The next dungeon room is the largest room built by Jimbo so far. It is a little coliseum with stone steps and a white sand floor. In the center is a row of three monoliths, the first has a cylindrical block and a tip, the middle one has two blocks, and the last one is three blocks high. A bone gate prevents passage to the next area of the dungeon.
At first Jimbo wrote one word on each monolith: Easy, Normal, and Hard, representing the typical difficulty levels. But he was surprised to learn that Dowmy was unable to understand his language, and that this is the first time she has seen such a writing.
Jimbo deduced that everyone was speaking a native language to him from that fantasy world, and that being a dungeon core somehow translates the language into a form he understands. But when it comes to written language, such facility doesn't apply, and to fix that Jimbo asked Dowmy how to write the numbers 1, 2, and 3.
The imp shrugs her shoulders and says:
"I don't know how write"
Jimbo rolls his ethereal eyes and lets out an exasperated sigh. He can't blame the imp, clearly the girl's education was not a priority for Arrax . After thinking for a while, Jimbo decided to make use of a color code: He placed a green magic mark for the first monolith, yellow for the second, and red for the third, and made them visible to anyone. As with the stone-throwing goblins, the monoliths had their own summoning mechanism.
Dowmy takes care to explain how this works for the captains.
"The hand is placed and monsters appear. The green stone is for the novice soldiers, the yellow for those who already have some practice, and the red for those looking for a challenge," she says, pointing to each mark with a finger.
Lynel whistles impressively and leans over to check the monoliths with interest. Hilda keeps a stoic face and takes a step to test. She places a hand on the yellow mark and immediately feels something suck a pinch of her energy, it's as if an invisible force is pulling her forward. She grits the teeth and quickly withdraws her hand. Around the woman, three skeletons are summoned, each wielding a club.
To save costs with the summonings, Jimbo placed an extra feature to the marks, it is a small ability to absorb ether and ki. It's a trap, but Jimbo reduced its absorption capacity to prevent it from being harmful.
"Do you need help, Hilda?" Lynel asks when he sees the undead.
"I've got it all under control," Hilda says with a relaxed look on her face.
"I know, but I only offered as a gentlemanly gesture. All yours, Captain"
Lynel steps back to stand next to Dowmy.
As soon as the three skeletons step forward with intent to attack, Hilda delivers a spinning slash.
She spins a couple of times on her own axis, cutting the skeletons from the waist. The torsos are pulled apart, and though the legs walk away, the hands and skulls still crawl forward to attack. Hilda's boot stomps on the skull of the first and pulverizes it, causing the rest of the skeleton to disintegrate. She does the same to the second enemy, and the third skeleton gets its skull kicked in, sending it flying and destroying it against a wall.
With no enemies in sight, the monolith marker lights up and the bone gate in the background opens automatically.
"I can already visualize future training here, it will be very profitable for our slacker troop!" Lynel exclaims, crossing his arms and nodding with a satisfied smile.
"It's an interesting idea, I admit," Hilda agrees, although unlike Lynel, she avoids letting any trace of optimism or excitement escape.
Dowmy continues the tour to the next room. Jimbo observes the result with a grimace of annoyance.
«With this woman I don't get the math I want»
Hilda eliminated the skeletons without breaking a sweat, so the ether her body expelled was minimal. Jimbo hopes that with the remaining soldiers the outcome will be better for him.
If the bridge tests courage and self-control, and the coliseum tests strength, Jimbo decided that the third challenge of his 1st floor would test gray matter.
«One puzzle a day doesn't hurt»
Since it's his first, he decided to try an easy puzzle.
The last room is just a corridor with a stone gate at the end. Only three of the six torches inside are lit, and they are in couples, each adorned with a different sized skull. The first pair of torches is child-sized, the second pair is adolescent-sized, and the third pair looks like adult skulls.
Hilda goes straight to the door and tries to open it, but no matter how hard she probes, she can't find a way to unlock it. She lets out a growl of annoyance and backs away to look around the room. Like her, Lynel also looks at the extinguished torches.
"It's a simple riddle, we must light all the torches for the door to open," says Hilda.
Lynel nods in agreement and grabs one of the lit torches to turn on the others, however nothing happens, and when he lights the last one, the skull of the teenager, the three fires are extinguished again as if blown by a mysterious wind. The captains arch an eyebrow and look at Dowmy waiting for an explanation.
"The master asks if you want a clue," says the imp.
Lynel opens his mouth to accept the help, but Hilda interrupts him.
"There's no need, we'll find out for ourselves. I imagine it will be something dirty, like a hidden lever, or a path we didn't see"
Hilda checks the corridor again, getting more and more frustrated. Lynel tries to convince her to accept the Dungeon Core's help, but she insists they can solve the puzzle on their own.
Jimbo wishes they could hear his laughter.