Again we followed Pook. This time he led us to a pond. It’s surface was flat and undisturbed.

Pook waded into the pond and submerged in the water. Since we were not following, he resurfaced.

“Do not be afraid,” he said. “In this pond you can breathe.”

The pond was not so large and accommodated only Fono and me, together with Pook. The other monsters remained at the edge.

Underwater, I found no difficulty to respire. There was a trap door at the bottom of the pond.

“The second level is the Level of the Pond. Now open the door,” Pook instructed.

Once again the stairs to the next level were revealed. I went to the third level, only to find Pook and the other eviluns present there from before.

Daylight. The sun shone bright. In fact too bright.

The trees were dead and leafless. They stuck out from the ground eerily resembling the hands of buried skeletons. They would have been perfect for the set of some horror movie. Remains of small animals occasionally met the eye too.

Interestingly enough the temperature felt quite normal.

“The third level is barely hospitable,” Pook said. “But it will be as pleasant as anywhere for you all, at least so long as the attackers do not conquer this level. It will be tough for them to conquer this level. As we progress up, it will only be tougher and tougher for the attackers to conquer the levels, except perhaps the supreme level, which by its very nature has to be fair to one and all, be it attacker or defender.”

A young male skhite absentmindedly leaned against a tree. It was so feeble that it collapsed and the Skhite hit the ground, drawing laughter from his friends. As he got up, someone dusted his butt trying to help and he snarled.

“The odds are really in your favor in all the other levels,” Pook continued, ignoring the commotion, “all you have to do is to prevent the attackers from finding the little doors, hiding the stairs that lead to the next levels. You do not even have to go into any extreme kind of combat. At least that would be my recommendation. Now follow me.”

Once again we went with Pook. In the matter of a few minutes we reached a well.

An old discarded well with no water in it. There was a rectangular object at the bottom of the well. I squinted and realized it was a little door, no more than an inch in height.

“Get down and open the door,” Pook ordered me.

A manture landed on the ground a few meters away from the well. I concocted a quick plan in my mind and I signaled the manture as I climbed onto the side of the well. The mature understood. I leapt down into the well, and the manture caught hold of me from the top, flapping wings and slowing my fall. I reached the bottom safely. After that the manture flew back up and out of the well.

The well brought back memories of the time when I had fallen into the Well of Resurrection. There was a dead bird lying next to the small door, staring at me with its hollow eye sockets.

I was in the fourth level in a matter of seconds.

Night and moonlight.

A wind was blowing, and we were in the middle of a frigid desert. Of course, neither me nor Pook nor any of the monsters felt the biting cold.

As Pook led us I admired the icy landscape. Some sacrifice stones were scattered in this level too, but could be hardly differentiated from the ice. The moon wasn’t that bright, obscured by clouds.

Pook ushered us into a large cave, his glowing body illuminating it. Otherwise the cave was far darker than the outside, which at least received some dim moonlight. We reached a frozen pond inside the cavern, as reflective as a mirror.

On the other side of the pond, there was a small rectangle. The door to the next level. In order to get to it, the frozen pond had to be crossed.

It would have been impossible, or at least really hard, for even a small manture to fly to it, because tapering stalactites hung from the high roof, and even the side walls of the cave were full with jagged rocks that were sharp enough to give nasty cuts.

“Cross the pond and get to the door,” Pook said to me.

“Are you serious?” I asked him.

The frozen layer of the pond looked really thin. I had no interest in having a dip in icy water.

“Of course,” Pook said. “Do not worry. No harm will come to you. This level belongs to you eviluns after all.”

Trusting Pook, I stepped on the slippery and fragile looking ice surface.

It cracked, unable to hold my weight. Before I could leap to the ground, I found myself splashing water.

The water wasn’t cold at all. It would have given hypothermia to an attacker though.

I hurriedly swam to the far end and hauled myself up. I touched the small door and climbed up the stairs, trying to shake off the water on me.

That was unnecessary because the water evaporated when I got to the next level.

The fifth level was a scorching desert. The sun was gigantic and it was causing an odd phenomenon. Great bursts of fire from the sun were repeatedly hitting the desert. It was a very scary hellish place and I wondered if Pook might have taken inspiration from the lava world that he had once come up with.

The attackers would have a hard time adjusting to the extreme temperatures in the different levels. I was thankful that the monsters and I were not subject to the blistering heat of the desert.

“Now this is the second last of the levels,” Pook said. “Here the attackers would really be tested. They would not only have to find the small door, but at the same time, they would be constantly under attack from not only the hostile environment, but also sand demons.”

And as Pook said this, great beings rose out of the sand, formed of sand.

These beings looked exactly like Pook, except they had bright red eyes and I was well aware that they existed for the sole purpose of killing and destroying. But seeing us these sand demons merged back with the dunes.

We moved to a spot that should not have been in the great desert. A tiny circular area, no bigger than a basketball court. It was covered by lush green grass. At the center was a small door.

While it would be easy for attackers to find compared to previous levels, they would be really tested by the sun, the demons and the eviluns.

“Look at the grass,” Pook said. “Notice the thorns?”

Why yes only now did I observe the thorns since Pook had drawn my attention to them. All the blades of grass were covered in thrones, and looked like saws.

“A little prick from one of those, and one will be instantly killed by the venom in the grass,” Pook said. “Of course, that would happen only to players, not you.”

There was a sacrifice stone lying just outside the area occupied by the grass.

“What if two people make a sacrifice wishing for the same thing in return?” I asked.

“The one who makes the bigger sacrifice gets it, obviously,” Pook replied. As I walked on the grass, the thorns withdrew away from my skin as though they recognized me as a friend.