"Can we go around?" Edard asked, pointing at the far end of the forest. He had successfully Cursed Abas, it was now time to infiltrate the castle and find the Longevity Seed.

"Yes, lord Edard." Dylas said.

Lord Edard? Edard shot him a cold stare.

"You know what, I am not the only one targeted here. I believe someone sent you here for a reason. I mean, who imprisons people for a thousand years just for fun? And how exactly did you survive all those years without a longevity? I would say someone sent you here and gave you longevity. No more 'one-eyed raven' bulshit. You have probably come from the Eternal Palace, lord Dylas."

"Now you are getting back at me. I truly meant what I said."

"Whatever."

At this point they reached the end of the forest. A metallic wall extending as far as they could see blocked their way forward.

Edard sighed. "We are trapped in a mysterious dungeon, looking for something we don't even know."

They cycled around for an hour. Every cycle ending with them returning to the metal wall. The only way was through the castle.

"I have decided." Edard said.

"Decided what?"

"That this is another opportunity for a training. Wait here." Edard said with a determined expression.

He merged with his clone and appeared forty-meters away from the castle. As soon as he appeared, more than one-hundred arrows and spears flew toward him. Some faster than the others and more than fifty struck him at the same time.

Skin Tempering activated: you have received a stab wound x 50

+14 Resistance

He waited for the pain to subside before he removed the arrows and took a step forward.

Another set of arrows and spears came.

You have received a stab wound x 111

+24 Resistance

You have received a stab wound x 97

+37 Resistance

You have received a stab wound x 12

+4 resistance

When he was thirty-five meters away, more than a hundred flying demidragons attacked him from the sky. These demidragons breathed ether not fire.

You have been cleansed by ether.

Tempering is overwhelmed.

Cool down time: 140 seconds

+17 resistance

Despite his Pain Resistance, he still screamed in pain as he ran back to Dylas for healing. Dylas looked at him dumbfounded. Only a crazy man would do this.

He took one hundred and forty seconds to heal his skin damage but there were fractures, missing flesh and severed arteries.

Dylas took another eight hours to heal him.

Unsurprisingly, he went back.

This time he didn't last long. The demidragons tore him apart, completely destroying his ectoplasm.

Your entire skin is no more.

Tempering is overwhelmed.

Cool down time: ten minutes.

+39 resistance

He wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for Lightning Ancestor.

He ran back. Dylas did his thing and he went back again.

They spent one hour there.

Edard getting injured repeatedly and then healed by Dylas. Every time, he became stronger, until the beasts could no longer hurt him.

He stood in front of the gate and roared. It was his turn.

Ice and Lava.

A lava fist only took 30 life energy. He'd hundreds.

He fired them.

The lava flew at 55m/sec to hit the gates and the archers over it, killing tens of beasts in their path. Huge molten rocks rained over the castle while ice immobilized his enemies.

In five minutes, it was all over. There was nothing but an eerie silence. What wasn't dead was frozen.

"That was.. dragon-like!!" Dylas murmured to himself but Edard heard him.

"You can say that after we escape the hell outside." Edard said, observing the skin of his forearm closing. His Skin Tempering had upgraded several times in the last hour.

Dylas nodded. He didn't have the capacity to be more shocked that he already was.

"That bitch Queen is taking up my longevity as we speak. She is getting closer." Edard said as they walked into the gates, not sure what they would meet.

They weren't there for the boss or any treasure, they were there for the Longevity Seed. The castle had two encircling walls, and the distance between the first wall and the second was just a hundred meters. Everything appeared normal except the temperature which was markedly lower than the one outside.

The second wall had another gate that led to the castle proper, but it was wide open.

They hesitated a little before they armed themselves and entered.

One step inside and Edard reached out for his sword. Two guards stood behind the gate, one at each side. They were clad in the most exquisite armor he'd ever seen. Shining brightly like the sun and covered in fancy runes. Both guards stood still with closed eyes. They weren't human: their skins were covered in dark brown scales and they had a one-meter long tail behind their back. The guard on the right even had a horn protruding from his forehead while the left one had a cord-like tentacle behind his head.

Shei Dalgins, male, Ente Dragon, Warrior level 10/10 (Sage), dragon magic 101.

Stamina: 0%

Tinai Bara, female, Arachnea Dragon, Warrior level 10/10, dragon magic 122.

Stamina: 0%

Shei had the horn while Tinai had the tentacle. Both were alive, just low on stamina. Whatever caused the stamina drain was big. Nobody knew whether it was a natural phenomenon from aging or an outside interference.

"Are they dead?" Dylas asked.

"Certainly not, some kinda hibernation, maybe. We don't want to awake them." Edard said.

The castle had two parts: the outer part and the inner part. The outer part was made of huge igneous rocks which were perforated by someone (or something) and made into a home. These rock homes surrounded a giant rock which was at least half the size of the entire castle. The giant rock made the inner part and was also curved into a big, shiny palace.

Edard spread his Sense and found the same sleeping guards in each of the surrounding buildings. Some even stronger than the ones at the gate.

Not only that, he found something else.

"Look at that." He pointed at the tip of three mountains peeping behind the palace. It had to be said that the palace was as tall as the castle. The fact that these three mountains had their tops above the palace spoke of their size. Not only that, the three mountains were emiting a powerful energy stronger than anything around.

"What are they?"

"I think they are some kinda mountains made of a white soil. Should we check?"

"Think it's safe?"

"Nothing is safe around here. But we have to find the Longevity Seed."

After a short argument, they decided to start by checking the surrounding houses before the palace and the three mountains behind it.

"How are we supposed to find the Seed when we don't even know what it looks like?" Dylas asked. Edard was thinking about the same thing.

Trapped in a mysterious castle inside a mysterious dungeon, and the only way out was to find something you don't even know? Wicked.

"We will know when we see it, hopefully." Edard said, leading them into the first house.

At the entrance, they met eleven guards: three at the peak of the Tertiary Awakening; two in the early phase of Tertiary Awakening and the rest at the peak of the Secondary Awakening. All of them had zero stamina.

They went further inside the house. The insides were decorated with gold and many extravagant-looking furniture. Even the bed was ten times the largest bed Edard had ever seen and was decorated with gold and other shining artefacts. Most of them couldn't even be appraised. The house was empty.

They went to the next house. Nine guards with similar stats as the first ones stood at the entrance. The house design and furniture was close to the first one with subtle differences. For example, the mirror in the first house faced westwards while in the second house it faced eastwards. There was one bed in the first house but three in the second. The toilets design also differed.

Both houses had no one inside.

They went to the next closest house and found the same thing. In the next couple hours, they went around the houses one-by-one. Edard used his Status-key on almost anything, hoping to find the Seed. But to no avail.

Excluding the varrying designs and the different guards, the houses all looked the same and offered nothing useful. Maybe treasure but that could wait.

They went to the inner part of the castle where the giant rock was curved into a palace. Thirty guards stood at the entrance and all of them were at the very peak of the Sage Awakening. Some had two classes. Edard even saw a Warlock.

If these guys awoke, we are dead. They all had similar thoughts.

Despite the extravagant buildings surrounding the palace, the palace itself was actually... empty. No throne, no gold, nothing. It was as if someone had come and cleared it up before them. There were over fifty different living quarters inside the palace but all were empty. They searched all over again but found nothing. And without the Longevity Seed there was no getting out of the dungeon. They searched every building over and over again but there was nothing resembling a Seed.

Edard tried finding a hidden room with his skills but to no avail.

"We have to find this thing else we aren't getting out of here." Dylas said.

"We should check the three mountains outside." Edard said.

They couldn't climb the smooth rock and had to go around it. The three mountains were sitting right there.

But... it was no mountain.

What they saw were the rotten shells of some gigantic beast.

Deva, deceased.

"Deva beasts?!" Dylas exclaimed.

"How bad is it?" Edard asked.

"It simply means a Deva was here before. They probably killed these Deva beasts. But the Seed is still here otherwise the dungeon would disappear." Dylas explained. "Let's try something else but we have to go out of the castle."

They went out and Dylas drew a single rune encircling the whole castle.

"If there's anything that has a tiny bit of life energy in it it will show." Dylas said.

"So you can even detect someone's life energy?" Edard asked thoughtfully.

Dylas nodded. "I can't do it myself but my runes can."

The runes were all set and they waited patiently outside, observing for any progress.

Twenty minutes later, there was... nothing.

"Maybe there is no Seed." Dylas said.

"Or maybe the seed can carefully hide itself. You just said it, there has to be a Seed otherwise the whole thing would collapse." Edard said.

The faster they found it the faster they could escape. It was a matter of urgency.

They agreed to check out the entire castle again. This time they checked the guards and their pockets. A Seed could be hiding in there. Yeah, it was lame but they had no better idea.

Still nothing.

They found one of the bigger houses and lodged in. It would be their operation base.

"You know, I have never expected I would have a bed like this in my life." Dylas said.

"You don't." Edard said. "What do you think? I want to Curse the guards outside."

"What? That's a super bad idea. What if they wake up? Please just forget it."

"I'm still running at minus twenty hours per second."

"It's still better than getting killed."

Amid their debate, Edard received a warning.

The Queen is closer to your position by 1,000km

Curse has upgraded by -10 minutes/sec.

"Well, it's decided then. I will Curse one, a weak one. If he wakes up then I will let it go but if not..."

Before Dylas could object, Edard was already outside.

You have Cursed a Primary Awakening dragon.

+25 minutes/sec for 1min

With both his and his clone's efforts, he'd leveled up Curse to level 9 Tier 3. With a little effort he would break into the fourth tier. He didn't expect it would help his current situation but he believed it was better than doing nothing.

He took twenty rounds to exhaust the dragon. It didn't wake up despite Dylas' continuous blabbering.

Edard moved to the next target. A big next target.

You have Cursed a Sage.

+25 minutes/sec for 1 min.

He went round until he Cursed half of the guards. It would be good to mention that draining someone didn't change them into a mummy. It just exhausted them. And, of course, the unwelcoming warning from the immortal dais that you were about to die.

Curse has reached level 10 (Tier 3) which is the maximum proficiency for a Tier 3 skill.

Curse has reached level 4: besides your ability to Curse cultivators by touching them with your hand or cutting them with your blade, you can now Sense longevity. You can see the flow of longevity in your target and where it's concentrated. Attacking concentrated areas drain more longevity.

Curse has reached level 1 (Tier 4)

He thought he would never reached there.

He looked at Dylas and it appeared that the horse in front of him could be transparent. A cluster of greenish dots widely spread throughout his body. More in the groin and chest.

Not only that, he could now sense the longevity of all the guards. And when he got close enough, he could see the flow. Draining became much more easier.

The first thing he did was to send this message to the hunter clone. It would rapidly speed up the hunt.

Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two...

Moving from one target to the next. He continued until he could sense no longevity. All his enemies were silenced. Even if something would happen and they would wake up, it wouldn't make a difference.

"You are pretty good for a one-day old... man." Dylas pointed out.

"Twenty hours old." He corrected.

"Well, no one would believe... " Dylas started but Edard shut him up.

"Shush... "

He'd taken the longevity of the guards but he still sensed another longevity besides his and Dylas's. It was coming from the... underground.

As soon as he sensed it it disappeared. It was as if the owner had intentionally negated his longevity. Edard searched for several minutes but there was nothing.

The silence was frightening and Dylas couldn't hold back. "What are you..."

"Shush... "

Edard ran into the castle to see if he could pinpoint the exact area but he couldn't. The duration of contact was too short. He approximated the location to the area around the palace, mainly between the central part of the palace and the inbuilt living quarters.

"We need to dig. Our Seed, whatever that is, is underground." Edard said and he explained everything to Dylas from his levelling up to Tier 4 and the suspicious longevity underground.

Edard simply cut the rocky ground with his sword and pumped raw Dragon-essense to create a massive crater. He jumped into the crater and further widened the passage with more Dragon-essense.

The search led them to a well lit underground tunnel. They broke through the covering wall with Dragon-essense to gain access into the tunnel.

You have stepped into the Underground Maze of L'Didier.

After a short debate, they walked down the tunnel which later divided into two tunnels.

"Which one should we take?"

Although the target had carefully hidden itself, now that they were underground Edard could Sense things with both Spiritual Sense and Interracial Communication.

"Left." He said. He could pick distant movements and murmurs there.

They chose the left and continued for the next four minutes without encountering any obstacle.

Then the tunnel divided into five smaller tunnels.

They'd started with one tunnel that was hundreds of meters wide but now each of the five tunnels was just fifteen-meter wide.

"Which one?"

Edard picked the third tunnel on the right.

After another ten minutes, the tunnel divided again into ten smaller tunnels. Each tunnel only one-meter wide.

The sand beneath their feet had turned into a dark brown mud.

One tunnel divided into two, then each divided into five, then each divided into ten.

Among the ten smaller tunnels, the only tunnel with such murmurs was the first on the left. They followed it.

After five minutes, the tunnel culminated in... a cul-de-sac.

"What? Why? I thought you can identify the right tunnel."

"It is a puzzle." Edard snapped. He was certain he'd picked the right tunnels but why a cul-de-sac?

"Let's go back. You pick it now."

They went back to the first tunnel. This time Dylas picked the right tunnel. When the tunnels divided into five he picked the first on the right and walked until it divided into ten. He then picked the first on the right again and unsurprisingly it led to a cul-de-sac. Plus a few Tertiary demidragons that ambushed them.

So following a tunnel with signs of movements led to a cul-de-sac, and following a random tunnel led to an ambush.

Time to try all the tunnels and see. As long as they wouldn't be ambushed by a Deva or a Renaissance lord they would be fine.

They tried all the one hundred and thirteen tunnels. All led to a cul-de-sac.

"What the hell... So the target isn't in any of the tunnels?" Dylas said.

"Or maybe the target is moving." Edard said.

Edard critically analyzed each tunnel. Each division produced the exact copies of the same tunnel. So identifying anything would be pointless unless...

"Can you mark the corridors, with a rune or something?" Edard asked. He'd an idea but it would depend on marking the corridors.

"I can do that."

"Okay. Let's try this. You will mark all the tunnels with runes."

Dylas didn't quite understand the implications but he marked the two initial tunnels.

They picked the right tunnel and started again.

After it divided into five tunnels, two tunnels had Dylas's mark which meant both the first two tunnels had repeated themselves.

Edard could pick movements in one of the two marked tunnels.

Just to test his theory, they followed the marked tunnel where he currently Sensed the movement. When it divided into ten, the marked tunnel was still there but he could pick the movements in another unmarked tunnel. They followed the marked corridor but it led to another cul-de-sac.

Note: the movements and murmurs picked by Interracial Communication led to nowhere.

Having theorized that, they decided to mark all the tunnels with numbers and tried again. As they repeatedly tried, they realized a terrifying reality. There was no exit. Whatever they did ended in a cul-de-sac.

"The hell..." Dylas cursed.

"We need to think. What other possibilities do we have?" Edard asked.

"Maybe this is just a decoy. The real price is somewhere else." Dylas suggested.

"Unlikely."

"Then maybe the target is freely mobile and can escape the tunnels."

"Unlikely. It is obvious the target doesn't wanna be found but it can't be that mobile. Else it could just escape."

"What if you level up your Curse and tried to find it again?"

"It will take time. Time we don't have. Besides, I need to Curse at least several thousands more to have a chance."

"Then what? We have tried every tunnel, we have used your enhanced Senses and we have guessed. Nothing delivered a live baby. What else can we do?"

"What if it's a pattern? What if it's about the pattern you use to reach the end not about a single tunnel?" Edard said, thoughtfully.

"How many patterns do we have?" Dylas asked.

At first it was a single tunnel, then two which produced five each. Each of the five produced ten. That would be at least five hundred and eighty possibilities.

"That's crazy! We can take all day." Dylas said.

"And the bitch is sucking me up." Edard sighed.

Edard and Dylas got to work. They labelled all the patterns and tried each pattern until they got it right.

It took them hours but they finally got it.

The first tunnel divided into two, you would take the left tunnel. The left tunnel then divided into five smaller tunnels where you would take the second tunnel on the left. Lastly, when the tunnels divided into ten you would take the fourth tunnel on the right.

First division - left tunnel.

Second division - second tunnel on the left.

Third division - fourth on the right.

This was the only combination that didn't lead to a cul-de-sac.

The tunnel opened into an empty hall with runes and drawings of demons on the walls.

You have successfully cleared the challenge.

+15 intelligence

+10 hours longevity

+2% resistance to dragon magic

You can have the Seed now.

*

You have gained the skill Maze Master.

Maze Master gives a deeper understanding regarding puzzles and traps. +5% trap detection, +5% hidden items detection.

Activate skill? Y/N?

Choose wisely. You have 9 slots remaining.