Maze Fan: I opened a buffet in the maze

(Post it first, and add more later! I want to code as much as I can today!)

"came back?"

"I'm back..."

In the dwarven meeting hall, Fan Wei, who had just returned from the Molten Crypt, was silent. Irene, with a frosty face, sat at the long square table, glancing around, looking angry.

All around were dwarf elders staggering around with wine glasses in their arms.

In the somewhat depressing atmosphere, Yunxin laughed out loud while holding a cup, jumped in front of Fan Wei, and patted his shoulder.

"Boss, are you going to a costume party? This caveman suit is so cool! Super wild and stylish!"

"Uh...Are you okay?" Looking at the girl with a red face who was obviously drunk, Fan Wei said worriedly, "I told you not to drink so much."

"No, it's okay."

Lady Yunxin raised her head proudly, "There's nothing we can do. The dwarf grandfathers are so enthusiastic! But they are too lame. They fell down before they finished a few buckets."

The surrounding dwarven elders groaned in frustration, clearly still wanting to fight again, but it was too late to save the situation.

The girl pointed at herself, swaying and proud, "I can still drink more...!"

With a hum, she also fell to the side. Irene used magic to levitate Yunxin and put her on a chair, giving Fan Wei a look that said I'll deal with you when I get home.

The dwarf scholar Master Soma took out a small bag and fed medicine to the elders one by one.

"The pills made from needle moss and parala grass can help people sober up, but they will make the throat sore for three days. The elders must get up and make a decision. I won't give it to Miss Yunxin."

Fan Wei gave a thumbs up, and when he saw that the mirror images of Yunxin, Chloro, and Her Royal Highness the Princess had disappeared, he knew that Master Soma's research was successful.

"Thanks to Ms. Irene's help, the operating rules of the Shadow Crystal were cracked."

The elders who had been force-fed the suspicious pills woke up with a roar, and were shocked to see Fan Wei and the other clan leaders.

"How is it, was the brewing experiment successful?"

"All preparations have been made. We are just waiting for the wine to be aged in the aging bracelet." Chief Emerald presented a brass bracelet, which was a secret treasure that the dwarves had selected during their maze adventures, specifically for brewing wine.

It contains a space as big as a house, and time inside flows at 30 times the speed of real time.

More than a dozen fire lizards are undergoing magical transformations in it. With the help of accelerated reaction magic, they can complete the brewing of blood wine, which would take more than a month, in just a few hours.

"Great, may the mountain bless you, we must succeed!"

The dwarves had almost finished their last supply of wine, and although it was a great pleasure, if there was no new wine, they would not even be able to perform the etiquette of entertaining guests, which would be a heavy blow to the dignity of the dwarves.

Shaking their heads to free their thoughts from the alcohol, the elders asked questions about the miners again.

Master Soma took out the crystal core and saw that its luster had dimmed a lot and it no longer had the mysterious and noble feeling it had before.

"We have deciphered the crystal's operating mechanism. In fact, we have turned it around like a mirror, and have released everyone's souls."

"But there are still many questions that have not been answered. Ms. Irene, the great magician of the Sage Tower, has put forward her opinion."

"This crystal may be just a small part of a much larger whole."

"Huh?" Not only the elders, but also the clan leaders, Fan Wei, and Her Royal Highness the Princess all showed surprised expressions, "Such a magical and strange thing is just a fragment?"

"That's right." Irene flew up from the rectangular table.

After being purified into a fairy form, she already has the natural ability to fly, so this gives her a slight height advantage, which can't be considered cheating.

"While you were amazed at its function and mechanism, have you ever thought about its actual purpose? To seal a person's soul into a crystal, and create a replica, tentatively called a mirror body, to occupy the original body."

"It looks like a seizure, but the replica does not actually possess the nature of a true soul, and is not threatening at all."

The magic lady pushed up her glasses and said, "From just one point, I can't tell anything, but this crystal has a second function."

"Gender change?" Fan Wei interjected, acting like a good student.

Irene glanced at him, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, "I am quite curious about what the 'other' you looks like, but yes, the crystal will create a disguise for the sealed soul."

"This is obviously a superfluous action. Why bother putting on a layer of 'makeup' on a captured soul?"

"So the conclusion is very obvious. The function of this crystal is actually to deceive something and keep the soul inside!"