One by one the team touched the pillar, receiving identical crests before the stood between the two cave openings to the next rooms.

' Alright Cargo, which way do we go?'

Asked Agent Brown.

Mickey paused before pointing to the left opening.

'That way gives off an "exhausting" impression while this one'

He pointed at the right door.

'Gives off a "violent" feeling. If I had to guess, if we're following the video game theme, the left one will be a puzzle room and the right one will be a monster fight. I recommend starting with the combat room first while we're still fresh.'

The Professor asked.

' Is it truly necessary to even enter the combat room? I am sure we can gather sufficient data from the rest of the metaregion. '

Agent Brown frowned

' Strictly speaking we don't. But this isn't just a scientific expedition, Professor. We need to see what dangers this place could pose to the public, as well as what value it may bring. That means exploring as much of it as possible. We'll start with the right room first. Let's see how dangerous this region can be.'

Agent Brown led the team into the first combat chamber. As soon as they made it halfway through the room, eight screeching rodents burst from holes in the wall and charged at the investigators.

Almost immediately a translucent bronze wall sprung up around the team, separating them from the rats. Laminae swept a hand towards the rodents and each of them was restrained by a glowing forcefield crushing them into the ground.

'Rats?'

She asked, looking at Cargo for guidance.

'Kill 'em.'

He replied.

'Oh but leave one al-'

He got out before Laminae decapitated them all.

' Ah nevermind. I was going to say leave one alive for the researchers, but oh well. No big loss. '

Professor Panchal looked rather queasy at the casual display of violence, but didn't hesitate to speak up.

'In the future we would appreciate live samples if possible. While a video game may respawn monsters we don't know whether this region does or how. A live specimen would be invaluable in our research.'

Mickey shrugged.

'Just a rat Doc, and I'm pretty sure these weren't native to the dungeon. I think they wandered in and got shanghaied. So that's interesting. '

The professor frowned at being called 'doc' but let it go for now.

'If true then that means they bypassed the entry restriction somehow. Perhaps it does not apply to animals.'

'That makes sense.'

Mickey moved to the reward pillar and touched it.

'Huh. "You are rewarded nothing. Congratulations!" Seems a bit robotic. But g then again, we didn't do anything, Laminae aside.’

‘So I might get a reward of some kind then?’ Laminae asked.

‘Ponder the orb and find out!’

Mickey intoned pompously with a gesture towards the prize pillar.

Laminae walked over to the glowing orb embedded in the stone pillar and gave it a tap. She immediately frowned.

‘Okay I got something. It’s a garbled mess so I don’t know what it is, but I definitely got something.’

Professor Panchal perked up.

‘That is interesting. What exactly does it say? Can you copy it down?’

‘It doesn’t say anything. It looks like somebody vomited into a text field and then scribbled all over it. It’s gibberish.’

Laminae looked rather put out so Mickey decided to intervene.

‘It’s probably your power. You used your power to kill those rats after all. So it’s trying to do something with that but failing. Hence the gibberish.’

Panchal considered this.

‘Hmmm. If there are skill increases that would make sense. We will need more data to understand how the phenomenon works. For now though we should each check that we didn’t get a reward and then we can backtrack and examine the other room.’

After everyone confirmed that they hadn’t earned a reward for standing around while Laminae murdered the rodents, the investigators retreated to the entry room and entered the remaining room.

For the first time within the metaregion the police officer spoke.

‘It looks like an obstacle course.’

‘It does. I was expeting a puzzle room like in “The Epic of Xelder” but this doesn’t look too hard.’

Mickey looked at the grad students carrying heavy equipment cases.

‘Though I reckon you two will have a hard time of it.’

The group examined the first obstacle. A wide pit with only stepping stones to cross it.

‘I could make a bridge for them to cross.’ Laminae offered.

‘That would be appreciated. It is not deep enough to cause true inury but some of our equipment is quite delicate.’ Accepted the professor.

Laminae quickly conjoured a luminescent bronzed forcefield across the pit, allowing herself and the academics to cross in short order.

Mickey prevented the agent and the cop from crossing on the forcefield bridge, saying.

‘Some of us should cross in the way the metaregion intended, not only to see what happens but to avoid pissing it off. I don’t get any hostility at the moment but still better safe then sorry.’

After agreeing the remaining trio hopped skipped and jumped their way to the other side with minimal fuss.

Likewise Laminae trivialised the climbing wall by using her shields to lift the less athletic team members to the top. After Mickey made it to the top, panting tiredly the group progressed.

‘You know i could’ve lifted you as well Cargo.’

Laminae commented.

‘You turn this place into a joke laminae. It’s too young and you’re too strong. This is like a level eighty running a level ten dungeon. So unbalanced.’

Mickey complained.

As they came up to the last obstacle, it became apparent that her shields would be less helpful in the horizontal pillar scramble.

What followed was half an hour of the grad students struggling to maneuver a pair of bulky equipment cases over and under pillars, through inconvenient gaps and across uneven footing. After much swearing and sweating they finally collapsed into the reward room.

Agent Brown eyed them.

‘ Alright now that we’re all here we can see if we get any “loot” for this exercise.’

With that he tapped the reward orb. As soon as he did a grinding sound filled the room and the wall behind the reward pillar started sinking into the ground revealing an opening into another room.

‘AH-ha! I did indeed get a skill, . It appears to enhance my climbing abilities, so that will be something to test out later.’

After this revelation the other members of the investigation quickly touched the reward pillar and started comparing skills.

In total Laminae, Agent Brown, professor panchal and Sergeant Strathpine all got climbing while the two grad students, who’s names Mickey couldn't remember as well as Mickey himself got brawn.

After a brief discussion the majority of the group agreed to move onwards, while the professor got distracted theorising how to test the skill and their effects.

In the newly revealed room they found a rough hewn staircase downwards and another tunnel which, upon inspection, led back into the combat chamber.

Professor Panchal spoke up.

‘We should go through the obstacle course again to see if we get additional skills.’

Mikey immediately vetoed the idea.

‘No. first we scout out as much of the region as we possibly can. Then you can do an in depth investigation and poke whatever you want to your heart’s desire.Excluding anchor points of course. But first we’ll find where everything is and what the threats are.

It’d be a shame to not miss out on something huge because you were distracted by a shiny nothing early on, right professor?’

Panchal reluctantly nodded her head.

‘That does make sense. It will be important to be rigorous. Very well let us proceed.’

And with that the investigation team moved down into the second level of the dungeon.