"Do they just use 'Scavenger Hunt' for everything, then?" Nathan asked in disbelief.

"It's probably," Keith said. "Because there are other Dungeons for us to do, if we want."

"So?" Nathan asked. "All we had to do was clear the tower of monsters! That's very clearly a slaughter mission!"

"Will you just look at the map," Keith told Nathan, who grunted, then spread out the map that he'd grabbed as soon as it had appeared. "Thank you."

Up clearing the Tower of Magic Dungeon, they were informed that there were eight total Towers of Magic, each a separate Dungeon, each needing to be cleared of monsters. They had fifteen minutes to decide if they wanted to seek out another Tower of Magic, or if they wanted to leave.

Unlike in the Isles of Darkness Dungeon, they would not receive the choice if any of them left the tower. If someone did, it would be counted as a decision to remain and complete another Tower of Magic Dungeon.

Another difference between the Tower of Magic Dungeon and the Isles of Darkness Dungeon was that they were given a map which showed them every available Dungeon.

"Black dots," Keith said. "Are Dungeons that are already completed, which puts us here."

He pointed at the sole black dot on the map, ringed by brown.

"Brown means a settlement," Keith said. "The ring around it means it's around a Dungeon. The Towers of Magic, the Dungeons we have to complete to receive the exit choice, are green. There are nine of those dots, so we have eight more we can complete. We can also complete any Secondary Dungeons located on this map, but only as long as we have Towers of Magic left. If we complete all nine Towers of Magic, we'll be removed automatically, without allowance to complete anymore Secondary Dungeons. Secondary Dungeons are the blue dots."

"I count eighty-seven," Nathan said. "So ninety-six-four total Dungeons."

"Yeah," Keith nodded. "I count eighty-seven Secondary Dungeons as well. As the Towers of Magic will probably be relatively easy due to how powerful our team is and how soon this became available to us, we can do those nine for sure. That leaves us with twenty-one more Dungeons to complete."

"What's the red dot with the golden ring?" Katie asked.

It rested in the center of their map, in the center of the ring created by the Towers of Magic, and was something all six of them had been wondering. As soon as she asked, the answer was provided for them.

A Dungeon with a Difficulty rank of Impossible. It is protected by a golden barrier, and will not allow entry unless all present members confirm they wish to enter. Completion of any Dungeon with a Difficulty of Impossible will grant additional five exempted Mandatory Dungeons to your allowance.

"Considering we'd need to be at least Level 1,000 for that," Keith said. "Or Level 3,000… let's not agree to go in there."

"Agreed," Nathan said. "Even if all five of you said 'yes', I'm going to say 'no'."

"At least they sealed it off," Keith said. "So that someone doesn't accidentally enter its range. It would be nightmarish if we were forced to go through an Impossible Dungeon because we accidentally, barely entered it while traveling to another Dungeon."

The group returned to looking over the map, until Michael spoke up.

"I'm even more of an idiot than Nathan when it comes to reading stuff like this," the warrior said. "But based on the scale it gives, doesn't that mean it's over thirty miles between towers?"

"They're approximately thirty-two miles apart," Keith nodded. "Running, we could probably span that in under six or seven minutes, if we paced ourselves."

"We won't be moving that fast," Nathan told Michael. "Because we don't know what we might encounter. Only in combat do we generally use the full speed, and for a reason."

"Doing so elsewhere," Samantha said. "Risks running into a trap, spell, monster, or something else before you realize it's there. Even if you can track everything, you're doing so at a high speed, and you have less time to stop if you realize you're about to hit a trap, yet need more distance to stop."

"Which means we're walking the whole way," Keith said. "Between each tower we are heading to. We will probably average nine miles per day, including stops for food and rest, setting up and taking down camp, and potential fights. This is excluding Dungeon expeditions."

"Didn't you guys say you sped across the oceans during the islands?" Michael asked.

"Yes," Keith answered. "There were also only two of us and an assurance from the System there were no threats between islands. We don't have an assurance of that here, and with more people, the risk is higher."

"They're also much more powerful than us," William added. "And more likely to be able to handle unexpected situations better."

Keith realized Nathan was giving him a smug look and met the demigod's gaze.

"Nathan," Keith sighed. "You just wanted to find out what a Tower of Magic was made out of. I'm the one who had the gut feeling we should come here."

Nathan looked at Samantha.

"It's made of stone."

"We got that, Nathan," she said. "So? What do you two think we should do next? There are seven Dungeons between this one and the one to the east, and four between this one and the one to the west."

Nathan returned his gaze to the map. The region spanned several hundred miles across and wide, with rivers, forests, a few lakes, and more than a few settlements. None of the Secondary Dungeons were labeled for what they were.

Despite that, he could make a guess at what nine of the Dungeons were.

"Keith," Nathan tapped a blue dot beside a brown dot to the south of their Tower of Magic, the furthest one south. "Did you notice that every Tower of Magic has a settlement in the direction of them opposite the Impossible Dungeon, accompanied by another Dungeon outside of it?"

"I did," Keith noticed. "You're thinking they're possible some sort of temple or trial grounds?"

Nathan nodded, and Keith's eyes glowed. For several minutes, they waited for him to finished, and when his eyes dimmed, he nodded.

"They're temples," he told them.

"Did you check these as well?" Nathan indicated green dots halfway between the Towers of Magic and the settlements with the temples.

"Yes," Keith answered. "Those seem to be mazes, possible a trial ground of some sort, meant to test the mettle of the demons who had lived here."

"That's eighteen Dungeons," Samantha said. "If we did every temple and maze. Twenty-seven if we did every Tower of Magic, too."

"So we'd only need to do three more," William said. "But that's if we can manage the mazes and temples with ease."

"Let's at least try one of each," Keith pointed to the temple Nathan had. "We can do the maze on the way to here, then do here. That should give us a good gauge for how these are. There's also another Dungeon near here we can do."

"After we complete the maze and temple," Nathan said. "We can decide if we want to do those at the others or not. If so, then we'll travel to the next temple on our path, complete it, then travel to the next Tower of Magic and clear the maze on the way. We can also do other Dungeons on the way here."

"Chances are," William said. "We aren't the first players to do the Towers of Magic, which means it probably isn't a high priority for the Overseers for everything here to be completed."

"If we do complete everything," Keith said. "It will take us months to perform, possibly a year or more in here, but we will have forty-five exempted Mandatory Challenges after. The first three take up half of a year, then they're half of a year between them each after that. Total, you would all gain around twenty-one years' worth of exemptions. That's far beyond what Nathan and I currently have."

"Twenty-one and a half," Nathan said.

"Yeah, I got that," Keith said. "It's called 'rounding for shorter say'. Our main goal is just the seven that would get the four of you two years' exemption."

"However," Samantha said. "The longer we're in here, the more time you two and Icthvar have to study the seal on the dimension and pathways."

"Yeah," Keith nodded. "So that's going to be up to all of you to decide. We're doing thirty for sure, and after awhile, we'll probably be relying heavily and whatever food we manage to find as we travel. If this place has genuine life and not artificial, it might even be delicious."

"It might take me a bit to adjust," Nathan said. "But if it's good ingredients, I'll make good food."

"Yeah," Samantha snorted. "I'm sure you would, Nathan. With how easy the Tower Dungeons are probably going to be, based on this one, I'd say let's just do every Dungeon we come across until we reach the Tower Dungeon after the thirtieth. Then decide from there if we continue or not."

"I second that," William said.

"Same here," Katie added.

"Same," Michael said.

"Then the vote is unanimous," Keith said. "And yes, Nathan, you can use the scry orb to look at Cyrus before we leave for the next Dungeon."

"Good."

"Alright," Keith began. "We still have a few minutes before the decision notice pops up. Should we just exit and not let it, or wait for it?"

"Regardless of what we do," Nathan fixed his gaze on William. "If we're going to be here for months with you in a situation where we might die, we need to know if you're an ally or an enemy. Keith and I already checked your Skills and saw you have Player-Striker and Player Killer, which means you can act against us."

"Why are you singling me out?" William asked. "Because I have a thing for Samantha?"

"Because we know," Keith said. "That you're from the Three Bitten Snakes, William. Nathan and I are more than willing to kill you if it means protecting the rest of us from you, and we aren't leaving this tower until we know your stance."

"Which means," Nathan said. "Keith is going to enter your mind and pick apart all of your secrets."

The demigod and psychic had been holding a telepathic conversation throughout the discussion regarding that, because neither wanted to stick around with someone who could be an enemy without knowing for sure. Nathan had suggested simply the psychic his way into William's mind and find out the truth, but Keith rejected that, saying it would be best if William agreed to it. The psychic had already been working his way to getting the answers from the warrior, and wanted to at least give a chance for honesty.

When they decided to attempt to do thirty Dungeons, they had forgotten it would likely take them months. As a result, they entered into a place with actual risk of sabotage without confirming William's intentions.

"There is a magical bind in my mind," William told Keith. "Which prevents anyone from being able to look into it."

Keith held out his hand, and William took it. The psychic's eyes glowed for only a moment, but the effect of his spell became evident immediately.

"Gah!" William screamed, face screwing up in pain as his knees gave out.

"Not anymore," Keith said. "Don't compare me to the hate-rate psychic your clan has, William. They'll know once we've left the game that it broke, but we can deal with that… if you're still alive."

"Alright," William pulled his hand away. "Yes, you can look through my mind, but please don't do that again, Keith. That hurts."

"So?" Nathan asked, and William collected himself, then sat against a wall. "Let's wait for the notice."

Nathan and Keith returned to looking over the map, plotting out their possible routes without a word said or thought between them. When the message came, the six teens voted to stay in the Dungeon and complete more, then Keith sat beside William and touched his arm, his violet eyes glowing once more.

Several minutes passed, with Nathan still examining the map and the other three watching Keith and William. The latter squirmed several times, but Keith kept his hand firmly on his arm. When his eyes finally returned to normal, he looked at Nathan.

"He's clean," Keith said. "I had to break a few other binds they'd placed on his mind, deep within, but other than that, he's not our enemy. It seems William actually wants to escape the clan. I found out why he moved to town, too."

"Really?" Samantha asked. "From what you told us about the clan-"

"Yeah," Keith stood. "It seems they knew about both a demigod and a psychic attending high school there, and William was supposed to find out who they were and keep an eye on them."

"And then he found out they're guys he wants to double-penetrate him," Nathan muttered.

"Well, there is that, too," Keith said.

"I have never said that!" William protested.

"I was just in your mind," Keith said. "I've seen your fantasies. Nathan, what is your issue with the lakes and ponds on our path?"

"Nathan has an issue with them?" Michael asked.

"My first Survival Challenge," Nathan said, remembering the invisible monsters.

"Right," Keith said. "Well, don't worry about that, Nathan. With me here, we'll be able to tell if there's something invisible."

"Okay," Nathan rolled up the map. "Let's get going, then."