Inside the room, it was back to perfection. Mathew blinked and mentally double checked himself. “This is the right room, I’m sure of it.”

“Are you sure?” Cherry asked. “I can’t remember which way is which in this place.”

“I am. This isn’t anything I like. Invisible people, rooms that fix themselves, lack of anything. How the hell do we solve this Challenge?”

“What if the halls are moving?” Agnox commented.

Mathew was about to deny Agnox’s suggestion, but he had nothing to counter his claim. Instead, Mathew shrugged. “Fine. Maybe. Let us keep going. This place is hiding something. I don’t like it.”

After twenty minutes of searching, Agnox saw the figure dart into a room. “It's fast. Way faster than any of us” were the only words Agnox said when he returned from chasing it. Mathew followed him, and the chase went on for four hallways before they came to a deadend.

Mathew burst the door open, and found it was the same trashed room he first saw when they came into this place. “This dead end wasn’t here before, I’m more than sure it used to be another branching hallway.I think you were right Agnox.”

Cherry took a careful step back into the hallway. “We need to get out of here.”

“There is no way out until we find the way out.” Mathew said. “Those are the rules. We have to discover the ‘Truth’. Which right now, I think is figuring out what that creature is.”

“Why not just kill it?” Cherry asked.

“Rules didn’t say to kill. Said to find it.” Agnox reminded her.

“Technically it said discover.” Mathew corrected. “It’s semantics. We don’t have to kill anything, or it would have said so.”

Cherry rolled her eyes. Mathew started to turn the office upside down. By empowering his eyes with his Axiom of Piericing, he hoped nothing would remain hidden to him. However, there was nothing that stood out to him with his enhanced vision. Mathew was growing more infuriated. “What the hell is going on here!”

He left the room to find a clean one to sit in an unbroken chair. He was staring at the empty hallway, his vision still enhanced by his Axiom. “We are still missing something.”

“Mathew, we are out of options.” Cherry said. “We haven't found anything in the past four hours of searching this place.

“Not yet. We can figure something out.”

“I’m agreeing with Cherry. We need to start working on a Plan B I think.”

Mathew didn’t take his eyes off the empty hallway. “No. I know there is something going on here. Another room we have missed. A picture frame. A note. A journal. It’s only a matter of-” Mathew smirked as he noticed movement in the hallway. A blur ran by. It was fast.

A moment of time was all Mathew needed. Chains snaked out from him and went around the corner. Mathew jumped over the desk into the hallway. His chains found their target, slowing them down.

“Come on!” Mathew shouted as he summoned his rod.

Cherry and Agnox were right behind him. Cherry was way slower, Agnox lagged behind to not leave her alone. Mathew ignored their slow pace and rounded two more corners when he saw his target.

A humanoid shape stumbled into a side room. Mathew entered it with a [Mana Bolt] at the ready. A tanned and grizzled man was wrapped up in Mathew’s chains. He wasn’t wearing much clothing. Allowing Mathew to see his muscular body.

“He has more muscles than Zack or Leo. Did this kid just put all his stat points into Strength?”

With a grunt, the stranger shattered Mathew’s chains. “I don’t suggest attacking me. Otherwise, I’ll smash your head into the wall.”

His voice was grizzled. Mathew looked over at him properly. A horrible cut beard sat on his face. As if he did it with a knife. Same with his hair. Mathew didn’t see anything on his person resembling a bag, weapon, or anything. Not even a small ring for a magic item.

“Funny. I was going to say something similar.” Mathew said before increasing the mana flowing into his spell. “Who are you? Why are you watching me?”

“Why do people always care who I am? Just help me solve this, we split the rewards, and we leave. No reason to kill each other.” The other person said.

Mathew raised an eyebrow. Someone who spoke some level of reason. “Perhaps. How do I know you won’t just backstab me?”

“Please.” He started to stand up, Mathew kept his spell pointed, but didn’t react. “I could say the same about you. I just want to beat this floor and get my wish.”

“Wish? We get a wish for beating this floor?” Mathew thought to himself. Outloud he spoke calmly. “What’s your name?”

The man paused for a moment, then smiled. “Not many have asked that question to me. They just scream, run, or try to kill me back. In this hell hole, you are the third.” He stuck his hand out in a friendly manner. “Zachary Mann is my name. At least, that’s what The System says it is. I almost forgot it until I was taken away from my home.”

Mathew didn’t visually react. Yet he knew then and there, there wouldn’t be a backstab. It would be a full frontal murder. This was the man that was at the top of all humans in level and power. Mathew was more than sure he was stronger than Aaron, the bloodmancer.

He lowered his rod, and deactivated his spell. Mathew returned the handshake. “Valrix. I think it’s safe to say, I know who you are.”

Zachary narrowed his eyes and his grip on Mathews hand increased slightly. “You know, I have memorized the entire list of people on the leaderboard. There isn’t a ‘Valrix’ above level 16. The highest one as of two days ago was Level 14. You are stronger than that. So, how about you try again before I beat the answer out of you.”

Mathew’s face grew sour. “Well, I can’t just go around shouting my name off to the heavens. People will know who I am. Names have power after all. You should be careful to not share them either.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

His grip only grew. Mathew hated the situation he was in. He had zero leverage over the man. Too close to risk combat. He had half his summons out. He didn’t expect a fight in this Challenge. This wasn’t the time to play games. “Fine. I am Mathew McGonald. Happy now?”

Zachary’s face softened slightly, and his grip did so as well, but he didn’t let go. “So I finally met one of the McGonalds. What are you all? Brothers? Cousins? A mix of fathers, sons and uncles?”

“All brothers.” Mathew answered flatly. “What about you? How does one man shatter the leaderboards time and time again, staying ahead of everyone.”

“I hit things really well. I do it all to find my friends back home. I can show you, if you want me to prove it. A few people didn’t believe my level was real.”

Mathew put on a friendly smile. “No need to measure dick sizes here. You seem like a sophisticated man. Let’s just trust each other.”

“Oh? So you plan to be a bit more honest now that you realize you are not in a situation that is best for you? Welcome to my world.”

“I’ve been on the brink of death more than once.” Mat retorted. “Have you found a way out of this place yet? Since you are fast enough to cover the whole place before I get through half of it?”

Zachary looked behind Mathew. “How many friends do you have? Since you seem to want to work with those invading our planet. It’s obvious you are summoning other monsters to use instead of fighting your fights yourself.”

Mathew’s tone grew serious with a hint of a threat. “That’s private information. And no squeezing will give that up. I can show you personally if you push me that far. As for invaders, maybe don’t look at them that way. Think of them as new possible allies against the actual invaders.”

Zachary just shrugged, seemingly unbothered by what Mathew said. “Fine. As for this place, the hallways keep moving. I haven't found any patterns. All I know is, the challenge is to find something. That room with the blood and broken furniture keeps popping up. I found a note in it before you showed up.”

“It talked about finding something. Either an object, person, or something else.”

“Do you have this letter?” Mathew asked.

“Nah, I destroyed it. Couldn’t let someone else beat this challenge before me.”

“Why did he have to be such an asshole? It makes sense. He is the strongest for a reason. But I didn't expect a muscle headed idiot who has no tact!”

Mathew crossed his arms. “So I’m supposed to trust you are telling me the full truth?”

“Either trust me, don’t trust me. Either way, I want your help. You seem to be a brainiac. I foresee you being able to puzzle out this place.”

“I’ll help you, so long as you agree to something from me first. To ensure we don’t backstab one another.”

“Oh, I don’t need anything from you. If you try to do anything to me, I smash your skull under my heel. If I backstab you, you die.” Zachary walked out of the office room. He glanced at Agnox and Cherry, giving them a sharp glare before going down the hallway.

“What’s the plan Boss? Are we killing him?” Agnox asked as he drew his sword.

“No. We work with him.” Mathew said. “I can deal with this kind of guy. I just misjudged him at first. Muscle heads like him are easy to manipulate, but I can’t push him too far, or he will just go into a fit of rage punching everything. And he is absolutely stronger than I am physically. My chains still worked on him, so he isn’t immune or unkillable. His body doesn’t have a single scar on it, so he just has high physical stats. Probably cultivating everything into his body as well if I were to guess.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Cherry whispered. “Just be careful please.”

Mathew walked to follow Zachary. “So, what have you eliminated so far as options?”

Zachary glanced back at Mathew. “Well. I say anything you’ve seen so far, I’ve already tried. Desks. Chairs. Picture frames. Books. Everything. Which is why I think we are looking for something hidden. A secret compartment of some kind. A safe in a wall, or something like that.”

Mathew slowly nodded. “Makes sense. What about a philosophical truth? It never specified if it was physical or not. Perhaps we have to acquire an Axiom, which are also called Truths.”

“No. I tried that already. Upgraded one while I was in here.” Zachary said, as if it meant nothing.

Mathew couldn’t stop from physically reacting. “This guy just leveled up an Axiom? In here? What the hell did he do to do that? He must have eaten a fruit, or a pill, or something. He couldn’t have just done it with no effort.”

“Okay. So that’s off the table of options.” Mathew hummed. “If you tried everything, then it can’t be a safe in the wall.”

“I’m not good with illusions. One of the few magics I have problems with. So if it is an illusion, I wouldn’t know.” Zachary said.

“Well, let’s see how lucky I am with such things.” Mathew said, already churning his Axiom of Resistance through his mind. He hadn’t thought of illusions like Zachary suggested. Yet, it’s a possibility. He was passively resistant to illusions and charms thanks to his [Contest] skill and Axiom of Resistance. However, stronger ones could overpower it.

It was another hour later when Mathew did find what Zachary was talking about. It was in a random office that seemed normal. Mathew noticed a part of the carpet was a different color. A blob of dark red that looked like blood.

Without his enhanced vision, Mathew would have never seen through the illusions.

When he pointed it out, Zachary punched his fist through the ground and opened up a small hole. Inside was a safety deposit box. The portal opened once Zachary pulled it out.

“Ha! Good find Mathew. Come on, let’s get out of here, split the reward, and go our separate ways.”