My body got used to the water really fast, but it was like being in a pot of water being brought to a boil.

[It is, so I suggest you get moving, or you are going to be boiled alive!]

I didn’t need to be told twice, but what I couldn’t figure out was why I was even feeling the heat. I made it to the ladder and pulled myself up and out of the water, body steaming as I did.

[You have access to your Shaman class while inside of here. People get used to relying on their classes, but there are things that can stop your class from working. I think it would be in your best interest to learn to make your body stronger.]

I pulled myself up onto the five-foot cube the ladder was attached to and finally took a look around.

There were the three balls I had seen Mary bounce across, but now they looked much farther apart. On top of that, they were now yellow, and they weren’t in a straight line.

“How the hell am I supposed to get… who are you? …What are you doing with that hammer…”

After being on the cube for all of five seconds, a man appeared out of thin air with a massive hammer. It had a massive spike on the mallet, and the strange man wearing a tuxedo smiled at me, making my voice trail off.

“Oh fuck! Wait! AHHH FUCK!!” I screamed as the hammer moved at a blinding speed.

I felt the massive spike slam into me and then out my back sending a pain like nothing I had ever experienced. I was knocked off my feet as I screamed out in pain, but then I died, and I was screaming as I hit the water again.

[I suggest that you move fast, or you are never going to make it to the top!]

‘Thanks for that word of warning.’

[You needed that because it’s only going to get worse, so I suggest that you make sure that If you are going to die, make sure it is instantaneous death.]

That was good advice, and I prepared myself to move as I started to climb up the ladder for the second time. I couldn’t be messing around this time, or I was going to get killed again.

It had hurt, but my immunity to fear made it a lot better, but I was worried about Mex. This could be very hard on the mental state, and I was not looking forward to my subsequent encounter with the blonde-haired, plain-faced man in a tuxedo.

I climbed onto the floating cube, immediately getting up and attempting to jump to the first ball.

I had watched many of the game shows and had always wanted to try them, but this was biting off more than I could chew.

The moment I hit the ball, I sunk into it in slow motion; my hands and feet sunk in deep. Then my hands and feet were ejected, causing me to be flung into the air doing summersaults.

I had no chance to react, it all happened so fast, and then I smashed an invisible wall, breaking my neck, and instantly killing me. Then I fell back into the boiling soup, and I slapped hard into the water.

[That was unexpected. You might not be able to make good on this bet you made.]

I was already climbing back out the ladder, but I was already starting to feel the strain from this, and it was only my third time! I was not going to give up, but I needed to start using my head.

Hero was right, and I clearly was relying too much on my elemental powers. I needed to work on figuring things out. Then I closed my eyes, and all sound stopped as I sat down in the center of my mind’s maze.

Then Harold appeared with sandy brown hair, loose khakis, and a white t-shirt. He was still wearing the same clothes from when I saw him before entering the world for the second time.

“Well, at least this still works, and we should have a model now from what I have seen before,” I explained as I started to try and create the tower, but nothing happened.

“We can come in here, but your creative power is in your real body,” Harold explained as he leaned back on two legs of his chair.

That was frustrating, but this was better than nothing, and it gave me time to think. I had watched Mary go across them with no problem, but the course had changed, and now everything was different.

“What is the pole in the center of the room for? All of this stuff is floating up in the air, but there is still a huge pole in the center of it all, but what is the point?” I asked Harold, and he nodded.

“That is how all the structures are controlled,” Harold explained and then asked, “How do you plan on dealing with the balls?”

“If they are soft, I will have to try covering more area,” I said and then opened my eyes.

The sounds came back rushing into my ears, and the heat from the water below me radiated up. It was very easy to forget about that after stepping inside my mind where everything was the perfect temperature.

I wasted no time the moment that I got up top and ran and jumped at the first floating ball, but it was black now. The moment I hit it, I felt ribs crack, and along with my nose, that smashed into the ball that was rock hard now.

I was alive and still on the ball, but the next one was still yellow, and I was having trouble even getting up with all the pain in my chest.. I wasn’t going to make it, so I just threw myself at the ball to test out a theory.