Chapter 2283: Broke it

*CRACK*

The sound of the crack was very crisp and it felt very natural. As if something fragile has broken.

But that crack is a trigger.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

The series of explosions. One after the other, the trap formations exploded. All the trap formations in the set were gone. By the time the third one exploded, Sam is already at the other end of the tunnel and he looked at the explosions coming towards him.

He looked at the turn ahead and ran into it.

After taking a couple of steps...

The turn disappeared and at the same time, Sam couldn't hear anything. However, he could sense what happened with his connection with the trap formations. Two sets are gone. Now, he is standing amidst the third set.

He walked to the other end. The square corner is there. He laid down another formation and joined the two sets of the formations. Then he confidently took the turn and flashed to the other side.

The third tunnel was obviously blocked with the sudden appearance of the wall. The fourth tunnel...

*CRACK**BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

It is filled with the familiar explosive sounds. Sam came to the opposite square corner and he took the turn. What appeared in front of him put a smile on his face. It is the first tunnel again, however now...

Except for being enveloped from all four sides, it didn't look like the previous tunnel at all. The outer layer of stone brinks that covered all four sides are now destroyed by the explosions of the trap formations.

Revealing the layer beneath it.

And one thing the intrigued Sam is that he can see it. The other end of the tunnel. He can clearly see it with his own eyes. Previously, his vision was restricted to three feet. But now it is not. Not just that.

Sam picked up a piece of stone from the debris caused by the explosion.

He took it and threw it to the other side.

He could see it move. He could hear it cutting through the air. He could spread his spiritual sense. Everything worked perfectly.

"Now, I can work easily."

Sam stepped forward and moved the dirt and broken stone away. He directly put it in his storage to avoid any unnecessary disturbance because of it. Now the whole tunnel is clean. What greeted him is a smooth stone surface.

Previously the outer layer of this tunnel is also made of tone, but it was laden with stone bricks. But this one looked like it is a single stone slab.

He placed his hand on it and use his observation ability. Now it is time to understand what's the deal with these tunnels actually is.

...

Meanwhile, the four elders that are watching the situation of all the candidates all had their jaws wide open.

"Th.. That crazy bastard. He destroyed the tunnels...." The elder from the Hel academy muttered. His tone dripping with venom.

Sensing no response from his peers, he looked at them and said.

"Disqualify that bastard. How can he do this? That is illusion labyrinth. He can't do whatever

he pleases there. That utter disregard to that sacred relic of the Loki academy..."

Still there is no reaction.

The elder of Hel academy, Mangus appeared flustered and frustrated even more.

"Why are you guys staying put? He broke the rules? Is that how the tunnels are supposed to be solved? It is an illusion test. He should have seen through the illusion of the moving tunnels, examined the patterns, understood the logic behind the pattern and figured out the way out of those tunnels.

The outer layers are there to protect the formation controlling the tunnels.

Now he destroyed the outer layers despite our warning of not using any attacks.

He disregarded the whole concept of the test.

We should disqualify him."

Finally, the elders reacted. The elder from the Loki academy looked at Mangus with a weird expression.

"Elder Mangus, your bias is becoming more and more apparent. Why are you acting so childish? Do you have to be this petty just because he talked back to you in the previous test?"

Mangus' face turned blue in anger and a bit of shame.

Then the elder of Loki academy sighed and said.

"As for disqualification... you are right, the test is supposed to be about how they can find the pattern of the tunnels, understand the logic and break it before revealing the door.

However, where did it stipulate in the rules that they should only follow that logic?"

Mangus was dumbfounded.

In the rules? Its not there. But... this is how its supposed to be done...

That's what he thought. The Loki's elder continued.

"Just because you have done it and our predecessors have done it in such a way, do you expect everyone else to do the same?

Surely, based on clear logical thinking, most people if not all of them end up at the path that you just mentioned.

However, that doesn't mean, that is the only path to solve the tunnels.

Anyway, the illusion labyrinth belongs to Loki academy. Even I am staying silent. Why are you acting all riled up with such righteous anger?"

That shut him up.

Back in the tunnels, Sam opened his eyes.

He got a good grasp of the tunnels with the observation.

At first, he thought the tunnels could have been a maze. After all, illusions and mazes go really well together. However, after repeatedly encountering only one turn, he realized that it

is not a maze.

It couldn't be.

If it is a maze, there should always be more than one path in most of the turns. That is the only way they can truly confuse someone.

However, there is only path every time. He realized that the tunnels could be moving. To make them run in circles and he is right.

The tunnels make the people move in circles or to be more precise, in squares. From there they could identify some patterns for the tunnels. After some keen observation and performing indepth analysis of each tunnel, they would be able to identify several formation puzzles in each tunnel.

Once they solve these puzzles, they would be able to unlock the passageway out of this place.

That is the structure of the tunnels. The puzzles themselves couldn't be considered difficult. The difficult part is to identify the pattern as they need to do a lot of rounds to create a

sequence.

For example, one of the participants encountered the tunnels in this particular order 1-3-2-4 in the first round, then in the second round 2-3-1-4, and the third could be a completely different set. In this way, there are 24 combinations.

The sequence or the order in which these 24 combinations appear, give out the location of

some nodes in the first tunnel. Using those nodes, they can unlock the first lock to the passage way. After that, the sequence of the 24 combinations would change, which will give the clue for the second lock in the second tunnel.

This goes on until they could unlock the four tunnels, which will then reveal the location of

the passageway out.

It is a very intricate and complex puzzle. And the thing that makes this difficult is the time taken to move in these tunnels. They need to go around at least 96 times, that too assuming that they entered the tunnels knowing what to do.

Of course, since Sam just decided to flip the table and broke the usual rules, he managed to uncover all of this easily. The outer layer's destruction exposed the energy networks of the tunnels, in which the nodes for the locks are present.

Just studying the network gave him the clues that he needed.

The puzzles themselves are of course not that difficult. He unlocked the first tunnel and

walked into the next one.

It was the third tunnel this time. But Sam didn't unlock it. He needs to unlock the second one next. But next came the fourth and finally came the second, which he unlocked.

Then lucky for him the third came and the fourth.

As all of them are unlocked, Sam sensed a movement behind him.

The stone wall which appeared as usual when he took three steps away from the corner

opened up. He could see the square corner.

But he didn't need to go there, because apart from that, another passageway appeared in the

middle of the tunnel.

Sam just walked through it and soon he reached a cross-road. There are three more passage ways. There are no restrictions so he could see where they led to. To the other three tunnels.

So, there are only two ways out. Top or the bottom.

Sam placed his hand on the ground and used his observation ability once again. There it is the

final lock.

Just for the sake of it, he did the same with the ceiling by levitating. And unsurprisingly he

found another lock there as well.

It seems like there are two ways out of here.

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