Chapter 42 – Puzzling and Uneasy

For most teams, Puzzle Floors were relatively straight forward. Solve the puzzle quickly, get whatever loot was given, and then move on, but anyone who had read up on the subject would know that there was the chance for... a little bit more.

Unfortunately, Cam had learned long ago that not many people delved too deeply into some things. Like the fairly simple Puzzle Floors.

Take, for instance, the puzzle room he found himself in, containing one of the simpler puzzles that could be found in the Tower. The goal was simple: flip the switches to turn all the lights on. The execution... was a little less simple, if not the most difficult.

It was technically possible to brute force a solution, just flipping levers at random until the team found success- and some teams would do exactly that, not bothering to try to figure the puzzle out, just wanting to get past it and move on. Pure random chance could work, Cam knew, as even with there being eight levers, there were only so many possible combinations, and, sooner or later, it would be stumbled upon... but he didn't like that approach at all.

Because, unlike most teams, he had read about Puzzle Floors, and knew that sometimes there were alternative solutions. For this particular puzzle, the normal solution was obvious: turn on all the lights. But the alternative solution, if there was one, was the exact opposite: turn off all the lights.

Of course, it was possible there was no benefit to the alternative solution; Sometimes there would be rewards, or extra challenges, or any number of things... and sometimes it was just another way to complete the puzzle.

But the only way to know for sure was to try, and he definitely wanted to try. So, rather than the brute force approach, he and Eron set out to map the effects of each switch and truly solve the puzzle.

"Switch one toggles lights one and two. Switch two... toggles lights one, three, and four..." He spoke his mental notes aloud as Eron moved around the room, testing each switch one by one... and Cam found he kind of enjoyed the mental challenge. Sure, fighting monsters was fun- other than the constant tension of being near death, but even that had an edge of thrill to it-, but this? Meticulously working through a problem to find its solutions? It was a simple pleasure... Still, he took it seriously, as he knew it was possible that future puzzles could be more complicated. Or even lethal.

"I already have it figured out." Eron said, having just flipped the last switch. "Pretty simple, honestly; We could probably solve it using just three or four of the switches if we wanted to..."

"False leads." Cam nodded; As the first puzzle he dealt with in the Tower, it wasn't surprising it was simple... and there being so many more switches than needed was likely just to make it look more complicated. Or maybe there was some other logic that he couldn't see, but that also assumed the Tower possessed logic... "Ok, we'll do the alternate first, just to see if there is anything, then move on to the real solution-"

Before he could finish speaking, Eron was already moving, flipping switches in a rapid sequence- but not the one Cam had thought of, which he found interesting in its own way... and, in just seconds, the five lights all went dark, and a loud click rang out through the room.

Tensing in preparation of the unknown, Cam's gripped tightened on his sword as a small, hidden hatch in the ceiling opened and a bronze colored object, no larger than the palm of his hand, fell out; It wasn't until the hatch snapped closed once more that he relaxed slightly- more so when Eron moved over over, picking up the object after briefly inspecting it.

"It looks like a puzzle piece." Eron snorted, tossing the object to him...

And Cam had to agree, it really did look like a puzzle piece; Made of metal- likely bronze, as indicated by its color-, it had to straight sides that ran out from a corner, the other two sides having a small knobby protrusion and an indentation respectively... for other pieces to slot into them, he assumed.

"Yeah, it does." Cam nodded in agreement. "And, if my guess is right, that means there are other pieces we can find..."

"A puzzle hidden within the puzzles of a Puzzle Floor!" Eron exclaimed with a laugh. "Man, I don't get why people hate these types of Floors! This is fun!"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit NovelPhoenix for the authentic version.

"It is kind of fun... But we should keep moving; I'm curious what these puzzle pieces are for."

In some ways, it stayed fun for the duo... and, in some ways, it wasn't quite the fun they expected.

After another quick sequence of switches, the lights all came on, opening the door and admitting them to the second room... which was nearly identical to the first, with the same number of switches lining the walls, just with six lights instead of five, and a new sequence to figure out.

Following the same procedure as before, Cam and Eron quickly worked through the effects of each switch before working out there solution, starting with the alternate of turning off all the lights, which rewarded them with another puzzle piece- another corner piece this time as well, though it didn't fit with the one they already held.

"So, either this is the opposite corner, or there are more than four pieces..." Cam quickly summed up his logic before pocketing the pieces, ready to move on and solve this puzzle... within the puzzles, inside the Puzzle Floor; Neither of them could stop smiling at how much they were genuinely liking the Puzzle Floor...

Until, inside the third room, the door slammed shut behind them and water started pouring in from hidden cracks in the ceiling.

"Shit, trap room!" Eron exclaimed, already rushing towards the other walls, their minds already synced up on what they needed to do: solve the puzzle before the room filled with water and they drowned.

Hurriedly flipping the first switch, Cam barely had time to register its results before he was already reaching for the next one and shouting out. "Switch one, lights one and seven!"

"Switch three, lights two, three and five!" Eron shouted back.

"Switch two, lights one and four!"

Back and forth, the man and his clone shouted what they learned from each switch, the water having risen up to their knees by the time they had flipped them all.

"Alternate first! I want that puzzle piece!" Cam yelled, mind already churning over solutions.

Head snapping up, he and Eron's eyes met as they spoke simultaneously.

"Switch four!"

"Switch six!"

For a second, they both froze in confusion; They were the same person, working on the same problem... but somehow they had come up with different solutions? How the hell did that happen?

With watering splashing down over their heads, both quickly shook off the moment of disorientation, and Eron bowed mockingly at the original as if to say' after you'... and then flipped switch four, just like Cam had said to.

Suppressing a sigh, Cam hurried to flip the next one, even as he called out commands to his clone; Within seconds, the same audible click sounded out, and he waved Eron towards the puzzle piece as he rushed to quickly solve the puzzle and open the door...

With a last flick of his wrist, all seven orbs lit up, and the small cracks in the ceiling that were expelling water slowly closed, the water tapering off to dribbles and drops before finally stopping- though the door still didn't open. After a second, he saw the water level slowly dropping, drained off to... somewhere... and he understood that the door would probably open once all the water was gone- some sort of mechanic to prevent them accidentally flooding the entire Floor, maybe...

"Ok, so lower risk doesn't mean zero risk on Puzzle Floors." Eron spoke over the sound of draining water, voice wry. "I mean, we already kind of knew that, but... it's a little more obvious now."

Hearing the slight tremor in his clone's voice, Cam knew exactly where it came from: fear. Of all the things he had expected to bother him, water wasn't one of them... but clearly it did, as the thought of drowning- a word he barely even knew before- had sent a surge of panic rampaging through him...

Of course, Cam had no reason to expect such a reaction; Up until this point, the largest bodies of water he had ever even seen- aside from the small stream on the previous Floor, but that was only ankle deep- were literally just buckets of water pulled from a well... and having so much water just creeping up his legs, inch by inch, was more than a little... unsettling.

"Didn't know I was afraid of drowning." He laughed dryly, wiping the water from his face.

"Hey, at least we got a free shower!" Eron exclaimed, trying to mask his own unease beneath humor- but even his laugh sounded tight and uncomfortable.

"Yeah..." Cam sighed, shaking his head. "Hopefully the dangers in other rooms will just be monsters or something..."

"Definitely prefer monsters over that..."