“Just add a few small structures in the maze for the adventurers to find. If the adventurers find them, they’ll get a boost against the Boss. That’s all you need to do,” Jemma said.

  Xu Han would’ve shaken his head if he could. He spotted the problem right away. “There’s no limit on how many adventurers can be in the maze at any moment. So, how do we know the ones who found the structures are the same ones fighting the Boss? Say one party finds and activates a structure, but a different party stumbles on the Boss first—what’s the point of that?”

  Silence settled over the core room for a moment. The Guardian broke it. “Use the keys.”

  “The keys?” Jemma and Xu Han said almost in unison.

  The Guardian nodded. “Yes. The keys the Painter handed out. Nobody knows what they’re for yet, so we can tie them into the maze.”

  Jemma slipped into her thinking pose and gave a small nod. “That could work. I can picture it. A party uses a key on one of the structures, and it charges the key instead of the structure. Then, when they reach the Boss, the key triggers something—a pillar or whatever—to spring up and give the party an edge in the final fight.”

  Xu Han mulled it over. It sounds interesting, but…“You just want to dump more work on me, right?”

  “I notice you didn’t say it was a bad idea.” Jemma shot back, looking smug.

  Xu Han chuckled softly. The dungeon fairy had him there. Even he had to admit it was a solid idea. With the maze empty for the moment, the dungeon core figured he might as well get started. Still, he wasn’t about to go in blind. He summoned his mana and pulled up a floating screen of the maze—a rough blueprint of what he wanted to do.

  First up: the structures.

  The third floor was a shifting maze, with its hedge walls constantly moving to throw off the adventurers. Only the Boss clearing was fixed. With its two portals—one leading up to the fourth floor, the other back to the entrance—Xu Han could not move it. Now, he added four more fixed spots to his projection. Like the Boss room, these new locations would stay anchored, but the walls would still move around them, always keeping at least two entrances open.

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  With the locations in place, he moved on to the actual structures. He conjured another image: a squat, stone block, about the height of an average halfling, with a carving on the top. For these carvings, Xu Han went with the four classic element icons—a curling wave for Water, a flickering campfire for Fire, a hill for Earth, and a set of weaving lines for Air.

  Xu Han thought about it further before adding a keyhole right in the center of the carvings and made it that only a key with the matching image could fit. When you insert and turned a key, it will light up—Xu Han wanted that magical power to be visible. The dungeon core figured he will have to connect this effect to the keys already out in the world, but there weren’t many out there, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

  Next, Xu Han conjured a third image for the pillars in the Boss clearing.

  These four pillars came together easily. Made of black stone, they will be about two meters tall, and each topped with a carving. The carvings matched the image on the keys, and the adventurers would have to slot in an empowered key to the keyhole in the pillar to get them working. Xu Han even set things up so the correct pillars would only rise from the ground when they sensed an empowered key nearby—no key, no pillar.

  Now came the question.

  Despite his distaste, Xu Han had to take into consideration his minions’ opinions that the Boss was too hard. “So, what should these pillars actually do against the Boss?” Xu Han asked.

  Jemma didn’t hesitate. “Let the pillars do whatever their image shows! The ‘Fire’ pillar shoots fireballs, ‘Water’ pillar blasts water, ‘Air’—”

  The Guardian cut her off. “Hang on, the Boss is a plant. Wouldn’t water just help it?”

  Jemma paused, then shrugged. “Actually, you’re right. That’s a good idea. Let’s use that.”

  Xu Han’s gut told him he wouldn’t like where this was heading, but he had to ask. “What do you mean?”

  Jemma grinned, eyes glinting. “Nobody said the pillars could only help the adventurers. They’re options. If an adventurer activates the wrong pillar...”

  “They end up helping the Boss, and the fight gets even harder!” the Guardian finished.

  Jemma burst out laughing. “Exactly! That’s on them, not us. In fact, it’ll make the battle more fun for everyone.”

  Xu Han doubted the adventurers would agree with the view, but it was a good idea and will definitely add some spice to things. He thought about it for several moments before coming to a decision.

  “Very well, here’s how it will work. The ‘Fire’ pillar will fires off a fireball and hurts the Boss. The ‘Water’ pillar blasts water and heals it. ‘Earth’ and ‘Air’ will do their own thing: ‘Earth’ hardens the ground, stopping the Boss’s root attacks, and ‘Air’ sends a gust through the clearing, making the Boss’s leaf attacks hit harder.”

  “So, two pillars help the adventurers, and two help the Boss.” The Guardian said in approval. “Sounds fair,”

  Jemma had no objection, dancing in the air in delight. Xu Han mentally nodded, then implemented the changes. No one outside the dungeon knew a thing. They had no idea, but the Boss fight on the third floor of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques just got a whole lot more interesting for everyone.