that the distances became even thinner and that it would be really dangerous from now on.
"Hey Jeanne I think we have a problem here. What is your shoe size?"
Jeanne didn't understand what that meant but answered with a proud chest.
"36 why." (22.4 cm or 8.82 inches)
A woman with small feet was considered beautiful in Solendria, and Jeanne knew she was an attractive woman regarding all the other parts of her body. The fact that she had beautiful feet boosted her self-esteem even more.
"And there is the problem: my feet are far bigger than yours, even if I am not the tallest man."
Jeanne looked at Amon's shoes and saw that he was right; it was a wonder that he did not let the bombs detonate with these feet. They were way bigger than hers. Jeanne gave him the understanding that she would look for a different route where he could walk too. It was hard at first, but in the end, it still worked. They worked their way through throwing the step bombs until they reached the end.
"Fuck, I think this is one of the dumpest things I ever did in my life."
Jeanne could only agree. If someone saw what they did, this situation could easily work as some kind of entertainment.
"Good, but this is behind us; let's continue."
They continued to walk down the tunnel, and a new wall was seen. They walked to the end of the tunnel, where the wall opened, and stood a few steps in front of it.
Amon prepared himself; the second room was for sure going to be harder than the first room. He had no clue how many rooms he had to clear. It could be five or twenty. But whatever awaited him, he would do it and master the situation.
They arrived this time in a large room. The room had the form of a circle. Jeanne walked inside, but before she could even make a step, Amon held his arm in front of her and blocked her.
"This whole place is filled with Qi, and it is dangerous. They are twirling around, and there are many types of Qi. Earth, fire, darkness, protection, and destruction are a few examples."
Amon saw all the different types of Qi. There were even some he never saw before; it looks as if they tried to bend themselves into something.
"Does that mean I have to do something with them?" Amon said his thoughts out loud and already wanted to start banding the Qi when Jeanne freed him from this stupid thought.
She pointed at the ceiling. Amon focused on the direction her finger pointed and saw the reason why he should not use qibanding here.
"This is probably the biggest red flag I have ever seen in my life."
On the ceiling was a huge red flag positioned inside the rocks, and this meant any kind of power was forbidden. The way it was written on the door
'This really is a text I personally prepared for both of us.' Amon though. This room had no powers, no items, only physical capabilities. However, Hesition was an absolute no-go for Amon. He jumped right into the middle of the room. Jeanne followed him and landed to Amon's left.
Amon looked around and saw how the Qi around him bended its shape on its own; they gave themselves to flames and ariblasts first.
A voice suddenly appeared in their heads and told them what they had to do.
"Give me a magnificent show of your qibanding, but first of all, you have to get rid of the red flag in this room. Nobody wants to spend time with a red flag for too long in one room, right?"
In a matter of seconds, chaos ruled this room and made it difficult for the two.
"Jeanne, prepare yourself; this is not going to get easy."