Inside a dimly lit and damp dungeon, Jack was sitting on the ground. His arms and legs were chained. He tried using his skills to break free from the chains but he couldn't activate any of them.
They must have entered a constructed dimension where preset rules were enforced to restrict the usage of skills.
However, it was not only Jack's skills that were inaccessible. All his equipment had also been forcefully stripped and sent back into his inventory. All he wore now was a ragged shirt and pants. He could check his inventory but he couldn't take anything out from there. He also couldn't access his status window or send messages.
All he could rely on was just his own body. Jack tried using mana manipulation to try to break his chains, but the chains were too strong.
"Can you please stop that? The noise is irritating," A man who was chained next to Jack said.
Jack was not the only one in this dungeon. There were eight others like him. He couldn't use his Inspect skill but he could identify using his mana sense that five out of the eight were players. The other three were natives.
"I'm trying to break free," Jack said to the man, who was a player.
"I can see that. You are just wasting your time. Don't you think we would have done so if we can?"
"I have a much higher strength stat than normal players," Jack said and tried to yank the chain another time, unsuccessfully.
The man huffed mockingly at Jack's words.
A woman from Jack's other side joined in the conversation. She was also a player. "Look, I am an orc and I have the berserker class. I also greatly invest in my strength stat. Even I can't break these chains."
Jack stopped yanking. Not because of what the others said. It's because he had tried and the chains were indeed extremely sturdy even for his strength.
'Peniel…?' Jack asked in his mind. He didn't see the fairy.
'I'm here,' Peniel's voice answered.
'Where?'
'Inside my hidden dimension. Somehow, I can't get out. It must be because of this constructed dimension. I'm considered a skill, so you can't summon me.'
'I see… Do you know whether this dungeon is the base of the Council of Charites?'
'Nope,' Peniel answered.
Jack asked Peniel a few more questions in his mind, but the fairy was as clueless as him.
Since he was bored, he tried to converse with the people there. "How long have you all been in here?"
The man who first spoke to Jack answered, "Very long, I can't even remember." He turned to the side, "Hey, Richard. Do you remember how long we have been locked here?"
The player who was called Richard shrugged. "Two months, I think?"
'Two months?' Jack thought with worry. He couldn't afford to get locked up for that long. Many things needed his attention out there.
"Do you know what this place is?" Jack asked again. "Is this the base for the Council of Charites?"
"The Council of what…? I have no idea what you are talking about, man."
Jack looked at the others and saw that most ignored him. The woman berserker shook her head indicating she didn't know as well.
He didn't see Grace among these people. Did she not follow him in? But then he thought about when he was trapped inside Greed's sanctum. No, Grace definitely followed him in. Even if she couldn't at first, she would try to find her way in. Which meant she would get trapped too.
Jack sighed. Perhaps he had been too reckless. But this was supposed to be the base for one of the good Gods. Why did it become a place that trapped people?
Jack looked up and called loudly, "Hey, vine face!!"
The others were startled by his sudden yell.
"What the hell are you doing?" Richard's friend asked, alarmed.
Jack ignored him, he continued to call with a loud voice. "Vine face! Are you there? I have something to ask!"
"Stop it!" Richard also joined in the warning.
Jack ignored them and continued shouting. The vines creeping along the ceiling of the dungeon started moving. The others moved away when it happened. They pressed themselves onto the wall, trying to get as far away from those vines. Their eyes were terrified.
The vines gathered and formed the face which had given them the announcement when Jack first appeared here. The face was grinning as it was before.
"Yes, participant? What do you want to ask?" The face asked with a cheerful tone.
"Is this the base for the Council of Charites who worship the Goddess of Joy? I wish to speak to one of its divine priestesses. Aglea, Euphosine, or Talia."
Those divine priestesses were the joined leaders of the Council of Charites. John imparted this knowledge to Jack before he left.
The face on the ceiling had a moment of surprise that lasted only briefly. It was back to its cheery expression in an instant. "Interesting. One of our participants seemed to know this place. So, you've come here on purpose then. Unfortunately, our divine priestesses are occupied. They can't attend to you, but you will meet one of them when the game begins."
"What game? When does it begin?" Jack asked.
"Once we get two more participants. The game can only be played when all the spots for the four teams are filled up."
"Four teams, does it mean we here is one team? What do we play in the game?"
"Everything will be explained when the game starts."
"You should tell us more about it so we can prepa–"
"WAIT FOR WHEN THE GAME STARTS…!!!" The friendly vine face suddenly turned into a horrifyingly scowling face. One of the vines forming the face snapped at Jack.
Jack's reflex and mana sense allowed him to dodge this attack but the chains restricted his movement. He couldn't avoid a second vine that followed and it entangled Jack's neck.
"Ack…!" The vine tightened its grip and strangled Jack.
Damage number popped up as the vine tightened its grip. Jack's HP bar decreased slowly due to his high pool of HP. The vine probably wanted to let go when Jack's HP reached a critical state, but it lost patience because it took too long and released Jack by smashing him into the wall.
Jack coughed from the punishments.
The vine face returned to its cheery version again as if nothing had happened. "Please sit tight and enjoy your time with each other before the game starts."
The grinning face was deconstructed and the vines returned to crawling randomly on the ceiling.
"We have warned you, man…," Richard's friend said.
"It was not a total loss," Jack said. "We learn that this place is truly the Council of Charites."
"You are nuts, man. What's good is it to know what this place is?"
"By the way, what's your name? I am Storm Wind," Jack asked the player who first talked to him. They couldn't use Inspect so they had to resort to old-style Q&A.
"… My name is Stefan," That player answered.
"Richard," Richard said but Jack already knew him.
"I'm Naomi," the Berserker woman informed.
Most others ignored Jack's question. When one of the natives was about to introduce himself, a flash of light happened right beside Jack. When the flash ended, an ethereal player was there in chains.
The vine face appeared again and announced, "We have ourselves another participant! So soon since the last one. Perhaps we can begin this game soon. One more and we are a go!"
Jack wasn't paying attention to the announcement because his attention was all on the newly arrived ethereal player. The player was not wearing any armor and ethereals' faces looked almost the same from one another. Still, Jack recognized this player.
This newly arrived player was Master.
