Chapter 62

However, Gorden didn’t have the time to care about these few taunts. Taking advantage of the Black Knight’s moment of attacking the Celestial Black Bear, he and Shelley turned into a side alley, temporarily disappearing from the Black Knight’s sight.

“What should we do, Gorden?” Shelley’s voice trembled. The Black Knight was a rare and powerful enemy she had encountered during her adventuring career, and without a weapon in hand, she had no means to fight back, which made her extremely anxious.

Gorden thought for a moment and said with incredible calmness, “Of course, we run.”

But where could they run to? Don’t be fooled by the Black Knight’s heavy iron armor, which made him look clumsy. In terms of walking speed, he was absolutely no slower than Gorden and Shelley. Moreover, if the other party called for reinforcements and summoned those annoying sub-snakes, it would be even more troublesome.

Gorden seemed to have been prepared. He comforted Shelley with a few words and then took out a short piece of hemp rope.

However, this time he didn’t plan to use the Rope Animation spell. There was another spell related to ropes that could resolve the current predicament.

Chanting the incantation and changing his gestures, the hemp rope in Gorden’s hand grew longer and longer under the enhancement of magical energy, until it reached two meters. He swung the rope and threw it upwards. When the rope’s end touched the ceiling, it actually stuck to it and then opened a black hole large enough for a person to crawl through.

“Go up,” Gorden patted Shelley’s shoulder.

This was the second rope-related spell Gorden had learned besides Rope Animation, a second-level Transmutation spell, the Magic Rope. This spell could open a dimensional space and allow up to eight people to climb up the rope to hide.

“Having a reliable mage is truly great,” Shelley didn’t hesitate, grabbed the magic rope, and quickly climbed up. Gorden stood below, clearly seeing the girl’s skirt bottom, where a thin silk undergarment couldn’t fully cover her round, firm buttocks. However, this didn’t seem to be the time to indulge his eyes. Gorden followed behind and climbed up the rope.

The dimensional space created by the Magic Rope was narrow, dark, and completely isolated from the outside world. Gorden couldn’t even observe whether the terrifying Black Knight had left. Fortunately, they now had a space to catch their breath, which was enough.

Due to the intense movement, the wounds bitten by the Abyssal Ferocious Rats started bleeding again. Gorden first cast a Light spell to prevent the space from being pitch black, then began to treat his wounds.

He took out a small test tube labeled with the rising sun and setting moon, opened the stopper, and poured the liquid inside into his mouth. The healing potion made by the Dawn Temple had no taste—well, if he had to say, it was the taste of heartache, because this tiny sip cost Gorden thirty-five gold coins. Arcane casters couldn’t learn healing spells; that was the privilege of divine spell users. Temple priests could earn more profit by selling healing potions than magic shops. After all, enhancement potions were just for adding to the beauty, while healing potions could save lives.

After drinking the healing potion, Gorden’s wounds began to gradually heal, stopping the bleeding. Originally, he didn’t care about the small wounds on his body, relying on his 15 Constitution attribute. However, he didn’t expect the Black Knight to be like a shark in the sea, sensing even the slightest hint of blood and following it. Therefore, after ensuring their safety, Gorden’s first action was to eliminate the bloodstains on his body.

In the one cubic meter space of the Dimensional Bag, Gorden had not only stored various magic potions and scrolls but also packed many other things, such as an appropriate amount of dry rations and water, change of clothes, fire starters, sleeping bags, and bandages and emergency medicines.

He took off his bloodstained clothes, revealing his bare body. Although they had already had the closest contact, this was the first time Shelley had seen her lover’s body so clearly. Blushing, she carefully took out the bandages and wrapped Gorden’s wounds to prevent them from reopening.

Having long adventured in the wild, Shelley had rich first-aid experience. Her bandaging skills were very proficient, and the bandages did not affect limb movement at all.

Gorden put on a new mage robe and threw the bloodstained clothes into the Dimensional Bag. The two of them shared some water and dry rations, then waited quietly. The duration of the Magic Rope spell was one hour per caster level. That meant, with Gorden’s level 4 mage status, he could maintain the dimensional space for four hours.

The four hours passed quickly, and the two had to leave the safe dimensional space.

Fortunately, the terrifying Black Knight seemed to have left, which made both of them sigh in relief.

Let’s continue moving forward. At least, after clearing the traces on our bodies, the other party wouldn’t be able to track us anymore.

Following the direction indicated on the map, they delved into a secluded area, walking all the way to the deepest part of the road, in front of a metal door three people tall.

“This is it, the unknown area surrounded by heavy lead stone. We might find some good things inside, and we can smoothly avoid the enemy’s tracking,” Gorden patted the door, making a dull “thud” sound.

“We don’t have the key. How are we going to open the door this time? Do I have to sing another song?” Shelley crossed her arms and walked back and forth in front of the door, her adventurous curiosity already ignited.

“This time, it’s probably my turn. The Sun Elf mage who built the castle is truly very interesting,” Gorden rubbed his chin and carefully observed the patterns and text on the metal door.

“Wisdom’s lightning sparks the inspiration of the mind. Think, for fools cannot open this door.”

The text left on the side of the door was still the elegant Elvish script. Next to it was a small metal button. Gorden cast a “Detect Magic” on himself, carefully checked the surroundings to ensure it wasn’t a trap, and then pressed the button.

The thick door panels slid open to reveal a complex internal mechanism. Seven grooves were carved on it, leading to the central circle. Each groove had a disc that could slide, and Gorden carefully observed the patterns on the discs, realizing it was an intelligence test. He needed to use logical reasoning to find the one disc among the seven that was different and slide it into the central circle.

At the bottom, three crystals embedded in the door emitted a faint green light.

“Three chances….”

At first glance, the seven discs, each with a square containing a circle, a circle containing an equilateral triangle, and a triangle containing a solid diamond, seemed incomprehensible, with no discernible differences or connections.

If it were an ordinary person, they would be at a loss facing seven complex patterns. For example, our adorable ranger girl was frowning, her lips slightly pouting, helplessly observing the mechanism in front of her.

“Really, what kind of strange question is this!” Shelley, with her slightly disheveled hair, seemed to want to clear the tangled thoughts in her mind.

However, Gorden walked confidently to the mechanism, grabbed one of the discs, and moved it to the central circle.

“Hey, don’t mess around…” Shelley was about to stop him when she heard the buzzing sound of the mechanism turning. The first door opened with a sound.

But waiting for Gorden behind the door was the second obstacle.

“Another puzzle, can’t there be something new?”

Gorden didn’t expect the Sun Elf mage’s questions to all be similar to the famous Mensa IQ tests on Earth. However, in Gorden’s time, the Mensa IQ test was no longer a high barrier. After intelligence development, 95% of the new generation of humans could pass it. Gorden, of course, was no exception.

The previous question was to find the different one among seven patterns. Now, presented to Gorden was a large grid with circles, ellipses, triangles, squares, and crosses scattered throughout. He needed to divide the grid into four rectangles, each containing all five shapes.

Next to the grid was a moonstone tablet with a bright red number “thirty” created by magic, counting down to zero. It seemed Gorden had to solve the puzzle within thirty seconds.

“Really, I have no idea at all.” Shelley looked at Gorden, placing all her hopes on her mage lover.

Gorden didn’t let her down. The black-haired mage, with a confident smile, extended his left hand, two fingers together, and smoothly drew four rectangles on the grid.

Where his fingers passed, pale blue light points seeped out from the grid, finally forming a complete line.

The puzzle was solved, and the mechanism turned.

Fortunately, the Sun Elf mage, who designed these puzzles that seemed extremely difficult to others but boring to Gorden, didn’t come up with any more tricks. Behind the second door was a spacious area.

“My mage is truly reliable,” Shelley left a wet kiss on Gorden’s cheek. The adventurer’s blood in the excited girl was completely boiling, eagerly looking forward to finding more treasures.

The two held hands and walked into the secret room. The two heavy doors behind them closed immediately. Gorden believed that among the enemies, there should be no one who could solve the Elvish puzzles, so they were temporarily safe.

The secret room was five meters high and over five hundred square meters in area. With the help of the pure white magical light source, Gorden discovered that various items were piled up in a messy manner inside. Under the “Detect Magic” spell, Gorden opened his eyes wide and scanned the surroundings. He found that the entire room was covered by an arcane suppression array. Unless a high-level mage with profound expertise, it would be impossible to destroy the room’s outer walls with magic. The walls reinforced with heavy lead stone made the protection extremely strict. After searching the room for a long time, Gorden finally found the only item in the room that still retained magical aura.

A construct creature.