Temporarily Leaving

After entering the Reward Room, Mr. Gaston shook his head slightly. He could understand what Abner and Xio had done earlier, but he did not approve of it. Still, he said nothing more. For one thing, he was not their teacher, so there was no need for him to worry about such matters. For another, no matter how impulsive they had been, they had successfully brought him through the seventh floor. And after passing this floor, he could obtain a small degree of authority over the Dream Labyrinth Tower. That was where all his attention lay now; he had no mind to lecture the younger generation.

Meanwhile, the moment Abner entered the Reward Room, a great deal of information rang directly in his ears like whispers. Fortunately, the information bore no malice and contained neither high-level knowledge nor contamination. Otherwise, he would have had to immediately activate the Pure White Eye to analyze why the Dream Labyrinth had forcibly knocked him unconscious.

"So passing the seventh floor grants a few privileges within this tower... No wonder Mr. Gaston was willing to pay 1,000 pounds to have someone bring him through." Only now did Abner truly understand.

"There are roughly three privileges. First, when entering the Dream Labyrinth Tower again in the future, you'll arrive at the Reward Room first and resume the challenge directly from the sixth floor. Of course, you can also choose to go to the seventh, eighth, or ninth floors, but the rewards for clearing them will be replaced with a certain number of points. Then you can use those points to request corresponding targeted knowledge or intelligence. And if you repeatedly grind the first three floors within a short period, the points awarded will decrease more and more... Points? Heh! Is Roselle really building a large-scale dungeon MMO?!"

"The second privilege is that you can spend points to specifically open a Dream Labyrinth on the first three floors. Here, 'specifically' refers to the type of labyrinth setting. Those settings themselves contain a great deal of knowledge and Secrecy. If you don't aim to clear the stage and merely explore within them, you may gain quite a lot. For example, if you specifically choose a Fourth Epoch setting, you can infer many hidden pieces of history through its characters and background. I suspect Mr. Gaston was so eager to clear the seventh floor precisely for this privilege."

"The third privilege is having a private lounge within the tower, where you can store things brought in from reality. In my view, this feature is rather useless. Unless you plan to stay here for a long time and repeatedly grind points, why would you live here? Besides, the Dream-and-Reality Door beneath the ground outside can't be moved, so it can't be used as portable storage either..."

While considering those matters, Abner had already sat down in front of a bookshelf and received his third clearance reward. A reward that made his eyes light up!

It was the detailed information for an anonymous Backlund Bank account. There was a deposit of 500 pounds in the account, originally belonging to a gentleman whose entire family had recently suffered a maritime Calamity.

"Heh, does this tower think money is the knowledge I need most urgently? Roselle is really vulgar!" After inwardly despising the emperor, Abner carefully memorized the anonymous account number and withdrawal password. There was no such thing as too much money. Besides, if he did not withdraw it, wouldn't the bank be getting it for free?

Xio had finished reading her own reward by then. Seeing Abner look over, she said with both delight and hesitation, "It rewarded me with the complete Potion formula for Sheriff... I was quite happy at first, but then I thought about it. Doesn't that make the name of the main ingredient from the previous floor seem useless? It feels like I lost out..."

"Besides the main ingredient's name, you also learned about the first half of Ailan's life on the previous floor. It might come in handy someday." Although Abner comforted her like that, he privately agreed with Xio. She really had lost out. He had even planned to tell her what the other main ingredient was after they got out.

Xio, however, felt that she might be being greedy. She quickly adjusted her attitude and asked about Abner's reward. When she learned that he had received money, she was rendered speechless, feeling that the Dream Labyrinth's air of mystery had instantly dropped several levels.

After seeing that the two of them had finished talking, Mr. Gaston no longer looked as stern as he had when they first met. Instead, he said with a smile, "Now that we've passed the seventh floor, our Contract has ended. I'll transfer the 1,000 pounds to Isengard later."

Abner nodded. The money had nothing to do with him, since his teacher had already paid him.

After letting his thoughts wander for a moment, he seemed to think of something and asked, "Mr. Gaston, can we come here again through the 'door' beneath the school in the future?" Strictly speaking, that door was not the man's private property, but he had spent many years finding it.

"Of course. You're welcome anytime. I also want to know what we'll encounter on the next floor, but according to the manuscript I obtained, it's far too dangerous!" Mr. Gaston looked at Abner and said meaningfully, "I had always thought you would try to continue the challenge, but it seems you've changed your mind."

Abner had indeed intended to rely on his familiarity with the setting's "plot" and attempt the sixth floor. However, an extremely conspicuous warning sign standing before the passage leading there had made him put that thought aside for now. It read:

"1. Once you enter the sixth-floor setting, you cannot leave unless you clear the stage or die.

"2. The boundary between dream and reality has already blurred within the sixth-floor setting. If you die in the setting, you will also die in reality.

"3. The sixth floor will seal the Beyonder Abilities and corresponding mystical items of challengers at Mid-Sequence and above, while retaining the abilities of Sequence 7 and below.

"4. Time within the sixth-floor setting passes at the same rate as reality. If you remain in the Dream Labyrinth for too long, your lifespan will decrease as real time passes."

The writing on that warning sign was old, and the handwriting was not particularly attractive. It clearly had not originally existed in the tower, but had been deliberately left behind by previous challengers for those who came after them.

Although he did not know whether it was a lie, Abner did not want to gamble his life on it. After all, he could cheat with the Pure White Eye, and the Dream Labyrinth Tower could not truly seal his abilities. It would be safer to return after advancing to Mid-Sequence.

Xio felt the same way. She was only Sequence 9; how could she dare enter an unknown dangerous place without preparation? She liked charging ahead, but she was not foolish enough to charge in blindly.

"Since that's the case, I'll send you back to reality. You probably don't know where the exit is. Heh, I still want to study this place for a while longer." Seeing that neither Abner nor Xio intended to continue climbing the tower, Mr. Gaston took the lead around the many bookshelves and tapped lightly at a wall several times. Then, a door of light abruptly appeared there.

Abner hurriedly followed and casually asked, "Mr. Gaston, when will the next Beyonder gathering you organize at the Sword and Fire bar be held?" The reward he had received on the ninth floor revealed that a clue to another main ingredient of Keeper of Knowledge might be at that bar. He did not want to miss it.

"Thursday night this week. Looks like you'll have to stay with me for a few more days." Mr. Gaston did not ask what exactly Abner wanted from the gathering. Instead, he began introducing the scale of his gathering and its attendees. "This gathering has actually been semi-public for quite some time. Nearby adventurers, Sailors, pirates, and even some military personnel may attend!"

"Doesn't the Church of Storms care?" Abner asked doubtfully. The islands at sea were almost all territory of the Church of Storms.

"This town is not very large, so there isn't a Mandated Punishers Squad stationed here. Besides, this is overseas, a colony! The Church's control over Beyonders is not particularly strict. So long as you don't openly preach the doctrines of evil gods or cause bloody incidents such as Sacrifices, the Church of Storms generally won't intervene," Mr. Gaston explained.

"Even so, for you to organize a semi-public gathering here, your identity must be far from simple!" Abner said, half sighing and half probing.

"Enough. Don't play these little tricks. You're Isengard's student, so there's no harm in telling you. I'm an external member of the Church of Steam and Machinery. It's just that I'm an Intis citizen, so I can't operate openly in the Loen Kingdom." Mr. Gaston glanced at Abner. Perhaps I can't match you in deduction, but when it comes to schemes, you're still too green, kid.

An external member of the Church of Steam from Intis? His identity was actually quite similar to his teacher's. No wonder they had become friends... But after finding the Dream Labyrinth Tower, this gentleman had not reported it to the Church or sought help from the Machinery Hivemind. It seemed his faith was not particularly devout either.

After silently criticizing him a few times, Abner saw that they were about to leave the top of the tower and hurriedly asked again, "Then do you know whether there is a lady named Gwen at the gathering?"

Mr. Gaston shook his head. "At a Beyonder gathering, most people hide their identities. Who would reveal their names? Even those with code names are rare!"

While Abner was feeling rather helpless, the three of them had already left the top of the tower.

Looking back once more at the inverted tower, so tall that even its base could not be seen, Abner silently thought, The next time I come, I must clear the sixth, fifth, and even fourth floors! The key to my future advancement lies here.

With his logical analytical ability, now that he knew this tower was a mystical item created by Roselle during his time as the Knowledge Emperor, it was not difficult to infer some of the emperor's intentions from the original novel.

Setting aside his other purposes...

Deep within this Dream Labyrinth Tower, there was a high chance that a Card of Blasphemy was hidden!

This might be the greatest reason why the Dream Labyrinth Tower had not been monopolized by other major factions to this day!

It was the Card of Blasphemy's inherent Secrecy effect that had blocked the perception of high-ranking Beyonders!

(End of Chapter)