The lights in each of the dorms were not the only lights present in this labyrinth like Ruin. there were lights all around this entire structure, even in the pathways where there was only the carving of the angelic wings, there were lights illuminating the place.

In his mind, KiRA had thought the entire place was illuminated because the people of the past wanted there to be light everywhere.

They did not consider darkness as natural so they hid away even the shadows that appear when the light is placed at certain angles in certain ways.

Since the lights were present everywhere, and since the nature of these lights were different from the natural lights that appear outside of the ruins, he had an unconscious misconception that this is how things were supposed to be.

But that was not the case.

The answer to whatever the creators of these ruins wanted the challengers to find was hidden in the darkness that was not present anywhere around this place.

The darkness was one thing and shadows another. The objective was to create shadows based on the lights in a way that followed the secret code that the people of Tatar wanted the challengers to find.

'While we were searching for the exit or anything similar, we had already found the patterns that were hidden in the murals as well as all the other things in this ruin.'

Thanks to the dungeon that wasn't even directly connected to this place, the two of them were able to connect the dots and when they knew what the last part of the equation actually was, they moved forward and went back to the very first section of the ruin where they had first appeared.

Here, they started a test run first.

-Oooooooooooooooong!

Of the hundreds of light crystals that were present above them, they chose the one that seemed the most odd one. They considered it the starting point and just like how they had connected the energy pockets during the dungeon's last stage, they started blocking the lights to create shadows in a certain pattern.

-Zaaaaa…

However, when they moved from one shadow to another, they found out that the lights, in fact, needed to be covered in a certain order for the lights to stay turned off.

Or else when he moves from one light to the other, like he had done something wrong, the lights would slowly return and illuminate the place once again.

'But when the right lights were covered, the shadows stayed until he covered the wrong light. Once a mistake was made, the lights would go off once again and they would have to repeat the whole process from the start.

'It wasn't easy…'

Even though they knew what they needed to do now, they did not get the answer readily. They spent the following few days in the dungeon, looking through different solutions and patterns.

'The temple patterns, the angels present around the domes, as well as a few other things made the connective patterns of a bigger picture.'

They somehow figured out the kind of algorithm the people of Tatar might have used after putting in some logic and at the end, after a few days, they were able to turn off the right combination of lights in the first section, which ultimately turned off all the lights present in the first corridor.

"Phew…"

KiRA understood this was the assignment.

The people of Tatar who worshipped light, wanted the challengers to look away from lights and find the solutions that were hidden beyond the light.

'Five more to go now…'

He couldn't tell what their intention behind creating this elaborate problem might have been, but there was no time for deep contemplations like that anymore.

It had already been around three months since he left his home and by now, as he knew from all the world messages and alerts that had popped before him, that the people around the world had already finished the 4th floor, the 5th floor, as well as the 6th floor which was essentially a safe zone.

They were soon going to enter the 7th floor now and before anything bad happened, he needed to finish this quest and go back… while he knew things weren't going too bad from Izzy's reports until now, he was still worried about the higher floors.

"The 4th floor was not as difficult as the 3rd one, the 5th floor was basically the safest of them all since all they needed to do was solve a few riddles as a collective player body. After the 6th floor which directly opened up to the 7th floor, they had plenty of time to rest and go up to clear the 7th floor.

But, unlike these floors, the 7th, 8th, and 9th floors would be a hell for players who aren't serious about the threats that these floors would have.

The monsters, the challenges, and the quests on these floors were not easy even in the Tower of Beginning.

Even with all the things they had experienced until now, the upper floors might just bring more chaos for them than what they had been preparing themselves for.

'I have to go back soon…'

Izzy and the others were there but he was still worried about his family.

If something happens and they have to be in the middle of other things, there will be more complications than what they can handle.

Ultimately, they will have to be worried about things that aren't a big threat yet. What happens when a new floor opens up is always beyond everyone who is anticipating some minimal rise in difficulty or a stable difficulty difference.

'The tower's intentions are never predictable.'

It's pretty much like this ruin as well. What the people of the past had intended was not always easy to guess.

The Tatar have never left a text or certain record of why they did what they did. Everything they had done, everything they had wanted the future people to know is hidden within the walls of what they have left behind.

'There are a few cool stories visible within these walls as well.'

KiRA had interpreted and recorded a lot of things from the murals and carvings around these parts. Since there were no traps now, things were much easier for them as well.

When they took up the challenge of turning down all the lights in the corridors, they made sure everything was in place.

Moving from the first to second, then the third, then fourth, and the last two corridors, finding the right solutions, and turning off all the lights in these sections took a long time.

At the end, by the time they were done with the six corridors as well as the pathways connecting these corridors, over a week had passed for them.

-Oooooooooooooooooong!

Still, the two of them found out that despite the entire ruin now being without light, the ruin was somehow still well illuminated for some reason.

There was still enough visibility that they could see from one corridor's edge to the other side, meaning there was still some source of light that brightened the surroundings.

'Could this be it?'

The two of them looked around the entire place.

Of the six corridors, there were no particular elements that produced this light so they looked somewhere else— in the pathways that only had the angelic wings.

[{ Master, I think the pathways themselves are collectively producing this light. It's so faint that it's difficult to detect but the wings are most likely the source of light here. }]

Unity was sensitive to energies so she figured out what was happening.

This wasn't simple light so even KiRA could not detect it directly.

The people who made this place made sure it's difficult to detect these things when they were working on it.

But the two of them detected it. And, since they detected the light, they needed to cover this light as well.

"Will a piece of cloth be enough?" Since they were using greeting cards from their inventory for the lights around the place, they used a long sheet of cloth this time.

The pathways were large though, so by the time he started using the cloth, he understood this wasn't going to be nearly enough.

The interconnected paths were long and they resented somehow, so he needed something that could cover all of the areas with light at once… the cloth might have taken some time but they would have worked, however, there was another way.

"I didn't think I'd have to use this after all." He shook his head and prepared for something sinister after he was done here.

[{ Master… }]

Extending his hand, he closed his eyes and channeled an energy that he had not used until now.

"Darkness of the Abyss."

-Ooooooooooooooooooooong!

Darkness darker than the shadows cast by the absence of light. A murky darkness that did not seem pure in any form.

Like the smoke from burning of harmful elements, like the dark clouds of a deadly storm, like the dead bloodcells, like the impurity that all demonic elements possess… this darkness was harmful and dangerous.

[Ding!]

[You are being affected by [Impurity] of the abyssal darkness.]

[Ding!]

[Purity has countered the negative status effect.]

Using the skill was the same as giving up on his life if he did not have Purity stat as well as holy power.

The skill wasn't as restricted as the halo skill, but using this skill meant using a skill that was poison in itself.

'But it works.'

The darkness that appeared in the pathway spread throughout the pathways in an instant.

In a matter of seconds, the entire pathway was covered in this darkness, and by the time he cancelled the skill, the entire place was completely covered in darkness without any light in the surroundings.

-Ooooooooooooooooong!

Perhaps that was the answer he needed since as soon as that happened, something moved within this ruin and a light so bright it re-illuminated the whole of the ruin overflowed the pathways.

And, along with it, the light, saturated with holy power, also cleansed all of the darkness that had covered the pathways within the ruins.

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