"So we gonna talk about what Ben did to my light spell?" Malcolm asked as we jogged through the tunnels.

  We'd been moving for several minutes now, our footsteps echoing off stone walls while Malcolm's floating orb bobbed behind us, casting dancing shadows ahead.

  "No clue what I did, but I definitely want to try it again." I glanced back at the light. "Feel any different?"

  "Takes more mana to keep it going," Malcolm said, adjusting his grip on his staff. "But not as much as I'd expect if it had something to do with healing. Didn't know light could heal anything."

  I turned to study the floating orb, feeling concepts radiating from it that hadn't been there before. The sensation hit me in waves.

  I had mistaken what I’d seen for Dawn, but it was something else. Valor hadn't just enhanced the spell. It had transformed illumination into something else entirely.

  Aurora.

  Then I slammed face-first into solid stone.

  The impact sent me sprawling, stars exploding across my vision as I hit the ground hard. We weren't exactly sprinting, but Malcolm's version of jogging was still faster than most people ran on Earth.

  Cass's laughter echoed off the walls. Even Malcolm cracked a smile as I blinked away the pain.

  "Aren't you the one with the fancy aura?" Malcolm asked. "How'd you miss a door?"

  "He didn't fucking miss it!" Cass wheezed, leaning against the wall for support.

  "For fuck’s sake, I was trying to figure out how that light worked." I sat up, rubbing my nose. "Oh. That's a big door."

  Massive was more accurate. The doors could've stopped a tank—solid metal reinforced with enough magical bullshit to make them practically indestructible. Dead center sat a perfect circle of sand, about a meter across, floating horizontally against gravity.

  The sight was bizarre enough that I reached out before thinking, running my finger through the grains. They shifted around my touch, then immediately filled the gap when I pulled away.

  "Probably shouldn't have touched that," I said, watching the sand resettle with eerie precision.

  Malcolm shrugged. "Better you than me. But how's sand just floating there? I don't sense any runic concepts. And these symbols..."

  He gestured to the several carvings around the sand circle. Letters that spelled nothing coherent, no matter which way we tilted our heads. They looked almost like Roman numerals.

  "Doesn't spell anything," I muttered, studying the I's, V's, and X's. "Do people here use letters as numbers?"

  Malcolm shook his head. "How would letters be numbers? That's the weirdest thing I've heard since your Paladin thing."

  "No, look—this one's three, one, four, one... five." I pointed at each symbol, and suddenly everything clicked. A circle of floating sand surrounded by those specific numbers... "Holy shit."

  "What?" Cass asked.

  I was already moving, tracing my finger through the sand again. This time, instead of random patterns, I carefully drew the Greek letter pi.

  The symbol held for a heartbeat before the sand began its inevitable reset…

  Then everything changed.

  Sand drained through the circle with a sound like an hourglass in reverse. Massive gears clanked inside the door as the entire thing pivoted on a central axis.

  "What the fuck did you do?" Malcolm scrambled backward as the door swung open.

  "It was actually pi?" I grinned despite the situation.

  "What do you mean pie?" Cass perked up. Red's ears twitched at the word too.

  "Not food pie—pi, the mathematical constant." The implications were already spinning through my head. Most numerical notation on Ark was completely alien to me. But Roman numerals? And now this? "It's a number that shows up in circles and—never mind."

  Finally, something on this world made sense. Not only had I figured out Valor's trick with Malcolm's spell, but we'd just opened what looked like an ancient sealed section.

  “Unless it's full of monsters,

  "Shut up, Ted," I said aloud. "It was sealed. Why would there be monsters?"

  Cass chuckled. "Hi Ted!"

  "Tell her I said hi!

  Mana hit me like a physical force—dense, organized, exactly like entering a tower. Behind us, the door swiveled shut with finality.

  "Ominous," I said, but the word died as lights blazed to life ahead. Brilliant lines traced between perfectly fitted tiles, creating a five-meter-square tunnel that stretched into darkness. After Malcolm's orb, the excessive brightness was jarring.

  Malcolm released his spell, and I felt an unexpected surge as mana flowed back into me. Whatever I'd done to augment his light was returning energy with interest, forcing my pathways to branch and adapt.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  The enhancement had somehow generated mana.

  We moved deeper, Red's nose working overtime while we kept weapons ready. I pushed Valor out as far as I could. The results were strange—nothing beyond the walls, like they were specifically designed to contain magical perception. My awareness could stretch only forward and backward along the corridor.

  "This feels exactly like a tower," Malcolm said, voicing my thoughts. "We were heading toward the city in those tunnels. I've never seen anything like this."

  Cass ran her palm along the smooth wall. "Same. I've lived on La-Roc my whole life. A breach into the pathways is supposed to be impossible—a Class-B monster couldn't break through. No one's found entrances that weren't already mapped."

  Red stopped suddenly, looking back at me with confusion.

  , he sent through our bond.

  Cass caught some of the communication. "You recognize something?" She turned to me with concern. "Nothing dangerous?"

  I shook my head. "Not yet. But my aura's pretty useless for traps. Stay sharp."

  After twenty minutes of walking straight with a gradual downward slope, the corridor opened up.

  The antechamber stole my breath.

  Hundreds of bridges reached across a massive chasm from other entrances, all converging on a pristine white tower at the center. The space felt ancient and purposeful—a hub designed by someone who understood architecture and magic on a scale I couldn't comprehend.

  We crossed our bridge toward the central tower, and something about it felt unmistakably safe. It beckoned with the same sanctuary energy as the Monster Hunter tower.

  Halfway across, Red froze, ears swiveling.

  "We're definitely in a spirit realm, right?" I asked, turning to gauge their reactions.

  They were gone.

  My heart dropped. I spun in a complete circle—the bridge stretched empty in both directions.

  A roar erupted from below, shaking the entire structure. Pulses of radiant light raced through the bridge as something cold invaded my mind.

  INTERLOPER!

  The word hit like a sledgehammer, freezing my muscles mid-motion. I forced myself to turn, fighting the compulsion, and found Gary centimeters away. His usual smirk had been replaced by genuine concern.

  He reached out, and just as my body locked completely under that crushing willpower, the world dissolved.

  Gary's concern hadn't faded as I found myself in a meditation room. Cushioned seating circled the space, and a gentle melody drifted through the air. Windows offered views of an endless ocean stretching to the horizon.

  Valor still spread around me, but this space lacked the overwhelming safety of normal tower rooms. Something felt different.

  "How..." Gary started, then reconsidered. "How do Terrans know that alphabet? And those numbers? How did you even find that door?"

  I expected to struggle against whatever that Soulcry had done, but the paralysis had vanished completely.

  "Are Cass and Malcolm safe?" I asked first.

  "Of course, Aspirant. They're experiencing mild confusion and enjoying refreshments on the eleventh floor."

  Relief washed through me. Gary might enjoy his games, but he had a protective streak underneath the mischief.

  "We found the door in a monster nest," I explained. "A Goreback Hydra, but corrupted. Like that Hollowflame business in Sylvarus. It broke through into the Old Pathways—Cass said that should be impossible."

  Gary's expression grew contemplative.

  "As for the numbers and pi..." I shrugged. "That's basic math on Earth. Every kid learns it in school."

  Ripples raced across the ocean outside. The windows trembled.

  "I see," Gary said slowly. "Alan'dara briefed me about this Hollowflame corruption. That something similar to what destroyed Gu Li was so close to that entrance is... concerning." His expression turned serious. "I owe you a debt of karma."

  I waved him off. "Just doing my job, Gary. You gave us the assignment."

  "I'm aware. But this changes much, especially since you possess the knowledge to open that door." He stared through the window, then his familiar grin returned as he tugged his mustache. "I haven't bent the rules in so long... perhaps karma will allow it."

  My stomach lurched. Suddenly I stood outside the tower on alabaster stone, but not where I expected. The massive structure rose before me while behind, a wall of water thundered down, soaking me with spray.

  The waterfall wasn't solid—a gap led straight into the cascade.

  "Gary?" I called, suddenly aware I couldn't feel Red through our bond.

  The separation lasted seconds before Red came rocketing through empty air, launching himself at full sprint through an invisible barrier. He crashed into me hard enough to send us both tumbling.

  No warning from Valor, but it didn't matter. Red's tongue assault was immediate and thorough.

  Fear tinged the memory he sent.

  "Okay, okay!" I laughed, shoving the increasingly heavy dog off me. Was he getting bigger? Or just fatter from all the carbs?

  "We're supposed to go through there," I said, pointing at the waterfall path. Red was already soaked, radiating wet dog smell—awful and comforting at the same time.

  He shook himself off, spraying me with even more water, then grinned like he'd accomplished something spectacular.

  "You really love water, don't you?" His grin widened impossibly. "Alright, Gary wants to show us something."

  , Red sent smugly.

  I laughed, remembering how he'd pestered Dara during the tournament. The dog was persistent.

  We walked through the wall of water. The waterfall continued around us, no ceiling visible, just endless cascading walls. The water itself glowed softly, illuminating the stone path.

  The sound was overwhelming—constant thunder that made conversation impossible. We walked for minutes through this tunnel of light and noise until the pathway opened into an enormous domed chamber.

  The waterfall sealed behind us, cutting off our exit.

  Murals covered every surface, blazing with color and life. The first showed a serpentine dragon—green and blue scales that seemed to shimmer—locked in combat with a massive black praying mantis. The insectoid creature raised scythe arms to strike, but the dragon's scales had been inlaid with something glossy that reflected light, making it appear alive.

  The next scene depicted the same dragon wrapped around a red and yellow wyvern that smoldered with iridescent flames. The detail was incredible—I could almost feel heat from the painted fire.

  "Like a comic book," I muttered. Red tilted his head, studying each scene with unusual focus.

  Each mural chronicled the dragon's battles against increasingly menacing creatures. At the far end, we reached the last scene—darker, more somber. It showed the dragon's death at the hands of a shifting gray oval covered in unmistakable blue fractals.

  My blood turned cold.

  The Shi'an. The Caretakers.

  "Holy shit," I breathed, touching the painted surface. This was the first representation I’d seen of what had torn me from Earth. I still couldn't remember how I'd gotten into that room.

  The moment my fingers made contact, the chamber vibrated. Stone ground against stone as a spiral walkway rose from the floor's center.

  I sighed, looking at Red, who'd already bounded over to investigate.

  "Perfect," I said as he bolted up the pathway. "Wouldn't be the lobby without stairs."

  We emerged onto a rocky outcropping jutting out over the endless ocean. A smooth path led toward the highest point, offering a spectacular view—ocean to the horizon under pristine clouds, so perfect it looked painted.

  Something hovered in the distance above the water. At first, it looked like a vertical helix, but it began moving. Twisting, rotating, angling toward us.

  One end had a head. A massive, ancient head.

  The dragon from the murals. Very much alive.

  A shockwave erupted from the creature, rippling across the water. When it hit, concepts slammed into my mind:

  I hit the stone hard, gasping as Valor flickered against the foreign presence. But instead of being snuffed out, my aura merged with something infinitely larger—a candle flame joining a bonfire.

  When I sat up, the dragon had fully turned toward us. I couldn’t even gauge how big it was or how far away, yet I felt its attention like a physical weight. My body shivered under the sheer magnitude of power.

  Those impossibly enormous eyes fixed on me, piercing straight through to my soul.

  And then the dragon advanced.