Angel turned to look at Dox: "Aren’t you going to try going in?"
Dox yawned, leaning against the door: "Who knows what you’ve been up to inside, I don’t want to be used as a test subject."
Angel suddenly raised his head. When their eyes met, Angel understood that the other person might really have sensed something.
However, the real situation inside the secret room is definitely unknown to Dox. But he hit the nail on the head, probably relying once again on his out-of-discussion ability—spiritual perception.
Looking at the composed Dox, Angel couldn’t help but sigh: "Strong spiritual perception indeed lets you do as you wish."
Dox raised his eyebrows, showing an expression of "just as I suspected."
Angel didn’t bother to fool Dox anymore and directly said: "With so many people inside, I can now conduct a comprehensive test of the mechanism of this Magical Energy Array and see the final feedback."
Pausing for a moment, Angel looked at Dox: "After I finish recording this data, we’ll leave. Now, you can either wait for me outside or come in with me."
Dox: "I choose to go in with you."
Angel said speechlessly: "This time, you’re not hesitating?"
Dox: "This Magical Energy Array is clearly intriguing; even you as the one who set it up need to record detailed data. There must be a good show to watch, so of course, I want to go in and see."
Previously, Angel had asked Dox to go alone, and he definitely didn’t agree. But since they’re going together now, there’s no problem.
"You’re even more cunning than I imagined," Angel said nonchalantly, then turned and stepped through the door.
Dox immediately followed.
As the two of them entered through the door, it immediately closed, and a row of glowing text appeared on the door: Current number of participants: 12.
A second later, this row of text slowly faded away, replaced by another: Game Start, Entry Forbidden.
...
Meanwhile, inside the secret room. Besides Angel and Dox being together, everyone else who entered the secret room was separated.
Old Porter looked around at the empty space, a look of surprise in his eyes.
He had been in the secret room all along, so he knew all about its size. A room that felt crowded with just a few people, how does it look so spacious now?
Or perhaps, is this actually an illusion?
Old Porter walked around back and forth without finding any traces of energy movement. Either it really expanded, or Angel’s illusion technique is strong enough to leave no hint.
Old Porter didn’t know which one it was, nor did he want to guess. What he really wanted to know now was...where should he go?
This question puzzled not only Old Porter but everyone who entered through the door.
As they explored and found nothing, this question surfaced in their minds.
But soon, this confusion disappeared. Because, right in front of them, a row of glowing large characters appeared—"Twelve Zodiac Palaces."
At the same time, a voice came to their ears that was pompous, with a bit of humor.
"Welcome to Cha Cha’s Twelve Zodiac Palaces. Each time you pass through a Zodiac Palace, you can unlock a item to increase Cha Cha’s affection. Passing through all Twelve Zodiac Palaces, Cha Cha will await you at the end."
Twelve Zodiac Palaces? What is this?
Everyone almost simultaneously showed puzzled expressions. They’ve heard of zodiac, a term from astrology. But the Twelve Zodiac Palaces, this was the first time they’ve heard of it.
Or is it randomly selected from countless zodiac palaces in the sky?
Angel was probably the only one who knew what was going on. After all, he’s the one who informed...Cha Cha.
"The challenge is simple. Combat? That’s impossible; Cha Cha dislikes combat the most. The way to pass is to answer trivia questions~ Each palace has five questions, just answer three correctly to pass, answer all five for an extra affection item."
"The questions aren’t difficult, they’re just common knowledge~"
"Cha Cha can’t wait to meet you all, the first one to arrive will get a surprise~ Hurry up and start the challenge!"
As the pompous voice fell, a glowing path appeared in front of everyone, guiding them in the direction to go.
At the same time, a magnificent circular clock appeared in the sky where everyone could see. But inside the clock no longer had minute hands, only the twelve zodiac palace scales, and a rose hour hand pointing to the Twelve Zodiac Palaces.
Now, everyone’s scale is at the starting point, obviously with each palace passed, the rose hour hand moves one scale.
"Looks like it’s just a quiz challenge game. I was worried it’d test some obscure transcendent knowledge, but didn’t expect common trivia questions, should be easy." Old Porter muttered to himself, stepping onto the Path of Light.
On the other side, standing beside Angel, Dox said something almost identical to Old Porter. But after saying it, he felt it couldn’t be that simple, and asked: "Are they really common trivia questions?"
"Yes, they are trivia questions." Angel nodded.
Dox pursed his lips: "What’s the difficulty then. You really want to test Talented Ones, you should’ve used harder questions."
Angel muttered silently: "Who said I wanted to test Talented Ones... I genuinely just wanted to create a slightly hidden Magical Energy Array, but something went wrong."
"Is the challenge game the mistake?"
Angel sighed: "Yes, it came about accidentally."
Angel, while stepping onto the Path of Light with Dox, said: "Do you know the ’Concealment Box’ Magical Energy Array?"
Dox recalled for a moment: "Seems like a combination of magic patterns that restrict spirit and energy, used to conceal energy aura and prevent it being detected."
Angel: "Correct, I initially wanted to create a Concealment Box, but during the creation, I had a flash of inspiration, felt the Concealment Box alone was a bit dull, so I added on top of the restrict spirit and energy patterns, a deathly stillness pattern, a growth rune, and a frost magic pattern..."
Dox looked shocked: Is this a flash of inspiration? Or a self-exploding bomb? Which Magic Rune Mage would dare mix things up so haphazardly?
"I won’t comment on the others, but why use the deathly stillness pattern?"