Combination

Ash was stunned and examined whether Gabriel had any similarities with the old innkeeper woman. Their facial features were indeed similar, but their eyes and hair color were different.

The innkeeper woman had dark brown hair and green eyes, while Gabriel had blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Oh, I didn't know that," said Ash. "So, where is your dad?"

Gabriel replied while continuing to walk deeper into the underground rooms beneath the Colosseum arena, "My dad was a Sassi Hunter and got killed during a mission."

Ash fell silent and then said, "I am sorry for your loss." He felt bad for asking that question.

"It's fine. It was long ago," Gabriel responded with a gorgeous smile.

They arrived in a large room with two massive pillars supporting the ceiling.

There was a small room with iron bars blocking the entrance, next to this large room. On the right side of the wall, there was a lock with symbols on it.

Gabriel approached the room blocked by iron bars and peered inside.

Inside, there was only a small wooden chest, situated directly across from the iron bars. 

Gabriel tried to shake the iron bars, then he stepped back and drew his greatsword. "Back off," he said to Ash.

After Ash stepped back a bit, Gabriel began striking the iron bars with his sword.

Clang!!

The sound of metal clashing with metal echoed loudly in the room, causing Jagu to whimper.

Ash turned to Jagu with surprise.

'When facing enemies, Jagu can be fierce and savage. But just hearing a sound like this, he's already scared,' he thought while shaking his head.

The iron bars did not budge or get damaged at all.

"Hmmm," said Gabriel. "If that's the case, we have to solve the code to open these bars."

Gabriel then asked Ash, who had been staring at him without knowing what to do, "Please help me find some kind of symbol or anything around this room."

They began searching. "Usually, in quest challenges like this, there is a code to open a door or storage for items," he explained while examining the room's walls.

Ash then pointed to the pillars and walls of the underground Colosseum and asked, "Are these the kind of symbols you're looking for?"

Gabriel approached him and examined the symbols that Ash pointed out.

The symbols looked like:

ᛒ ᛃ ᛗ ᛞ ᛘ ᚫ ᚺ ᛈ

"Aha, yes. You are right. Now we just need to enter the correct symbols into the lock beside the iron gate," said Gabriel, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

Gabriel took out a small notebook and a pen, then drew all the symbols in the room in his notebook.

Once he finished, he approached the lock next to the gate and began entering the symbols.

Ash walked over, watching what Gabriel was doing.

ᛗ ᚺ ᛘ ᛃ ᛒ ᛈ ᚫ ᛞ

Beeep!

There was a single beep when Gabriel finished entering the last symbol.

"It was a wrong combination," he said, turning to Ash with a grin.

He then started entering the symbols into the lock again in a different order.

Gabriel tried several times and always failed. He ruffled his hair in frustration.

"Aaargh, dammit!" he exclaimed.

Ash extended his hand and said, "May I try? You know, I've never played a game like this before."

"Then how did you get into this game?" he asked while handing his notebook to Ash.

"I accidentally played this game on my mom's phone," replied Ash while trying to enter the symbols into the lock.

Beeep!

Gabriel laughed, "That was the punishment because you're not supposed to invade others' privacy."

Ash grinned and replied, "Yeah. And the punishment turned out to be very heavy," while entering the next symbol in the sequence.

ᛘ ᛞ ᛈ ᛃ ᛗ ᚫ ᚺ ᛒ

Tiiiit!

A different sound came from the lock this time.

"Wow, you did it!" exclaimed Gabriel.

Ash grinned happily.

The iron gate lifted up.

"Let's take the chest out immediately to avoid the iron gate closing suddenly," said Gabriel.

"Okay," replied Ash, thinking it was best to follow the advice of someone experienced.

They immediately pulled the chest out, and sure enough, the iron gate closed again after being open for fifteen minutes.

"Phew. Can't imagine if we got trapped inside," Gabriel said with relief.

Ash tilted his head slightly, thinking, 'Lol, I could have told Jagu to break the door. But oh well, let's follow along.'

Smiling to himself, Ash watched as Gabriel opened the chest.

Inside were all the items they were looking for, including a pile of gold coins and gemstones.

"Wow. This time the quest was quite easy," Gabriel said, laughing. "Except for fighting the guards, of course."

Ash nodded but then asked, "Are there any that are more difficult than this?"

Lifting the chest and walking out of the underground room, Gabriel replied, "Of course. There are many that are more difficult than this."

Ash walked behind Gabriel, holding the torch, thinking, 'It seems it's better for me to do this Finding Objects quest with them for now. They are clearly experienced, so I can save time and effort. And my level can go up faster too.'

And Ash decided to stay with his uncle for a while until his level was high.

***

The whole team returned to Sassi City, happily, because they successfully obtained the items they were looking for and also because they gained a new member with unexpected strength.

Everyone praised Ash, including John, who was very proud of him.

Maya was also happy, but she didn't dare to get too close, as Liliana was always near Ash, and that made her very jealous.

She could only watch Ash from afar during the dinner banquet, knowing that he only considered her a normal friend.

However, Ash seemed to like Liliana. And that made her feel a pain in her chest.

"Hi. Why are you just sitting here quietly? Have you eaten?"

Maya lifted her head and saw Ash standing in front of her, holding a plate of food.