"This puzzle is b*llshit!" Cinister yelled out as he bumped his head into the bookshelf
"Woah calm down" Alya said "I'm sure we will escape this"
'Calm down?" Cinister said "it's been 2 days and we still don't have an idea how to escape"
"We've been here for 10 minutes" Ragna chimmed
"I will rip your head off your body" Cinister replied in a cold voice
"Look I'm sure we can figure it out" Alya tried to deescalate the situation
"Fine I guess I can try to figutre it out" Cinister responeded
'Ok first let's look for a patern somewhere" Ragna suggested
Then the Fangra started looking at the steps carefully, trying to spot a repeating string of stairs.
After 100 steps they spot 3 steps that are white and are uneffected by the strange nature of the other steps.
"These steps look suspicious." Cinister points out the 3 bland stairs.
"Now that you mention it" Alya looks at them "They do seem diffrent from the rest"
"Why would they be?" Ragna asked
"Well I'm guessing we need to look for bland books since every step can allow for a certaint book to be opened" Cinister theorised "So we need to look for books that are white"
"Good idea" Alya replied
"So you can use your brain, huh?" Ragna teased
"I will actually murder you" Cinister voiced his idea
"Who sh*t in your coffee today" Ragna spoke cockily
After a bit of searching the Fangra couldn't find a single white/silver book
"Well it was a good idea but I don't see a single bland book in sight" Ragna spoke out
"I mean it was obvious I wouldn't solve it on my first try" Cinister justified himself while looking at two books that were about the Academy
"Whatcha reading, Cini?" Alya asked while peeking over his shoulder
"Remember the Academy I talked about?" Cinister asked while tossing one of the books at her
"I think I do" Alya grabs the book and opens to a random page "It says it trains young and talented students to their fullest potential and that 70% of the students that graduate from it, become Gardians"
"Yup I think it will be a great learning experience for the 3 of us" Cinister explained as he threw the other book down the endless stairway
"Hey! Don't throw books" Ragna chimmed in as he went closer to him
"Fine fine Mr. Librarian" Cinister teased Ragna while he stood up and fixed his mage hat
"So maybe we should look a diffrent meaning for the word "Bland"?" Alya chimmed in
"What do you mean by that" Ragna asked with a confused look
"Well maybe "Bland" as the story or maybe the title" Alya explained
The other two exchanged a quick nod before moving toward the shelves, carefully scanning the rows of dusty, weatherworn books. Their fingers traced along cracked spines and faded lettering as silence settled over the room. After several long moments, Ragna paused. Wedged between two thick tomes was a strange book bound in dark leather, its cover completely bare no title, no symbol, nothing to hint at what lay inside.
"Yo guys I think I found something that could work" Ragna said as he stood on the empty step and opened the book
"What does it said?" Cinister asked Ragna with a look that is ready to leave the floor
"It says nothing?!" Ragna said ith a confused look on his face
"Look it's a start you know" Alya said as she pulled out a book and 5 other ones fall out
"Watch out." Cinister voiced "Wait one of the books doesn't have a title"
He grabs the book and opens it revealing again absolutely nothing.
"Okay I'll go find another book that doesn't have a title" Alya said as she ran up the stair case
After a couple of minutes Alya comes down the stairs holding the last empty book. Then she opened the book and all 3 books flew up into the air and casted a beam on one of the bookeshelves, opening it.
"Finally! A way out" Cinister said as he entered the bookshelf, Ragna and Alya followed suit.
As the Fangra made their way out of the staircase they can feel a strong presence ahead of them.
"Do you guys sense that?" Alya said
"Yeah I can feel a really strong boss ahead of us" Ragna replied and stood in an attacking stance
"You know I haven't had a close fight in a while" Cinister said as he prepeared [FireRing: Double]
[Mr. Librarian: Protector of the Stairs]
"More mortals that have passed the first stage of this floor" the boss said "Now if you can asnwer these 3 question I will let you pass to the next floor"
"Oh so there won't be any fighting" Alya questioned the boss
"Well if you answer all 3 question I won't kill you" The Librarian replied
"Kill us? You sure sound confident for someone who will lose" Ragna said sizing the boss up
"I can tell you are very prideful" She replied "But the first question is"
"Who is the strongest person in This Tower?"
"I'm pretty sure that's an easy question" Alya said coffidently "Alle-"
"Wait!" Cinister yelled "It's not as easy as it sounds"
"But I'm sure that he is the strongest" she wondered why Cinister stopped her
"It's the God of Greed, correct?" Cinister asked the boss
"Correct!"
"Huh?" Alya sounded confused
"We're in the Greed Tower and every Tower has a god so it makes sense that the strongest person" Cinister explained
"So her question are tricky ones, huh?" Ragna chimmed in
"Yup but I know this Tower's history like the back of my hand" Cinister replied with a grin on his face
"You seem confident so I'll give you the next question" The Lady said
"Why did you let the king die?"
Editors Note - I hope you guys like the Acadeny arc I'm cooking up and the charater I will add