Chapter 240 – Trial

Punk had completely lost his patience with Grand Arcanist Miggs Onosen’s lack of principles. “Leave on my own”? What a joke! Punk’s System had been analyzing the alchemical walls for over ten minutes now, and the more he analyzed, the more astonished he became. The more he speculated, the more amazed he grew.

According to Punk’s deduction, this alchemical room likely used the legendary “Magic Labyrinth” as its core. This labyrinth, composed of countless powerful magic arrays combined together, possessed unimaginable strength. Punk seriously doubted that even a Level 40 Morningstar Caster who entered this “cage” would have to admit defeat, let alone a Level 14 Formal-Level caster like himself!

What could Punk do? He could only look displeased at the projection floating leisurely in the air and say:

“Alright, it seems I have no choice, do I?”

“I don’t think you should complain. This is an excellent opportunity. The inheritance of Netherese Civilization is something countless Legendary Experts dream of!”

“Fine, fine! I understand. Can we start the ‘next’ trial now?”

Punk had no intention of arguing with this rigid projection about “comparative benefits”—such matters were subjective and varied from person to person. He didn’t know how long the three trials would last, but he knew his supplies were limited. Trelinka’s slender body was simply too light.

“Grand Arcanist Miggs Onosen knew that successors might express dissatisfaction with Netheril’s ‘trials,’ but once you inherit Netheril’s wealth, you’ll understand that no measure is too extreme to protect this knowledge.”

“Whatever you say. Now it’s time to get down to business!”

Punk was speechless about the projection’s portrayal of “Grand Arcanist Miggs Onosen” and equally frustrated with Netheril’s tedious security measures.

While Netherese Civilization’s habit of setting various “passwords” on almost all magical creations was undoubtedly effective during wartime—after all, gods weren’t fools, and after being battered by various magics, they’d naturally think of stealing knowledge from their highly intelligent opponents—carrying this tradition over to ruins was rather infuriating.

Because one could say that after the war ended, any god daring to study Netherese relics who got discovered by the River of Fate… would instantly end up as a corpse in the Astral Plane, wouldn’t they?

After all, what the slavemaster Ao needed was a group of obedient slaves. They only needed needles and thread to mend this universe for him. No sane slavemaster would allow their slaves to carry firearms and ammunition.

Presumably, the Grand Arcanists of that era never imagined their enemies—the gods—would be so severely restricted after Netheril’s destruction. Their various passwords were somewhat redundant.

But one couldn’t say Netherese Civilization’s fancy passwords were completely useless. Many gods, in their attempts to break free from the slavery of their divine sparks, secretly studied Netherese knowledge. In such circumstances, Netherese Civilization’s security measures proved valuable.Just imagine, the knowledge of the Netherese Civilization is immense wealth, the gods are a bunch of thieves, and the “password” and Ao’s restrictions are the “safes” guarding that wealth. After this “thief” risked everything, staked his life, and spent countless years finally cracking open the first safe… he found another safe inside!

Well, making these gods spit blood in frustration is a pretty satisfying form of revenge—very magical, no issues there!

Unfortunately, the “password” trap was so massive that even Punk fell right into it.

Punk could only seethe inwardly, but outwardly he remained completely unruffled.

Seeing that Punk had no further objections, the Projection nodded calmly:

“Good. Next is the intelligence trial. I will pose a question, and you must provide the correct answer and reasoning within three minutes. Exceed three minutes… and you’re dead.”

“Answer here?”

Punk wisely avoided dwelling on how exactly he’d die if he failed.

“Ahem. Due to wartime resource shortages when this ruin was established, its construction followed principles of efficiency and thrift.”

“Sounds like a convenient excuse for embezzlement…”

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Please state the question.”

Punk didn’t press further—after all, mental work doesn’t require a comfortable environment.

“Listen carefully!”

“In a distant, barren material plane lies the Aegla Empire, which has an… unconventional currency system:

1 Diamond Coin = 2 Gold Coins

1 Gold Coin = 2 Silver Coins

1 Silver Coin = 2 Copper Coins + 1 Iron Coin

1 Copper Coin = 2 Iron Coins

1 Iron Coin = 5 Stone Coins

The eccentric Legendary Mage Figda has gone mad again—he opened a magic shop there. On opening day, three customers arrived.

When all three selected their magical items and prepared to pay, the following occurred:

(1) Each of the four individuals possessed at least one coin, but none held Stone Coins or Diamond Coins.

(2) No one among them could break any coin into smaller denominations.

(3) The goblin named Lettuce Green had the largest bill, the mind flayer Amiga the second largest, and the tiefling (half-devil) Glace the smallest.

(4) No matter how the customers attempted to pay with their coins, the mad Figda couldn’t make change solely using the remaining coins in the shop’s cash drawer.

(5) If the three customers exchanged coins of equal value among themselves, each could pay their exact bill without needing change.

(6) After two such exchanges, none of the coins any customer held matched the denominations they originally possessed.

As events unfolded further:

(7) After the bills were settled and two customers departed, the remaining customer bought a Contes Caterpillar Tongue. Though this customer could have paid with their remaining coins, the mad Figda couldn’t provide change with the coins he currently held.”(8) So the customer paid with a $1 bill (a gold certificate worth one drillbit), but now the mad Figda had to give him all his coins as change.

Now, please don’t question why the mad Archmage Figda would idly bother himself with a few measly coins.

I now want you to identify which of these three customers used a voucher worth 1 drillbit to pay for the “Contes Caterpillar Tongue”?

——

(Special thanks to G.J.Summers for “New Logical Reasoning Puzzles”)

(End of Chapter)