The ancient castle is vastly spacious, and it seems the designers intentionally made the lower passages particularly complicated.
To go from the blacksmith area to the staircase, one had to traverse hundreds of meters of winding passages.
After reaching the second floor,
you had to head to the central hub of the second floor, using the recently acquired Blacksmith Key to unlock the single stone doorway leading to the third floor.
Only then could you reach the upper level of the ancient castle.
The chances of encountering obstacles on the way were high, but they hadn't expected to run into a squad of apprentice knights.
A three-member team.
All of them had reached the "Seed-breaking period" (Primary occupation allocation points hitting 5, breed not yet broken).
The lead was a standard-size Crusader clad in crimson armor, emitting a thick Evil Qi.