[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Oscar silently looked around.
How should he put it—this was a rather bizarre sight.
‘There was a cabin, so I expected the outside to look like a forest or mountain lodge or something.......’
But when he stepped out, he found himself inside a bleak building that resembled a mana power plant or a corporate facility.
A room composed entirely of black tones.
No, he wasn’t even sure if this could be called a room.
It was larger than the training grounds of most sword clans.
“......”
And in a place like that, without even a building around them, there were only doors standing alone by themselves—thousands of them.
Oscar examined the nearest door.
[Beltra Trox, <0>, 21:58:25]
Written on the door was the challenger’s name alongside the elapsed clear time.
‘What’s the number in the middle supposed to mean?’
With a small question in mind, he inspected several more doors, but they were all similar.
‘For now, there isn’t a single unnamed door.’
If so, then the number of doors was probably equal to the total number of challengers currently participating in the dungeon.
Creeeak!
Suddenly hearing a door open behind him, Oscar turned around, and the person who had come out of a cabin flinched in surprise.
‘Looks like every exit is the same cabin.......’
For now, I should step aside so people don’t get startled.
As he moved forward, he heard dozens of challengers gathered together talking amongst themselves.
“So, what are all of you planning to do?”
“Safely enter the door with our own names on it, obviously? I don’t see any reason to take unnecessary risks.”
“Hmm...... Personally, I think it’s suspicious that they even give us the option of intrusion. There might be hidden rewards or something.”
“If something like that existed, wouldn’t rumors have spread ages ago? Quite a lot of people have already succeeded in clearing this place.”
It seemed everyone was troubled by the decision.
Well, honestly, he also didn’t understand why the option of intrusion even existed.
‘The risk is way too high compared to the return.’
Especially because even if your own capabilities were excellent, that didn’t necessarily help with the clear.
If the owner of the theme was an idiot, then you could end up trapped here for life without being able to do anything.
Even he himself wouldn’t have entered another person’s theme if it weren’t for those problem children.
Swaaaaaash!
At that moment, one of the nearby doors scattered apart into white smoke.
“T-the door disappeared!”
“That happens often.”
A challenger who looked like he had already seen the same phenomenon several times spoke casually.
“I interpreted that as the theme disappearing because someone succeeded in clearing it.”
“Ah, then the person inside.......”
“They probably escaped the dungeon safely and are outside now.”
It was an extremely reasonable assumption.
And after waiting and observing for around ten minutes, dozens of doors dispersed into white smoke.
Of course, there were variations, but most of the disappearing doors were those whose entrants had been inside for less than twenty-four hours.
“Looks like they designed it so most people can escape within twenty-four hours.”
“But there are also doors that haven’t been cleared for hundreds of hours. What about those?”
“Well...... According to the Guide, this place provides personalized theme dungeons. Maybe the wall they’re stuck at is simply too high, or maybe they lack talent?”
“Eeeh? No way. Even so, there’s no way the clear times would differ that much.”
At the strong denial, everyone’s gaze instantly turned in one direction.
The woman who suddenly became the center of attention didn’t shrink back at all under the stares and instead waved cheerfully.
“Hi there? My name’s Tesila Windroar. I’m an adventurer. Not to brag, but I’ve got experience clearing thirteen escape-type dungeons like this.”
“Tesila Windroar...... that’s the Empire-certified Special-Class Adventurer.”
“I heard she even investigated the Red Mountain Range.”
“A Level 7 Special-Class Adventurer, huh. Then her skills are definitely the real deal.”
Once her identity was revealed, people began listening attentively to Tesila’s words.
“Then in your opinion, Miss Tesila, why is there such a huge difference in clear times?”
“Intrusion.”
She answered in a voice full of certainty.
“That’s the only variable. The dungeon structure itself is too simple.”
“......Then don’t tell me that if someone intrudes, the difficulty of your own theme dungeon increases?”
“At the moment, that’s the most plausible explanation.”
Thunk! Thunk!
Tesila knocked on one of the nearby doors as she spoke.
“In fact, isn’t there a weird number between the name and the clear time?”
“Yes, though we have no idea what it means.......”
“Well, I think this represents the theme’s, mm~ how should I put it. Right, difficulty.”
The number represented the theme’s difficulty?
Hearing that, the people hurriedly began inspecting the surrounding doors.
“Huh? That sounds very possible! Most of the doors that’ve gone over 200 hours are marked with a 1!”
“There’s even a 3 over here! But the clear time...... holy crap, it’s already over 1,000 hours!”
Oscar, who had also inspected several doors himself, nodded.
It seemed her words were correct.
‘She’s definitely not a Special-Class Adventurer for nothing.’
Her ability to grasp the dungeon’s structure in a short period of time and pierce through to its core was outstanding.
The others also seemed to agree with her opinion, and the related discussions continued.
“No matter how you look at it, this doesn’t seem like something where only the difficulty increases.”
“That’s true. The rewards probably rise as well. It’d probably be easier to earn points too.”
“In that case, if we want to aim for the Calm Zone, the key is to intrude as much as possible.......”
“I’ve been observing hundreds of doors since yesterday, and difficulty 3 is the highest I’ve seen. There hasn’t been a single door marked 4 or higher.”
They became wildly excited, as if they had uncovered some tremendous secret.
Watching them, Tesila spoke with an awkward expression.
“Hey, everyone should calm down first, okay? The higher-numbered doors are usually the ones still being cleared even now. Which means the difficulty rises to a point where ordinary skill levels can’t clear them easily. In the worst case, you have to assume the clear will fail.”
“Clear failure.......”
As if cold water had been poured over them, the atmosphere instantly sank.
Everyone had remembered what clear failure meant in this place.
“Do you get it now? You can’t just recklessly raise the difficulty. Not if you don’t want to live here forever.”
“B-but if we go outside and spread this information, maybe someone will come intrude to help.......”
“No matter how skilled the person intruding is, in the end there’s only so much they can do. Everyone knows that, which means people will probably avoid entering doors with excessively long clear times altogether.”
Because someone highly capable would never make a decision that threw away their future.
In other words, the longer the clear time became, the more exponentially the survival rate would plummet.
Only then did people swallow nervously.
“......If what you’re saying is true, then thorough self-awareness seems to be the important part of this dungeon.”
“Probably. And it should be about time now.”
The moment Tesila muttered that—
One of the doors dispersed into white smoke.
And then—
BANG!
Someone burst out, throwing the cabin door open so violently it almost looked like it would break.
“Unni! I’m back!”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
“I told you to call me Captain while we’re outside. Anyway, Morin, how was it?”
“Intrusion? It wasn’t a big deal. Watching them got so frustrating I gave a few pointers, and then they cleared it.”
The woman called Morin shrugged her shoulders.
“So now I just enter the door with my own name on it, right?”
“Yep.”
“Hehe, I’m off.”
“Be careful.”
And immediately after Morin opened the door with her own name and stepped inside—
Ding!
[Morin Brice, <0>, 00:00:00]
[Morin Brice, <1>, 00:00:01]
[Morin Brice, <1>, 00:00:02]
......
The number in the center increased.
And immediately afterward, the clear time also began to flow.
After confirming it, Tesila nodded.
“Mm, as expected, my hypothesis was right.”
The number in the center of the nameplate represented “difficulty,” and this could be increased through intrusion.
Once the hypothesis she had proposed was proven true, people began moving busily.
“Let’s move quickly. If we want good rewards, we need to start intruding immediately.”
“We can’t trust the skills of complete strangers, so let’s take turns intruding amongst ourselves.”
But that trend died down just as quickly.
“Hm? Wait a second. But once someone succeeds in clearing their own theme...... they escape immediately, right?”
“Oh. Then there’s no point in grouping together.”
Even if they trusted one another’s abilities.
The person who intruded first would inevitably remain here.
And naturally, nobody wanted to enter the door of someone they didn’t even know.
A few quick-witted individuals abruptly raised their hands.
“Buying intrusion doors! We’ll pay generously after a simple skill test if you pass!”
“Aah! The Dragon Sword Clan is buying large quantities of doors belonging to skilled individuals! Those interested, come this way!”
They were trying to purchase the doors of challengers who were skilled but had entered alone.
And even for those who had come by themselves, it wasn’t such a bad deal.
They would earn money, and at the same time possibly gain someone who could offer advice if things went wrong.
“Funny, isn’t it?”
At the sudden voice, Oscar turned his head.
Before he realized it, Tesila had approached beside him and was smiling mischievously.
“Ah, was that too sudden? Sorry. You’re Oscar Crucian, right?”
“......You know me?”
“Of course. I saw you at the Mage’s Night. I was the host there.”
Naturally, he remembered her.
Still, at the time he had only been a mere Level 4 mage, so he hadn’t expected her to remember him.
Reading that thought, Tesila grinned.
“I’ve always had pretty good instincts since I was young. The moment I saw you, I thought, this kid’s going to become someone big someday.”
“I’m a little jealous of that. But what was that thing you asked earlier?”
“I just find it amusing. Look at those people.”
Tesila gestured toward the noisy crowd with her chin.
“People who think they’re smart usually pursue efficiency. Once a good method becomes known, they create what they call the optimal route at a shocking speed.”
Oscar’s eyes narrowed.
He asked Tesila, who had predicted this situation and laid the groundwork for it.
“......What exactly is your objective?”
“It’s not anything grand, though? I just wanted to see it.”
Her eyes shifted toward a certain man.
“He’s a knight named Mason from the Dragon Sword Clan. Level 7. If it’s that guy, he’ll probably intrude at least three times. Unless he’s got less guts than his size suggests.”
“You wanted to see that simply for that reason?”
“I’m an adventurer. I use everything I can use. If you think that’s underhanded, then oh well.”
Most likely, she wanted to know whether the maximum difficulty was truly capped at 3.
And whether even a Level 7 knight from the Dragon Sword Clan would be unable to clear a difficulty 3 theme.
Those were the two things she wanted to confirm.
“Looks like Level 8 isn’t far away for you.”
“Yep. Really not far now.”
It seemed she intended to reach Level 8 through this dungeon.
And in order to obtain the information she wanted, she had deliberately shared information others hadn’t yet figured out.
“Then why speak to me?”
“I told you already. I’ve always had good instincts.”
Giggle, giggle.
Tesila shrugged with a laugh.
“I heard there are still mages in the White Tower who haven’t managed to escape yet...... You came here to play rescue squad, didn’t you?”
Her instincts are freakishly sharp.
Frowning, Oscar asked:
“What do you want?”
“Let’s make a deal. Like I said earlier, my goal is Level 8. I’ll give you the Windless Zone as compensation.”
Her eyes sparkled as she finally stated what she wanted.
“In exchange, let me intrude into your theme so I can see the highest-difficulty theme possible.”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]

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