Chapter Forty-Two

Something was circumventing the rules of the Ascendant Games, or Haz'el Ri was involved with keeping her pet away. Trusting Hyacinth to keep watch, Harmony dove into her soul space and approached her primal bond with Adric. With her personal stat of connections sealed, tapping into the primal bond she shared with the prince should be less dangerous. Information mostly flowed toward the connection, feeding it to Adric and allowing her to issue directives, or call to him. Now she couldn't go too far, so she leaned into her ability and pulled out what he was feeling. Frustration, annoyance, a hint of anger, but otherwise, the man was impossibly healthy, that gift of his resurrection. Calling him to her was useless, as he had his reasons to stay where he was, or more complicated things tied him down. It wasn't like he could bust into the exitless room she stood in.

That didn't mean she couldn't make plans. Hargreaves wasn't close enough to trigger her necromantic senses, but if he appeared, she'd pull the answers out of his cold, undead corpse.

Harmony, frustratingly, stepped out of introspection to stare at the six smooth surfaces of her current room. "Oh. Joy. A puzzle." She complained.

"Greep." Hyacinth squeaked.

It's not that she didn't like a challenge, a difficult task, or even some rigorous studying and research. Puzzles for puzzles' sake were too much like reading fictional books, a silly waste of time when you could be doing things more practical. There would be a way out.

[Keen Investigative Awareness] pulled up nothing from the smooth stone surfaces. [Mana Rotation] brought out that extra sense of mana, something she admittedly underused, pretty much only using the skill to boost other skills or add a little extra to soul sight. With it sealed, its use has fallen out of favor. The faint glow of magical energy covered every surface. One wall was a tinge brighter than the others.

Harmony approached the wall and put her hands on the stone. She was hesitant to use fate to produce true sight after what happened to the mimic. The seals should prevent catastrophic failure, but she wasn't there yet. Watching herself implode would take a few more days to get over. Too many questions about the most likely theocratically bonded [eternal fables heart].

Running her fingertips over the wall, she searched for clues. Nothing necromantic. Too easy a solution unless this room was specifically designed for her, which is not impossible. Tapping returned a hollow sound. Frowning, she retraced her hand back the way it came, over mostly cold stone. It had spots that were warm, a touch above skin temperature, so not heated by her touch.

One step back, she unleashed [Cold Touch]. White frost covered the wall, sinking a chill into it. The cold parts remained frosted, but where there was heat, the ice melted. Words appeared, cut out of the ice.

The way out will come but once, be steadfast.

Many vision-related skills enabled people to perceive temperature differences. This wouldn't be a challenging puzzle for most contestants. Being steadfast was the issue. This was a race; no one could afford to wait too long.

"Hyacinth. Please knock."

Harmony stepped to the edge of the room while Hyacinth hopped down and reformed into a massive size, taking up most of the room. With his rear facing the frosted wall, her familiar kicked. The room shook with the impact. Cracks formed where his foot struck. Hyacinth knocked again, his foot breaking a hole in the stone wall, revealing darkness behind it.

"Much appreciated."

Hyacinth shrank, and the pair stepped inside the next room.

Broken stone pieces crunched under Night's steel boots. The air smelled musty, like she'd stepped into a room sealed long ago, not created recently for this challenge. The glowing gems of her modified armor barely pierced the darkness, allowing her to see not much further than the length of her extended arms.

[Renew Spirit] rolled out with a diffuse [Cold Touch] to create the glowing mist she often used at Ambrosia's performances. Except this time it took twice as much effort due to the sealed status of her skills. She hadn't been able to do this technique at all when she first arrived at the Ascendant Games, but through intention and understanding, she'd replicated the effect.

The mist was fine ice particles spread thin in the air; each crystal held the healing energy of [Renew Spirit]. That excited state, when locked into place, produced light. Synergy and connections made it a sloppy side effect, where it happened without her understanding the process. This act of deliberately directing the energy into the crystals made it a few lumens brighter. Ambrosia would definitely add this effect to her shows on her return.

With the brighter effect, the whole room was illuminated, revealing rough, damp stone walls covered in moss and thin vines. The added humidity created the musty smell she'd stepped into. This room had two exits outside of the one she'd made to enter here. One door to the left and another to the right. No obvious traps or tricks outside of being presented with a choice. She had half a heart to ask Hyacinth to knock on the doorless wall in front of her to barrel straight through this challenge, but eventually that would probably bring the place down on her head.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Venturing to the door on the right, as she touched the handle, a voice whispered, "This way is to what you seek."

Does the other one? Abandoning that handle, she moved to the one on the left. "Don't go this way, never go this way." The voice whispered again.

This was going to be an awful challenge. Be steadfast, don't go this way, stupid riddles. Eventually, there would be some advice that she should take. It felt too early to question that. Turning the handle, she stepped through the door on the left.

It slammed shut behind her. [Poise and Bearing] kept her from jumping. "Very funny."

Candles flickered on, lighting dozens of candelabras on wooden tables in this new room. Behind her, the door she'd entered was gone to match the theme of another doorless room. If she moved away all the tables and candles, there might be space for Hyacinth to knock again, but the room was also smaller than the stone one had been, and that would limit the force he could put out.

Movement caught Harmony's eye. A wall panel twisted open, and out tumbled another competitor down a ramp before it slid shut. Golden furs and pants that were out of place for this competition. "Oof." Muthu groaned on impact.

The friendly worker she'd run into on the first day of the Ascendant Games looked up from his prone position with a wide smile. "Ah, Lady White, did you choose to go the way to what you seek?"

"No. I chose to go the way it told me not to."

Standing up, Muthu dusted himself off. "Good to know the advice here is as reliable as a crooked guardsman. We have your pet at our camp. I argued against keeping him there, but the heir overruled me. Being likable only gets you so far."

"Adric, how?"

"Conner has a way of anchoring someone in place. At first, it was because Princess Rosaline wanted to talk to him longer. Now, she still talks to him every night, but he's resolute."

"So, he's a prisoner?" To think Rose would go so far.

Muthu ran his hand over his bonded pants, like it was a nervous habit. "I think he could break out at any point. He's staying for a reason."

Why would he? "Do you know why?"

"I try to stay out of the tribe drama. I can say that while the princess is busy, her boyfriend sneaks away and approaches Adric at the anchor point."

"Boyfriend?"

"Maxwell sleeps in her shelter every night. He approached every woman but her on the first day, so it was surprising when that happened. I didn't hear much when he approached Adric, except for one word, Saccerate. It brought his color back for a moment, and Max looked like he had been punched in the gut."

That bloody chaos spirit. Was she in control? Max might get around, but he'd never shown an interest in the princess. Was Saccerate after her, too? Hargreaves wouldn't let that happen, would he? Being sealed, would he notice? The choice she'd pushed on him must finally be coming back to bite her.

[Poise and Bearing] stopped her reeling from the implications and questions. "Thank you for letting me know. Shall we figure out how to leave the room?"

"Blowing out the candles?" Muthu said with a shrug.

Two candelabras extinguished, and the worker stopped them from blowing out more. "That's sealing us in more. I've got a sense for these things, and as much as I enjoy your company, Lady White, I don't want to be trapped in here with you too long."

They all had places to be. As likable as Muthu was, she couldn't afford to be last again.

This began experimentation. Relighting the candles eased the man's feelings. Punching and kicking the walls didn't leave a scratch. Moving the candles and tables. [Keen Investigative Awareness] picked up no changes other than Muthu getting a little frustrated and stressed about the situation. Even a little fearful.

"Double devoured delights, I got it! The more the candles melt, the weaker the containment is." He exclaimed with a toothy grin.

"It will take hours to have them melt. Unless you have a fire skill?" Which she knew he didn't, from soul sense.

"You have a cold skill, just move the chill away from the candles." He explained like that was nothing.

That's not how it works. Harmony had to keep herself from exclaiming that. [Cold Touch] pulled from the iciness of death, where everything came to a rest, a still cold state. It almost exchanged the heat in the world for cold from elsewhere. That wasn't to say the skill hadn't come with other benefits, like noticing the cold less to the point where she'd dipped into almost iced-over ponds to no effect or walked around naked with nary a goosebump on frosty days. Could she manipulate natural cold and heat interactions?

Harmony stepped up to a candle. The seal on the skill had weakened what she could pull from, and hampered some of the more creative synergies and combinations she'd used it for. Would it hamper this? Touching the wax, it was cool at the bottom and felt warmer as she moved her fingers up closer to the wick.

Minutes ticked by as she experimented with getting to know the stillness in the candle. Muthu looked calm, but [Awareness] picked up frustration under the surface, and hunger? The man was hard to read. She returned focus to the candle and played with connections and synergy. It was a touch of [Claim the Remains of Power] and [Disintegrate] to loosen bonds that let her steal some of the cold away rather than [Cold Touch]. The flame sparked brighter, and the wax below it pooled out with a splash. It might not have logically made sense, but it worked.

"Yes!" Muthu yelped.

"It's not that exciting. Now let's get out of here."

One by one, she puddled the candles, and on the far wall, a door faded into existence. Candles cleared, they were able to pass into a hallway that forked in three directions.

"It's been fun, Lady White, but I feel like we should part ways," Muthu said as he took the path to the left with a quick bow before he departed a little quickly down the dark corridor.

"Greeept?" Hyacinth asked as he disappeared from view.

"The news on Adric was helpful. He's nice. I'm not sure why he was so nervous or excited." Harmony shook off the feeling of oddness. "Can't let him beat us to the stronghold's center. Onward." She took the path to the right.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.