I looked at my copy. It stood in the middle of the room with me, waiting to see what I would do. As I inspected the floor, I noticed a button in the room where my copy was located. There was no such button in my room.

An idea came to mind. My copy mirrored my movements entirely. I raised my hand; it did the same. I mimed pressing a button, and my copy followed suit, pressing the button.

Click!

A soft sound echoed, and the mechanism began to move once more. This time, however, only a portion of it shifted. While my room remained stationary, the room with my copy slid elsewhere.

Now, there was a lever in my copy’s room. Once again, I made it mimic my actions. When it pulled the lever, I noticed a platform above began to move. Underneath the platform, a hidden passage to another room was revealed.

“This is going to be more complicated than I thought,” I muttered.

Following the shifting formation of the rooms was incredibly challenging, but somehow, I managed to reach the room with the passage.

The secret passage led to a new room, but the wave of excitement I felt didn’t last long. The moment I stepped into the room, the walls trembled, and the nature of the mechanism completely changed. The stones in the ceiling and walls began breaking free, floating magically in the air. Each brick spun at incredible speed, colliding with others to form new rooms. A few of the flying stones narrowly missed me. I threw myself to the ground, and one brick grazed my forehead as it zipped past.

Looking up to check on my copy, I saw it facing the same danger. It was mimicking my every move, managing to avoid the stones as I did. But a single mistake—a fast-moving piece of stone struck my copy’s arm. At that exact moment, I felt a sharp pain in my own arm, as though a blade had grazed me.

I glanced at my arm to find the same wound had appeared on me.

“What’s happening?” I shouted, my heart pounding in my chest. I locked eyes with my copy.

“If it’s injured… I’m injured. Which means…” I couldn’t finish the sentence, but the truth was clear: if my copy died, I would too.

I had to survive by coordinating my own movements with those of my copy. With the stones flying completely randomly, this seemed nearly impossible.

“Think, Alex, think!”

What is the theme of this door? The first door was likely tied to stealth, though I managed to solve it in a completely different way. The second door seemed to focus on combat skills. Considering all the puzzles behind this one… is it about intelligence? If that’s the case, I should be able to overcome this test by using my brain!

As I pondered this, a stone grazed my cheek, leaving a small cut. Blood trickled down to my mouth, forcing me to taste it.

“Damn it, I can’t focus while thinking about all this!” I yelled in frustration. I needed to dodge the flying stones while solving the room’s puzzle.

The stones continued moving through the air, forming new rooms. Meanwhile, it was impossible to access the other rooms. Then, suddenly, the stones stopped moving. I looked up and realized new rooms had already been formed.

I caught my breath for a moment and decided to inspect my surroundings to figure out what was happening. But before I could make sense of it, the stones started flying again.

“Are you kidding me?” I cursed.

The distance between my copy and me had grown so much that I could no longer see it through the gaps in the walls. Coordinating our movements was now impossible. Instead of moving randomly, I dropped to the floor, curled up, and placed my head between my knees, covering my neck with my hands. Random stones continued to strike my body, but by protecting my vital areas, I managed to endure.

As I sat there, I started thinking. The stones were behaving oddly. Instead of leaving cuts on my body, they simply hit me, leaving only bruises. After a while, the flying stones came to a halt again, and I found myself in a new room.

At that moment, a lightbulb went off in my mind.

"If what I’m thinking is correct..."

The bricks started moving again, and I began to execute the plan forming in my mind. The movements of the bricks were fast and dangerous, and I could barely see my copy. These flying bricks had a pattern. While they seemed chaotic, they were actually following a rhythm. I took a deep breath and started maneuvering through the flying bricks, carefully timing my steps. I was testing my theory. It was difficult at first, but soon I managed to avoid the bricks without getting hurt. My plan was working.

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"Hey, copy! You should be grateful you’re not getting hurt thanks to me!" I shouted. Of course, it wasn’t going to answer, but monologuing boosted my morale. "Curious how I figured it out, huh? Listen carefully."

My copy remained silent. "I guess you’re a bit shy, but whatever," I said with a grin. "This room we’re in is an octagon. Do you know what math is? Every polygon is built from triangles. Honestly, I didn’t remember this myself until a few bricks smashed into my face and refreshed my memory! And it’s the same here. Inside this octagonal room, there’s a structure made of triangles and squares. The rooms might appear to change randomly, but their shapes are actually determined by the movement of the flying bricks!"

Still, no response.

"We’re standing in an endless number of triangular chambers within an octagonal hall. I say endless because the number of triangles seems to be decided by the room randomly. Sometimes two triangles combine to make a square room, and sometimes it creates a massive triangular room."

The bricks stopped again, forming another room.

I took a deep breath and continued: "If the bricks are moving straight, it means a square-shaped room will form. But if they’re moving diagonally, that means a triangular room is on its way."

Since figuring out the brick movements, I hadn’t been hit by any. For a while, I continued to dodge them effortlessly. My goal was to explore every room in this hall. However, everything looked so similar that tracking my progress was almost impossible—though not entirely. With my luminous blade, I began marking the floor of every room I entered. Unlike other blades, this one left behind glowing marks that made it easier to track my path. Thanks to this, I managed to examine all the walls and the center of the hall.

"Sixty-four. That’s the number of room transitions required to explore the entire hall. Sixty-four rooms inside this octagonal chamber, changing between triangular and square shapes..."

I pushed my brain to its limit. That’s when I realized what I needed to do.

"THIS IS JUST A DAMN MATH PROBLEM!"

The answer had to be in the rooms corresponding to powers of two. If two triangles make a square, then technically, 99% of this hall could consist of squares! If we’re talking about 64 rooms in an octagonal hall and the sixth power of two is 64, then the answers must be in rooms 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. How do I know? I don’t! I’m just guessing! I know I’m not smart enough to actually solve this room, but back in school, I always made up ridiculous logic to pass my math exams. Now, I just have to trust my luck...

I carefully tracked the sequence of room transitions and realized that there truly was a pattern. In the second room, there was a crescent moon. In the fourth room, a half-moon. In the eighth room, a full moon. Similarly, in the sixteenth room, there was a quarter sun, in the thirty-second room, a half sun, and in the sixty-fourth room, a full sun.

All these numbers, and the positions of my copy and me, were aligned in such a way that when I was in the crescent moon room, my copy was in the quarter sun room. The time spent in each room was so short that I hadn’t noticed at first, but after another cycle, I realized these symbols were actually buttons.

Even though I pressed the buttons in order, they would reset back to their original position. It was clear that my copy and I needed to press the buttons at the same time. However, there was a major problem: the moon and sun symbols were on opposite walls. That meant while I pressed the sun button, my copy would just press a flat, blank wall. I didn’t know what to do, but after brainstorming for a while, I came up with only one solution.

"My last three arrows. The final three. I have to hit all three targets, or I’ll be trapped here forever."

Here was the plan: I would step away from the button, shoot an arrow at it, and use my elbow to press the blank wall behind me as if I were pressing a button. That way, I’d activate my button with the arrow, while my copy pressed its own button with its elbow. Timing had to be perfect, or everything would fall apart. I waited calmly for the first room.

The room trembled once more as the bricks flew into the air and began rearranging themselves. My first target was the crescent moon button. Calculating my copy’s position in my head, I turned my back to the wall with the sun symbol. I drew my bow, my hand trembling slightly—not from the chaotic shifting of the room, but from the excitement building within me.

"It’s time," I whispered, holding my breath. The arrow shot through the air, leaving a glowing streak, and struck the crescent moon symbol dead-on. At the same time, I pressed my elbow against the blank wall behind me as if hitting a button. My copy mimicked my exact movement.

Click!

The sound confirmed that my plan was working. The lights briefly illuminated the rooms with the crescent moon and crescent sun symbols, signaling that I had taken a correct step. But this was only the beginning.

I took a deep breath and waited for the next room. The bricks flew wildly again, their blinding speed challenging my focus. I dodged perfectly to avoid ending up in a position where I couldn’t control my copy’s movements. Timing was everything, and with every room transition, the tension mounted.

The next room: the half-moon symbol. The same plan again. I pressed my back against the wall with the sun symbol, drew my bow, and released the arrow. When it hit the half-moon symbol, I pressed the wall behind me with my elbow. My copy, perfectly synchronized with me, did the same.

Click!

The rooms with the half-moon and half-sun symbols glowed just like before. Only one step remained: the full moon and full sun symbols.

As I transitioned to the final room, the bricks moved more violently than ever. It was as if the mechanism had stopped testing me and now aimed to destroy me entirely. A brick struck my knee, and pain shot through my entire leg, but I couldn’t stop. One last time, I steadied my breathing and took my position.

The final room. The full moon and full sun symbols. I raised my bow and aimed at the full moon symbol. Just as my fingers were about to release the bowstring, I glanced at my copy. It had taken the exact same stance as me. I released the arrow and simultaneously pressed the wall behind me with my elbow.

Click!

This time, the sound was deeper and more resonant. A heavy silence filled the room, and then all the bricks suddenly flew into the air before disappearing entirely. The rooms were gone. I found myself back in a vast, dark hall.