Chapter 594: Enter [Bonus]
Sylas was shocked by the sudden appearance of the portal because he had sensed nothing at all. There was no rush of Aether or wild fluctuation. In one moment, there was nothing. And in the next instant, it had poofed into existence.
'This is bad.'
It wasn't hard to imagine all the potential problems that could pop out because of this alone. Silent Portals that led to who knows where might not mean death, but if he was thrown off course again and again, not to mention forced to fight a bunch of unnecessary battles, he wouldn't end up getting anything he wanted out of this experience.
'Clear the Mountain of Giza Dungeon...'
That was supposed to be his task, but there was no Dungeon to be seen. In fact, judging by the situation outside, it didn't feel like there was any Dungeon nearby at all. Otherwise, there would probably be more than just the Glass Monkey wreaking havoc.
In fact, now that Sylas thought about it, he had never seen a Dungeon take form on Earth; they were always on the Aether Plane itself.
'Then could it be...?'
Sylas' gaze flickered, realizing that maybe the Dungeon he was looking for would precisely be in one of these Winking Portals.
He stood in silence, his mind churning.
[Age 9: Deciphered Ancient Ithkuil text and completed puzzle. This has helped advance our comprehension of these matters by severalfold. This child can no longer be tested by normal means]
Sylas hadn't forgotten about the puzzle he had completed when he was nine years old. But the irony of it all was that because he had succeeded back then, Legacy would surely have access to a similar array of information.
Although he had more perfectly completed the puzzle recently, he didn't believe it was a hard enough solution that no one could come up with it as well.
The fact the puzzle he completed when he was nine and this Quest aligned with one another was truly a stroke of fate. But now that he truly was here, he realized that things wouldn't be so simple.
'The Lost City of Gold Points Toward the Sea... The Mountains of Giza Point Toward the Stars... Alex just mentioned the stars just now. It was casual and almost fleeting, but clearly he has some understanding of this as well.
'The Udjat eye, the pinecone, and the Tree of Life...'
Sylas gathered his memories for what was almost two decades ago now, his thoughts continuing to spin.
By the side, Alex didn't say anything even though Sylas had dropped their conversation to think.
It was obvious to anyone paying attention that since Alex had read Sylas' file, he would know tidbits about what Sylas had discovered when he was nine. It was just that Alex didn't have all the details. Only Sylas knew what the puzzle was and what his translation of the Ancient Ithkuil language had been.
However, the reason Sylas wasn't so confident was that he wasn't 100% sure that these things were linked with one another.
His translation did mention the Mountains of Giza, but they also mentioned a Lost City of Gold. The latter didn't seem to have much to do with Egyptian heritage at all.
In addition, it was clearly plural. It mentioned "Mountains," whereas his Quest only referred to a single Mountain of Giza. For someone as detail-oriented as Sylas, this was a huge difference.
[Silver Requirement]
[>Clear Dungeon: The Mountain of Giza]
As such, when he came here, he didn't make the immediate assumption that everything he knew would map onto it one to one.
Ultimately, he was already proven correct. He saw no aspects of the puzzle he had completed, and he had yet to see any Ancient Ithkuil.
'Ancient Ithkuil...'
When he recalled those matters, his first thought about this language was how much it reminded him of Runes. Back when he was nine, he didn't know the name of the language; they just gave him some materials to translate.
Usually, when translating ancient languages, one had to have a reference of some sort, and Sylas could remember having been given a stone with ancient carvings on it. It had looked like it was a moment away from being completely eroded by time.
Using the stone, or rather a 3D rendering of it because they presumably didn't trust a nine- year-old with the original, he was able to decipher it.
But today, Sylas found that he would be able to do it even without the stone. That was because the language was far too similar to Runes.
Were they Runes?
The current Sylas would say no. But they clearly descended from Runes, and Sylas even had a feeling that if there was a universal language across galaxies that Rune Masters might use to speak to one another, it would definitely be this language.
However, even as Sylas was lost in this whirlwind of thoughts, he found himself not making any progress.
There was nothing to decipher around him, no passage that seemed to lead anywhere deeper, and he was just surrounded by aged stone walls that looked like they might collapse at any
time.
Sylas turned his attention toward the Winking Portal as it blinked out of existence and seemed to understand that there was only one way forward here.
He turned back to Alex to find the man was wearing a black mask that made it look as though he had no nose or mouth. Even his eyes were replaced by two spinning white orbs. It was eerie in a way that was difficult to describe. If Sylas wasn't sure that no one had come in or out while he was lost in thought, he would begin to question whether it was truly Alex by his side
or not.
"We're going to enter," Sylas said after a while.
Alex nodded, seemingly having already expected this result.
Since they were here, there was no way they would leave because of a little uncertainty.
The moment the Winking Portal appeared again, they moved.