Chapter 186: The Chrono Maze [Part 1] Alex left the forest with a heavy heart. He was still thinking about the incident with Lucius when a faint shimmering light suddenly blocked his path. Alex’s eyes widened in shock as this light then transformed into a fox girl with three tails. "L-Latifa?" Alex asked, half wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him. The fox girl looked at the young man with a complicated expression before speaking her mind. "I saw everything that happened," Latifa said. "I need your help, Alex Stratos." "What kind of help do you need?" asked Alex in curiosity, still wondering why the sleeping beauty of the academy appeared in front of him. "Please come with me and help save Lucius," Latifa answered. "The one you saw in that illusion wasn’t the real him." Those words snapped Alex out of the joy of being approached by a pretty lady. "Then why did you come to find me? You should have looked for a Professor and asked them to help you," Alex pointed out in a serious tone. Latifa shook her head. "The demonic worshipers have many spies inside the academy. Some of them might even be part of the faculty. Even if I tell a Professor who isn’t one of them, the risk of the news reaching them is still there, so I can’t rely on them. "However, the person I trust the most said I should look for you because you will know the way to find Lucius if I take you to him." "Wait, did you say demonic worshipers?" Alex asked. "They’re involved in this incident?" The demonic worshipers were one of the antagonist organizations in the world of Arcana. Based on his gaming experience, Alex knew that Latifa’s fears were not unfounded. There were indeed two Professors who were part of this organization, though they wouldn’t do anything major until the third Arc of the story. "Yes." Latifa nodded. "Then you should look for Professor Gareth. I’m sure he’s strong enough to save his son," Alex stated. "Professor Gareth will not be able to find Lucius," Latifa explained. "His location is a bit special. Unless someone knows how to maneuver inside of it, they can easily get lost. The person I trust the most said that you’ll know what to do when you get there." Alex wanted to ask who was this person whom the fox girl trusted the most. In the game, Latifa did not mention such a person, so he couldn’t determine if he knew that person or not. But one thing was clear. That person knew Alex. ’Just who is that person?’ Alex mused even as he understood that this was not the time for that. The priority was to save Lucius and solve this mystery once and for all. "I have a lot of questions, but I’ll ask the most important one," Alex said. "Where is Lucius right now, and who is the one who appeared as Lucius earlier?" "Lucius is at the Chrono Maze, and the one who impersonated him has the ability to copy the faces of other people," Latifa explained without pointing out that Alex had asked two questions. "I just so happen to wander around the academy at the right time and saw him push Lucius inside the Chrono Maze. "The only one who can navigate safely inside the maze is the Headmaster, but he is currently not around." The fox girl eyed Alex, wondering if he really knew how to navigate such a dangerous place. "I see." Alex frowned. He was quite familiar with the Chrono Maze since he had challenged that place many times in the game. In fact, the majority of players of ELO already knew it inside out. But how could Latifa’s confidante have known with certainty that Alex was familiar with the Chrono Maze? "Very well. I will find Lucius," Alex stated. "What will you do for the time being?" "I will follow you," Latifa replied without hesitation. "That way, I can inform others and ask for help if you get trapped inside the Chrono Maze." "Right," Alex nodded, "your power works like that." Since Latifa had three tails, she could have three consciousnesses. One of them would remain inside her body, sleeping, while the second would watch over her to ensure her safety. The third consciousness could freely wander all over the academy like a ghost, doing things that the real Latifa couldn’t do because she was mostly asleep. "We need to save him fast before the fake Lucius can cause more trouble," Latifa said seriously "Even if I tell everyone that the current Lucius is a fake, no one will believe me. Not to mention, the demon worshipers might target me next if things get out of hand. "I hope you can help save him. He is a member of the student council, and they will surely be grateful to you if you save him. Once they’re indebted to you, your life in the academy will be much easier." Although the student council president, Theo, didn’t seem to be targeting Alex anymore, having the former indebted to him was indeed a good option. Since they already knew where to go, the two hurried to the Chrono Maze, which was located at the northern edge of the academy. Truth be told, it wasn’t really a maze but a Dungeon. It was filled with Rank 2 Monsters. Alex in the past would’ve struggled inside it. But now, he was confident that he could deal with them, especially since he had cleared this dungeon many times in the past. However, there was one particular monster that Alex was very wary of—the Mini Boss that wandered inside the dungeon called Mirror Doppleganger. This monster had no fixed level and simply copied its opponents appearance, stats, and abilities. It was a very annoying opponent since it would be just as strong as one of your team members who you could bring inside the dungeon. When Alex finally arrived at the northern part of the academy, he didn’t hesitate to head to the dungeon, which was supposed to be sealed at this point in time. And just as he expected, the dungeon was indeed sealed, which made him wonder how the demon worshiper had been able to toss Lucius inside of it. He had a vague idea of who the demon worshiper who had the ability to copy faces might be. But until he was certain, he didn’t want to make any assumptions. "It won’t budge." Latifa briefly materialized herself and tried to push open the gate, but her efforts were in vain. "It is sealed shut." "You won’t be able to open it just by pushing it," Alex explained. "This gate can be opened using a special password, and there’s three of them." Yes. Three passwords were needed to open the gate, but there was a gimmick to it. The passwords changed every hour. They were also affected by which day of the week it was. As well as whether it was morning, afternoon, or evening. Fortunately, the world of Arcana also used the same names for their days, which made things less complicated for Alex. He then did some quick calculations inside of his head. The gimmick of the Chrono Maze was something most ELO Players knew by heart. He needed three passwords, and they were the time of the day, the day of the week, as well as the cipher number of the day. For example, to get the cipher number for Monday, convert the letters to their corresponding number in the alphabet and add everything together. (A/N: Monday = M(13), O(15), N(14), D(4), A(1), Y(25) = 72. Yes, I hate math lmao!) "Today is Monday, and it is one o’clock pm," Alex muttered. "That should be 72, and I need to add the time modifier, which is 2, since it’s the afternoon. I got it!" The young man then pressed his hand over the gate, and said with confidence. "Zenith, Monar, 74." After saying those three passwords, the gate glowed faintly and opened wide. Latifa raised her eyebrows in surprise. As much as she trusted her best friend’s words, she had doubted whether Alex really could open the gate. But after seeing him do so easily with her own eyes, she had no choice but to acknowledge that the young man was indeed the person who could save Lucius inside the Chrono Maze. "Let’s go," Alex said. "The gate will only remain open for two minutes, so we should go while we still can." Latifa nodded and followed Alex inside the special dungeon, which she would be exploring for the first time since she enrolled in the academy.