"Why were you curious about that, though?"

Dull rolled his eyes.

"It’s just a hypothetical question. Don’t read too much into it."

"I guess..."

But if he knew the real reason behind Dull's somewhat creepy inquiry, he’d definitely have to take it more seriously.

Luckily, the guy dropped the subject as they shifted back to talking about games.

When they got to their usual internet café, they quickly paid for the maximum time and jumped right into their monitors to log into the game.

'Since I'm considering creating a system and there's a chance this little project of mine might get the green light, I wonder if I should just lift the mechanics from this game...'

That would be the easiest route, but it made Dull frown in annoyance. He’s never been a fan of unoriginal ideas. He was already toying with the concept of a sudden apocalypse, but there was no way he’d just copy everything.

Still, he really liked how this game operated, so maybe he’d borrow a few elements here and there. After all, it's not a huge deal, so letting go of his pride a little to borrow some mechanics from this game shouldn't be a big issue.

"Dull, do you want to tackle the boss now or should we grind a bit more?"

"Hm..."

The deal with this tower is that once players choose to move up to the next floor, there's no going back down. This rule is in place to prevent everyone from snagging all the loot. Since it's an online multiplayer game, once treasures and monsters are discovered and defeated, they won’t respawn for a week. So, latecomers are left just hanging around.

Casual players might be okay with waiting, but serious gamers are all about speed-running through the floors to grab the best loot first, leaving others stuck waiting for a week, which really slows down their progress.

That's not the only gimmick this game has.

If players are after the same monsters or treasures and get too close to each other, a mechanic kicks in that allows them to attack one another. When that happens, they can even access the inventory of the player they just took down and swipe an item, like food buffs or weapons.

You could say this game is super competitive, which is exactly what hardcore gamers crave. Dull has had to grit his teeth more than once because those hardcore players sometimes lie in wait for newcomers on the next floor, ambushing them while they’re busy fighting monsters or looting treasures, just to snag some of their best items or wipe out monsters to make sure new players have to wait a week. It’s basically sabotage.

'I can’t sense the other players, so I can’t dodge them when they ambush us.'

That’s what makes him feel so weak in this game. Not only does he lack any real-life skills, but he also can’t just take out other players when they annoy him because his character is too weak. If he tries to fight back, he’s the one who ends up getting killed.

'There’s a way for me to pick up detection skills since I’m a mage.'

But here’s the catch: the only way to get them is from hidden chests, and those chests don’t respawn. There are three on each floor, and they’re usually locked behind some clever puzzles or riddles, each one different. But it’s totally worth it because opening one lets your party choose a skill for each member, snag a random five-star weapon, and score a big pile of coins for upgrading artifacts.

'My luck with artifact farming is pretty terrible, though.'

It’s been a week since he started playing, and he still hasn’t found a single perfect artifact. Most of the stats are just awful or don’t help his character at all, so he ends up tossing them aside.

At least other players can’t swipe artifacts, which are probably the hardest things to get in this game. If they could, not only would his monitor be toast, but the whole world might just implode.

"I still don’t have any good artifacts. Let’s grind some more."

"Luck here is brutal. It’s worse than any other game I’ve played."

"Like you’re one to talk."

"Haha, I just got lucky, I guess?"

While his luck is in the dumps, Desi’s artifact luck is off the charts. This guy has already scored not one, not two, but three perfect artifacts!

Tsk. This game is so unfair.

Even though you can't directly steal artifacts, there's a way to snag them through the "Challenge Arena." In this arena, you can take on an anonymous opponent—only their username is visible, which adds to the thrill. Whether you win or lose, the victor gets to swipe two artifacts and one item from the loser's stash.

Plus, there's a whole betting system with real cash involved. While some might frown upon gambling in games, it's all good since the game's developers are from Smerten, where gambling is totally legal, even in gaming. In fact, even in Jedi, gambling is pretty chill, but there are rules: if someone loses over a million Spends, they can't gamble again until they settle their debts.

If Dull and Desi were in the same class, he would have definitely tried to challenge Desi for his artifacts. But since their classes don’t match, there’s no point in going after him.

While they were exploring for monsters and treasures, they stumbled upon a hidden corner that was tough to see because it was so narrow and dark. Dull stumbled upon it by chance when he got sidetracked by a painting of the boss of this floor. The painting wasn’t very clear, just showing a shadow, but Dull recognized the shape and knew it was the boss.

The painting just sitting there felt super random. The rest of the hallway they checked out was totally bare of any artwork.

'It's gotta be a hidden chest.'

Dull thought with excitement.

After walking for a bit, they finally reached a secret room. It looked pretty bare, but it was clear this wasn’t just a regular chest room. It was too easy to access, and there were no open chests around, so there had to be something more going on in there.

"This has to be a hidden chest."

"Are you really sure?"

"The room isn't marked on the map."

"Nice!"

This is their first time stumbling upon a hidden chest, and they know how tough it is to find one. Realizing how special this moment is, the two quickly set out to explore.

Dull, ever the meticulous one, began his investigation by checking the walls, ceiling, and floor with a keen eye.

The walls are made of bricks, with some bricks missing or jutting out, while both the ceiling and floor are just plain concrete. The ceiling looks nice with a candle chandelier hanging from it, but the floor is a mess with cracks and stains everywhere.

"Seriously, what the hell? How are we supposed to figure this out?"

Desi grumbled beside him, but Dull was too focused on the ceiling to pay him any mind.

Unlike the walls and floor, which had clear puzzles, the ceiling made it tricky to spot anything. But honestly, they didn’t need to overthink it because the answer was pretty obvious.

'This puzzle might not be anything special to me, but it’s well-crafted enough that players would spend time trying to crack it.'

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

If the developers hadn’t left the obvious gap leading to this room so exposed, others would struggle to find it, and even Dull would have a tough time since he couldn’t sense anything in the game.

After taking in the whole room, Dull quickly caught the first hint, so he wasted no time and shot up toward the ceiling.

"What are you doing up there?"

Desi asked, but as usual, Dull just ignored him.

The guy can't fly, so he just stays put, staring at the bricks. Meanwhile, Dull made it to the ceiling and noticed there were eight candles up there—four were lit, and four were not. There were no clues or hints to help him figure out the puzzle, so he glanced down for inspiration. When nothing caught his eye, he turned back to the candles.

'It must be about the sizes.'

Each candle was a different height, so Dull decided to line them up from tallest to shortest. But that didn’t change anything. He even tried using his magic to light them all up and then blew them out, which made Desi jump in surprise, but still, nothing happened.

Then it hit him—he remembered the boss of this floor, who was also in the painting in the hallway that leads to this room, which he had seen in streams from other gamers. It was called the 'Summoned Flames,' a cursed man that became a candle, and its ultimate move was to summon candle chandeliers from all directions.

'That thing hits hard.'

He recalled watching players get wiped out by that attack. The only way to take it down was to defeat it quickly, or else you’d be stuck trying over and over or teaming up with others.

'If this is inspired by that boss...'

Dull lit up four candles again, leaving the other four unlit, arranging them in a pattern: lit, unlit, lit, unlit, and so on.

'This boss room's candles look a lot like this setup.'

Seems like someone has a signature style.

Dull yanked the chandelier down with his weight and a little help from the wind since it was stuck. When he told Desi to pull his legs, it finally budged. It didn’t drop much, just about 5 cm, but then Dull heard a click, and it started spinning on its own.

Out of nowhere, the room shook, and the ceiling began to lower in a circular motion.

"What the actual fuck!?"

Desi was stunned that Dull managed to open it so easily.

As the ceiling opened up, an old, boring chest descended, riding down on the circular part of the ceiling. Desi blinked a few times before letting out an awkward laugh.

"Dude, you're a pro at this! This has to be the quickest hidden chest discovery ever."

Right as Desi said that, Dull's monitor lit up, showing he earned an achievement for not just finding a hidden chest but doing it in record time.

[ Hidden Treasure: Find a Hidden Chest ]

[ Master Decipher: Solve the puzzle in less than 3 minutes ]

"Told you!"

Dull merely shrugged. It was just one of those unique achievements that Desi missed, but hey, it was a start.

"How did you spot it? I was searching too, but honestly, I didn’t find or even understand anything, so I figured I’d just keep looking and hope for a clue."

"How the hell did you miss it? The cracks in the floor were basically a hidden message!"

"Huh?"

Desi squinted at the cracks in the wall, trying to understand what Dull was talking about.

"It's U and P, which literally means UP, you know, like on the ceiling."

"But that looks like a V..."

Dull shot him a glare, clearly unimpressed as Desi scratched his cheek.

"Look, all the floors in this tower are cracked. Who's really gonna notice that? Ahem."

Most people would probably agree, but Dull wasn’t one to let things slide just because they looked similar. He was getting pretty annoyed with Desi's response.

"It's Runic Alphabet, you absolute moron. Didn’t you take any ancient languages in college?"

The developers likely used this specific code because it looks the most natural as cracks.

Actually, Dull himself didn’t know much about this language, but when he arrived in this world, he made it a point to learn as many languages as he could. It was just something he always did whenever he found himself in a new place.

"Why would I bother studying languages when I’m not going anywhere? It makes no sense!"

Desi felt defensive under Dull's accusing gaze. Unlike Dull, who thrived on knowledge and learning, Desi had never cared much for things that didn’t seem useful. I mean, would ancient languages really help someone like him who is just trying to get by?

Desi coughed as he kept trying to explain himself.

"I honestly thought we could uncover a secret room by pushing or touching some of the bricks. It seemed more obvious than the cracks."

"Right? It was designed to catch your eye more than the floor. Sure, the bricks were a good distraction, but they’re not fake. I genuinely believe there’s a hidden room behind these walls with even more puzzles that will challenge players to figure it out."

"Seriously?"

Dull nodded and pointed to the spot where the bricks were missing and those that were sticking out.

"If you visualize all four walls as one big page, with the west wall at the bottom, the south wall just above it, the north wall next, and the east wall at the top, it forms the floor's boss head."

The boss's was obviously a candle. But the way the boss is illustrated is quite intricate, so it gets pretty tricky to decipher.

Desi tilted his head, clearly confused, so Dull sighed and pushed some of the protruding bricks that didn’t fit the overall picture. Suddenly, the walls started to shake, and the east wall swung open, revealing a larger room filled with more clues, like writings on the walls and some old journals and papers.

He glanced at Desi, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Got it now?"

"Is this your way of saying I’m an idiot without actually saying it?"

"I know you’re not the brightest, so I don’t need to be subtle about it. Anyway, let’s just check out the chest."

"Don’t you want to crack those codes? There might be another chest or a weapon, even if it’s not a hidden one or a five-star weapon."

"It all just circles back to the same treasure."

That room is just there to make things more complicated and waste players' time trying to figure it out. Based on the achievement he got, it doesn’t mention anything about Easter eggs or anything like that; it just shows that the developers created two paths to find the hidden chest: the easy way and the tricky way.

Desi quickly agreed because he didn’t want to look foolish again. When they opened the chest, both Dull and Desi got to pick a skill each. Dull naturally went for the detection skill.

"That’s super useful since ambushes happen a lot around here."

The higher you go up in the building, the more ambushes happen. This is mainly because the upper floors offer better rewards, so players tend to have better gear and weapons. It makes ambushing them a lot more appealing.

"I know, that’s why I chose it."

Dull was determined not to fall victim to ambushes again.

"Since you went for a support skill, I’ll grab something that can help us out."

Desi picked a skill called 'Flicker,' which lets him flicker three times before going on cooldown. The cool part is he can use it on Dull too, or even both of them at once since they’re in the same party. This gives them a way to escape ambushes or tackle monsters that are way too strong for them.

"That’s a solid skill."

Even with the ability to detect enemies, who’s to say they won’t be fast enough to catch up? There’s always someone out there who can overpower them, especially those spear users with built-in speed as part of their class.

'Humans really know how to keep this game engaging.'

The skills they come up with are pretty impressive too. If Dull were to design skills...

'I'm not sure how that would go.'

He's way too hasty to think through the skills, considering their usefulness, how they interact with other skills, and the right amount of power to assign. Dull has always relied on overwhelming power. If he just randomized them like he usually does, it would be a total mess.

Maybe if he got the right permissions, he could kidnap the game developer and convince them to help him wreak havoc in their world.

'Now that would be entertaining.'

Next up was the weapon, and both of them peered into the chest at the same time. They felt a rush of excitement when they noticed the glow inside, and when they finally looked down, they saw what was waiting for them.

It was a...

"Are you fucking serious!?"

"Yes, it's mine!"

They both yelled at once—one in shock and the other in pure joy—drawing curious glances from the other patrons in the café, but they didn’t care.

The weapon in the chest was a sword. Dull nearly slammed his head on the table in frustration.

"Why can't I get anything that suits my character!?"

Dull, once part of a powerful lineage, has turned into this sorry excuse for a man. It's a pretty pitiful life he's living now... At least he had enough coins to upgrade his artifacts to four stars. They might not be top-tier, but four-star artifacts definitely pack more stats than three-star ones.

'Maybe I should grab some artifacts...'

The catch is, that the ones in the shop are ridiculously overpriced and also still rely on luck, so it feels more like a scam than a real deal.

"... ."

"... ... ."

Forget it...