Directive 9: Arithmetic Answer (Hints & Answer)

Hint first (no full spoiler): The rule card is showing you a math problem. Multiply first, then subtract, and put the result somewhere in your password.

Directive 9 opens Act II. The Vault Security Committee has decided that vault access now requires light mathematics. The rule card shows a problem in the form a x b - c, and your password must contain the answer. The Committee grades silently. Wrong numbers are stamped DENIED.

The full solution

Order of operations applies. Multiply first, then subtract:

1. Read the problem off the rule card, for example 7 x 8 - 12.
2. Multiply: 7 x 8 = 56.
3. Subtract: 56 - 12 = 44.
4. Type 44 anywhere in the password. The digits do not need to be adjacent to anything special, they just need to appear as a contiguous pair in order.

The answer is always a two-digit number, so you are adding exactly two digits to your password. Example fragments that pass:

• Fern44otto (answer 44 tucked between a plant and a palindrome)
• chad!44 (landlocked country plus the answer)
• 44Nepal2% (answer up front)

The problem is randomized each run, so do not copy someone else’s answer. In Daily mode, everyone gets the same seeded problem, which is the one place a shared answer works.

What breaks later

The two digits you just added are not free. They feed directly into Directive 8, which demands that the digit sum of your whole password stays a perfect square. An answer of 44 adds 8 to your digit sum. An answer of 91 adds 10. If Directive 8 flips to DENIED the moment you type the answer, adjust your other digits to land back on a square (1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36…).

Two more downstream notes:

• Directive 11 accepts digit palindromes. If your rule 9 answer happens to be a double digit like 44 or 77, you are already halfway to a palindrome: extend it (4444) or wrap it (1441 style) and satisfy two directives with one cluster.
• Directive 13 will add another required number later in the act. Keep your digits grouped so you can audit the digit sum quickly when new numbers arrive.

The Committee recommends double-checking your subtraction. Fern the seedling has seen many otherwise qualified applicants perish over an off-by-one.

Stuck on a different directive? Browse all 30 rule guides or return to the vault. Fern believes in you.