Chapter 374: Chapter 374: Puzzle
The players who followed Li Yao were cursing under their breaths. They were thinking, damn it, we knew it was a trap and still you stepped on it. You must be an absolute fool.
However, they had no say in this, knowing that speaking up would make no difference. They could only brace for the worst scenario.
What they didn’t know was that Li Yao had no other option. The entrance was a twin-door, which required simultaneous unlocking by two people with an extensive knowledge of engineering. Unless he gave up the data of this door, he would have to take the risk.
“If I am sacrificed soon, it indicates that your task has failed. You may just leave at that point,” Li Yao turned his head to tell the five players protecting him.
The male goblin chimed in, “If I get sacrificed, you guys have to protect Ilebell. Your task won’t be considered a failure, but the likelihood of this happening is quite small.”
Players were all looking at each other. This task was frustrating. If they failed the task due to their lack of ability, they would take it.
But what was this all about? They had no control over the development of events, but they couldn’t do anything about it. They were already in too deep, escaping was no longer an option.
All they could hope for was that the NPC they needed to protect wouldn’t be a liability. This feeling was truly awful.
The players protecting Li Yao felt the same, but what they didn’t know was that the ‘NPC’ they were protecting was actually another player. If they knew this, they would probably be infuriated.
“You certainly seem confident, but don’t speak too soon,” said Li Yao, uttering some bizarre syllables. As he spoke, a glimmering, ethereal platform appeared before him.
“I have to hand it to you, you’ve got some skills. But, I won’t be defeated so easily. You’ve activated your device, so I might as well tell you this: despite my low rank, my engineering skills are masterful. You don’t stand a chance,” the male goblin snickered. A starry platform appeared beside him, identical to Li Yao’s.
“Sometimes, rankings don’t define everything.”
Holding back a smile, Li Yao began the process of unlocking. As he’d put it, rank didn’t always correspond to true ability.
Especially in the case of a Titan lock, which was essentially a puzzle. All that was necessary was to understand the meaning of the words written in the language of the Titans. It was similar to a geometry problem almost everyone could understand, but solving it was a different matter altogether.
In this aspect, players were actually at an advantage since their educational backgrounds had equipped them better to solve such riddles, at least compared to most NPCs.
However, the players didn’t understand this. Upon hearing the male goblin’s words, the ones on his side cheered, implying they would not fail in their task.
The five players protecting Li Yao were cursing once again. The feeling of not having control over anything was truly terrible. The five of them started to slowly retreat, preparing to break out at any moment.
Ilebell said, “There’s no need to be so tense. Titan puzzles are not easy to solve, we might have to wait a few hours.”
Upon hearing this, the players began to relax. Some even prepared to light a bonfire, ready to unwind their nerves.
However, before they could act, they heard Ilebell scream incredulously, “No, this can’t be! How did he unlock the first node so quickly?”
The players who had just relaxed tensed up and turned to look at the giant door. A silvery beam of light linked to a star node.
The entire door was akin to a starry sky, encompassing countless galaxies. The light beam started at one point and had already linked to another star on Li Yao’s platform, making the whole door shine brightly.
“This… this isn’t possible,” the male goblin was startled by the yelp from Ilebell. Upon seeing Li Yao’s progress, he started to break out in a cold sweat, his face in utter disbelief. “I’ve just managed to understand the puzzle. How could you have possibly unlocked a node already?”
Li Yao shrugged and said, “Because you’re slow. Why else? This simple Titan puzzle doesn’t even require thinking. This door is made from a Titan core. The puzzles you’re seeing are the simplest among the ones made by the Titans and mechanically copied by the gnomes. There’s no difficulty in them.”
“Keep bragging. You just happened to get a puzzle you know. There are still four nodes left. You won’t get so lucky next time,” the male goblin tried to comfort others and himself at the same time. Even though his power was weak, his engineering skills were anything but low.
He couldn’t accept that he was being outdone by someone who was only mid-level in engineering.
On the other hand, the players who were prepared to abandon Li Yao were visibly elated. It seemed that this guy really did have some tricks up his sleeve; their worries were unnecessary.
“Really? Well, you should get ready because I’ve already unlocked the second node,” said Li Yao as he continually adjusted his finger positions, tapping on the light screen.
Through the NPCs’ dialogue, the players understood the complexity of the Titan locks and knew it would take a fair amount of time to unlock them. Upon hearing Li Yao’s words, they were amazed and shifted their gazes to the giant door.
Another beam of light emerged from the second node, rapidly connecting it to the third star node. The brilliance of the door shone again.
“It must be an illusion. An illusion. Even a Prince wouldn’t be capable of this,” the male goblin was at a loss for words. He never anticipated anything remotely close to this.
“Is it an illusion? Let’s wait and see,” Li Yao said as he started working on the third puzzle.
Li Yao had indeed come across the first two puzzles in a past life and so knew their answers, thus making his task relatively easy. However, the third puzzle required some calculations.
“Ha-ha! I knew that you were just lucky,” the male elf said after working on his puzzle for a while and noticing Li Yao also busily working away. The tense beating of his heart eased up. Li Yao solving the two puzzles instantly had really scared him, but now, since he managed to make some headway on his first puzzle and Li Yao hadn’t been able to solve his third puzzle, he became more relaxed.
“Really? Well, my luck must be fantastic then because I solved the third puzzle as well.” Li Yao laughed as he placed his finger on the light screen and another light beam appeared. The whole door began to radiate a silvery glow.
The players were stupefied, confused as to whether the puzzles were actually that easy. But the two goblins were in a state of shock. They understood only too well.
A Titan lock was really difficult. You had to be fluent in the language of the Titans. If you misunderstood a single word, the puzzle would fail to open.
Then came the puzzle itself, which required deep engineering skills and broad knowledge. Especially when it came to ancient-themed puzzles, if you didn’t understand the situation at that time, you wouldn’t be able to solve it.
“Who cares about the puzzles? Kill him to put an end to all of this. Attack!”
The player tasked to protect the male goblin screamed. Following his command, the spells they had been secretly preparing cast forth towards Li Yao…