Stepping over the Iron Warhorse's corpse, Mu You continued forward.
After walking through a dark passage, he came to a flight of stairs leading upward.
"Finally starting to look like a tower..." Mu You breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as he was about to step onto the stairs to the second floor, a spectral blue blur suddenly swept past him. Like a carriage drawn by some kind of beast, it overtook him, charged up the stairs ahead of him, and vanished into the darkness above.
"What was that?" Mu You stared uncertainly at the stairs. The blur had flashed past too quickly for him to get a clear look.
"I finally found you!"
Just then, a familiar voice sounded behind Mu You.
Mu You instinctively looked back. There was no one behind him. The voice seemed to come from the walls all around him.
"Don't be nervous. It's me!" The voice rang out again. This time, Mu You was certain it belonged to the Minstrel.
"Lamp Genie?"
"It's me," the Minstrel's voice said.
"What's going on? Where are you? What about the Pocket Toad and Cola?" Mu You hurriedly asked.
"As you can see, this passage is a trial scenario designed by the Pen of Order for challengers. But this is only the first floor. There are many more above it. You must clear every floor and reach the top of the tower before you can see the Divine Pen..."
"As for me and your pets," the Minstrel's voice said, "we were trapped in separate spaces after entering the tower and can't see one another. But we're safe, so don't worry."
"Also, I'm consuming the oil in the magic lamp to contact you briefly. I'm afraid I can't keep this up for long, so I'll try to keep it