85: Chapter 85 The Night of Deep Death and Evolution

The sixth day after the opening of the [Numerology Maze] was destined to be an unsettling one.

The news that young master Aubrey's team had used a precious town portal scroll to flee in a sorry state spread like wildfire throughout the entire Adventurers Town.

At first, some people remained skeptical, believing this might just be a wealthy playboy exaggerating.

But soon, more teams emerging from the maze brought back concrete evidence, as well as... a cold reality.

"It's true! There isn't just one entrance to the second underground floor! Our team took the regular route down, and the monsters inside were all Rank D! One punch from that Grotto Golem, and our shield was almost shattered!"

"Our team was even unluckier! We triggered a strange mirror and were thrown directly into a pile of monsters on the second floor! Rod tried to cover us... he didn't make it out..."

"Dead...? No, he was sent away by the white light, forcibly repatriated due to mission failure... His Dream Spirit... His Dream Spirit seemed to turn blurry in an instant, and then it disappeared..."

The news of mission failure and losing contact with a companion replaced the specific word "death," but the implications were just as heavy.

That adventurer named Rod had been besieged by several [Grotto Golems] on the second floor, ultimately failing to hold out until he could escape, and was judged as having failed the mission.

When the forced white light representing the end flickered, sharp-eyed teammates seemed to see that the Shadow Leopard-shaped Dream Spirit that had always followed him became illusory and transparent in that instant, then, as if erased by an eraser, it vanished completely into the air, never to appear again.

This scene sent a chill through every Host who heard about it.

Mission failure, loss of qualification, and even the Dream Spirit... the consequences were far more severe than imagined.

Panic spread inevitably.

Some of the more cautious or less capable Rank E teams began to hesitate, or even temporarily abandoned their plans to enter the maze.

In front of the light gate in the square, the atmosphere was no longer as relaxed as it had been in previous days; it was replaced by a heavy solemnity.

However, danger and opportunity are forever twin siblings.

While most people were deterred by the failures, those truly capable, ambitious, or those who believed their Luck was extraordinary—the Rank D teams, along with a few daring Rank E Peak teams—were instead thoroughly fired up.

Higher difficulty meant more precious treasures, and... a more extreme high-pressure environment, which was the perfect catalyst for a Talent Breakthrough.

Just on the afternoon of the sixth day, a five-person team of all Rank D Middle Stage members with good coordination, after a bitter battle on the second underground floor, not only successfully brought back a precious Rank D [Enchanted Chain Mail], but their main attacker—a swordsman with the [Gale Thrust] Talent—suddenly increased his speed and explosive power by a notch at the critical moment of life and death to break through the monster encirclement, successfully evolving his Talent into [Hurricane Continuous Slash]!

His Dream Spirit also evolved from a slender wind-blade dagger into dual-wielded wind blades surrounded by small airflow vortices.

By evening, another three-person team with both Luck and strength, although also screwed over by the [mirror of fates crossroads] and forcibly teleported to the second floor, landed relatively luckily near an abandoned storage room.

Inside, they not only found an [Elementary Strength Fruit], but the young girl in the team with the [Weak Healing Rank E] Talent, while nervously healing her injured teammate, concentrated her Mental Energy highly and triggered some kind of gentle energy remaining in the storage room; her Talent actually evolved into the larger-range, more effective [Healing Ripple Rank D].

Her Dream Spirit also evolved from a milky white ball of light into a vibrant green sprout rippling with water-like radiance.

These successful cases, like lighthouses in the night, reignited the fire in the adventurers' hearts.

Fear still existed, but the desire to become stronger and the gamble on their own Luck drove more people to rush recklessly toward that dangerous maze.

The second underground floor was both the final act for losers and the cradle for the birth of the strong.

...

The night of the sixth day, the core deep within the maze.

Zhang Hao floated quietly, his gaze fixed on the shimmering [maze builder panel] before him.

After a day of turmoil and noise, the data on the panel had changed significantly:

[maze builder panel - Real-time Update]

[Maze Rank]: Rank D

[Maze Entrance]: Opened (Location: Center of Adventurers Town)

[maze construction points]: 41,388 (Stable high-speed growth after experiencing violent fluctuations)

[Cumulative Number of Adventurers Entered]: 289

[Number of Adventurer Talent Upgrades]: 7 (4 new cases!)

[Number of Adventurer Mission Failures]: 1 (New statistical item)

[Maze Floors]: Underground Floor 1, Underground Floor 2

[Maze Size]:

Underground Floor 1: 100/100 tiles

Underground Floor 2: 165/200 tiles (Continuing to expand)

[Maze Monsters]:

Underground Floor 1: 38 tiles (Mainly Rank E, 3 tiles Rank D)

Underground Floor 2: 55 tiles (All Rank D, increased variety)

[Maze Treasures]:

Underground Floor 1: 26 tiles (Mainly Rank E, 2 tiles Rank D)

Underground Floor 2: 40 tiles (All Rank D, increased value)

[Maze Traps]:

Underground Floor 1: 30 tiles (Mainly Rank E, 2 tiles Rank D)

Underground Floor 2: 45 tiles (Contains multiple [mirror of fates crossroads] variants)

[Others]:

Underground Floor 1: 6 tiles

Underground Floor 2: 25 tiles (Complex environment and special rules area)

Looking at the jumping numbers on the panel, especially the glaring "Number of Adventurer Mission Failures: 1" and the inspiring "Number of Adventurer Talent Upgrades: 7," Zhang Hao let out a slow breath.

"Danger and opportunity..." he murmured to himself, the shimmering light of the panel reflected in his heterochromatic eyes, "The opening of the second underground floor was indeed a potent medicine."

The appearance of failure brought the ultimate fear and warning, but it also screened out tougher, more potential-filled "actors."

And those cases that completed evolution under higher pressure perfectly verified his hypothesis—this Numerology Maze could indeed become a catalyst for the Hosts' transformation.

He could feel that his application of Karma and Fate in this large-scale "experiment" had become more proficient.

Setting up a seemingly accidental teleportation trap (cause) could lead to failure (effect), or it could catalyze evolution (effect).

The subtle balance and unpredictability within this were precisely the most fascinating aspects of fate.

"Fear makes people hesitate, desire makes people move forward, and evolution... makes people willing to take great risks." A complex arc curved at the corner of Zhang Hao's mouth, "Then, let me see what kind of wonderful drama can still be performed in this deep layer where danger and opportunity coexist."

His gaze turned again to the darkness on the panel representing the unexplored area of the second underground floor, already beginning to conceive a grander, more intricate web of fate in his mind.

This Numerology Maze was still far from reaching its limit.

(Hidden detail supplement - shown indirectly through the town scene)

Meanwhile, inside the [Shop] in the Adventurers Town, the shopkeeper wearing a monocle was meticulously wiping a Rank E dagger just acquired from an adventurer with a piece of velvet cloth.

His movements were precise and stable, with a professional smile on his face that seemed measured to the millimeter.

If a careful observer watched for a long time, they would find that this shopkeeper seemed to have never left the shop, and his expression rarely changed, just like... an exquisite doll with a pre-set program.

When an adventurer mentioned Rod, the Host who had failed his mission today, the shopkeeper's wiping motion did not pause in the slightest, only replying in his steady, waveless tone: "This shop only buys and sells goods; we do not provide other information."

Deep in his eyes was a hollow calmness, as if the concepts of "Host" and "Dream Spirit" had never existed.