Inside the Chamber of Knowledge, Drake and his cohort stood, then stretched with renewed energy. They had all gotten enough rest to proceed on their quest safely. They knew something was lurking in the tunnels.

Now, since they had rested, they could defend themselves without worry of collapsing out of exhaustion or getting themselves killed due to being too tired to fight.

While Chad pulled out sandwiches, Drake brought up the system, looking at the remaining time on their timed ascension quest.

{Timed Quest: 02:04:06:45 remaining}

Drake sighed as he took a sandwich from his friend, quickly taking a bite, then opening another one for Renn. "We have two days, four hours, six minutes, and forty-five seconds and counting. We still have time, but we still have a long way to go. We need to eat quickly, then try to finish this quest. We don't know how long the last two tunnels are, yet. We have to remember it took an entire day to get through the first tunnel. These two could be just as long. We probably have to figure out what to do once we finish searching the tunnels. There might be something similar to what we did in the last one, where nothing would happen until we all stood on the platform. This could have similar conditions. We don't know how long it will take us to figure out what that condition is."

The cohort nodded in agreement; they already knew what they were up against. The tunnels could be never-ending. On top of all of that, there could be yet another split that they would have to search through. They didn't have much time.

Standing up, Drake removed the glowing protective barrier at the chamber's entrance and began leaving, heading back into the tunnel toward the small area where the tunnels split into three. Mike and Chad followed behind him. Renn was on Drake's shoulder, peering into the darkness. She was too large to fit in the tunnel in her regular form, so she had to stay as a rat.

Drake and his cohort rushed down the short tunnel, heading for the split. They had planned to go in order, starting with the first of the three tunnels. They all hoped desperately that they would find what they needed without encountering any more issues or anything else that would hinder them. They didn't want more tunnels added, either. If one of the other two tunnels were to split, it would make it difficult to finish their quest in time. They were short on time as it was.

It didn't take them long to reach where the tunnels split, since they didn't have to search them again. They had already checked that area of the tunnel. Once they reached their destination, they stood in front of the three tunnels. "Well, we have two tunnels to search. The easiest way is to start with the first one," Drake stated, staring at the entrance. Before he did, he held the glowing staff up, staring at the floor and ceiling of the tunnel, trying to see if something hid under the dirt. He had found his own key in the chamber where everything split, so he wanted to see if there was something in this one, too. "Nothing," he sighed, then began walking into the first tunnel.

The eerie feeling from the previous day was gone, as if whatever danger was out there had decided not to stalk them anymore. The absence of it seemed off… unnatural. Regardless of whether the feeling was no longer there, he kept his guard up, not trusting that whatever was out there was really gone. As they walked, Drake wondered why the absence of the feeling felt wrong. It didn't make any sense.

Drake had his little lantern glowing softly. It was attached to his belt, keeping his hands free. His master staff glowed brightly, lighting the way; his sword, with its intricate runes along the elegant blade, shone with a soft green glow. He was using everything but his whip to see the walls around him. He only had two hands after all.

Chad had his sword out; it pulsed softly with its soft white light that reflected off the smooth dirt walls, helping to light the way.

Mike had his own sword in his hands, gripped tightly, its blade a soft white with electric blue lightning crackling softly as it pulsed up and down the blade. The electric blue as it traveled up and down the blade, causing a strobe light effect on the walls as they made their way down the tunnel.

Drake and his cohort had their eyes glowing brightly, searching the tunnel for anything they were meant to find. There was nothing so far.

Renn watched from her perch on Drake's shoulder, sniffing the air and scanning with her own glowing green eyes. She found nothing either.

They slowly walked through the tunnel, they're eyes scanning every inch of it, searching for items and other chambers, but they found that the walls were just as smooth as all the others. There were no openings, no ledges, nothing.

The tunnel wasn't that big. It was only roughly one hundred feet long, which ended abruptly.

Where the tunnel ended, the wall was flat, its surface smooth as if it had been lightly polished. It looked different than the other walls of the tunnel. The end of the tunnel resembled a brick wall rather than a wall made from packed dirt. Drake touched the smooth surface, his eyes glowing brightly as he scanned the area with his magical vision. Mike and Chad did the same. They saw nothing.

Drake could feel it, though. His instincts told him that there was something here to find. He just didn't know what it could be, so he kept searching.

Almost out of instinct, Drake and his friends let their swords glow brightly, then moved the glowing blades close to the wall. An image formed, carved in the flat surface, resembling a star constellation that twinkled with the combined swords' soft glowing light. They stared for a moment, moving a little closer to study the design, when one area of the wall began to pulse. Drake studied it for a moment before he pressed the pulsing area with his hand, which caused the flat surface to slide open like a door. It revealed a small chamber hidden on the other side.

Cautiously, Drake and his cohort stepped inside and scanned the area. The small chamber appeared completely devoid of anything. They couldn't find anything, even when they used their vision, swords, and even the staff's brilliant green light, trying to find something… anything. There was nothing to see.

Drake thought for a while, thinking about the video games he played at home. That was when he remembered one of his games; he smiled. "I think opening the door is what we were supposed to do. It took all of us to make the image appear so that I could press the button to open it. Let's head back and go into the second tunnel." In some of his dungeon-clearing games, he had to open a door that would open something somewhere else in the dungeon. He was positive that this was one of those times.

"Are you sure?" Mike asked. "If we have to come back, it's going to waste a lot of time," he worried aloud.

Chad stayed silent. He trusted Drake. He was the gamer of the group and would recognize things that they wouldn't. Since their quest seemed to resemble the games Drake played, he was certain that if Drake said that opening the wall was all they needed, then that was all they needed.

"I'm positive. In some of my dungeon-clearing games, there is something you have to activate to open a door somewhere else in the dungeon. This feels like it's one of those times," he explained. "I think opening this door will activate something else in these tunnels." Then he thought for a few more moments before he added, "We might have to come back to this small chamber again after the second tunnel. It's short, so it shouldn't take long if we have to do that. Unless you've played the games I'm thinking of, you won't understand what I'm trying to describe. Anyway, in my games, you activate something that will open something else. We just opened a door that might have activated something in another tunnel, which might produce something in here that we have to come back to retrieve. I think this is what it's doing."

Mike sighed, shaking his head, still not convinced, and followed Drake as he exited the small chamber. They quickly headed back down the tunnel to return to the split so they could search the second tunnel. Silently hoping that it was a short one, just like the current tunnel that they were in.

It didn't take them very long to reach the small area where the three tunnels were split. The tunnel was short. When they reached the small area where the three tunnels split, they turned toward the second tunnel.

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