— CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE —

  Expedition

  (Percival)

  If we were going to find this keystone before the other guilds, we needed to be systematic. No more random swimming through underwater prisons or falling into torture chambers - we needed a map. And more than that, we needed coordination. Steel Rage had great strength and numbers, but they were a tornado, running through and clearing the place out, but leaving chaos in their wake. The FUN Rangers had skill and precision, but there were only a handful of us. Together, though? We might actually get somewhere.

  And Brian, who was coordinating Steel Rage's efforts, agreed. So starting the next day, we returned to the shrine with the objective to just look around and see what's what.

  An hour after sunrise, our entire expedition had assembled at the shrine. The fog seemed thinner today, or maybe we were just getting used to it. Drakkan's team had already completed a serviceable bridge across the lake, making the journey considerably easier than our first slog through the reeds.

  Inside the shrine, everyone filed into the pool of water in an orderly fashion. We had a chain of people doing cannonballs into the little pool for several minutes straight, like they were diving into a clown car. The first-timers - Brian included - got whisked off to serve their sentence in one of the prisons. I wasn't too fussed; we'd find them eventually. Part of me wondered what that looked like - from the surface they just disappeared in the murky water, but how deep did they get before getting teleported? I didn't think my random curiosity was worth the delay to find out - we had actual problems to investigate.

  Those of us returning from yesterday were simply allowed to walk in. We gathered in the entrance hall, and with Brian temporarily out of action, the work of organizing them was on me. So I set out a folding table I'd grabbed from the camp and climbed on top of it to address the troops. The Steel Rage contingent was restless, flexing muscles and twirling weapons impatiently, while the FUN Rangers waited more attentively.

  "Listen up, everyone!" I called out. "We'll set up the command post here! I want every party to designate someone to be their cartographer! Record every turn and intersection you find - mark down everything you can. Other than that, wander around, do as you will, and find what trouble you may."

  The Steel Rage members erupted in whoops and battle cries, immediately charging down various corridors without even designating cartographers. I did not have faith in the quality of their cartographic abilities, but by George did I love their enthusiasm.

  "They'll be back when they get lost." Lucy commented.

  For the bulk of the ground work, I was relying on the Rangers, who were now deciding how to divide themselves into groups. Carla, Lance, and Nap had been taken to the prisons, but they'd already been briefed, so I trusted they would sort themselves out.

  Liz slapped her hand on Trevor's shoulder, making him jump in fright. "That's us, Trevvie! Technical support squad!"

  Trevor's eyes darted nervously between Liz and the hallway where several water elementals had attacked yesterday, but he nodded regardless.

  Fritz and Lucy exchanged a glance.

  "Eh?" Fritz asked.

  "Yeah." Lucy agreed with a smile.

  With everyone dispersed, I was left alone at the command center. I pulled out some blank papers and began our map by sketching a crude floor plan of the entrance hall, marking the corridors that branched off from it.

  But without any reports from the exploration teams yet, there wasn't much more to do beyond that. I decided to wander over to the hallway that led to the central shaft of the tower. Standing at the edge of an ice bridge, I looked up and down the enormous vertical space, taking in the numerous ice paths that criss-crossed through the air.

  I pulled out another sheet of paper and began sketching the paths, trying to establish how many floor levels we might need to explore. One path connected to another which connected to a third... it was like trying to draw a three-dimensional spider web on a two-dimensional surface. I quickly realized this was going to be more difficult than I'd anticipated.

  The hours dragged by as I kept vigil at the command center, occasionally updating my sketches but mostly just waiting for someone - anyone - to return with information or an emergency. It was mind-numbingly boring work, especially for someone used to being in the thick of the action.

  My leg bounced restlessly under the table as I stared at the empty hallways, willing someone to appear. Just as I was contemplating abandoning my post to do some exploring of my own, a soaking wet figure emerged from one of the corridors.

  Brian, dripping water and looking mildly annoyed, squelched his way over to the command center.

  "You get thrown in the underwater prison?" I asked.

  Brian spawned a towel from his inventory and began vigorously drying his hair. "Yep."

  "Could've been worse. Fritz got strapped to a torture rack."

  I filled him in on where we currently were. By the time I finished, some of the exploration parties had begun to return, bringing scraps of maps and descriptions of various chambers they'd discovered.

  Brian and I worked together to compile their findings, gradually piecing together a coherent picture of the shrine's layout. The work was more engaging with him there, at least giving me someone to talk to while we sorted through the reports.

  "You're not used to sitting around, are you?" Brian asked.

  I stopped my leg from bouncing for the fifth time. "No. I'd rather be out there breaking things."

  "That's the tragedy of being a good sergeant - they want you to be a captain next."

  "Are you a manager in real life?" I asked.

  "No." Brian replied, a hint of something in his voice. "I was a sergeant."

  "Literally or continuing the metaphor?"

  "Literally. I was actually invited to try the game as an observer."

  "What, they want to use this VR stuff for military training?"

  "Undoubtedly." Brian mumbled, still focused on the maps.

  "Will they still be interested after all this?" I gestured vaguely at... everything the game had turned out to be.

  Brian shrugged. "That's not my call. I know a few of my superiors would have issues with it. Some doubt the applicability of training with 'gameplay'."

  "What do you think?" I asked.

  Brian finally looked up from the papers. "I think there's plenty of applicable lessons, especially if you put these systems in a more modern setting. And you can work around the edges of the gameplay - that's why the NPCs are so dynamic, isn't it? To make it all more natural?"

  "Yeah..." I said slowly, my mind turning over something that had been bothering me since our conversation with Yunica. She had specifically mentioned her purpose was to facilitate training within the gameplay structure. "What do you think of the idea that this version of the game is already being used for training?" I asked, watching his reaction carefully.

  Brian's expression remained neutral. "What do you mean?"

  "I can't imagine the DoD would let the development of this game happen without trying to get in on it. Just think about it - it was a very closed-off process, wasn't it? Hardly any public reveals beyond the controlled experiences at conventions."

  "It's a very valuable technological innovation - anyone would want to protect it." Brian countered.

  "Want to, sure. But realistically, can they? There's a lot of money in defense contracts, and we don't know where the funding came from. And who knows what the CIA is getting up to these days."

  Brian's expression hardened slightly. "Percival, you're wrong. Don't get caught up in conspiracy theories."

  His denial only made me more suspicious. I knew there was a group within the government dedicated to hunting those shadow monsters, and it would make sense that they were affiliated with the army. How extensive was the operation?

  "So you don't subscribe to the idea that the corruption taking over the NPCs in the story is representative of something real?" I pressed.

  Brian looked at me hard, his jaw tightening. "Percival... focus on the problem in front of us. We're trapped in an ancient water shrine looking for some kind of holy relic."

  That's exactly what someone with something to hide would say! ... It's also what someone fed up with stupid questions would say. But for now, I decided to let it drop - look for a vulnerability. I had work to do anyway - these maps weren't going to compile themselves.

  I was starting to get the hang of the paperwork when a commotion at the entrance hall caught my attention. One of the Steel Rage scouts burst in. "We've found something weird!" he announced to Brian and me. "It's a hallway that goes straight up! Can't climb it, can't jump it - we're stuck!"

  Brian looked up from the map we'd been piecing together, then glanced at me with a subtle smirk. "Sounds like it needs a creative touch. Why don't you take this one, Percival? I'll keep things running here."

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  I knew what he was doing - getting me out of his hair after my conspiracy theorizing - but I wasn't about to turn down field work. "Sure thing. Where is it?"

  The scout led me through a series of twisting corridors in the upper levels of the shrine, through areas where the water was frozen solid. Ice coated every surface, making the air shimmer with an eerie blue-white light. Frost crawled across the walls.

  As we rounded the last corner, I spotted Lance and Napoleon already at the scene, along with several Steel Rage members. They were clustered at the end of a hallway, staring upward.

  "How's it going, boss?" Lance called out when he saw me, giving a casual salute.

  "What are we looking at?" I asked, approaching the group.

  Lance pointed toward the ceiling. The hallway ended abruptly in a vertical shaft that shot straight upward, extending at least thirty feet before opening into a chamber. The walls were slick with ice with no handholds or footholds. Two Steel Rage guys were attempting a human ladder, with one standing on the other's shoulders and stretching his arms upward, but even at full extension, they weren't close to reaching the ledge above.

  It looked a lot like the shafts in the underwater passageways, so my first thought was: could we raise the water level? If we flooded this section, we could simply swim up. I scanned the surrounding walls for any sort of mechanism - a valve, a lever, a drain - anything that might indicate there was a way to control water flow. But there was nothing obvious. And there was no evidence of anything like that anywhere else we'd found, either.

  "We could try building some kind of ladder," one of the Steel Rage members suggested, "if we had wood."

  "Can't build in instances." another reminded him.

  While they debated, I noticed Napoleon standing off to the side, seemingly disinterested in the problem. He was poking at one of the faerie lights that illuminated the shrine - small, glowing orbs that hovered at regular intervals along the walls and ceilings. His finger pushed into the light, distorting it slightly like it was made of some semi-solid substance.

  "Hey, Lance, check this thing out." Nap called, rubbing his fingers together curiously after touching the light.

  Lance walked over and stuck his hand in the light ball. His entire body shuddered, and he quickly pulled back. "Oh, that's... frizzy!" he exclaimed, shaking his hand out.

  Curious, I approached another of the faerie lights and cautiously extended my hand. As my fingers made contact, a wave of prickles washed over my skin, like pins and needles but more intense. The sensation crept up my arm, making my shoulder twitch involuntarily.

  But that wasn't all - when I pulled my hand back, my fingers were sticking to each other, like static on steroids. It wasn't permanent; the effect faded after a few seconds, but it gave me an idea.

  I plunged my hand back into the light, bracing against the prickles, then quickly slapped my palm against the icy wall. My hand stuck fast, as if magnetically attached to the surface. I pulled, testing the strength of the bond, and found I could support my weight with just that one hand.

  "That's it! Great job, Nap!"

  Napoleon blinked. "Sure, I'll take credit for that."

  I thrust both hands into the nearest faerie light, letting the tingling sensation cover them completely. Then I jumped at the wall, pressing my palms flat against the ice. Just as I hoped, they adhered instantly. I pulled myself up, then repeated the process with the next light, gradually making my way up the vertical shaft.

  The Steel Rage guys caught on quickly. "It's like rock climbing!" one shouted, already dipping his hands in a light ball and preparing to follow me.

  I was about halfway up the shaft when something shifted in the chamber above. A creature leaned over the edge. It wasn't made of water like the elementals from before, but pure ice - a jagged, crystalline being that moved by fracturing its own surface and extending new protrusions out of the rifts. It was like watching a plant growing in timelapse.

  The elemental focused on me, extending a thin spike in my direction, and it gave me the uncomfortable feeling of being aimed at.

  I pulled my hands off the wall, letting myself drop back to the floor. The moment I let go, a shard of ice shot down with incredible speed, exploding against the wall exactly where I'd been hanging. Ice fragments rained down, forcing everyone to shield their faces.

  "Okay, one problem solved, one more in the way." I said, dusting ice chips from my shoulders.

  Lance scoffed. "Oh come on, it's just ice!"

  "Do you want to get through it, then?" I challenged.

  "Maybe I will!"

  He shook out his hands and bounced on the balls of his feet, then dipped them into the nearest light ball. The massive man in full plate armor took a running start and leaped at the wall, slamming his gauntleted hands against the ice. The metal adhered instantly, and he began to haul himself upward with sheer brute strength.

  What Lance lacked in agility, he made up for in determination. His armor clanked as he moved from light to light, climbing steadily upward. The gauntlets helped, too - he was whacking his hands against the stone without hurting his fingers. The ice elemental noticed him almost immediately. With a sound like a gunshot, it fired a long spike of ice down the shaft.

  The projectile struck Lance squarely in the back, punching through his armor and impaling him at an awkwardly long angle from below the shoulder down to somewhere near his hip. Lance's health bar dropped by a quarter, but he didn't even pause. In fact, he accelerated.

  The elemental fired again. This time, the ice shard hit Lance's shoulder, causing his arm to go limp. He teetered on the wall, his grip weakening. For a moment, it looked like he might fall.

  Napoleon's hands flashed through the air, casting a spell - a Tailwind buff. Probably a weight reduction spell, because Lance started lurching upward again with lighter, more buoyant hops.

  With a final, straining effort, Lance threw himself over the ledge and disappeared from our view. There was a moment of silence as the ice elemental attempted to turn around, its crystalline body making a cracking sound as it shifted. Then came a tremendous crash.

  The elemental, broken free from the ground, came tumbling down the shaft, hitting the floor and shattering into a smear of frosty dust. Lance's face appeared at the edge above us, one hand clutching his wounded shoulder, his expression a mixture of pain and triumph.

  "I stand corrected - it was, in fact, just ice." I called up to him.

  Lance grimaced. "No, you're right - that thing hurt! Ah!"

  "Well, it's handled now. Continue on!" I directed the others, who began climbing the shaft while Lance kept watch from above.

  With the immediate crisis resolved, I turned and made my way back to the command center.

  When I got back there, things were really picking up. The tables were covered with scraps of maps, notes, and sketches from various exploration teams. Brian had organized them by area, creating clusters of information that were gradually forming into a cohesive picture of the shrine. He looked up as I approached, clearly eager for an update.

  "The faerie lights are sticky." I said, demonstrating by sticking my hand in one nearby and then pressing it against the table. "We can use them to climb vertical surfaces."

  Brian nodded. "Excellent find. That's going to open up a lot of pathways. We're getting reports of other puzzle-like obstacles all over. But are they shortcuts or intended paths?"

  Together, we started cataloging the various puzzles that the exploration teams had encountered. There were water-flow redirection puzzles, pressure plate sequences, ice-melting challenges, and more. As patterns began to emerge, Brian leaned back in his chair.

  "I'm seeing three general patterns here - the types of puzzle correspond to the three facets of water."

  I couldn't resist. "You would know all about those, wouldn't you, army boy?"

  Brian blew out a breath, clearly annoyed with my needling. "I'm just working off the lore here."

  "Then what does the lore say about the 'facets of water'?"

  "You know how we have six mana bars, right?" Brian asked, his tone shifting to something more professional, almost like a lecturer.

  "Yeah, I'm a mage - fire, water, earth, air, light, and dark."

  "Then you know how spells work - those first four are the basis of spells - the element. And then light and dark serve as augmentation to their properties."

  I nodded.

  "So at the core there is primal Water - fluidity, adaptability, the patron saint of liquids and such." Brian continued.

  "Sure." I agreed.

  "And then when augmented with dark, you get Cold - reduction, freezing."

  "Shrinkage."

  "And calming." he said.

  "Cool heads." I nodded.

  "Exactly. On the other hand, when augmented with light, you have Seal - cohesion, bonding."

  I considered that for a moment. "Calming? Like, the opposite of shattering into chaos?"

  Brian nodded. "You could have calming in that bin, too - it's an overarching theme of the element."

  "Nothing calms me down like an approaching tidal wave." I said dryly.

  "And sub-zero temperatures wouldn't be relaxing either - anything taken to the extreme will do that." Brian countered. "The point is there are many sides to as broad a theme as 'water', and I believe this place is built around them."

  I asked, "And in this - purely speculative - context, why do you think that is?"

  Brian smirked. "To educate." He pushed more scouting reports toward me. "So keep studying."

  I returned to piecing maps together, my suspicions not entirely allayed. But before I could find another angle of attack, we were interrupted by a Steel Rage scout.

  "Sir, one of your Rangers is having a mental breakdown in the upper northeast wing."

  Brian glanced at me, clearly relieved by the interruption. "Why don't you handle this one, Percival? I'll keep compiling the map data."

  I nodded and followed the scout through a series of hallways, up several levels to a large room high in the upper, icy floors of the shrine. As soon as I entered, I understood why they'd called for help.

  The room was an absolute nightmare for anyone who liked clear objectives. A wide rim surrounded a central pit that took up most of the floor space. Within the pit was a complex grid of pedestals, platforms, and segmented tiles arranged in no obvious pattern. Around the edge of the pit, dozens of levers and buttons were mounted on the walls, each unmarked and identical to the others.

  On the far side of the room, an ornate door was sealed tight. Its surface was carved with mythological reliefs - the emergence of water elementals from a primordial soup. A large, blackened blast mark spread across the door's surface where someone had already tried the direct approach.

  That someone was currently on her knees in front of a pedestal, half fallen forward onto it and using it for support as she wept openly. Liz's goggles were pushed up on her forehead, and her face was streaked with tears of frustration. Trevor was also there, sitting on the edge of the rim, unsure what to do.

  "Hey Liz, what's wrong?" I asked, walking down to stand next to her.

  "I don't get it!" she cried, slamming a fist against the pedestal. "What are we trying to do here?! What's the goal? What are the rules?! How do you find a solution without knowing the problem?! Puzzles need rules!"

  I surveyed the complex arrangement again. "Maybe finding the rules is the puzzle?"

  Liz just sobbed harder.

  The solution was likely related to one of the facets of water Brian had mentioned - Cold, Water, or Seal. But how they connected to this jumble of platforms and switches wasn't immediately apparent.

  "Let's make like the constipated mathematician and work this out with a pencil." I suggested, pulling out some paper. "We'll start by noting down what all of these do."

  I approached the nearest lever and pulled it. A tile in the grid rose slightly, then sank back down. I jotted this down and moved to the next lever.

  Behind me, Liz suddenly let out a primal scream. "I'm done! I can't take it anymore!"

  Before I could react, she had sprinted across the room to a window that opened into the central well of the shrine. Without hesitation, she clambered onto the windowsill and seemed prepared to jump.

  "Liz, wait!" I called out, reaching to stop her.

  But I was too late. Liz had already pulled a pair of ice picks from her inventory and launched herself out the window. Instead of falling, however, she jammed the picks into the thick layer of ice coating the exterior wall and began climbing horizontally along the face of the shrine.

  I leaned out the window to watch as she inched her way along. Her progress was slow but steady, and eventually, she reached a section of wall behind the sealed door we'd been trying to open. With a final swing, Liz disappeared through another window into the hallway beyond the locked door. A moment later, her triumphant laughter echoed back to us.

  "I knew it!" she shouted, her voice carrying across the gap. "I told you that puzzle was bullshit! Well I'm an even bigger bullshit!"

  I looked at the ice cliff she'd traversed. "Wait - could we build a bridge out here like we did outside?!"

  Trevor shook his head. "You can't build in instances."

  I slammed my fist on the ice ledge in frustration. "Dangit! How are you getting back here, Liz?"

  Liz's arms drooped as the reality of her situation sank in. She looked around the isolated hallway she'd reached. "Uh... can you guys get that door open?"

  "I'm sure someone'll figure it out eventually." I replied. "In the meantime... I hope no elementals show up where no one can help you!"

  "You're not going to leave me here, are you?!" Liz's voice had taken on a note of panic.

  "Sorry; I've got paperwork to do!" I called back cheerfully. "See you next week!"

  I ducked back into the room, cackling internally. Turning to Trevor, I said, "If we can't get that door open tonight, I'll send Nap up to telekinetically pull her back."

  Trevor nodded and continued examining the puzzle mechanism.

  As I walked away from the room, I couldn't help but feel a small surge of satisfaction. Maybe there were some perks to this leadership position after all - like occasionally teaching impulsive engineers valuable lessons about patience.