Chapter 838 Something Special [Top Five in Golden Tickets Bonus]
When Gralith explained things like this, the jumbled mess in Sylas' mind seemed to order itself.
He had been so confused for so long about what he was seeing, but now he understood.
The further you got into the tome, the more looking at the Runes made you feel as though you were staring at mirages—as though if you tilted your head at a certain angle, you would suddenly see a completely different image.
This much was enough for him to feel quite confused, but he had tried to push through, memorizing not just the immediate Rune he saw, but the flickers forward and backward. He tried to grasp it all at once, and his mind had certainly suffered for it.
When he tried to use his Progenitor Flame Ability, the situation only got worse. It was like he was facing off against Gralith again. The buffer against his mind hit like whiplash.
But now it only made sense.
He was trying to slow his perception down across several timelines at once. He was already in the time stream, and yet he was trying to grab several streams at once. He wasn't using his perception-slowing ability one time over, but rather several.
By the time he got to the last few pages of what seemed to be exactly 36, he was trying to grab onto a dozen streams in both directions, redoubling his efforts 24 times over.
Luckily, he hadn't been foolish enough to make that attempt before, but he had for the earlier streams, and it very quickly reminded him that his Progenitor Flame Ability was not yet that good—not even remotely.
However, once he got to this point in his thoughts, he hit another roadblock.
His ability was to slow perception of time, not peer into the past, and certainly not into the future. Gralith should know this, so why was it helpful?
And also, though the ability sounded cool—or the Lineage, rather—Sylas also didn't understand how peering into the past of a Rune, or its future, could help.
They looked like tricks of the eye. Ultimately, a Rune was a Rune; it had a rigid state and couldn't just be anything. Although it seemed to breathe like a living existence, and acted a lot like one too, it ultimately wasn't one.
Even if it had a past or present, they were all locked into the same box. If you could draw a Rune one way, why did you need to be able to draw it another?
Angles, geometry, and things of the like were important when you were linking Runes together, like in the Scorpion Warlord Armor, but even then, after fitting it once, it was fine.
What was this about a past or present? It couldn't be that a Rune could change that much through a change in time, right?
There was definitely something that he was missing here. Sylas wasn't foolish enough to believe that his thought process was infallible.
"What does it mean to look at the past and future of a Rune?" Sylas finally asked.
Gralith had never pressed him, just sitting there and waiting for Sylas to comb through his own thoughts.
He knew this sort of disciple. Though Sylas had come here for guidance, he probably, most of all, wanted to learn the thought process so he wouldn't have to rely on Gralith again in the future.
Understanding this, Gralith didn't mind it. Wasn't the purpose of any parent to allow their child to be independent in the future?
"What do you know about the physical state of matter?"
"As in liquid, gas, and solids?"
Gralith's gaze flickered for a moment, and he chose to take a different approach.
"You passed the Breath Secret Realm, no? What did you learn there?"
Sylas' eyes narrowed, remembering the matrices he faced and the spontaneous fusion of Runes when they were oriented in the perfect way.
He also remembered how much harder it was to trigger a fusion when facing an even number of rows and columns versus an odd number because it made finding or creating the core so much more difficult.
Back then, the Runes had truly acted… organic.
Was that what Gralith was trying to get at?
Despite asking a question, Gralith began to speak before Sylas could respond.
"You've made it to Rune Vitality; you should know that Runes have a life to them. But most importantly, the reason they have a life to them is because they are constantly interacting with the fabric of reality. A World doesn't just spontaneously form all the Runes it needs at the beginning. Otherwise, the structure of a World would be too rigid and lack the ambience needed to grow life.
"When this tome speaks of past and present, it isn't necessarily referring to the changes in the Rune itself, but rather the changes imposed upon it by the more fundamental Laws that it interacts with.
"What happens in the Breath Secret Realm is just a small look into how Runes interact with the Mesh of Reality every day.
"They pop into existence, pop out of existence. They morph and change—sometimes an Ice Rune might spontaneously become a Water Rune, or an Earth Rune might spontaneously crumble to erosion.
"All the changes you see to the world every day are triggered by the interaction of Runes with the Mesh of Reality…"
The more Gralith spoke, the brighter Sylas' eyes became, as though he was finally grasping something.
It wasn't Earth's Runes that were bent and twisted. That was just the result of their interaction with their Mesh of Reality. It was the Fundamental Laws of Earth that had been bent and twisted out of order, making it difficult for him to grasp Runes in the way that he should, especially when he was trapped on Earth.
"One final question…" Sylas said slowly, causing Gralith's eyes to narrow as though the latter was already certain he was about to see something quite amazing. "… Why does seeing that past and future help you?"
This time, the quirk of Gralith's lip was obvious enough that even the non-Sylas' of the world would have seen it.
He knew that Sylas already had the answer figured out. This time, he was asking maybe to save himself some face, or maybe to ensure he was on the right path.
"Because then you're no longer just interacting with Runes. You're interacting with the Mesh of Reality. You see further, your vision is far wider, and the depth of your understanding… is likewise far deeper."
BOOM!
There was a quake in the depths of Sylas' Will Construct, his aura billowing over in waves so strong Gralith's hair was blown back and the face of his own Will Construct was pressed tightly against his bone.
The brightness in Gralith's gaze at that moment could only be matched by Sylas' own. This time, he had indeed seen something amazing, something he didn't really know how to put into words.
It didn't make logical sense, and trying to make sense of it at all could drive a man mad. But this time, Gralith knew that he had certainly found something special. No, something far more than special.
Sylas stepped into the final layer of Rune Mastery.
Rune Spark.