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[Welcome to the 5th Floor, the Labyrinth]
[Your Map is inaccessible until you clear the Floor]
[The 5th Floor is a group Floor, you will be randomly teamed up with other areas]
[You unlocked the Team privilege]
[Team: Team up with others and move across floors together]
[Quest: Leave]
[Description: The Labyrinth is an endless and ever-changing place with many dangers. Leave the Labyrinth before you venture so far off that you will never find an exit again]
[Rewards: 500 Silver coins, Random Potion]
[Insight: Hidden Quest]
[Description: Kill the Minotaur in the center of the Labyrinth]
[Rewards: Unknown]
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"Finally another Hidden Quest but why is it another place from mythology?" Orthis wondered as he appeared in a dimly lit stone tunnel.
"The loss of the map doesn't really bother me since I have one included in my HUD but the changing structure could be a bit problematic," Orthis thought when he received a message.
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[Urman: I see you finally finished the 4th Floor]
[Orthis: How did you know?]
[Urman: I saw the team invite function lit up on your profile. Anyway, wanna team up?]
[Orthis: Sure but how would that work? You already spend at least a few days on this one.]
[Urman: We would be transported to a new Labyrinth to start anew]
[Orthis: Wouldn't that reset all your progress? I think it would make more sense to team up on higher floors.]
[Urman: That's the thing, I'm terrible with directions. I'm even more lost than usual, I don't think I will be able to leave the Labyrinth any time soon without help.]
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Orthis had to laugh a bit when he learned his friend's embarrassing secret, it kind of reminded him of a certain green-haired swordsman from Earth.
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[Orthis: Sure but give me a few minutes, there are still a few things I want to do]
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He still needed to get his rewards from the last floor, not to mention he wasn't wearing any clothes right now since he used them to bandage himself.
Since he now had access to his Inventory again, he began eating normal food again. He never appreciated bread so much.
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[Rewards have been calculated and delivered to your Inventory]
[Due to your actions, the 4th Floor is no longer usable, a new Floor will be created]
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"Looks like I caused quite the stir there, let's just hope I don't get the attention of some trouble some people like the crazy dude from Earth."
Orthis checked his Inventory and there indeed were a few new items, two potions, a golden card, a rainbow-colored gem, and the leather armor from the normal quest.
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[Item: Mid-level Restoration Potion]
[Description: Heals large wounds, recovers stamina and Mana. It can't regenerate limbs, soul damage, or scars.]
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Without hesitation, Orthis downed the whole bottle and instantly felt the cold liquid travel down his throat. The effect was almost instant as he felt better than he did in weeks. He still had some scars on his arm and shoulder but he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
Scars need to be earned and they told stories. The scar on his arm would forever remind him how he created his most trusted weapon while the one on his shoulder would remind him to never be too confident and underestimate an enemy.
After putting on some new clothes and the leather armor above that, Orthis looked at the other items.
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[Item: Talent Awakening Elixir]
[Description: Awakens someone's Talent. Doesn't work if the drinker already has a Talent]
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"Useless"
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[Item: Challenge Card]
[Description: With this card, you can challenge anyone on your floor to a death match where the winner takes all.]
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"This is… dangerous. I have no use for it for now but I better not let others find out I have this. From my understanding this card allows the winner to take the skills, stats, and even talent of the loser."
After carefully putting the card back in the Inventory and vowing to not use this card anytime soon, he looked at the last item.
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[Item: Dimensional Prism]
[Description: An anomalous object naturally formed at the conversion of countless dimensions. It's dimensional space in physical form and the dimensional distortion makes it almost immune to energy as it disperses on impact. Can only be damaged physically or with even stronger space attacks]
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"I'm confused, this thing feels even more like it shouldn't be in the hands of someone who just entered the Tower, even more so than the Challenge Card."
He had even less clue what to do with this than with the Challenge Card but he still safely stored it away in his Inventory. The prism seemed to react a bit to being shoved into the Inventory but the Tower suppressed its resistance.
Before sending Urman the team invitation, Orthis looked at his profile and almost choked in shock.
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[Name: Orthis]
[Talent: Sage (???-rank)]
[Race: Tower Human]
[Class: none]
[Floor:5]
[Health: 100%]
[Mana: 480]
[Strength: 22]
[Endurance: 26]
[Agility: 18]
[Mind: 24]
[Skills: Crafting, Spear Mastery, Focus]
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"I have no comparison but this does look pretty decent." Orthis thought.
Since he was dressed, fed, and hid anything that might hint at his misadventures on the previous floor, he sent a team invitation to Urman.
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[You have formed a team with Urman, you will be teleported to another region]
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The next second he stood in another dimly lit hallway with the only difference being that he was no longer alone.
"Hey man, long time no seen. You look like shit, by the way." Urman greeted with his ever-friendly tone.
"You don't look much better, dude" Orthis shot back.
They both looked vastly different compared to the last time they saw each other. Orthis looked like a walking skeleton while Urman was wearing tattered clothes and was covered in mud and cobwebs, he also lost some weight but not as bad as Orthis.
"Hey, I have been wandering around this gloomy place for days without finding anything. Besides, I know that everyone who survived the 4th Floor lost at least a few kilos but not as many as you, just what did you do in that week?"
"It's a long story that I might tell you when we aren't trying to escape an ever-changing labyrinth."
"Fair enough, you should probably also spend the next few days building up some muscles. Stats are powerful but they can only show their true power with a sufficiently trained body."
That made sense to Orthis, it would be weird if two people with the same Str stat were equally strong despite one being skinny and the other a literal Hulk.
After chatting for a bit longer, the two started their second run of the 5th Floor. It took Orthis only a few minutes just how tricky this place truly was. They just walked for a few minutes but the map in his HUD was showing him they were right where they started despite it now looking entirely different.
Even the map Orthis had was only barely useful as the structure of the labyrinth changed every second, all it did was tell him that he already was at this spot even if it now looked completely different.
It took the two a good hour to get out of the beginner area they spawned in. Why a beginner area? Well, considering that this part of the labyrinth was actually littered with traps and small monsters was a good clue.
"Holy, when did you get this strong?" Urman asked in astonishment as he watched Orthis mow through a row of skeletons.
"I had a few good encounters during the last floor." He vaguely explained. Urman might be a friend but Orthis didn't trust him enough to tell him about World-Eater. It was his trump card and he wanted to keep its true power a secret for as long as possible.
"Dude, that's crazy. You know how the floors before the 10th are not meant to make climbers stronger, right? The real growth is only supposed to start once you choose your power system and class."
"I'm looking forward to it."
"Me too, man, me too." He said and they went back to destroying the skeletons in silence.
What Urman didn't know, however, was that Orthis was getting stronger as they were speaking.
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[You killed Skeleton, Str +0,000003, End +0,000005, Agi +0,000001, Mind +0,0000001]
[Your Mana is changing]
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"What? What's happening" He never made any contact with his Mana, so seeing it suddenly change was a bit worrisome.
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[Insight: Your Mana absorbed traits from the Mana of the skeletons. It now grants infinite stamina when enhancing your body and is very suitable for self-sustenance.]
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"That seems very overpowered considering I got that from mere skeletons but it makes sense. Skeletons are magical undead that don't need sustenance and have infinite stamina." Orthis reassured him that he wasn't cheating, despite it feeling that way.
"Hey, everything alright? You suddenly went absent-minded and almost let a few skeletons get you." His thoughts were interrupted when his teammate called out to him. It was true that he was absent-minded but that he was about to be hit by a few skeletons was absolute slander.
"I'm fine, just thought about a few things. I sometimes get lost in thoughts at random times, don't worry about it." He reassured his friend.
"If you say so, just remember I am willing to lend you my ear if you want to talk about it." He tried to be a good friend but sounded more like a therapist while trying "Anyway, I think I see a trap ahead, so be careful"
"Thanks." Even if he would probably never take him up on that as he preferred to be alone with his thoughts, he still thanked him for both advice.
The skeletons weren't very challenging opponents, their bones were barely harder than common iron and their movements sluggish. The arrow trap however was a perfect place to train dodging and blocking, so the two decided to stay there for a bit to train.
"You aren't even trying but you're still not getting hit by anything. Just how high are your stats, man?" Urman asked with frustration as he watched his friend casually cut the arrows in two while he was seriously focusing on not getting hit while not moving from the spot.
"This is nothing. Compared to the robots from the wasteland, the arrows might as well be standing still."
"Robot? Don't tell me you went to the old city, you're lucky you're still alive. No one ever entered and left alive." He was almost having a mental breakdown. Many knew of the city but since no one ever returned from it, climbers just agreed to be honest and focus on the quest.
"Yeah, you can say that," Orthis said while subconsciously rubbing his shoulder. Picking up on the signal that he didn't want to discuss it, Urman dropped the topic for now.
"Anyway, I think you should finish because I could swear the walls were a few centimeters further apart a few minutes ago than they are now." Right as he said that, a click was heard and the arrows stopped flying and the walls closed in on them at a very noticeable speed.
"Shit" Urman cursed and began running in a random direction. Orthis followed him despite noticing that it was where they came from, what else was he supposed to do, abandon his teammate?
Urman finally stopped running when they reached a room that wasn't a claustrophobic's biggest nightmare.
"Holy shit was that close" he cursed as he heard the crunching of bones that remained in the passage when they destroyed the skeletons.
Orthis didn't care too much, he could have run at full speed and dragged his friend behind him if it was really that close, instead, he looked at a certain part of the wall.
"Hey, stop taking breaks and look at this." He called him to look at a strange symbol on the wall.
"Strange, it looks like it was carved just recently but the labyrinth walls are notorious for being unbreakable, or at least regenerate even the slightest scratch instantly, how is this possible?" Urman questioned.
"Don't ask me," Orthis said but Insight actually already gave him an answer.
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[Insight: Symbol of Knossos. Touching this symbol opens a door to other areas of the labyrinth, it was made by Daedalus to move around the Labyrinth faster. It needs a password to work. The password is; Fly high, Ikarus, and land safely]
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"So this place was really built by Daedalus. If I remember correctly, his son's name was Ikarus, the guy that flew too close to the sun." Orthis pondered until he was once again interrupted by Urman.
"You're doing it again. Yes, it's strange but why should we care, there are way stranger things going on on this floor." He complained, clearly not a big fan of mysteries and puzzles.
"Have some patience, will you?" Orthis got closer to the symbol and whispered the password. He didn't want to be questioned about why he knew the password.
The result was almost instant as the wall slowly changed form with a low rumble and revealed a large hall that didn't look anything like the labyrinth. The labyrinth was made of old, cold, gray stones while this hall was made out of smooth marble.
"Holy, what did you do?"
"I don't know, I just tried to see if I could hear anything from the other side." He almost facepalmed himself at what a terrible lie that was.
"…Uhu, sure, keep your secrets." Urman wasn't convinced either.
The two entered and almost jumped around when they heard the door close behind them again, only to see a large bronze door with the inscription B-6. After a quick glance, the entire hall was filled with these bronze doors.
"Is this what I think it is?" Orthis talked to himself out of habit but Urman was next to him this time.
"I don't know what you're thinking but probably." Even he was dazed as it dawned on him what they just found.
This hall was a connection to all parts of the labyrinth. Most doors were labeled with a letter and a number, so they didn't know exactly where they would end up but three doors with names caught their attention.
[Workshop]
[Center]
[Exit]
"Do you know what this means? We are making history here. A shortcut through the labyrinth, if that gets out we will be famous." Urman was already imagining the fame and fortune coming from this discovery.
"I don't think we should tell others about this but let's look around before we start arguing." Unlike Urman, Orthis wasn't all too interested in fame, fortune, and women. Besides, if everyone knew the shortcut, there would be no reason for others to challenge this floor.
"Alright, I say we start with the center." He agreed on a temporally standstill. They might be friends but they both had different interests.
With a light push, the door to the Center opened and they walked out of another opening in the wall, arriving in yet another place different from the Labyrinth. This place resembled a colosseum but the arena was a mixture of sand and plants.
The moment the door closed behind them, they heard the sound of something large and heavy approaching them. The two were already battle-ready when a four-meter-tall bull on two legs charged through the trees.
"Is that the minotaur?! If we slay it we will complete the hidden quest." Urman said in excitement.
The hidden quest was not as secret as it was a long time ago, over billions of years many completed it and occasionally let it slip. Still, just knowing about it wasn't enough, the hidden quest consisted of two parts, the first one being finding the Minotaur which could only be done by luck, and killing it required above-average strength.
This was another reason why revealing the shortcut was a bad idea, if it became known, there was no longer a need for luck and anyone with some talent could complete the hidden quest.
The two jumped out of the charging bull's way seconds before it hit them, causing it to miss them and run into the wall at full speed. The wall was a lot harder than its horns, causing both to break off on impact, making it scream in pain and fury.
With its horns gone, it was no longer any real challenge, and even Urman who was stronger than the average climber could kill it alone with some difficulties, not to mention with Orthis as a teammate. It didn't take them long to cut the big cow into pieces and complete the hidden quest.
"That was a lot easier than I expected. Is this really the Minotaur from the hidden quest?" Urman wondered, this was a bit too easy.
"What did you expect, finding it was supposed to be the hardest part anyway, another reason why we shouldn't reveal the shortcut."
"Alright, alright. I might seek fame but I'm not stupid, the fame wouldn't last for long, and in a few years, no one will remember who found it anyway. Just clearing a hidden quest gives me enough fame to satisfy my ego for a while, so let's just drop the topic.
Anyway, can I have its horns? There are many Minotaurs in the Tower but this one is a bit special and its horns are a lot more valuable."
"Sure, I wouldn't know where to sell them anyway."
And it was true, this Minotaur had a very interesting background in Greek mythology. It was the offspring of a white bull created by Poseidon and Pasipheä, an immortal sorceress and daughter of Helios, the Titan of the Sun. You could say this Minotaur was of divine lineage but no god would ever admit this shame to be part of their family.
After taking the two horns and cutting off some beef to barbeque later, they returned to the marble hall and approached the door with the label Workshop. Orthis had no idea what exactly they were going to find on the other side, unlike the Center, this was not part of some hidden quest but completely uncharted territory.
They slowly opened their door with their weapons ready for anything. What they found on the other side was not what they expected, even though it clearly said Workshop on the door.
It was a giant room with lots of strange instruments on wooden tables. Not far away were other rooms and even a stair, indicating another floor.
"What is this place?" Orthis asked himself but his teammate would not just ignore him.
"It's a workshop, idiot. I don't know if you noticed but it was written on the door."
Orthis decided to just ignore him and began inspecting the place. There was no dust on anything but at the same time, it didn't look like anyone had been here for a while.
"Holy shit, come here quickly, you won't believe what I found here." Urman excitedly shouted from another room.
Orthis hurriedly came over to him, only to see him holding a familiar potion. The entire room was filled with potions, ingredients, and anything else you needed to make them.
"You won't believe this. This is a Talent Awakening Potion." He excitedly presented the potion to his friend. Orthis just awkwardly nodded, not understanding the big deal.
"So what?"
"Don't you know what this means? We will be able to awaken our Talents, do you even have any idea how rare Talents are? Only a few special races can awaken a Talent on their own, the rest need to take this potion. You can imagine how rare and costly they are, not to mention that they are strictly controlled by every faction. How did they even get here? Only a few people are able to make them, they are normally only distributed by the Tower as a reward for special achievements."
"Is it really that rare?" Orthis questioned. He had one in his inventory and there recently over 8 billion humans with Talents entered the Tower. It seemed like Earth's last gift was even greater than anticipated. The arrival of so many Talents was bound to cause a lot of chaos.
"Are you crazy? Of course it is, having a Talent almost guarantees fast growth. There isn't one powerhouse out there that doesn't have a Talent.
Anyway, here drink this." He handed him the potion and opened one himself and downed it without hesitation.
"Why aren't you drinking it?" he was confused when he saw his friend just stand there, watching him with an awkward look.
"Well, it doesn't work on someone who already has a Talent. I would just waste it. And why isn't anything happening?"
"The potion takes between an hour and a week to take effect, depending on the Talent. And why did you never tell me you had a Talent?! How? When? Is this the opportunity you said you gained on the previous floor?" the shocked Urman bombarded him with questions
"No, I had it since coming to the Tower and you never asked, I just assumed everyone had one. Where I came from, everyone received one when they entered the Tower."
"What?! Where the hell did you come from? Why have I never heard of such a place?"
Orthis just sat on one of the many chairs and began explaining how Earth died, transported everyone to the Tower, and awakened everyone's Talent. To say he was freaking out was an understatement.
"How many did you say received a Talent?" he tried to calm down
"More or less 8 billion"
"Shit, do you have any idea what that means? The Tower will soon experience a war of a scale rarely experienced even here. Every faction will want a piece of these 8 billion people."
"If you say it like that, that does sound bad. What now?"
"Nothing, this is way out of our league, we will just stay on the sidelines and try to survive until the storm calms down. But I probably have to scratch my plans of selling the remaining potions for a fortune. Just one would allow me to live in luxury but it would also give me a lot of unwanted attention. The fact that I sold it instead of drinking it means I was either insane or already had a Talent." He was still thinking about how to get fame and fortune but once again, his plans were destroyed before he could even start them.
"We should still take a few with us, just in case we might need them in the future. You know, maybe we will get a new team member or suddenly need a huge amount of money."
With that explanation done and a bunch of different potions pocketed, they continued searching the other rooms. Urman was still asking about his Talent but he just deflected, saying that it was a mental one that enhanced his learning rate.
The only other room that had anything of use to them was one full of Artifacts, Urman once again almost lost his mind at the sight of so many Artifacts at once. These Artifacts were unusable by them and they couldn't even put them in their inventory to sell somewhere but there were a few unfinished and failed products. There were two in particular that interested them.
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[Item: Newborn Spirit Soul]
[Description: The soul on its own is extremely rare but after being experimented on to fuse with someone else's Soul and to enhance that Soul's Mana in various ways, it became something else entirely. It is unfinished and is missing something.]
[Item: Void Shard]
[Description: A shard made by compressing space to a degree that it turned solid. This shard is extremely sharp and can cut through nearly anything. Since it failed to take on other forms, it was deemed a failure.]
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Orthis took the soul while Urman carefully took the shard. Despite being careful, he still cut himself many times and almost even lost a finger. Each of the two had special plans for their item but neither wanted to reveal what exactly these plans were.
Since they could leave and complete the quest at any time, they decided to stay in the workshop for a bit to rest. While Urman was grilling the Minotaur meat, Orthis was reading the many books in the shop.
Many of them were too advanced for him to understand, talking about runes and souls but he still memorized them so that he could use them when he had the power of magic and the proper equipment. The only books he could use now were books about Artifacts, monsters, and architecture.
"Hey, stop reading, the food is ready," Urman called him over.
Urman was a decent cook, the meat wasn't done perfectly but it was enough to be consumed. Despite the lack of sauce and spices, the meat tasted great due to its high quality and that wasn't all.
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[Str +0,0005, End +0,0006, Agi +0,0003, Min +0,0001]
[Str +0,0005, End +0,0006, Agi +0,0003, Min +0,0001]
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With each bite, his attributes increased slightly. Sadly, it was so small that if he wanted to get an entire stat point, he would have to eat the whole body of not just one Minotaur but a whole herd.
"Am I dreaming? Just a single bite was equal to a month of master's torture." Urman, whose stats were a lot lower than his, got more stats from the meat than he did and was naturally shocked.
He began eating the meat at an unhealthy speed, choking on it many times but continued anyway. When he was done with his portion, he sheepishly looked at my mostly untouched meat.
"Ahem, are you going to eat that?" at least he had the nerve to be embarrassed.
Orthis stared at him blankly for a few seconds "Sure"
"You're the best, bro. I owe you one." And then he continued stuffing himself full.
Urman's stats grew a decent amount by the time he finished. Orthis didn't need the stats as much as him and agreed to give him the meat.
"Man, I'm full. How long do you want to stay?"
"Not sure, I definitely want to read the remaining books and maybe practice crafting with the things lying around, it's hard to come by such a great opportunity."
"All the books? Aren't there like a few hundred? Just how long will it take to read them all?"
"Don't worry, I'm a fast reader, and memorizing them is enough for now, it should only take a week at most."
"Fine, I did say I owe you one."
A few days passed with Orthis memorizing the many books while Urman just practiced his swordsmanship to pass the time. They also started sparing at least once a day, their stats were worlds apart but their skills improved nonetheless as both were geniuses in their own right. Their exercise also helped Orthis recover from his skeleton-like figure to a normal person with no visible muscles.
Orthis spent the last two days experimenting with the many things lying around and whatever he picked up from the books. As a consequence, both the Crafting skill and its sub-skills increased.
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[ Life skill: Crafting]
[Proficiency: 24%]
[Sub-skill: Cooking, level 11]
[Sub-skill: Brewing, level 15]
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"Are you finally done?" Urman asked impatiently when he saw Orthis finally leave the room he had been holed up for the last two days.
"Yes, we can go. You really need to work on your patience."
"Shut up." Urman hissed back, irritated from being bored for so long. Orthis didn't take the insult personally as he knew his friend's personality pretty well by now.
The two walked back to the marble room and opened the door with the label [Exit] but it wouldn't butch.
"What the …?" Urman looked confused and Orthis shared his sentiment until they felt something impossibly heavy press on their chest.
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[You have discovered a secret of the Tower. Restrictions have been placed on you to prevent you from sharing said secret with others.]
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And then the pressure disappeared and the door opened, completing the quest and transporting the two stunned youths to the next floor.
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[Congratulations on escaping the Labyrinth]
[The rewards for the quest and hidden quest have been delivered to your Inventory]
[Welcome to the 6th Floor, the Forgotten Mines]
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