The current lasted for what felt like an eternity, but was, in reality, just over an hour.
During this time, Lassim’s broken nose bled into the surrounding water, and he suffered a concussion from the initial impact against the wall.
When the current finally subsided, Lassim floated against the wall almost lifelessly, gasping for breath. The broken nose and the squeezing pressure had made it extremely difficult to filter the water mana to keep up the breathing. It was suffocating.
After a moment of catching up on the depleted oxygen within him, he quickly created an air bubble around his head and pulled out a healing potion from his supplies in his whale hide magic pouch.
Drinking it slowly, he felt the warm, soothing liquid mend his broken bones and reduce some of the dizziness from his addled mind.
Lassim pressed his hand against his newly mended nose, sore to the touch as the healing potion was still working.
The concussion had left him disoriented, but the potion’s effects were steady, gradually restoring his clarity. He floated in the water, breathing deeply and allowing himself a moment of respite.
"[I need to be more alert in case that happens again,]" he thought. "[That was unexpected to say the least.]"
After a few more minutes of rest, Lassim turned his attention back to the rune on the wall.
He floated in front of it, studying its intricate patterns and the way it seemed to pulse with water mana. The lines were delicate, forming a complex ’S’ shaped symbol that held a sense of profound power.
He focused on the rune, committing every detail to memory. The fine lines, the way the water flowed through the symbol, and the subtle energy it radiated.
He spent hours in this quiet dead end corner of the maze, lost in the study of the rune, feeling the connection between his own water mana and the symbol.
Confident that he had memorized it fully, Lassim decided to attempt recreating the rune with his own water mana just to make sure he had it right to try and put it into the door later.
He still wasn’t sure how to fully unlock the door, but he assumed he might have to recreate them one by one at the door later. It was best to practice and make sure he had it correct with the symbol still in front of him.
He extended his hand, channeling his energy carefully. Slowly but surely, he began to draw the rune in the water, creating each line with a slow and precise tempo.
The process was painstaking as his entire attention was sucked into the creation of the rune’s lines and shape. He felt part of his spirit sense being drained slowly as time went on.
For thirty minutes, he maintained intense focus, ensuring every stroke was perfect.
Finally, as his finger conjured up the last bit of water mana, the rune he manifested began to hold its shape, glowing softly in the water in front of him.
It then began to resonate with the rune on the wall, both symbols pulsed with an intense azure light.
The rune on the wall suddenly detached itself from the wall heading straight for his creation. The two runes merged, doubling in size and brilliance, before unexpectedly shooting straight towards Lassim’s chest.
He felt a rush of energy as the rune magically bypassed his body and organs, appearing directly inside his heart world.
Inside his heart world, the rune split back into two identical symbols.
One shot like a shooting star forward, landing directly on Marinelle’s forehead, floating between her two dragon koi horns.
The other went a separate direction and floated over to the space above the Soul Crystal next to the ice dragon’s soul statue from his [Grand Aegis] technique.
Lassim felt the presence of the rune inside his heart world but didn’t notice any immediate changes.
Concerned for Mari, he moved his spirit sense and reached out to her. She appeared to be in a daze, her eyes closed as she absorbed something from the rune floating between her horns.
"[Mari, are you okay?]" Lassim asked, his mental voice filled with worry.
Mari slowly opened her eyes, her expression calm. "[I’m fine. The rune… it’s giving me some sort of series of insights into the fundamental nature of the water element. It’s a lot to take it, so I need to focus to go over it bit by bit.]"
Relieved, Lassim nodded. "[Take your time. I’ll continue here.]"
As Mari meditated, floating gently within his inner heart world, Lassim turned his focus back to the outside.
He noticed the wall where the rune had been was now blank, the symbol completely gone.
He now understood that completing each rune would deplete them from the labyrinth. At least this time he could bring the runes with him by collecting them all instead of recreating them one by one at the doorway.
Thus began a routine where over the next month, Lassim dedicated himself to navigating and traversing every pathway within the labyrinth.
The shifting walls and sudden currents made the journey treacherous, but he moved with caution, always on guard for the unpredictable tides.
Luckily he did not experience a repeat of the first experience with the rushing tides, though he did have his route blocked on multiple occasions where he would approach a turn to only then find it filled with a contained flash flood pouring down the path.
The routes always returned to normal after a set timer of an hour, so at least he didn’t have to wait too long, but it still caused many delays.
Each time he came across another dead end and encountered a rune, Lassim repeated the process of studying and recreating it.
He would sit in quiet meditation, memorizing the intricate details, then carefully reconstruct the symbol with his water mana.
As the rune resonated and merged, it would shoot into his heart world, splitting into two identical runes.
The collection of runes within his heart world grew steadily. The symbols formed an array between Mari’s horns and another above his Soul Crystal.
With each new rune, he could feel a pressure starting to build within his heart world. It wasn’t painful but it definitely felt like the space was becoming full, similar to if he had overstuffed his stomach on his mother’s chocolate pastries.
His thoughts naturally drifted to his family and even Sanvra with the Drow.
Had they met up with his alchemist friends from the spider kingdom yet?
Had Cirra made any progress in her experiments for using spirit sense to transmit thoughts and conversations, bypassing the need for individual language?
He made a mental note that he should check in with them to see how their progress was going and how his family was doing.
His thoughts also drifted to his friends Sirrium and Lustria. He wondered what they were up to lately and how Sirrium was doing in the officer academy for tactics and how Lustria was doing in the sect she went to.
He planned to send those two a set of letters to give them his current communication rune, so that they could get in touch once more after the trial was finished.
Despite the dangers of the maze, Lassim found a rhythm in his journey. He started to notice and learn to anticipate the changing tides, using them to his advantage when possible and avoiding them when necessary.
His ability to control water mana somehow became more refined and more like a second nature to him with each additional rune added to his heart world.
After what felt like over a month, though that was just Lassim’s speculation as the lights never dimmed or changed to give any indication of day or night, Lassim felt like he neared the completion of his task.
The final rune was hidden in a secluded alcove, guarded by a massive sea beast, a definitive species adjacent to the gigantic Kraken, a peak Spirit Transformation stage red-ringed octopus. Its tentacles writhed menacingly, each one capable of crushing stone.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
Lassim approached cautiously, his halberd at the ready. The octopus lashed out, but he dodged and countered with swift [Thrusts].
He aimed for its eyes, blinding the creature with the flashes of the lightning and also stunning it into submission before it could react.
With a final, powerful [Thrust], he defeated the beast, killing it and sending its body floating down onto the watery floor.
Not even working up a sweat, Lassim turned his attention to the last rune the beast had guarded.
As he channeled his water mana into recreating it, he felt a profound resonance begin to build. He’d gotten progressively more adept at creating the runes as his comprehension and understanding of how to form the runes grew with each addition.
In only fifteen minutes, and with a reduced strain on his spirit sense compared to the first one he had created, the rune vanished from the wall and appeared in his heart world.
In his heart world, the pressure that had built and made his internal world feel completely full to the seams started to compress.
An azure light exploded outwards from the array of runes condensing towards each other in the spot above his soul crystal and in between the horns of Mari.
Like placing the final piece of a puzzle into its spot, a loud click sound resounded within Lassim’s heart world.