The Ancients World

I bring us down fast and land in front of a cave with ice and snow flowing out of it. It looks just as it was described. This looks like a cave on the outside, but the inside is filled with labyrinth-like tunnels and structures and pathways. We'll have to get halfway through the dungeon before getting to a new section where the puzzle is supposed to unlock the legacy class path. I take the potions out of my inventory and hand them all to Sally.

She will need them if she is to survive the cold of this dungeon. "Stay behind me, Sally. The monsters in this dungeon are powerful. I'll protect you as long as you stay close. I hope you are as excited as I am about this." I'm pumped to challenge such an infamous dungeon. All the monsters inside are reinforced with ice buffs that increase creatures' defense and health pools. I don't expect there to be any magic castors in this dungeon.

This dungeon is for wielder-type combatants. Magic casters aren't fond of this dungeon type since it's all tight spaces and no room to cast powerful spells. A weakness to the devastating power of mages is dungeons and environments just like the one we are heading into. Sally uncorks a potion and drinks it. "I'm ready. I'll follow your lead and make sure not to get in your way. If you do end up needing my help, let me know." It's nice to have a partner to do this with.

We walk side by side into the cave and immediately notice how cold it is. I keep my wings toggled on for the extra defense and offensive capabilities they bring. "It's going to get very claustrophobic in this dungeon. It has a labyrinth-like design that confuses the people in it. Luckily for us, I know the exact routes to get to what we need. So it comes down to clearing out monsters as we go along." She nods her head as I see the tip of her nose gets a little red from the freezing air.

She looks to be holding up fine other than that. She isn't shivering and is walking with caution mixed with confidence. She has her sword out to be safe. I draw The Witness and get ready too. The monsters should be showing up soon and with them a complex fighting environment. We have already started to navigate the twisting and turning of the design. However, I'm following the instructions to the letter that I remember.

After a few minutes of walking, I hear many creatures running in the direction we are walking to. They soon come into view as the blue fire torches light the hallway. The monsters are on the lower side and aren't dangerous for me. I don't even use my sword and instead use my wings to dispatch the ones getting close. Many stop their assault and stare at the two of us as I kill. "What are they doing, Zern? I've never seen a monster stop in this manner before." I have only seen it a couple of times. I also got some exp for that, around 2 percent. I open my stat panel to see how close I am to leveling up.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.81]

[Exp: 97/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden),+3 more]

[Stats]

[Strength - 2095][Endurance - 2045][Dexterity - 2125][Speed - 2240][Focus - 14,660]

[Health: 16,560/16,560][Mana: 146600/146600]

[Stat Points: 0][Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.9 325/900] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.9 225/900] [Slash Lvl.22 4600/13000] [Parry Lvl.3 80/300] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight]

I'm at 97 percent now, getting pretty close to level 82. The information about the boss is correct too. It controls the dungeon's monsters with its hive mind ability. They all share the same intelligent thoughts as the boss does. They slowly back up into the darkness that isn't being lit by the blue torches on the walls, and we are left alone. "The boss has a hive mind ability. Whatever the monsters see and experience, so does the boss and vise versa. It has a giant weakness to it. Anything being affected by the hive mind will die once the boss dies." While it makes coordination easy, it has flaws.

It comes with its share of risks. If you can't reach the boss directly, you can harm it by killing enough of its drones. You can count on dungeons or wild creatures of the sort to be a unique opponent to take on, but the majority of them are easy to beat once you find the boss's weakness. Since the hive mind is an ability, anything with substantial brainpower can learn and use the skill. It's not exclusive to a single type of monster.

Some are born with the ability, even humanoid creatures like humans and lizardman. It's very rare, though, since brain size impacts the skills abilities. "Do you not know the monster, or are you going to continue keeping me in the dark." I know the boss's name to this dungeon, but that's it. The forum never went into detail about the monster species. Only it's unique skills and craftiness to get out of tough spots.

I don't want to keep Sally in the dark, but the less she knows about what's ahead, the easier it will be when adapting on the fly. "I have an idea of what it could be, but I don't know for sure. It's not something you have to worry yourself over. We'll be getting your legacy class before we fight the boss. In fact, we don't even need to fight the boss. We can get you the class and get out of here." That isn't something I'd normally do. Since Sally is here, I have to consider her too.

We walk down the paths of this complex dungeon, and I'm following the instructions from the forum to the best I can remember. After another 10 minutes of walking, we come across a door. Just like the forum said, we would. I walk up to it and push it open. The door slowly opens, and an old office is what reveals its self. This is the room with the puzzle in it. Now all I have to do is find out where the puzzle is and try to solve it.

I don't see any obvious traps, so I walk in, and I feel something drain on my power. It's only for a second, but it happens. "This place hasn't seen any visitors in decades. Look at all this dust." Sally starts to sound colder, and as I think that, she pulls out her second potion and drinks it. "Who do you think this office belonged to? If it's hidden so deep into a dungeon, it had to be someone who didn't want to be found." I agree with her deduction. It could have been a powerful mage or a researcher.

I walk over to the obvious desk and sit in the chair that the owner would've sat in. There are old books that have long rotted away, I open some of the drawers, and most are empty and filled with dust. The only thing I found was an old broken pencil. I lean back in the chair, thinking of where the puzzle could be, it's in this room, and there is a hidden passage somewhere around here. "Look for anything out of place, things that haven't rotted away or have magic coming from them." Sally should know what we are looking for. Two eyes are better than one.

The condition of everything could also be a decoy. I use inspect on some of the things in the room, but nothing come up. As I look around, I see a small picture on a wall that hasn't degraded at all. That is something that is out f place in this decaying room. I stand up and walk over to it. Once I get closer, I notice that it's a familiar face. It's Flint. He is standing next to a small girl. This must be Ulma Runa before she did whatever she did.

I take the picture off the wall and take it out of its frame. I turn it around and notice a message inscribed on the back. It's in a language I'm unfamiliar with. After a couple of seconds, the letters shift and turn into a readable message. What I read tells me this is the puzzle that needs to be solved.

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

"Many believe me to know all the answers to their questions, and they are right. At the same time, they are wrong. I'm more than one. Only those versed in knowledge truly know me. What am I?"

Talk about a cryptic puzzle. This seems to have been written by Flint himself with the multiple dead ends it leads to. Many believe it holds all the answers, and they are both right and wrong. It's also more than one, and only those versed in knowledge truly know it. If I didn't know any better I'd say this puzzle was made specifically for Ulma Runa, and both her and Flint are powerful mages. From what I know I can only surmise a couple of answers. Time to try them out.