Chapter 90: Reality Is Really Different From A Game "Alex, I just wonder... why didn’t you loot them after?" Cairo inquired. "I’m sure those murderers have decent items in their possession." "Master, there are Unique Skills that allow their users to momentarily see what happened before someone died," Alex explained. "There are also skills that can track items or equipment. "I didn’t mention it earlier, but the Blade Fangs are just one of the many Adventurer Killer Parties. They are part of this organization called Silent Coffin, a bloodthirsty bunch who go after those who kill their members. "As one of the parties under their organization, they probably reported back to their organization regularly to sell loot or pay some kind of protection money. If they don’t appear soon enough, their comrades might start to investigate." "What about the two Adventurers we saved earlier, then?" Cairo asked. "What if Silent Coffin discovers them and interrogates them? Won’t you be in danger then?" If what his disciple said was true, then there would be ways to find out why the members of the Blade Fang failed to report to their organization. Alex shook his head. "They left before the members of Blade Fangs died, and there are many entrances leading to the Dungeon of Beginnings. Unless they’re stupid, they won’t spread this news outside. "Lastly, the dungeon is the perfect place to erase evidence. The gang’s items and equipment will probably be purified by a mysterious power and placed inside treasure chests as rewards. That’s how dungeons work, Master." "Dim." Dim Dim nodded in agreement. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮 Having known about the underground organization, Silent Coffin, right from the start, Alex hadn’t dared to loot the dead members of the Blade Fangs. Doing so would be courting death. "But what if they’re stupid?" Cairo asked pointedly. "What will you do then? Those two boys don’t look that bright to me." Alex pondered a bit before answering. "If they really come to find us, then I guess we have no choice, Master," Alex replied. "Are we going to eliminate them?" Cairo smirked fearlessly. He was more than happy to cut down evil people who preyed on the weak and innocent. Although he was only a year older than Alex, he had seen far too many things. If he told his disciple about some anecdotes from his travels, the latter would certainly turn pale. Hearing his master’s question, Alex didn’t reply and simply smiled. He didn’t like conflict, but when pushed into a corner, he would fight. Truth be told, he wasn’t really too worried about the retaliation of the Silent Coffin. By the time they tried to investigate, all traces of the Blade Fang would already be gone from the face of the world. "Here is fine, Master," Alex said as he stopped walking. "Now, we will go treasure hunting." "Treasure hunting?" Cairo arched an eyebrow. "How?" Alex replied by activating the Map of Forgotten Paths. As soon as he activated this special feature, blinking dots appeared on the map. Most of them were green, but he could see some blue dots and a yellow one too. The latter were at least five times bigger than the green dots, so they stood out on the map. A little box in the lower left corner of the map explained what each color meant, letting Alex know what to expect. The green blinking dots on the map represented people inside the dungeon in real-time. The blue blinking dots were hidden rooms and led to treasure chests. Although both were helpful, neither was particularly interesting. The yellow dot, on the other hand, made Alex arch an eyebrow. The description only said it was a "Hidden Pathway" leading directly to the fourth floor of the Dungeon of Beginnings. ’Interesting,’ he thought. ’I didn’t know there’s a feature like this inside the dungeon.’ When Alex had still been playing ELO, he had only discovered hidden rooms with treasure chests when running away from monsters. However, these rooms had been dead-ends. Once he had exited a hidden room, he would find himself surrounded by monsters attracted by Charles’ Challenger’s Mark, leaving him no path to escape. Now that he didn’t have to worry about such a tragic end, Alex decided to experiment with the abilities of the Map of Forgotten Paths. He was most interested in the white arrows moving on the map like snakes, heading to specific locations. Some of them led to the second floor of the dungeon while others, to Alex’s surprise and relief, showed the way to the exit. He hadn’t expected that after merging the Map of Forgotten Paths with his map, the former’s range would no longer be restricted to three hundred meters. It was now a floor-wide ability. Although the majority of the map was still unexplored and covered by a black fog, it still displayed the paths leading to the exit, which would bring them to the City of Harmonia. But there was a catch. ’The exit is ten miles away from us.’ Alex frowned. ’Reality is really different from a game.’ He didn’t know how long it would take them to run ten miles inside the dungeon, but when he had been playing ELO, it had only taken him an hour to find the exit. And that was purely due to luck. Also, they would not be running in a straight line. The Dungeon of Beginnings had many intersections and winding paths that made traversing it a challenge. They would be further slowed down if they had to fight monsters along the way. Last but not the least, Alex discovered that there were as many as twelve paths that led to the second floor of the dungeon. This meant that once Charles entered the dungeon, monsters would emerge from these locations because of his passive skill, Challenger’s Mark. The Dungeon of Beginnings was a very vast dungeon that could be entered from several villages, towns, and even cities. Regardless of where one entered the dungeon, they would be sent to a random location inside, which would also be ten miles away from the City of Harmonia. ’So the exit that leads to the city is at the center of the dungeon,’ Alex mused. ’And the annoying part is, we need to circle around the dungeon to reach it. The more Alex analyzed the setup of the dungeon, the more he understood why Charles’ tutorial quest had been nearly impossible to clear. The worst part was that by midnight, the interior of the first floor would change, similar to what happened to the first floor of the Etherion Domain. The only saving grace was that the white arrows on the map would lead him to their destination, even if it was in an unexplored area. After making up his mind, Alex toggled some filters to remove the other arrows that led to the second floor of the dungeon. This would prevent him from getting confused once they started running for their lives. "Alex, what’s wrong?" Cairo asked after seeing his disciple and Dim Dim stare at the vacant space in front of them for nearly two minutes. Alex was even rubbing his chin as if he was examining something. Cairo’s words broke the young man from his daze, making him cough lightly. "Master, follow me for now," Alex said. "We’ll start our treasure hunting." Since the countdown timer of three hours was already ticking, he decided to use that time to get to the blue blinking dots before heading to the yellow dot that led directly to the fourth floor of the Dungeon of Beginnings.