“This is the part where you have to use your brain.”

“I’ve already done two puzzle rooms before. Idiot.”

“Hey! There’s no need to be rude. That’s my job!”

Steven rolled his eyes as he took in the room.

“By the way, what difficulty is this Scenario?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“You just nerfed the Trait that would have given me a missive power-up. I should get something for that!”

“Heh, I did do that. He he.”

Steven ground his teeth.

“…It’s medium, technically. But its scope is closer to hard.”

“Huh?”

“The individual challenges are medium for the parties in question, for the most part, heh. But the scope is a bit bigger than that, with all the fortresses and whatnot.”

“Are we getting rewarded for the scope being larger?”

“What's with all the fucking questions? Huh? Curious Cory?”

“…What?”

“Fuck I don’t know, ignore that. System out!”

Steven pinched the bridge of his nose and then walked over to one wall.

Everyone was already pouring over the room, looking for keys.

Micheal, unsurprisingly, had a big smile on his face.

Steven walked over to him. “Let me guess, you’re an escape room enthusiast.”

“Guilty,” he said without hesitation.

“I’ve tried every escape room in the state.” He leaned closer to the icy cabinet he was studying then reached out and opened it.

Steven marveled at the craftsmanship. Sure, the System had probably just snapped the whole building into existence or something, but seeing the icy hinges move was still fascinating.

The inside was full of cups and plates of fine china, all made of ice, of course.

Micheal immediately pointed to the back. “There’s a seam. Hidden hatch.”

Steven scanned the plates and cups for any signs of a pressure plate.

Nothing, nothing, there!

He pointed to a small teacup on the far left. “There, it’s in an indent.”

Micheal leaned in. “Yeah, let’s see if we can find something here that matches it.”

It didn’t take them long. A slightly larger cup fit perfectly into the indent, and after a few more minutes of searching, they found more indents and the dishes that went with them.

As Micheal placed the last dish, the hidden compartment snapped open, revealing an iron key.

Micheal snatched it, then shivered. “Shit, that’s cold!”

“I mean-”

He waved Steven off. “Yeah, I know, metal in ice.” Steven chuckled as Micheal placed the key in his pocket.

“We found one!” Steven called out.

“Shit!” Margie yelled back. “Dammit, you two just cost me five bucks!”

Del smiled. “Thank you! You just made me five bucks.”

They chuckled. One down, two to go.

~<>~<>~

Markus hummed as he tried to figure out what he should do.

He’d always been better at puzzling out people than abstract things like this.

A man's habits, his wants, his morals, how to break into a building—Markus could figure that out. But where a key was hiding?

He wasn’t sure how he would hide one in here, so…

Wait, maybe he was thinking of this wrong.

He shouldn’t try to figure out where he would place the keys. Where would the System place them?

Well, to know that, he would have to understand the System’s thinking.

He did not.

He didn’t even know what the System wanted, much less how it thought. Especially since it didn’t seem to think just one way, it had a personality for every person, as far as they were aware.

…Well, what did he know?

The System might have a myriad of personalities, but there were similarities in its actions.

It seemed to desire a strange state of fairness for one. Not an exceptionally rigid one, more of a ‘good enough’ attitude.

The contest offered them rewards the average person wouldn’t get? Well, then the average person would get information on the contestants, and lots of it.

And it liked to be tricky. It kept springing things on them but usually gave them some warning.

Again, ‘fairness.’

So, where in this room would be a tricky spot that was ‘somewhat fair.’

Markus’s first instinct was to look up. People often forget to look up. It just wasn’t an instinct you developed in your daily life.

But it also wasn’t hard to check, so… sure enough, after thirty seconds of searching, Markus found a box on the ceiling nestled against the far wall.

“Hey, Steven, could you come over here?”

Steven wandered over. The young man was looking far better than he had a week ago. His eyes were bright, and his stance was straight and attentive.

He didn’t know if Steven had worked through everything, but the boy wasn’t on the brink anymore.

It warmed Markus’s heart to see it.

“I think there’s a key in the ceiling. Care to make me a ladder?”

Steven glanced to where Markus was pointing, then nodded.

“I don’t think a ladder is a good idea until I get a fourth shield.” Steven waved his hand, and a green oval snapped into place next to Markus.

“But a staircase is right up my alley.”

Markus stepped onto the shield as another materialized before him.

Steven quickly began calling more steps, dismissing them behind Markus as he climbed.

It was certainly a unique experience, your steps literally materializing before your eyes, but it wasn’t hard to walk on.

Each shield was just big enough for a solid foothold, and as Steven gently angled them into a spiral, Markus reached the ceiling.

The box was tucked against the wall and had a note scratched out in the ice. “Clever, old timer.”

“Thank you.”

Markus tapped the box, and it opened without a fuss.

Inside was a bright blue key with wide loops on its handle.

He pocketed it and then waved down at Steven.

“Got it!”

The boy nodded and started calling.

Descending was more nerve-racking than climbing since it made it clear just how high up he really was.

Markus probably didn’t have anything to fear from this fall. He had Micheal’s buff, and with his own Skill on top of that, he wouldn’t just survive. He was pretty sure the fall wouldn’t even hurt.

But he wasn’t eager to test that at the moment.

Markus reached the ground and gave Steven a grin. He brandished the key with a flourish. “Two down.”

~<>~<>~

Margie glared at the wall and waited for it to reveal its secrets. It wasn’t working out so far.

“Micheal, use your big brain to figure out what we need to do.”

Micheal blinked at her, one hand idly petting Buford. “How is that supposed to work exactly? I just ‘use’ my brain?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, you're the one who likes this, so it’s up to you to figure out what I mean.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who can figure out what you're saying.”

Margie opened her mouth to respond when something caught her eye.

A bit of ice jutted out from behind a long bench. It looked almost like a handle.

“Wait a minute, what is that?” Margie walked over to the bench, Micheal a step behind.

Micheal grabbed hold of the bench and pulled. It didn’t budge.

He sighed. “Buford?”

The dog trundled up, happy as could be, and grabbed a bench leg in his jaws.

He tensed and started pulling. To Margie’s surprise, the bench was slow to move, its legs grinding against the icy floor.

She frowned. She hadn’t paid attention to it, but the floor, despite being literal ice and snow, wasn’t slick at all.

She shrugged, hardly the weirdest thing about this place.

Del walked over, wincing at the horrible grinding noise.

“Holy shit that’s bad!” She waved her hand, and white light burst over her shoulders before sinking in.

She set her feet and pushed against the bench as Buford pulled.

With the two working together, the bench quickly, if loudly, slid away from the wall.

It revealed a large crank with two long arms with handles jutting from their ends.

Del reached over and gave one handle a tug.

It gave slightly, but only slightly.

Del gave Buford a considering look. “You wanna try and pull down on the other while I lift this one.”

Buford wagged and bit into the handle. Its icy surface held under his teeth, and in the strange way of the Augment, the bright yellow light around his jaws didn’t travel through the ice.

Was that strange? Margie knew water was conductive, obviously, but was ice that didn’t melt?

Well, regardless, the handle was fine as Buford got a grip.

Del took the other handle, and the two tensed, their muscles straining as they pulled.

For several seconds only their grunts filled the air, then Del narrowed her eyes at Buford, and white light washed through him.

That seemed to do it as three skills layered onto the hound and Del straining with her entire body, the crank began to move.

Slowly at first, but after about a foot, it sped up. A moment later a pocket appeared in the wall, revealing a white key—Del grabbed it.

“Three of three!“ Micheal cheered.

They all gathered by the door as Michael slotted the keys.

The locks disintegrated along with the chain, and the door swung open.

The System’s infuriating high pitched voice echoed through her head.

“Congratulations, Senpai! You solved the puzzle room!!! I knew you were smart but that was really something!“

“Experience split with party! Yay!!!”