CLA.S.S NEUTRAL: Stranger Is Coming

Gloat. Old joke. Unusual ability.

"How do you like your new apartments? I see you like it," Ragan grinned. "Now we'll see whose head will be in the cesspool. By the way, you gave me a great idea: we won't kill you, but we will dig into the bottom so that only your head will stick out."

"Your Majesty, let's torture him first," the executioner spoke plaintively, like a dog that had taken a ham. "I'd like to cut off the skin from his arms and legs, drive nails into his palms, wrap him with barbed wire, and—"

"Stop. I remember everything perfectly, because I was the one who taught you. But we won't do it with him. I want to punish this stranger by his own method. One which he wanted to use on me."

I felt sudden relief. I was glad that it was rather dark in the dungeon, otherwise the goosebumps, running along my back, would have easily been seen, even under my clothes—I felt pain much stronger than the other players.

"But, first, I'd like to make fun of him a little."

The executioner's face brightened.

"Only morally."

The torture sighed in frustration.

"Once an immortal visited me. He advised me to give each prisoner two balls and see what they were able to think up to get out of the dungeon."

I knew this joke. However, the king didn't kid. He gave me two titanium balls. Although that player hadn't told the king this story to the end, so I had a chance. I read the description:

Titanium ball

Description: This ball is made of incredibly durable metal. It takes tremendous efforts to bend a titanium bar, the thickness of an arm, but in the form of a ball, its durability increases greatly. So, this thing can be considered indestructible <Part of the description is hidden>.

Class: epic

Durability: unbreakable

Note: A completely useless thing for you. However, you can praise the master who made it, because the sphere is perfectly smooth.

Oh, the hidden description… It's interesting. I have the tenth level of Observation, isn't that enough? What level do I need to be able to read this description? Perhaps, some skill prevents me. Hmm… what is this?

Skill 'Observation' reaches level 10!

A new ability of this skill appeared — to notice a hidden description of objects with the probability of 5%

Great! I hoped this probability would increase. Stop! How could a titanium ball appear in the game? It was a semblance of the Middle Ages here, and titanium melting required a very high temperature, so it would be very difficult to achieve it here. I had three assumptions: the first one was that the melting had been achieved with the help of the fire magic; the second was the help of a dragons, and the third—the Technocrats. I guessed that the player had come from that clan. I wondered why Kurbakht hadn't told me anything about it. Why had the king brought him here? Did he want to get rid of the chief of the Secret Investigation?

"You have an hour, so I wish you good luck." The king waved and hastened to leave, but just before the exit, he stopped and looked at me and the other prisoners. "Try to surprise me, and your death will be easy."

"Bastard. He's taunting us," the thief sighed and cursed. "What do you think will be easier: to kill myself with this ball or choke on the picklock?"

"It makes no difference, we'll die anyway," the second man said and then sighed.

"By the way, what are your names?" I could see only objects, not messages above them in the darkness.

"Arns," the thief introduced himself. "And this is Hax. What is your name?"

"Allone," I lied, telling them my nickname.

"What do you think to do? To get out of here?"

"I always can do that. You had better think what you'll do with the balls. I'm curious to see what you come up with."

"Well, okay, we'll try."

While they were thinking about their options, I chose the most faithful, winning one. I didn't fall through the ground, but I created a small hole and threw the ball there. The hole disappeared, and a notification popped up:

Spell 'The Mole's Hole' learned.

Description: It isn't always convenient to fall through the ground completely, and you solved this problem successfully by creating a hole. Now you can make a small hole between the spaces on any surface. Be careful: As soon as you get out, the physical laws of the place where you find yourself will affect you. So it's better not to open a hole in a ceiling, otherwise you may get hurt.

Magic direction:;% "?:} {] [

Class: ???%;} {

Level: 1

Oh, what a great spell! Now I'm not afraid of anything. Moreover, the skill "Fall through the Ground" has increased one level. Wonderful! Will I be able to find this ball?

However, I didn't care as I still had the second ball. I had to break it evenly and neatly. According to the description, that would be impossible.

To begin with, I decided to try its durability. I hoped the description was a lie: if it could be hidden, then it also could be faked. Maybe it wasn't a titanium ball at all, but instead an ordinary iron one. It was worth checking.

I broke some bricks off the wall and hurt my hand, but there wasn't a single scratch on the ball. Listening to the other prisoners' curses, I scratched my head and pondered how to break it. I had no circular saw with a diamond disk, so it was impossible.

Out of boredom, I began to speak to the ball. I talked to myself, so why not to talk to the ball? I asked it to split into two halves, but it remained deaf to my requests. However, I had an idea.

I activated the 'The Mole's Hole' and created a hole in the wall, lowered the titanium ball there so it was half way in and closed the portal, which cut off a piece of the sphere. The second half was left in another space. This 'The Mole's Hole' cut the item into two perfect halves. However, I had to search long for the second half, and only after the ninth attempt did I manage to take it out of the hole. Now I had to wait for the king.