"I'm telling you, we should have pulled this lever, not push that button."
"That would have just made things worse now, would you just leave this to me."
"Hey, could I try."
In another room, very similar to the one mentioned earlier, the three adventuring cultivators were fighting over a certain jigsaw puzzle. Every time the trio would pull a leaver or push a button a new puzzle piece would appear and disappear randomly on the walls around them.
The delicate guy and the scholar girl were fighting over how to solve this trial. They ended up going back and forth between the two for an hour, until…
"I'M TELLING YOU WE JUST NEED TO PULL THE GREEN LEVER THREE TIMES BEFOR PUSHING THE BLUE BUTTON!"
"Uh, guys."
"WE TRIED THAT ALREADY, AND IT DIDN'T WORK!"
"Hello."
"NO, WE ONLY DID IT TWO TIMES, WEREN'T YOU PAYING ATTANTION."
"HEY, LISTEN!"
"WHAT!!!" the two of them yelled at the middle-aged guy
"I did it."
Just then the two of them noticed that the scenery had changed slightly as the dark room had become a dark hallway.
Apparently, the half-naked warrior had solved the jigsaw puzzle while the other two were arguing.
"Amazing, I knew you could do it mister Shao." The scholar said while grabbing onto his muscular arm and pressing her melons up against him. Causing him to give the other guy a smug grin, the delicate guy gave an annoyed glare back as silent sparks flew between the two.
The group moved down the hallway with tensions running high as the muscular mister shao and the big chested lady clinging on to him waltzed right of a cliff, as they didn't notice that the big empty room at the end of the hallway lacked a floor.
"AAAAAAAHHH!"
"SAVE MEEEE!"
*Splash*
Their screams echoed through the mostly empty room as a giant bleeding orca jumped out of the water passing them by as they splashed into the watery depths below.
"MISS LI!" The delicate man screamed after his comrade.
"Hei, there. Nice weather we're having."
The delicate man was too concerned with the disappearance of his friends to notice that there was a silver haired woman with an orca biting into her midriff dangling on the zipline in front of him.
…
Returning to a few minutes ago.
"Now how do we sol-"
"Move."
"Hey!?"
After giving this rude woman a lesson on cultivation. I was going to solve this puzzle, but she pushed me out of the way and started tinkering with it. Disassembling the contraption to the point I couldn't even recognize it.
"What are you doing?! This virtues lord was going to show you my intellect by solve thi-"
"Done."
"What the!?"
To my surprise, the entire room began to shift as we were transported to a dark hallway. All this strange creature had done was break open the trial mechanism rearranged a few wires then pushed a button.
"What did you do?"
"I made an easy mode for this dumb game."
"What?"
"*sigh* This dumb thing is a puzzle-based machine hooked up to a spatial magic item. If you press the right buttons and pull the right levers in the right order, it activates a teleportation artifact that sends you to this place. I just changed it, so you just have to press one button."
"Oh, that's a rather odd way of solving the puzzle. I'm not an expert on mechanics or magic items, but to do this you must have a decent grasp of the crafts." I said while giving her a curious look.
"Ugh, what's with that gross face of yours. You're creeping me out."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING-… Ehem. Miss Nox Manus, may I inquire about where you gained such knowledge?"
"What's with that formal tone all of a sudden? Did you hit your head on the way down here?"
"Whatever do you mean? I'm simply curious where one might acquire such knowledge of the crafts."
"Fine, I'll tell you. Just stop talking like that. Its freaking me out."
"Well then, let's talk as we walk then."
"It's nothing special I just picked it all up along the way while running for my life."
"That's a load of- ehem. Lady Manus, If you do not wish to tell the truth then a shan't force the matter."
"It's not a lie, and I told you to stop talking like that. It might be hard for some fancy pants rich kid to understand, but when you spend your every waking moment with death snapping at your heels, you either pick up whatever you can or die trying,"
I can't quite pin down what it was, but for some reason in that moment this woman, for the first time since our encounter, she seemed to radiate a brilliance that cannot be described with words.
"Ok then so where are you frooOOAAAH"
"Watch your step dumbass"
Just as I was about to inquire more about her past, I could suddenly feel myself falling, then suddenly I could feel something grabbing onto my leg. It was this woman, showcasing her barbarian strength she lifted me up by my left ancle with one hand, holding me like she was showing off a fish she had just caught.
Looking at the room I noticed that the bottom of this room was filled with water except for the area around what I assume is the door to the next trial. The door in question was standing on a small platform connected to this one via a zipline.
"Ok, so I think we need to climb across this rope to get to the next trial room."
"Well said captain obvious. Now let's go."
"So, I'm a captain now am I. at least that's better than your other titles. By the way could you let me DowohOHOAAAAH!"
Before I could even finish my sentence, she took off the belt on her robe, whipped it around the zipline and jumped, all the while I was dangling in the air. The only thing preventing me from plummeting into the watery depths below was this mad woman's grip strength. Then all of a sudden, this giant orca jumped out of the water and wrapped its mouth around me, cause of course it did. Next thing I know that mad woman pried open the killer whale's mouth then threw me on to the platform before falling into the waters with it. A few moments later someone resurfaced, but instead of it being that foul mouthed woman, it was a half-naked exhibitionist and some chick. My day could not get any worse.