Hundreds of miles north, Gool sat inside a wooden cage with a bored look on his face.
'I could easily slide out of these spaces in between the bars.' He thought, shrugging his shoulders, 'But those freaks would probably try to beat me up anyway.' He glanced at the four goblins guarding his cage.
They looked to be in an area filled with similar cages of various sizes. He was the only prisoner, however.
Seconds later, a tall goblin made his way toward Gool's cage.
'Yemo...' Gool sneered at the king.
Yemo arrived in front of the cage, shooing the other goblins away.
He leaned over and unlocked the cage door.
Gool didn't move, simply surveying Yemo's actions with a serious gaze.
As soon as the lock clicked open, Gool lunged out of the cage and punched Yemo straight in the throat.
"Ack!" Yemo choked as he stumbled backwards, "What are you doing!?"
"What do you mean, what am I doing!? Where is Midas?" Gool said, jumping back to create distance.
Yemo cleared his throat before sighing, "Look..." He said, caressing his neck in pain, "That player defeated my strongest beast. Don't ask me where he is as if I actually have control over that." He said.
Gool raised an eyebrow in confusion.
'So he beat that troll, huh?' Gool thought, smirking, 'Good... even though he wasn't able to try out his new fighting style in the War Pass, it seems that teaching him it wasn't a waste.' He felt genuinely relieved.
Without another word, he turned and began walking away.
Yemo noticed this and immediately called out to Gool. "W-wait! Where are you going?"
"Huh?" Gool turned, "Isn't it obvious? I'm going to help Midas. I know he must be in the monastery by now."
"Help Midas!?" Yemo yelled with surprise, quickly running up to Gool. He stepped in front of Gool, blocking his path. "You can't go any further. I won't allow it! You're simply looking to lose your mind. Don't you get it?" Yemo said while crossing his hands.
Gool stayed silent, staring up into the king's eyes coldly.
"I know I said that you were a fool when we first met... but that's what most of the old goblins your age say, so I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. Listen, we could be partners, you know." Yemo said, causing Gool to furrow his eyebrows.
"L-listeen!" Yemo quickly said, continuing to speak, "That player... no matter how strong he is, the monastery is not meant to challenge the body. It is a pure test of one's mental capability. Weak or not, defeat in the physical sense isn't something that disqualifies you from the trail within." Yemo said, pausing to imply the truth behind his words.
"Then what is it that one needs to do? How can one defeat such a trail?" Gool simply asked.
"I... do not know. Regardless. Midas will return a shell of his former self. He's already been gone far... far too long." Yemo said with a concerned look on his face, "I will not allow you to leave. Your smarts may come in handy. Your master is already within the grasp of my palm... let yourself be consumed as well, or you may pay a price."
Gool waited in silence, allowing Yemo to fully finish speaking.
"I'm not asking you to allow me, Yemo." Gool said with a chilling glare, "I must help my master to the end of my days. If what you say is true, then it may be that Midas will return as only a brainless fool. However, you just stated to me that you don't know the method of defeating the trail of the monastery. If there is a way, I trust Midas to find it." Gool said with an iron resolve.
Even Yemo was taken aback by his words. Gool completely disregarded him, but he didn't care.
A powerful look of belief flashed across Gool's mind, inspiring Yemo to be quiet and listen to his next words.
"I have traveled alone with Midas for many days. Above all else, there is one thing that he has which no one else I've ever met possesses to such a degree." Gool's eyes widened even more, "Ambition. A fierce, obsessive desire to obtain victory."
Yemo gasped slightly, his eyes also widening as he was hypnotized by Gool's unwavering conviction.
"I may have spent so much time with him that my brain is beginning to acclimate with him as much as it can... but no matter what, I trust that ambition inside of him more than anything else I trust in this rotten world," Gool said, pushing past Yemo and heading toward the Ashen Hollow.
Yemo was left standing speechless.
'Ambition?' Yemo said to himself, turning and facing Gool's back, 'Is his ambition strong enough to bet your sanity, Gool?' For a second, Yemo thought that there was no way such a thing was possible.
But then, a thought wandered into his mind that caused his arm hairs to raise, 'What if? What if his ambition is truly of such a level?' Intrigue had even snuck its way into Yemo's mind.
What was a player? What gave them the qualities to be chosen by the Primordial Beings of the world?
What did it look like... that ambition. The ambition that was enough for Gool to bet everything.
"I want to see it too." Yemo muttered, "I also want to see such an admirable ambition."
By now, though, Gool was already out of sight.
Yemo stared in the direction of the monastery with a slightly somber pull in his eyelids, 'Maybe if he came out normal, I would also want to see that ambition, even if just for a second.' He turned, 'But that's... impossible. No one can come out of that place and still be normal after trying to steal that technique.'
...
Midas entered the room again.
This time, he moved in a specific series of steps that were already proven to be effective before doing a pre-determined dodge.
It worked, and so did the next one!
Doing this, Midas slowly began to uncover the correct algorithm he needed to move closer to the knights.
However, this did not come without its mass of deaths.
With each new step he took, he would sometimes die dozens of times before figuring out how to dodge the next one. The attacks would sometimes be so fast that he needed to dodge at varying times, lengthening his terrible process even more.
Death after death, Midas's progress grew. The slight grin on his face? It remained.
Oddly, Midas eventually even noticed that the voices in his head had disappeared.
'You no longer have any power over me.' He said to the mage skeleton inwardly, 'My desire to beat you has taken over all the space in my mind.'