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“You can read the words on it?” Yaeger asked curiously.
Alicia shook her head, “I don’t. It’s just that this door and the words are exactly the same as what is recorded in my ancestor’s records.”
“I see. Do you have a strategy guide for this maze?” Yaeger asked.

With a strategy guide in hand, they would definitely fare much better.

“No.” Alicia answered instantly. She then continued, “besides the central area and secret areas, the underground maze will change yearly. That’s right, the maze this year and the maze next year will be different. At least when it comes to the details.”

“As a result, any strategy guides left behind by our predecessors are useless. Not only that, it even caused tragedies sometimes. For example, some places in the maze used to be a safe region, but are now filled with deadly traps.”

Hearing that, Yaeger and Yunuen came to a realization. This strategy guide would kill them!

“Wait, if the maze changes, then wouldn’t the Royal Capital experience an earthquake yearly?” Yaeger asked in confusion.
“It won’t. The maze exists in this dimension and not in this dimension so It wouldn’t affect the outside world.” Alicia said.
“What do you mean by this?” Yaeger was utterly confused.
“Have you ever heard of a spatial gap?” Alicia looked at her and said.
“No.”

“When we are experiencing spatial teleportation, leaping from one position to another, the space in the middle is the spatial gap. That’s right. It is the gap between dimensions. This gap will increase as the distance of the transfer or teleportation increases.”
“The further away the distance, the bigger the spatial gap, and the more dangerous it gets. Because you have a high probability of encountering spatial storms and even spatial turbulence in them. Of course, the spatial integrity of our continent is much more stable. Dimensional storms and turbulence wouldn’t occur in usual circumstances.”
“Back on topic, about the underground maze that we’re currently in, a portion of it actually exists within the spatial gap. That’s why any changes in here would barely affect the outside world.”

After listening to Alicia’s explanation, Yaeger nodded lightly. Meanwhile, Yunuen looked like she couldn’t remember her own name. ‘Where am I, who am I?’ She was confused.

“Although this underground maze is separated into the upper ninety-nine levels and lower ninety-nine levels, they share the same types. They are divided into Trap Mazes, Normal Mazes, Illusion Mazes, and Mysterious Mazes.”

“We’re currently in front of a variant of the Trap Maze. Us royals call it the [Prison of Death].” Alicia spoke solemnly.
“Is it dangerous?” Hearing the name alone, Yaeger sensed danger.
“Very much so. According to the ancestor’s records, hundreds of my kin died in this maze.” Alicia bit her plump lips and spoke seriously.

‘How can this be a trial? It’s just suicide with extra steps! What’s wrong with your ancestors?’ Yaeger’s eyelids slightly twitched.

However, after some thought, she realized that some of the royals had to die, or the royal authority would become decentralized. Instead of letting them fight civil wars with each other, it was better to toss them into the maze and euthanize some of them.

Moreover, this could filter them out and produce actual capable people.

‘Perhaps this is actually a genius idea…’

If Alicia knew what she was thinking, she would have rolled her eyes.

“We can’t just stand here forever. Let’s go in.” Yaeger suggested.

“Sure. We’ve prepared everything we can. The heavens shall decide our fate.” Alicia wasn’t the pessimistic kind. Her mood instantly brightened.

In the past, the greater the difficulty, the happier she would become. But now, everything is different. She couldn’t do whatever she pleased. Because she now represented an organization and an empire. So she couldn’t take any risks.

Just as they were about to step out, Yaeger suddenly stopped, turned around instantly, and looked up.

“Strange…”
“What’s going on?” Alicia asked.
“Princess?” Yunuen also stopped and looked around.
“Just now, I felt like something was spying on us.” Yaeger spoke with a solemn expression.

After entering the Grandmaster Realm, her senses had gotten even sharper. She wouldn’t make any mistakes. Yet, there was nothing on top of her. It was empty.

“It must be a delusion.” Alicia didn’t feel that way at all.

Her strength had regressed so much that she was probably weaker than Yaeger now.

“There’s nothing at all.” Yunuen looked left and right and up and down, and couldn’t discover anything.
“Maybe I’m just too nervous, so I became paranoid.” Yaeger shook her head lightly, then turned around and walked out. “Let’s go.”

Alicia and Yunuen immediately followed after.

The door into the [Prison of Death] was gigantic. It seemed incredibly ancient.

Yaeger and the others instantly felt a strong sense of oppression after approaching it.

Rumble!

Immediately after, the massive door opened and the ground shook!

“By the way, it’s my first time exploring the maze. I feel a little excited.” Yaeger smiled.

She had definitely thought about ignoring all her worries and woes, indulging in her whims and exploring all the places.

Young, dumb, impulsive, bold, and brave. This was Yaeger’s ideal while being filled with youthful vigor, in her previous life. However, the reality was that she became fatigued, spent, knee-deep in debt, and died an untimely death.

The door finally opened fully.

Unlike her expectations, its interior wasn’t dark and no monsters jumped out. Simply spoken, it looked incredibly normal.

Looking over, it was spacious and bright. With no walls blocking her sights, she saw the exit straightaway. Both the ceilings and the walls were made of stone, with glowing magical gems embedded within them that greatly illuminated the interior.

The floor was the same as outside, composed of gray bricks. They seemed a little ancient. There was something that seemed like a magical formation within the center.

Looking down, Yaeger realized that the interior was spotless, as if it was cleaned every day. In addition to magical lighting adorning the walls, there were also more than a dozen stone doors, with something like numbers carved on their tops.

“Sure enough, this is the [Prison of Death].” Alicia lightly bit her lip as her expression became even more solemn.
“How do we get through this maze?” Yaeger asked.

“It’s very simple. You only need to reach the magical formation in the middle safely. Then, from all the doors available, choose the one door that could bring you out of this place. Failure will most likely result in death. If you luckily survive, you’ll have to make your way back here and choose again. Either until you choose the right door, or until you die.”

Alicia paused slightly before continuing, “On your way to the center magical formation and to choose a door, there will be a lot of deadly traps waiting for you. We’re really unlucky.”

“Luck? Then you really found the right person.” Yaeger ruffled her jet-black hair and glanced at Alicia with a confident smile. “Let me show you what insane luck means.”

The moment she stopped speaking, she marched out and entered the maze. Alicia and Yunuen were momentarily stunned before following her. The moment they entered, the maze’s door closed in a rumble.

At the same time, a gust of mysterious energy manifested in the air and coagulated into shape. It was a cute little girl. If Yaeger and the rest were still around, they would definitely recognize that this little girl was the one and only Artifact Soul of the underground maze.

“%&*… %&$^#!” The little girl placed both hands on her hips and raised her head, as if announcing something proudly.

Finally, she let out a laugh that was akin to chiming bells. “Huhuhuhu~”