"Attention!!" All the students gathered around and stood quietly while waiting for further instructions. He turned and folded his arms behind his back.
"Alright, I believe you've had a long enough break. Now, we commence the third and final stage of the entrance exam. I recommend not slacking off, as this could be your final chance at getting accepted into our academy." He said, as he held up his hand, snapping his fingers.
In the blink of an eye, everyone was in front of a large open cave, or a dungeon. Alaric looked around him, but no one was there. He wondered what happened but a voice cut through his thoughts. "The third stage will be dungeon conquering. You will be conquering the dungeon in front of you. You will have no backup."
Alaric looked into the large cave, and swallowed the lump in his throat. This would be his second time in a dungeon, but of course, he barely made it out with his life last time. Chills ran up his arms, "You will be faced with various puzzles in order to get to the boss at the end. But of course, if you choose not to do the puzzles, you can simply break down the wall. After all, defeating the boss is your main priority." Alaric wondered what kind of puzzles they'd be, and if he would be able to complete them.
Of course, if he couldn't, he didn't have to, "But be warned, if you choose to not complete the puzzles, you could miss out on some bonus points, that could potentially save you from failing if you fail to defeat the Alien at the end." Alaric folded his arms, as he listened. So, you get bonus points for solving the puzzles. 'That's pretty easy to understand.'
"You will have two hours to complete this dungeon. If we feel like you are getting overpowered and on the verge of losing, we will be forced to step in. Now, begin!"
Alaric sprinted inside as torches along the walls flared up, lighting up the area around him. As he sprinted forward, he felt his body shiver, but he didn't let him affect him. He kept being scared, he would get nowhere. So he pushed it down and continued forward. As he moved, his eyes noticed a large wall that blocked him from continuing. "Must be the first puzzle." He said, his hand running along the surface. The door was like a large puzzle piece, but the pieces were switched around in different directions. Alaric couldn't make out the image at first, but looking at it closer, it looked like the moon. There were areas of what looked like a person, so maybe it was a person standing in front of the moon.
All he had to do was rearrange the directions of the pieces, which shouldn't be hard. He began to switch around the pieces, hoping to make the picture more recognizable. He took a step back, the picture was almost perfect, but, something was wrong. He looked around the image, and there was a piece missing. He frowned and turned where he came, 'I must've passed it.' He walked forward, and looked around. He turned to walk towards the many corners. He searched, but there didn't seem to be any sign of this piece. He put a finger to his chin and thought about where this piece could possibly be. He walked back to the image and looked at it closely.
"Damn," he said, feeling like he was blind for not seeing this piece. He rubbed his hand along the surface, but, he noticed something. It was the piece next to the missing one. He hadn't noticed it at first, but, it didn't look right. So, he moved it to the side, and underneath was the piece he was looking for! The wall in front of him began to shake and lower in front of him. He watched as it began to reveal the next room, "That was...pretty easy." He continued ahead.
.............................................
The second puzzle was a short riddle that Alaric needed to solve, while he isn't the best at them, he was able to solve it pretty easily.
The third puzzle was a illusion puzzle, that he had to navigate to reach the door at the end. The illusion tripped him up a few times, but he was able to make it through.
The fourth puzzle was a memory-based puzzle. At the beginning was a set of symbols that disappeared after a while. Alaric had to travel to the door while maintaining the memory of the order of the symbols. He was able to remember it rather easily and he got through it.
Alaric was now onto the last puzzle. As he entered the last room, there were various statues, holding up instruments surrounding a king. Alaric looked a bit confused, what was he meant to do with this? He walked towards the wall, and there was nothing that hinted at what he was meant to do.
So, he walked up to one of the statues, it was holding a trumpet. He looked the statue up and down as it stood motionless in front of him. His eyes landed on a button on top of its hand. So, he decided to push it. A loud trumpet melody began to play. He turned to the various other statues. He noticed that the king statue's eyes glowed blue as the song played. Was he on the right track? He shrugged and continued pressing the buttons on the other statues, until a large but mostly unorganized song played. But, nothing happened, the king statue's eyes stayed glowing bright, but it didn't do anything.
Alaric was getting frustrated, and considering he was able to solve all the other puzzles, would it hurt to just skip this one?
He opened his hand as his staff appeared. He aimed the tip at the large wall, and extended it's reach, as it slammed it into the wall, causing it to crash down and collapse. The cloud of dust began to cloud his vision as he walked forward, his frustration evident.
He walked through the smoke and there was a large door, and he knew it was the boss door. It was a basic door, but it was a bit destroyed and molded. He walked forward and grabbed the handle, he was ready to get this over with. But, he was excited to try out his new skills.
He threw the door open and he felt more than ready to take down this Alien present on the other side of the door.