"Wow, this door is actually voice-controlled!"
As the rumbling door slowly opened, Adam’s sense of foreboding intensified. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this so-called Sage had a significant connection to Aqua.
But one thing was certain: this Sage was definitely someone transported from another world!
"This door... Adam-senpai?"
"Yeah, it’s probably what you’re thinking." Adam matched her cryptic tone, eyeing the pitch-black entrance with growing curiosity and doubt.
"Anyway, let’s go in!"
"Wait, let me scout it out first."
Adam trusted his abilities, but he trusted his skills’ feedback even more. Better to investigate first.
He deployed his 〔Perception〕 skill again, extending it deeper into the dark entrance.
The passageway was straight with a standard square, right-angled shape. Unlike typical passageways — which are usually arched to bear weight pressure — this one had an unusually regular shape.
More importantly, this passageway appeared to be built with a very special material. It wasn’t earth or iron, and even his skill couldn’t penetrate it. It seemed specifically designed to restrict Thief class professions.
Why? This made him even more curious.
About 20 meters down the passageway, they encountered another door made of the same impenetrable material that his 〔Perception〕 skill couldn’t breach.
"Wait here, I’ll check it out." As the strongest party member, Adam naturally took on the scout role.
His foot lightly touched the passageway.
A faint sound. Adam immediately retreated.
But it wasn’t a trap being triggered; instead, lights illuminated the passageway, revealing a corridor with a futuristic sci-fi aesthetic.
"What is this...?!" Adam stepped onto the passageway again, his curiosity piqued.
He moved slowly, remaining alert for dangers across the short 20-meter distance. His caution, however, proved unnecessary.
There was no danger at all, and Adam reached the second door after 20 minutes.
"Seems there’s no danger..." He called back to the others, "It should be safe, you can come over now!"
Reassured, the group strode forward confidently.
This door resembled the one outside, with one key difference — it had a clue on it.
It was written in Japanese!
"What kind of special language is this?"
Darkness, Megumin, and Yunyun couldn’t understand Japanese.
Kazuma volunteered as translator, pointing at the text, "Since you’ve found this place, I must commend your wisdom... wisdom?"
He glanced suspiciously at Aqua, baffled that she could possess any wisdom. She always claimed to be the Goddess of Wisdom, yet clearly behaved like an idiot!
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing..." Kazuma turned back and continued, "Finding the hidden Dungeon, breaking through the mist’s barrier, and discovering the hidden dangers... surely you must have found these clues in my autobiography — The Sage’s Travelogue."
...No, they had just stumbled in by chance.
"But don’t get too cocky... the three trials ahead are just small tests, the real challenges come later... Even if you’re a fellow islander, obtaining my achievements won’t be easy... If you die halfway, don’t blame me... That’s what it says."
"I see, so he’s indeed one of the Heroes who was transported here." Adam nodded.
They had accidentally stumbled into a Dungeon prepared by the Sage for those who would come after him.
This Sage had previously laid clues in "The Sage’s Travelogue", waiting for a fellow Japanese Hero to cross over and obtain his gift through wisdom and strength.
Strength, wisdom, and the title of Sage... truly fitting the fantasy isekai style, wasn’t it?
By incredible coincidence, they hadn’t found this place through The Sage’s Travelogue. Even more coincidentally, Adam and his companions were indeed fellow transported Heroes.
"Achievements... what are they?"
With an adventurous spirit — no, a greedy spirit — Aqua perked up at those words, now eager to explore.
"I don’t know, the door doesn’t say." Kazuma replied, turning to the group, "But below this information, there’s a grid with some numbers in it."
Everyone leaned in for a closer look and saw it was true.
It was a 9×9 grid with numbers placed in seemingly random positions. Below it were 9 boxes containing number cards, from 1 to 9.
"What is this?" Megumin curiously picked up a number and examined it carefully for anything unusual.
But no matter how she looked at it, it was no different from the numbers in the grid.
"It’s Sudoku." Adam immediately recognized the puzzle as the Sage’s first challenge.
Completing it would likely open the door blocking their path.
Sudoku follows straightforward rules — it’s purely logical.
You just need each row, column, and 3×3 box to contain numbers 1-9 without repetition, and you’ve cleared it. Nothing complicated.
Even with their questionable intelligence, they could solve it through methodical analysis — it would just take time.
This was clearly an appetizer to test their abilities. It made sense; the Sage would gradually increase the difficulty — he wouldn’t throw them into the deep end immediately, would he?
"Hey, Megumin, what are you doing?"
"Ah... my hand slipped."
"I-Idiot! Take it off quickly!"
"I can’t, it won’t move!"
"Aaaaahhhhhh—!!!!!" Read complete version only at novel{f}ire.net
Just as Adam was about to sketch a calculation grid on the ground, panic erupted behind him.
"What’s wrong?" He jumped up and turned to see a number card stuck to the Sudoku puzzle.
Worse yet, a screen had appeared below it with a 3-minute countdown!
Oh no, now only 2 minutes and 55 seconds remained!
"Ah! What do we do, what do we do?!" Aqua was frantic.
"Will it explode? It will explode, right? It has to explode!" Darkness sounded more excited than afraid.
Kazuma and Yunyun shouted in unison, "Megumin, you big idiot!" x2
"Don’t panic, don’t panic! I’ll figure something out!" Adam automatically reassured everyone while trying to recall Sudoku strategies, "That, that... wear nine on one, three on the left and seven on the right, two and four have shoulders... what comes next?"
"We’re doomed! Even reliable Adam-senpai has gone silent!"
Ah, it might be a bit late to mention this now.
Though Adam had a mature mindset, he was undeniably a complete idiot.
He was... Not at all smart.
{T/N: Oh... now everything makes sense. You’d just have to wait more that three hundred Chapters after all!}
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