The cave carried the weight of centuries, yet the damp smell of stone and dust that should have clung to every breath was absent. Mirae continued to marvel at how the trial realm achieved this false reality.

She leaned against the bookshelf, her fingers tracing along the spines of yet another supposedly ancient tome while her eyes skimmed words she didn't quite understand. Parts of the text blurred together as her mind drifted to Hector. What was her brother doing now? Was he safe?

Across the room, Pippa hunched over Kar's journal behind the desk. The bright light from the orb filled the space, illuminating the cramped handwriting that covered the pages. The girl's lips moved silently as she absorbed every word, practically revelling in Kar's very existence.

Near the wall, Nyx maintained her post with arms crossed, her blue eyes tracking Pippa's movements with predatory awareness. The shadows thickened around her, drawn to her presence like moths to a flame.

Mirae's gaze shifted to Mrs Strongmail, who had taken on the role of Pippa's organiser. She stacked books and papers Pippa had already reviewed into neat piles, her hands moving with practised efficiency—similar to the precision she'd displayed when butchering the hairless rats. Her gaze occasionally drifted to her daughter, guilt swimming within the stolen glances. Pippa's earlier words still ate at her.

Harry sat in the centre of the room, straight as a nail. His breathing came in measured intervals as the surrounding air stirred. Deep in his cultivation trance, a slight furrow creased his brow, suggesting the practice wasn't progressing smoothly even in such a mana-rich environment. How much progress he'd made wouldn't be clear until he stood.

Eventually, Mirae closed her book with a soft thump. She did not need any more stories about long-forgotten cultivators lauded as heroes of places she'd never heard of and people she would never meet. The exercise felt pointless, and she wished everyone would quicken so they could all move on. Though as her gaze scanned the room, their next direction remained unclear. No direct door led out. Would they need to backtrack?

A moment later, Harry's eyes flickered open, and he yawned, getting to his feet with a stretch. Groaning, he shook his head, his red hair swaying. "That was productive," he said, though his tone suggested he didn't believe his own words.

Mirae raised a brow. "Are you close to making it to Gravity Forging-One?"

Harry reached up and scratched his cheek, chuckling. "Not even close, but—" He froze mid-sentence, his eyes snagging on something. Stepping to the wall, he dropped into a crouch and scratched away at the stone. A moment later, the rock fell away with a soft thud, revealing a strange mechanism.

"How did you just find that?" Confusion bloomed in Mirae's thoughts. He hadn't been conscious for more than a second, yet he'd spotted something.

"It was just shiny," Harry said, looking back at her. "It kind of came out of nowhere."

Mirae pushed off the bookshelf, her boots scraping against the floor as she crossed to Harry. He continued brushing away pieces of rock, revealing a larger structure beneath.

Pippa looked up from her journal and frowned. She stood, rounded the desk, and made her way over with the journal clutched to her chest. Mrs Strongmail followed behind her.

When Harry finished scraping away the remaining rock wall, he revealed a circular device just larger than a dinner plate. Its surface bore strange symbols that gleamed in the orb light.

"These markings and symbols—" Harry pressed a finger against them.

"Don't touch them!" Pippa snapped, stepping close and slapping his hand away.

He let out a snarl, rubbing the back of his hand and shaking his head.

Catching her breath, Pippa leaned in. "I've seen these before, though not in this exact detail." She rested the journal on her knee and peeled it open, flicking frantically through pages until she found something. Her finger stabbed at the page. "Kar refers exactly to this diagram, and from these drawings, these symbols hold quite a similarity." She snapped her attention to her mother. "Mum, earlier I gave you a page with drawings like this on it. I don't know if you read it, but it discussed fundamental atrophy."

Mrs Strongmail frowned for a moment before her eyes widened. She nodded, scurried to her pile, and picked through it until she found what she needed. She rushed back over and handed the paper to Pippa, who smiled upon taking it.

Mirae studied the device embedded in the wall. The symbols formed concentric circles. Each one appeared pushable, and she didn't doubt that rotating it was possible as well. Strange, but then again, all the doors they'd encountered so far defied convention. Another puzzle, then.

"What is it?" Nyx asked from behind.

Pippa nodded as she continued reading. "A lock," she responded without peeling her attention from the notes, her fingers running across the words. Then, she raised the book and tried to match the symbols within it to the ones on the device, making connections Mirae couldn't follow—not just the symbols themselves, but what they represented.

"What are we supposed to do with it?" Mrs Strongmail stepped closer, peering at the mechanism with scepticism.

Pippa glanced at her mother before turning back to the mechanism, her jaw tightening as determination coloured her features. "The puzzle? I believe it represents Kar's journey. It represents his finding his own way, separate from Tolden's. Really separate from what anyone else expected of him." She sighed, brushing a finger across the journal's pages. Her voice gained strength as she continued. "Kar never followed what we consider a traditional path. He forged his own."

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Setting the journal down, Pippa's gaze flickered with a reverence that unnerved Mirae a little—though she supposed it wasn't exactly a bad thing. Not yet, anyway.

Pippa's fingers moved to the mechanism and grabbed the outermost circle, turning it. The metal moved smoothly. They clicked into place like falling dominoes. She adjusted another piece, then another, following a pattern Mirae didn't quite understand. A glance at the book suggested Pippa was following some predetermined method Kar had laid out for her. The scrawl and scribbles certainly proved as much.

After a minute, nothing happened.

Mirae watched Pippa's shoulders sag, disappointment flooding her features as her gaze flickered to the book with confusion. "Why didn't it work?" she muttered, shifting slightly.

Soon after, determination reasserted its grip over her. Pippa plucked up the journal again, pages flying as she flipped through it with intensity, her eyes scanning the text, searching, hunting for some overlooked detail. Mirae debated offering help, but what did she know about puzzles like this? Formations like this? This was hardly a simple jigsaw puzzle with four pieces and a picture to guide you.

"There has to be something." Pippa's voice snagged Mirae from her thoughts. The pages continued to turn, one after another, the sound filling the silence.

Eventually, her fingers stopped on a passage near the middle of the journal. "This is it, this phrase. Kar repeats it several times throughout his journal. 'The path less travelled brings the greatest reward.' He wouldn't repeat it if it weren't significant."

Harry coughed into his hand, shifting his weight. "So, does that mean something for the puzzle?"

Pippa's eyes narrowed, and her gaze shifted to the mechanism again. "I arranged the symbols following Kar's basic teachings. These are things any cultivator would pay attention to. The fundamentals." She paused. "But maybe that's the wrong approach." Reaching out, she let her hand hover over the device briefly. "Kar never followed tradition. Even if he had outlined it as such, he still would have sought a unique route."

Her fingers moved with new purpose, tracing circles in patterns different from before. She moved pieces that looked wrong, creating an almost asymmetrical shape as the circles shifted and jostled against each other. To Mirae, it was like watching someone do a jigsaw puzzle but deliberately forming only half a picture. Confusing, to say the least.

Eventually, the mechanism clicked.

A low hum emerged from the device, and light bloomed from within—pale blue and radiant. It spread across the circles, flooding through the symbols like a small river, tracing a pattern until the entire mechanism blazed with illumination. The wall shuddered, stone grinding against stone, and a deep rumbling vibrated through Mirae's bones. With a sharp crack, a section of wall peeled apart, darkness spilling out beyond the room.

The darkness lasted only a moment. Light spilt up from the floor of the passage, forming a luminous pathway that stretched deeper into the newly opened tunnel. The glow pulsed gently, calling them to follow.

"Oh, my gosh!" Mrs Strongmail's voice cracked. "You did it, Pippa!" She grabbed her daughter's shoulder, pride filling her eyes—as if the woman hadn't fully realised until now how smart her own daughter was.

Harry cheered and nodded to himself. Even Nyx, who still eyed Pippa with some frustration, had her expression soften. Though she quickly refocused on the door, perhaps wanting to leave as quickly as possible to rescue Emela.

Meanwhile, Pippa stared at the passage, her chest rising and falling as she took rapid breaths. Victory mingled with confusion in her eyes. "I actually did it!"

Mirae stepped beside her friend, letting her hand rest on Pippa's shoulder. "That's good. I was kind of getting bored in here." Taking a glance around the room, she added, "Do you think we can get going? I kind of want to see where this leads. Hopefully, out of this sub-realm."

They spent the next few moments gathering their belongings. Pippa clutched Kar's journal as if it were the most important thing in the world. Harry scuttled around the room, collecting the books Mrs Strongmail had organised and stuffing them into a pack they'd found stuffed into a corner.

Once they were ready, Mirae's puppet took point, with Nyx following behind and Mirae's other two puppets bringing up the rear. They walked through the illuminated passage with cautious steps, uncertain whether something would leap out and attack them at any moment.

The glowing trail wound through a tunnel that had perhaps not seen light in centuries—or ever, depending on how the Trial realm formed. Stone walls pressed close on either side, rough and uneven. Their path climbed steadily upward.

They climbed higher with each step. Mirae pushed forward, her legs burning with the incline as they followed the puppet and Nyx. Only the Great Lake knew where this path would take them.

Moments later, as they continued to climb, the air changed. Fresh air replaced the stale cave atmosphere, carrying hints of growing things and warm earth. A wind whispered through the tunnel, its strength growing as they climbed ever higher.

Then came a faint sound, different from anything they'd heard so far. Metal clashing against metal, the ringing of iron on iron. A reverberating roar shook the tunnel—not the roar of a creature, though. No, it sounded almost artificial. Furious, loud enough to send pebbles skittering down the path, but artificial all the same. Faint shouts echoed through the tunnel, human voices raised in fear or battle fury.

"There seems to be conflict ahead," Nyx said, glancing over her shoulder, her body tense as if preparing to sprint out of the tunnel at any moment. "We must be getting nearer to the tower. I can't imagine there'd be a reason for that much noise otherwise."

The tunnel brightened ahead, natural light mixing with the magical glow of the pathway. Mirae's heart hammered against her ribs. A moment later, they emerged from the darkness into blinding daylight.

Before them, just past a line of trees, a battlefield sprawled. People scattered across the torn earth, tree stumps left behind in the wake of some colossal force. Men and women charged with weapons raised, facing a guardian made of stone and wood that towered over them all.

The creature stood at least three times the height of a normal person, its body massive and threatening. Every movement sent tremors through the ground. Its artificial roar split the air again as a group of mana cultivators scattered before a sweeping arm that could snap them like a twig.

Behind the creature, the tower rose, piercing the sky like a dark finger pointing toward the heavens.

Mirae's breath caught in her throat. They'd made it out of Kar's puzzle room only to walk straight onto a battlefield.

This was beyond predictable. Mirae's legs locked, her body refusing to move from where it had rooted. She briefly considered turning back, back to the cave. Could she really fight something like that? Something so huge?

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.