Jack continued to follow Master closely. Despite his dislike for the ethereal, Master proved to be quite stealthy.
Master was patient and cautious. He only moved when he was sure the path was clear. He watched all the red dots on his radar and memorized their movement patterns.
Master's God-eye monocle was special compared to the others. While Jack's one had the dots on different elevations all moving around in his two-dimensional radar, Master's one could be set to different elevation levels. He could set it so the radar only showed the ones currently on this level. He could also set it to show what's on the level above or below if there was any.
In addition, his radar also worked as if sonar. The layout of the corridors around him was mapped out on his radar as he moved.
In this way, Master wasn't confused by the red dots from upstairs. He could properly track the ones existing on this floor and thought of an effective route through these corridors with perfect timing to not bump into any of the wandering night hunters.
It took them some time, but in less than ten minutes, they arrived at the base of the stairs to the second floor. The two looked at the mounds scattered around the huge hall as they stepped on the first flight of stairs. Those mounds didn't move.
They climbed the stairs stealthily.
Arriving on the second floor, they found the floor setup was more or less the same. Hence, they took the corridor's path again.
They continued sneaking up using this method. Jack wasn't aware of it, but Master had learned that the number of night hunters patrolling the corridors increased with each floor. The complexity of the corridors also increased. More intersections and more turnings. It began to look like a maze once they reached the sixth floor.
Thus, the time it took them to sneak past increased with each floor they climbed.
By the time they reached the stairs that led them up to the tenth floor, they spent almost twenty minutes on one floor. Master wondered if his monocle eight-hour duration was enough to let him sneak up to the twentieth floor. He could use another equipment-free skill, but that would be wasting a precious and limited resource.
When they arrived on the tenth floor, they noticed the setup was different. This time, the lobby only had one exit. No side door that led to the maze of corridors.
Jack peeked out of the lobby. It was similar to the huge hall from the other floors, with many night hunter mounds scattered across the hall. But the hall here was even larger, considering it also took up the space where the corridors were downstairs.
"Seems like we have to fight our way," Jack whispered.
Master didn't disagree. One thing he noted about this faction was its excessive obsession with games. It probably set up the floors down there following gaming rules that gave trespassers the chance to slip through as long as they were careful or lucky enough. But here on this floor, the pretense was stripped. It was pure security. The trespassers would have to fight through these night hunters. He wondered if the floors after this one were the same.
Master turned to Jack and asked, "You are an Archmage, aren't you? Have you gotten the Invisibility spell?"
"What a coincidence, I got it just before I came to this place," Jack answered.
"We are in luck then. Use one of your skill-free stones to cast Invisibility," Master instructed.
"What about you? You are not an Archmage," Jack asked.
Master answered by bringing out a new tool that Jack hadn't seen before. The tool was item-free stone. However, the items that could be used with this stone are only consumables. So, an artifact like the Necronomicon was inaccessible.
Master used the item and a magic scroll materialized in his hand. The magic scroll contained the Invisibility spell.
"Tsk. You and your tools," Jack commented. "I will go first, give me a one-minute head start. It will be a problem if we bump into one another because we can't see each other and ends up ending our invisibility in the middle of the hall."
"Don't you have mana sense?" Master asked.
"No, my mana ability is also sealed," Jack answered.
"Sealed? How?" Master asked. "Didn't you say you punched me with mana manipulation during the first sacrificial round?"
Jack didn't want to waste time explaining to Master. He distanced himself from Master before using his skill-free stones to cast the invisibility spell. He vanished after the spell formation was completed.
Master followed Jack's instruction and waited one minute before he activated the magic scroll in his hand. He also vanished.
After a few minutes, Master had sneaked through to the other side. Since he didn't see Jack, he whispered, "Are you here yet?"
"Oh, I was waiting for you," Jack's voice was heard. "I thought your slow ass needs a longer time."
"Cut the crap. Let's head upstairs while our Invisibility is still working," Master said. "We might need this invisibility for the next floors as well."
"All right. I will go up first," Jack said. "Wait five seconds before you go up. I will take the right side of the room. You take the left."
Upstairs, Jack found that this lobby had a side door the same as the floors before the tenth floor. After several seconds, he heard Master's whisper.
"Using the corridors will take too long. Since our invisibility is still active, let's just go through the hall as we did downstairs. You go first."
Jack complied. They continued crossing through the halls while being invisible. They cut down a significant amount of time compared to if they used the corridors. Jack made a rough calculation. If they were fast enough, they should be able to reach the sixteenth or seventeenth floor while being invisible.
Master's invisibility should be level 1 since he was using a magic scroll, but it was only three minutes fewer than his level 4 Invisibility.
On the fourteenth floor, Jack was distracted by a nearby mound since he was taking the shortest route possible. A night hunter happened to twitch during its rest and its arm flailed in Jack's direction. Jack hurriedly jumped back. If that arm touched him, his invisibility would disappear.
As he did, he heard a gasp and the sound of some steps moving away. Jack turned back and saw nothing.
Jack resumed heading to the stairs.
'Crap…,' Jack uttered in his mind.
'What's wrong?' Peniel asked.
'You know what that means just now?' Jack asked.
'What?' Peniel didn't quite catch Jack's meaning.
'That a*shole has mana sense,' Jack said.
