The deeper Arthur and his group ventured into the floating island, the quieter everything became. And after walking for nearly half an hour, they reached a vast clearing near the centre of the island and stopped.
At the center of it stood a massive obelisk, easily fifty meters tall, glowing faintly with soft white light. It looked ancient yet immaculate, its smooth surface unmarred by time. What made it truly mesmerizing, though, were the runes, etched across its length like veins of light. Each rune emitted a strange glow, forming complex, interlocking geometries that twisted and folded upon themselves.
Around the obelisk were dozens of explorers, humans, elves, demons, dragons and beast-kin alike sitting in quiet concentration. Some were meditating, with their eyes closed and brows furrowed, while others stared intensely at the runes as if trying to decode them, which they actually were.
Finn's voice broke the silence. "Okay… this thing looks way too odd to be placed in the middle of nowhere."
Arthur's gaze lingered on the obelisk, his eyes narrowing as reflections of the runes danced across his pupils. "It's probably placed there by whoever created this orchard."
Selene stepped beside him, her golden eyes scanning the intricate rune matrix etched on the surface of the obelisk. The faint breeze stirred her hair, making her look ethereal against the white glow from the obelisk. "I think the runes on that obelisk are the same kind used in the barriers around those fruit trees," she said thoughtfully. "If we can comprehend them, we might learn how to bypass the shields."
Arthur glanced at her and nodded slightly. "Makes sense, it's like a key to the whole mechanism."
Eva twirled a lock of her hair as she looked around. "Well, that explains why there are so many people here. Everyone's probably trying to do the same thing."
Leon nodded, "Which also means we're not getting any closer to those fruits until we figure this out."
Arthur gestured toward an empty area near the base of the obelisk. "Let's find a spot, and try to comprehend the rune matrix."
The group walked over and sat down among the scattered explorers. The closer they got, the stronger the mana pressure became. It wasn't oppressive, just… dense, as if the obelisk was quietly breathing mana in and out like a living being.
Arthur watched a few others work. Some had their hands pressed against the surface, their mana swirling around them. The runes reacted faintly to contact, glowing brighter wherever anyone touched them. But no one seemed to make real progress.
"Seems like you have to interact with it directly," Arthur murmured.
Selene nodded. "It's not an unknown method of learning things, even in our kingdom there are ways techniques are recorded, where it needs to be comprehended through resonance. You need to sync your mana with it."
Arthur waited patiently as others took turns and used their mana to scan the obelisk. After a few minutes, a spot cleared. He walked up to it and placed his palm against the smooth surface of the obelisk. The second his mana flowed into it, his vision warped.
He wasn't just seeing the runes anymore, it was as if he was inside them.
Thousands of luminous threads coiled and wove through the air, overlapping and merging into an enormous three-dimensional structure. Layers upon layers of energy constructs rotated in synchrony, forming something that looked less like magic, and more like an algorithm created by gods.
The sword spirit who was silent till now said in an unusually serious tone, 'Lad try to at least memorise the runes in its entirety if it is possible, it would help you immensely in the future. The rune matrix is not as simple as you guys have guessed, it is not just a key to the barrier surrounding those fruit trees.'
Arthur was puzzled and asked, 'What do you mean by that? Does it have a secret behind it?'
The sword spirit said, 'It would be easy to bypass the shields, if you understand the first layer of the rune matrix. But the true reward lies in the core of the matrix, it is related to godhood, that is all I can tell you now.'
Arthur had a thoughtful expression on his face. 'I didn't know there was such a secret behind this obelisk…'
Behind his calm face, his mind was racing. He could tell that the rune structure wasn't that simple, it folded inward into higher dimensions. What looked simple from the outside was a maze of self-replicating loops and energy channels on the inside.
A few moments later he withdrew his mana from the obelisk and sat some distance away from it to let the others use it; he had memorised the whole structure of the rune matrix and its energy pathways due to his eidetic memory. If others knew of this they would cough up blood due to anger as they had been trying to remember the structure of the rune matrix for a few hours but were unable to due to its extremely complex structure.
Arthur then sent the data to the Guardian AI of SOH. 'Analyze the rune matrix,' he said mentally. 'I want a full breakdown.'
The AI responded almost immediately, [Affirmative Commander. Warning: The rune structure's complexity exceeds known parameters, but it is possible to decipher the outer structure. Estimated decryption time is 34 minutes, 22 seconds.]
Arthur frowned slightly but nodded, he somewhat expected it, as the AI was not made to complete these kinds of tasks, and he himself had to comprehend it to reap its true benefits.
While the AI worked, he began studying the structure manually. He traced how the runes linked to one another, how each line pulled mana from the air and funneled it inward toward a hidden core. It was beautiful in its logic, like an ecosystem of energy, perfectly self-sustaining.
As the minutes passed, the group settled down behind him. Finn leaned against a rock, frowning as he squinted at the obelisk. "I don't know how you guys are seeing anything. It's just a white stone."
Sophia gave him a flat look. "That's because you're not using mana sense and just staring really hard." Finn sighed and repeatedly tried to sense the rune matrix.
…
"It's a regenerative barrier," Arthur muttered after a while, mostly to himself. "The matrix draws mana from the atmosphere to sustain itself. The more you try to damage it, the more it consumes mana from the surrounding, and it even grows stronger the longer it stays active."
Selene tilted her head. "So it's like an adaptive defense mechanism. That's why the trees were invulnerable."
Arthur nodded. "Exactly. It may appear simple in theory, but replicating it is extremely difficult without understanding every energy pathway of this matrix and how it works, though we don't need to replicate it." What he didn't mention was that it was just the outer layer, to comprehend the core of the rune matrix would take decades even for a genius.
Leon exhaled softly. "No wonder everyone's been stuck here."
Eva folded her legs and looked at the obelisk thoughtfully. "If this is a test, then maybe it's not about copying it like Arthur said. Maybe we can bypass the barrier by understanding the flow of mana and applying it to our body."
Selene gave a small smile. "You guessed it correctly, but even that is not easy to comprehend."
That thought made Finn downcast, as it appears he was the only one who was unable to even sense the whole rune matrix. "Great. And I can't even see the runes properly."
Arthur said quietly. "You probably should try a few times." As he understood not everyone has the same lever of comprehension, for some it takes just a bit of time to grasp a concept.
Finn nodded and focused on the obelisk, as they lapsed into silence again, each of them focusing in their own way. The longer they sat there, the more they began to feel subtle waves of resonance passing through their bodies.
Arthur closed his eyes and started to comprehend the runes, and nearly half an hour passed. The clearing remained quiet except for the faint sound of breathing. Some of the other explorers eventually gave up, frustrated by the complexity, and went towards a different part of the island.
Arthur remained seated, his eyes were half-open, completely absorbed in the runes. The Guardian AI's voice finally said.
[Commander, partial decryption has been completed. The rune matrix is used to build a dual-core barrier construct. Its primary core is for defense. And its secondary core is for energy resonance and energy absorption. The latter may respond to specific mana frequencies.]
Arthur nodded as it was the same conclusion he arrived at. "Energy Resonance… that might be what Selene was talking about."
Selene looked at Arthur, seeing him muttering to himself. "What are you mulling over?"
Arthur stood up, brushing dust off his coat. "Meaning your guess is correct, whoever built this left a way in. We just need to find the right frequency, and the fruit trees will be accessible."
Selene nodded as she too had comprehended the same thing from the rune matrix, and figured out the exact frequency to bypass the barriers.
Suddenly Selene's eyes snapped toward the sky, her expression hardening instantly. "Arthur…"
He felt it too, a strong presence had just landed on the island. He turned toward the horizon and sensed the aura of three presences approaching the island and one of them was extremely strong.
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Well… looks like we've got company."
Finn's hand twitched toward his sword. "Please tell me they are enemies."
Selene's voice was calm, but she was already trying to suppress her aura as she didn't want them to recognize her when she was with Arthur and the others as it would put them in unnecessary danger.
Up until now she didn't suppress her aura by much except the time when they entered this pocket realm as she was mostly travelling with Arthur's group, or no one present here who knew her. "It's Prince Roderic, from one of the three dragon kingdoms."
Arthur sighed under his breath, since those powerful people arrived. They would most likely try to take all the resources here, they need to hurry and take whatever they could and leave the island.
He looked back toward the obelisk, it was now useless to him as he had already memorised the rune matrix. He then looked at his friends and said. "Alright, everyone keep your guard up but don't move rashly. We will take whatever we can and leave this place."
Selene's lips pressed into a thin line. "I'll deal with Roderic if it comes to it."
Arthur gave her a look. "You sure?"
She smiled faintly, the air around her rippling with pressure. "Trust me." Arthur nodded, as he too could help her if a fight broke out, but before that he would have to help his friends leave this place.
The group quietly left the area and started running towards the orchard, as three powerful auras broke through the clouds overhead, descending toward the clearing like falling stars.
***
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