Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix
Chapter 1181 - 1181: Secrets

After killing just one beast in the third zone, people probably would have reached level twenty in the class system. Unless they had stolen a bunch of weapons from others, they wouldn't have enough strength and skills to lift a dart-like that. Even if they used all of their points as strength.

Despite that, Rain was able to complete that game ten times. He could have done more by using Limit Breaker and Magic Boost, but he decided to stop at that because Seara and Terra also finished the game ten times and because the chameleon man stopped revealing anything new.

As Rain, Terra, and Seara continued to conquer the darts game, something peculiar unfolded. With each successful throw, the chameleon man's demeanor shifted. Initially friendly and talkative, he began to look more reserved and less friendly. It became increasingly apparent that the cheerful facade was a mask that slipped away with each victory.

The more they won, the more the chameleon man reluctantly shared fragments of information. Rain noticed a subtle change in his expressions – a mix of frustration and apprehension. It was as if each successful throw intensified the burden on the chameleon man, and his reluctance to disclose details about the place deepened.

As Rain, Terra, and Seara continued to press for answers, the chameleon man's reluctance grew more apparent. The friendliness initially displayed now waned, replaced by a palpable tension. It became evident that he was not an NPC or a programmed spell; he was a person doing a job under the control of the enigmatic being overseeing the prison.

"Well… this is kind of worrisome," Seara said as they moved away from the stand, and she looked at the chameleon man. "To think that he was in our position once and gave up on reaching the next zone."

That was what the man told them… according to him, to reach the next stage, they had to challenge the king in the castle. The chameleon man tried to reach him, but While the battles there weren't to death, the enemies still killed him time and time again… whenever he died, he would find himself outside the castle completely fine.

The same thing happened to a bunch of other stand owners… they eventually gave up on the fights and decided to live there in peace; they could get anything they wanted, but there was a catch. The city only existed when newcomers arrived. Back in his time, people would come only every several months.

After they would spend a year there, they would receive the chance to work for the king… they wouldn't age, and they would lose their right to challenge the king. So, they became pretty much eternal… However, they always had to work… which means…

"So… they are trapped here forever?" Terra asked. "If no newcomer is in the castle town, time freezes for them?"

"Yes, it is a time trap," Rain said. "They probably can't exist anywhere since they became a part of the town."

"How is that possible?" Larisa asked.

"They can create conceptual weapons. They should be able to easily convert a living being into a part of a spell and make it exist only within the limits of the spell," Sakaki explained. "It is like converting one's mind and body in a computer program."

"... That is quite unsettling," Larisa said.

"Look at the bright side, they will exist forever and won't suffer any harm at least until the spell exists and it is full with mana," Sakaki said. "As long as they do their job, they won't have to worry about anything… their potential ended, though."

According to the chameleon guy, some people suddenly began to work there, even though they had never appeared there before. Now and then, they exchanged their stories, but that was something that he couldn't tell. Only the person involved in that story could say anything. That was another rule of their job, they could reveal information, as long as people won in their games.

"Well, what now?" Terra asked.

"What now, indeed…" Seara said. "The games can be completed many times, but they will get harder. I counted around three hundred of them. Someone like us will have the chance to earn around fifteen thousand points by doing each game ten times but after that."

It became very obvious of the rising stakes and complexities surrounding their predicament. The chameleon man's revelation about the time trap and the perpetual existence of those who chose to serve the king in the castle shed light on the intricate web of rules governing the place.

The trio realized that the more they stayed in this mysterious city, the more formidable the challenges would become. Each completed game not only increased in difficulty but also posed a threat to their limited time and resources. They all shared their concerns but kept playing other games while they waited for the others to gather intel as well.

Rain, driven by a combination of curiosity and strategic thinking, contemplated his next move. He desired to collect samples of the weapons they encountered, leveraging the synergies between the two systems – the class system and the path system. The parameters from both systems added depth to his understanding, making him stronger as well…

However, Rain was also pragmatic. The prospect of completing each game thirty times to achieve both victory and obtain weapon samples seemed difficult. The time-consuming nature of such a task raised questions about the feasibility of their long-term stay in the city.

"In the previous zone, we could become stronger by killing the beasts as much as we wanted and could, but this time, we are limited by the time," Rain said while checking his parameters."

"We can share information with each other about the games to improve efficiency, and we can also focus on the ones we are good at," Terra said. "The games can only be used by one person at a time though… three hundred divided by three thousand.

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