As soon as Aron finished his report, silence took over the room. None of the kings spoke immediately. They all seemed to be organizing the information they had just heard.
So did I.
That tower was very different from what we had imagined.
It was not merely an enormous structure. There was something much more complex hidden inside it.
The King of Humans slowly stood up.
"Thank you for your work, Aron."
The adventurer bowed.
"It was an honor to be able to help."
Before he could leave the room, the king spoke again.
"Wait a moment."
He looked at one of the guards near the door.
"Call the second adventurer."
The guard bowed and quickly left.
A few moments later, the door opened again.
This time, a slightly older man entered. Unlike Aron, he was not wearing heavy armor. He wore simple adventurer clothes, carried a leather backpack, and had several scrolls fastened to his belt.
His gaze was calm.
He looked more like a scholar than a warrior.
As soon as he entered, he greeted everyone respectfully.
"It is a pleasure to meet you."
The King of Humans pointed to a chair.
"Sit down."
The man thanked him and obeyed.
"Takumi."
The king turned to me.
"This is Darius. He is also a Rank S adventurer, but he became known for studying ancient dungeons and magical ruins."
I observed the man.
"I heard that you spent quite some time inside the tower."
He nodded.
"A little over a month."
Aron looked at him in surprise.
"You stayed all that time in there?"
Darius smiled.
"Not always advancing. I spent most of the time simply observing."
I crossed my arms.
"Then you found things that Aron was unable to see."
"Some."
He took a small notebook from his backpack and placed it on the table.
"I wrote down everything I managed to discover."
The room fell silent again.
Darius opened the notebook to one of the first pages.
"The first important piece of information is that the tower changes."
I frowned.
"Changes?"
"The paths."
He quickly drew a small map.
"When I entered for the first time, I found a sequence of corridors that led me directly to the fifth floor."
He turned several pages.
"The second time, that same path had disappeared."
"The corridor simply no longer existed."
The King of Elves showed interest.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
"I spent hours searching."
"But the route had been altered."
I thought for a few seconds.
"Then memorizing the path is useless."
"Exactly."
Darius replied.
"The tower seems to reorganize part of its structure."
He continued.
"Another thing I discovered was some special rooms."
"What was inside them?"
"Runes."
His answer caught my attention.
"Runes?"
He nodded.
"Stones engraved with magical symbols."
"When I touched one of them for the first time, an option appeared to leave the tower."
Aron looked at him.
"It was exactly the same rune I found."
"Yes."
"But there is a difference."
Darius turned another page of the notebook.
"I continued exploring."
"I reached the twenty-fifth floor."
Several kings showed surprise.
"Were you able to defeat the guardian of the twentieth floor?"
"With great difficulty."
He smiled tiredly.
"It was the hardest battle of my life."
"After that, I found another one of those runes."
I continued paying attention.
"When I touched it, a message appeared written in a language that I could understand."
"What did it say?"
"'Do you wish to register your progress?'"
The entire room fell silent.
Darius continued.
"I decided to accept."
"Immediately afterward, I was teleported outside the tower."
I looked at him.
"And afterward?"
"I returned the next day."
"The curious thing happened when I entered again."
He closed the notebook for a few seconds.
"The tower had changed once again."
"But there was something new."
"What?"
"A new rune appeared on the first floor."
He paused before continuing.
"When I touched it..."
"...I was taken directly to the twenty-fifth floor."
Some of the kings widened their eyes.
"What?"
Darius confirmed it.
"Apparently, that rune had recorded my progress."
"The path to that point was no longer mandatory."
That was truly interesting.
"So it is possible to continue exploring without starting everything from the beginning."
"Yes."
He replied.
"But only after recording your progress."
I spent a few moments thinking.
If that were true...
We would save a great deal of time.
Darius opened the notebook again.
"There is another important discovery."
"During my second exploration, I encountered monsters that I had already defeated."
Aron looked confused.
"They came back?"
"Some of them."
"The stronger ones."
"The weaker ones remained dead."
That made me think.
"The tower recreates only certain creatures."
"That was exactly the conclusion I reached."
He pointed to another note.
"I also noticed that fighting continuously inside the tower is much more exhausting than an ordinary battle."
"What do you mean?"
"The mana seems to disappear faster."
"Even while resting."
"Even when using potions."
"My body took much longer to recover its strength."
The King of Dwarves frowned.
"As if the tower itself were draining energy."
"That was my impression."
Darius confirmed.
"Besides..."
He rolled up the sleeve of his clothing.
A thin scar appeared on his forearm.
"I received this cut during my first exploration."
"I used healing magic."
"I also used potions."
"Even so..."
"...the wound took several days to completely close."
I looked carefully at the scar.
"The magic did not work?"
"It worked."
"But far below normal."
The room fell silent again.
With each new piece of information, the tower seemed even more dangerous.
It was not enough to defeat monsters.
It seemed to restrict those who attempted to advance.
I slowly clenched my hands.
That explained why no adventurer had managed to explore much farther.
Darius put his notebook away again.
"Those were all the pieces of information I managed to gather during that month."
The King of Humans nodded.
"You have rendered an enormous service to all the kingdoms."
The adventurer smiled humbly.
"I hope these discoveries will be useful."
I looked at the table as I organized every piece of information in my mind.
Paths that changed.
Runes that recorded progress.
Monsters that returned.
Mana being consumed.
Wounds that were difficult to heal.
That was definitely not a simple dungeon.
I raised my gaze toward all the kings.
Now that we knew how the tower worked, there was only one question left to answer.
Why had the Demon King created all of this?
That answer, I had the feeling that I would find out very soon.