Chapter 0083: Maze

Masashi overlooked a magnificent maze from the terrace that opened up from the dome that was the previous section.

"This is the maze. Don't try to fly over it, it'll teleport you into that ice freezing you. Look there" Masashi warns Mai and Yue and points to the others that tried to fly and were turned into popsicles.

"I know. You've told us this three times."

"Mmm." Yue agrees with Mai's words.

"Come on, let's move." Masashi jumps down to the entrance of the maze.

Mai and Yue follow him.

The entrance of the maze has three different paths that lead to different spots.

"Hmm… I have an idea."

Masashi infuses his mana into his [Perception] in the same way that he did with his [Intimidation].

[A new ability has been created using the previous ability Perception ability as the base]

[Observation Haki has been created]

[Perception can no longer be used]

[Observation Haki LVL 1: Gives The Gamer a sixth sense that allows them to passively view their surroundings. Also allows the sensing of emotions of other people when focused. Current Range: 5 Miles]

"It worked! I've upgraded [Perception] to [Observation Haki]. Although the distance is lesser than before."

"How is it different from the previous ability?" Yue asks curiously.

"[Perception] used to rely on the basic 5 senses that we have. If they were blocked, even perception was nullified. [Observation Haki] on the other hand is different. It is based on using the sixth sense to observe one's surroundings. That's why it's better."

"So we don't need to fumble around the maze, right?"

"Right!"

Using [Observation Haki] Masashi was able to sense the entire maze and even the area around it so he knew what route to take to clear the maze.

There are three keys that they would need to find to open the door that's on a fourth path. That door leads to the next section of the labyrinth.

Masashi entered the maze followed by Mai and Yue. The walls were made completely of ice.

They kept on going restlessly for about 10 minutes when they finally reached the first key.

It was a spherical orb that was kept on a pedestal. When Masashi picked it up, an ice golem showed up at the spot and roared at the group.

*ROAR*

Masashi smashed it with another composite spell that he was able to cast quickly.

It didn't die so then the girls also helped out.

When it was dead they waited for more to show up since it was so easy to kill. When nothing showed up, they continued their journey.

Masashi noticed that Yue was getting a little sluggish. He and Mai had [Gamer's Mind], so fatigue wasn't a concept for them, but Yue could still get tired after long tasks.

She wasn't saying anything since she didn't want to reduce their speed of clearing the labyrinth.

"Mai, Yue. Let's take a little rest before we continue to the next two bosses.

"It's fine, I'm not tired." Yue's answer is a little jumpy.

"Don't worry about it." Masashi opened a portal to their home in the inner world and pulled Yue and Mai inside.

The moment they are back inside the warmth of their home, Yue lets out a breath that she was holding that she didn't even know.

Although they weren't feeling any of the cold temperatures of the labyrinth, the mental fatigue from being surrounded by snow was getting to Yue, and being back inside the warmth of their home, Yue felt much better.

"I'll cook something for you girls." Masashi walks out of the room while Mai takes a seat on the couch.

"Come on." Mai opens up her arms, inviting Yue.

Yue hugs Mai like a spoiled child and props herself into Mai's lap.

Mai soothingly rubs light circles on her back, "You okay, Yue?"

"Mmm. Just tired."

"You should've told us, no?"

"I didn't want to slow you guys down." Yue buries her head in the nook of Mai's neck.

"Nonsense, there's no such thing as you slowing us down. Don't hesitate to tell us anything okay?"

"Mmm." Yue closes her eyes as she rests while being spoiled by Mai.

A while later, Masashi returns with the cooked food in his hands.

'Damn, what a twist. People might be thinking that I'm the one who's getting a harem, but actually, it's you, isn't it, Mai?'

Masashi telepathically conveys to Mai in a light playful tone while he sets the dishes on the table.

'Yeah, that's my master plan. What're you gonna do about it.'

'Huhh~ What can I do? My beautiful wife doesn't love me as much as I do her.'

'Yeah, sure.'

"Yue, honey come on. Masashi made your favorite, his blood." Mai lightly shakes Yue.

Yue opens her eyes and gets up from Mai's lap.

Mai walks to the dining table while Yue turns to Masashi and takes his free arm, biting into it.

"Itadakimasu."

Masashi doesn't let Yue's actions bother him and serves the food to Mai while sitting down at the table.

"The next section of the labyrinth is going to be a tough one for Yue," Masashi comments to Mai.

"It's the one with whispers that target one's insecurities, right?"

"Yeah. I don't know how it's going to work with [Gamer's Mind] but those whispers aren't harmful to us directly so I'm not sure how that'll work."

"Although [Gamer's Mind] is the biggest boon for this labyrinth. It's completely based on the mental challenges that were decided on by Schnee."

"Yeah. I almost feel like we should turn it off so that we can experience the challenges that this labyrinth has to offer."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Mai is interested in his idea.

"Let's not risk it. Who knows what'll happen to us without the mental defenses provided by [Gamer's Mind]."

"Are you sure? We could have an entire getting over our feelings and insecurities arc. It sounds like it would be fun."

"If it was just this labyrinth, it would be pretty fun. But we are dealing with a man-child god whom we still not beat."

"Are you sure? I think that it'll be good for us. Ehit doesn't even know where we are. Most of his attention would be on Hajime and his girls right now." Mai is strangely adamant about this specific thing."

"Usually it's you that's the voice of reason in this relationship and I'm the dumb adventurous guy who would do dumb stuff and get into trouble over it. How'd things change with this?"

Mai is silent as they finish the rest of the meal in silence with Masashi in deep thought.

"Sigh… Fine, let's do it. But let me add a few fail-safes to it… Just in case."

Masashi had researched the use of the system enough to control even the most fundamental passive abilities like [Gamer's Mind].

He was sure that he had utter and complete control over all of the system's authorities, which came as a shock to him at first but he's grown used to it now. He decided that whatever happens will happen. He'll cross that bridge when the time comes.

He deactivated the passive for both him and Mai since he also had a certain authority over Mai's system and could control it with her permission.

There was no before and after difference when he deactivated [Gamer's Mind]. He put in a lot of fail-safes that would trigger the ability with any spike in his behavior.

The system may not have its own AI but it was still pretty advanced and had more than enough capability to do what Masashi needed.

His authority over Spirit magic came in handy when adding fail-safes too.

"It's done." After deactivating the ability and adding tonnes of fail-safes to it, Masashi decides to move on with the rest of the maze as soon as possible.

He opens a portal back to the maze and goes through it with Mai and Yue.

They go through the maze with the routes being easily identifiable by Masashi due to his [Observation Haki].

"It's weird how I needed to infuse Mana into my mana-less abilities with mana to get the upgraded versions of those abilities that still don't require mana, don't you think?"

"It's probably an initial boost that's required to activate the higher version of the ability." Yue's input is pretty on point.

"Or if you think that that's too convenient of an explanation then you can just chalk it up to system shenanigans." Mai is ready with a quirky reply.

"Let's just get this maze over it." As Masashi says that, the trio takes a turn and finds the second key.

Masashi leaves the girls to take care of the boss as he picks up the key.

When they're done with that they move on to the next key.

The same process follows as Masashi is the one taking care of the ice golem boss this time while Yue picks up the key.

Finally, they move to the door that leads to the next section.

"So do I just put it in?" Mai makes a double innuendo while looking at Masashi innocently.

"I think I'm the one who should put it in. Haha~" Masashi chuckles as he fits the key he has into its slot in the door while Mai and Yue do the same.

With each jewel being fit into the slot, it glowed in different colors.

The door lit up in a trifecta of red, green, and yellow lights that corresponded to each of the respective jewels.

After the door was completely illuminated, the jewels flashed and the doors slowly creaked open.