I should count the moves ahead of time. Especially since some of them moved more than the others or less than.

Five seven and one should be set first since those are mostly on their own.

I stared at the ropes and pursed my lips.

Three and six are probably the hardest? There is more than one rope that move them, and they move at different speeds.

Two would be hard too. So that leaves four, but four has its own rope so I can leave that for last.

I clapped my hands together.

“Nice Ihrhis, you’ve got a plan, now you just have to do it!”

My excitement didn’t get any reaction from the silent guest on my shoulders, which was a bit disappointing but there wasn’t much of a reason for him to be excited. I’m sure if he was just stuck here with Quartz, he’d have the same reaction.

Well maybe not the exact same since Phuaphua would just feed on Quartz if he was too bored.

I shivered, that would probably motivate me to move faster, but I mean if Quartz is so used to it, would it really be able to motivate him?

I shook my head and felt his hands grip my hair to stay still.

“Sorry.” I said, then muttered “just get started, what’s with all this thinking.”

I placed five using the fifth rope, placed seven using the third. That moved one way past it’s point so I moved one into position with the first rope.

Three down four to go.

So, on the fourth rope, two moves two spots more than three and four. But I don’t need to think about four at all.

Two also moves on the sixth, but only moves one at a time. Three moves one less than six on the second rope.

Ugh, now I gotta count.

If I move six into position on the second rope, three would be two blocks from its final position.

Ugh if I could just carve into the floor and draw this out it’d be so much easier.

Now the hard part.

I looked at the wall with the blocks.

If I just put six in its position with…. The second rope. Three would then be one lower than six.

I counted how many moves it would take to get it to its position with the fourth rope.

Eight moves, which would put two at the same level as seven. But if I move two with the sixth rope, then six is way out of position….

If I put three in its position first. Then six is two below its position, meaning I just move six and two into their position with the same rope. And then four moves on its own with the seventh rope.

I made the moves hoping I was right and once the steps were made, I saw the door open. “Rhak!!!” I roared “I finished this stupid thing!”

I ran over and jumped from block to block making it up to the door and through it.

The next split came up quickly and this time there was three choices.

The right one led along for a while until it hit a dead end.

The middle one led me along until there was a second split. The left side was a dead end, but the right side took me to another open room. Well, I only assumed it was open, with it only being lit by a single green beam of light shining from a point in the wall to my left. The beam went through the darkness, and I didn’t see it hit anything.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Right under the beam of light, there was a pile of sticks with clear, glass like balls at the end of them.

I picked up one of the sticks and held it in the beam of light, the light went straight through it but the ball lit up the area around me a bit more. I could see a wall directly past the light, making the beam starting in the corner of the room.

I held it in the beam and walked along the beam till I made it to the other side of the room. I put my hand along the back wall and the instant I pulled the ball away from the light, the glow dissipated, and it was dark. With my hand on the wall, I felt around for a hole or something. With nothing in the immediate area, I walked away from the wall on my left and eventually found the doors. Past those I found a hole with a diamond shape around it.

This is probably where the beam needs to go. But if all the ball just makes the light go straight through, what’s the point?

I made my way back across and picked up another ball and stuck it in the beam, it bent at a slight angle through the ball, I put down the straight one away from the others, it didn’t feel like it’d be any use. I picked another one up and it cut the light at a hard angle.

Alright, these two would be more useful.

With the beam now going across the room towards the far wall, I looked along the ground to see if there was a way for me to plant the sticks.

There were several holes in the ground, and they were all spaced out differently. But there weren’t any that were at a good enough angle for me to reach it.

I backed up along the wall and towards the door end and stuck the stick in the first hole I found.

I then went along that line and found two holes. If I turned at the first hole, there was only one hole for me to go to, and it was kind of useless. At the second hole, there was a turn back but not a turn forward. I guess that was my only option for now.

I went back to the stack and grabbed a pile of the balls. I tested them out until I got a hard angle and stuck it in. Then stuck another hard angle into the next one.

The whole after that only connected to another hole with a softer angle. I tested them out till I found one that would work, with some spinning and managed to get it in.

At the next hole I had to make the beam straight again… would the straight one work?

I went back for it, but the angle only continued. I tossed it a side and to my disappointment even that didn’t break.

I found another soft angle and twisted until it made it straight. The next hole needed another soft angle and then two holes after that a hard and then another hard. I put them in, but the beam missed the hole in the wall by the tiniest amount.

I tried using the soft angle halfway through the last two places, and it did make it in, but the door didn’t open.

I glared at it. And pulled the wrong sticks out of their spots.

I went back to two before and pulled the soft angle. I looked around and found a hole at an angle from this one.

I put another soft angle in it but that just straightened it out, and if I twisted it, it wouldn’t catch the beam.

I put the hard angle in, and it lined up perfectly.

I followed along to the next hole, It, was another angle. But from there it looked like a straight shot to the wall hole. I tried another right angle, but it didn’t work so I tossed it away.

After a few more tosses and a walk back to the original pile I finally found another soft angle.

I stuck it in and twisted till the beam lined up and the door opened.

This puzzle wasn’t even hard, it just took time.

I mean I guess it might’ve been hard if I wasn’t strong. I mean sure everything I had done was physically easy for me, but maybe if like a human did it, it’d be hard?

Who cares?! Let’s just keep going and finish this stupid thing.

I went down the new path and tried the left after the first break but came across another small puzzle, what was the point of these? All I got last time was a metal rod and I didn’t run into any between the second and third big rooms. Was it ‘cause I kept running into the dead ends and then just made it through?

I sighed and looked at it. It was a grid of squares and after poking one it pushed in and lit up. I tried another one, but the light turned on and then the two went away. I tried again, pushing a different one after the first and I made it three stones before the lights turned off.

After trial and error and memorizing the correct order and making all the lights in the grid turn on, another small cabinet like door opened up behind the puzzle.

It was yet another metal rod, I grabbed it and went back along the path I decided to go right and then right again. I came across another break and went left instead. After another turn and a set of stairs I ended up in another big room.

Here there was a grid of grey stones which were different than the yellowish stones everything else was made from. On the wall to my left there was a line of holes at various heights.

I squatted down and used one of the metal rods to poke one of the stones.

An arrow whizzed past me.

“Alright, I can’t hold you while I do this.”

I took him off my shoulders and he yawned a bit.

“I know I’m bored too.”

I ruffled his hair.

“I’ll try to do this one quickly okay?”

I covered my body with aura and took a step on a different one. This time there was no arrow, but the stone lit up.

Was this like the small puzzle I had just done?