Chapter 694 - The Third of Two Paths

'Jack, everything is taken care of here. Expect a surge in levels, shortly.'

'Thanks, Perchet.'

Relieved to have the skirmish in Galcier Reef end well, Jack finished off the five constructs ranging from lv. 92 to lv. 94. It was quite easy as he engulfed them in a spectral flare, annihilating them long with their cores.

This was the fourth room the party had entered thus far, excluding the empty room in the beginning. In that short period of time, they had learned some of the basics about key drops. They had each earned one key from killing lv. 93 constructs, then passing those four keys to Rynheart. Lunara had earned five keys from destroying a lv. 97 construct, followed by Moranti earning four keys from defeating two lv. 95 constructs or two apiece. And Jack also gained two keys for the lone lv. 94 he had destroyed but only one key for each of the two lv. 93s and the two lv. 92s. Together, the Jack, Lunara, and Moranti now had a combined total of fifteen keys.

Going back to his map, Jack noticed something weird. Originally, the next room had two lv. 94s and one lv. 93 inside while Rynheart had passed to the next room. But now those three constructs were gone and the map still hadn't progressed.

Jack was about to contact Rynheart when the helmed swordsman appeared before the party. Immediately, Rynheart held out his card. 'I need your keys.'

'Seriously?' Jack asked. 'How much does the last barrier cost?'

'The one I choose costs twenty keys.'

'Twenty?! When all of these barriers have cost one?' Jack questioned, sharing the concerns of Lunara and Moranti.

Nodding, Rynheart turned toward the next corridor. 'Come. I'll show you, but don't touch anything.'

The four traveled through the corridor and passed through the now-empty fifth room as the barrier was already gone. As they entered the sixth room, the three following Rynheart were astounded. Though Jack could've seen it through Rynheart's eyes via god's perspective, he had only flashed the spell briefly to unlock the map and not inspect Rynhearts thoughts. But now, Jack was all the more curious about Glacier Keep.

The sixth room was empty but there were now two barriers of different colors. Instead of being dark-silver in color, one barrier was tinted green and the other was tinted blue. Both barriers had "1" displayed and had intricate yet faded etchings along the barriers' surfaces. Also, behind both barriers lied a small mound of silver cores, the same that gave five keys apiece.

Before Jack or Rynheart shared their thoughts with the other two, Jack looked at the words engraved above each passage.

Above the green door, it read, "For those that have chosen fate…"

Above the blue door, it read, "For those that fate has chosen…"

'Where's the door you chose?' Jack asked Rynheart, surprised at the situation.

Moranti asked, 'Why not take both of these paths? That way--'

'No,' Rynheart interjected with that shake of his head. 'If we take either of these two paths, the other path will remain inaccessible.'

'And that's the one that costs twenty keys?' Jack deduced.

Jack's gamer senses were tingling all over. Part of him loved the idea of free keys but it felt too easy. It was the opposite feeling that Jack had pursued as the "achievement junkie" in-game, the feeling of unearned accomplishment. Sure, Jack would always take a freebie but not if it kept him from a better, more difficult path that typically offered the best rewards in the end.

Doing some mental math, Jack was able to deduce that constructs lv. 93 and lower gave one key, lv. 94 and lv. 95 constructs gave three keys, while lv. 97 and likely lv. 96 constructs gave five keys. Knowing that, Jack could figure out that a total of 25 keys were accessible thus far. That would give them the exact amount for the first five doors and a supposed twenty-key door. That sounded much more intriguing to Jack and much more like Daruun's way of handling things.

Also, Jack couldn't help but remember both Daruun's and Oli's words before entering the keep. They had made the exact same statement, reminding them that everyone was both forging their own fate while being favored by fate. If that was true, then why would there be two doors within the keep forcing you to choose one or the other?

Jack covered his eyes in holy energy, mimicking Halmut's divine sight with a lesser spell. But he found nothing.

'Don't use a spell or skill,' Rynheart commented, walking toward the wall between both passages. 'You need to use pure energy and sense the room. It's tricky, but if you're sensitive enough, then you'll that something's off…'

Everyone did as Rynheart said, expanding their senses to the best they were able. It took a minute or two, but Jack eventually blinked as the only one to find it. 'Right here? That's an illusion?'

'It's more than an illusion… It's an illusion made into reality,' commented Rynheart, stumping the others. 'If you have intricate mental or illusory abilities, then you can not only find but enter this space. Watch…'

A flood of illusory energy burst out of Rynheart but the surging energy was immediately calmed and condensed around his body. The energy no longer looked illusory, becoming pure white from denseness alone. Then, the helmed swordsman ran his fingers along the wall. He found a certain groove pressed through it. Before everyone's eyes, Rynheart's hand faded into the wall.

'Now this is the hard part…' sighed Ryheart, twisting his wrist around to maneuver his non-visible hand. 'There…'

Suddenly, the wall faded and revealed a smaller third passage. Rynheart stepped inside and pointed along the edges of the third entrance. Unlike the other passages, there was no ice overhead to light the way, adding to the mystery.

'Look… This illusion is made real by this inscription, denying anyone weaker than a peak one-star cosmician the ability to tweak. Then, you find the gap in the enchantment and force it to short circuit with a burst of your own energy. In a minute or so it will be up and running again, so let's move forward.'

Astounded by the informative lesson, Jack was the first and most excited to follow Rynheart into the dark tunnel, creating a small fireball in his palm for light. Lunara and Moranti hurried along as well, wanting to see what those two would uncover.

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