The ground was dry and cracked inside the canyon. A statue was sculpted into the face of the canyon wall, roughly 20 meters in height.
The statue was sculpted simply, such that only the eyes, nose, and mouth were discernable. It also carried a question mark shaped staff in both hands.
There were no other discernable traits. While it was large, it didnât appear like a work of art.
âThis is the Statue of Turu. Turu is known as the God of Wisdom within the Bariton Desert,â Grano explained.
âIs he one of the Bariton Desertâs folk gods like the Rain God, Dalla?â Kang Oh asked.
âHeâs much older than Dalla. The people of the Bariton Desert believe that Turu and the Bariton Desert came to be at the same time.â
âI see.â
Kang Ohâs party disembarked from their camels. They slapped their butts, causing them to leave the canyon and disappear.
âPlease follow me.â
Grano took the lead, walking towards the Statue of Turu.
There was an entrance that led inside the cliff between the statueâs feet.
âItâs inside here.â
Kang Ohâs party went into the entrance.
Grano retrieved a fluorescent stone from his subspace.
âLuminescent Stone,â he chanted, and the stone began to radiate light.
Its shape and the brightness of light it emitted were exactly the same as a light bulb.
Grano let the luminescent stone float into the air via magic. With it, they were able to see the inside of the cliff.
It was a naturally occurring red clay colored tunnel. The walls were obviously composed of tough rock.
However, there were unreadable letters engraved on the walls.
âThese are?â
Kang Oh stroked the walls. He could feel the shape of the unfamiliar letters with the tip of his fingers.
âThese are the Bariton Desertâs ancient letters,â Grano said.
âCan you read them?â Kang Oh asked.
âYes, I can.â
Grano was definitely the foremost expert on the Bariton Desert. After all, he was capable of deciphering the Bariton Desertâs ancient letters.
âWhat do they say?â Eder asked what was on Kang Ohâs mind.
âItâs quiz created by the God of Wisdom, Turu, in order to test the wisdom of mankind.â
âA quiz?â Eder asked.
âThe place youâre touching Mr. Kang Oh asks this: âWhat does a human have that a god doesnât?â,â Grano said.
âWhat a human has that a god doesnât?â
Kang Oh thought over the question.
He thought of several possible answers, but he didnât feel like any of them were the right answer.
âSomeone answered death,â Grano said.
Kang Oh and Eder nodded their heads. Indeed, humans died while gods did not.
âSomeone else answered a mother.â
âA mother?â
Kang Oh tilted his head.
Even the gods had mothers. In Greek mythology, gods were born from other gods. Like how Zeus was born from his mother, Rhea.
Then why did they claim that gods didnât have mothers?
Kang Oh couldnât understand it.
âThe gods of the desert werenât born. The people of the desert believe that they existed since the genesis of this world,â Grano explained.
âHmm. I see.â
Kang Oh went âOh, I seeâ and moved on.
âSo what is the correct answer between the two: death or a mother?â Eder asked.
âThe God of Wisdom, Turu, is the only one whoâd know the answer since the correct answer wasnât written here,â Grano smiled and said.
âUgh. Weâve seen the quiz, as well as the answers, so not knowing which is correct is quite awkward.â
Ederâs face crinkled.
If youâre going to give a quiz, then you should have the decency to tell us which answer is correct!
âThere is one quiz here that has a checkable answer,â Grano said.
âOh, really?â
Eder and Grano looked pleased. Time to move on from an unanswered quiz!
âYes. And that answered quiz is also our final destination as well.â
* * *
Kang Ohâs party followed Grano, continuing to trek deeper and deeper into the tunnel.
Ultimately, they reached the end.
âThis isâŠâ
There were two giant stone bowls in front of them.
Kang Oh approached the stone bowls.
One of the bowls was filled with identical rocks the size of a thumb.
Kang Oh picked up one of the rocks. There was a single ancient letter engraved onto it.
He examined the other rocks as well.
âEach rock has something different inscribed on it.â
All of the rocks were identical in terms of size or shape, but the engraved letter was different for each one of them.
âHmm.â
Kang Oh put down the rock and examined the other stone bowl.
The other bowl was completely empty. However, there were ancient letters engraved on the bottom of the bowl.
âWhatâs written over here?â Kang Oh asked.
ââWhat is my name?'â Grano said.
âIâm sorry?â Kang Oh asked back, wondering if heâd misheard him.
âThe question âWhat is my name?â is inscribed on the bottom of the bowl.â
âReally?â
Kang Oh smirked.
âYes, really.â
âThen do we answer the quiz with these rocks?â
Kang Oh examined the rock he was holding.
âYes. You just need to place the rocks with the proper letters into the empty bowl,â Grano explained.
âThen do we just need to spell our own name with the rocks? Letâs seeâŠâ
Eder pretended to go through the rocks.
âDo you really think youâll be able to spell out your name with the rocks?â
Grano smiled.
âAs I thought. Thatâs not the right answer, is it?â
Eder ceased his search and smiled.
âItâs a quiz you canât solve unless you know the Bariton regionâs ancient letters,â Eder said.
In order to solve the quiz, one needed to not only be able to read the question, but also pick out the correct letters.
âThatâs not necessarily true,â Granos said.
âWhy is that?â
âBecause it was created by the God of Wisdom, Turu. Even if you donât know how to read the letters, you should be able to solve the quiz.â
âReally?â
Eder looked shocked.
âYes. Would you like to give it a shot?â Grano asked.
At that moment, Kang Oh raised his hand.
âIâll give it a shot.â
Kang Oh wanted to see if he could pick the right rocks via his Hyper Intuition.
âAlright. Go ahead.â
Grano and Eder took two steps back from the stone bowl.
Kang Oh began to examine each and every rock.
âAs expectedâŠâ Grano watched Kang Oh, slightly nodded his head, and muttered.
âHmm.â
Whenever Kang Oh examined a rock and felt nothing, he would immediately move on to the next rock.
âOh, as expected!â
The moment he grabbed a rock, his Hyper Intuition flared.
It was the feeling that there was something more to this rock! No, it was more accurate to call it a hunch.
Kang Oh placed that rock into the empty bowl.
âOoh.â
Grano saw which letter Kang Oh had picked and could only look on in awe.
The rock heâd picked pertained to the correct answer.
Kang Oh placed the wrong rocks to the side and continued his search.
âThe second one.â
Kang Oh soon found the second rock via Hyper Intuition. He placed that rock into the empty bowl as well.
âThe third.â
He found the third rock with ease too and placed it into the empty bowl.
But once heâd placed the third rock into the empty bowl, it began to tilt slightly.
âHuh?â
Kang Oh stopped examining the rocks and watched on.
Rattle.
He heard something getting sucked in, and saw a hole form on one of the walls.
A person could get through it if they bowed their head.
[You have discovered the hidden dungeon, Wisdomâs Testing Ground.]
[You are the first to discover it.]
[Fame has increased.]
[When you hunt in Wisdomâs Testing Ground, then you receive 2 times the experience. Item drop rate is also doubled.]
The hole in the wall was the entrance to a hidden dungeon. He was also the first to discover it!
âWow. How did youâŠ?â Eder asked Kang Oh.
âWell, thatâsâŠâ
With his intuition, Hyper Intuition!
Kang Oh was going to explain that heâd used his intuition to solve the quiz. It was the truth after all.
However, Grano interjected then and there.
âItâs because the weight of rocks differed,â Grano said.
âExcuse me? The weight?â
Eder opened his eyes wide.
âThere are three rocks amongst these that are heavier than the rest. Thatâs the correct answer. Isnât that right, Mr. Kang Oh?â
Kang Oh just scratched his nose.
âNow that you mention it, the rocks I picked did seem heavier than the rest⊠Well, I guess it doesnât really matter.â
Solving the quiz using weight rather than intuition seemed like the better answer here.
âExactly.â
Kang Oh smiled awkwardly and nodded his head.
âAh, thatâs why you said the quiz could be solved even without knowing what was written on them.â
Eder slapped the palm of his hand.
âHoo, youâre amazing, Mr. Grano. How did you figure that out?â
Eder looked at Grano with eyes full of admiration and respect.
Grano began, âWhen I first came here, I wasnât able to find the correct rocks. I tried and tried to make some words with the rocks, but nothing would happen.â
He momentarily caught his breath.
âI sat down, thinking about what the correct answer could be, and suddenly found the answer.â
âWhich was?â Eder asked.
It was as though he was saying âHurry up and tell me. Iâm getting dizzy over here.â.
âThat it didnât matter what order you placed the rocks in. In other words, all you need to do is place the correct rocks into the bowl.â
âAh.â
Eder nodded his head.
Kang Oh remained silent and listened with great interest.
âThatâs how I figured out that there must be a difference between the right rocks and the wrong rocks. And ultimately found that although they were identical in size and shape, some of the rocks were heavier than the rest,â Grano finished his explanation.
âAs expected! I admire you, Mr. Grano.â
Eder grabbed Granoâs hands with sparkling eyes.
Granoâs personality and intellect were all top-notch. Contrary to someone else he knew.
âMr. Kang Oh was able to figure it out after he heard my hint, that you didnât need to be able to read the letters. Isnât that right?â Grano asked.
âYes, exactly.â
The end justifies the means. It didnât matter whether he solved the quiz with his intuition or the weight.
âAhem. Youâre quite impressive too, Mr. Kang Oh.â
Eder couldnât deny Kang Ohâs achievement and gave him a thumbs up.
âThis is nothing,â Kang Oh said proudly.
âBut what do all of these letters spell out?â Eder pointed at the three rocks inside the empty bowl and asked.
He knew the way to solve the quiz now, so now he wanted to know what the answer itself was.
âThere is no meaning,â Grano said.
âThere is no meaning?â Eder asked back.
âYes. It doesnât matter how you combine those letters; it doesnât spell out anything,â Grano said.
âMan, theyâre really trying to get us with that one,â Kang Oh smiled and said.
The God of Wisdom had led the test takers to overly focus on the question âWhat is my name?â, even though the three correct letters werenât able to create a coherent word.
In other words, it didnât matter what word one chose; they wouldnât get the answer right.
âThe quiz signifies that whoever is smart enough to see past the letters and see what isnât visible is one who possesses true wisdom,â Grano said.
âI suppose that could be true.â
Kang Oh roughly nodded his head.
Then, he looked at the entrance to the hidden dungeon.
âIn any case, weâre done with the quiz, so shall we focus on the hidden dungeon now? Hey, Eder. Put down the rocks already,â Kang Oh said.
Eder was holding a correct rock in one hand and an incorrect in the other, comparing their respective weights.
âOk.â
Eder put down the rocks and came to Kang Ohâs side.
âMr. Grano, have you ever gone inside that dungeon before?â Kang Oh asked.
âYes, I have.â
âThen please tell us about the monsters and the boss.â
âIf Iâm remembering correctly, there are no monsters inside.â
âThere are no monsters in the dungeon?â
Then itâs not a dungeon?
âYes. Once you go in, youâll find yourself in the boss room and will have to face the boss right away.â
âAh. So itâs a dungeon with a boss but no monsters.â
There were a variety of different dungeons. A dungeon with only a boss could exist.
Well, it wasnât bad.
Since he could kill the boss immediately and take all of their treasure.