The Achievement Junkie

'There… We'll need to combine our remaining keys to pass.'

Jack nodded, happy to go along with the idea. But Moranti asked, 'How come we can't claim all three barriers? If we go back, then we'll get all of those cores and can easily afford this one.'

'Each of these barriers is a separate enchantment.' Rynheart explained, 'When they deteriorate it's obvious that they always deteriorate following the same pattern. It's through understanding enchantments and inscriptions that I questioned the last room because both of the off-colored barriers shared similar yet opposing enchantments.'

Lunara blinked and questioned, 'Meaning?'

'They seemed to be mirror opposites of each other yet shared key pieces of writing. They felt like both were parts of one larger inscription, with the third and final part being the hidden passage,' answered Rynheart. 'I've only recently gained enough knowledge to understand that, so I don't anticipate many others will figure out the true inscription, let alone realize that there's a third passage at all.'

'Recently? What do you--'

'No more questions, Moranti. We need to hurry or we may lose this advantage!' Jack interrupted, holding his card out and placing it below Rynheart's.

Lunara was next while Moranti sighed at Jack not wanting to explain things at the moment. 'Fine, but you'd better explain everything afterward.'

'Of course.' Rynheart nodded, accepting everyone's keys and continuing ahead. When they reached the barrier, the party was surprised to see that it was purple and shared similar etching to the other two. 'Actually… Jack should do it.'

Stepping forward, Jack received the stockpile of keys and smiled at the purple barrier. The hero placed his card against the "20" on display. They watched as both the card and the barrier displays began to rapidly count down to zero, eventually letting the barrier fade and reveal their prize on the other side.

Jack's light could now pass to the rest of the tunnel and everyone was a bit disappointed by the lone dark-grey core placed on the ground. However, they noticed a dim, purple glow as Jack crushed it. But the strangeness wasn't over. The display on Jack's card still at zero while the card itself had gained a hint of purple hue and was no longer pitch-black.

'Interesting… May I see it?' Rynheart was passed Jack's card and immediately began evaluating the phenomenon. 'The purple now on your card reveals a hint of a second inscription, an inscription beneath the one connected to our armbands that counts keys… But I don't know what it's for or how it should work.'

Jack was all smiles, excited to find something so peculiar. Also, a new achievement had appeared on his system, proving that they were on the right track.

[Build the key: in progress]

[Find the two other missing pieces to form the key to Glacier Keep. Event reward: 25,000 skill points.]

'There should be two more of these,' Jack commented, startling the others. 'Oli was right that this card collects keys, but he didn't say which key actually matters… This card is the real key after getting the right cores.'

Smiling under his helmet, Rynheart chuckled with his distorted voice, 'Good! Then we have the real objective! We'll collect the other cores too but be keen to remember what we're truly after.'

Pumped up, the party wanted to continue ahead but found themselves at a dead end. No matter what they tried no further passage was found and they eventually decided to head back. Upon entering the previous room, the party was startled to see that both of the other passages were now clear of any barriers and cores.

'Ohhh…' Moranti sighed. 'I guess the dungeon isn't as generous as we thought…'

The others chuckled as they chose to take the left path first. Soon, they reached a staircase that turned ever so slightly to the right. Their suspicions were then confirmed as the stairway connected with one on the right and formed a straight shot upward. Moranti then blinked back to the previous room and hurried through the passage on the right to find himself rejoining the party.

'It all connects… Interesting…' Rynheart sighed and made himself invisible. 'I'll continue scouting.'

Just like that, the party was down to three as they continued up the stairs.

Soon they entered another vast chamber like the waiting room, but it was a hexagon and not an octagon. Five sides were staircases, one of which being the path their party had taken, and the sixth side was a wall covered in glyphs and peculiar writing.

'I'll inspect the other passages.'

Keeping Rynheart's whereabouts in mind, Jack led the other two toward the small gathering of people in front of the puzzling sixth wall. Three other teams were already there, inspecting the writing from at least ten meters back.

Testing the waters, Jack smiled and waved. "Woltin! Wollice! Fancy meeting you here."

"Oh, Jack!" Woltin laughed. "So you're in our batch, huh? How unlucky for you."

"What do you mean? You know more about the keep and won't bother sharing that info with an old friend?"

Laughing harder, Woltin replied, "Is that so? I thought you would know plenty since this is your home planet."

"Nope, we don't know anything apart from the demonstration Oli gave. Mind filling us in on why the teams are acting so peaceful?"

"That much I can say," answered Woltin. "This is only the first third of the keep. Fighting doesn't usually break out until this wall is cleared. After that, everything changes."

"And why's that? It looks kind of like a puzzle…"

Wollice shouted, "Of course it is! Anyone can see that."

"Then why don't you crack it already?" Jack asked. "Because whoever cracks it will get more keys?"

Woltin nodded. "You guessed it. That's why fighting doesn't start till the door opens and we enter the maze."

"Maze?"

"Woltin!" Wollice aggressively smacked the back of his brother's head, silencing him immediately. "Either way, whoever opens that puzzle will get attacked by everyone else. The more keys, the better your rewards in the end."

"By the way," Woltin interjected and asked Jack, "What room did you pick?"