"D-Do you have some food?" Lucius asked hoarsely. "I am very hungry. It has been three days since I last ate and drank anything."
"Of course," Alex replied. "Dim Dim, please give him something good to eat."
"Dim!" Dim Dim saluted before summoning some bamboo steamers containing roasted pork buns and dumplings to help Lucius recover his stamina and energy.
"Here is some water," Alex said while handing a waterskin to the older boy.
"Thank you," Lucius replied. "When we get out of here, I promise to put in a good word for you to the president."
"Thank you!" Alex smiled widely after hearing that promise.
Getting the student council indebted to him would work wonders in the long run. Being on their good side was always a good thing.
After Lucius ate and drank his fill, he asked Alex and Latifa to let him sleep for a few hours.
Although sleeping right after eating was bad, Alex didn’t quibble. He knew Lucius had truly reached his limit both physically and mentally.
"Go ahead and sleep, Senior," Alex said. "Even if you hear the sound of fighting, just ignore it. We will keep you safe."
As Lucius had witnessed Dim Dim instantly killing the two Chrono Beetles, Alex’s words sounded very convincing to him.
The moment Lucius’ head hit the pillow that Alex had taken out of his storage ring, he was fast asleep.
Alex’s bed roll was not the most comfortable, but Lucius was so tired it felt like a king’s mattress.
Alex had already prepared many things for his own survival. He had known that sleeping outdoors might be a necessity one day, but he hadn’t expected that he would be providing the student council secretary a place to sleep.
Lucius’ breathing soon fell into a deep, steady rhythm.
His body finally succumbed to the rest it so desperately needed. A light barrier carefully wrapped his body, preventing any outside interference from disturbing his sleep.
The voices that had haunted him for the past few days were kept at bay with this light.
However, those who weren’t part of it had no choice but to listen to the creepy cries of despair, anger, and helplessness from the victims that had been claimed by the dungeon for the past hundreds of years.
Latifa’s face paled because the voices were starting to get into her nerves.
"I can’t believe that he managed to survive eight days of this torment," she murmured.
The walls of the dungeon shone faintly as its colors changed from time to time.
The ever-present voices of the victims still kept whispering in Alex’s ears, but he didn’t seem to be too disturbed by their presence.
He didn’t have the ability to see the souls of people, so he did the only thing that he could do and conversed with them.
"Hey, can you guys lure some monsters to this location?" Alex asked. "If possible, just lure Chrono Beetles here, thank you!"
"T-This guy is weird. Does he want to die so badly?" one of the voices said.
"Should we do as he says and lure some monsters here?" a mischievous voice commented.
"Such an arrogant person, but I still wish that they can leave this place alive."
"Be careful, that Mirror Monster is roaming near this place. Make sure to not look at it when it comes!"
The voices kept on talking, and Alex kept on talking to them.
Latifa watched from the side, wondering if Alex had indeed gone crazy because he was now actually trying to communicate with the dungeon-bound spirits that were unable to leave the Chrono Maze for all eternity.
"...Are you actually holding a strategy meeting with the dead right now?" Latifa asked, her voice quiet but edged with disbelief.
Alex gave her a casual shrug. "They have eyes everywhere. Might as well use them."
"I prefer the word resourceful."
Latifa rubbed her temples and sighed.
She noticed that there were no longer any voices that whispered in her ear because all the spirits were now drawn to Alex.
What she didn’t know was that the young man was purposely distracting the spirits so that they would no longer bother Latifa and instead focus solely on him.
Of course, Latifa eventually reached this conclusion as well, and she eyed Alex gratefully.
’I guess she’s right that bringing him here instead of a Professor is really the best choice,’ Latifa thought.
Alex was efficient, calm, and adaptable.
In fact, he didn’t seem too bothered by the fact that he was inside the forbidden dungeon of the academy, which could trap someone in its maze until they drew their last breath.
She even had this wild thought that Alex was enjoying being trapped here in the Chrono Maze.
’That can’t be possible, right?’ Latifa frowned.
Even now, she believed that if her real body had been trapped here, her sanity might not have lasted more than a couple of days.
The more she thought about it, the more her opinion of Alex improved.
However, her impression of him went into free fall when he suddenly said something out of the blue.
"Guys, where are the monsters?" Alex asked. "Just lure them here, it doesn’t matter how many they are. The more the merrier!"
The fox lady almost choked after hearing the young man’s complaint.
Did he just... invite a monster stampede?
The whispering spirits fell into stunned silence. Even they couldn’t believe what they had just heard.
"...Did he say the more the merrier?" one spirit whispered.
"Should we invite that Mirror Monster here so this guy will know his folly?" another spirit murmured.
Latifa glared at the young man, who was standing there casually with his hands on his hips as if he had just ordered snacks from his favorite fast food eatery instead of mechanical horrors that littered the Chrono Maze.
"Are you insane?" Latifa demanded. "Why are you asking for trouble?"
"Lucius will be sleeping for a few hours, and I don’t want to waste hours watching over him," Alex answered in a matter-of-fact way. "Since that’s the case, why not be productive and kill monsters while we wait for him to wake up?
"Look, he even added a soundproofing spell in his barrier, so he will be able to sleep through the fighting like a baby."
Latifa stared at Alex, her mouth slightly open as her brain refused to process what she had just heard.
"...So your idea of being productive is turning this resting spot into a monster slaughter zone?" she asked.
Alex nodded confidently. "Exactly. Grinding efficiency. Relax, what can possibly go wrong?"
Just as the fox lady was about to give him a list of what could possibly go wrong, she saw something from the corner of her eye.
Latifa glanced at the edge of the corridor and saw something reflective heading in their direction.
Using her enhanced vision, she managed to see what it was. She shuddered, suddenly wishing she was myopic.
There was one particular monster that Alex had warned her about in the dungeon, that she shouldn’t look at no matter what.
And that was none other than the Mirror Doppleganger, which could perfectly copy the appearance and abilities of anyone unlucky enough to see their reflection in its mirror.