Dark didn't know that the treasure left by the Hero had the same layout; otherwise, he probably would have guessed that it was actually a popular trend at the time.
However, he didn't stop because of this, instead carefully making his way inside.
Alvit couldn't possibly have created such a mirrored room for no reason. There had to be a hidden mechanism inside.
"This should be the final puzzle."
After confirming there was no danger, Dark took off his school bag and pulled out a mana pen.
He had brought quite a few tools this time, but without any prior information, he could only use the mana pen for now to perform a magic detection scan on each mirror, hoping to find something.
However, this treasure spot, which was supposed to be a dragon's lair, was much larger than the Hero's. The entire process was very troublesome and would likely take more time than he imagined.
But he had brought three days' worth of rations and still had plenty of time for his research.
...
At the same time.
Scott and the others, led by Virt, had also found the Hero's treasure spot.
Since they had been there once before, their search for the treasure went relatively smoothly. However, there seemed to be some minor changes in the secret passage, causing them to take a few wrong turns and lose some time.
Now that they had found the secret room again, Virt glanced at the mirror-filled interior and entrusted the task of solving the puzzle to the two upperclassmen.
"This is the Hero's treasure?"
Scott rushed into the secret room first.
He looked very excited. This was, after all, something left behind by the Hero.
After hearing their parents tell stories of the Hero, many children of this era would fantasize about receiving the Hero's legacy and growing up to become great heroes themselves.
In the past, Scott had also been a child who loved to daydream, and he had been thrilled for a long time about becoming a Magic Guide Master.
But his fantasies were ultimately shattered by cruel reality.
Although he had thought about trying to rally himself again, it was now very difficult to get back on his feet.
His situation was really similar to Virt's, so he empathized with Virt's current state.
The only difference between him and Virt was that Virt possessed a talent higher than that of an average Magic Guide Master, while he did not.
But if Virt could succeed with his help, he felt that he, too, might have a chance to pull himself together.
This idea of pinning one's hopes on others without putting in any effort oneself was, in reality, a form of escapism.
But that was Scott.
A person whose shoulders couldn't bear a heavy burden, leaning towards cowardice.
...
Scott failed to find any hidden mechanism in the secret room.
In the end, he straightened his bangs in a mirror, then walked out of the room and shrugged. "Regrettably, it seems I'm not the one chosen by the Hero."
"That's to be expected, Scott."
Betty let out an undisguised sneer.
Virt said worriedly, "In that case, we'll have to trouble you, senior."
Betty spoke with confidence, "I've heard the Hero's academic performance wasn't very good. The puzzles he could set wouldn't be too difficult."
"Uh..."
A shadow crossed Virt's expression for a moment. He thought to himself that there was indeed a reason Betty was dumped by her ex-boyfriend.
She had definitely never read that book called Emotional Intelligence!
But Betty's IQ was by no means low.
Among the fourth-years in the Magic House, while she wasn't at the very top, she was still in the category of honors students and was adept at applying all sorts of knowledge.
Before entering the secret room, she took a pair of glasses out of her backpack and put them on, which finally gave her the air of a "scholar."
Virt asked curiously, "What kind of glasses are those?"
Scott glanced at him and said, "Magic Guide Glasses. They let you see traces of mana flow. They're a tool often used during delicate refinement processes."
Virt had a realization. "So, it's a tool that's only used from the second year onwards?"
Scott replied, "No, if I remember correctly, you'll start learning about these advanced tools in the second semester of your first year."
Virt scratched his head, a little embarrassed.
...
But after Betty entered the secret room, she couldn't help but frown.
The room was filled with chaotic mana—the residual mana from Scott.
Under these circumstances, she had no choice but to wait for the mana to dissipate naturally before she could conduct a more detailed study of the mirrors.
Before that, she could only make some deductions by observing factors like the mirrors' shapes and arrangement.
Two or three hours later.
Betty sighed.
Mirrors are excellent conductors of mana. Ancient mages often used mirrors made of mercury to cast spells—especially curses!
Therefore, once mana attached itself to a mirror, it dissipated very slowly.
She had to take action herself, spending a long time to completely disperse Scott's residual mana.
...
After removing the interference.
She adjusted her Magic Guide Glasses, placed a hand on one of the mirrors, and began to carefully observe the direction of mana flow on its surface.
She was inclined to believe that the mirrors themselves were some kind of magical tool. If she could find the right method, she could likely open a "Mirror World," and the so-called treasure would be hidden within it.
After all, the secret room was only so big. If there wasn't some kind of design, it would be impossible to hide anything.
Unless the treasure left by the Hero wasn't a physical object, but rather some kind of precious information.
But even then, it would have to be conveyed through the mirrors as a medium.
It was very likely that a "lock" had been set!
So the main objective right now was to find the "lock."
Only by finding the "lock" could the "lock" be picked.
This might be a very long process.
...
Those who are eager for knowledge are always patient.
Once Betty officially began her research, she lost all track of time.
Virt, Scott, and Robert, having pushed all the research onto her, were waiting idly outside the secret room.
Virt and Scott naturally gathered together.
Robert leaned against a wall to the side, watching them talk and laugh in low voices, his gaze growing colder.
Normally, in a situation like this, he and Virt should have been together, and Scott should have been the one hiding in a corner, watching.
This left a very bad taste in his mouth.
...
In the shadows untouched by the torchlight, a bat that had appeared at some unknown time was silently huddled in a corner. The edges of its wings dissolved into black mist, allowing it to blend perfectly into the darkness.
In a far-off section of the secret passage.
A pale humanoid figure, standing stiffly like a corpse in the shadows of the passage, opened its eyes as the night deepened.
A blood-like liquid flowed at its feet.
In that instant, it became active.
It climbed up from its toes, all the way to just below its neck, forming a high, dark red collar.
In the blink of an eye, a noble young man, looking as if he'd stepped out of a picture book wearing the stereotypical human impression of a "vampire suit," strolled out from the shadows.
His skin was as pale as a corpse, his eyes as crimson as blood. When his lips parted slightly, they revealed two pairs of sharp fangs.
He was stern and handsome, elegant and noble.
It was as if he were a blood aristocrat awakened from an eternal slumber, achieving eternity in the dead of night!
...
However, when hunger seized his mind, when crimson filled his eyes.
The craving for blood crushed his elegant demeanor.
The supposedly extinct vampire revealed a savage and twisted face in the dark and silent secret passage, a hoarse roar squeezed from its throat filled with an indescribable viciousness and madness.
Dragging its stiff limbs, it followed its physiological instincts and began to walk in the direction of the passage's intruders.
A crisis was approaching.
...
Inside the dragon's lair.
Dark's research had also come to a standstill.
He had spent an extremely long time conducting a mana detection on every single mirror, but the final result was plain to see.
None of the mirrors he tested showed any special reaction to mana.
It was as if they were all just ordinary mirrors!
This made Dark suspect for a moment that he might have missed one or two.
He paced back and forth across the mirrored floor, wracking his brain for ideas, but came up with nothing.
"Is my thinking limited by a lack of necessary knowledge?"
Dark grew increasingly frustrated.
"Maybe I should... dismantle them?"
He wasn't joking.
Breaking the conventions, forging a new path—it wasn't an entirely unviable line of thought.
The night was deep.
But Dark wasn't sleepy.
He sat down, staring intently at one of the mirrors, trying his best to suppress the desire to take it apart!
In the midst of this long mental struggle, a thought naturally surfaced.
What is behind these mirrors?
Humans have a desire to vent their violent urges from birth.
Tearing paper, smashing toys.
Destroying all the rules that constrain them...
Who knows how much time passed.
He suddenly stood up straight, startling the DemiDevimon guarding the entrance.
...
A crisis was approaching.
The same thought irrepressibly surfaced in Betty's mind.
The mirrors filling the secret room were exasperating.
If the entrance and exit hadn't been left clear of mirrors, this would be a terrifying mirror room capable of driving a person mad!
To calm herself down, Betty had to leave the secret room.
When she saw the three of them, she couldn't help but complain, "Can't you be of some use?"
Virt immediately held up the freshly cooked noodles, offering them attentively, "Senior, have something to eat first?"
Betty glanced at the noodles, which only had two strips of dried meat in them. She didn't really have an appetite, but she took the bowl anyway and said, "Thanks."
The night was cold and freezing.
The hot soup of the noodles could still warm the heart.
...
Robert was still leaning in the corner. He had been watching Virt and Scott cook the noodles, assuming that once Virt was done, he would call him over to eat, or better yet, bring a bowl directly to him.
But that bowl was now in Betty's hands.
After a long while.
Virt finally said, with a slight hint of impatience, "Robert, are you planning to stand there forever? Come eat some noodles."
Robert rubbed his stomach and slowly shuffled over.
He felt like an outsider.
"I shouldn't have come..."
...
"What are mirrors for?"
The abruptly standing Dark walked up behind DemiDevimon and asked.
DemiDevimon looked up with a dumbfounded expression, wanting to tell its master that it was just a heartless thug, not some high-IQ detective character.
But under Dark's gaze, it wracked its brain and blurted out an answer: "For washing your face in?"
Seeing no reaction from Dark, it added meekly, "To dress up? Talk to yourself? Magic mirror, oh magic mirror, who's the fairest of them all?"
Dark shook his head, a rare smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.
"The purpose of a mirror, naturally, is to reflect light!"
...
Dark realized he had fallen into a mental trap.
Because his journey so far had been so fantastical, he had instinctively linked the mirrors to magic, overlooking their fundamental purpose.
Standing at the entrance and looking in, it was actually easy to think of a toy once made in elementary school arts and crafts class—a kaleidoscope!
A so-called 'ten-thousand splendors mirror' was a kaleidoscope.
It was an optical toy that used the reflection of light in mirrors, placing a prism inside a cylinder to create fantastical and magnificent visual patterns.
It seemed that a similar device existed in this world, but it wasn't circulated as a toy.
Mages were more inclined to see it as a magical tool. Even if it didn't involve any mana-related elements, that didn't stop them from naming it the "magic of mirrors."
Dark couldn't be sure yet if he had found the correct answer.
But at least it was a line of thought.
He exited the dragon's lair and summoned Sylveon at the entrance.
Among all his Magic Guide Spirits, Sylveon was one of the few that could freely use light-based techniques.
The other was Umbreon in its [Lust III - Moon] state, but it was uncontrollable.
As soon as Sylveon was summoned, it wrapped its ribbons around Dark's arm.
A sweet fragrance emanated from its ribbons.
Dark knelt down and nuzzled its cheek, then explained his request.
Sylveon cried out enthusiastically, indicating that it would have no problem at all!
"That's good."
Dark breathed a small sigh of relief. His biggest worry was that Sylveon wouldn't be able to manipulate its light-based techniques well enough to assist with the experiment. But now it seemed its sufficiently high intelligence level had helped it break free from the shackles of a typical Magic Guide Spirit.
Unlike ordinary Magic Guide Spirits that could only release skills step-by-step, it was already capable of precise control over its skills within permissible limits.
For example, controlling the power of [Moon Power] to zero, only condensing the summoned moonlight into a small beam of light!
If Sylveon couldn't do this, Dark would have to find a way to build a simple concentrator capable of emitting a beam of light.
But that would be difficult.
He might have to leave the secret passage, go to Traveler's Street to buy something like a focusing tube, and start all over again.
Fortunately, Sylveon was adorable enough.
Dark had DemiDevimon retreat behind Sylveon, while he himself prepared a pen and paper, ready to take notes at any moment.
In the next instant.
Moonlight suddenly sprinkled down from above.
Bathed in the moonlight, Sylveon was ethereally beautiful, like a celestial fairy descended to the mortal realm.
It raised its head high, allowing the moonlight to condense slightly in its mouth, and finally fired a high-intensity beam of light with zero damaging power!
The beam, like a laser, shot straight into the center of the mirror directly opposite the entrance. It was then reflected by that mirror to another, and then to another.
In almost an instant.
The continuously reflecting beam of light constructed a fantastical and magnificent array of light within the dragon's lair!
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