As I stood up, everyone turned to look at me. “I’m feeling much better now. Couldn’t really talk before,” I said, attempting to reassure them.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” Kaylie replied, her voice tinged with worry. “We’ve been thinking, and maybe you should let us have access to the bag you carry.”

  Her suggestion initially put me on high alert. Were they plotting to take what was inside? But then I remembered that it was Kaylie who had first told me about the bag. She had always been on my side. And, to be honest, if they really wanted to, they could just kill me and grab the bag. So, why not?

  With a mental command, I granted Jack, Sana, and Kaylie permission to access my bag. A prompt appeared in my mind:

  Do you wish to allow Jack, Sana, and Kaylie to have limited access to your bag? Limited access will enable them to place items in this space without restriction, but only allows them to take items with your express permission.

  After a moment of contemplation, I decided to grant them full access. Why impose limitations, right? The primary goal was to ensure they could retrieve supplies if I were incapacitated or unable to reach the bag myself. Considering how often I’d been in harm’s way lately, there might come a time when my natural healing abilities wouldn’t be enough. Granting access could literally save my life.

  Still, a nagging thought lingered. What if they decided to empty the bag? That would leave me with nothing. Yet, weighing the risks, I felt okay with taking that chance. Besides, if Kaylie were to help herself, she’d likely do it with her trademark smile. That was a small consolation if I was about to be robbed. It’s all about finding the silver linings, right?

  “Okay, access granted. Want to give it a try?” I said to the group. Kaylie stepped forward and dipped her hand into my bag, pulling out a single gold coin.

  She imitated an evil villain’s laugh and the corresponding voice, uttering, “I have tricked you into giving us your fortune.” She smiled broadly and flipped the coin back to me.

  “I like her!” Rabbit exclaimed.

  “Seriously, that fake evil laugh was perfect,” I replied.

  Sana stepped in and said, “I’ve found some more of the traps. It looks like it’s going to be a long day if I have to check every stone. We were all discussing heading down the other hallway we saw. You were in pain earlier, so we didn’t bring it up with you.”

  “Can you show me the traps?” I asked. I was wondering if Rabbit could work some of his magic for me and make this easier.

  “Sure, but it’s a skill, and I don’t think you have it. I have a very low version of Trap Detection, but with your limitations, I doubt you will be able to get the skill,” Sana replied, but she started walking to where I burned myself. “If I concentrate on each tile for a bit, I can see a glow sometimes.”

  She knelt and stared at the floor tile for an extended period of time. I did the same, hoping to see what she was seeing.

  After a little bit, she said, “There, I can see it glow slightly now. I can probably detect lower-level traps this way, but if there is something higher, I won’t be able to see it. Since you’ve been out, I have looked at some of the other tiles and noticed two more.” Sana then moved over to point to the other two. “They could be anywhere, and we wouldn’t know. It would be safest to walk back the path that we took if we can remember.” She then paused for a moment, gazing at me apologetically. “I am sorry, Alf.”

  For the first time, her apology seemed sincere.

  “We think you should lead us back when you’re better,” she continued cautiously. “We can wait until you’ve fully healed before we move on. If you trigger any traps, we’ll have to wait again until you’re healed. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough healing potions for everyone if someone else were to lead and get injured.” Sana looked down and away as if she were ashamed of what she said.

  “Don’t worry,” I assured immediately. “Honestly, that is our best option. I’m not a great fighter, but my skill is in healing, so what you proposed makes total sense. However, before we decide, let’s consider all our options. The alternate path might have similar traps, or possibly worse ones. We should brainstorm and explore potential strategies to safely navigate past this one before giving up and going back.”

  “Any ideas?” I asked Rabbit.

  “Several. First, you have hundreds of arrows. Ask her if we could use those to trigger the traps,” he suggested.

  I repeated the question to Sana, and she looked better now that I wasn’t holding it against the team for planning to sacrifice me. There wasn’t much that fazed Sana, but this idea seemed to bother her even though it was the only logical course of action.

  She replied to Rabbit’s question, “Nope, that might work for animal traps and such, but magic traps respond to magical forces, such as a soul. Any arrow, sword, or anything else wouldn’t help at all. Some are specifically designed to react to a larger magical force, so, for example, if you had scouts walk over them, they wouldn’t trigger. If several people were together, it would trigger the trap. That’s why armies always have people with the skill on the front lines of any movement. That highly skilled individual would never be permitted to scout or engage in combat. Another example of why skills are useful.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Well, that killed all of my ideas right there,” Rabbit exclaimed.

  “Can’t you figure it out by looking at the tiles?” I asked him.

  “Not on a sample size of two and one burned tile. Maybe if she points out more,” Rabbit contemplated.

  “Sana, can you search for more?” I requested.

  “I will, but realistically, we’d probably die before we got anywhere,” Sana said, gesturing toward the hallways that stretched ahead in a long, curving line, disappearing into the distance. The path seemed massive and unending. I understood her point, but I was still hoping Rabbit could pull off something miraculous, like pulling something out of his hat. The thought made me chuckle internally. ‘Rabbit pulling something out of his hat.’ That’s a joke I need to remember to tell him later.

  “Well, I’m keeping an eye out for some kind of pattern on the tiles or maybe something in the way they’re laid out,” I replied, hopeful. “You know, like a repeating pattern that could give us a clue.”

  “That would be something,” Sana responded, her voice tinged with excitement. “I doubt we’ll find such a pattern, but it certainly would be helpful if we did.”

  “While you examine this area, I’m going to retrace our steps and check all the non-trap tiles to see if there’s any difference,” I suggested.

  “Are you sure? Maybe you should take someone with you, just in case you accidentally step on a tile you missed last time,” Sana suggested with concern.

  I checked with Rabbit internally and responded, “No, that’s okay. I can remember every tile I stepped on, at least. I wasn’t paying attention to where the rest of you were walking, though.”

  “Every tile?” she asked, her skepticism apparent. I understood her disbelief, as it did sound impossible. But then, she didn’t have an AI integrated into her mind like I did, which made such a task surprisingly manageable.

  “Yep. Remember me memorizing that book? It doesn’t just work with languages,” I replied.

  Her eyes lit up with curiosity. “Really? I’d love to learn more about that. I’ve never heard of an Ability like that. How does it work? I didn’t know any magic that could provide total recall. I wonder…” Sana mused aloud, continuing to talk to herself as I began to walk away. She seemed very excited about research and learning. I wasn’t sure how long I could pass off Rabbit as just an ‘Ability,’ but for now, it seemed safer than revealing the truth about him.

  I went over and told the others about our plans, and they seemed as skeptical as Sana did. However, they believed me on my word, and I began tracing my steps backward. It was reasonably straightforward, as Rabbit just marked in blue where I should step. As I was looking up before, he must have done quite a bit to figure out where I was stepping. That was probably why I could see blue blobs on the floor rather than an outline of my shoe. It probably meant he was fairly certain of where I stepped, but not entirely sure. Maybe I was a little too confident, and I should have asked them to come with me.

  Given the concentration of traps we’d encountered, it seemed plausible they were clustered in one area, and the area we had already passed was safer. However, it was also possible I was utterly wrong, which could be disastrous.

  As I strolled, I stared at the floor, checking if I could see anything. Of course, I couldn’t. All the tiles were different. The ones on the wall were perfect and uniform, but the tiles on the floor had a completely different appearance. I now knew the reason for that was so they could add traps. I hoped that the fact that they were changed would work to my advantage. While looking at all the random tiles, a person like me couldn’t pick out how they were all different, but someone like Rabbit could. That was assuming they were entirely distinct in some uniform way.

  I walked all the way to where we started and back to the group, and Rabbit stayed quiet the entire time. I wasn’t sure if that was because he was trying to figure it out or if there was another reason, but I left him in silence. Meanwhile, Sana pointed out six more traps she had discovered, spaced more sporadically and not in clusters as before, dashing my hopes for finding a simple pattern to exploit.

  After reviewing the cleared tiles and those with traps, I prodded Rabbit to see if he had figured anything out or if we should head back. I must have looked like an idiot, just lost in thought, while the others looked at me, expecting something.

  “Rabbit. What do you have? You figured it out yet?” I whispered in my head, not sure why I was speaking so quietly, as if I was trying to cheat on a test.

  “What? Oh, yes, I sorted that out a while back. Why? What’s up?” Rabbit responded casually.

  “You knew this whole time? And you didn’t tell me?” I shot back, irritated. “I’ve been aimlessly wandering, examining tiles like an idiot.”

  "And you did such a convincing job. I’m proud of you." Rabbit said with a hint of mischief in his tone.

  Rabbit's pranks were childish and annoying. If strangling an AI were possible, Rabbit would be in serious trouble.

  “I guess I let that joke cook long enough. I’ll highlight the traps in red now,” Rabbit said. “Remember, I have to study the tiles really well to see which ones are traps, meaning you’re going to have to stop now and then. Look at the ceiling from time to time, but mostly keep your eyes on the floor. Don’t move too fast, or I might miss one.”

  That was scary. If I moved too quickly, he wouldn’t be able to tell if the tile in front of me was a trap or not. I figured it would slow things down. “Okay, change of plan. You change the tile to blue if it’s safe to step on and red if it’s not,” I suggested for safety. “That way, I know if you know if it’s safe or not.”

  “Ho, ho, ho. Color me surprised, or more accurately, color the tiles surprised. The cockroach had a good idea. Okay, changing it for your first good idea,” Rabbit said with a mix of respect and jest.

  Immediately, tiles around me turned blue, and a few scattered ones turned red. I had already examined this area closely, so I saw about six rows of tiles clearly marked, but beyond that, there were no highlights. I motioned for the others to follow, but they kept a cautious distance, clearly skeptical of my method. I couldn’t blame them. Without Rabbit, this method would seem absurd.

  Reaching the sixth row, my pace dropped to a slow crawl. Rabbit could check each tile in about a second if I were nearby, but from a distance, it took longer. I had to step, wait for the tile to turn blue, then proceed. If a tile turned red, I’d carefully assess the surrounding tiles to find a safe path. This meticulous process significantly slowed our progress.