Chapter 119 - 115: Arches
"No. Really?" Necia stepped up and put her hand to the stone. "Who could possibly find this, Tulland?"
"Anybody who was walking through this thicket. Although I don't know why anyone would," Tulland answered.
"Even if they did, it doesn't seem fair. If we had stepped through it, would we just have been warped to some other place? It's like a trap. There aren't supposed to be any traps on this floor. It's supposed to be safe."
"True, but who could stop The Infinite from doing it if it wanted to? It's not like there's a court we can drag it into." Tulland pulled his belt knife out and poked at the arch experimentally. "Thing is that I don't think that's what's happening here. When you can't see something but it's set up in a place where it's certain to surprise you, that's a trap. When you can't see it unless you look for it, it's hidden. You conceal a trap. You hide treasure. I just have to figure out a way to confirm that."
"Ask your guy." Necia pointed at her own head. "See what he says."
"You'd trust it?"
"I'd trust it if it had a way to get it to tell us without The Infinite stepping in."
Well? What do you say?
There's nothing I can do to force The Infinite to do anything. At most, I could petition for you in a situation where you were being abused by its decisions.
Why haven't you been doing that then? Do that thing you said!
I could only do that if it was being unfair. It hasn't, yet, at least to a point where I could take exception. And besides that…
There was a pause. At this point, Tulland knew exactly what that pause meant.
You're afraid of it?
Continue your journey at My Virtual Library Empire
Very much. At any rate, you likely don't need me involved for this. Have you forgotten that you can simply ask The Infinite in most cases?
Right. I'll try it out.
| Hidden Reward Arch 1 of 5 The 10th and 15th floor safe zones contain a total of five hidden arch rewards. Each one is hidden in a different way from the others, and contains a reward unique from any other arch. This arch reward has a theme of foundational wisdom. When entered, it will transport the entrant to a simulated dimension, complete with a top-tier class' with expertise in at least one element of your class. De-synced from time, the expert and the entrant will be given sufficient time to correct deficits in the entrant's understanding of that facet of their class to match what would normally be expected at their level. The entrant will not be allowed to "stall" the process in any way, and must maintain a high level of effort and a steadily growing knowledge level or else be expelled from the arch. The information gathered will be purely corrective in nature, representing a remedy to deficiencies rather than a relay of secret knowledge. Only one entrant may use this secret arch.
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