Could it be that he really encountered danger?
Vay, anxious, wanted to ask his lord if Angel’s Mind Ribbon had broken. If it hadn’t, it at least meant Angel hadn’t encountered any major danger.
However, before Vay could speak, a familiar voice came through the Mind Ribbon: "Don’t worry, I haven’t encountered anything along the way. Maybe I’m just unlucky and the staircase is much longer for me, making it very tiring to climb."
It was indeed Angel speaking, his voice filled with an air of resignation.
Hearing Angel speak, everyone’s worries were finally laid to rest. If Angel really had encountered an accident, their exploratory journey would have to end prematurely. After all, only Angel knew where the destination was, and the "key" to unlocking it was also in Angel’s hands.
Angel’s voice was resigned one moment, but the next he shook off his dismay because—
"I see the exit!"
Indeed, Angel saw the exit not far ahead. However, his excited demeanor was merely an act.
He calculated in his mind, subtracting the time spent in the Wilderness of Dreams. According to Dox’s previous "individual strength theory," he was actually the third one to find the exit.
In other words, Dox’s guess might actually be possible. Rules in an other-dimensional space are set by its creator, and in the World of Wizards, "survival of the fittest" is a default rule. So it’s very likely the creator set the staircase length based on individual strength.
Individual strength is a single-dimensional horizontal comparison, judged by aura and fluctuations. Hence, Black Earl first, Dox second, and himself third, was fair. Whereas real combat is a multi-dimensional comparison, and not even the Black Earl might beat Angel with all his hacks.
Angel wasn’t hoping for everyone to recall Dox’s speculation again. Otherwise, he would need to explain where the "lost time" went.
So, his resigned self-mockery and the excited shout when seeing the exit were all... acting.
At the very least, he needed the others to think he genuinely climbed the ladder for a long time before finding the exit.
As for whether his acting was clumsy, that didn’t matter. They couldn’t see his actual expression now; acting out emotions in the Mind Ribbon was a piece of cake for someone like Angel who had emotional perception abilities.
...
Two minutes later, everyone successively left through their respective exits.
It’s worth mentioning that although there were five exits when leaving the other-dimensional space, corresponding to their number, in reality, there was only one exit.
In other words, it looked like they were coming out one after another from the same door, but in actuality, they exited from different coordinates in the other-dimensional space.
After everyone left, the red marks around them started flying back, eventually reaching that single door, emitting a faint glow before gradually disappearing.
And that door, once open, slowly closed, displaying strange patterns on it.
The patterns glowed for a few seconds, and this single door vanished on the wall.
When everyone tried to touch it again, they could no longer feel the door, only the cold wall.
"Is this a teleportation point? Then how do we return to the previous other-dimensional space?" Vay asked curiously.
Dox: "Go back? What do you want to do? Are you planning to serve yourself as food to those Void creatures?"
Vay: "If there’s no outlet to the outside world here, then returning the original way is all I can think of. Or are you willing to pay for casting materials to use the Plane Corridor?"
The truth is, Dox, who came from a modest background, couldn’t help but shrink back, but awkwardly retorted: "We only need to open one Plane Corridor; if everyone chips in, it can be done."
Vay: "Even if everyone contributes, you still have to put in a share. Are you planning on freeloading?"
Dox said nothing this time, for he truly had the intention of freeloading.
Angel looked at Dox, who was stumped by Vay to the point of saying nothing, and couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. Dox’s argumentative nature often gets him backfired. Previously, when out-argued, Dox could rely on his strength to dominate. However, Vay was his old friend, and with the Black Earl backing Vay, he honestly couldn’t make a move on Vay and could only hold back.
"Ahem, the door is actually still here, just concealed by a mana array of concealment type," Angel finally explained after enjoying enough of the spectacle: "There should be a trigger mechanism to open it again. The trigger can be found by following the flow of the magic pattern, it’s not too difficult."
Everyone thought: This may not be difficult for you, but for them, it certainly was...
"However, we don’t necessarily need to open the door again. The possibility of retracing our steps is low, and eventually, we need to find another exit or open the Plane Corridor." Angel continued: "But before that, we should first complete the task at hand."
While Angel advised everyone not to be too curious, his thoughts were secretly turning: There was actually another door here, perhaps next time a visit to the Nightmare Abyss City would be warranted for further exploration?
After touching the wall for a while and realizing it couldn’t be made back into a door, everyone finally gave up and turned their attention to a nearby fountain.
The fountain was exactly as Angel described earlier, with a statue of a peeing boy, identical to a child statue they had seen in the living area.