The whole crowd huddled around Bobby, who was staring at the smooth stone wall.
Then Alan noticed it: Bobby was inspecting a set of runes inscribed on the wall, written in a mystical language and oriented vertically. They were faint and easy to miss, which made Alan wonder if they had overlooked other sets of these runes during their walk along the wall.
Alan leaned in towards the symbols. “What is it, Bobby?”
“I don’t know. I was hoping you had some ideas.”
Danny glided his hand across the runes, feeling its texture. “I don’t think this means anything,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
“How quaint,” Luméos snorted. “In the realm of the gods, a gentle touch can move mountains.”
Bobby exchanged a quick, knowing look with Alan, rolling his eyes dramatically.
But Alan had started to notice a pattern with Luméos’s behavior. “Don’t just ignore him. He might actually be trying to help.”
Mr. Zhao, who had been meticulously eyeing each rune, lifted a finger and pointed it at the top rune; after a moment, the rune glowed red. “In my home we call it ‘Qi.’ And in this world, we can see it. It flows through everything, connecting us, just how my father taught me.”
At that moment, the mood shifted. Soon all ten members of Mr. Zhao’s group had gathered around them. And Alan knew why. He could feel it, but he couldn’t explain it. It was as if Mr. Zhao were sharing confidence, trust, and reliance, and it bonded all of them together. This wasn’t mana or magic. It was the old Chinese man’s demeanor and the way he carried himself—there was a hint of heroism.
Another moment passed and the next rune down glowed orange. And in an instant, the light in both runes faded. “Unfortunately, my spirit is weak.”
“Let me give it a shot.” Alan imitated Zhao’s performance and aimed his mana blast onto the symbols. Instantly, three runes burned bright; red, orange and yellow.
It wasn’t enough; more than half of the runes remained unlit.
Alan shrugged. “I guess my spirit is also weak.”
“I know! Let’s all try it, but like together,” Angie suggested.
Those were Alan’s exact thoughts. He doubted Zhao and him could power up ten runes all by themselves.
Danny shook his head. “Not everyone will be able to help. It seems only people who can project mana are able to activate this contraption.”
“You lot are, perhaps, not as utterly directionless as I initially surmised,” Luméos remarked, strolling away to perch himself atop a nearby boulder.
“Just ignore him,” Bobby said, rolling his eyes. “Danny, you’re onto something. But if channeling mana is the key, then I’m useless here. Mr. Zhao, is anyone else in your group able to help with this?”
“I will participate, of course, and Aurora can help as well,” Mr. Zhao responded, looking toward Aurora for confirmation.
A tough-looking woman with blonde hair, and a variety of animals in the form of tattoos crawling up her arms, joined them in front of the runes.
Alan and Zhao drank a mana potion to top off their resources, and then, along with Aurora, channeled mana onto the mysterious sigils. The first three—red, orange, and yellow—lit up immediately.
He could feel the mana tingling away from his body and energizing the stone wall.
The fourth sigil glowed green.
Half his mana was gone and he had the bad feeling that three mages wouldn’t be enough for this challenge.
Cyan was the color of the fifth sigil.
Shit, at this rate we won’t make it.
Buckets of Sweat rolled down Mr. Zhao’s face as the sixth sigil turned blue. It was at that moment that Alan realized that each sigil required more mana than the last. A lot more. Geometric progression, if he wanted to be technical. Have the other’s noticed?
Aurora looked fresh, probably having more mana than Alan at that point, but Mr. Zhao was undeniably ready to tap out.
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He ran quick mental calculations. The seventh rune went violet.
If the first rune required, let's say, 10 units of mana, and the second required 20, then the third might demand 40, the fourth 80, and so on.
That means by the tenth rune, we'd need twenty times the amount of mana! He feared their collectible mana pools might not even be enough.
Alan wanted to tell them, but he couldn’t speak and steadily pour out the exorbitant amount of mana that the eighth rune required.
His mana went into the red. The eighth rune turned magenta—a mix of red and blue—potentially signifying a return but with increased intensity. Aurora no longer looked collected, and Zhao dropped to one knee.
Relief then washed over Alan, akin to stepping out of a conference room after successfully delivering a presentation to a hundred people. He felt weightless, liberated from an immense burden.
Bobby had swiftly activated his quickdraw alchemy skill, shattering a mana potion at the feet of each of them as he shouted, 'Keep going!'
The elderly man regained his footing, and together, they brought the ninth rune to life, making it glow with an ethereal white light.
But the tenth rune required twice the amount of energy and it had to be channeled twice as fast. Mr. Zhao’s hands started shaking, and soon after he stumbled forward, catching himself on the wall. Zhao stopped. No more mana flowed from him, and the full burden of the required load suddenly fell on Alan, feeling like an elephant had just sat on his spine.
He felt on the verge of passing out, yet he knew he had to give everything he had to mana blast the final sigil. It wouldn’t be enough. He had figured out that these sigils served as a kind of lock, or at least that’s what it seemed like. In the best case, they would act as a door; in the worst case... well, who knew? What he did know was that if they didn’t complete it right then and there, they would have to start over; it would only be harder, and they might not even be able to try again today—considering Bobby was probably down to less than a handful of mana potions, and no one else in the group had any abilities to project raw mana.
Bobby threw another mana potion; this one crashed against his back. Alan felt the wetness on his tattered jacket and then the essence entering his body through his skin, through every pore. It wasn’t as refreshing as the first mana potion Bobby had thrown, but it surely allowed him to release a large-width mana blast from both palms.
Aurora matched Alan’s mana output, but it wasn’t quite enough. Just in time, Bobby hurled yet another mana potion. “Sorry guys, that was my last one.”
Alan and Aurora both released every last ounce of their power, losing consciousness simultaneously.
###
The boundless stone wall rumbled.
Alan woke to the sight of everyone standing around him, but they weren’t paying attention to him.
They stared, wide-eyed, as two rectangular sections of what appeared to be a solid piece of river rock descended into the earth, creating a perfect entrance to the third quadrant.
He tried to stand, but felt woozy and decided to sit still for a few more seconds.
A hand helped him off the ground.
He noticed a tattoo of a rabbit chasing a horse—it was imprinted on Aurora’s hand, who seemed to have recovered more quickly from their ordeal than he had. As it turned out, being out of mana felt strikingly similar to experiencing low blood pressure or even hypoxia.
“I’m guessing we did it?” Elion asked, stretching his head from side to side to loosen a crick in his neck.
“Yeah,” Bobby said, squinting at the opening. “But not gonna lie, it looks kinda sketchy. And I definitely don’t want to go first. And judging by the looks on everyone’s faces, I’m pretty sure no one else is volunteering either. Which, knowing you, means we’re probably gonna end up going first, doesn’t it? Does that about sum up our situation?”
“You’re a genius.”
“Lucky me. I’m so smart that instead of arguing with you for ten minutes about not going in, I’m going to ask you and get this over with. I mean, if there’s no way around it, let’s not waste time.”
He’s mellowed out, he mouthed. Bobby sighed, reluctantly agreeing.
Alan smiled. “Bobby, you’re the best!”
“Sooo, ready to go in?”
“Yeah, let's get our things; we don’t want to lose the sword. Wake up—or ‘untrance’—Luméos, and I’ll tell Aranya to get ready. Actually, I’ll be even more ready once my mana is up.”
"Sorry, but we’re completely out of mana potions. Actually, all types of potions," Bobby clarified, "and we broke all our flasks; breaking them and all. But Mr. Zhao’s group gave us nine empty bottles, they have no use for—Wait a second, you wake up Luméos, and I'll talk to Aranya."
Danny, Angie, Aurora and the rest of their group were discussing with Zhao, who looked painfully tired, the order in which they would venture into the third quadrant. No one wanted to take the first step into the pitch black cave.
It took Alan and Bobby less than thirty seconds to gather things, their party and get ready; they didn’t want the doors close in on them simply because they were too slow.
“Mr. Zhao, we’ll let you know if it’s safe. I’ll be going first, Bobby and Aranya will follow, and hopefully, Luméos will also join?” Alan glanced at the blue god.
“I have made my position abundantly clear; I’ve invested an excessive amount of time in you two. I shall remain steadfastly by your side until I am utterly convinced that you are on a trajectory towards enlightenment. Anything less would be a dereliction of my responsibilities.”
Zhao remained silent for several seconds, then bowed and said, “I could never repay you. Thank you, Alan.”
Alan smirked and stepped into the inky blackness…
[The Serpentine Maze has been discovered.]
[A maximum of (5) lifeforms can initiate the dungeon concurrently. In 30 seconds, your party will be teleported to one of the hearts of the maze. Alternatively, the teleportation will commence immediately once 5 lifeforms have entered the initiation chamber.]
[Maximum Participants: 5]
[Current Participants: 1/5]
“Bobby, Aranya, Luméos, hurry!”