Levi felt a shiver pass down his spine when the barrier spoke. Even in the dark and with a half-night vision from his Hunter's eye, he could tell the barrier was smiling, feeling pleased. The barrier, upon seeing Levi's calm expression, frowned.

"How are you not surprised that a barrier can speak? I finally got the chance to show my ability to someone, just to get a 'meh' reaction."

Levi didn't expect the barrier to have such a personality, given the deep and serious voice it had. " If you can talk, tell me how do I get past you?"

The barrier seemed to be thinking of an answer, not because it didn't want to tell the truth. It had been too long since something like this happened, and its memory seemed to have decayed over the years.

"Hmmm... let's see. If I remember properly, my creator made me to protect something, and to get through me… let me think for a bit."

Levi couldn't understand how a non-living being like that could have a personality and not get erased with the passing of time. Mana would fluctuate over time, and this barrier seemed to have been here for more than a century.

"Oh... yes, ahem, let me introduce myself again."

The barrier took a deep breath from its non-existent and non-functional nose and put on a serious face, "I am the protector of the desire of my master, and only those worthy can go inside. That is why you need to pass a test given by me to get inside."

Levi nodded his head and asked, "What is the test?"

He too didn't know what it was but prayed that it wouldn't involve fighting the Flesbolds. The barrier let out a small smile and said, "I will ask you one riddle. If you answer correctly, you go in. However, if you give me the wrong answer, then the surroundings around the whole area will heat, except where you are standing. You know your fate if that happens."

Of course, he knew what would happen—getting eaten like how piranhas devour their prey, leaving not a single flesh or bone behind. He perked up his focus on the question he was about to get. 'I don't think I have ever wanted to get correct answers this badly, but this is a bit easier than I thought.'

The barrier, seeing Levi calm, added more to the test, "You have three seconds to answer the question."

Levi spoke too soon. He patiently waited as the barrier started speaking, "The person who built it sold it. The person who bought it never used it. The person who used it never knew they were using it. What is it?"

The barrier in its creation had been programmed to ask only this riddle, but it never got the chance. Most of the time, people would get killed by the Flesbolds without knowing their destination. The only ones who would reach the barrier would often get so tired from fighting the Flesbolds that they would die from fatigue.

One second passed by, and the barrier could feel excitement for the first person it managed to stop, but Levi had other plans. In a stern voice, Levi answered, "A coffin."

The barrier's smile disappeared as it sighed, and the veil started to open up like a door.

Levi, for the first time in his life, felt lucky. 'I always wondered why Ms. Nakamura asked me such a difficult riddle in middle school. Thank God she asked me.'

Levi praised his lucky stars as he threw a wink at the solemn barrier and made his way. As he walked through the tunnel, the green slimes and goo on the pipes diminished. The smell also started to decline, and soon the whole pipeline looked clean. Not just clean, the metal shone in the dark.

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

'Magic really does wonders.'

Levi could sense mana around the pipe and could tell it was of someone really strong and proficient in magic. Soon, the whole area got bigger and bigger. The tunnel disappeared, and grey-coloured bricks covered the entire wall. The whole space was much larger and wider.

Bookshelves covered the walls, and a big chandelier was attached to the roof. The most intriguing part was the six big glass tubes filled with a green-like substance corrected by a pipe that didn't lead to any other connection.

'Did the mage even conduct human experiments or try to make chimaeras?'

The owner of this dungeon, the mage, didn't have a name that was in the game. He was just a stepping stone for Brian to obtain the skill. However, one thing stood clear—the mage's skills were exceptional. The magic barrier and the dungeon inside a place filled with Flesbolds couldn't have been made by an ordinary mage at all.

Forget about making it; they wouldn't be able to place even a brick in this place.

At the end of the room, a large table stood with some flowers that still hadn't wilted and a small container of ink that still hadn't evaporated. Activating Sense, Levi felt an odd mana at the table—his presence and nothing else. Even the glass chambers didn't seem to have any sort of magic in them.

'The space is wide open, but this is meant to be 100% harder than the game.'

As he walked towards the table, the green water in the chamber started to bubble up; the more he walked, the more violent they became. Levi knew he was walking towards a mechanism that would activate something that he possibly wouldn't be able to deal with. But turning back wasn't an option if he wanted the skill.

Once he was right in the middle of those six chambers, he felt the ground tremble. The green liquid shredded and formed a ball, starting to spin.

Levi immediately took out his bow and arrow. He took the shot, but the arrow bounced off a book, levitating as if it had its will. Levi shot towards the other unguarded chamber, and the same thing happened.

Seeing close combat not working, he formed a mirror knife and ran towards one of the chambers. The book opened and started flipping the pages, casting a magic circle in front of it.

'Huh?'

Levi didn't even have a chance to attack the chambers as a blade of wind. He dodged the attack and threw the knife at the book, which got pushed back by its spell. Levi formed even more knives, but before he fired them, every book on the shelves levitated, forming a sphere around him. Each of those spells formed a magic circle around him.

Levi quickly surrounded his body with his silks. *Swish.*

The sound of spells moving through the air reached his ears but didn't manage to penetrate his defence. After a while, the barrage of attacks stopped. Soon, he felt half of those books above him, casting a similar spell as their magic circles merged and started forming a large boulder.

Levi quickly got out of his hole, and the boulder immediately fell, crushing his silk dome. The other books fired their wind blades. Without any time to block those attacks, Levi started dodging and parrying with his mirror object, but they were too strong for him. He did manage to dodge most, but the some that landed on his body made deep cuts.

Golden

strings started sticking to those cuts, but he didn't have any proper time to heal, as those books kept firing. The glass chambers also started, as the green goo merged, forming two big green slime balls right at the entrance of the room.

'These books really are a pain in the ass.'

One of the lesser eyes sneaked behind the books, and the other formed right at Levi's hand. He threw the eye at the books, and they started forming magic circles. But before their spells were cast successfully, the eye behind them exploded, burning some of the books.

The remaining eye quickly changed its direction made its way to the remaining books and exploded. Using the Ifrit mask, Levi controlled the fire from the explosion and spread it across the whole room. The flame died down after his mana ran out. Chugging another potion, he observed ashes on the floor, with about ten books floating.

Levi quickly summoned the two lesser eyes and again sent them to sneak and wait for their chance. The central eye, however, felt frustrated. Its power didn't work on non-living beings, and debuting such fast and high-level spells was too hard for it.

'Don't lose control now, try to weaken them at every chance you get.'

Levi's words motivated the central eye as it focused on the two slime balls now forming the body of two identical-looking human-like figures. Levi immediately checked both of their stats and only saw their rank.

"Two A ranks. The stars really blessed me today."