Listening to Kukulcan’s description, Feng Xue felt it was extrely lacking in realism. In the end, simply saying "a dangerous Kaidan world" was insufficient to evoke any sense of "danger."
It was much like how no matter how soone described a horror movie as terrifying, unless they could specifically detail the eerie atmosphere and plot, it wouldn’t be scary enough to frighten anyone.
So, after a brief silence, Feng Xue pressed on,
"Can you tell what the 114th Layer is like?"
"I’m not really sure how to describe it, or rather, I don’t even really know what that world is truly like."
A look of lingering fear appeared on Kukulcan’s face, his eyes slightly unfocused as if he was recalling those mories he had experienced.
After organizing his thoughts, he began,
"After entering the door to the 114th Layer, I entered a very monochromatic space, consisting of a large number of rooms.
"In those rooms, there was a disagreeable odor that made one irritable—not a normal sll. Even blocking your sense of sll wouldn’t prevent its effects. Although there were many stairs, corners, and passages, it seed like there was no end. If not for a natural sense of direction towards the ’door’ when entering, it would be very easy to get lost.
"Other than the rooms, there was only one kind of indescribable thing that would pounce from any corner and attack. They weren’t very strong in power or fast in speed, and even in swarms, they were only about as much trouble as a group of ordinary people.
"However, those things could bite through my defenses, and the wounds they caused couldn’t be healed even with the Life Authority I possessed. The worst part was their endless numbers. No matter how many you killed, new ones would continue to pounce from the next corner.
"Moreover, in that space, all devices related to ti stopped working—clocks or anything else, including your biological clock and even the senses connected to your own Kaidan entries, all failed. The only way to keep ti was by unreliable silent counting and a sense of body ti.
"I wandered there for what felt like three to seven days, and then I went down a staircase to another layer. Although the structure of the space had turned into sothing resembling an underground parking garage, its essence hadn’t changed—only the monsters turned from that indescribable thing into different colored ghost shadows.
"My Power included elents related to death, which initially restrained those things, but as ti passed, they developed a stronger resistance to my Power, and later on, despite relying on the Life Authority, I still felt occasional chills.
"The ensuing events were essentially repetitive: passing through different places in specific ways to reach the next layer, then encountering new monsters and rooms. But in essence, it was largely the sa, with the rooms themselves being monotonous and repetitive, imposing a psychological burden. So monsters that grew stronger over ti demanded constant vigilance, and before becoming unable to counter these creatures, one had to find the next layer and continue the cycle."
...
"That sounds a bit like the back rooms," Feng Xue remarked, as Kukulcan’s words reminded him of a Kaidan he had heard about in his past life, although the tiline of this world hadn’t reached the point where it appeared. So, for the term "back rooms," he simply showed a puzzled expression.
However, Feng Xue didn’t delve further into the topic, since the back rooms themselves could be considered an unsolvable Kaidan. He simply roughly described the characteristics of the back rooms to Kukulcan and then steered the conversation back to the main topic—
"Apart from the 114th Layer, do you have any idea what the Kaidan worlds on other layers are like?"
"I don’t know. I just randomly picked a number I liked from the uninhabited layers, and before I passed, I ran out of steam. Naturally, I didn’t explore the others. Oh, by the way, that little girl asked before and then succeeded in getting the Layer Master title, so the 114th Layer should now have an owner too."
Kukulcan’s words left Feng Xue speechless, but upon reflection, it seed expected.
"A Layer Master title achievable just by surviving a year seems so easy," Feng Xue thought, but Kukulcan seed to have read his mind and added,
"Don’t think that just frequently changing layers in this world is easy. I suspect it has so kind of ntal pollution Power, which increases the psychological pressure. Over the past few years, a few Kaidan have co to seeking advice on conquering the Layer Master, but only that little girl succeeded.
"Although my description might not convey it, those monsters are truly troubleso. Each layer is different, but they share the unsettling trait of being able to penetrate defenses and inflict unhealable wounds. As ntal pressure mounts, even with the door as a reference point, it’s possible to get lost, and if you can’t find the way out of that layer, you’re left waiting to be overwheld and devoured by the endless monsters.
"I was fairly lucky; I didn’t stay long in the layers after the first one, so even when Kaidan collapsed, I still managed to make it back to the door. Even so, I had to use a Resurrection Power once."
"I understand," Feng Xue nodded. Though he still lacked a sense of realness, he filed the caution into his mind.
In fact, compared to what Kukulcan had described, what interested him more was sothing Kukulcan had briefly ntioned, such as—
"You said earlier that, in that world, ti-related illusions beco ineffective? What about other illusions?"
"Most illusions still work. I think it’s not because of a lockdown-type Power, but rather that a higher priority Power is overlapping the lower priority ones."
Kukulcan shared his guess, and after a mont, Feng Xue grasped the concept, much like in the working hell, where the purchasing power of Ming Coins took the highest priority. In this world, Libra’s handmade coins also had to be exchanged at a pawnshop or bank for an equivalent amount of Ming Coins before they could be spent within the hellish cycles of labor.
Feng Xue stored this information in his mory. With no more questions coming to mind, he decided to make use of the Dark Ga’s effects and said, "Besides this, do you have any other advice?"
"..." After hearing Feng Xue’s question, Kukulcan pondered for a mont before replying with so hesitation,
"What I’m about to say is just my personal thought; it may not reflect the true situation."
"Okay, I’ll take it just as a reference," Feng Xue nodded, and Kukulcan continued,
"When I took on the challenge, I approached it with the mindset of battling Kaidan: probing the rules, deducing the settings, and then tailoring a strategy, but after living there for a while, I feel like the trial is just that—a trial. Thinking too much might actually add to the burden of survival. What really needs to be considered is just the task that cos with the trial itself, or in other words, the mission that Infinite City provides for passing might be the real key to conquering the Layer Master Challenge."
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